Help needed - transatlantic!

[stamford57]

We are considering booking the May 2019 transatlantic on Indy but could do with some help. We have cruised many times but have never done an ocean voyage. If you have any suggestions that could help us come to a decision please help.

Thank you 😊

[Clarea]

If you think you might be bothered by ship's motion, select a stateroom as low and close to midship as possible.

[kernow]

We are considering booking the May 2019 transatlantic on Indy but could do with some help. We have cruised many times but have never done an ocean voyage. If you have any suggestions that could help us come to a decision please help.

Thank you 😊

If you let us know what your particular concerns are it might help with replies.

 

 

We've come to love TAs, we've done four so far with another one booked for this Nov. So far we've been lucky with the weather, we've had much rougher seas on some of our other trips compared to the crossings. We really enjoy the sea days, very relaxing and love the feeling of being away from everything in the middle of the ocean. There are always lots of activites to stop any boredom or you can just do nothing at all! It's great to have lots of time to really explore the ship and make friends with other passengers.

 

 

Julie

[Biker19]

TA = regular cruise + 7 sea days.

[soleil1995]

We are considering booking the May 2019 transatlantic on Indy but could do with some help. We have cruised many times but have never done an ocean voyage. If you have any suggestions that could help us come to a decision please help.

Thank you 😊

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I have only been on one TA - it was in May 2013 out of Fort Lauderdale to Rome. I have been on a number of cruises, mainly in the Caribbean and wasn't too sure if I would like 7 days on the open ocean. I loved it! It was so relaxing and we lucked out with the weather and the seas....the crew said that it was one of the smoothest sailings that they had ever experienced.

 

We were on Deck 9 (Ruby Princess-midship mini suite), on the starboard side and because we were facing south on the eastbound cruise, our balcony was warm and sunny, with hardly any wind. It was a little breezy in the pool area, so we elected to spend more time on our balcony.

 

 

It was a busy itinerary - we did all private tours with friends that we met on the Cruise Critic Roll Call.

 

 

Would like to try a fall TA in the near future....

 

Enjoy your cruise!!

[stamford57]

Thank you for your replies. I think our main concern is the length of time at sea (8 days). We absolutely love sea days, sitting on the balcony without a care in the world watching for wildlife. But 8 days seems incredibly long when the most we’ve done is 2 across the bay of biscay from Southampton. We love making new friends and getting involved with activities. Would you say eastbound was better weather wise?

Thank you again 😀

[Freedom55]

Thank you for your replies. I think our main concern is the length of time at sea (8 days). We absolutely love sea days, sitting on the balcony without a care in the world watching for wildlife. But 8 days seems incredibly long when the most we’ve done is 2 across the bay of biscay from Southampton. We love making new friends and getting involved with activities. Would you say eastbound was better weather wise?

Thank you again 😀

Weather is random but Eastbound is 23 hour days and westbound is 25 hour days!

[kernow]

I think the route has more to do with better weather than the direction, we've found that generally the more southerly the route, the warmer the weather but we've had some warm sunny days on all of them.

 

If you love sea days I think you will enjoy a transatlantic, it's amazing how quickly those 7 or 8 days pass, every time I could always happily do another 7.

 

Julie

[Biker19]

But 8 days seems incredibly long when the most we’ve done is 2 across the bay of biscay from Southampton.

You are all set then - weather wise.

[Clarea]

... If you love sea days I think you will enjoy a transatlantic, it's amazing how quickly those 7 or 8 days pass, every time I could always happily do another 7.

 

Julie

Same here.:)

[Glencraigs]

Been on 14 Transatlantics most with Royal and both East and Westbound. Never once had bad weather, maybe just lucky. Enjoyed them all and still looking to book more. Don't use internet or my phone, what could you do in the middle of the ocean if there was an emergency anyway! Its a great way to relax and unwind, read a good book or three and meet up with regular crossing cruisers. Downside is the C and D lounges are always busy, but hey ho I can put up with that. I'm sure you will enjoy it.

[taglovestocruise]

We did the 15 night Indy TA last Oct. Ship and crew were fantastic. Hitting the 5 islands first will get you ready for the sea days. Had perfect weather for the whole trip. One bonus is that Indy will be like a new ship after this years refurb. If you enjoy sea days you will love the trip. Be sure to check out Royals air2sea program, Our air fare on Virgin Atlantic was $625.00 pp for economy plus. Economy was under 400.00 That was from LAX to Heathrow.

[CruiseDucks]

Downside is the C and D lounges are always busy, but hey ho I can put up with that

If you're not Diamond or above, you may find this a problem! When we did a TA on Indy, there were so many Diamond-lounge eligible people that they ended up roping off the whole of the Viking Crown lounge and the Pyramid lounge as overspill. We'd normally spend a fair amount of time in both places but since we were lowly Platinum members, we felt quite limited in where we could go.

On the plus side, frequent cruisers tend to be a friendly bunch - we ended up getting to know far more people than we would on an average cruise! We're very into our trivia and are normally a team of 2, but the Schooner bar was packed for every quiz and we usually ended up with other people asking to join us. By the end of the cruise, we had quite a few regular team mates!

[ONECRUISER]

Downside is the C and D lounges are always busy, but hey ho I can put up with that

 

If you're not Diamond or above, you may find this a problem! When we did a TA on Indy, there were so many Diamond-lounge eligible people that they ended up roping off the whole of the Viking Crown lounge and the Pyramid lounge as overspill. We'd normally spend a fair amount of time in both places but since we were lowly Platinum members, we felt quite limited in where we could go.

On the plus side, frequent cruisers tend to be a friendly bunch - we ended up getting to know far more people than we would on an average cruise! We're very into our trivia and are normally a team of 2, but the Schooner bar was packed for every quiz and we usually ended up with other people asking to join us. By the end of the cruise, we had quite a few regular team mates!

Happens on all the popular longer cruises, TA, Repo's. I remember 20 years ago at most there was 6-10 Diamonds on a cruise, wasn't any higher tiers. Back then was more special, sitting down with the Captain, Doctor, Cruise Director, Cheif Engineer..

[taglovestocruise]

Happens on all the popular longer cruises, TA, Repo's. I remember 20 years ago at most there was 6-10 Diamonds on a cruise, wasn't any higher tiers. Back then was more special, sitting down with the Captain, Doctor, Cruise Director, Cheif Engineer..

On our Allure TA there were 3600 Diamond and above. Every night they used Dazzles, Jazz on 4, and Blaze as the Diamond event and it was still crowded. Sometimes it seemed everyone in Schooner bar was a Diamond.

[mek]

TA = regular cruise + 7 sea days.

 

Well, some have much better /more interesting itineraries than others. Quite a few only visit a couple of ports, while there are some with really nice stops. Just depends on what you want.

[moshek]

I have just taken the plunge and booked this transatlantic tonight. Done 5 x 14 nights from Southampton to med so it's time for a change. Hubby wanted to do a Caribbean so this kind of fits the bill with bonus of just one way flight (I am not a keen flyer) and no jet lag on return to UK

[jamesr3939]

We loved our TA on Oceania Barbados to France. Six days at sea wasn't really enough. Yes, the motion hits you the minute you leave port. The Oceania ship was only 65,000 ton so pretty small. The first couple of days we spent most day time on top deck with plenty of fresh air and horizon to look at after that not an issue.

[taglovestocruise]

I have just taken the plunge and booked this transatlantic tonight. Done 5 x 14 nights from Southampton to med so it's time for a change. Hubby wanted to do a Caribbean so this kind of fits the bill with bonus of just one way flight (I am not a keen flyer) and no jet lag on return to UK

 

If you still want the Caribbean you can join those of us who are getting right back on Mariner for the 3 night Bahama cruise. Ship is getting a 100 million dollar refurb in April. We booked a hump balcony for under $850.00 total. Also check out Air2sea, one way economy is in the $300.00 range

[notladjr]

I agree with the person who said how rough a T/A crossing you experience is mostly based on the route. We have made two Northern route crossings and both experienced high seas and winds (one we got caught in the edge of a hurricane). The two Southern crossings were like a swimming pool very, very calm. I know there can be exceptions as you might hit a storm but if I had a choice I would select a crossing using the Southern route.

 

Also the advice about getting a cabin mid ship is great. I was told mid ship and as high up as possible so that is what we do on all cruises.