Eastbound or Westbound Crossing?

[powell]

DH would love to do a Transatlantic crossing and thinking about it for next year.  As we live in UK, should we holiday in US and return on board (and hopefully not have jet lag) or should we start the holiday in style and then fly back?

[bluemarble]

1 minute ago, powell said:

DH would love to do a Transatlantic crossing and thinking about it for next year.  As we live in UK, should we holiday in US and return on board (and hopefully not have jet lag) or should we start the holiday in style and then fly back?

 

The main advantage of doing a westbound crossing (Southampton to New York) over an eastbound crossing (New York to Southampton) is that you gain five hours going westbound compared to losing five hours going eastbound. So, a net difference of ten hours.

 

On an eastbound crossing, the clocks are advanced one hour at noon on five of the sea days, compressing the time for afternoon activities. For example, afternoon tea follows on quite soon after lunch during an eastbound crossing on those days when the clocks are moved forward. On a westbound crossing, the clocks are turned back an hour during the night on five of the sea days.

[Jack E Dawson]

Our personal preference is to sail out of Southampton into New York, an east to west crossing.

1. You gain an hour on 5 of the 7 days rather than losing an hour going the other way (25 hr days vs 23 hr days)

2. Sailing into New York harbor and past the Statue of Liberty (SoL) on arrival day (may be more of an American thing)

3. You move through weather systems quicker

4. Puts off your jet-lag until you arrive back home but then at lease you are in your own bed

5. If able to, select a port side room for the sun and view of the SoL

Bottom line, you are going to have a GREAT time either way.

 

[newjoisey]

i would sail home east .......a slow way to end your vacation 

[babs135]

The biggest plus to sail home is that if you are a shopper you don't have to worry about paying for excess luggage!!

 

The minus is the 5 days of just 23 hours which makes lunch, afternoon tea and dinner very close to each other but with careful working out you can still manage to indulge!!!!!!!!

 

 

[cruiseluvva]

There are pros and cons for each way, and I have done each, on many occasions. What I would say is that having no jet lag by sailing back is fantastic, but you do lose an hour each night for five nights and it is exhausting.

 

My ideal is to do a backtoback, it’s still exhausting but you get to experience both!

[newjoisey]

12 minutes ago, babs135 said:

The biggest plus to sail home is that if you are a shopper you don't have to worry about paying for excess luggage!!

 

The minus is the 5 days of just 23 hours which makes lunch, afternoon tea and dinner very close to each other but with careful working out you can still manage to indulge!!!!!!!!

 

 

i would like to think losing an hour a day would save me some weight gaining time.......but that aint gonna happin.......i have been off the qm2 for a week now and still withdrawing from desserts/bacon 

[Ubarrow]

1 hour ago, newjoisey said:

i would like to think losing an hour a day would save me some weight gaining time.......but that aint gonna happin.......i have been off the qm2 for a week now and still withdrawing from desserts/bacon 

Yes, you can eat about 7% more on a Westbound crossing, courtesy of the 10 hour time difference!

[JIMinNC]

4 hours ago, Jack E Dawson said:

Our personal preference is to sail out of Southampton into New York, an east to west crossing.

1. You gain an hour on 5 of the 7 days rather than losing an hour going the other way (25 hr days vs 23 hr days)

2. Sailing into New York harbor and past the Statue of Liberty (SoL) on arrival day (may be more of an American thing)

3. You move through weather systems quicker

4. Puts off your jet-lag until you arrive back home but then at lease you are in your own bed

5. If able to, select a port side room for the sun and view of the SoL

Bottom line, you are going to have a GREAT time either way.

 

 

We want to do one of these some day, and have debated the whole eastbound-westbound thing. On the east to west crossing, what time is the sail into the harbor past the Statue of Liberty? How early? I would hate to sleep in and miss it!

[Jack E Dawson]

On our crossing this past September we passed under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge at 5:45AM and passed the SoL at around 6:15AM. We went up to the observation deck above Deck 13 at 5:35AM. After passing under the bridge (a thrill to watch) we went back to the cabin. I had just enough time to get a quick shower while DW fixed coffee and then we watched the SoL go by from our sheltered balcony, perfect since it was raining at that time.  It was sort of like the scene from the movie Titanic when the RMS Carpathia enters NY Harbor.

[Bigmike911]

1 hour ago, JIMinNC said:

 

We want to do one of these some day, and have debated the whole eastbound-westbound thing. On the east to west crossing, what time is the sail into the harbor past the Statue of Liberty? How early? I would hate to sleep in and miss it!

Trust me you won't miss it. The ship will be buzzing with activity and the excitement of landing soon. You will easily be up and at em by the time she takes on the Pilot. Going under the Verrazano is always an experience. The funnel of the ship looks like it is going to scrape the bridge, but don't worry it won't. The Captain will sound the horn when she is directly under the bridge and it is illuminated from the deck of the ship. You will see the various orange Staten Island Ferries  moving in the harbor and the lights of the cities surrounding the harbor twinkling in the sky and reflecting on the water. It's a great sight to see. Then you go to breakfast and prepare to disembark. My second favorite part of the voyage. The first is sailing down the Solent and passing  the Isle of Wight as the adventure begins.

[JIMinNC]

9 minutes ago, Jack E Dawson said:

On our crossing this past September we passed under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge at 5:45AM and passed the SoL at around 6:15AM. We went up to the observation deck above Deck 13 at 5:35AM. After passing under the bridge (a thrill to watch) we went back to the cabin. I had just enough time to get a quick shower while DW fixed coffee and then we watched the SoL go by from our sheltered balcony, perfect since it was raining at that time.  It was sort of like the scene from the movie Titanic when the RMS Carpathia enters NY Harbor.

 

Thanks. Whenever we do such a trip, it will probably be in July, and sunrise then is about 5:30am in NYC. With the sun rising in the northeast that time of year, the lighting on the Statue should be spectacular if it's a clear morning. For an eastbound late afternoon departure, the sun would be setting behind that statue, making it back-lit. So even though it means an early morning, it does sound like a westbound crossing, arriving in the harbor just after sunrise would be the most spectacular. 

 

I'm assuming the arrival times are pretty much the same from crossing-to-crossing?

[Ubarrow]

Arrival always seems to be at the same time and there is quite a bit of time to walk around the decks enjoying the view. If you’re on the right side there are great views from your balcony if you are on one of the upper decks.

[JIMinNC]

3 minutes ago, Ubarrow said:

Arrival always seems to be at the same time and there is quite a bit of time to walk around the decks enjoying the view. If you’re on the right side there are great views from your balcony if you are on one of the upper decks.

 

Wouldn't the best views entering the harbor of the Statue of Liberty be on the left (port) side?

[Ubarrow]

26 minutes ago, JIMinNC said:

 

Wouldn't the best views entering the harbor of the Statue of Liberty be on the left (port) side?

The last time we entered New York, in November 2018, we had a Port cabin and got great views of Manhattan and the statue etc on the way in, then the ship turned round and our cabin overlooked the terminal.

 

[JIMinNC]

Thanks! We're thinking summer 2021. Fly over to catch a little of the 150th British Open golf at St Andrews in Scotland, spend some time in England, and then take the Queen Mary 2 home.

[powell]

What about the sail away from New York? Wouldnt you get the same thrill of SoL and Bridge when leaving? Thinking of July or August 2020.

[cruiseluvva]

It doesn’t seem quite as exciting on the East bound crossing, maybe due to the timing.

 

lo

[Sauer-kraut]

It was exciting leaving from Brooklyn in the afternoon, going under the bridge and sailing by the Statute.  No way I'd want to be up at 5:30 on my last day on board.

As to losing the hour a day..... it was so lovely to get to London with no jet lag and being able to meet up with family without spacing out at dinner because of being tired.   Either way you go is great, but I would always consider going eastbound because I'm getting to the age where I hate jet lag and flying into Europe and losing a day or two before getting caught up.

[Mickb]

We have done both. 

I would do the Eastbound crossing

IMO The departure from New York is far more scenically spectacular than the departure from Southampton.

The westbound flight from London to New York is generally a day flight and flying west is less likely to promote jet lag and is much easier. 

I hate the overnight flight back to London, it’s not long enough to get a decent sleep and one always seems to attract jet lag - so why not glide eastwards in total luxury on the worlds only true ocean liner with no jet lag? If you are worried about losing an hour overnight - sleep an extra hour in the morning - because you can!!!

[Underwatr]

19 hours ago, Sauer-kraut said:

No way I'd want to be up at 5:30 on my last day on board

If you get up at 5:30 you'll have missed it. 🙂

 

In January I think we passed under the bridge between 5:00 and 5:15.

[bluemarble]

30 minutes ago, Underwatr said:

If you get up at 5:30 you'll have missed it. 🙂

 

In January I think we passed under the bridge between 5:00 and 5:15.

 

Yes, the New York Harbor Webcam snapshot archive shows QM2 passed under the bridge at about 5:11am for her arrival into New York on January 3, 2019.

 

The other available QM2 arrival snapshots from the archive show she passed under the bridge at about 5:34am on December 22, 2018.

[Jack E Dawson]

Blue marble,

How does one access the webcam snapshot data base. We passed under the VNB around 5:45AM on September 9th of last year.

 

Thanks

Jack

[JIMinNC]

Just looked at the satellite view for New York Harbor, and that raised another question...when going in and out of the harbor, does the QM2 basically make a beeline from/to the bridge and the dock, or does she usually curve out a bit to the west to provide passengers with a closer view of the Statue of Liberty?

[bluemarble]

1 minute ago, Jack E Dawson said:

Blue marble,

How does one access the webcam snapshot data base. We passed under the VNB around 5:45AM on September 9th of last year.

 

Thanks

Jack

 

The home page for the live New York Harbor Webcam is https://www.nyharborwebcam.com/. Near the upper right corner of that page is a link to "Snaphot Archive". That link goes to http://portfever.com/?nyhw. There you can find snapshots from the webcam taken at one-minute intervals. The archive only goes back 30 days, so the furthest back you can go today is to December 17, 2018.