Which cruise line to do a TA?

[dateacher]

While the romantic in me wants to take the Queen Elizabeth on a TA, I would love to hear of your experiences on Cunard or any of the Celebrity or HAL ships. My preference is a West to East trip (and I have read the pros and cons).

[BAYA]

I have done a Lisbon to Boston TA on HAL Veendam in 2019. The ship was showing its age and there were some gross issues with water backing up into my cruise companion's bathtub in her stateroom. So although I enjoyed HAL I will not sail on an old-ish ship again for such a long voyage.

I did a TA from England to Boston on Jewel of the Seas and it was delightful. I am booked on a Rome to Fort Lauderdale TA on Odyssey of the Seas this October.

[TheOldBear]

19 hours ago, dateacher said:

While the romantic in me wants to take the Queen Elizabeth on a TA, I would love to hear of your experiences on Cunard or any of the Celebrity or HAL ships. My preference is a West to East trip (and I have read the pros and cons).

 

Cunard's Queen Mary 2 is the transatlantic specialist, not her smaller sisters [Victoria and Elizabeth].

 

There should be many passenger reviews of QM2 crossings on this site [I've posted a couple], and lots of related postings including some 'live blogs' that are updated several times during the crossing.

We've done two round trip crossings so far, something no other ship has on its schedule.

 

On our upcoming sailing [M234A Norway and Northern Lights] the eastbound crossing features Anthony Inglas conducting the English National Symphony, followed by a 12 night Southampton round trip with multiple port stops in Norway, finishing with the westbound crossing [no announced special features]. 26 nights total, no flights, and we only need to unpack once.

[dateacher]

Thanks. I will check out some of the reviews. 

[rkacruiser]

I have sailed trans-Atlantic on HAL in both directions and enjoyed the opportunity to be on the ship for longer periods of time between ports.  Many activities are different from what one would experience on a 7-11 day Caribbean cruise.  

 

I have also sailed trans-Atlantic on the QE2, the original Royal Princess, and on Royal Viking Sky.  All of the cruises were enjoyable with the QE2 being the most disappointing of the ones on which I have sailed.  The ship was experiencing labor issues on board and those issues impacted some aspects of the guests' experience.  But, even then, there were some "highlights" as well as memorable "lowlights".  

[GulfShoresCruiser]

We are all about Holland America Line...

 

Been on two TA's (WB Rotterdam 2021 & WB Nieuw Statendam 2019).  Both were over the top good and the sea days flew by. 

 

Lots of stuff to do and a staff that is all about giving good service and making you feel comfortable and "at home".

 

 

[Hlitner]

We have done many (talking in terms of dozens) of TA cruises including lots of repositioning voyages as well as a west bound QM2 crossing.  If my memory is right we have done them on Celebrity, HAL, Cunard, RCI, and Princess.   Bottom line is that for those of us who love lots of sea days these TAs and Transpacifics are wonderful :).  For folks that do not like sea days it may not be as popular of an option.

 

For us there are no cons...only pros.  In fact we are doing another TA later this month so we can get back to Europe for a few weeks.  Our experience (having cruised on 16 lines and more then 65 different ships) is that there are pros/cons to each line and vessel.  We have done our crossings on ships ranging from the smaller Prinsendam (had about 500 passengers on some of our crossings) to some 3000+  ships of RCI and Princess.  Our personal preference is for smaller ships (our crossing this month will be on a ship with a capacity of about 600) because we enjoy the intimacy and service on smaller vessels.  If you are one who gets bored and needs lots of activities you might want to look towards the larger vessels which have more options.   I should mention that doing a crossing on the QM2 is somewhat different as that vessel was designed for the task and has some interesting activities (such as afternoon Shakespeare shows, a planetarium,  an excellent library, etc).

 

And finally I should mention why we take so many TAs.  It is simply because we enjoy exploring Europe (often with a rental car) and ships are a more fun way to get to and from Europe then flying.  And we have often talked about some crossings being no more expensive then flying Business Class.  Sometimes when I am relaxing on deck I will see a contrail and remark to DW that we are lucky to be enjoying the ship and sea rather then being stuck in a plane.

 

Hank

[CGTNORMANDIE]

Every cruise is different.  That’s what keeps calling us back…no two were ever alike.  We would prefer Cunard, RCI, Celebrity, Oceania, Azamara, Seadream, Windstar, Viking and HAL.  OK…Seabourn, Regent and Silversea…if I could afford them…lol.

Edited March 8, 2022 by CGTNORMANDIE

[Ex-Airbalancer]

Done about 8 TAs both ways

traveling from EU to NA is nicer because you get all your exploring over first and the last 7 days is just chilling 

Only been on Celebrity and RCL , Celebrity is the nice trip, but you get what you pay for 

[ericfromri]

I have been on 46 transatlantics , Royal Caribbean celebrity Cunard silversea hapag lloyd  And azamara.  You do get what  you pay for.   I paid $20,000 and I have paid $2000 and there is quite a difference I can assure you.  I like

Nice quiet people.  Typically the lower the price the more loud  ,obnoxious , And antisocial people will prevail.