Arcadia Jottings

[snaefell]

There is so much about this Transatlantic cruise that appeals to us & gives us something of a dilemma.

Twenty plus years of USA holidays & New York is somewhere we didn't get to so 3 nights there sounds wonderful,add to that we were big Cheers fans(now I am showing my age!) so 2 nights in Boston is a bonus.

The dilemma comes in that my Wife recently retired & we said we would get a dog when she finished work & we have finished travelling,that isn't going to happen by the look of things!

[jeanlyon]

So she is now at anchor off Torquay which is interesting as we have easterly winds forecast, but not gales.

[gsmt47471015]

3 hours ago, snaefell said:

There is so much about this Transatlantic cruise that appeals to us & gives us something of a dilemma.

Twenty plus years of USA holidays & New York is somewhere we didn't get to so 3 nights there sounds wonderful,add to that we were big Cheers fans(now I am showing my age!) so 2 nights in Boston is a bonus.

The dilemma comes in that my Wife recently retired & we said we would get a dog when she finished work & we have finished travelling,that isn't going to happen by the look of things!

Going on this cruise in September this year, been to New York numerous times but really looking forward to Boston , already booked the Boston trail trip and will be nice to visit the other numerous ports. Pretty confident that Arcadia will still be in the fleet at that time  

[Bazrat]

5 hours ago, tring said:

 

We are booked on that cruise to New York and back for Sept  2023, if Aurora still sailing.  We were booked on the same for 2021, but did not happen. I think that is a very good itinerary indeed and we could also meet up with my brother and SIL in St. John's, Newfoundland, where they live. 

 

The St Lawrence itinerary is also good, but we have done a better itinerary with Fred a few years back from Liverpool which was handy for us.  Sadly Fred more into scenic cruising rivers over there than calling at a selection of really unusual ports now and prices have been well hiked as well.  I wonder if P&O will just stop those itineraries once their mid sized ships have gone.

 

My choices are rather limited because my beloved wants to do a back to back  first part a TA, in the Caribbean.

[Slugsta]

We're booked on the September 2024 TA, so we have our fingers crossed too!

[Junction2]

1 hour ago, gsmt47471015 said:

Going on this cruise in September this year, been to New York numerous times but really looking forward to Boston , already booked the Boston trail trip and will be nice to visit the other numerous ports. Pretty confident that Arcadia will still be in the fleet at that time  

Hope you don’t mind me asking but as our trip isn’t until 2024 I can’t view the excursions at each port  yet. Is there a trip to Washington advertised either from New York or Boston? I know it’s a long journey from either location but was wondering if it’s a possibility. Many thanks. 

[wowzz]

2 minutes ago, Junction2 said:

Hope you don’t mind me asking but as our trip isn’t until 2024 I can’t view the excursions at each port  yet. Is there a trip to Washington advertised either from New York or Boston? I know it’s a long journey from either location but was wondering if it’s a possibility. Many thanks. 

It's a possibility,  but you would need  to fly !

[gsmt47471015]

9 hours ago, Junction2 said:

Hope you don’t mind me asking but as our trip isn’t until 2024 I can’t view the excursions at each port  yet. Is there a trip to Washington advertised either from New York or Boston? I know it’s a long journey from either location but was wondering if it’s a possibility. Many thanks. 

No on this current cruise there are no trips to Washington , however it may become an option in the future ,if so it may mean an internal flight, its about three hours on the train from New York👍

[Selbourne]

10 hours ago, Junction2 said:

Hope you don’t mind me asking but as our trip isn’t until 2024 I can’t view the excursions at each port  yet. Is there a trip to Washington advertised either from New York or Boston? I know it’s a long journey from either location but was wondering if it’s a possibility. Many thanks. 

We did a USA & Canada cruise a few years ago (pre Covid) that called at both New York (2 days) and Boston. There were no excursions to Washington. Due to the distance and amount to see in New York, I can’t see P&O offering an excursion to Washington. If we’d had more than two full days in New York I would have considered a day in Washington on our own by train, without the stress of needing to be back for the ships departure that evening!

[Junction2]

6 minutes ago, gsmt47471015 said:

No on this current cruise there are no trips to Washington , however it may become an option in the future ,if so it may mean an internal flight, its about three hours on the train from New York👍

Thanks for replying. I thought it would only be an outside chance but as we have 3 days in New York I wondered about the possibilities.  

[Junction2]

1 minute ago, Selbourne said:

We did a USA & Canada cruise a few years ago (pre Covid) that called at both New York (2 days) and Boston. There were no excursions to Washington. Due to the distance and amount to see in New York, I can’t see P&O offering an excursion to Washington. If we’d had more than two full days in New York I would have considered a day in Washington on our own by train, without the stress of needing to be back for the ships departure that evening!

Thanks for the response. I looked at the trains and then thought I’d ask previous travellers their thoughts. 

[Snow Hill]

10 hours ago, Junction2 said:

Hope you don’t mind me asking but as our trip isn’t until 2024 I can’t view the excursions at each port  yet. Is there a trip to Washington advertised either from New York or Boston? I know it’s a long journey from either location but was wondering if it’s a possibility. Many thanks. 

As it’s a 460 Mile round trip, not really in day trip territory, I doubt somewhat P&O would charter a plane. 

[gsmt47471015]

3 minutes ago, Junction2 said:

Thanks for replying. I thought it would only be an outside chance but as we have 3 days in New York I wondered about the possibilities.  

If you have not been to New York before then you will probably need the three days to explore , however if you have done most of the main attractions before then a day trip to Washington is possible , need to be away early due to the time to get there and back

[Junction2]

1 minute ago, gsmt47471015 said:

If you have not been to New York before then you will probably need the three days to explore , however if you have done most of the main attractions before then a day trip to Washington is possible , need to be away early due to the time to get there and back

Yes I’ve had two trips to New York before, flying rather than a cruise so I was just wondering what else on one of the 3 days would be possible. I can do a separate trip to Washington on another occasion. I quite like train journeys in other countries so I may still look into it. 

[Selbourne]

9 minutes ago, Snow Hill said:

As it’s a 460 Mile round trip, not really in day trip territory, I doubt somewhat P&O would charter a plane. 

The fastest Amtrak train is 2 hours 51 minutes each way and given that railway stations are generally centre to centre (unlike airports), if someone is prepared to have an early start and a late finish on a day when there is no time pressure as to when you have to be back on the ship then that’s a perfectly possible day trip. As I say, if we’d had an extra day I would have done it!

[Host Sharon]

16 minutes ago, Junction2 said:

Yes I’ve had two trips to New York before, flying rather than a cruise so I was just wondering what else on one of the 3 days would be possible. I can do a separate trip to Washington on another occasion. I quite like train journeys in other countries so I may still look into it. 

I enjoyed a day trip to The Hamptons from NYC as a P&O excursion.

[Bill Y]

15 hours ago, snaefell said:

There is so much about this Transatlantic cruise that appeals to us & gives us something of a dilemma.

Twenty plus years of USA holidays & New York is somewhere we didn't get to so 3 nights there sounds wonderful,add to that we were big Cheers fans(now I am showing my age!) so 2 nights in Boston is a bonus.

The dilemma comes in that my Wife recently retired & we said we would get a dog when she finished work & we have finished travelling,that isn't going to happen by the look of things!

We enjoyed a similar cruise in 2018, then Quebec City was included, which they are not doing now.

 

If you wish to visit NYC, this is a good opportunity as P&O usually dock in Manhattan, 15-20 mins walk to Time Square, unlike Cunard who go into Brooklyn. As P&O only offer New England cruises that time of year they normally hold their prices.

 

It sounds that you have not finished travelling yet as you still have NYC and Boston on your list.

[Selbourne]

14 minutes ago, Bill Y said:

We enjoyed a similar cruise in 2018, then Quebec City was included, which they are not doing now.

 

If you wish to visit NYC, this is a good opportunity as P&O usually dock in Manhattan, 15-20 mins walk to Time Square, unlike Cunard who go into Brooklyn. As P&O only offer New England cruises that time of year they normally hold their prices.

 

It sounds that you have not finished travelling yet as you still have NYC and Boston on your list.

I wonder if we were on the same cruise (Sep 2018 Aurora)? As you say, docking in Manhattan within an easy walk of all the sights was a massive advantage over Cunard, whose passengers had to trek back and forth to Brooklyn. It was a fantastic itinerary (although our call at Newport Rhode Island was cancelled) and we loved Quebec. Neither of us enjoyed the 6 sea days each way though, so unfortunately it has put us off longer cruises. We discovered that 2 to 3 sea days in a row is the absolute maximum for us, although I realise that we are in the minority in that regard. 

[wowzz]

4 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Neither of us enjoyed the 6 sea days each way though, so unfortunately it has put us off longer cruises. We discovered that 2 to 3 sea days in a row is the absolute maximum for us, although I realise that we are in the minority in that regard. 

We don't mind sea days if the weather is OK, but agree with you that 12 sea days in the North Atlantic is too many.

I know it is not possible for those who cannot fly, but we are looking at a Princess Canadian repo cruise that ends up in Fort Lauderdale. 

[Snow Hill]

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

The fastest Amtrak train is 2 hours 51 minutes each way and given that railway stations are generally centre to centre (unlike airports), if someone is prepared to have an early start and a late finish on a day when there is no time pressure as to when you have to be back on the ship then that’s a perfectly possible day trip. As I say, if we’d had an extra day I would have done it!

So much to see and do in Washington you need more than a few hours there. 

[jeanlyon]

If the poster has 3 days, they could always stay overnight.  You are allowed to do that.

[Selbourne]

1 minute ago, Snow Hill said:

So much to see and do in Washington you need more than a few hours there. 

That’s the nature of cruises though. With a handful of exceptions you just get a day anywhere, yet you can still see the highlights. If you want longer you have to do a city break. I’d aim for a train at about 7am arriving at 10am and leave at around 7pm being back in New York for 10pm. 9 hours would be plenty of time to see the White House, Capitol Hill and a good few other things as well. We generally spend far less time off a ship than that in each port and we see loads. It’s amazing what you can achieve with a ‘can do attitude’ 😉 

[pete14]

14 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

If the poster has 3 days, they could always stay overnight.  You are allowed to do that.

A few years ago, on a P&O cruise that stopped in Alexandria and next day in Port Said, they had a ship’s excursion on a coach to Cairo with an overnight stop in a beautiful hotel near the pyramids before rejoining the ship in Port Said. We used the coach throughout the stay being taken to various sites in and around Cairo.
The distance between New York and Washington may mean a coach is impractical but I don’t see any reason why P&O couldn’t book seats on a plane or train, charter a coach in Washington and book hotel rooms for an overnight stop. Would no doubt be expensive and need sufficient people to book in advance but it should be possible

[Junction2]

It’s a shame the 2024 cruise doesn’t go to Quebec City, being an Inspector Gamache fan I would have loved that. 

[Bill Y]

52 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

I wonder if we were on the same cruise (Sep 2018 Aurora)? As you say, docking in Manhattan within an easy walk of all the sights was a massive advantage over Cunard, whose passengers had to trek back and forth to Brooklyn. It was a fantastic itinerary (although our call at Newport Rhode Island was cancelled) and we loved Quebec. Neither of us enjoyed the 6 sea days each way though, so unfortunately it has put us off longer cruises. We discovered that 2 to 3 sea days in a row is the absolute maximum for us, although I realise that we are in the minority in that regard. 

Yes we were on Aurora, We booked onboard to return to Canada in 2020 but we all know what happened to that. It was our first return to NYC since 1989.

 

The six sea days did not bother us, we did not wish to visit the Azores again and from what I can remember there was more that the normal numbers of speakers onboard. The only time we have felt the sea days drag is when there are no new ports to look forward to before the end of the cruise. so in the last week or more the experience and the food begins to flag. Having said that we were previously concerned about 10 sea day between Tahiti and LA but it was not a problem as it was bright sunshine and warmth.