Transatlantic Sailing Tampa to Barcelona 13 days cruise advice needed pls

[Gari]

GM All

 

Hi all I just booked a Transatlantic Sailing Tampa to Barcelona 13 days on April 13, 2023.  I have never been on such a long  cruise or a transatlantic crossing.  I would love any advice and information.  We start with 7 sea days - anyone know what the schedule it like and what the menus etc.  I am really excited but could use any info and suggestions.

 

Thanks as always for your help

Gari

[bespin]

I’ve done several transatlantics, both east and westbound, although not on Carnival. They were all similar, regardless of the cruise line, so I imagine that Carnival would be, as well.

 

If you like sea days, you’ll love transatlantics. The schedules would be about the same as any other cruise, with at least one more formal/elegant night. The other cruise lines I’ve done TAs with have had a series of enrichment lectures - guest speakers who talk about anything from law enforcement experiences to geography to history to marine biology to you name it. Lots of bingo, lots of trivia, lots of pool games, etc. 

 

Menus probably won’t be much different than a shorter cruise; some dishes might repeat, but I don’t think the whole menu would repeat from one week to the next.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

[Essiesmom]

My one TA on Carnival had no enrichment lecturers.  I really missed that.  Otherwise it was just another cruise, albeit longer.  The manus will be the same as any other 7/8 day cruise, and then depart.  Some dishes may be repeated but not in the same groupings.  EM

[rj59]

If you watch the JJCruise channel on youtube, I just watched a video they did today of the good, bad, and awful of doing a transatlantic cruise. They did Celebrity, but I think Carnival would have a more diverse crowd and more 'fun', but with the weather always a wild card. Personally, I did a Vancouver-Hawaii 1-way cruise a few years ago, and I almost went insane after 6 days without seeing land, so a TA cruise would just be too much for me, particularly if the weather is bad and people are stuck inside. Another aspect the jjcruise video mentioned was that your days going to Europe are all 23 hours, because of time changes, so you get a slow but constant sort of jet lag. 

[lyannea]

If you take pictures with your cell phone, take a picture every morning of the date from the fun times.

That helped me when I went back to looking at my pictures.

Some people do spreadsheets to make sure you can do everything that you want to do. I missed a lot by not doing it, because, you know, it's easy to just relax and veg for awhile.

[wikoffclan]

If you love sea days, you'll Love a TA. Be sure to find the Roll Call for your cruise. The TA Roll Calls tend to be Much more active than short cruises. Look for groups with similar interests - Mah Jong, stitchers, Card players, slot pull, Meet and Mingle. We found people planning independent tours in some of our ports that were the Best we've been a part of. Bring your Kindle. Get involved, Have Fun!