Tell me about Transatlantic cruises...

[insidecabin]

Done loads.

 

most are relocations so tend to be spring & fall there are a few outside those dates.

 

if you stick to the southern routes that head to/from the Med/Lisbon they tend to be better weather.

 

North UK northern Europe you are going to hit cool/colder temps. as you will heading to NY.

 

As you have the time probably worth looking at B2B to get more from the flight

 

If we were Florida I would consider the NCL Joy Jan/Feb 2024 TAs for its refurb,  no long haul flight  and 3 weeks to do something in Europe,  will be cold  this side not fo everyone.

.

No NCL but plenty of MSC, fly to the med from London  there is a Viking as well in the Med

 

 

[AtSeaAlways]

After our third, they keep getting better and better.  You leave the dock and get into the idea you are at sea.  So you get up, find coffee, check the program and build a day out of that.  We like a few long walks on the promenade.  MDR for all meals.  The idea you are out of reasonable helicopter rescue range (and any outside help is hours if not days away) for part of the trip adds to the adventure.   The weather at sea is just like that on land- it varies.   Waves come from storm systems, and can build up for hundreds of miles- or you can have days of dead calm.    Rumors that satellite Internet stops working mid Atlantic are false.  

 

Cunard does the best at these- a long list of activities.  Dressing for formal dinner takes an hour, high tea, lectures, ballroom dancing, etc.  

 

If you are easily bored- don't think of it.   

[DominicAUS]

I love a TA. You can get a southern European to Florida the weather can be great. Did the escape from Rome to NY. Weather was perfect until the last sea day when it got cold. I’m from Australia and was out in shorts and tee, just perfect warm weather and cool nights. You can always do a European cruise before the TA. I love my sea days. Doing the Bliss Panama Canal, I love the mix of sea days and stops and 15 days. Many many options but agree with the others that doing Europe to the US is great as you gain the hours. 
Enjoy whatever you choose. I’m my opinion there’s never a bad cruise. Some are better than others 

[JIMESOPUS]

@graceinga We have done several, west and east.

Several questions to ask yourself.

Can you sleep on a plane? For us, the ability to sleep makes a Western TA easy, waking up somewhat refreshed in Europe is a big plus.

Northen or Southern TA? We love going south, the Azores is a perfect stop get off the ship and feel Terrafirma, which breaks up the sea days.

Cabin and cohabitant, we need to have a balcony ( get fresh air ) and the wife is able to endure my presence inside a very small room, which gets smaller every day.

Don't depend on the internet, need to have other forms of entertainment.

Since you posted this here, have to assume it's an NCL ship but check out the competition.

We have a TA planned this November on the Viva, southern route, ending up in Miami, prices have been dropping like a rock.

The wish list is a Transpacific

Jim

 

 

 

 

[mking8288]

@graceinga  Congrats for leaving the workplace behind.  TA eastbound, you'll lose 1 hour (clock forward) on designated days as ship continue sailing toward Europe, i.e. that's 5 to 6 hours by disembarkation time.  TA westbound, you turn the clock by 1 hour instead, gaining an extra hour that night as you sail toward the USA crossing the pond - going reverse in direction.  Most prefer (and popular, often reflected in "asking" prices) going westbound - that's usually in the Fall with rougher weather and sea state, etc. depending on the routing as more likely, plus skipping or cancelling ports en route - just the way mother nature works.  Advantage, you can shop until you drop and come home with an extra suitcase each, fill with your "loots" - no worries about airline restriction on carry-on luggage, baggage weight, etc. especially if you do not go over CBP's duty-free/tax exemptions, etc. coming home.   

 

We did our first TA, eastbound going NY to Barcelona via Bermuda & Azores, only missed 1 port - perfect weather except for our 1st port in Spain (Cadiz) ... almost at the harbor before the ship turned, left for the Gibraltar (that turned out to be a great daylight crossing with cellular services for a while, roaming free under our plan) - love it & doing that again soon, westbound this time.  DW is going to shop until ... as we are flying out a few days ahead, making our own air arrangements (plenty of reasonable options from NY's JFK & EWR nearby) 

 

Either direction, bring an old fashion watch or clock, smartphones and iPhones tend to go "nuts" with time zones and automatic adjustments, etc. 

 

Sadly, NCL has been cutting back onboard entertainment and we had only 1 major production show in the main theater for 15 nights, the rest filled with musical duos, comedy & magical, etc. (not our cup of tea.)  Loaded up our tablet & iPads but never got around to it, plenty of do - sleep late on full sea days, walk around the outside deck, chill out on the balcony, afternoon naps & tea time, and plan ahead for the next port, etc.  Internet was pricey but thankfully, used mostly non-refundable OBC and worked for us about 95% of the time - there was an area with very poor coverage, iCafe claimed it was "local" interference, whatever that's supposed to be.   

 

As others said, shop around & price it out - other lines might have deals, including last minute ones. We locked in nice hotel deals with discounts & it's like 40% off compared to peak summer prices this year.  @JIMESOPUS - aren't those amazing prices for balconies, we aren't going to be on the same one but ... the other crossing on the slightly "older" ship is just as good, and dropping (and following yours by a few days from the other port city.)  We're shocked that our recent Epic TA was at 95% occupancies, apparently - a local TA somehow managed to fill up the cheaper cabins last minute, bundled & sold them.  

Edited June 17, 2023 by mking8288

[itsnotjustme]

I have done 1 transatlantic and loved it, but it was unusual.  A 16-day, Lisbon to NY, with 8 ports of call.  Cadiz, 3 Canary Islands, Madeira, 2 Azores, and Bermuda.

 

There will be nothing on a TA that you do not get on the cruises you have already taken - except more sea days and a limited number of ports in Europe on the front or back end.  If you want to branch out, I highly recommend northern Europe (Iceland, UK, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, etc.) or Mediterranean.  This would take you to many new places.   

[schmoopie17]

We did a TA last November. Loved it. Will probably do another one if we can find one with different ports...and doesn't end in New York.

 

As someone said earlier, check the CC Transatlantic message board. There's more info there than you could ask for.

[IrieBajan54]

I've done several TA's and prefer westbound that ended in Florida. The ones that ended in NYC always had chillier and inclement weather where the captain advised to stay indoors on some days. I recall doing NCL's last cruise from Houston on the Jade which turned out to be an eastbound TA. Very memorable with good weather as we cruised the southern route. Lots of activities staged by Meet & Greet organizers including Tai Chi. Only thing I did not like was the negative time change.

Edited June 17, 2023 by IrieBajan54
correction

[lepidoptera]

I did my first TA last year, it was also my first time trying Royal. I really loved the cruise and would do another TA in a heartbeat. In fact I have a TP booked for next year between Tokyo and Anchorage. I am not retired so I just did 3 days in Barcelona and then boarded the ship, however a lot of people on the sailing were retired and were doing B2B or even 3 or 4 in a row.

 

We were originally planned to stop in Madeira and the Azores but ended up switching to a more southerly route and hit the Canaries to avoid bad weather. The weather was fantastic the whole crossing, except for one part day of rain and the ocean was flat the whole way. 

 

The lectures were not topics I was interested in, but other than that the entertainment was pretty typical for cruises just more. I was not bored at all and did not get as much knitting or reading as I had planned. The ship I was on had an enclosed pool which was very nice so even if the weather had been bad I would have been able to go swimming. 

 

I saw that someone mentioned bringing a watch. I don’t bother, I just manage the time manually on my phone which connects/corrects my watch. In my iphone, in general go to time and date then turn off set time automatically then click on time zone and choose a city that is in the time zone that you want to set your watch to.

[cruiseny4life]

On 6/17/2023 at 7:52 PM, lepidoptera said:

I saw that someone mentioned bringing a watch. I don’t bother, I just manage the time manually on my phone which connects/corrects my watch. In my iphone, in general go to time and date then turn off set time automatically then click on time zone and choose a city that is in the time zone that you want to set your watch to.

That's what I do when I cruise. I think I might have an old school watch from my fancy director days. Now it's just a good ole Samsung watch that I wear about 25% of the time. Who needs to know the time on a cruise, anyway? 

[Catchum]

On 6/17/2023 at 12:27 AM, RosieRoo said:

We did our first TA last December from Lisbon to NYC. It was nine days of rain, wind and rough seas. All the outside decks were closed and both ports were cancelled due to bad weather. It won’t stop me from doing another TA, but I think I’d do it in the spring, and never again in December. 

never say never- we did TA from Barcelona to NYC leaving on 8th December 2022, spent a week cruising around Spain and Portugal then had a beautiful calm crossing. We took a more southerly route then originally planned did Madeira rather than Azores it was lovely and warm until we arrived in Florida! 

[DMH15]

Did TA Miami to Athens.  I loved it.  Very peaceful.  Lots of trivia, spa and naps.  Six sea days at beginning. 
 

Well rested for ports.  
 

It was like 2 different cruises in one. 
 

We got lucky.  Great weather.  Smooth seas. 

[Cruiseguy14]

I did transatlantic from Rome to New York and I enjoyed it. Was there some slow days yes but it gave me a lot of time to spend with my children which during the course of a busy week sometimes I don’t get too. Also I enjoyed the novelty of traveling the old fashion way. My family came from Italy to New York so it was interesting for me to get a glimpse as to what it was like to do that kinda voyage. Obviously my conditions were a lot different but to me it’s pretty cool to say that I went from Europe to the US on a boat. Not to many people can really say that. Plus your both retired, if you’re anything like my retired parents it’s not exactly like you’re in a rush to get home and do a lot of things that can’t wait a couple of days. I say try it once and enjoy the historical experience.