Thinking About a Transatlantic in January 2024 out of Miami for London

[Floridastorm]

NCL Joy departs January 11 and arrives January 21st in Southhampton. There are no port stops. However a suite is less than an inside cabin on most cruises and is appealing to me. Would then be taking the European trains around Europe when the tourists are still a distant thought. For any of you that have traveled transatlantic in the winter and possibly done Europe at that time, please let me know what to expect and is it worthwhile? I grew up in the north but have lived in Florida since my US Navy career was completed. 

 

Thanks for any and all info on this subject.

 

My Best...........Dave  ⚓ 

[Heidi13]

As with all cruise pricing, they charge what they believe the market will bear and I'll suggest this cruise will not be overly popular.

 

Don't know if your navy career involved navigation, so I will provide a brief summary of the most probable route. The shortest distance between 2 ports is a Great Circle, which starts on a NNE'ly heading from Miami and ends on a SE'ly heading on approach to the Western Approaches to the English Channel. This also tends to follow the prevailing currents - the Gulf Stream, which then becomes the North Atlantic Current.

 

Therefore the shortest route takes you into fairly high Latitudes, which have the potential for inclement weather, especially in January. Weather forecasting and routing services provided to Masters have improved significantly, so the Master will have a number of routing options, especially given 10 days to make the transit.

 

Alternative routes, based on weather could be a composite Great Circle, where they could Great Circle to New Foundland and then Rhumb Line across, or even take a more southerly route, but that steams against prevailing currents.

 

In Europe, the northern regions and UK can be rather chilly, but with the influence of the ocean, are not as cold as comparable latitudes in North America. Once you get down to the Meddy, it can be very pleasant in January/Feb. If you were planning a few months in Europe, I would start around the Meddy, then move up through Spain, Portugal, France before heading to central and northern Europe.

[SoloAlaska]

I wish I had the schedule right now where I could do that TA to Europe and then back. It’s a great deal if you like lots of sea days. 

[SelectSys]

On 9/27/2023 at 10:33 AM, Heidi13 said:

so the Master will have a number of routing options, especially given 10 days to make the transit.

On a transatlantic cruise from Florida, the ship took a rhumb line course which kept us pretty far south for quite a while.  I am not sure why the captain made this decision, but I was happy with the warm weather! 

 

With fuel costs so high right now, the economics would point to something more like a great circle route as being more likely in 2024.  Of course, I don't know how the lines factor in passenger comfort when making a decision to spend money on fuel.

[Floridastorm]

On 9/27/2023 at 8:26 PM, SoloAlaska said:

I wish I had the schedule right now where I could do that TA to Europe and then back. It’s a great deal if you like lots of sea days. 

I don't mind sea days, in fact I prefer them, as I just enjoy the ship.  My wife is another story although being Asian she mostly defers to my wishes. 😉

[Floridastorm]

On 9/27/2023 at 1:33 PM, Heidi13 said:

As with all cruise pricing, they charge what they believe the market will bear and I'll suggest this cruise will not be overly popular.

 

Don't know if your navy career involved navigation, so I will provide a brief summary of the most probable route. The shortest distance between 2 ports is a Great Circle, which starts on a NNE'ly heading from Miami and ends on a SE'ly heading on approach to the Western Approaches to the English Channel. This also tends to follow the prevailing currents - the Gulf Stream, which then becomes the North Atlantic Current.

 

Therefore the shortest route takes you into fairly high Latitudes, which have the potential for inclement weather, especially in January. Weather forecasting and routing services provided to Masters have improved significantly, so the Master will have a number of routing options, especially given 10 days to make the transit.

 

Alternative routes, based on weather could be a composite Great Circle, where they could Great Circle to New Foundland and then Rhumb Line across, or even take a more southerly route, but that steams against prevailing currents.

 

In Europe, the northern regions and UK can be rather chilly, but with the influence of the ocean, are not as cold as comparable latitudes in North America. Once you get down to the Meddy, it can be very pleasant in January/Feb. If you were planning a few months in Europe, I would start around the Meddy, then move up through Spain, Portugal, France before heading to central and northern Europe.

I'm of course familiar with Great Circle and Rhumb Line routes. I was not the Navigation Officer but was the Operations Officer but often had dealings with navigation. When on a Windstar transatlantic, a few months ago, they took a southerly route departing from Miami. We had good seas all of the way. I cannot see Norwegian taking anything but the southerly route in January. Even if you take extreme precaustions you can easily end up in storms like I did on more than one naval ship. Talk about high seas of 60 foot swells and hurricane force winds for days on end. No fun even for a seafarer like myself. 🚢

[Floridastorm]

On 9/29/2023 at 6:35 PM, SelectSys said:

On a transatlantic cruise from Florida, the ship took a rhumb line course which kept us pretty far south for quite a while.  I am not sure why the captain made this decision, but I was happy with the warm weather! 

 

With fuel costs so high right now, the economics would point to something more like a great circle route as being more likely in 2024.  Of course, I don't know how the lines factor in passenger comfort when making a decision to spend money on fuel.

I would think that safety trumps costs especially with thousands of passenger's lives. Also, a really bumpy ride can not only incure injuries and damage but also tends to chase away future prosective passengers. 

[SelectSys]

4 hours ago, Floridastorm said:

safety trumps costs

Of course, the impact to company reputation and possible economic costs would be enormous if passenger safety was truly at risk.  However, if the risk isn't there, today's fuel costs might drive the captain to pick the most economical route and speed.

[Heidi13]

1 hour ago, SelectSys said:

Of course, the impact to company reputation and possible economic costs would be enormous if passenger safety was truly at risk.  However, if the risk isn't there, today's fuel costs might drive the captain to pick the most economical route and speed.

 

Exactly.

 

As we used to say, the ship can handle the seas just fine, the pax, not so much.