Thinking about taking a transatlantic cruise

[jkgourmet]

We will not take Cunard, so it's likely going to be a repositioning cruise. We've enjoyed several repositioning cruises, but never done 7-8 consecutive days at sea. DH is not a person who reads books and has some difficulty walking long distances making touring at Port stops difficult. 

Thoughts and advice, please? 

[TheOldBear]

I would recommend a westbound sailing, starting with some time near your port of departure to try to get over jet lag from the flight. On the westbound sailing you will get at least 5 25 hour days depending on the time zone of your departure port.

 

Out of curiosity, why avoid a Cunard QM2 crossing? Personal experience or reputation?

[Ex-Airbalancer]

Read books on a TA ? 
Done over 10 TAs , never read a book yet, 😁

there is enough people around to chat with to make time fly by 

[Hlitner]

Just do it!  :).  There are plenty of "thinkers" but fewer "doers."  Having done dozens of crossings (most recently in March on the Oceania Vista) we really could care less if it is west bound or east bound.  To us, the lost of gained hours of sleep are not a biggie since we have more than enough time to sleep/nap on TA cruises.

 

My advice is to choose a ship you enjoy and, if possible, select a ship that heads to Funchal, Madeira or the Canaries.  Most repo cruises stop at the Azores (i.e. Horta) but we think that Funchal is a much better port.  And the slightly more southern route will often get you more desirable weather.

 

Hank

[Ex-Airbalancer]

1 hour ago, Hlitner said:

Just do it!  :).  There are plenty of "thinkers" but fewer "doers."  Having done dozens of crossings (most recently in March on the Oceania Vista) we really could care less if it is west bound or east bound.  To us, the lost of gained hours of sleep are not a biggie since we have more than enough time to sleep/nap on TA cruises.

 

My advice is to choose a ship you enjoy and, if possible, select a ship that heads to Funchal, Madeira or the Canaries.  Most repo cruises stop at the Azores (i.e. Horta) but we think that Funchal is a much better port.  And the slightly more southern route will often get you more desirable weather.

 

Hank

Very true, about the southern route ,

best if the last port is in the Canaries island before heading to NA 

[SoloAlaska]

Add me to the camp of don’t even bring a book on a TA. I do bring my knitting but honestly didn’t have much time. My days were way too full and I struggled to get 2 hours of work in on a sea day. 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

1 hour ago, SoloAlaska said:

Add me to the camp of don’t even bring a book on a TA. I do bring my knitting but honestly didn’t have much time. My days were way too full and I struggled to get 2 hours of work in on a sea day. 

We do yarn crawls at the ports so my wife can check out different yarns 🤣

[CDNPolar]

We are doing West Indies to Iberia on Viking in October.  Barcelona to San Juan.  6 days at sea.

 

From what I read about Viking is that they have plenty to keep you busy.

[SoloAlaska]

1 hour ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

We do yarn crawls at the ports so my wife can check out different yarns 🤣

Haha as one should. The December Gem TA we had a daily knitting group that met up. For my next TA I’m stopping by Liberty London to shop for fabric before boarding. Tourist yarn/fabric doesn’t count as stash, it’s a souvenir 🤣 

[LinRon3]

We're booked up through 2025, but are thinking seriously of a 2026 SPRING repositioning cruise Florida to Europe, coupled with a short land tour of some sort.  Thing of it is, 2 years is a bit far out for planning [much less booking].  

Does anyone know when [how early] Royal or Celebrity or HAL might post their repositioning cruises?  THanks. 

Edited June 23 by LinRon3

[Ex-Airbalancer]

25 minutes ago, LinRon3 said:

We're booked up through 2025, but are thinking seriously of a 2026 SPRING repositioning cruise Florida to Europe, coupled with a short land tour of some sort.  Thing of it is, 2 years is a bit far out for planning [much less booking].  

Does anyone know when [how early] Royal or Celebrity or HAL might post their repositioning cruises?  THanks. 

November/ December for Celebrity 

[KKB]

On 6/13/2024 at 9:44 AM, jkgourmet said:

We will not take Cunard, so it's likely going to be a repositioning cruise. We've enjoyed several repositioning cruises, but never done 7-8 consecutive days at sea. DH is not a person who reads books and has some difficulty walking long distances making touring at Port stops difficult. 

 

Thoughts and advice, please? 

We had 6 days at sea last month.

I LOVE to read, but I read very little on our 28 days (maybe 2 books in those 28 days--and I can read a book in a day or 2 at home!)

Now, we like a lot of the activities offered or we played cards when we had some down time, so plenty to do for us.