Repositioning Help with decision

[gottogocruisin]

We already have another RCL cruise booked for next May, but I am a planner and would LOVE to talk my husband into a transatlantic cruise or repositioning. We live in Florida so my question is - Is it better to leave from a Florida port to someplace overseas or to fly overseas and come back to a Florida port? Any help would be welcome.

[The Big Booper]

If you want to go in April, you go East TA.

 

Sept - Nov, West TA.

 

Going West, you have a bunch of 25 hour days, East you have 23 hour days as the ship's clocks adjust.

 

Going East, in April, you should have better weather then coming home in Oct or Nov, let alone Dec. We always look for a Southerly Westbound TA.

 

After a long leisurely crossing do you want the hassle of flying back or would you rather get the airplane part over with first?

 

My thoughts, your decision.

[J&KCruiser]

While I have no first hand expeience, IMO there would be less stress by cruising from FLA. Less concern about pre cruise travel and getting to strange port.

 

I was very close to booking the opposite but total cost put in on hold for 2009. Would love to plan for 2010 but already have 4 weeks planned so may delay for a while longer or do the reverse of my better thoughts and cruise in fall back to USA.

 

Whatever you pick enjoy.

 

John

[Coralc]

It is our opinion that you should always try to put the long plane flight at the beginning of your cruise. :D Since flying has become the more unpleasant part of the trip, you have the excitement of the cruise to carry you through it, and to look forward to! :)

 

Just the thought of a long plane trip after a fabulous 2 week cruise would make me tired. And lucky you, living in FL! After your TA cruise...you'll be home! We still have the (admittedly shorter) flight to the West Coast. :)

[gottogocruisin]

Wow. thanks for all the info. It now makes sense to me and it would be probably better to fly over and cruise back!! Love the idea.

[leoandhugh]

If we have a choice we always put the long flight to Europe at the beginning and allow a couple of days there pre-cruise to catch our breath and sightsee. Westbound TA has the advantage of at least 5 25hour days and for you in particular, very little travel when the cruise is over.

[truffles2]

If you want to go in April, you go East TA.

 

Sept - Nov, West TA.

 

Going West, you have a bunch of 25 hour days, East you have 23 hour days as the ship's clocks adjust.

 

.

 

Those 25 hour days.....after about the 3rd one we were waking up for the day at 3:00 AM:eek:

[Sue L]

Those 25 hour days.....after about the 3rd one we were waking up for the day at 3:00 AM:eek:

 

You need to stay out and party longer, that is what we did and LOVED them!!!:D

[MISSYLOU]

Having cruised both the westbound and eastbound TA's we find the westbound easier. It is better to get that long flight "across the pond" over before the cruise.

[Dick in Falls Church]

If you have the time, consider going both ways. We have, at least for the past couple years, booked a spring over, fall back TA. Then we book air round trip starting in Europe in the fall, return in the spring. Has worked out well--especially since we were using frequent flyer miles. but I think it would work well that way anyhow. Travelling the more or less off season both ways.

[CAT GIRL]

Those 25 hour days.....after about the 3rd one we were waking up for the day at 3:00 AM:eek:

 

Huh. I never thought about that. I don't think that would be a problem

for me because I sleep REALLY well on cruises.

[aggie1]

We took the Voyager TA in Dec. 07 from Barcelona to Galveston. Since we live outside Houston it was perfect. Also airfare is cheaper going from US to Europe. We had the smoothest sailing for five days across the Atlantic. Not even one shower of rain, calm seas all the way. This was a 15 day TA. Only downfall we got to Galveston on Dec.23!!. Talk about busy on the 24th!!

[EVALUATOR]

If the long flight is a problem... May I suggest?

 

Take the Eastbound crossing... and then B2B2B2B2B2B2B2B2B2B2B2B2B2B2B2B2... Until the westbound transatlantic.

 

Well, It sounded like a good idea to me!!!!!!!!

[chucknmarilyn]

We've only done one TA and have one scheduled but I book a lot of them for clients. One major issue can be the airfare. We can usually get a very good fare one-way from the US but the one-ways returning from any of the European ports can be pricey. Another issue is the luggage allowances. Even though ours aren't good, they can be better than out of Heathrow. Just check on your options there first. The southerly crossing are usually very nice in November.

 

You'll probably want to come back to Florida but if not, come join us on Voyager out of Barcelona on 11/7/10!!

[JanineM]

We did an eastbound a year ago - from San Juan to Southhampton. Easy flight to SJU - just 2 hours from Orlando on the Saturday morning.

 

But one downside with eastbounds is that you lose an hour on 5 of the mornings! Hey ... that's like half a cruise day! :eek:

 

Otherwise, I guess I have no preference. We were going to do a westbound this November, but ran out of vacation days. :(

 

But here is a hint - keep your eyes open for specials where airfare is included. We normally fly from Orlando, so there is often an additional fee - but if you fly from Miami then you can do very well. There are some online TAs where you can get some really great deals if you're willing to be flexible about flight times.

[truffles2]

We've only done one TA and have one scheduled but I book a lot of them for clients. One major issue can be the airfare. We can usually get a very good fare one-way from the US but the one-ways returning from any of the European ports can be pricey. Another issue is the luggage allowances. Even though ours aren't good, they can be better than out of Heathrow. Just check on your options there first. The southerly crossing are usually very nice in November.

 

You'll probably want to come back to Florida but if not, come join us on Voyager out of Barcelona on 11/7/10!!

 

We have found the November southerly crossings to have much better weather than the Spring/April ones....I guess because of the sea temps.

[madforcruising]

My preference is to have the TA flight at the beginning and cruise home. However having said this the majority of my TA´s have been the other way because of my vacation schedule.

[seeship]

We already have another RCL cruise booked for next May, but I am a planner and would LOVE to talk my husband into a transatlantic cruise or repositioning. We live in Florida so my question is - Is it better to leave from a Florida port to someplace overseas or to fly overseas and come back to a Florida port? Any help would be welcome.

Remember that RT airline tickets are half the cost of one way. We fly the first leg of the trip and let the 2nd half expire. We fly to our port and take the repositioning cruise home.

[Tucker in Texas]

Remember that RT airline tickets are half the cost of one way. We fly the first leg of the trip and let the 2nd half expire. We fly to our port and take the repositioning cruise home.

 

We intended to buy our rt ticket and pitch the second half because it was cheaper a few years ago. However, we found that if we "cancelled" our return before the scheduled flight (we just picked a date as far out as we could to return), we could use the other half up to a year for $100 change fee. Very good excuse to do the opposite TA since the airfare would only be $200 and you can get an inside as cheap as $600. Not a bad price for a 14 day cruise.

 

Actually, we found the rt airfare cheaper booking Barcelona to Houston rather than Houston to Barcelona this year. Went over from Miami on the Navigator in the Spring, will return to Galveston in November on the Voyager.

 

What I didn't like on the Eastbound was they moved the clock up an hour every day at noon to adjust for the time zones. If you had early seating dinner, you were lining up four and a half hours after lunch and you had an hour window cut out of lunch availability. Noon became 1:00 p.m. at noon. I'm not sure all the ships do this, I heard it was the Captains decision.

 

Tucker in Texas

[cujosmom]

We have done 3 TransAtlantics with my 4th coming up in November. :) Actually, I prefer sailing over and flying back. I hate trying to sleep on the overnight flights as the seats are so uncomfortable. And when you fly back home, it is usually during the day time and you can watch back-to-back movies or play in-flight games which makes the time go much faster.

 

We've found buying a round-trip ticket is much less expensive than buying a one-way or using cruise air. Then, either throw away the second half (like others have suggested) or book another TransAtlantic to use the return air ticket.