Best month for a TA

Hi all,

Thinking about booking a TA for 2017. What month does typically have calmest seas on a TA crossing? I know weather is really unpredictable any month of the year, but I am curious to hear what others have encountered on their TA. Thanks :-)

Cindy

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We've done TAs in both directions and encountered the same weather and the same kind of seas in each. You can have unseasonably warm or cool springs or falls. And the seas? Ditto. Calm and rough on either. There's just no telling. Having said that, I think the best time to take a TA is to take the one that has the itinerary you like on the ship you like at the price you like.

There are lots of threads about TAs and which season and direction are preferable. It makes for interesting reading because many people have their absolute favorites to the point that they'll sail only in one direction. Me? I think both have their pros and cons and will happily do either.

We did ours in late Sep. Ship left Southampton on Sep. 21 and spent 7 nights around Spain then headed across to Ft. Lauderdale. We had a couple of nights of rough weather in the Bay of Biscay do to a Tropical Storm that had gone by. But when we left to cross the Atlantic, we had some of the calmest seas I've ever seen. Mind you this was not the North Atlantic. Really can't say if this is normal or not. I suspect it's always going to be hit or miss. More driven by the cruise dates as these are repositioning cruises.

You don't have much choice in time of year for TAs on Royal, as they generally do TAs in spring or fall when they reposition their ships between the Med and Florida. One exception is the August cruise that brings back a Radiance class ship from Europe to the US via Iceland.

We've done several TAs on October, and there is usually moderate motion the entire cruise. One TA we were supposed to go to the Azores, but there was a storm on that path, so we deviated south to Tenerife.

We did our TA in the spring of 2014. Our first 7 nights to The Azores were some of the smoothest waters we'd ever been in. We didn't have choppy water until we reached the English Channel. We've always talked about doing a fall TA but after we had such good weather in the spring, not too sure we want to chance it with the fall.

The Atlantic retains its summer warmth well into November, while it only really STARTS warming up in May. I've done many each way - both cruise and Navy - and will always opt for the Fall.

Thanks for your advice. Since I will probably sail solo, I'll take price into consideration. It would be great if Radiance class on RCI had cheap solo cabins, since I love their itinerary:)

Cindy

TA's are typically certain times of the year.

If you go a more Southern Route our experience is that the seas are not as rough as sailing very North but in the end you just never know.

Keith

We've done a few TAs now, and both the roughest seas and the calmest have been on two of these cruises. You really just never know, so it's probably best to choose based on other factors, such as ship, itinerary and price. I hope you enjoy your cruise!

You might want to also consider the routing of a TA cruise because there are some major differences. We prefer a more southerly crossing (not always possible) which ideally means embarking or debarking in Florida and having the Canary Islands as a destination. Another pretty good option involves heading to or from Madeira. Many TAs use the Azores as an Atlantic destination and these islands mean a somewhat more Northern crossing.

Hank

Hi all,

 

Thinking about booking a TA for 2017. What month does typically have calmest seas on a TA crossing? I know weather is really unpredictable any month of the year, but I am curious to hear what others have encountered on their TA. Thanks :-)

 

Cindy

 

 

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We did a TA on Celebrity last October-November from Barcelona to Ft. Lauderdale. The temperature was warm and warmer as we traveled south. Plenty of pool time and relaxing on deck. The seas were very calm; almost glass like. It was a wonderful trip. We also liked the addition of an hour several times as we traveled west bound.

I've done quite a few TA's and by far the worst was in early October going from Southampton to NYC. We hit the tail end of a hurricane and it was downright awful in terms of rough seas. I'd never recommend a crossing in the Northern Atlantic in winter. It's usually very rough, windy and cold.

But for the most part, TA's are mostly in April when ships go from North America to Europe for the summer and in November to early December when ships go back to North America. Some ships will do a crossing a bit earlier, like in mid September or early October, but most ships stay in Europe until early November.

We have done our TA's in June and July -- and we had very calm seas on all of them.

Don't worry about rough seas. We've done four TA's and NEVER had a rough sea. What is more important is the direction of your TA. If you cross from the U.S. heading East you lose an hour each day. After the sixth day at sea you are having dinner at around 1:00pm body time and it doesn't get any better. Leaving from Barcelona heading west expands each day by an hour for the final six or seven days at sea. You can expand happy hour each day if you want.

Mind you this was not the North Atlantic.

Actually, it is the North Atlantic. The South Atlantic is south of the equator.

We left Southhampton on September 6th last year and said around Europe, the Iberian peninsula and the Azores before sailing to FLL. The seas were amazingly calm. When we were heading into the Bay of Biscay the Captain warned us we might have a rough night-but no! The next say, the Captain said it was the smoothest he'd ever seen.

THe 6 days across the Atlantic were as calm as could be. I was almost disappointed because I missed the gentle motion of the sea.

Anyway, I was happy we were lucky.