Transatlantic Cruises

We are interested in booking a transatlantic cruise for either the fall of 2015 or spring of 2016. We have previously sailed with RCI, Celebrity and Holland America and really have no major preference with respect to a cruise line. We are looking for information on how people enjoyed the transatlantic cruises, any deals that were found, the cruise line used (and how you were treated) and your opinion regarding the itinerary you enjoyed. The departure point is not a concern.

There are many to choose from.

One to consider is the Queen Mary 2. The ship is a true Ocean Liner and it is a very nice experience.

Keith

We are interested in booking a transatlantic cruise for either the fall of 2015 or spring of 2016. We have previously sailed with RCI, Celebrity and Holland America and really have no major preference with respect to a cruise line. We are looking for information on how people enjoyed the transatlantic cruises, any deals that were found, the cruise line used (and how you were treated) and your opinion regarding the itinerary you enjoyed. The departure point is not a concern.

We love T/A's for the longer cruise and lots of sea days. Have been on 5 or 6 but only from USA back to Europe, which we prefer, for what we assume to be better weather. We have only been on Celebrity or Azamara T/A's. There are usually a choice of ships departing from March to April so a choice of ports between the cruise lines, though they do go to some of the same ports.

Have usually had mostly good weather at the ports (sunny and warm) and usually not a bumpy a ride.

The price of repositioning cruises is usually less costly than a normal cruise of similar number of days. You should be able to find some bargains if you

book nearer the time of the cruise. The T/A's we have been on have been

fairly full if not completely full.

On Azamara and Celebrity cruises we have always been treated wonderfully.

Happy hunting and hapicruisin!

You've gotten some good advice as to "cruises" and some lines that do them, typically on the southern route and often well over a week in length with port stops.

Now, if you want to experience a "crossing", reminiscent of the old days before jet airliners, the only true choice is QM2. Thankfully they have extended the length to 7 days from 6, and formerly 5 days. New York to Southampton or reverse; it's history and on a real ocean liner. If you love to cruise you need to do it at least once!

I have done 4 TAs and another scheduled for this October. I like doing the east to west crossings because after all the exhausting port tours, you have a bunch of sea days in a row to relax. Plus the almost daily time changes are easier going from Europe to the US. I usually sail on Princess. There are enough activities planned or you can just do nothing!!!:)

I have done a couple of Fall TA's and enjoyed them both. Both were about 15 days in length. The first was on RCI and left out of Southhampton and had about 5 ports before the crossing. The second was on HAL and left out of Rome, and also had 5 or 6 ports before the crossing. Both cruises were very good values in my opinion and I thought they were well worth the money, as I enjoy the sea days.

We've sailed with Cunard to NYC. That is truly a "transatlantic sailing", it's 6 days. We've also sailed with HAL, Princess and Celebrity on their repositioning cruises which have left from a European port, stopped at a few other European ports and continued on the Fla. The per diem rate on the repositioning cruises is very, very low (relatively speaking). A comparable cabin on the Queen Mary, England to NYC for 6 days cost more then the 15 day repo cruise on HAL. The repo cruises are a great way to sample a few European ports and then have a week or so to "veg", do nothing, enjoy the sea and the on-board amenities and relax. We do love them. We are coming home on the QM next month to NYC and we are coming home in Nov on "X" to Fla. And again, the 6 days on the QM costs about the same as 15 days on "X" on their repo sailing. And just as an aside, I inquired about flying to Europe Business Class rather then coach and the upgrade would cost more for the nine hour plane ride then it's costing to sail on a ship for 15 days in a balcony "concierge" class cabin.........we're flying coach!

marco sailing the QM2 is now seven days not six days.

Keith

Yes, above poster....we leave on the 20 and get to NY on the 27th. The last time we did it, it WAS 6 days. I guess going slower and taking a little longer does use less fuel. I do hope you don't want to chop off my head or shoot me at dawn (at least not before our trip) for being a day off.

That is correct. It goes slower now.

While it does not stop at any ports, we thought that the on board program that is offered on each sea day was very special.

Keith

We will be doing our fifth T/A this November - which will be our second on HAL - also have done Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and Cunard. QM2 is a great classic experience but is just a week Southampton to NY, (also Cunard charges about the same for 7 days as the others charge for two weeks or more) with no port calls. Usually a 15 or 16 day crossing will give you five or so port calls, either Northern Europe or Med, depending on departure port. Fall westbound is definitely preferable - the weather is much warmer, you have a number of 25 (vs23) hour days due to time zone changes, you have gotten the unpleasant T/A flight out of the way first so you do not have to look forward to it at the end, and you can plan to spend a few days pre-cruise in some truly amazing city: Athens, Venice, Rome, Barcelona are all embarkation ports - to which you could never do justice on a 7 hour port call.

We are interested in booking a transatlantic cruise for either the fall of 2015 or spring of 2016. We have previously sailed with RCI, Celebrity and Holland America and really have no major preference with respect to a cruise line. We are looking for information on how people enjoyed the transatlantic cruises, any deals that were found, the cruise line used (and how you were treated) and your opinion regarding the itinerary you enjoyed. The departure point is not a concern.

We have done ta's on NCL (3), Celebrity, (1), and Oceania (2). Slightly different itinerary each time. Each one was enjoyable.

We prefer westward cruise since then the many time changes provide an extra hour.

We love the non-schedule of sea days. Sleeping late, leisurely breakfast, choosing activities to participate in, plenty of time for lounging, reading, casino, quiet drink in lounge, chatting with other passengers.

We did not find significant differences in service across cruise lines. The crew always seemed more relaxed than on port-intensive cruises.

Transatlantics seem to be a good bargain since not everyone likes sea days, especially so many in a row. But we love them.

We will be doing our fifth T/A this November - which will be our second on HAL - also have done Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and Cunard. QM2 is a great classic experience but is just a week Southampton to NY, (also Cunard charges about the same for 7 days as the others charge for two weeks or more) with no port calls. Usually a 15 or 16 day crossing will give you five or so port calls, either Northern Europe or Med, depending on departure port. Fall westbound is definitely preferable - the weather is much warmer, you have a number of 25 (vs23) hour days due to time zone changes, you have gotten the unpleasant T/A flight out of the way first so you do not have to look forward to it at the end, and you can plan to spend a few days pre-cruise in some truly amazing city: Athens, Venice, Rome, Barcelona are all embarkation ports - to which you could never do justice on a 7 hour port call.

In 100% agreement. We have completed 8 TA's and loved everyone of them. Weather has always been great in the fall; even the December TA had great weather except in the Med.

Whatever you decide, have a wonderful cruise:)

I have had three transatlantic crossings, two of which were on Cunard ships (although 52 years apart). I love sea days so a TA is perfect for me. As mentioned, if you want the true feeling of the great ocean liners of the past, QM2 is the way to go.

I loved my transatlantic cruise (10 days Miami to Lisbon) - maximum number of sea days is what I like best about cruising. While traveling westward from Europe to North America will give you extra time (adding an hour a day many days), those are generally only in the fall; as I couldn't travel then, I took a springtime eastward cruise, and I didn't find losing an hour on many days really caused me much regret.

In fact, I liked the long stretches of sea days so much, I ramped it up to take a transpacific this fall, with 13 sea days.

I've done 2 so far and have one booked for Fall of 2015 12 days on the Emerald Princess, from Barcelona to Ft Lauderdale, that I am really looking forward to.

My 1st was in the Fall of 2012 .... 19 days from Rome to Ft Lauderdale on the Ruby Princess ....... pure heaven!!

The 2nd was last Fall, 14 days on the Crown Princess, from Southampton to Ft Lauderdale. It too was wonderful.

IMO, transatlantic cruises are one of the best cruise bargains to be had.

We did a TA on Celebrity. It was a Solstice class ship.

The ship was beautiful. Everything was very good. We had excellent weather-in fact sometimes it was too warm to sit on our balcony (Nov).

Would we do it again. No. We did not like having five sea days in a row. Two or three sea days is max for us.

We love TAs but I'm going to offer a different take on East/West bound. True, the fall sailings give you an extra hour- usually six in total spread out over the trip. The opposite is true of the spring sailings.

BUT, spring- April-May gives you more daylight which was absolutely wonderful on the northern route. You get over the jet lag issue BEFORE you get to Europe and can hit the ground running. So, if seeing Europe is important to you, your weather might be slightly better in May and is considered an ideal time to see Europe and is still before the high tourist season. We had a very smooth and warm sailing all the way to Copenhagen. The pool area was very usable, which was a surprise considering the route. As new retirees, we prefer to do our jetlag recovery AFTER our trip when we get back home.

I'd go either season, if I had a chance and the price is right. We had to deal with the travel problems of Hurricane Sandy in the fall on our East bound TA. Once we all got on board (a few folks didn't make it), the sailing itself was relatively calm but a bit rainy and cool. The outside areas didn't see much use. The RCCL Mariner was our favorite ship so far and was near perfect.

We´ve done quite aa few TAs East to est and west to east, mainly on Princess oe P&O. Next March we are doing another, this time with MSC (first time with them) from Rio de Janeiro to Malaga where we´re getting off before the cruise finishes (cruise goes on for about 2 or 3 more days to Genoa)

Like the TAs for the cruise days and the chance to actually use what the ship and entertainment has to offer)

Sandy in Spain

Thank you everyone for the information and thoughts on the transatlantic cruises. We have decided to book one and we are greatly appreciative of the information provided on this thread.

We are still relatively new to cruising (only four cruises). On our last two cruises we were rushed off our feet with shore excursions and the thought of having a number of relaxing sea days sounds perfect!

Gail

If you do a fall westward TA is it warm enough to enjoy a balcony or do you recommend just an ocean view room?

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If you do a fall westward TA is it warm enough to enjoy a balcony or do you recommend just an ocean view room?

 

 

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We are taking our fifth fall T/A November 4 - the Atlantic keeps its summer warmth through much of November - you should have temps in the 70's (approaching 80 at the end if you terminate in Florida). Book a port side balcony - on the sunny side all day every day - much warmer than anything on starboard.