transatlantic questions

[sunandfun4me]

Hi, all! DM and I sailed on Solstice in June and have decided that the best Christmas gift we can give eachother is another Celebrity cruise! We are thisclose to booking the Solstice TA to Barcelona in May 2011. I've done a little research and have read that TA sea days have ample activities. Wondering if anybody has a copy of some dailies from a past Celebrity TA that I could share with DM? I'm guessing that there are nightly shows on a TA (at least, that's what I've told DM :rolleyes:) but if somebody could confirm that, it would be great! Probably a ton of other good questions that i'm missing...any other tips and comments would be most appreciated!

 

Thanks much & happy holidays!!!:)

[Florida Terry]

Hi, all! DM and I sailed on Solstice in June and have decided that the best Christmas gift we can give eachother is another Celebrity cruise! We are thisclose to booking the Solstice TA to Barcelona in May 2011. I've done a little research and have read that TA sea days have ample activities. Wondering if anybody has a copy of some dailies from a past Celebrity TA that I could share with DM? I'm guessing that there are nightly shows on a TA (at least, that's what I've told DM :rolleyes:) but if somebody could confirm that, it would be great! Probably a ton of other good questions that i'm missing...any other tips and comments would be most appreciated!

 

Thanks much & happy holidays!!!:)

 

We have done many Repositional cruises and find them full of activities. We are taking the Repo cruise on the Disney Magic to Barcelona next May 14, 2011. We do the Repo's because they are inexpensive and devoid of young children, (although sounds like an oxymoron with Disney). Last May, we took the Radiance of the Seas from San Diego, up the California coast to San Francisco, 2 more nights at sea, before doing another 8 days in Alaska, Hubbard Glacier, Inside passage and several stops in B.C. The grand total was $599 for the cruise, not including air fare or excursions. I hope this helps in your decision

[Route6A]

We were on the fall Equinox TA, and I imagine Solstice is pretty much the same as far as activities go. Usually, I read three or four books on a TA, but on the Equinox I found so many interesting things to do, I read only one book. The Corning Musuem of Glass Hot Glass Show, which was held for two hours twice a day, was fascinatiing. Additionally, the enrichment lectures were quite good. A British astromomer was very witty and interesting. There was also a former baseball management gentleman my husband enjoyed. Add to that the usual ship's activities, such as bingo, lounging by the pool, dance classes, eating too many meals and evening entertainment, which was really quite good, and it's a great way to spend a couple of weeks. Hope you'll love your TA, too.

[cruise kitty]

I don't have copies of dalies available, but I can tell you that a TA is just wonderful, there were plenty of activities & shows, probably the best value for a vacation dollar, you won't be bored!

[Bridge Maven]

One thing to keep in mind is that Cunard's Queen Mary II was built as an ocean liner and is designed to handle rough seas, while no Celebrity ship was built as an ocean liner. Even though I enjoy Celebrity for a typical cruise, I would only consider a real ocean liner for a Transatlantic Crossing.

[Gonzo70]

One thing to keep in mind is that Cunard's Queen Mary II was built as an ocean liner and is designed to handle rough seas, while no Celebrity ship was built as an ocean liner. Even though I enjoy Celebrity for a typical cruise, I would only consider a real ocean liner for a Transatlantic Crossing.

 

Celebrity's S-Class ships handle high seas quite well. We hit remnants of Hurricane Tom during the recent crossing on Equinox; sure you felt movement during at the time (we had 15 to 20 foot swells for a while), but most people were still comfortable.

[Woobstr112G]

One thing to keep in mind is that Cunard's Queen Mary II was built as an ocean liner and is designed to handle rough seas, while no Celebrity ship was built as an ocean liner. Even though I enjoy Celebrity for a typical cruise, I would only consider a real ocean liner for a Transatlantic Crossing.

 

A little rough seas makes the voyage more enjoyable (IMHO).....:):):)

 

Bob

[excitedofharpenden]

sunandfun4me, sorry I ditched all my dailies, but there always seemed to be lots of activities going on. I'm one who loves to just relax on sea days and watch the water so I can't give you much advice here, except to say I love transatlantics!

 

One thing to keep in mind is that Cunard's Queen Mary II was built as an ocean liner and is designed to handle rough seas, while no Celebrity ship was built as an ocean liner. Even though I enjoy Celebrity for a typical cruise, I would only consider a real ocean liner for a Transatlantic Crossing.

To be honest I think this statement is far too generalised and not particularly helpful to someone looking for advice on doing a Transatlantic. I'd make the following points:

• Whilst the design of QM2 is certainly different with a much deeper hull, she has a longer Transatlantic season and does the northerly North Atlantic route quite often
  
• Most if not all of the Celebrity TAs now follow a more southerly route across the Atlantic which in general terms has smoother seas
  
• With the fickle nature of the Atlantic and even if it is rough, the likes of the M-Class and S-Class seem to handle them very well. I speak from experience rather than just what I believe might be the case. Posted below is a picture I took of Constellation when we arrived in Canada from a particularly rough north North Atlantic crossing. She did very well considering her name had been partially salt blasted off!
  
• Finally and probably most importantly, Celebrity want you to have a safe and comfortable trip and for that reason the captain will do his best to steer around any potentially rough seas. Modern cruise ships have amazing technology!
  

Finally, finally I agree with Bob. It's nice to have a bit of movement just to remind you that it's a ship you are on!

 

Celebrity's S-Class ships handle high seas quite well. We hit remnants of Hurricane Tom during the recent crossing on Equinox; sure you felt movement during at the time (we had 15 to 20 foot swells for a while), but most people were still comfortable.

Gonzo, I don't think that was Tomas. I think he'd fizzled by that time. We were a couple of days ahead of you on Eclipse and that's what our captain told us. There was a storm that moved down the east coast that kicked up the seas around the 12th November that we caught the tail end of and you probably saw a bit more of it.

 

 

Phil

[joanne59]

We love a TA cruise and would book more of them if we had more vacation days. The seas have always been pretty calm for us, we found there to be a bit more motion leaving the waters of Europe while transitioning to the Atlantic. As others have said, we always opt for a final destination in Miami upon arrival in the US, because a more southerly route offers calmer seas.

 

Happy cruising...Joanne

[sunandfun4me]

hi, all! thanks for the great feedback! just waiting on our house sitter/pet sitter to call us back and confirm that he's available for the dates we need! :)

 

can i trouble with another question? booking airfare home? dm likes the idea of booking thru celebrity (no worries if something goes wrong...celebrity handles it...which is nice!). would love to hear other thoughts and opinions, though.

 

thanks so much again! happy holidays!

[Gonzo70]

hi, all! thanks for the great feedback! just waiting on our house sitter/pet sitter to call us back and confirm that he's available for the dates we need! :)

 

can i trouble with another question? booking airfare home? dm likes the idea of booking thru celebrity (no worries if something goes wrong...celebrity handles it...which is nice!). would love to hear other thoughts and opinions, though.

 

thanks so much again! happy holidays!

 

Go with the best fare. Sometimes the cruise line gets great one way rates for transatlantic flights via Choice Air; I used them for my flight from Chicago to Rome on my last transatlantic because they had the best price I could find.

 

Do not count on the cruise line to take care of you if something goes wrong. They are not obligated to do so. They may or may not offer meaningful assistance with your flight if something goes wrong; they simply offer airfare as a convenience and almost always use consolidator class tickets.

[The Shadow]

We were on the TA from Rome to Fort Lauderdale last month and the entire trip was remarkable. We booked everything through our travel agent which found the best rates for us by using Celebrity air and we were greeted at the airport in Rome by their local agent, taken in a private van to our downtown hotel (avoid lower cost suburban hotels or you will spend a lot of time in taxis). We were greeted at our hotel Empire Palace by Celebrity agent and she took a lot of time advising us on our three days exploring Rome. We had booked private tour of the Vatican ourselves and it worked well. We did the hop on hop off bus and its the best way to get around.

Other tours we did through our board on Cruise Critic and Spain Day Tours, but none through the ship.

After spending 7 days seeing the ports with great trips in Barcelona and Seville, we had one sea day to Canary Islands. Everything is closed up there on Sunday but we walked around and found a nice port bar with cold beer and wonderful complimentary cheese tray, the bar is the Manhattan.

There is more to do on the ship than you could do if you stayed on another TA crossing. The food is good anywhere you go and they had their share of it on the Equinox. But the staff is top notch. Anyone who didn't enjoy this crossing likely is sour all the time.

The ship is spectacular and the tv system is really functional in every way. The select dining still lags behind choosing one of the main seating times but it was really nice not to worry about a set time. In time, it will work fine.

It is hard to say enough about the attitude of the Celebrity staff, they were fantastic.

The weather was bumpy for only a day and it was nothing tough or rough, after all you are in the middle of the ocean. The captain chose a route south of our route to avoid an unusual weather system and it worked out fine.

Don't worry about the sea days being long, they pass quickly. Have a great adventure.

[Karynanne]

I agree with Phil...Celebrity ships do very well on Transatlantic and Transpacific routes. We've done both, and have experienced smooth seas and very rough seas.

 

And Phil, I too remember that crossing. What a fun ride!

 

Karyn