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Denali2003

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Hello! DH & I are considering a TA cruise in 2012 - from Ft. Lauderdale and ending in Copenhagen, Denmark - with stops in Ireland, England, France, Norway and Holland. This will be our first TA cruise.

 

There are 6-8 sea days getting from FL to Ireland. Does the ship offer more activities during those sea days? On deck, in the ship, shows, games, etc? If your not a sun bather or a "show" person - want to know what else there is to do for 6 days straight?

 

Also, on a 15 day cruise - do the dining rooms have 15 different dinner menus or do they repeat menus? How much would a Coke Card be on a 15 dayer?

 

The cruise we are looking at leaves at the end of April. How are the seas in the Atlantic at that time of year?

 

Thank you for your help.

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Hello! DH & I are considering a TA cruise in 2012 - from Ft. Lauderdale and ending in Copenhagen, Denmark - with stops in Ireland, England, France, Norway and Holland. This will be our first TA cruise.

 

There are 6-8 sea days getting from FL to Ireland. Does the ship offer more activities during those sea days? On deck, in the ship, shows, games, etc? If your not a sun bather or a "show" person - want to know what else there is to do for 6 days straight?

 

Also, on a 15 day cruise - do the dining rooms have 15 different dinner menus or do they repeat menus? How much would a Coke Card be on a 15 dayer?

 

The cruise we are looking at leaves at the end of April. How are the seas in the

Atlantic at that time of year?

 

Thank you for your help.

 

 

We've done two Westbound crossings' one in 2008 and one in 2009. I always found that there were plenty of activities and shows to keep us busy. I don't remember too much about exact items so I don't remember if they actually repeated. I also don't remember the exact cost of the soda card.

 

One thing you might want to consider is when you take an eastbound crossing most of the sea days are at the beginning

of your voyage. We did two southerly crossings and found the seas very smooth. Since your route is a more northerly crossing, you could have a little more weather. The end of your cruise can become very port intensive. Bil/Sil did a westbound northerly westbound crossing and had some rough seas. Whatever your choice is, have a wonderful cruise.....:):):)

 

bob

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We sailed Fort Lauderdale to Southampton April/May, 2006. We had great weather the whole way. It was a little windy approaching Ponta del Gada in the Azores but the sun shone all the way over.

 

There was a "Scrapheap Challenge" which was a competition to build a boat to sail in the pool. This involved teams and gave you plenty of preparation time. It was good fun. There are also other activities going on around the ship.

 

The 15 day cruise will have different menus each day, no repeats.

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There will be lots of activities on sea days. These could include:

port talks

enrichment lectures

trivia

bingo

ceramics

bridge

martini demo

art auction

etc.

 

Coffee card is $4.25 per day plus tips, but there are some reports that it has been/will be lowered to $3.50 for long cruises and $3.95 for shorter ones. Add 15% tip to all prices.

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We've done 7 TAs both east and west-bound.

Activities on the sea days are very similar to what you would find on sea days on "normal" cruises. You most likely would have a lecturer or two which you do not traditionally find on other cruises. You do have to be able to amuse yourself, though. 7 days at sea can seem like a long time.

 

As far as the seas, I agree with the previous poster. Although you may have no issues with weather/seas, it can be rough out there in April.

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Thank you. We are on a 7 day Caribbean cruise next month. That will be our 6th cruise. The most sea days we have ever seen was 4 and they were broken up between ports - that was on a 12 day Agaean cruise. So never really needed to amuse ourselves for 7 days in a row ;)

 

We do play trivia. The last cruise we did the "Family Feud" game. Almost won. Maybe we will actually participate in more activities, since we have the time.

 

On the Royal Princess I spent quite a bit of time in the casino (slots). I'm a cheap player/winner. If I won 3 coins I was excited :) Now all of the ships - you have to use your room card instead of getting coins dropping. I like the coins - not sure if I will play. Maybe a little bit. I went to a casino in Connecticut last summer and you get a ticket when you win and then you cash out. It was some what fun.

 

On the 15 day cruise - I just might bring my own soda on board and keep in the fridge in the cabin - we would most definitely get a balcony cabin. Don't think I could handle 15 days with an inside cabin. Just our preference.

 

I just hope the waters won't be too rough or run into a Rogue wave. I told DH that if we did -- it would be YEARS before he got me on another cruise ship. We do use the sea sick patches.

 

I'm trying to come up with a story line for a book - maybe the 7 days at sea will help me write ;)

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We do a lot of TAs (usually twice a year) and love those cruises. Yes, there are lots of sea days which is what attracts many to TA cruises. Believe it or not but there are many cruisers who absolutely love those lazy sea days (we are in that group). The CDs do schedule quite a few different activities (this varies by cruise line and ship) but would you believe that some of us don't have a clue about the activities because its too much work to get our of our deck chairs. As far as weather and sea conditions it is like rolling the dice. We have done more than 10 TAs and had bad weather on 2 with excellent weather on the rest. An April crossing with a northern itinerary (such as what you are planning) will probably mean some chilly days. But since you are heading to the Baltic in early spring you will need to be prepared for colder weather on shore, so you should have the necessary clothes. As to menus they will vary the menus every day but some dishes do get repeated (things like Prime Rib).

 

Hank

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We've done one TA heading in the other direction. I would not hesitate to book another and hope to do so after I get some other destinations completed.

 

There were definitely times when the seas were 'rough'. Our captain, who was fabulous, called the calmer seas less exciting. :) He really helped make the voyage special with his demeanor, and regular communications.

 

Anyway, we found there were definitely more activities, and more variety of them. For example, I participated in watercolour classes, and a multitude of other craft activities that are a bit more limited (in my experience) on the shorter voyages. The port lectures are true port lectures not shopping discussions, and they often have a bigger variety. I was speaking with the lady who ran the craft classes and she said, she is given a choice of cruises on which to run her program and the more interesting itineraries will attract a greater variety of 'teachers'.

 

Lots of movies to watch in cabin, in the lounge or at MUTS as well if you want something low key.

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Coffee card is $4.25 per day plus tips, but there are some reports that it has been/will be lowered to $3.50 for long cruises and $3.95 for shorter ones. Add 15% tip to all prices.

 

Maybe I'm confused but the coffee card doesn't have a per day value - you buy it and if you want to use it in one day you can.

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Hello! DH & I are considering a TA cruise in 2012 - from Ft. Lauderdale and ending in Copenhagen, Denmark - with stops in Ireland, England, France, Norway and Holland. This will be our first TA cruise.

.

 

 

I have sailed on several TAs; east bound and west bound.

 

Keep in mind that the time change on east bounds is one hour ahead;

seemed as if we had time changes every night:eek:.

 

Have a great cruise.

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For some reason, I do better when losing hours than when gaining them on the way home. When we did our Med cruise in 2009 - we were awake for 28 hrs straight. We did not sleep on the plane to Rome. As soon as we got there - took a shower and headed out. We had tickets to the Vatican. We crashed at 6pm - fell asleep. Woke up at 9pm refreshed. Stayed up for 2 hours then went back to sleep and was up at 5am. No problems.

When we got home - OMG, it took us a whole week to get adjusted to the time difference. Weird hun.

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Hello! DH & I are considering a TA cruise in 2012 - from Ft. Lauderdale and ending in Copenhagen, Denmark - with stops in Ireland, England, France, Norway and Holland. This will be our first TA cruise.

 

There are 6-8 sea days getting from FL to Ireland. Does the ship offer more activities during those sea days? On deck, in the ship, shows, games, etc? If your not a sun bather or a "show" person - want to know what else there is to do for 6 days straight?

 

Also, on a 15 day cruise - do the dining rooms have 15 different dinner menus or do they repeat menus? How much would a Coke Card be on a 15 dayer?

 

The cruise we are looking at leaves at the end of April. How are the seas in the Atlantic at that time of year?

 

Thank you for your help.

 

Denali, where are you finding TA cruises for 2012? Which cruiseline? I have been looking on Princess, but can't find TA cruises listed. Am I looking in the wrong place? :confused: Your itinerary sounds wonderful!!

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Denali, where are you finding TA cruises for 2012? Which cruiseline? I have been looking on Princess, but can't find TA cruises listed. Am I looking in the wrong place? :confused: Your itinerary sounds wonderful!!

It was a Princess cruise that briefly showed up and then went poof. I saw it and was very excited, too. Just have to wait until all the Europe cruises show up, maybe mid March?

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Just remember no matter what other folks post about the seas you are on the North Atlantic and could experience a very rough trip in early spring. I also will guarantee a cold trip due to the low water temps and northern route.:eek:

 

I wouldn`t class this as a North Atlantic cruise. There are no guarantees that it will be cold. May can be a very warm month for us, although not in comparison to Florida temperatures.

I would be more worried about the North Sea, going to Norway.

Over here in May you could get snow (unlikely) but you could also get a heatwave. Be prepared for anything.

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Just remember no matter what other folks post about the seas you are on the North Atlantic and could experience a very rough trip in early spring. I also will guarantee a cold trip due to the low water temps and northern route.:eek:

 

 

Not sure which TA's you found the cold trips on but having completed 20 TA's, 11 in April/Early May we certainly haven't found this to be the case. In fact we have experienced percentage(%) wise more rough seas during our numerous trips around the Caribbean than we have on the TA's.

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Just remember no matter what other folks post about the seas you are on the North Atlantic and could experience a very rough trip in early spring. I also will guarantee a cold trip due to the low water temps and northern route.:eek:

 

 

Not sure which TA's you found the cold trips on but having completed 20 TA's, 11 in April/Early May we certainly haven't found this to be the case. In fact we have experienced percentage(%) wise more rough seas during our numerous trips around the Caribbean than we have on the TA's.

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Denali, where are you finding TA cruises for 2012? Which cruiseline? I have been looking on Princess, but can't find TA cruises listed. Am I looking in the wrong place? :confused: Your itinerary sounds wonderful!!
We were looking at 2011 itineries b/c the 2012 is not out yet. We will be talking to a Future cruise agent on our cruise next month. Hopefully they can give us more information about 2012. DH said if this cruise is available in 2012 he will book it. If they don't have any info right now on 2012, then we will put down a FCC. We will be celebrating DH's 50th birthday!
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