Transatlantic Cruise - Best time of year - Spring or Fall?

[MsGal]

Realizing weather is unpredictable, based on your experience, what is the best time of year to do a transatlantic? And which is more enjoyable, eastbound or westbound?

 

I've never done a TA and would like to do so in 2014 or 2015.

 

Thanks.

[FawnRiver]

We prefer flying over to Europe and taking the cruise back. It really doesn't have anything to do with the weather - that's a gamble at any time of year. Its the time change that will get you.

 

We had friends who did the eastbound TA and they complained they were constantly losing time on the way over and they urged us to do the westbound trip. This way, you get the big time change flying over (which is one of the reasons why we always fly a few days early so we can adjust and do some exploring) and then you gain time all the way back.

 

Since I'm a nervous flyer, I get the more stressful flight out of the way first.

[barante]

We took an MSC Poesia trans-Atlantic from FLL to Kiel in April/May. One of the rockiest rides we have experienced. But that was not a problem. However, we found ourselves quite bored with all those crossing days stacked at the beginning of the voyage.

 

We will take a Carnival Legend TA from Dover to New York in September. Ireland, Scotland, Iceland in the beginning, then sea days to Greenland and Newfoundland. I'm sure this will be more pleasurable -- although did I get a lot of reading done on the Poesia because they had few distractions in English.

 

Losing an hour here and there has never bothered me. But I want to return to the U.S. rested. That's why we favor westbound TAs. which means autumn sailings.

[navybankerteacher]

Westbound in the fall is far better, for a number of reasons. It is good to get the flight over with first, and have the relaxing cruise home. The five or six hour time zone difference means you have those many nights with lost hours heading east vs. gained hours heading west. The Atlantic is much warmer in November than in May due to retained summer heat - you are likely to have 70 vs 50 degree weather. Finally, if you spend some time in Europe either pre- or post- cruise, the weather there is much better in October or early November, than in late April or May. I believe that the difference in fares reflects these reasons - usually cheaper eastbound in the fall.

[cruiserking]

We took a spectacular 17-day Transatlantic from New York City to Rome in April 2008, the sea was like a pond but, the other great benefit is there were not a lot of crowds at the various ports.

 

Whichever season you pick you will have a blast.

 

Jonathan

[Maryandi]

We have been on trans- Atlantics several times - both ways -

 

I would rather Trans. in the Spring - in the Fall there are

possibilities of hurricanes going northbound from the Caribbean.

 

We have not had all smooth weather when we have trans. but

nothing we could not handle.

 

The Pacific side also has trans-Pacifics and we have had no problem

with big weather issues there, either.

 

Enjoy, MaryA

[Keith1010]

Spring would be better.

 

I prefer West to East since you set the clock backward rather than forward.

 

Keith

[Scrapnana]

From the time frame I'm guessing you want to do a repostioning transatlantic. You can do a pure transatlantic (no stops) on Cunard's QM2 any month but February, March, and April.

 

I prefer the westbound TA since you have a number of 25 hour days.

[Galveston Cruiser]

Spring would be better.

 

I prefer West to East since you set the clock backward rather than forward.

 

Keith

 

Actually it is the other way around. East to West you have 6/7 25 hours days.

West to East you have 23 hours days.

We have done 7 TA's, October, November & December and much prefer fall.

Weather has been good and seas calm.

[NMLady]

Realizing weather is unpredictable, based on your experience, what is the best time of year to do a transatlantic? And which is more enjoyable, eastbound or westbound?

 

I've never done a TA and would like to do so in 2014 or 2015.

 

Thanks.

 

We have done ta in both directions, have another scheduled for October.

We much prefer westbound because the time changes add an hour rather than subtracting an hour. It is much easier on our body clocks.

 

We have been fortunate in not having bad weather. The captain changes routing if nessary. This happened in 2010 when the captain changed our routing from northern to southern because of storm in original itinerary routing.

[navybankerteacher]

Actually it is the other way around. East to West you have 6/7 25 hours days.

West to East you have 23 hours days.

We have done 7 TA's, October, November & December and much prefer fall.

Weather has been good and seas calm.

 

I think he meant he preferred westBOUND to eastBOUND. We are booked on our fourth October westbound this year - have always had decent weather.

[marco]

We prefer flying over spending time touring and "tiring ourselves out" and then relaxing on the ship coming home. As the time is set back daily and not all at once, we have some 25 hr days (eastbound you have 23 hr days). We prefer going to Europe in the fall and that's when all of the ships head back to the Caribbean for the winter season. Eastbound sailings are in the spring when the ships head back to Europe for the summer season.

[Markanddonna]

One thing not mentioned is that your internal clock has a chance to get set for European time if you go in the spring (eastbound). With the fall sailings, you usually want to maximize your time in the European port and the tired factor has to be dealt with. You arrive in Europe pretty rested up and ready to go with clean clothes (break down and purchase the laundry service).

 

While I did enjoy the longer 25 hour days, it really messed me up with getting up way too early. If you are the sort of person who can roll over easily and go back to sleep, no problem. Ask me what the ship looks like at 4 or 5 AM and I can tell you..

 

April and May sailings have more daylight to enjoy the ship and the European ports versus late Oct. and Nov.

 

We flew to Europe the day before Hurricane Sandy hit and had a few stressful previous days while we tried to convince Cruise Air and then United to let us on the earlier connecting flight. If I had not been the diligent one, I would have lost 2-3 days of my 4 in Rome. I learned to read my contract carefully. That experience taught me the problems with traveling in the fall on an important/expensive sailing. Yes, we had insurance.

 

Does anyone know if east or west bounds have a reputation of being more filled? I saw that some cruiselines are really lowering their prices already on the fall TA's.

[MsGal]

Great info. Thanks, everyone!

[barante]

Keith1010's being grammatically correct led to confusion. Modern times.

 

We, too, prefer trans-Atlantics from Europe to North America. That means that most port visits are in the beginning. Then, with a possible stop at the Azores or Canary islands, there is lots of time to relax.

 

Up to you which line you take. We have taken HAL TAs a couple of times. And Princess. Our most recent was on MSC, the next one on Carnival.

 

For trans-Atlantics HAL has the advantage of having the best shipboard libraries at sea. Also, computer access to the New York Times is free. These are value-added items.

 

Princess has a wonderful product, too. MSC was fine but we missed movies and television in English (although at a certain point live television disappears on the Atlantic for a couple of days).

 

Great hopes for Carnival -- if the weather is warm enough in British Isles in late September to use the water slide.