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TA First Timers


GerScot
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43 minutes ago, GerScot said:

Despite having done many cruises we will be taking our first ever TA in October and I am intrigued as to what will be different from regular cruises?What should we expect?

Probably for us the main difference is the number of sea days. We love sea days. We had always thought the days would be long but not so. There are often 3 Beyond the Podium speakers talking on a variety of subjects each sea day, each talk lasting about 45 minutes. Entertainers do an afternoon show as well as an evening show sometimes.

There are the usual trivias and progressive trivias, other game shows, dance lessons and activities during the day. We are also balcony people and being Scots weather doesn’t usually bother us. As long as it’s dry on the balcony we’ll get those tartan, woolly blankets and sit wrapped up on the balcony, read our kindles and watch the sea.The weather can vary depending on the route the ship takes. Southern crossings tend to be warmer than norther crossings. Sailing west also gives you longer days as you gain hours. We’ve sometimes been a bit tired going east with the number of hours lost especially if we’ve been up late and there is an early speaker the next morning.

We’ve only had one rough crossing and that was last October on Silhouette from Southampton. The ship had to change its route, arrived a day late in Boston and missed out Nassau altogether. Balcony furniture was folded down for most of the crossing and the outdoor decks were closed. Lots of rocking and rolling. It’s just a matter of luck, the crossing the year before had been very smooth. Guest services were very good and allowed us free phone calls to rebook private excursions if needed. The. Captain had a huge map outside the Ocean View each day so we could see the progress of ‘Oscar.’

For us an ideal holiday, a mix of ports and sea days. Enjoy.

Sandra

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Our TA on the Reflection was the most amazing cruise. If you haven't joined already, I would recommend joining your Roll Call. We chatted with people from all over prior to the cruise, planning our tours and onboard activities. We booked small private tours and got others on the Roll Call to join. We hit it off with several people on the Roll Call and had many wonderful moments on that long cruise and also did the Amalfi Coast and Pompeii from Rome after the cruise with people from the Roll Call. We have kept in touch and cruised with some of them and had a 14 night reunion cruise on the Eclipse with 3 of the couples a couple of years ago.  I think those 7 sea days in a row give the ship a different vibe - it is so relaxing and a good time to just let the tensions of life go and enjoy the little community onboard. 🙂

 

 

Edited by vtcruising
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We did our first transatlantic in spring 2016 - 6 days at sea.  We brought our kindle loaded with books and also brought our laptop computer with the games my husband likes to play.  first two days okay for the balcony,, but cold and windy to sit out there after that.  We slept, ate, played in the casino and really enjoyed "we have nothing to do".  On the next long sea days was 8 days coming back from Tahiti to LA - around the 5 or 6 sea day we were ready to get home.  I think 6 is the max sea days, anything more it hard to find things to do - in my opinion.

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We have done two crossings, westbound in October 2017 and the eastbound in April this year.  We always did like sea days before ever doing a TA and would look for itineraries that had plenty of sea days. There is so much to do (if you want to join in of course) and some days we had difficulty fitting everything in such as dance lessons, the onboard choir, the lectures, film shows, extra shows in the theatre, fascinating talks by various officers and all the other activities. We were really sorry when our eight consecutive sea days came to an end on our October 2017 sailing. We find the whole feeling on a TA is different as passengers are not coming and going at ports of call. I hope you enjoy your TA as much as we do. 

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We did our first TA last October on Reflection from Rome to Fort Lauderdale.  I loved the days at sea although I would say 7 is probably my max.  I also encourage you to join your roll call.  We set up many private excursion for the ports ahead of time.  I had not done private excursions before and now I'm hooked.  Plus it was fun seeing the same people on the excursions and around the ship.  I also enjoyed the Beyond the Podium talks.  I read many books and loved the people watching around the pool  My husband doesn't like the sun as much as me so, besides our balcony, he found many shady places to read.  

 

To be honest, I thought I'd be bored with so many days at sea but I wasn't.  Many people on our TA had done many TAs previously.  

 

Enjoy!

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15 TA's under my belt, and it is my favorite type of voyage.  I've done them starting at age four, and in my teens, in my 20's, 30's, 40's and 50's, so I truly believe it can be a great trip for all ages (no experience in 60's and beyond, yet, but give me time!).

 

Working at a high-stress job, it's where I can truly relax and "get away from it all."  But there is also a nice rhythm to consecutive days at sea...no rushing, lots of options, but nothing so urgent that you can't decide to skip. 

 

Naps at sea are a little slice of heaven.  Room service and a movie when you want a break from the pool.  

 

It's really on sea days that you stop and converse with other passengers, and build a stronger connection.  

 

And night life is a more attractive option if you know the next morning brings more of the same, especially the option to sleep in.

 

And, to get a little metaphysical on you (from California, after all! ) being surrounded by all that water gives me positive energy, and a kind of peace I usually only find in a long hot shower. ( we shouldn't take long showers in California, so there might be a connection for me liking cruises in general)

 

And, as I have said many time on these boards, it's also a collective adventure, one that harkens back to many of our ancestors, and voyages they made.  That we do it with 2800 or so fellow passengers cements that with camaraderie, as if we rowed the ocean ourselves!

(And yet we get to do it in relative comfort!)

 

So, yeah. I'm basically saying they suck, and don't do one!😉

Edited by Blazerboy
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Thanks all for replies it sounds great and just what we are looking for, particularly looking forward to the Beyond the Podium speakers which I have enjoyed on most of our X cruises, so good to see they are quite a few! The state of the sea does not bother me but my DW can get a bit queasy if its rough but hey we have 6 days to get over it!

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We did our first TA this spring (eastbound)

 

Pax were old, older , oldest. Truly the oldest group we have ever sailed with in 20+ yrs

 

There are options for Sea days to fill them with movies, trivia, naps, and "educational" talks.

 

Speakers: We had one great speaker--an MD who combined history/medicine and world events. His first speech was his best. Wish he had another 15 mins..or could have done a part 2. We heard all of them. Pretty good. The other "Podium" speaker had a new age medicinal track-- we heard part--and from other interactions decided  her "smart" "brain" talks were not worth the price of admission.

So buyer beware

 

Don't recall any real "destination" talks.

 

Food was good/better and sometimes ok. 

 

Staff works very hard to make 14+ days together a pleasure. 

 

BLU had Bridge/Scrabble etc 

 

There were enough shows/entertainment options to choose a show or not.

 

Depending on itinerary it may be worth an AQ cabin to make use of the spa/PG

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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We’ve done 3 TA’s (one East in May and 2 West in Oct/Nov and are booked for an Oct one this year and then a Cunard East TA / Norway / West TA, so I guess we kind of enjoy them......yeah. Heck, we have a TransPacific coming  in 2021!

 

I agree it’s an older and more experienced cruising makeup, but not a lot of very oldies who need ramming scooters. So here is what we’d do: I’d get the next day Daily and start marking off all I wanted to do with lots of markups. Then we’d wake up that morning, lay around longer than planned, then go wander around and then look at the Daily and realize I’ve missed 1/2 of what we’d planned....and loved it! 

 

So there is a lot to do and more time to Not to do all that a lot of things. The pricing is usually very nice and recently they’ve added Perks which wasn’t that common. 

 

Strongly recommend it for those that can ‘entertain’ themselves and can miss doing whatever they do every week, stepping out of ‘The Box’. And boy is it stepping out of The Norm. 

 

Den

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5 hours ago, Blazerboy said:

15 TA's under my belt, and it is my favorite type of voyage.  I've done them starting at age four, and in my teens, in my 20's, 30's, 40's and 50's, so I truly believe it can be a great trip for all ages (no experience in 60's and beyond, yet, but give me time!).

 

Working at a high-stress job, it's where I can truly relax and "get away from it all."  But there is also a nice rhythm to consecutive days at sea...no rushing, lots of options, but nothing so urgent that you can't decide to skip. 

 

Naps at sea are a little slice of heaven.  Room service and a movie when you want a break from the pool.  

 

It's really on sea days that you stop and converse with other passengers, and build a stronger connection.  

 

And night life is a more attractive option if you know the next morning brings more of the same, especially the option to sleep in.

 

And, to get a little metaphysical on you (from California, after all! ) being surrounded by all that water gives me positive energy, and a kind of peace I usually only find in a long hot shower. ( we shouldn't take long showers in California, so there might be a connection for me liking cruises in general)

 

And, as I have said many time on these boards, it's also a collective adventure, one that harkens back to many of our ancestors, and voyages they made.  That we do it with 2800 or so fellow passengers cements that with camaraderie, as if we rowed the ocean ourselves!

(And yet we get to do it in relative comfort!)

 

So, yeah. I'm basically saying they suck, and don't do one!😉

 

I had to laugh about your "shower" comment!! Living in San Diego...I so understand not being able to take long showers...heck...DH does what he calls a "Navy Shower"!!! :) :) One of only many of the reasons I love cruising...long, hot showers!! :) LuAnn

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2 hours ago, Fogfog said:

We did our first TA this spring (eastbound)

 

Pax were old, older , oldest. Truly the oldest group we have ever sailed with in 20+ yrs

 

 

Odd, we find the passengers skew younger, as there are people using it as an alternative to flying or people relocating.

 

Compared to short 7 day cruises, I guess the demographic might be older, as 14-16 days is pretty long for most working folks, but compared to regular 14+ day cruises,  I think your cruise might have been an anomaly.  

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1 minute ago, Blazerboy said:

Odd, we find the passengers skew younger, as there are people using it as an alternative to flying or people relocating.

 

Compared to short 7 day cruises, I guess the demographic might be older, as 14-16 days is pretty long for most working folks, but compared to regular 14+ day cruises,  I think your cruise might have been an anomaly.  

The longer the cruise, the older the pax is the norm year round--we just didn't expect the avg age to be so old

We saw only 2 families with children on the ship 

 

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5 minutes ago, Fogfog said:

The longer the cruise, the older the pax is the norm year round--we just didn't expect the avg age to be so old

We saw only 2 families with children on the ship 

 

Of course, somehow, as I age, the passengers get younger and younger!😉

 

With Celebrity's schedule of Spring and Fall crossings, it makes sense that there would be fewer kids of school age. 

 

My mother was great- she just yanked us out of school and told the principal that we'd learn more in Europe than we would in his classrooms.  True that!  I learned to dance with dowagers, use the correct flatware,  freshen a cocktail, tie a tie...all sorts of invaluable lessons.😁

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Fun post!  On my bucket list (but not necessarily my wife's).  Will have to see if I can convince her.  On our last cruise, we had 4 sea days which she was dreading.  But....she actually enjoyed them.  Granted, they were scattered around the cruise and not all at once.  But, there's hope!  Our next cruise in November (Mediterranean) has just 1 sea day on a 10 night cruise - quite the opposite. 😁

Edited by DENIE
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My husband and I are big fans of sea days and did our first TA last year in April as part of a B2B2B. Loved it so much we also did a TP in September. Neither of us experienced boredom but we like to try new things and enjoy meeting new people. We played the games, read, sunned, went to the casino, and generally relaxed.  I am an artist so I took along a simple art kit I put together specifically for the trip. I never tire of watching the ocean so I totally get the earlier comment about the energy--it recharges me.  One thing I would recommend was bringing along some of your favorite snacks or candy.  I was really happy I brought some of my favorite protein bars and trail mix and other snacks--sometimes I wanted those specific bits of home.  I bought a pass to the Persian Garden and loved the heated loungers.  Enjoy!

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We've only done one TA, Rome to Ft. Lauderdale on the Constellation and we loved it! We stopped in Florence, Cartagena Spain, Agadir Morocco and the Canary Islands and then 7 blissful days crossing.

On the last sea day I was up in the lounge at the top of ship (can't remember the name) with several others just relaxing, reading and there was a collective sigh when we saw the first bird we'd seen in a week.....sort of sad it was ending.

Can't wait to retire to have more time for these!

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1 hour ago, Katyoparty said:

 One thing I would recommend was bringing along some of your favorite snacks or candy.  I was really happy I brought some of my favorite protein bars and trail mix and other snacks--sometimes I wanted those specific bits of home.  

One time on a Crystal crossing, by day 15, all we wanted was a grilled cheese sandwich and a cup of tomato soup...and they did it for us!

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Agree with bringing snacks onboard. We bring crackers onto the ship to have with cheese. Have noticed over the years that the choice of crackers has lessened.  Crackers and cheese with glass of wine or coffee on the balcony mid afternoon while at sea. So relaxing. Our TA’s have had a variety of age groups but probably more on the over 40/50’s. What we have noticed is that some people (Snow Birds) use the crossing  to and from the U.K. to relocate. We have spoken to people who ‘winter’ in Florida and ‘summer’ back home in the U.K. and use the April and October/ November crossings instead of flying. On our first TA we mentioned to a lady we were speaking to that we were still waiting for one of our pieces of luggage. She said she was still waiting for 4 pieces. She said it was much less expensive to cruise over with all the benefits of a floating hotel than pay for all that extra luggage.There  also tends to be a high number of Elite and Elite Plus on board. At times it could be really difficult to get a seat in the Sky Lounge for ‘Happy Hour’ before they changed where you could use your vouchers. You can even use them now in the MDR before 7pm.

Sandra

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Have cruised several times, but never Celebrity and never TA. May be a naive question, but what is cell /phone service like on a TA? DH runs his own small business and is open to TA but likes to keep in touch to put out fires back home. 

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I am also taking my first transatlantic in October, and my first cruise on Celebrity. We usually sail on Royal Caribbean. What ship will you be on? We are sailing on the Infinity. Can't wait.

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13 hours ago, LuAnn said:

 

I had to laugh about your "shower" comment!! Living in San Diego...I so understand not being able to take long showers...heck...DH does what he calls a "Navy Shower"!!! 🙂 🙂 One of only many of the reasons I love cruising...long, hot showers!! 🙂 LuAnn

... and I am laughing too... but not for the same reason...  have lived in San Diego for 40 years and have never even thought about worrying that I am taking a long shower.  Have I missed something with water rationing lately?  Maybe these comments are meant to keep tourists away?

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15 minutes ago, nyllrap said:

I am also taking my first transatlantic in October, and my first cruise on Celebrity. We usually sail on Royal Caribbean. What ship will you be on? We are sailing on the Infinity. Can't wait.

 

We are on the Silhouette which is our favourite, particularly like the spacious Sky Lounge great place to relax and stunning views.

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2 hours ago, BirdandBaby said:

Have cruised several times, but never Celebrity and never TA. May be a naive question, but what is cell /phone service like on a TA? DH runs his own small business and is open to TA but likes to keep in touch to put out fires back home. 

Exactly the same as it is anywhere in the world.  All cell phone service on ships is through satellites which are largely available mid-Atlantic.  There may be spotty outages with both the cell service and TV service.

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2 hours ago, BirdandBaby said:

Have cruised several times, but never Celebrity and never TA. May be a naive question, but what is cell /phone service like on a TA? DH runs his own small business and is open to TA but likes to keep in touch to put out fires back home. 

I was pleasantly surprised with the wifi service.  I kept my phone in airplane mode but was able to text with other IPhones using wifi and I also was able to use Facebook Messenger to stay in touch.  I was also able to receive and send emails. I tried not to rub it in too often that I was at the pool crossing the Atlantic while my friends and family back home had snow 🙂

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