What do you love about Transpacific/Transatlantic cruises?

[KeepCalmBearOn]

1 hour ago, Texed said:

Too many sea days?  To me, that's like saying you have too much money or too much horsepower.  😁

 

But, I would love the itinerary you posted.  😊

 

Here is the HNL to SYD on Celebrity,

 

Day 1 Honolulu, Day 2 Hilo, Day 3 Cruising, Day 4 Cruising, Day 5 Cruising, Day 6 Cruising, Day 7 Cruising, Day 8 Tahiti (Papeete), Day 9 Bora Bora, Day 10 Moorea, Day 11, Cruising, Day 12, Cruising, Day 13 Cruising, Day 14 Cruising, Day 15 Cruising, Day 16 Auckland, Day 17 Paihia, Day 18 Cruising, Day 19 Cruising, Day 20, Sydney (Australia) - 18 nights, 6 ports, 12 sea days.

 

I've done this in reverse on Princess.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

1 hour ago, Texed said:

 

Too many sea days?  To me, that's like saying you have too much money or too much horsepower.  😁

 

But, I would love the itinerary you posted.  😊

 

I don't believe it's possible to have too many sea days.

[Wine-O]

18 minutes ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

 

I don't believe it's possible to have too many sea days.

Harmony of the Seas is doing a 14-day TA next Fall with only one port.  If you don't like sea days, this would not be the cruise for you.  🍷

[KeepCalmBearOn]

1 minute ago, Wine-O said:

Harmony of the Seas is doing a 14-day TA next Fall with only one port.  If you don't like sea days, this would not be the cruise for you.  🍷

 

14 days for TA? Are they backing into Port Canaveral? 11 sea days in a row seems excessive, but at least on Harmony there is plenty to do.

[Wine-O]

5 minutes ago, scottca075 said:

 

14 days for TA? Are they backing into Port Canaveral? 11 sea days in a row seems excessive, but at least on Harmony there is plenty to do.

Yes, Barcelona to Port Canaveral.  This is our first time on this large of a ship.  We do love both the Millennium and Solstice Class.  🍷

[Ex-Airbalancer]

1 hour ago, Wine-O said:

Yes, Barcelona to Port Canaveral.  This is our first time on this large of a ship.  We do love both the Millennium and Solstice Class.  🍷

Those are nice ships ! 

[chowderbsk]

There is nothing like being three days from Europe and three day from the US in the middle of the Atlantic....The feeling of being away from everything, not a worry, no schedule, no appointments, only decisions of what to eat, drink and where to be entertained.   We have done three transatlantics and hopefully many more!

[lienf]

19 hours ago, taylortime05 said:

On the Westbound TA's do you typically get nice enough weather for pool time?

On the ones we have done from the Mediterranean in October we have had great pool weather on most days, particularly as you get closer to Florida. 

[GlobalMethod]

My wife and I have cruised to a lot of different countries and ports, so cruising is more about enjoying the journey than it is about seeing more new countries and ports. We do this best when there are a lot of sea days!

 

On sea days we used this time to enjoy the social aspects of cruising, not so much in structured activity but in meeting other passengers from around the world and getting to know more about the crew members and their lives. We hope cruising will return to its former format with less restrictions on social interaction someday soon.

[phoenix_dream]

One hesitation I've always had about that many sea days is, what if the seas are rough?  I get motion sick, and while I know all the helpful things to do (so let's not go there🙂) I still never feel 100% if the seas are bad.  I know every cruise is different, but overall what has your experience been?  Looking for the likelihood that I would encounter rough seas on all the sea days.  Thoughts and experiences?

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

I've done several TAs with no problems.  I've had worse seas in the Caribbean.

[Wine-O]

Just google Anthem of the Seas off the coast of NJ with 30 foot seas and 100 mph winds. 

 

We've had extreme seas just from the 2-day transit from NJ to Bermuda.   🍷

[baldilocks]

We did 23 days on the Explorer of the Seas in 2017...Seattle to Sydney. We had two ports in Hawaii, two in Fiji, one in New Caledonia. We missed one port due a passenger illness. He had to be lifted by helicopter to the hospital. We loved the seas days. There were so restful. This cruise is no longer being scheduled. You now have to start in Hawaii or Sydney.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

51 minutes ago, Wine-O said:

Just google Anthem of the Seas off the coast of NJ with 30 foot seas and 100 mph winds. 

 

We've had extreme seas just from the 2-day transit from NJ to Bermuda.   🍷

Remember Equniox TA Nov 2012 , Rome to FLL , the stretch Toulon to Barcelona we had 45 ft waves 😄

[Wine-O]

26 minutes ago, Airbalancer said:

Remember Equniox TA Nov 2012 , Rome to FLL , the stretch Toulon to Barcelona we had 45 ft waves 😄

 

Yes, I remember, and the captain plotted a course close to shore to avoid most of the weather.  We were having dinner back in Tuscan when the ship turned and hit a swell.  We could hear all the dishes from the kitchen crashing on the floor.  When we got up to the stateroom, I had wine bottles on the floor that fell off the shelves.  Luckily nothing broke.  It was probably the worst weather we've had in all our cruises.   🍷

[ECCruise]

13 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

One hesitation I've always had about that many sea days is, what if the seas are rough?  I get motion sick, and while I know all the helpful things to do (so let's not go there🙂) I still never feel 100% if the seas are bad.  I know every cruise is different, but overall what has your experience been?  Looking for the likelihood that I would encounter rough seas on all the sea days.  Thoughts and experiences?

We've done around 30 crossings and your comment "I know every cruise is different" pretty much sums it up.

 

I would say our crossings fall into the 1/3 no issues whatever, 1/3 issues on one or two of the sea days and 1/3 issues on more than a couple of the sea days.  We never had a crossing where all the sea days were bad (some where we never saw the sun but none with active seas every day).  We've been rerouted and missed ports due to weather problems a number of times, but that hasn't turned us against crossings.  We have had 2 cancelled this year but still have 3 booked.

[Caribbean Chris]

Transatlantics often have great ports/opportunities, too. For example

 

Saint-Malo for touring Mont St-Michel

Le Havre or Cherbourg for the WW II sites, also Honfleur/Deaville

Cadiz for an excursion to Seville

Vigo for an excursion to Santiago de Compostela

Bruges, Casablanca, Barcelona, Monte Carlo, and so many more.

 

[4774Papa]

21 hours ago, baldilocks said:

We did 23 days on the Explorer of the Seas in 2017...Seattle to Sydney. We had two ports in Hawaii, two in Fiji, one in New Caledonia. We missed one port due a passenger illness. He had to be lifted by helicopter to the hospital. We loved the seas days. There were so restful. This cruise is no longer being scheduled. You now have to start in Hawaii or Sydney.

We did Explorer of the Seas TP in Spring of 2018 and it was a great cruise.  We had one day to enjoy twice, since we crossed the International Date Line.   We like to fly somewhere, enjoy a land trip, then take a TP or TA home.

[shipgeeks]

While I love sea days the most, I feel that the evenings are more festive than on a cruise with lots of port days.  People are more rested, not stressed; they are ready to dress up, enjoy a leisurely dinner together, spend some time chatting at a bar or dancing.

[TeeRick]

Back a few years ago, people (mostly retired) took trans-crossings and repositioning cruises because they had the time and they were relatively inexpensive.  Many veteran cruisers who had in common that they enjoyed quiet sea days.  But more recently these types of cruises have actually become much more popular and much more expensive.  Not a bargain anymore.

[4774Papa]

13 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

Back a few years ago, people (mostly retired) took trans-crossings and repositioning cruises because they had the time and they were relatively inexpensive.  Many veteran cruisers who had in common that they enjoyed quiet sea days.  But more recently these types of cruises have actually become much more popular and much more expensive.  Not a bargain anymore.

TeeRick,

We have a 15 day transatlantic from Rome to Tampa in October 2021 booked on the Celebrity Constellation.  It visits 5 ports on the way to Florida and for a mid-ship balcony, we are paying less than $1800 per person.  

 

TA prices have gone up over the years, the cheapest we every paid was a TA on NCL Star for a balcony from Copenhagen to Miami for about $700 pp.  That was seven years ago and we only stopped in two ports in route.  Also, it was, I believe only 12 days.  

 

For a 15 day cruise, $1800 pp is about as low as you can get with a balcony.

[maryann2]

I love Transatlantics and love the sea days.

I like to spend time in Europe before or after the cruise and for this reason I prefer the Spring cruises. The evenings are longer in Europe. In the fall sometimes it is dark at 5pm.

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Jayne Curry!!! We had so much fun on our Oct 2017 Eclipse TA which included all of the joy and laughter we experienced watching her many memorable performances around the ship on sea days. Hopefully once X starts sailing again, she will once again be one of their main attractions. 

[Banjo]

On 9/6/2020 at 11:52 AM, scottca075 said:

 

Here is the HNL to SYD on Celebrity,

 

Day 1 Honolulu, Day 2 Hilo, Day 3 Cruising, Day 4 Cruising, Day 5 Cruising, Day 6 Cruising, Day 7 Cruising, Day 8 Tahiti (Papeete), Day 9 Bora Bora, Day 10 Moorea, Day 11, Cruising, Day 12, Cruising, Day 13 Cruising, Day 14 Cruising, Day 15 Cruising, Day 16 Auckland, Day 17 Paihia, Day 18 Cruising, Day 19 Cruising, Day 20, Sydney (Australia) - 18 nights, 6 ports, 12 sea days.

 

I've done this in reverse on Princess.

We did something similar to this on the Solstice last Sept/October. Love the sea days, never bored.

[CGTNORMANDIE]

On 9/5/2020 at 12:22 PM, Travelexpert35 said:

Last year on Sept 5, my husband & I were flying to Vancouver to catch our first Transpacific cruise -15 nt Bering Sea & Japan on Sept 6 on the Millennium. What a trip we had. We both loved those sea days, just relaxing. There was lots to do on-board, seminars, painting classes and even learning Japanese phrases. I really got to know the ship on those sea days as I walked for 2 hrs every day getting in my steps.

Oh, I wish we were going again. 

Cheer up!  With the Covid you might get your wish...lots of sea days with an overnight at the out island.   Seriously...what I like about a transatlantic are the days at sea.  You get into a relaxing rhythm While at sea.  Walking the ship in the mornings, swimming before lunch, a nap in the afternoon, tea at tea time and cocktails before dinner with a visit to the casino late at night...perfect.  “There is no feeling in this world like the one you get when your feet are planted on the deck of a moving ship.”  I love the isolation...no phones...no demands...no stress...just blissful calm.  I even tune out on my iPad.  Watching the sea go by is also a favorite...the sunrises and sunsets...sublime.