Transatlantic April Weather

[Sixtytwo]

We are doing an Eastbound TA in late April. What I have found through some searching is that the average temps we could expect would be lower to high 60's during the day. Does this sound right from those who have done an eastbound in April?

 

Thanks!

[LHT28]

we did  a northern crossing  Via Canada  it was COLD  with snow & rough seas

Depends on the route you are taking

[shipgeeks]

OP, Are you sailing from Florida to Mediterranean?

We have done that route several times in April.  Weather and temps were mostly very nice, but the speed the ship is moving, and the fact that there are no land barriers along the way, made the wind feel very strong and somewhat chilly.  My fleece jacket got a lot of use.

[Heidi13]

On 12/11/2021 at 9:45 AM, Sixtytwo said:

We are doing an Eastbound TA in late April. What I have found through some searching is that the average temps we could expect would be lower to high 60's during the day. Does this sound right from those who have done an eastbound in April?

 

Thanks!

 

Trans-Atlantics can start anywhere from Buenos Aires to New York, so a little more information is required to determine the route. Any ports in the Atlantic are also required to fine tune the route.

[Louise245]

5 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Trans-Atlantics can start anywhere from Buenos Aires to New York, so a little more information is required to determine the route. Any ports in the Atlantic are also required to fine tune the route.

I am not the Op but I am following since we are booked on the Rotterdam from Fort Lauderdale. We did a few TA going West in the Fall but never the Spring one. 
We are leaving from Fort Lauderdale going To Amsterdam with 2 stops in the Azores then Cherbourg, and Bruges. 
I guess it will be cooler than the Fall TA. I would have like to hear what was someone experience even if  I know that with climate change the weather is all over the place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Heidi13]

14 hours ago, Louise245 said:

I am not the Op but I am following since we are booked on the Rotterdam from Fort Lauderdale. We did a few TA going West in the Fall but never the Spring one. 
We are leaving from Fort Lauderdale going To Amsterdam with 2 stops in the Azores then Cherbourg, and Bruges. 
I guess it will be cooler than the Fall TA. I would have like to hear what was someone experience even if  I know that with climate change the weather is all over the place.

 

 

Did a similar cruise a few years ago. With the Azores stop you don't head too far north. While the Atlantic is unpredictable at any time, most of my crossings in April/May have been reasonable.

 

I was out walking every morning in shorts & t-shirt.

 

Could get a touch snotty in the Western Approaches.

[Louise245]

9 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Did a similar cruise a few years ago. With the Azores stop you don't head too far north. While the Atlantic is unpredictable at any time, most of my crossings in April/May have been reasonable.

 

I was out walking every morning in shorts & t-shirt.

 

Could get a touch snotty in the Western Approaches.

Thank you for the information. Much appreciated. I think that I probably have to pay more attention to the clothing we bring. Our first TA was from London at the end of October. It could probably be similar weather along the European coast.

Louise

[Sixtytwo]

On 12/12/2021 at 12:37 PM, Heidi13 said:

 

Trans-Atlantics can start anywhere from Buenos Aires to New York, so a little more information is required to determine the route. Any ports in the Atlantic are also required to fine tune the route.

OOPS!! We are sailing from New York to Rome.

[Heidi13]

49 minutes ago, Sixtytwo said:

OOPS!! We are sailing from New York to Rome.

 

Assuming you are probably stopping at the Azores, you will most likely not head too far north. You will also miss the Western Approaches and Bay of Biscay.

[eurodl]

On 12/12/2021 at 7:00 PM, Louise245 said:

I am not the Op but I am following since we are booked on the Rotterdam from Fort Lauderdale. We did a few TA going West in the Fall but never the Spring one. 
We are leaving from Fort Lauderdale going To Amsterdam with 2 stops in the Azores then Cherbourg, and Bruges. 
I guess it will be cooler than the Fall TA. I would have like to hear what was someone experience even if  I know that with climate change the weather is all over the place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are looking to do the same in 2023.  Narrowed it down to Rotterdam or Emerald Princess.  I'd love to see your review once you sail (assuming you are going in 2022?).

[Louise245]

7 hours ago, eurodl said:

We are looking to do the same in 2023.  Narrowed it down to Rotterdam or Emerald Princess.  I'd love to see your review once you sail (assuming you are going in 2022?).

Sadly we had to cancel. We are now thinking about the April 2023 on the Rotterdam as well but the Rotterdam TA in October 2023 has the same itinerary than the Rotterdam cruise we had to cancel last Fall because of Covid regulations only allowed Americans to be on that cruise then. The ports on that cruise are so nice in my opinion. 

[BklynBorn47]

On 12/13/2021 at 7:17 PM, Sixtytwo said:

OOPS!! We are sailing from New York to Rome.

 

We are on the Escape to Rome from NYC on April 25th.  I am starting to think about clothes.  After Rome we pick up the NCL Star 2 days later in Barcelona B2B to Iceland.

Looks like I can forget about sundresses and shorts.  

[sullaRaffaello]

Whenever I hear about an April crossing, I think of the Michelangelo in 1966.

 

https://www.michelangelo-raffaello.com/en/michelangelo-12-april-1966/

[CGTNORMANDIE]

On 3/31/2022 at 8:07 PM, sullaRaffaello said:

Whenever I hear about an April crossing, I think of the Michelangelo in 1966.

 

https://www.michelangelo-raffaello.com/en/michelangelo-12-april-1966/

A “once in a century” event.  

[vwlmember]

We did a TA from New York to Southampton, England in April 2019 on the NCL Getaway. Temperatures on the pool deck were too cold for pool activities, thus the interior of the ship was packed full everywhere. Be sure to pick a ship with an indoor pool available and some enclosed areas up top. Getaway was designed for the Caribbean and it shows. 

 

For sea conditions,  since she was a 140,000+ gt ship, we barely noticed that we were at sea. Even on a day that had 15 foot swells. I get seasick easily and had no issues. 

 

I will do it again at some point, but will scrutinize the ship heavily before committing. 

[Mary229]

On 4/1/2022 at 10:06 PM, CGTNORMANDIE said:

A “once in a century” event.  

As someone who lives in Tornado alley, which year is one without a once in a century event.  The linked article remarks on improvement made in response to this incident. 

[Heidi13]

19 hours ago, Mary229 said:

As someone who lives in Tornado alley, which year is one without a once in a century event.  The linked article remarks on improvement made in response to this incident. 

 

The storm referenced by CGTNORMANDIE was not a Tropical Revolving Storm (TRS), which you refer to as a "Tornado", it was a severe low pressure, or frontal depression that probably reached 960 to 970 mb. By quoting "Storm of the Century" he was alluding to mid-Latitude frontal depressions, not TRS.

 

Tropical revolving storms occur in different locations and over the ocean can have lower pressure centres than the lowest frontal depression, hence the reason TRS & frontal depressions are not comparable.

 

Since 1966, improvements have been made to meteorological forecasting, since in those days, most data was received by mariners submitting reports every 6 hours. In addition to improved forecasts, the Masters have access to weather routing information.

[Mary229]

2 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

 

The storm referenced by CGTNORMANDIE was not a Tropical Revolving Storm (TRS), which you refer to as a "Tornado", it was a severe low pressure, or frontal depression that probably reached 960 to 970 mb. By quoting "Storm of the Century" he was alluding to mid-Latitude frontal depressions, not TRS.

 

Tropical revolving storms occur in different locations and over the ocean can have lower pressure centres than the lowest frontal depression, hence the reason TRS & frontal depressions are not comparable.

 

Since 1966, improvements have been made to meteorological forecasting, since in those days, most data was received by mariners submitting reports every 6 hours. In addition to improved forecasts, the Masters have access to weather routing information.

I did not call it a tornado, please reread my post.  

[Heidi13]

1 hour ago, Mary229 said:

I did not call it a tornado, please reread my post.  

 

Correct, but why else would you quote living in Tornado alley. 

[Mary229]

4 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Correct, but why else would you quote living in Tornado alley. 

If someone lives where the weather presents hazards one learns that 100 years flood (grew up on the Mississippi) or storm of a lifetime are not to be relied on.  Weather can happen anytime, anywhere.  You are not protected by statistics

[desherry]

Traveled from NYC to Southampton on the NCL Dawn from April 28 - May 14. Weather was cold in Nova Scotia and Iceland, but we had a warm day between Halifax and Reykjavik in the upper 60's. Ocean was rough leaving NYC, calm between Halifax and Belfast. Belfast, Amsterdam, and Southampton were pleasant (temps in the 60's).

 

[CGTNORMANDIE]

1 hour ago, desherry said:

Traveled from NYC to Southampton on the NCL Dawn from April 28 - May 14. Weather was cold in Nova Scotia and Iceland, but we had a warm day between Halifax and Reykjavik in the upper 60's. Ocean was rough leaving NYC, calm between Halifax and Belfast. Belfast, Amsterdam, and Southampton were pleasant (temps in the 60's).

 

You were in the North Atlantic and you were very fortunate that you had decent weather.  The NA can be nasty at almost any time of year.  It is a totally different experience when compared to a southern Atlantic crossing.  April 12, 1966 the Italian liner Michelangelo ran into a terrific storm in the North Atlantic.  Three people were killed, two passengers and one crew member,  fifty passengers were injured and the decks below the bridge were severely damaged.  The two passengers decided to go to a forward cabin to view the waves.  Apparently they got more than they bargained for.  

[CGTNORMANDIE]

On 4/12/2022 at 5:04 PM, Mary229 said:

As someone who lives in Tornado alley, which year is one without a once in a century event.  The linked article remarks on improvement made in response to this incident. 

Violent storms on the Southern Atlantic route are very rare…hence once in a century.  Satellite weather reporting makes it possible for ships to avoid bad weather.

[Mary229]

10 hours ago, CGTNORMANDIE said:

Violent storms on the Southern Atlantic route are very rare…hence once in a century.  Satellite weather reporting makes it possible for ships to avoid bad weather.

Mostly that’s true about radar but it is not a fail safe, ask Viking and NCL passengers who were caught in storms in the very recent past. 

[Hlitner]

We have long warned that predicting weather and sea conditions is very iffy.  Over the past 40+ years we have done dozens of crossings (east and west bound) most recently this past March-April on the relatively small Seabourn Ovation (27 days from Miami to Monte Carlo).  Seabourn, like most cruise lines, subscribes to a private service that carefully analyzes forecasted weather and sea conditions and forwards course suggestions to the ship.  In our case, when we left Miami (at the end of March) there was a major storm causing all kinds of problems in the Atlantic in the region not far from Bermuda.  As a result, our ship modified their origintal plans and took a more southerly route most of the way across the Atlantic before turning Northeast towards Funchal (our first port of call).  Since the itinerary had 9 sea days for the crossing our ship had the ability to take this longer routing.  As a result we enjoyed relatively good weather (it stayed warm for nearly a week) and the rocking and rolling was certainly tolerable.  Probably the biggest bummer (for those who do not like ships to move) was that the angle of swells was close to the bow which caused pitching for much of the voyage.  Unfortunately, stabilizers do very little to counter pitch so there were a few unhappy passengers.

 

I will add that we love March-April crossings since we get all those delightful sea days and find its a much more civilized way to get to Europe :).  

 

As to the OP's questions, keep in mind that although ships will try to choose the best routing in terms of weather and sea conditions, this is mitigated by the need to keep to their schedule and minimize the use of fuel.  IMHO one of the best spring crossing routes would be from Florida to the Canaries, but that is not a very common route.  If your first port is Funchal, that would be my 2nd best option (i.e. Funchal is further North).  The worst routing we ever had was on a RCI ship that went from Ft Lauderdale to Cobh...the problem being we had to take a more northerly route and a major storm stayed with us all the way across the Atlantic.  DW and I still call that the "cruise from hell" because it was so rough (20-30 foot seas nearly the entire way) that they could not fill the pool or some of the spas.

 

Hank

 

Hank