Alexisal55

That sounds like a great adventure.

I hope you make it come true.

I can't offer any advice, just wanted to wish you good luck.

Bless you

x

To continue........ I tried to edit but couldn't so will continue this post......

 

Whenever possible we have done Transatlantic crossing on Cunard's Queen Mary 2. 7 day crossing and absolutely the easiest way to cross the Atlantic to NYC if you have the time, and it sounds like you do. Queen Mary comes in and out of Red Hook terminal which is in Brooklyn. I avoid flying whenever possible, Queen Mary 2 is so much better.

 

Just be aware that Amtrak in the US is nothing like rail travel in Europe, and not in a good way. We have traveled by rail in Europe and UK extensively and really enjoy it. Amtrak in US doesn't compare, but up and down the East coast is doable.

 

Rail across Canada should be very pleasant and scenic. Rail Alaska is also good. In Alaska you could do a cruise one way and rail the other. We took an Alaskan cruise from Vancouver to Seward then spent about 2 weeks doing Alaska rail and really enjoyed that.

 

NYC itself is worth spending a week if not more. A boat out to the Statue of Liberty. The 9/11 Museum and Memorial, we arranged tours of each online. The 9/11 Memorial tours are done by victims, victims family, or survivors. The Empire State building. The crazy Times Square. If you like to walk Manhattan is very walkable, and if you get tired grab a cab to your next point of interest. The HOHO buses can give you a birds eye view and then you know what you want to go back to. Subways to everywhere and Grand Central Station or Penn Station for rail.

 

If you want one on one tours Family In New York are great guides and a private tour they will take you wherever you want.

http://www.familyinnewyork.com/

 

 

HOHO https://www.viator.com/New-York-City-tours/Hop-on-Hop-off-Tours/d687-g12-c97

 

9/11 Museum and Memorial

https://www.911memorial.org/

 

 

Canadian Rockies

https://www.rockymountaineer.com/

 

 

Alaska Rail

https://www.alaskatrain.com/advice/best-train-options.html

Thanks hugely, everyone so far has been so kind and informative

Thank you, not sure I like the update re-Amtrak, I have never used before ??

Thanks a bunch, have done around 10 cruises, best was Aurora-had Piano suite, double decker for 104 days, and Arcadia around Alaska for 70 days-suite at back of ship-awesome to pivot around Glaciers for 3 hours.

First time P&O had done it for 40 years.

This BB is very helpful and friendly

;p

Thanks very much for all your help, really grateful

Thanks a bunch for your kind help

kindest regards

Hi Guys,

We-my wife and I-are looking to transatlantic from Southampton to New York return.

We wish to take in Toronto to Vancouver, including The Canadian train, Cruise Alaska, cruise Caribbean, Shopping New York and Toronto, and possibly Amtrak from New York to New Orleans/Los Angeles. The trip will be in 2020.

I shall be 71 and my wife 65 years.

Totally flexible on timings and sequence of events as long as they are logical but only proviso is want Canada in snow and need to link up with Transatlantic cruises back to Blighty.

Would appreciate any previous experiences and help!

Maybe a cruise specialist in UK, familiar with such requests

kind regards:D:D

I think your main problem will be finding the ships going the right direction across the Atlantic at the time you need to sail. Other than the QM2, there are not regular crossings. Ships go from the US in the spring to Alaska and Europe, and return in the fall. QM2 could bring you over in May or later, after returning to Southampton after her world cruise. Putting together a train adventure using Amtrak and/or Via Rail (Canada). You would be in North America for the Alaska season, then travel back across the US for a Caribbean cruise. You would then have to get back to NYC to pick up the QM2, as she would be the only one doing regular crossings back to Europe.

For help planning a trip on Amtrak, and possibly Via Rail Canada, there is a forum of fans of train travel located here:

 

http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/

 

It is not affiliated with Amtrak, but some of the members do work for railroads, and the members are very helpful with planning trips. EM

Thank you very much for your reply and trouble

Alan

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

 

Your thoughts sound very interesting.

 

I know someone on the Crystal Cruises board who combines various cruises with trains etc to create on long trip.

 

We are not allowed to recommend travel companies on Cruise Critic.

 

I think you might want to post on the UK cruisers board to see if you can get some thoughts from fellow cruisers from the UK about all of this. That board is at:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=-1&f=683

 

There are various ships that cross from the UK over to the USA as part of moving their ships from one area of the world to another so you have plenty of choice there to et over to the USA.

 

One who does it often in terms as just crossings is Cunard with the QM2. That would leave you in Brooklyn NYC.

 

From there you could take Amrtrak cross country to say San Francisco.

 

From San Francisco you could find a R/T cruise up to Alaska. (this would be in the May to September time frame during the Alaska tourist season).

 

From there you could take a cruise from San Francisco to Florida with a transit to the Panama Canal. Or you could take the train to say Miami and begin a Caribbean cruise there.

 

Then up to NYC with Amtrak and then back to the UK on the QM2.

 

I am sure there are lots of possibilities to put this together.

 

I think these days with the internet you could put this together on your own and then get a Travel Specialist to book it for you. I don't think it would be too complicated.

 

Allow time in each city of origination and destination for a day or more in a hotel in case there are delays with things such as trains.

 

Or you could enlist someone to help you from the get go but again we can't give a recommendation.

 

Like I said you can also get idea from your fellow UK cruisers.

 

The good news is you have a lot of time on your side. Most cruise lines don't have 2020 itineraries out but it won't be too long before they have them out.

 

Keith

Keith 1010 Thanks for your help!

kind regards

Hi Guys

Looking for help/advice here:

We are a couple, looking to cruise from UK and return in 2020. We shall be 71 and 65 respectively

We wish to take in The Canadian across Canada, shopping in New York and Toronto.

An Alaskan cruise would be on the wish list and hotel in New York

Amtrak from New York/Chicago/Los Angeles/New Orleans (not necessarily in that order), and a 7 day Caribbean cruise. NO FLYING AT ALL

We have cruised extensively, but would welcome any ideas on how we would go about it, eg transatlantic crossings without flight element.

Are there any specialists in UK you know of, who could tailor this for us ?

Appreciate it:D