Question for transatlantic cruisers

I want to take my first transatlantic cruise and am wondering which direction you prefer east bound or westbound? Thanks for any advice

Losing hours or gaining hours - does this matter to you? Anyway, they are great jet-lag cures in any direciton. Which note do you want to find on your bed at night - ship's clocks will be set forward, or ship's clocks will be set backwards.

Cruising west back to North America if this is home, means you get to work off your jet lag during the at-sea days. Just the opposite if you go east, and then have to fly back home to North America - then you work off your jet lag at home. Otherwise, either way is pretty good - some wonderful days at sea in the comfortable embrace of the HAL crews. If Europe is home, then just the opposite.

We have done one of each direction. We loved both, but preferred the westbound only because of the extra sleep. Each night, for 6 nights, the clock goes back, giving you an extra hour of sleep. On an eastbound, you lose an hour each night.

So all else being equal, we would choose westbound.

The times changes on the east bound turn us into a pair of zombies, so we would choose westbound, too.

If you're doing a repositioning cruise them maybe the time of year matters. Most move east from the Caribbean to Europe in the spring and reverse in the fall. That was our deciding factor for 2019 as we already have fall plans booked, so it's eastbound for us!

I almost refuse to make a decision; in practice I prefer to sail Eastbound on Queen Mary 2 and return on a cruise ship.

Foe me, think the difficulty of an Eastbound is the time changes, but that difficulty varies a lot depending on how the ship handles it. Losing an hour of sleep many nights is a real drag for me; I much prefer a midday change as is done on QM2 and also the current Prinsendam TA.

Actually, the best setup I've seen for that was on my only (to date) HAL eastbound, the Rotterdam in 2011. A day or 2 on that cruise we lost one hour at noon and another overnight, making a short but reasonably proportioned day with a couple of days to recove afterwards. Unfortunately, that's the only time I've heard of that system being used.

In any case, however the time changes are handled, I'd rather be on a ship than an airplane.

Roy

We've done TAs in both direction, and prefer westbound for the same reason others have said -- the time changes. Our first TA was eastbound, and while losing one hour in a day doesn't seem like much, do that every day for five or so days in a row and it becomes really wearing.

We also like westbound TAs because we get the long flight out of the way first, spend time touring on land, then take a nice, relaxing cruise home. We love sea days, TAs are great!

Thanks everyone what about the weather is the spring any better than the fall?

Definitely Westbound for us! We've done 4 TA's Westbound and 2 Eastbound. Just returned home Thursday from Eastbound on Zui and all the time changes of losing an hour and Ports at the end are tiring as well as having the long flight home!

Our experiences (but weather can be a crapshoot) has been warmer weather crossing over in the Fall.

Westbound. Especially when port days are involved. A short night and an early tour makes Jack a grouchy bear.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Westbound

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I want to take my first transatlantic cruise and am wondering which direction you prefer east bound or westbound? Thanks for any advice

We've also done one in each direction.

My preference - westbound. Biggest reason, it's much easier on the body gaining that hour 5 (or 6) days in a row, than losing it.

Beyond that, the cruise itself, it depends on the itinerary.

Thanks everyone what about the weather is the spring any better than the fall?

Our westbound cruise was in Sep/Oct - had seas like a lake. Glorious and sunny every day from Maderia to the Caribbean.

Eastbound in May - the 5 days of actual cruising between Canada and Ireland - rough, cold (freezing) and lots of fun for those of us who have no issues with riding a roller coaster 24/7.

Typically, spring is considered the "smoothest" and fall is "rougher". It can change from year to year.

4 WB and 1 EB - much prefer the WB for the extra hours!

Always WESTBOUND FOR US!!

Denise:)

The best answer to the question is the Voyage of the Vikings, where you get to have it both ways. What a fabulous RT cruise.

The effect was more pronounced because of the concentration of time changes, but I remember that, years ago, a crew member on the QE2 confessed that they HATED Eastbound crossings because with five time changes in six days, by the end, everyone on board was grumpy. Staff, passengers, officers, EVERYONE!

These days, we've taken to doing roundtrip crossings on the QM2, so while we get wound up from those changes after seven days, we then turn around and unwind on the trip back.

- Mark

I've done more Europe to Florida than any other crossing. FL to Venice in March, 2015 was my roughest cruise to date. Just did Yokohama to Vancouver and confirmed I do not like east bound crossings even though we changed the clock at 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. it was still *painful* Looking forward to December! crossing from Italy to FL on Nieuw Statendam.

It’s Eastbound for me. Unlike the majority of posters on here, as a Brit, the jet lag is dealt with heading home to the East for me.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I've done three trans-At round trips, and four west-bound. Plus, I have also done a few Pacific round trips, and more than one east-bound.

East-bound is tough, mainly due to the loss of sleep. On one of the Pacific east-bound cruises we lost two hours on one day alone; plus just about every single day (once we started the crossing) lost an hour, too

On a trans-At I like getting the jet lag out of the way at the beginning, when I am fresh, then knock myself out with the ports. Then I have the crossing to recover from the 'fun', and take a fairly easy flight (or better yet, ride! when I end in Boston or NYC) home.

I have made 2 round trips and a couple each one way, east and west. Really no difference unless you try and fight the change of time. Sure is a lot better than to lose or gain of 4-6 hrs in a 24hr period. Also a couple times the ship changed times at 2:00 PM (afternoon), you just lost or gained an hour in the middle of the afternoon and I never really noticed a time change. All ships should change mid-day. when at sea, not in port.

All ships should change mid-day. when at sea, not in port.

Personally, we've only done North Atlantic crossings, but I like the QM2 approach (sea days only, of course) of taking an hour away from the afternoon (the day magically goes from 11:59 AM to 1 PM) when traveling eastbound, but giving them back in the middle of the night on westbound crossings.

- Mark

I want to take my first transatlantic cruise and am wondering which direction you prefer east bound or westbound? Thanks for any advice

We have done 4 crossings and I much prefer westbound where you gain an hour most days. Eastward by the end of the trips I was tired even though you would think my body would have adjusted and I would have gone to bed earlier or slept later. Sadly it seems that most of the dates or itineraries that work best for us are eastbound.

As most have said, the extra hours (for sleep?) on westbound TA’s are easier and more fun than losing hours. However, I prefer to arrive in Europe without the jet lag that a flight from California engenders so that I can enjoy my land touring in Europe. Being retired, I’d rather deal with the jet lag when I get home. I also do better flying westbound, avoiding red eye flights and arriving home to go to bed close to my regular time. Arriving in Europe in the early morning with little sleep the night before when you typically can’t check into your hotel yet is also problematic for me. So, as far as the cruise itself, westbound is better, but for the overall trip, I prefer eastbound.

I would say round-trip!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk