Transatlantic Recommendations

We have never done a transatlantic but are seriously considering doing one.

1. Is spring or fall best & why?

2. Southampton Route (Northern Atlantic) or Spain Route (Southern Atlantic) & why?

TIA for any input.

For what it's worth, I just did the southern Spain route through the Canary Islands ending in Rome in May. Loved it. Probably the best cruise I've ever done. The weather was very pleasant, and that's a variable you obviously can't control, but the ports are generally warm weather.

We have done both and loved them all.

The only concern about a fall TA would be the tiny possibility of a hurricane disrupting the itinerary.

We have never done a transatlantic but are seriously considering doing one.

1. Is spring or fall best & why?

2. Southampton Route (Northern Atlantic) or Spain Route (Southern Atlantic) & why?

 

TIA for any input.

We have done 5 transatlantics in the fall leaving from Rome, Barcelona, and Southampton. One TA from FLL in April. All but one have had perfect weather and seas. Our last one from Southampton had a few chilly nights and then 13 days of perfect weather. Enjoyed a few pre cruise days in the Mediterranean more then a pre stay in London. We are lovers of the mega ships and have a upcoming TA on Symphony, 12 nights on a giant ship with no kids is a fantastic 12 nights. You must be a huge fan of sea days and doing nothing to enjoy a TA. Booking a TA when they are first released is usually the best price, we booked our Symphony cruise over a year ago and prices today are up over 800.00pp. Make sure you check out Royals air2sea prices for your flights. One way California to Rome or Barcelona is always well under $400.00 pp. Last year we flew Virgin Atlantic LAX to Heathrow in premium economy for 650.00pp. happy cruising

We have done both northern and southern. The westbound is nice because you gain an hour everyday. The gym starts getting packed at 6am toward the end. Lol. The ports are more interesting on the northern imo. The southern is a warmer and you can actually use the outdoor pool if you are into that, although it could be a smidge cool down days. The weather was beautiful on our eastbound. You also don’t lose sleep as they move forward an hour at noon everyday so you lose from noon to 1pm and not an hour of sleep. It is one less hour to do things during the day though.

Ultimately, I enjoyed the westbound more, just because I don’t like pools, and enjoy a cooler climate and the northern ports such as Iceland, Faroe Islands, Ireland, etc. If you are big on the pool and Spain, obviously the eastbound would be better for you.

I also second using cruising power to book air. The TAs are the only time I book via RCI as any other time I can get a better rate. But for all the one way tickets RCI seems to have access to better rates than the travel websites.

We like Westbound for a couple of reasons. First, coming from the states, we get the long flight out of the way in the beginning. Second, the time change gives you 25 hour days on the crossing vs 23 hour days on the Eastbound. We have only done southern transatlantic and prefer them for the warmer weather.

Spain/Rome: warmer and usually less motion.

We've done 4 transatlantics - all westbound. I would definitely opt for the southerly route and the more southerly the better if you're looking to spend time out on deck. Travelling via the Canaries will tend to give you better weather. We crossed a couple of years ago from Malaga when people we know were crossing at the same time from Southampton and they had horrendous weather. We also crossed once from Malaga heading directly to FL at the same time as a Celebrity cruise was crossing on a more southerly route via the Canaries and they had better weather than us.

There are pros and cons to each direction, particularly depending on where you live, heading westbound with an extra hours sleep a day and a shorter journey home at the end may well appeal to you.

One consideration I would take if I did it again would be the class of ship. We had our worst weather on our crossing on Jewel last November - lots of cloud, some rain and generally cool weather. The other 3 crossings we'd had mainly lovely weather. We are not the types who like to be indoors on sea days and felt quite restricted as to what we could do on Jewel and both said that if we do a TA again we would prefer it to be on Oasis class where there's more to do outside and nicer outside seating areas.

We have never done a transatlantic but are seriously considering doing one.

1. Is spring or fall best & why?

2. Southampton Route (Northern Atlantic) or Spain Route (Southern Atlantic) & why?

 

TIA for any input.

We have taken 4 East bound TAs in the Spring. It's a great time for Europe since the locals are not on vacation until July or August and the Ocean is more calm. Sailing south is definitely warmer and smoother overall! Going over to Great britain early Spring was not the best since most of the ports were not geared up for the season and many points of interest were not opened and had very limited access. That is not true though for ports in the Med. We have been on many different smaller ships for the crossings including Vision, Radiance and Voyager Class with no major issues. You do lose an hour each day to adjust to the European time but nothing like jet lag all at once! For us, after we spend our time touring all over Europe, happy to fly home rather than hang out on a ship at sea for 7 days in a row. In 2019, after a 12 night British Isles cruise, we are taking a west bound TA that only has 4 days in a row at sea going across Iceland and Greenland and Canada to Boston. Obviously, not expecting any warm weather on this one and the seas will be more active but we should be far enough North to not be directly hit by hurricanes!

All this information is so interesting! Following along for continued insight!

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Have done number of TA’S out of Rome , Barcelona , Genoa to/from US ports . All Southern routes , both directions on RCL and MSC . All wonderful laid back cruises . In May and November . Good weather Calm seas.

Repositioning cruises are wonderful too.

Last year did 29 days Fall Foliage Quebec City thru Canadian Maritimes , New England , NewYork , Bermuda, Southern Caribbean , Western Caribbean and into Galveston . Very port intensive Up northeast .

We have done three TransAtlantics, two westbound and one eastbound. We like westbound because the cruise is after our land trip in Europe and we want the relaxing part of the trip at the end. On two of the TA cruises, we stopped in the beautiful Azores.

However, our best TA was on Celebrity Eclipse from Southampton to Boston, NYC, Bermuda, Nassau ending in Miami.

Also, we did a TransPacific from Sydney to Seattle on Explorer of the Seas last November and it was great. We didn't have to fly that 15 hour flight from Sydney to LAX.

Repostioning and TA’s and TP’s are an adventure , because generally you will travel to destinations you would never select to visit on own .

We have done six TAs. We prefer east to west as the extra hour on the clock seven times is a lot easier on our body. All have been the southern route and the weather and the seas cooperated to make in enjoyable. I have heard that the northern route can have choppy waters and cooler, rainy weather. Choose what works for you, you can't control the weather.

Subscribing as I do want to try a TA, but kids have to get older first. Not conducive to taking kids out of school.

TA's have become quite expensive now - up to the point that a

Caribbean B2B might be a lot cheaper!:rolleyes::eek:

We keep talking about doing a TA westbound. We took into consideration the weight of our luggage. We wouldn’t have to worry about purchases in Europe since we wouldn’t be flying home with weight limitations.

We have never done a transatlantic but are seriously considering doing one.

1. Is spring or fall best & why?

2. Southampton Route (Northern Atlantic) or Spain Route (Southern Atlantic) & why?

 

TIA for any input.

Not sure if you including Cunard in your choices, as they offer identical routes (pretty much) during the year.

For the typical "cruise line" like Princess, NCL, RCI, etc, fall and spring generally indicate the direction of the cruise; from West to East or East to West. One consideration I don't think I saw above is on which side of the side you might want your cabin. Going east from the USA you'll have the sun on the starboard side of the ship, and the port side if sailing back to the US. I believe others have pointed out the "gaining/loosing" time, which also might be a consideration.

We have not taken a TA cruise, but it's on my bucket list.:cool:

We did the 5 day Southampton, Rotterdam, Brussels, Cherbourg & Le Havre and then remained onboard for the 15 night trip back to the states. The leg back included Southampton, St. Kitts, St. John, Barbados, Martinique, Labadee, Fort Lauderdale. Ours was in October and we were fortunate to be blessed with warm weather. It could have gone the other way, that time of the year. I would suggest spring just to be on the safe side.

We did the 5 day Southampton, Rotterdam, Brussels, Cherbourg & Le Havre and then remained onboard for the 15 night trip back to the states. The leg back included Southampton, St. Kitts, St. John, Barbados, Martinique, Labadee, Fort Lauderdale. Ours was in October and we were fortunate to be blessed with warm weather. It could have gone the other way, that time of the year. I would suggest spring just to be on the safe side.

We are on the Indy doing B2B but not the TA since we live so close to the Caribbean, we didn't want the local islands as part of a TA. We would rather use a TA to see parts of Europe since we are so familiar with the Caribbean. So my advise is hop on a TA with European stops.

We’ve done 7 TA’s, 6 westbound and 1 eastern. As you can guess, we like westbound better as we really enjoyed getting the flight over with before the cruise and the port days were early in the cruise which meant we were super relaxed when we disembarked after all those sea days.:D

Sherri:)

We are on the Indy doing B2B but not the TA since we live so close to the Caribbean, we didn't want the local islands as part of a TA. We would rather use a TA to see parts of Europe since we are so familiar with the Caribbean. So my advise is hop on a TA with European stops.

Yes a lot of our decisions are relative to where we live and previous cruises taken . And where we haven’t been .

We did the Jewel of the Sea last Nov, Rome to PR. It was our first TA and we loved it. As has been said several times, we loved the idea of gaining hours each day as we cruise instead of losing them. We also like the idea of getting to the port, where the ship departs, first, and spending time there, and then boarding the cruise and 12-14 days to just relax. We loved it so much, we are on the Rhapsody this December and are looking now, for one next year also.

Cheers

Len

I prefer the Spring TAs. I like arriving in Europe in Spring with the long days and evenings and find the weather is usually better.

In October/Nov it is often dark by 5.30 pm. and places close up at 5pm.