TA Crossing in April

[cmpaula]

I have been looking through the threads about TA crossings but haven't seen anything about weather in April. We will be leaving Tampa on April 7 and arriving Barcelona on April 23. I can't seem to be able to find information on typical weather for that time of year. We assume it will be 70s during the day and 50s at night. Bermuda to Ponta Delgada is our longest stretch of at sea days. Any help would be appriciated!

[Keith1010]

The weather will likely be nice and in the 70's as you noted.

 

With that said with weather patterns changing often you just never can be 100% certain what it will be like.

 

Keith

[calliopecruiser]

I have been looking through the threads about TA crossings but haven't seen anything about weather in April. We will be leaving Tampa on April 7 and arriving Barcelona on April 23. I can't seem to be able to find information on typical weather for that time of year. We assume it will be 70s during the day and 50s at night. Bermuda to Ponta Delgada is our longest stretch of at sea days. Any help would be appriciated!

 

That's the beauty of a transatlantic crossing - there is no "typical weather" :) I too am making a crossing in April (Miami-Lisbon), and I'm hoping for the best and planning for the worst, LOL.

[sheila59]

We always do TAs in oct/nov but we are also doing one in April 30th this year and have the worry of weather, we are doing the oppisite of yours, leaving UK/Europe and sailing to New York, we normally cruise from Barcelona to Miami, what I wanted to advise you is that when we do a ta from Europe to USA we always make sure we travel portside for the better weather more sunlight hours on your balcony, but when you cruise FROM USA to Europe it's the oppisite. My friend wouldn't listen to me when we were on the same cruise we booked portside but she never and she agreed that she hardly had any sun on her balcony where as we had it nearly all day.

[October Ms.]

We always do TAs in oct/nov but we are also doing one in April 30th this year and have the worry of weather, we are doing the oppisite of yours, leaving UK/Europe and sailing to New York, we normally cruise from Barcelona to Miami, what I wanted to advise you is that when we do a ta from Europe to USA we always make sure we travel portside for the better weather more sunlight hours on your balcony, but when you cruise FROM USA to Europe it's the oppisite. My friend wouldn't listen to me when we were on the same cruise we booked portside but she never and she agreed that she hardly had any sun on her balcony where as we had it nearly all day.

 

 

...and that's the origin of "POSH" accommodations: Port Out, Starboard Home!

[jamessemaj]

I know the usual response is that the weather will be unpredictable, but having done 3 tas in April and one in Oct., I would advise to think more about cool at sea. The port stops are more likely to be warmer.

[cmpaula]

Thanks for your replies! We were originally booked starboard but upgraded to the grand suite and it was only available on port side. I think the upgrade will be more enjoyable than the sunshine!

[JanineM]

We have only done one TA before - from San Juan to Southampton with a stop at Ponte Delgado. It was warm the first two days, and then really cold the rest of the trip. No towels on the pool deck - woolen lap robes instead.

 

We're doing another TA this April and I am planning to bring layers to go from summer to early spring weather including a jacket, gloves, scarf and hat! Last trip I had all of this with me and I was comfortable, while others shivered in their capris and t-shirts. Doesn't add too much to the bag, but makes a world of difference on port stops if the weather is cold.

[Nebr.cruiser]

We've done three April TA's, but all starting a couple of weeks later than yours. In all three it's been fairly warm the first couple of days and then got cooler and cooler as we went north--and it is very windy as the ship is moving faster than normal. We've been lucky with no really rough seas or much rain, but of course that just depends on luck.

 

Towards the end of the sea days it was sometimes too cool to walk comfortably outside or use the pool deck without serious covering up. when we had a starboard balcony (sailing from Florida), it was sunny enough in the afternoon for comfortable sitting quite often.

 

Ports have generally been warmer, depending on where they were, from 50's to 80's, mostly in the 60's. Bring layers and be prepared for some cool weather. Or hot; Rome in late April was boiling! (Probably not typical).

[cmpaula]

Fantastic advice and I thank you all! We did an 8 day out of NYC in January and had 15 foot seas, snow showers and 42 knot winds on the last day at sea.....very interesting. Many of the crew had never seen snow! We loved watching the rough seas from the sports bar. Another interesting tid bit from that cruise.....we had 1000 Orthodox Jews on board who only ate kosher meals which meant paper plates and plastic eating utensils in the dining room. I believe the couple at our table said they also brought their own food on board. It was really interesting and in all our cruises, we had never seen that before.

[dsrdsrdsr]

...and that's the origin of "POSH" accommodations: Port Out, Starboard Home!

Not quite right on two counts, I'm afraid. One, there's no evidence that the word posh came from that acronym, it's most likely a back-formation; two, if that was the origin, it was for passengers from Britain to India and the idea was to be in the shade both ways. Not the sun. They didn't have balcony cabins or air conditioning in the 1800's so a cabin on the sunny side could get unbearably hot. Sorry!

 

To answer the OP, whatever weather you get will be typical. Storms are typical, calm is typical, hot, cold, wet, dry, they're all typical. It's pot luck. One thing, you're a long way south of the Titanic route, so you shouldn't see icebergs.