What was your favorite transatlantic cruise, and why?

[Eggy13]

Did an eastbound on the Queen Mary 2. Only complaint was it was east bound. Otherwise, it is a fantastic Ocean Liner.

[petesweet]

I like the westbound TA's for a couple of reasons.

Would you mind sharing those reasons? Thanks.

 

Kathy

[Clarea]

Would you mind sharing those reasons? Thanks.

 

Kathy

For us, the reasons are getting the long flight over with at the start of the trip, and having a series of 25 hour days on the way back.

[negc]

We agree and like the fact that we only have to fly one way and get the long flight over with at the start of our vacation. We take a morning flight to London and when we arrive at our hotel in the City, we have time to grab a quick bite before retiring. By the next morning we seem to have adjusted well to the time difference and have little or no jet lag. When we have flown home from Europe,, we found that it took several days to get over the jet lag. The westbound cruise, with its regular adjustments of time over several days reduced or eliminated those effects.

Since we live near Boston, the westbound TAs that conclude in that city are just one more reason that westbound TAs appeal to us.

In addition to lectures, and the availability of the climate controlled solarium on Radiance and Vision class ships, there are movies, trivia contests, and a number of activities available during the day and the usual assortment of entertainments at night. For the gamblers, the casino offers an opportunity to get rid of any extra cash you might still have.:D

[DragonOfTheSeas]

We agree and like the fact that we only have to fly one way and get the long flight over with at the start of our vacation. We take a morning flight to London and when we arrive at our hotel in the City, we have time to grab a quick bite before retiring. By the next morning we seem to have adjusted well to the time difference and have little or no jet lag. :D

 

I am glad to see you thought that it is an easy adjustment to the time difference flying to the east. We are flying overnight from BWI and land in Barcelona at 8 am. We hope to do some touring the day we arrive. We plan to ride the Ho HO bus all the way around to get an overview of the city. [both routes] We do not think this will be too strenuous and leave time for a nap.

[Clarea]

I am glad to see you thought that it is an easy adjustment to the time difference flying to the east. We are flying overnight from BWI and land in Barcelona at 8 am. We hope to do some touring the day we arrive. We plan to ride the Ho HO bus all the way around to get an overview of the city. [both routes] We do not think this will be too strenuous and leave time for a nap.

This should work fine. A couple of years ago we had much the same situation. Got to the hotel in Barcelona about 10am, took a nap for maybe an hour or so, did some sightseeing, and back to the hotel about 9pm. By the next day, we had acclimated to the time change. I think the key is to avoid going to sleep for a long period of time right after you arrive. Try to stay up as long as possible that first day.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

This should work fine. A couple of years ago we had much the same situation. Got to the hotel in Barcelona about 10am, took a nap for maybe an hour or so, did some sightseeing, and back to the hotel about 9pm. By the next day, we had acclimated to the time change. I think the key is to avoid going to sleep for a long period of time right after you arrive. Try to stay up as long as possible that first day.

 

Perfect. that is what we planned to do. Since we are using a B & B rather than a hotel we feel we will have access to the room shortly after we arrive in BCN.

 

We plan to purchase a two-day HOHO ticket. The day following arrival we plan to use this as transportation to visit the specific sites around the city we want to see. Have you ever used one of the two HOHO companies in Barcelona?

[Clarea]

Perfect. that is what we planned to do. Since we are using a B & B rather than a hotel we feel we will have access to the room shortly after we arrive in BCN.

 

We plan to purchase a two-day HOHO ticket. The day following arrival we plan to use this as transportation to visit the specific sites around the city we want to see. Have you ever used one of the two HOHO companies in Barcelona?

No, we did not use any of the HoHo busses. However, you should be able to get more info in the Spain Ports forum:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=596

[negc]

I am glad to see you thought that it is an easy adjustment to the time difference flying to the east. We are flying overnight from BWI and land in Barcelona at 8 am. We hope to do some touring the day we arrive. We plan to ride the Ho HO bus all the way around to get an overview of the city. [both routes] We do not think this will be too strenuous and leave time for a nap.

When we flew to Barcelona from Boston a few months ago, we had to take an overnight flight and found that we were quite tired when we arrived. Fortunately our hotel had our room ready when we arrived (around 10 am) so we were able to nap for about an hour or two before heading out to tour the city. We didn't use the HOHo bus but managed to see what we wanted and didn't feel any effects from jet lag. Going home from Nice was another story and took quite a while for us to recover. Flying to London from Boston during the day works best for us and we will be doing so again in just a few weeks.:)