Crossing the Atlantic either way

[merlot101]

Crossing the Atlantic. Does one get bored with so many days at sea?? How rough is the voyage?

Thanks for your in put.

[tteettimes]

depends ;)

[cruisestitch]

there are many reviews of transatlantic trips -- suggest you spend some time perusing them

[cle-guy]

I've done east bound last 2 years, Lauderdale to Southampton on Eclispe. love sea days myself, never really do ports. You build a real camaraderie with fellow passengers which I enjoy.

 

Seas were calm both times, roughest part is getting out of the caribbean. almost smooth as glass this year, last s=year some bumps, but nothing bothersome, other then exiting the caribbean.

 

activities staff really tweak the activities to cater to the eclectic crowd on a daily basis. I was never bored, often having to choose between one activity and another. Look into roll calls for cruises you are considering and get a feel for the passengers going, and see what they have planned, and participate yourself!

 

East bound you lose 6 hours, turning clocks ahead every-other-day or so, westbound, you gain the time every other day....so consider that....t is nice to arrive in Europe adjusted to the time as opposed to losing a day when flying in with jet lag.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

I'm never bored on sea days. It seems they go by too fast!

 

As for the sea, it can be smooth as glass or it can be rough. No guarantees. Even the Caribbean can have rough seas.

 

[4774Papa]

We did Celebrity Infinity May 2013 Transatlantic B2B with the British Isles cruise. Of course, it was east bound. I would have preferred doing the TA after the main cruise, however, we enjoyed the TA. We stopped in three ports in route to Harwich, UK.

 

There were several sea days. I visited the fitness center every morning, We did about 4 wine tastings, met a lot of great people. Some people do Trivia, go to lectures. We did a couple of lectures.

 

I did go through about four books on the cruise. It is great sitting on your balcony watching the ocean. Sometimes you see dolphins or wildlife.

 

We are doing another TA on the NCL Star, going west bound after our B2B cruise of Norway, Faroe Islands, Shetland Islands, Iceland, Dublin and Scotland.

 

The advantage of westbound is that many of your days are 25 hours instead of 23 hours going east bound.

[KirkNC]

Crossing the Atlantic. Does one get bored with so many days at sea?? How rough is the voyage?

Thanks for your in put.

 

We don't, there is usually lots to do plus we are pretty good at entertaining ourselves. How rough it is just depends, anything from slick calm to pretty rough.

[cwtravel]

The wife and I have done 2 westbound crossings, one had 5 consecutive days Funchal to St. Martens and the last one, in 2012 on the Reflection had 9 consecutive days Malaga to Miami. Both were great cruises and I was not bored on either one.

I love the extra time you pick up going east to west and thus doubt I would ever do an eastbound crossing.

 

Chris

[maggie.1008]

We were on the same TA/ Eclipse with Curt. I love the sea days. At home I never take the time to read a good book. I read 6 on our TA. I did have a hard time with the time change 6 times. Did not make breakfast the last half of the cruise. Eclipse has a 5 star crew.

[TeaBag]

Love the sea days. There is always lots to do. We have done 4 TA and 4 TP. We only had mildly rough seas once on a northbound TA (Miami or Ft Lauderdale, sorry I forget, to Hamburg in April. For 2 days there was a bit of rocking.

[merlot101]

Thanks all

Merlot

 

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Forums mobile app

[Kennyftlaud]

We were on the Constellation, May 2013, Miami to Amsterdam.

The weather was cool and wet many days out to sea but lots to do and the ship was so comfortable. Gym, eat, tv eat sleep. Repeat!

It's a great trip. We are doing a west bound Rome to Ft Lauderdale, November this year;)

 

 

Ken / Fort Lauderdale

Upcoming Cruises:

Celebrity Silhouette Transatlantic Nov 1, 2014

Allure of the Seas Transatlantic Oct 25, 2015

[donaldsc]

Totally depends upon the person. I personally start to get bored after 2 sea days. A TA would drive me crazy. However, I know one couple who would be gloriously happy with a cruise that was ALL sea days.

 

Different strokes for different folks.

 

DON

[Kevnzworld]

Transatlantic cruises are the perfect mixture of port days whether they are in the beginning or end, combined with eight sea days. I'm about to do my fifth Nov1, and I love them. Think of it as two vacations in one.

Unfortunately, they are becoming popular and the prices of Celebrity's transatlantics have doubled recently.

[Cardiff Cruisers]

East to West is the best IMO,

You virtually get an extra hour in bed every night to sleep off those Martinis

;o)

 

With regards to Sea Days it's down to the individual's preference.

I could easily do a cruise that didn't stop anywhere and choose I choose a cruise generally based the ships amenities (variety of restaurants, bars etc) and age (I prefer ships that are less than 3 years old or have been recently refurbished).

[denims]

We have done 3. (1 east, 2 west)

 

We always came back with a tan!

[Piggeldy]

We were on a westbound TA on Eclipse last November. The weather was a bit rough the first few days but got better the closer we got to the Caribbean. We were not bored at all - we really enjoyed the cooking shows, relaxed, read a lot and didn't make it to the hot glass show until the last possible moment. Loved the Caribbean ports (though immigration in St. Thomas was a pain and is something we never want to do again). Price was great for what we got and we had really hoped to go on the Reflection TA this fall but can't due to work obligations... will try again next year.

Edited June 9, 2014 by Piggeldy

[jjjbr]

We have done eastbound and westbound, as well as transpacific eastbound. Originally, the sea days were for DH as I enjoyed the port days, but I have come to love both. During sea days we have a leisurely breakfast, workout, go to a lecture, do needlework (me) play cards with likeminded acquaintances, socialize pre-dinner, read, go to shows, dance a bit, or just relax.

[rebeccalouiseagain]

Because you know that you are going to be a sea for several days, I think your mindset is to relax. Just chill- bring books, get to know people, walk, join in on the games. You will have instant friends and I ended up never reading. I was a busy bee. You are treated so much better on the ship than on land.

[ClaudiaB]

We've only been on one but our second is this fall. We had a wonderful time.

We did have very rough seas and two ports were cancelled with a couple other ports substituted. The Captain was avoiding some 40+ foot seas from a storm and the Bay of Biscay was really rough. As it was we had 19 foot seas and for many it was uncomfortable, and the dining rooms were half full for a day. We have no issues with motion fortunately, it was just kind of crazy but I know it can be worse. So you never know. The Atlantic crossing was calm as can be and we had a wonderful time. We went to a lot of the lectures, as they were of interest to us, we read a lot, I cross stitched a lot, we hung out at the pool or on the balcony, met great people and socialized in the bars and lounges, and there were a lot of events like food and wine activities. We never do trivia or bingo or those newlywed games but there are plenty of them. As I recall, the casino was really busy. Never bored a moment.

[pmcue]

I was hoping I could add on to this post and ask anyone that has done East Bound in late April / May if the pools were open on Sea Days and if the weather was pleasant enough to use the area. I know the weather can vary, but hoping over course of 8 days there will be some we can use pool area.

[rebeccalouiseagain]

I've done two transatlantics and they were very different.

 

 

The Eastbound transatlantics that leave out of Florida and sail across to Europe are very smooth. If the cruise goes in a gentle northeasterly direction avoiding the rough waters of the North Atlantic- it will be smooth as silk, weather will be ideal and you won't believe you are on a transatlantic. No worries. Looks like all the Celebrity TAs are going to be great.

 

The cruises that go from New York or Boston across are much windier, cooler and the waves are bigger.

Edited June 16, 2014 by rebeccalouiseagain

[CathyCruises]

I was hoping I could add on to this post and ask anyone that has done East Bound in late April / May if the pools were open on Sea Days and if the weather was pleasant enough to use the area. I know the weather can vary, but hoping over course of 8 days there will be some we can use pool area.

 

Just did this to Rome and the weather was great--lots of people using the pools, and we rarely had to use to Solarium which is our refuge on cool days.

 

On our first TA, we disembarked in Le Havre--that was much cooler, significant rain, etc. This year a friend did a similar itinerary and had the same weather--he has sworn off the northern route in the future!

[pmcue]

Thanks so much, just booked it on Equinox. If anyone wants to add on to this about the Spain stops, would love the info, but I will also review on Ports Board.

[TeaBag]

You should join the roll call for your cruise. There will be plenty of info on there and maybe you can join others in private tours. Your idea of using the ports of call section is good too. Enjoy your cruise.