Repositioning Cruise Barcelona to Fort Lauderdale

[Peaky285]

I'm looking for pros and cons of taking a repositioning cruise with Celebrity in October 2015 starting in Barcelona, stopping at Valencia/Malaga/ Lanzarote/Tenerife and then on to Ft. Lauderdale. Out of the 13 nights, 7 nights would be at sea in the Atlantic. I realize I have to come around to the idea of really vegging out for a week. Wondering about the weather, rough seas, etc. I don't want to be taking Dramamine for a week. Do people get bored? Any input would be appreciated.

[CruiserBruce]

Welcome to Cruise Critic!

 

Is this your first cruise?

 

Seas can be rough any time, anywhere, and are not predictable. If sea sickness is a problem for you, you need to be prepared everyday you are at sea.

 

Weather can be nice, or cool. Again, no way to predict. The route is important, the further south, the better.

 

Will you be bored? Hard to say, we don't know you. But we have been on ships for 200 days, over 16 cruises, and have never been bored on a sea day.

[lysolqn]

We've done that itinerary twice with Celebrity (Constellation and Century) and would do it again in a heartbeat. Bored? Never! The transatlantic itinerary is a sea-day lover's dream! Weather was warm and sunny both times, seas were calm as a lake but, of course, there are no guarantees. Love seeing nothing but sea and sky for days on end, the particularly relaxed atmosphere onboard and the six 25-hour days we had as we sailed west. As with any other cruise, you can choose to do as much or as little as you wish on sea days. For us, a good book and a comfortable deck chair on the Promenade Deck was heaven.

Edited October 9, 2014 by lysolqn

[donaldsc]

Everyone is different. However, if I had a cruise where there were more than 3 or 4 sea days, I think that I would throw myself overboard. Seven days of staring at the open ocean would drive me bonkers.

 

DON

[Ethel5]

I have done a TransAtlantic 4 times and loved each one. The weather gets warmer as you head south. We have had oceans that were as smooth as glass with an occasional rough spot....almost disappointing to us who like the feel of the sea. The ship has plenty of activities planned but I like just vegging out and relaxing. Only you can decide if easy days are to your liking.

[Keith1010]

There are a lot of pros including the time to really enjoy the stop while making some stops at interesting ports. Another pro is that you will set the clock back several times.

 

The only con is that you could encounter some rough seas so best to prepare for the by brining medication with you for nausea and also by trying to book a room more mid deck. I use the word may because you just never know what the seas will be like.

 

Keith

[Krazy Kruizers]

Weather can not be predicted.

I remember a couple of years ago the Nieuw Amsterdam encountered rough seas on her Atlantic cruise. The following year -- smooth as glass.

[margeecruiser]

We have done several repositioning cruises and loved each one. Be prepared to make your own fun. Connect with your fellow cruise mates via CC roll calls and join in the activities. Be outgoing and ready to talk to strangers. Go to specialty restaurants. Go to enrichment lectures. Join others for trivia, board games etc. you cannot be bored unless you want to be. Get out of your cabin and mix and mingle. The activities the ship plans may help some, but be prepared to make your own activities too.

 

Margee

[Nebr.cruiser]

We've done three Transatlantics and have loved each one--we've always done the east bound, though. I'd love to do Europe to Florida, but so far it doesn't work with our schedule.

 

We enjoy the long string of sea days to really relax. The ships have plenty to do, if you want to stay busy.

 

So far, weather has been warm to cool, usually quite windy. We haven't had any significant seas, but of course that will vary, as will weather.

[flamomo]

Sounds like a great itinerary, since it includes some of the Canary Islands, and will bring you across the Atlantic via a more southerly route than doing it from Barcelona.

 

Last October on the Crown Princess I went to the Canaries on a r/t from Southampton, and then stayed on board for the T/A to FLL, for a total of 26 days onboard. I really enjoy seeing the Canary Islands, since it is a sort of out-of-the way place.

 

On the T/A part, before departing for FLL, we ended up having to spend 2 1/2 days docked in Southampton because of the tail end of an Atlantic hurricane that was headed right for where we would have been sailing. While it did not ruin the cruise, it was disappointing to have to miss 3 planned ports (including LeHavre) and only make the scheduled stop in Bermuda in order to arrive in FLL on time.

 

Mother Nature cannot be trusted to provide good sailing weather!!

Edited October 10, 2014 by flamomo

[navybankerteacher]

We are looking forward to our fifth Fall trans-Atlantic in a couple of weeks. The weather has usually been warm (except for the Southampton to New York one - when it was still in the high sixties), and the seas the way seas are - never worse than the Caribbean.

 

The big thing to consider is whether you like being on a ship. - some of us love it, others go out of their skulls without being in a port almost every day - which are you?

[EGG]

We have done several repositioning cruises and loved each one. Be prepared to make your own fun. Connect with your fellow cruise mates via CC roll calls and join in the activities. Be outgoing and ready to talk to strangers. Go to specialty restaurants. Go to enrichment lectures. Join others for trivia, board games etc. you cannot be bored unless you want to be. Get out of your cabin and mix and mingle. The activities the ship plans may help some, but be prepared to make your own activities too.

 

Margee

 

SUMMARY-Days at sea have pretty much the same activities as days at sea on a regular cruise. Only you know whether sea days bore you.

 

I agree with the above post. We've done 25 cruises. The last was a repositioning from Tampa to Harwich England. The captain was able to avoid 2 rough areas by shortening our day in Boston to beat the first storm and going south of the second storm. You can't predict the weather.

 

Here are my observations:

This was the North Atlantic and the weather was cool which meant limited outdoor pool time, limited availability of seating in the Solarium and it was too cold to sit outside for the movies at night (although I don't think Celebrity has outdoor screens.)

 

I spent most of my days in the Solarium. That pretty much meant getting up to the Solarium early to get a lounger. I did not go to many activities because I did not want to give up my lounger in the Solarium. Fortunately, on the ship I was on there is great food available in Solarium. After 2:00 there was usually seating available in the Solarium, partially because it was a little warmer and people could sit outside.

 

The first sea day I went to hear the lecturer and I did not like his presentations at all, so I was not going to give up my lounge chair for that. I did try him a second time for a port presentation and I was totally unimpressed. I realize the lecturer is the luck of the draw but they used one lecturer for probably 7 lectures and I just didn't like him.

 

The trivia was filled to the brim with people and it took forever just trying to keep everyone quiet and organized.

 

I tried to go to one movie in the cinema and there had been a one hour line to get in. We asked them if they could show the movies in the theatre but with the changover from a 5 day cruise to a longer Baltic cruise and probably a changeover of some staff they were always rehearsing in the afternoon.

 

My DH kept busy with Bridge lessons and bridge. He used my lounge chair between his bridge sessions and I did what ever for the 2 hours. Unfortunately, Celebrity does not have bridge lecturers, so that is really a minus to us and we would not do a transatlantic with Celebrity.

 

There was water color classes and there was just not enough spaces for the number of people who wanted to participate. The line was an hour long each day.

 

I would do a repositioning cruise again. I love to read on cruises and despite my long diatribe above, reading and sitting on a lounge chair is what I chose to do and I had a lot of relaxing days reading, going in the whirlpool/pool and walking around the jogging track. This was a great and inexpensive way to get to Europe where we stayed on for another 2 weeks. We would like to do another transatlantic. He really liked the Bridge lecturer and the duplicate bridge game was well attended, making it even more enjoyable.

[s1amblue]

Have done 4 - 3 to Europe & 1 back. All were terrific re: seas, on board activities, etc. Above posters are right - it took me lots of time to just let go & relax on sea days rather than feeling "I should be DOING something"! We will be on this cruise & just upgraded to a sky suite for a bit more cabin space for the 7 sea days! See you on the roll call if you join! Sherri

[lakelorain]

Did a similar cruise 2 years ago. Great warm weather and calm seas.

Lots of activities during the day on sea days including 2 different lectures a day. Never bored. Would love to do it again.

[navybankerteacher]

The thing to remember is that most eastbound T/A's are in the Spring when the Atlantic is still cold from the winter - temps will rarely be above 60, especially if headed for a Northern European port, you will be moving clocks ahead five or six times, meaning shorter nights, and you will have the dreary flight home to look forward to. Westbound - mainly in the Fall - will give you temps in the 70's, you will be turning clocks back, giving you five or six 25 hour days, and you will be getting home rested, having gotten the flight out of the way first.

[Trainer]

I did this trip last year on the Equinox. While I enjoyed the ports and the ship, I was DONE when we got to Ft. Lauderdale. I like the ship, I enjoy sea days but this was really too many for me. Even if the ports aren't exciting, I like to walk around and look at some different things for a few hours. We did have some interesting on-board lectures and a special pianist whose name I don't remember.

By the way, disembarking in Port Everglades (Ft. Lauderdale) was an absolute nightmare. It started off with too few customs and immigration agents and when they did get more it wasn't much better. The lines didn't separate US Citizens and foreign passport holders, so everyone was in the same line. Because the non-US citizens are fingerprinted and subject to more scrutiny they are slower through customs. So everyone waited and waited.

Port Everglades is often slow to disembark. Even yesterday when I returned from Vision of the Seas, the customs and immigration was slow.

I do not plan to more Trans-Atlantics, unless the fare is fantastic, when I might be convinced.

Edited October 11, 2014 by Trainer
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[s1amblue]

The thing to remember is that most eastbound T/A's are in the Spring when the Atlantic is still cold from the winter - temps will rarely be above 60, especially if headed for a Northern European port, you will be moving clocks ahead five or six times, meaning shorter nights, and you will have the dreary flight home to look forward to. Westbound - mainly in the Fall - will give you temps in the 70's, you will be turning clocks back, giving you five or six 25 hour days, and you will be getting home rested, having gotten the flight out of the way first.

 

 

Totally agree! And the cruise fare is usually less than air! We had no problems disembarking in PE from our Celeb S class ships... Was quite fast actually - but we get off by 8 and since we only have carry on luggage, have that with us - might make a difference?

[FTLcruisers]

We have done 4 TAs with Celebrity, always sailing back to Fort Lauderdale. Due to the southern course, the seas tend to be calmer than if sailing back to a more northern port - but, as everyone as said, weather is not guaranteed. I have to admit that the first TA was a little tough for me - by about day 5 of our 7 days at sea, I was ready for land. Luckily we were sailing with friends so that helped. But the more cruises we did, the more I learned to relax and enjoy those days at sea. So a few years later we did another TA and I enjoyed it much more than the first one. Last year we were on the Silhouette which had 4 guest lecturers and plenty of things to do during the day - we barely spent any time sitting on our balcony reading since there was so much to do.

 

Marianne