Trans Atlantic - Spring or Fall?

[Cherlynn]

Thinking of booking a repo cruise in 2007 when they are announced later this year. Those of you have done a repo cruise, when is the weather better in your opinion? I know that the "at sea" days could be totally different than on your cruise - but how about the cities at either end? How was the weather then? And any suggestions on "must do" tours will be greatly appreciated. We did the Panama Canal in Nov on Galaxy and we'd love to sail her again. I know lots of rumors are flying about dry docking, wish we could hear something official. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

Cheryl

[Palms2Pines2Sea]

Cheryl,

 

Any Transatlantic is a great choice! The weather is iffy regardless of spring or fall - more relevant is the routing. A crossing from Florida to the Med (or vice-versa) will inevitably be warmer than a New York to England itinerary, if they are traveling at the same time of year.

I give a strong preference to a westbound crossing. You will have six nights where you "gain an hour" of time, as opposed to an eastbound where you will "lose an hour". What a pleasure to have SIX 25-hour days as part of your vacation!

Ports of call are always what you make of them, but I must admit that Funchal (and the island of Madeira) was one of the best ever.

Just go and you will have an incredible time!

 

Kendal

[djammons]

Cherlynn,

 

We did a transatlantic crossing "repositioning" cruise on RCL's Brilliance back when it was new in 2002.

 

We departed Harwich England on Sept 8th taking the Great Northern Route. The weather was mild the first couple of days but then we ran into the effects of Hurricane Gustov.

 

The Captain departed from the route and headed straight north to try and get away from the storm but to no avail.

 

Midway across the Atlantic our first "rough" day had 40-50 mph wind gusts and 25 foot swells. That was very majestic and impresive.

 

However that night in the middle of the night our 90,000 ton 962 foot long ship with stabilizers became very active and we heard a loud noise like a cable snapping. We woke up to 60-80 mph wind gusts and 45 foot swells later that day.

 

We actually loved the experience and found the awesome power of nature an amazing thing.

 

On the two worst days no one was supposed to go on the outside decks but of course my two teenage boys did. They said the wind was so strong it would hold them up at about a 90 degree angle.

 

I have video of the approximately two feet of water in the outdoor pool being splashed up way past the 8 foot marker. Not only was the outdoor pool closed (obviously) but they indoor one was closed also after we heard that one or two persons suffered broken arms from the force of the water shifting in the pool.

 

This April 28th we are taking a Spring Transatlantic repositioning cruise on Celebrity's Constellation. We leave New York harbour (Cape Liberty NJ) for France then Dover, England.

 

I am cuious to see what the weather will be like on this April / May eastbound crossing compared to our September westbound one back then.

[gkm]

We have cruised a TA both directions. Westbound was from Rome to Baltimore and eastbound was from Miami to Barcelona. If I could only do one, I would do the westbound. I agree with the previous poster about the 25 hour days. Also, on our arrival home there was no jet lag. Our westbound in September was smooth sailing all the way with only a few showers. We stopped at the ports of Malaga, Spain, Villefranche (Nice), Gibraltar, Lisbon, and Ponta Delgada, Azores. All of these stops were wonderful. On our eastbound in April we did have some stormy days (107 mph wind and 34-40 ft. seas), but I don't think that's the norm. We stopped in Funchal, Lisbon, Malaga and Villefranche.

 

We loved every one of these ports and had wonderful (independent) tours at each one. We went a couple of day early to Rome for touring and to get our body accustomed to the time change and we stayed a couple of days after our cruise in Barcelona.

 

Whichever direction you decide to go, do try to tack extra days on to either your departure or arrival port in Europe.

 

We are thinking about doing another round trip in 2007-2008.:D

 

Garry

[Druke I]

Gross generalization of course - but Atlantic Ocean normally smoother in spring than in fall.

 

That said, we prefer fall sailings, as the clock works in your favor, gaining time as you come West, rather than losing time going East.

[rubrrick]

My DW and I are on the Jewel this spring, leaving on April 30th. We picked the eastbound trip, only because we are nuts enough to do the first Baltic cruise as well. Temperatures, we are told, could be quite chilly for that journey. At some point we will experience a westbound trip.

One thing I never thougth of ...... the time change. We are so used to it being in one fell swoop......leaving via jet plane from the States in the evening and arriving somewhere in Europe the next morning, and giving ourselves a day or two to catch up. It will be interesting to get a bit, a day at a time.

 

Rick

[sasset]

We've done both directions once (Fort Lauderdale to Civitavecchia and Barcelona to Fort Lauderdale), with another westbound set this year. All of the previous posters have good points. I would add that we had pleasant weather both directions, but our westbound sailed late October. Westbounds now are leaving later. Our next one doesn't sail until late November, so weather may not be as warm.

 

We loved the eastbound for the weather and arriving in Italy in mid May which is a great time weather and crowd-wise to be there. But we found that the pace was less relaxing. Our eastbound started with six sea days and ended with five port days in a row. We went from a pure, no pace relaxed atmosphere to a fairly hectic five days five ports schedule. Westbound was more relaxing. The ports were almost all at the beginning. The stretch of sea days were at the end which we found a nice way to end the trip. I suppose this may vary as some sailings may load up with Caribbean ports at the end.

 

Another consideration if you plan to add days in Europe pre or post cruise. We found it easier to manage the extra cruise specific luggage on the eastbound. We got to Rome with all of the luggage post cruise. The hotel held the luggage that we didn't need for the next eight days until we returned the night beofre or flight home. We did eight days pre cruise in France before sailing from Barcelona. We shipped one large suitcase with all of the dressy clothes so that we wouldn't be lugging it through France in hotels with no lifts. It was expensive to ship, Spain held it for five days for customs and duty fees, which doubled the cost. We didn't get the bag at our hotel unitl about an hour before we left for the ship.

 

As was said earlier a southern route would tend to be warmer, but you really can't go wrong in either direction.

 

Regards

[CGTNORMANDIE]

HI CHERYL,

 

The Atlantic crossing is always a crap shoot...but most of the time it is a great experience as you can see from all the above. The southern route is the best...better weather and calmer seas...most of the time.

 

DRUKE 1, I have seen as much bad weather in the North Atlantic in the Spring as in the Fall. The southern route in the Spring is probably smoother but not always. Around 1966? the Michaelangelo was headed from Italy to New York and hit a storm. On the second day of the storm a rogue wave hit the ship head on and crashed in the area just below the bridge. 3 people were killed and many people were injured. It was estimated that the wave was over 100 ft. high!!! As I recall...this occurred in early May.

[keela1eva2]

Thinking of booking a repo cruise in 2007 when they are announced later this year. Those of you have done a repo cruise, when is the weather better in your opinion? I know that the "at sea" days could be totally different than on your cruise - but how about the cities at either end? How was the weather then? And any suggestions on "must do" tours will be greatly appreciated. We did the Panama Canal in Nov on Galaxy and we'd love to sail her again. I know lots of rumors are flying about dry docking, wish we could hear something official. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

Cheryl

 

Hi Cheryl'

I agree with what the others have said. That said I have only to date experienced the west sailing although I am now booked on the east sailing on Galaxy on May 6th.

I was on the Golden Princess in Aug/Sept 3 years ago from Venice to New York. The weather was excellent other than a couple of rocky days prior to our arrival in New York.

Our Captain took us a little south to avoid the worst of it and we then arrived in New York about 4 hours late.

Princess rescheduled our flights home and we found ourselves upgraded to Business class. We would have made the other flight with Virgin but we enjoyed the comfort of a later flight which took us home about 3 hours late. We were not complaining as they also had the domestic flight upgrade.

As it was summer of course in the Med it was hot. In May the Med can sometimes be mixed if you are unlucky and if I were just choosing to go for a land based holiday I would probably go in June. I always enjoy visiting Venice but my favourite port in the Med is Dubrovinic. I never tire of it and the people are so warm and friendly. Such a change from the days of Tito. Now there are shops with lovely things to buy many restaurants and cafe's. Just love it!

On the question of the jet lag which ever way I do it I have the flight out or back which is long haul. At least with the T/A I only have the jet lag one way rather than the Caribbean which means 2 long haul for me.

Whatever you decide I feel sure that you will enjoy it.

[kruznkanuk]

All very interesting info, folks.

We did a westbound, the first T/A of Millenium from Italy to New York in Nov. Celebrity changed the itinerary 3 weeks before the sail date and added a sea day in order to go south to the Sargasso Sea instead of straight across the North Atlantic. We were sunbathing, it was spectacular. You really can't tell entirely from the mini-maps of the itinerary how far south they are going-- but if you are comparing ships of similar size, I would look at how many days they take to do the crossing. That can make all the difference in the world on weather and enjoyment.

[Cherlynn]

Thanks to everyone who took the time to write. You've given my DH and I alot to think about. The only problem is that as it stands now, we totally disagree on when we should go and in which direction to do it!! I think it would be more relaxing to do east to west and he disagrees. I want to do fall and he wants to do spring. NOW WHAT??? I think one of the best argument some of you gave me is that you get 25 hours cruising doing east to west. Who of us doesn't want just one more hour cruising? So it will be interesting around here the next couple of months, especially after the info on the cruises comes out from Celebrity. We had a Sky Suite on Galaxy in Nov and of course now we're spoiled. You have to jump on those as soon as they show up, so I want to be ready. If any one else has any more ideas (especially for east to west!!!!;) ), I'd sure love to hear them. Thanks again. Cheryl

[Blazerboy]

Well here's a plug for Eastbound! (taking my fourth-we're going over in April on Constellation) While I've done lots of Westbound cruises/crossings (seven) and loved them, I'm really excited about this cruise, because, for the first time in recent years of doing this, I won't arrive in Europe and be a zombie for the first few days. Worse is when I fly to Europe and jump right on a ship to take a long cruise back. Then the first few days on the SHIP, I'm worthless! This way, my week in Ireland won't be marred by Jet Lag, and I'll be raring to go.

 

Yes, I'll have bad jet lag coming home to California, but I solved that by returning on a Wednesday, and taking Thursday and Friday off from work!:D

 

In my mind, you can't lose either way!

 

Andrew

[Germancruiser]

Hi Andrew

I know what you are talking about, I am, as you say it- worthless when arriveing home from the US, it takes days for me to recover- LOL. When I fly into the states I never felt that way ( mabe it is because of the excitement or whatever it is) - thats why I prefer the eastbound this time. Best should be doing both, west and east- mabe going east via repositioning cruise and back on board the QM 2 . LOL.

Don´t know if I mentioned it before, but the Connie was my first choice, but it starts to early, can´´t leave germany before April 29, though.

Greetings

Michael

[Blazerboy]

Our loss!:)

 

But you'll have fun, too. I guess.....;)

 

Andrew

[mcnyc]

The only problem is that as it stands now, we totally disagree on when we should go and in which direction to do it!! I think it would be more relaxing to do east to west and he disagrees. I want to do fall and he wants to do spring. NOW WHAT???

 

Do what I'm trying to convince my parents of...travel on BOTH transatlantics!!! :D

 

While my parents love cruising, it does take a bit more money than we're used to spending on a vacation (addicted to balconies). As I've noticed that T/As are a bit more cheaper, I've convinced my parents that we should do that next year instead of cutting back our cruising to every other year or worse. :eek: As a result, the next cruise we're looking to book will be either off season in the Med (brrr!), or a T/A since we have a soft spot for Europe. Suite me up please.

[keela1eva2]

Well here's a plug for Eastbound! (taking my fourth-we're going over in April on Constellation) While I've done lots of Westbound cruises/crossings (seven) and loved them, I'm really excited about this cruise, because, for the first time in recent years of doing this, I won't arrive in Europe and be a zombie for the first few days. Worse is when I fly to Europe and jump right on a ship to take a long cruise back. Then the first few days on the SHIP, I'm worthless! This way, my week in Ireland won't be marred by Jet Lag, and I'll be raring to go.

 

Yes, I'll have bad jet lag coming home to California, but I solved that by returning on a Wednesday, and taking Thursday and Friday off from work!:D

 

In my mind, you can't lose either way!

 

Enjoy your trip to the Emerald Isle. I am Irish living in England now but going over on the 22nd of Feb just for a week.

I am doing the T/A on Galaxy my first Eastbound. Previously on Golden Princess Venice -New York in September.

I am just looking forward to those long sea days. Have a great holiday

Sue.

[idssms]

I d go on both and not worry about making a decision.

[Blazerboy]

Sue, thanks for the wishes, and you have a great holiday, too! Really looking forward to my time in Ireland- one of the nicest receptions by the locals we've had in recent years was in Cork...and then I mentioned that I'm originally from Boston, and it was practically hugs and kisses!:D

 

Andrew

[keela1eva2]

Sue, thanks for the wishes, and you have a great holiday, too! Really looking forward to my time in Ireland- one of the nicest receptions by the locals we've had in recent years was in Cork...and then I mentioned that I'm originally from Boston, and it was practically hugs and kisses!:D

 

Andrew

 

Hi Andrew,

 

Thanks for the post, I am just getting my Euro's sorted today. Initially I will stay with my Son who lives in Enniskillen Co. Fermanagh. Then Saturday I will go to Donegal and stay for 4 days. This is where I was born. I see you are from Boston but you I guess have Irish connections.

I am always so happy when I go over as there are no people in the world like them for friendliness.

My daughter say Ireland Land of Rain!

I am looking forward to Galaxy T/A but a tiny bit apprehensive as I am making this holiday on my own. I have done it before but there is always a panic after I do it.

I agree with you that a T/A is great as I love all the days at sea. I have been to all the ports in any case except Nassau but that makes no difference.

 

Have a great holiday.

Sue

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