1st time transatlantic cruise.

[amwdaw]

Been on 25 cruises but never TA. Would like any suggestions or helpful hints of what to expect. Thanks!

[Orator]

3 minutes ago, amwdaw said:

Been on 25 cruises but never TA. Would like any suggestions or helpful hints of what to expect. Thanks!

You can expect a GREAT cruise experience! 

[jelayne]

Like. any other cruise except for a lot of sea days.

[Jim_Iain]

I believe you will find it very similar to other cruises you have except most of the sailing will be at sea days.   The CD crew are very active had have multiple things planned at all times.  

 

The only downside I see it that it is very addictive and once you  do your first you will be hooked.

 

The beauty is you have very little planning and aren't forced to go to bed early and get up early for an excursion.

 

You will find as much or as little to do as you desire and have plenty of time to sleep in and have a nice afternoon nap.    If you are active you will find the gym, pool and planned events more than enough to keep you busy.  

 

I walk 10 miles a day and find plenty of time to do my walking and listen to audiobooks. 

[amwdaw]

Always have a great time on cruises!! Never had that many sea days in a row.  Going on Edge ( our second time) in Oct of 2022 just need some help on what to plan and do.😗

 

 

[h18furball]

Get involved with your Roll Call.  In addition to the official planned activates, Our Roll Call had their own activities.  Every morning we had a group that met at one of the large dining tables and play various dice games.  There was also a very well organized scavenger hunt.  We also had the normal pub crawls, room tours and group slot pulls.  Oh, and there was also a gift exchange.

 

[sammyboots]

A transatlantic cruise is my favourite, so relaxing. There’s lots of do if you should wish to or else, like me, enjoy the time to relax with a book or three! 

[justcrusn]

The biggest negative is the time change. (If going eastbound) it’s plus if traveling westbound.

One really cool thing (on eastbound) is seeing the change in weather. On departure in Florida you’ll be given a towel by the pool, later in North Atlantic you’ll be given blankets. At least in April that’s how it goes.

[amwdaw]

Thanks all! Going west bound from Rome to Florida. Have a sky suite on the port side on the 10th deck. Did I do good? So concerned about the weather which I know I have no control over but still worry about it!!😗  Will definitely get on the roll call list. Love meeting new people! 

[Denny01]

Yes, come on over to the Roll Call. Not only can you sign up for private excusions once we get them set up, there will be a Cabin Crawl where you get to see many of the other SR’s, common times for games and socializing and so on.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2776210-edge-transatlantic-rome-to-fort-lauderdale-october-24-2022/page/11/?tab=comments#comment-61604247

 

TA’s have more daily lectures on interesting itinerary-focused subjects and many others such as very informative and fun lectures on Broadway, movies, actors, many other things. 

 

We look though the Daily for the next day, plan out what we are going to go to, and then find ourselves just relaxing or meeting new friends, and missing half of what we planned on. 

 

You’ll find yourself wishing it kept going! We usually add a number of days to spend in the departure port area exploring, or even joining the cruise prior - getting the same SR for both. 

 

Den

[Denny01]

7 minutes ago, amwdaw said:

Thanks all! Going west bound from Rome to Florida. Have a sky suite on the port side on the 10th deck. Did I do good? So concerned about the weather which I know I have no control over but still worry about it!!😗  Will definitely get on the roll call list. Love meeting new people! 

Don’t worry about the weather….not only is that out of our control, this TA is in Oct and it cruises through more southern Atlantic so there should be no issues……..says the guy who doesn’t really know!

 

We are on the same cruise and we’ve done a number of TA’s especially in Oct. we’ve done a Nov cruise and weather was fine then too.

 

den

[amwdaw]

Thanks Den, starting to feel better already!! 😉  

[TeaBag]

There are often interesting lectures too.  you will love putting your watch back an hour 4 times.  As others have said, it is very relaxing not having to be ready for a tour just about every day.  Enjoy.

[PTC DAWG]

1 hour ago, justcrusn said:

The biggest negative is the time change. (If going eastbound) it’s plus if traveling westbound.

One really cool thing (on eastbound) is seeing the change in weather. On departure in Florida you’ll be given a towel by the pool, later in North Atlantic you’ll be given blankets. At least in April that’s how it goes.

For two reasons I would prefer the west bound...the time changes, as you state are favorable west bound for me...and I would have the LONG flight of the way at the beginning of the trip...I think I want to come out of the MED for the weather reasons you mention...I think it would be warmer all the way, especially if sailing into FLL or MIA.  

 

That said, I want to try it before too much longer.. I have never spoken to anyone  on board any ship that said they did not enjoy any TA cruise they have taken.  

[Orator]

Going West and a southern route should present no problems. A TA is full of activities from lectures to cooking demonstrations and special activities that you find appealing. You won't be able to do everything that you desire. Just curling up with a good book can be very rewarding. You'll do tours prior to the sea days so you'll have ample time to recover. Hint: Don't wait until the last day to book another TA since you normally have long lines the last few days. 

[Denny01]

The OP is doing the western direction which is what we try to do. Did one Eastern Spring TA and enjoyed, and I really didn’t see the time change as a biggie, but I agree “Go West Young Man!” Works for us…..well except for the ‘Young’ and the ‘Man’ parts! 

 

We like to get the flight at the start and we enjoy staying prior to the cruise because although we’ve done it  before, and it works. We’ve stayed a week in Cornwall prior to a Southampton departure, and did the cruise prior to Mediterranean port departures as B2B’s. Loved doing the Eastern Med itinerary followed by Western Med ports then the crossing the Atlantic TA. So many options! 

 

And yes, longer times, but as many do, we fill out flying to Europe with max time there.

 

And if you go from Europe to US and rent a car to head home, you can buy more items such as wine, liquor and larger things that you can transport easier back home.

 

den

[MR_T]

We’ve done several TAs and absolutely love them, we are booked for the Apex this Oct so fingers crossed everything works out and we make it as they are always great cruises. 
 

As for the weather nobody really knows but the further south you go before you start the Atlantic crossing the better chance of good weather,  we’ve done several in October and had great weather except 1 that we did from Southampton - Florida straight and had rubbish weather for the first 6-7 days but we were much, much further north where the chances are much higher for bad weather. 
 

As for the side of ship we prefer the port side on western crossings as it’s the sunnier side. 
 

personally I’d pick a TA cruise every year if I could 🚢  🍹 😎 

[amwdaw]

I’m all for the sunnier side of the ship!! What about the wind? Is one side of the ship better than the other?

[4774Papa]

On 8/9/2021 at 10:35 AM, amwdaw said:

Been on 25 cruises but never TA. Would like any suggestions or helpful hints of what to expect. Thanks!

We love TA and TP cruises.  We always schedule a land trip in Europe and save on airfare taking a transatlantic cruise home.  TA cruises tend to be cheaper than others.   Still, they usually have a few  ports on their way home.

We always get a balcony and enjoy sitting on the balcony watching the ocean.

There are activities  you can do on these cruises like trivia, lectures, wine tasting and more.  Also, I usually go to the fitness center every day.

 

Try to connect with others on your roll call and make friends at the meet and greet early in the cruise, so you have people to socialize with on the cruise.

[Clay Clayton]

On 8/9/2021 at 11:21 AM, justcrusn said:

The biggest negative is the time change. (If going eastbound) it’s plus if traveling westbound.

One really cool thing (on eastbound) is seeing the change in weather. On departure in Florida you’ll be given a towel by the pool, later in North Atlantic you’ll be given blankets. At least in April that’s how it goes.

We have found the time changes to be equally problematic no matter which direction.  Eastbound you end up sleeping in too late....by the end of the westbound one, we found ourselves waking up at 4 am and wanting to go to bed at 8 pm.  #FirstWorldProblems

[4774Papa]

51 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

We have found the time changes to be equally problematic no matter which direction.  Eastbound you end up sleeping in too late....by the end of the westbound one, we found ourselves waking up at 4 am and wanting to go to bed at 8 pm.  #FirstWorldProblems

We never found the time changes to be problematic.  Cruising across the Atlantic is far better than the time changes due to flying and jet lag.

[Clay Clayton]

3 hours ago, 4774Papa said:

We never found the time changes to be problematic.  Cruising across the Atlantic is far better than the time changes due to flying and jet lag.

Oh definitely agree but my point is that whether cruising east or west we still find ourselves dealing with with impact of the time changes.  

[rkacruiser]

A long cruise allows one to become better acquainted with your cruisemates and the crew who serve you.  And them, as well.  There is a social side of long cruises that I enjoy.  

[spunks]

on TA's, you will find it very windy on deck and most likely colder than you are used to.We usually do (pre covid) 3 to 5 TA's a year. They are the best of the best for cruising in our opinion. Everything on the ship is open all day. There is much more to do on the ship than you ever dreamed. We prefer the WB because we can recover from the jet lag in 1 day....EB usually take us up to 10 days to recover.

 

If you are allowed to go....enjoy...

[RGEDad]

I absolutely love TAs and TPs. I fell in love the first time I did a Circle Hawaii out of San Diego (back in the day when I was still working, working, over-working). The first 6 days of just cruising sold me right then and there.

Since then, we do at least two trans-ocean cruises a year, and now that I have retired done some really long 40 and 50 day cruises with mixed tour/trans-ocean cruises (Pre-COVID of course).

One of our biggest expenses is business class airfare to (or from) the far-away land so I now look for possible sets of cruises to get over and then back with a different cruise with minimal time in the far-away land. They are not often available - but sometimes they show up - typically different lines. For about the cost of the business class airfare we can get another week or so cruise.

I have only met one person who truly disliked TA/TP cruises - he stated he was bored silly the entire trip - so I guess it does happen.