How to make the most of a Transatlantic Cruise?

[the penguins]

2 hours ago, Andrewgary said:

We'll be on the Reflection starting October 9 for a ten day Greek Islands cruise followed by 14 day transatlantic starting in Barcelona on October 19 and ending up in Fort Lauderdale.

See you on the ship. We just love TA's and this one has an interesting selection of ports before we settle down for the wonderful sea days.

[shubsens]

No one seems to be mentioning swimming as something to do, is it too cold on these crossings to use the pools.

[LGW59]

6 minutes ago, shubsens said:

No one seems to be mentioning swimming as something to do, is it too cold on these crossings to use the pools.

Hit or miss and can vary day to day and if it is, use the indoor solarium pool

[the penguins]

6 hours ago, shubsens said:

No one seems to be mentioning swimming as something to do, is it too cold on these crossings to use the pools.

Once you have broken the ice the pools are fine😀😂.

Seriously unless the pools are closed due to rough weather there have been passengers them on all our TA's. The hot tubs are also very popular.

[taylortime05]

On 1/2/2023 at 12:29 PM, Andrewgary said:

We'll be on the Reflection starting October 9 for a ten day Greek Islands cruise followed by 14 day transatlantic starting in Barcelona on October 19 and ending up in Fort Lauderdale.

I love the Reflection.  Sounds like a wonderful cruise.  

[Ex-Airbalancer]

Remember at the moment you need a supervised Covid to get on a ship 

 

https://www.celebritycruises.com/healthy-at-sea/transatlantic-travel-requirements

 

and after November citizens from some countries will need an ETIAS for the EU 

[the penguins]

6 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Remember at the moment you need a supervised Covid to get on a ship 

 

https://www.celebritycruises.com/healthy-at-sea/transatlantic-travel-requirements

 

and after November citizens from some countries will need an ETIAS for the EU 

If you are back to back you will get a complimentary Covid test at the port on changeover day. All other passengers have to pay. Rules could well change by October 23.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

1 minute ago, the penguins said:

If you are back to back you will get a complimentary Covid test at the port on changeover day. All other passengers have to pay. Rules could well change by October 23.

Hoping rules change by April for our Spring TA 😁

[the penguins]

17 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Hoping rules change by April for our Spring TA 😁

We swopped to Princess for our March TA (compolsary AI pricing at the time made X unattractive) and no testing is currently required.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

9 minutes ago, the penguins said:

We swopped to Princess for our March TA (compolsary AI pricing at the time made X unattractive) and no testing is currently required.

Our Reflection April TA with AL pricing is $135 CAD (£82) per night per person, for a balcony which we thought was a great price 

[Cjonthesea]

Is it correct to say fewer children are aboard TAs?

 

While Celebrity is my preferred line, I'm also researching RCL (Symphony of Seas) and NCL (Getaway or Jade).

This is for WB in Oct/Nov '23.

Thanks for this thread!

[lynncarol]

My husband and I once took a 17 day Trans-Atlantic westbound cruise in 2016 from Copenhagen. Although we love crusing, had a nice balcony cabin and great dinner companions, both of us agreed: Never AGAIN!  Too long, too boring, too many days at sea. So, it's not for everyone.  

[Ex-Airbalancer]

2 hours ago, Cjonthesea said:

Is it correct to say fewer children are aboard TAs?

 

While Celebrity is my preferred line, I'm also researching RCL (Symphony of Seas) and NCL (Getaway or Jade).

This is for WB in Oct/Nov '23.

Thanks for this thread!

Most children on a TA are officers and entertainers children 

probably less  than 20 children on the ship 

[the penguins]

4 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Our Reflection April TA with AL pricing is $135 CAD (£82) per night per person, for a balcony which we thought was a great price 

Wow. The tips, WiFi and drinks alone would amount to about 50% of that cost. Was this some sort of "deal" or just straight of X's website? The price for our October TA in a balcony on Deck 7 on Reflection is US150 (£125) per person per night inc just the tips. 

[JeriGail]

13 minutes ago, the penguins said:

Wow. The tips, WiFi and drinks alone would amount to about 50% of that cost. Was this some sort of "deal" or just straight of X's website? The price for our October TA in a balcony on Deck 7 on Reflection is US150 (£125) per person per night inc just the tips. 

There were some great deals last summer.  My TA got a great group rate on the Beyond's October 2023 TA.  We are $150 per person per day for an IV with AL pricing. 

[the penguins]

4 minutes ago, JeriGail said:

There were some great deals last summer.  My TA got a great group rate on the Beyond's October 2023 TA.  We are $150 per person per day for an IV with AL pricing. 

I accept Group Rates give good prices but not so readily available in the UK. As AI is of no value to us our price is basically identical. We also have a good OBC from our travel agent which the boss (Anita) will invest in the Casino. 

 

[neverlaysup]

On 8/3/2022 at 6:29 AM, GRBlizz said:

Since we're coming close to Transatlantic season, would some of you who are experienced with this kind of cruise share tips on how to get the most out of them? We have just booked our first TA (Sillouette, October 20 out of Southampton.) 

 

What do you like best about TAs? What advice do you have for an experienced cruiser couple taking their first TA?

We did this TA last October and I was surprised how packed the interior spaces of the ship became. If you enjoy your days in Cafe Al Bacio, get there early because in 14 days, we only got a seat twice. Activities held in the forward lounge such as trivia had a completely full house, almost no seats in the entire space to be found. Most of the onboard activities had increased participation given that we were all at sea. One interesting thing I noted.....there are a lot of Brits on the cruise and they dress way better than the Americans on Chic night and every other night (not a complaint, I wish more Americans would step it up a notch), lots of tuxedos and evening gowns. Temps were good throughout the cruise ranging from high 60's to mid 70's and it got a bit warmer on the last two days as we approached the Bahamas and Florida. Overall, it was a great cruise, just a little more crowded than we have seen over the last year.

[neverlaysup]

On 8/3/2022 at 10:54 AM, Mark_K said:

Be prepared to have your sleep schedule disrupted. Depending on direction, you’re going to have either several 23 hour days or several 25 hour days.  Personally, I prefer the eastbound trips.  The short days can be a pain but you avoid the overnight transatlantic flight.

The 25 hour days of our last TA really helped us beat the jet lag we got flying from LA to London. On the first few days of the cruise, we found ourselves sleeping in way too long and my Miami, we were up bright and early.

[the penguins]

1 hour ago, neverlaysup said:

We did this TA last October and I was surprised how packed the interior spaces of the ship became. If you enjoy your days in Cafe Al Bacio, get there early because in 14 days, we only got a seat twice. Activities held in the forward lounge such as trivia had a completely full house, almost no seats in the entire space to be found. Most of the onboard activities had increased participation given that we were all at sea. One interesting thing I noted.....there are a lot of Brits on the cruise and they dress way better than the Americans on Chic night and every other night (not a complaint, I wish more Americans would step it up a notch), lots of tuxedos and evening gowns. Temps were good throughout the cruise ranging from high 60's to mid 70's and it got a bit warmer on the last two days as we approached the Bahamas and Florida. Overall, it was a great cruise, just a little more crowded than we have seen over the last year.

Usually so much to do: Beyond the Podium 2 x talks a day, extra matinee shows in the main theatre, extra talks and presentations at various venues, lots of "games" of all sorts, late night dance parties in Sky Lounge. If you have a good Roll Call often a host of activities our last Silhouette in 2019 included 80 person Slot Pull, 60 plus in the Godiva (chocolate ) group, Cabin/pocker crawl, 2 book groups, 2x  LCR group The ship organised a Flash Mob for Halloween, a Passenger Choir, several Silent Disco's. Or just sit back relax and enjoy. Traditionally the Officers have also joined in with a lot of activities but Post Covid this has not yet restarted.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

3 hours ago, the penguins said:

Wow. The tips, WiFi and drinks alone would amount to about 50% of that cost. Was this some sort of "deal" or just straight of X's website? The price for our October TA in a balcony on Deck 7 on Reflection is US150 (£125) per person per night inc just the tips. 

Group price 

have the same deal on the Conny in November 😁

[neverlaysup]

1 hour ago, the penguins said:

Usually so much to do: Beyond the Podium 2 x talks a day, extra matinee shows in the main theatre, extra talks and presentations at various venues, lots of "games" of all sorts, late night dance parties in Sky Lounge. If you have a good Roll Call often a host of activities our last Silhouette in 2019 included 80 person Slot Pull, 60 plus in the Godiva (chocolate ) group, Cabin/pocker crawl, 2 book groups, 2x  LCR group The ship organised a Flash Mob for Halloween, a Passenger Choir, several Silent Disco's. Or just sit back relax and enjoy. Traditionally the Officers have also joined in with a lot of activities but Post Covid this has not yet restarted.

There was plenty to do on the sea days, I was not complaining about that. I was just surprised to see the mass congregation of people at the cafe or events that I was not used to seeing. When almost every seat in the Observation lounge is full for trivia, it really changes the dynamic of the experience. Having been blessed with 50% occupied cruises for the last year +, it was shocking to see so many people (TA was 90% capacity). The first 10 days were great, then we got COVID!! The Covid team took good care of us so I have no real complaints. 

[mullinbc]

Great thread! 

Planning our first TA. What does everyone do about booking 'all-inclusive'? 

 

I can't see us drinking lots every day on a 14+ day cruise. So thinking drink package might not be a good $ deal. Thoughts?

 

And wifi I hear isn't great cause of the change of satellites. So is a wifi package needed? 

 

Thanks

[tigervixxxen]

I think a cruise with more sea days as opposed to a lot of ports makes more sense for the All Included package vs a cruise you might spend more time off the ship. I can live without drinks and just take what’s free but it’s nice to have the package. I can’t survive without wifi though. So when you add gratuity plus wifi that about pays for the package, but this of course is up to everyone’s personal preference. We booked our transpacific when it was still Always Included so there wasn’t a choice. In the future I might think about which way makes more sense. Another thing to remember that on these longer cruises per day really adds up so thinking of doing something a la carte x 17 does add up. 

[tigervixxxen]

I was glad to see the talk about what makes a TA cruise special as I’m eagerly anticipating our transpacific cruise this October. If there are any other thoughts on how the menus and activities differ on such a long cruise as opposed to a more “traditional” length experiences I’d be interested in those in particular. 
 

I have not done a true trans ocean cruise yet but have sailed round trip to Hawaii and back from LA which was 4 consecutive sea days each way so I do think I have an idea what to expect. The upcoming cruise on the Solstice only has 5 consecutive sea days so not quite as intensive as some experiences. We enjoy sea days with no agenda and not having to hurry off the ship but still visit 5 ports so it is still a good mix. I also love using the ship as transportation and only having to fly once across the ocean eliminating the flight and it’s cost is a brilliant idea to me. 
 

For myself personally I like to have in mind one specific thing I’d like to do that day , something like visit them sauna, go in the hot tub, wake up for the sunrise and early breakfast, have a massage, have a specialty restaurant dinner, get a manicure, etc which makes me feel like I’m accomplishing getting things of my list but also nothing too restrictive to not see what activities are going on for the day. I also like to have as many different meals as possible with a couple specialty restaurants sprinkled in so I try to do at least one of OVC breakfast, room service breakfast, MDR breakfast, OVC lunch, MDR lunch, Mast Grill lunch, OVC dinner, MDR dinner, specialty dining dinner, perhaps the spa cafe or a trip to Sushi on 5 solo (DH won’t go) just to mix it up and then it feels like getting something checked off the list and having the full ship experience. 

Edited July 31, 2023 by tigervixxxen

[Baggy178]

We're on the Silhouette out of Southampton on Oct 22nd for the 11 nights to Fort Lauderdale.

We paid approx £750 pp for a Deck 6 balcony cabin.

It's our 2nd TA. We loved the first one on Britannia.

Great weather and days gliding across the Atlantic doing nothing but relaxing and reading a book.

Lots of sea days don't bother us as we've been to most places like the Caribbean before although the Azores are a first for us.

We never, ever take organised day tours. We mostly grab a taxi to a decent beach and chill or in a city go on a pub crawl which we've pre-planned.

We're low maintenance cruisers.

Hand luggage only, we rarely eat in the MDR and prefer the buffet most night.

Not such huuuuge drinkers on board as we would be on land so the outrageously-priced drinks packages are an easy swerve.

Take in a show, watch a bit of TV sport in the bar, take a stroll, retire early.

We won't pay auto-gratuities as the suggested amount is 27% of our total cost but will use the OBC of $250 - which we had no idea we'd be getting when we booked - to pay gratuities.

We won't bother with the WiFi package either - bought a daily one occasionally on our last trip but the reception was lousy mid-Atlantic and actually we enjoyed the digital detox.

We expect to spend around £1,000 each in total including fares which for an 11-day holiday is a steal.

The funny thing is we're the exact opposite of most cruisers who enjoy getting dressed up and socialising - we have such a hectic social life back home we treat vacations and cruises as a chance to re-charge the batteries.

Our last TA cruise was early post-pandemic with lots of testing and quarantine areas on the ship - the upside was the cruise was probably only 50% full.I suspect this one might be more of a bunfight.

In the US we have one of our favourite road trips planned up around the Florida Panhandle towards the Redneck Riviera and then a week's home exchange on the Gulf Coast - folks have a nice holiday home on the beach and they'll use one of our places sometime next year.

So a decent 22-day trip and flights back to Blighty on a cheapo TA LCC out of Orlando ( $250 ) .

 Back in time for a British winter.🤣

Edited July 31, 2023 by Baggy178