How to choose a Transatlantic itinerary?

[kj_connections]

I am trying to choose a TA sailing.  How does one choose?  Obviously some are lower priced because there are barely any ports and then the ones that are more expensive have more ports (I think this is the pattern I am seeing).  Can anyone comment on whether this TA with the following ports is any good?  Starts off in Bayonne and visits Madeira, La Coruna, Le Havre and ends up in Southampton.

[xpcdoojk]

So, TAs are typically cheaper on the older ships.  The ports are incidental.  TAs though are for those who have time to take a 3 week vacation, which usually eliminates a lot of kids and younger adults.  The bulk of regular 7 night cruisers are families or younger couples or Floridians.  If the point of a cruise is the ship, TAs are the best.  

 

I like TAs because I can FlowRide without guilt for 7 or more days.  I am not missing anything by spending 6 or 8 hours on the wave.  😆

 

I am not typical.  

[goldfish65]

It's kind of nice to choose a westbound so that you don't have such a long plane ride home that wipes out all the relaxation you got on the ship.

[mek]

1 hour ago, kj_connections said:

I am trying to choose a TA sailing.  How does one choose?  Obviously some are lower priced because there are barely any ports and then the ones that are more expensive have more ports (I think this is the pattern I am seeing).  Can anyone comment on whether this TA with the following ports is any good?  Starts off in Bayonne and visits Madeira, La Coruna, Le Havre and ends up in Southampton.

Not a particularly exciting itinerary.  There are some great TA's with interesting itineraries, but it really depends on what you are looking for.  Since you will be on the ship for a couple of weeks, do your homework and make sure they offer you the options that are important to you.

[LittleJoefromKokomo]

4 hours ago, mek said:

Not a particularly exciting itinerary.  There are some great TA's with interesting itineraries, but it really depends on what you are looking for.  Since you will be on the ship for a couple of weeks, do your homework and make sure they offer you the options that are important to you.

The casino and bars 😉 

[FionaMG]

Royal's TA itineraries are typically boring and lacking in originality. However, that said, both Madeira and La Coruña are decent ports. I haven't ported in Le Havre so can't speak to that other than to say that Paris it's not! Might be a good option for someone interested in visiting the Normandy Beaches.

 

Although I have never sailed with Norwegian, I have noticed that they have much more interesting TA itineraries and many of them seem to leave from NY if the departure area is an important consideration.

[Deeliteful]

I don’t think many people choose a T/A for the ports but rather as a very relaxing cruise with so many sea days.

 

Le Havre is close to Honfleur which is a very pretty seaside town and as FionaMG says, the Normandy beaches may be of interest.

 

[njkruzer]

We've chosen them based on either ports (northern route) or where I want to leave from or end up.  We've booked one in 2024 to Rome. We like the follow up cruise and then will spend time in Rome.  The med will be new for us as most of our TAs (5) have gone from/to northern ports.

[FionaMG]

25 minutes ago, njkruzer said:

We've chosen them based on either ports (northern route) or where I want to leave from or end up.  We've booked one in 2024 to Rome. We like the follow up cruise and then will spend time in Rome.  The med will be new for us as most of our TAs (5) have gone from/to northern ports.

Nice! That sounds like a great trip! 🙂

[njkruzer]

1 minute ago, FionaMG said:

Nice! That sounds like a great trip! 🙂

Thanks. Haven’t actually been to Portugal but stops in Madeira and Porto Del Guado, which are part of Portugal.  Also our Vigo, Spain stop was so close to Portugal.   We'll have to find a wzy to get there.

[cruisegirl1]

We've chosen our TAs for specific itineraries.  Our august 2023 includes Iceland and and an overnight stay in Iceland.  17 nights - a bit long for us, but the original 14 night TA was cancelled, and this was offered as a replacement.  Only 7 (of 17) are sea days and the longest stretch is only 2 sea days.    It will be different from the usual TA itinerary with  more sea days in a row. We've only selected TA's that visit a variety of foreign ports.  

 

We've done US to Europe in the past because the timing (longer cruise/time of year) worked better for our schedules, but we did lose an hour a day for several days.  This time we are heading in the other direction, so I'll be happy to gain an hour several times.  

 

M

 

[njkruzer]

2 minutes ago, cruisegirl1 said:

We've chosen our TAs for specific itineraries.  Our august 2023 includes Iceland and and an overnight stay in Iceland.  17 nights - a bit long for us, but the original 14 night TA was cancelled, and this was offered as a replacement.  Only 7 (of 17) are sea days and the longest stretch is only 2 sea days.    It will be different from the usual TA itinerary with  more sea days in a row. We've only selected TA's that visit a variety of foreign ports.  

 

We've done US to Europe in the past because the timing (longer cruise/time of year) worked better for our schedules, but we did lose an hour a day for several days.  This time we are heading in the other direction, so I'll be happy to gain an hour several times.  

 

M

 

Enjoy the cruise. We've done 2 with stops in Iceland.   Always enjoyed these northern transits.

[kj_connections]

Thanks everyone.  Here are the 2 itineraries I am deciding on:

 

Anthem of the Seas 12nt: Bayonne, 6 days at sea, Funchal, at sea, LA Coruna, at sea, Le Havre, Southampton

 

Oasis of the seas 14nt: Miami, 9 days at sea, Malaga, Alicante, Valencia, Palma de Mallorca, Barcelona

 

I've been on Oasis and love the ship.  I've always wanted to try Anthem but I am not sure if these ports are interesting.  I've already been to Funchal and Barcelona.  I will be traveling with kids age 9 and 11 and both ships will have enough entertainment for them.

 

Any thoughts appreciated!

[SargassoPirate]

I'd have to look at me cruise list for an exact count, but we've done several transatlantics and several transpacifics to avoid flying one way or the other in combination with land travel.  Ports along the way are incidental when the goal is simple transportation to get there or get home.

 

Either way, we love the relaxed pace of sea day after sea day instead of port port port port port.

[njkruzer]

46 minutes ago, kj_connections said:

Thanks everyone.  Here are the 2 itineraries I am deciding on:

 

Anthem of the Seas 12nt: Bayonne, 6 days at sea, Funchal, at sea, LA Coruna, at sea, Le Havre, Southampton

 

Oasis of the seas 14nt: Miami, 9 days at sea, Malaga, Alicante, Valencia, Palma de Mallorca, Barcelona

 

I've been on Oasis and love the ship.  I've always wanted to try Anthem but I am not sure if these ports are interesting.  I've already been to Funchal and Barcelona.  I will be traveling with kids age 9 and 11 and both ships will have enough entertainment for them.

 

Any thoughts appreciated!

We prefer Anthem. Also where do you want to end up at? 

[sgmn]

1 hour ago, kj_connections said:

Thanks everyone.  Here are the 2 itineraries I am deciding on:

 

Anthem of the Seas 12nt: Bayonne, 6 days at sea, Funchal, at sea, LA Coruna, at sea, Le Havre, Southampton

 

Oasis of the seas 14nt: Miami, 9 days at sea, Malaga, Alicante, Valencia, Palma de Mallorca, Barcelona

 

I've been on Oasis and love the ship.  I've always wanted to try Anthem but I am not sure if these ports are interesting.  I've already been to Funchal and Barcelona.  I will be traveling with kids age 9 and 11 and both ships will have enough entertainment for them.

 

Any thoughts appreciated!

Anthem may be better if the weathers bad. You've got the indoor family pool and the Solarium pool 

[sgmn]

29 minutes ago, SargassoPirate said:

I'd have to look at me cruise list for an exact count, but we've done several transatlantics and several transpacifics to avoid flying one way or the other in combination with land travel.  Ports along the way are incidental when the goal is simple transportation to get there or get home.

 

Either way, we love the relaxed pace of sea day after sea day instead of port port port port port.

QM2 is good if you just want transport transatlantic. Six nights, no stops and usually some very good guest speakers

[njkruzer]

2 minutes ago, sgmn said:

QM2 is good if you just want transport transatlantic. Six nights, no stops and usually some very good guest speakers

While we lovec our QM2 crossing,  not sure it would please the kids poster szid he wzs traveling with.

[xpcdoojk]

1 hour ago, kj_connections said:

Thanks everyone.  Here are the 2 itineraries I am deciding on:

 

Anthem of the Seas 12nt: Bayonne, 6 days at sea, Funchal, at sea, LA Coruna, at sea, Le Havre, Southampton

 

Oasis of the seas 14nt: Miami, 9 days at sea, Malaga, Alicante, Valencia, Palma de Mallorca, Barcelona

 

I've been on Oasis and love the ship.  I've always wanted to try Anthem but I am not sure if these ports are interesting.  I've already been to Funchal and Barcelona.  I will be traveling with kids age 9 and 11 and both ships will have enough entertainment for them.

 

Any thoughts appreciated!

So, in April it will be warmer in the med and starting from Miami… so that would be the deciding factor for me… O and two FlowRiders.  🤣

[cruiserking]

Ideally you want to choose a Transatlantic that offers at least 4 or 5 port stops. We did an amazing TA years ago on Holland America Line with 8 port stops. Today those are harder to find but, certainly half that amount. 

 

If you're from the Tri-state area though you can't beat board Anthem in Bayonne and then taking a relaxing voyage across the Atlantic with a few ports along the way. If you plug Transatlantic into a cruise search engine at an online travel site or cruise line engine you can compare and contrast. 

 

It's a wonderful, relaxing way to travel. Have a great crossing. 

 

Jonathan

[taglovestocruise]

We have done 5 TA's on Oasis Class, 2 on Mariner. 1 on Independence, all have been great. Just did 10 night TP on Quantum, found the ship to feel very small and boring.  Oasis Class hands down our favorite, we also sail for the ship as ports are secondary. Not sure if Indy still does the 15 night TA's but it had four ports in the Caribbean and one somewhere along the way, it was out of Southampton. 

[Another_Critic]

On 12/2/2022 at 6:09 PM, cruiserking said:

Ideally you want to choose a Transatlantic that offers at least 4 or 5 port stops. We did an amazing TA years ago on Holland America Line with 8 port stops. Today those are harder to find but, certainly half that amount. 

I guess I've been doing it all wrong.  😄  Did a 10 nt. TA on Azamara Journey with 0 port stops, 8 nt. TA on Quantum with 0 port stops (although, there was a Med Evac in the Azores), and 8 nt. TA on Anthem with 0 port stops.  The Azamara TA was one of my favorite cruises.  🙂

 

I've also done 14 nt. TA on Star Princess with 4 port stops, 15 nt. TA on Celebrity Constellation with 3 port stops, 16 nt. TA on Vision with 7 port stops (2 of them were overnight), 11 nt. TA on Anthem with 3 port stops, and 14 nt. TA on Voyager with 4 port stops (1 overnight) and 1 day cruising inland waterways.

[The sea calls my name]

On 12/2/2022 at 4:15 PM, kj_connections said:

Thanks everyone.  Here are the 2 itineraries I am deciding on:

 

Anthem of the Seas 12nt: Bayonne, 6 days at sea, Funchal, at sea, LA Coruna, at sea, Le Havre, Southampton

 

Oasis of the seas 14nt: Miami, 9 days at sea, Malaga, Alicante, Valencia, Palma de Mallorca, Barcelona

 

I've been on Oasis and love the ship.  I've always wanted to try Anthem but I am not sure if these ports are interesting.  I've already been to Funchal and Barcelona.  I will be traveling with kids age 9 and 11 and both ships will have enough entertainment for them.

 

Any thoughts appreciated!

We did our first this past April on the Wonder of the Seas.  The oasis class are our favorite class, but especially on the TA. Sea days are our favorite, so this itinerary is great for us. There were so many options of things to do ( or you can choose to not to do anything) and great restaurants if you wanted a special meal. It was our first and we loved it so much I booked one for April 23 on the Odyssey of the Seas. We loved that there were few children and the ship was only 60% full that will be different in 2023.