Help - Summit Hawaii or Millie Transatlantic 3/07

[de13]

Any advice would be appreciated. We are taking our 2 children (will be 12 and 8) on a cruise next March. We are deciding between the Summit Hawaii cruise and the transatlantic Millemium on 3/18/07. We might also be joined by their 63 year old grandparents who have never cruised.

 

My children have been on longer cruises, including a 14 day. We are leaning toward the transatlantic idea and seeing briefly part of Europe, and the price is less than Hawaii cruise! But... it seems the weather might not be much fun for children. Though I am sure they will find plenty to occupy them on sea days, we do like to get some warmth after a long winter.

The Hawaii cruise also seems great and might have better weather, though only 4 ports in Hawaii and we have to also fly to CA (we live in NJ) so the flight for both cruises do not factor into our decision.

Any suggestions to help us make the decision? We are really torn, seems both ship are nice.

Thank you!

[Birthdaylady]

We went to Hawaii out of San Diego on the Infinity Nov. 2005. I don't know what the weather normally is out in the Pacific Ocean but we were in a 'gale' both going to and returning from Hawaii. The 5 days in Hawaii were perfect. There were very few 'pool' events and it was very difficult to walk a few rounds up on the deck for exercise. We didn't have small children with and we like to read so our vacation certainly wasn't ruined. The six sea days cost about the same as air to Hawaii so we elected to spend that extra time on a cruise.

[lisiamc]

We did the Summit Hawaii in March, and the Millennium transatlantic a couple of years ago. We loved both, but we didn't have kids to consider.

 

A couple of points to think about: We did the transatlantic westbound, and the series of 25-hour days to adjust the time difference was very nice. I don't think I would like a string of 23-hour days on the eastbound quite as much. And as you say, the spring weather can be iffy.

 

Also, there were very few kids of any age on the transatlantic (at least that I noticed.) Will your children be OK if they mostly just have each other for company? There was a reasonable number of kids on the Hawaii cruise, and they seemed to be having a good time together.

 

Lisa

[Keith1010]

I agree with Lisa's points.

 

We did the Summit Hawaii cruise last March. While there were not lots of children by say summer standards, there were enough children so that there were activities for the children and enough for them to be together. If that is an issue, that would be the biggest advantage of the Hawaii cruise plus the days in Hawaii. We had five ports on our cruise.

 

If that is no big deal then if you prefer the transatlantic cruise go with that. I have done the transatlantic cruise on another cruise line and enjoyed that one as well.

 

Keith

[STXCruisers]

You might also want to consider that Millie's transatlantic voyage in March is the last one before her drydock if my information is correct. I have not been on a ship's last cruise before drydock personally, but I have heard from others that sometimes they run out of things, thefts are more common as crew members are leaving, etc. As I said, I have not experienced this personally, just hearsay; but perhaps others on this thread could address that concern. Whatever you choose, enjoy!

[dutchess43]

Dh & myself just completed the TA on the Millie 4/30 from Ft. Lauderdale to Barcelona. It was 14 days & I must admit if there were 10 kids on the cruise then that was a lot. I found this to be a much older age cruise. I no longer have small children & I do not know if I would reccommed this type of cruise for your children. We are going on RCCL this Aug because that is with the family including my grandaughter. I would call Celebrity & ask them to give you the number of children on board so far & see if you can get that information. If your a Captain's Club member I would call them. I know that when I was booking a princess cruise last year I got the number of children on board. We are going on the hawaii cruise out of San diego next year. Hopes this helps you.

[crz4ever]

We just did the Summit to Hawaii April 23rd and live on the central coast of California. The Pacific coast is very cool all year, do not expect much "warm" weather on either crossing. We got lucky and hit warm weather on our 3rd day at sea, great weather in Hawaii and had one warm day on our first sea day on the return crossing. The last 3 days were very cold and windy, couldn't even walk on deck. I would expect the weather to be worse in March as it is still considered the rainy season in both CA and HI. We were told by some of the crew that the April 9th crossing was the roughest they had and on the 2nd day out many people could not even leave their cabins. Our crossing was relatively smooth and with the stabilizers on the Summit we had no problem.

 

The crowd is older with very few children. In March it could be different if it is during a school break. The five days in Hawaii are great but seemed very short. If you are really looking for warm weather the Caribbean might be a better choice. You also might consider flying to Hawaii and taking a cruise out of there. I have not been on NCL but do know they can not be compared to Celebrity.

 

We loved this cruise but knew not to expect warm weather crossings. We do not have children and do enjoy an older crowd. I have not done a TA crossing so can't comment.

 

crz4ever

Star Clipper 8/06

Summit 4/06

Royal Clipper 1/06

Galaxy 7/05

Diamond Princess 4/05

Volendam 11/04

Galaxy 3/04

[de13]

You might also want to consider that Millie's transatlantic voyage in March is the last one before her drydock if my information is correct. I have not been on a ship's last cruise before drydock personally, but I have heard from others that sometimes they run out of things, thefts are more common as crew members are leaving, etc.

 

 

Hi all, just wondering if anyone has anymore or recent info on this or suggestions to the original question of which cruise to choose.

We still have both cruises booked.

Thank you!

Diana

[poetic license]

You might also want to consider that Millie's transatlantic voyage in March is the last one before her drydock if my information is correct. I have not been on a ship's last cruise before drydock personally, but I have heard from others that sometimes they run out of things, thefts are more common as crew members are leaving, etc. As I said, I have not experienced this personally, just hearsay; but perhaps others on this thread could address that concern. Whatever you choose, enjoy!

 

We did the last cruise (a TA to Barcelona) on CENTURY this past April and it was fabulous. We didn't run out of a thing, the crew were in great spirits, and the dining was the best we ever had on a cruise. It became our #1 cruise so far .... I would recommend doing it in a heartbeat.

 

Weatherwise: We had cool weather in the evenings and mornings, but beautiful weather during the day, in the 70s. It was perfect! Our cruise was mid-April, though, so your experience will be different. The seas were as smooth as glass, too. Even we couldn't believe it.

 

Nicki