Trans-atlantic... Go or no go?

[cybx]

Hello everybody, this is my very first post on Cruise Critic but I've been on this site a number of times. I just completed my second cruise which was my honeymoon cruise on the Celebrity Constellation (Southern Caribbean, 31MAR-11APR). It was my first cruise as an adult, but I went on a family cruise when I was in 7th grade.

 

Anyway, to my question. My wife and I are considering the TA cruise on the Celebrity Solstice on 30 NOV 2009. It hits a few ports and then it's six days at sea until it arrives in Ft. Lauderdale. My wife and I both loved the sea days we had on our honeymoon cruise and we enjoyed doing the various on board activities or just relaxing with a good book... or spending our hard earned money on delicious drinks;). Even when I was a kid I would look forward to the sea days. But do you guys think that 6 sea days in a row is too many? Do you have any personal stories you'd like to share? I'm interested in hearing what you have to say, positive or negative. But the price is right and it hits some great spots before it heads out to the open ocean :).

 

Thanks for the info!

 

-Brian

[Sir PMP]

you will be crossing the southern Atlantic, most of the time ocean will be soupy and flat, and pretty warm(80*plus), great stops are the Azores, Madeira, Tenerife etc. Enjoy

[luv2cruise450]

We love the transatlantics since we enjoy all the sea days. We've done 2 transatlantics with Holland America and one with Celebrity. We've done one going to Europe and 2 returning from Europe to FL. Two of our favorite ports when we do a TA is Madeira and the Azores. The ports on a TA are often some of the more out the way but interesting destinations that often many people don't get to visit...among some of the other TA ports we've visited have been to the the Canary Islands, to Morocco (like Casablanca and Agadir ) and Gibralter etc.

We have just booked another TA for next spring!! We find that all the sea days and just a few ports to make it interesting makes for a very low stress cruise! Especially if you enjoy the 'sea' days...book your sailing and anticipate enjoying the ship itself!!

Happy sailing!

[Canuker]

I can virtually guarantee they will pass all too quickly.

[kitty9]

I did a 19 day cruise where 17 were sea days, and it was fantastic. It was a crossing from LA to Hong Kong.

[SheilaNC]

We just returned from a back to back cruise from sydney to auckland and auckland to Honolulu. We had many sea days on each leg and a couple of extra ones due to rough seas not allowing tendering AND we loved them all. In fact we still can't believe how fast the 29 days went. Since you already know that both of you enjoyed sea days, go for it!! AND have a great cruise

[agabbymama]

As Host Sheila said, if you both enjoyed the "at sea" days, definitely go for it. I don't care for sea days, so I'm not even tempted (well, that's not totally true, I saw one on the web for like $699 and I seriously thought about it) but knew I'd go nuts with 6 days at sea.

 

My upcoming Med cruise in Oct '08 has 1at sea day out of 12. Guess that shows you that I prefer the port intensive itineraries. Now I just pray that the weather cooperates and we don't miss any ports due to weather, or mechanical malfunctions.

 

Have a fantastic cruise whatever you decide to do.

[lady_cruiser]

I can sum it up in 3 words - GO FOR IT!

[cb at sea]

I don't know--I enjoy sea days, but 6 in a row is a bit much! (Hubby would go completely insane!!!!)

[MMDown Under]

We are doing an 18 night TA with MSC from Genoa, Italy to FL, from 11/15/08. We love the combination of exotic ports, like Casablanca, Morocco, Tenerife, Canary Islands and Funchal, Madeira Islands, plus Barbados, Antigua, St Thomas and Puerto Rico (all new ports for us). The cruise has 8 sea days (5 together). We chose the cruise for its unique itinerary, but love sea days as well.

 

I've never been bored on a ship, as there is too much to do, and I've sailed from Australia to UK and back by ship (3 months in all, with lots of sea days).

 

As you love sea days, you will enjoy your TA.

[PurpleCow]

I love sea days. I'd be happy to go on a cruise that didn't put into any ports at all.

[MMDown Under]

Now, you're a real sea traveller!

 

It is the ports of call, which get me in every time, but I would hate a port intensive cruise. Ours will be a nice mixture of ports and sea days.

 

Your B2B cruise sounds wonderful - bon voyage.

[WELSH WIZARDS]

Hi, Cybx....YES ....Come and join us. !!

We are going on this cruise, as we absolutly love TA.s . We are only back 3 weeks ago from the Summit TA...on which we only got off once. ! You are lucky you have time to think about the Solctice, the Equinox TA in Nov. 09 is selling out fast.

[Gingee]

We had two in a row at the end of our cruise and I started to get bored. Maybe because it was the end of the cruise and you know how sad that can get.

[Poohb]

OP, as a suggestion, if you book now watch the cruiseline info for your cruise EVERY WEEK. TAs very seldom fill up and the cruiseline may drop the price for your cabin category. If that happens, immediately contact the cruiseline or your travel agent and request the new rate. It may happen several times in the months prior to your trip. We are going on our 3rd TA in Nov (RC Barcelona to FLL). The $ changed so I booked a higher level cabin and still saved. (Since that happened last week, the $ went back up. Check every week, if not every day) ENJOY. We love TAs.

[cybx]

OP, as a suggestion, if you book now watch the cruiseline info for your cruise EVERY WEEK. TAs very seldom fill up and the cruiseline may drop the price for your cabin category. If that happens, immediately contact the cruiseline or your travel agent and request the new rate. It may happen several times in the months prior to your trip. We are going on our 3rd TA in Nov (RC Barcelona to FLL). The $ changed so I booked a higher level cabin and still saved. (Since that happened last week, the $ went back up. Check every week, if not every day) ENJOY. We love TAs.

 

 

I've actually been doing exactly that, but the opposite has held true... the prices are going up! Only $50 increase for inside staterooms but the new Aquaclass rooms have sky rocketed (luckily I have a hold on my room right now and I'll be making my deposit tomorrow). Rooms on a similar crossing with the Equinox in early November 2009 have doing the same thing too. The suites are already sold out and rooms with Balcony's cost about $1000/pp more than the original price. Kind of odd for a TA cruise, no? Especially for one that's a year and a half away.

[Poohb]

Very odd. Are you looking on-line for category? I'm not sure about your cruiseline but RC only shows a few of the available cabins. I called them and asked about a particular cabin that was not list as available and was told that is WAS available so I booked it. Good Luck.

[cybx]

I'm going with Celebrity for this cruise, so they may be doing the same thing for the Equinox sailing as far as which rooms they list online. But the price increase is definitely as advertised.

[PurpleCow]

I'm in a bit of a bind as far as upgrading is prices fall. We're on a B@B and have the same cabin for both legs. So a price drop on either or both would be great, and our TA is keeping an eye out for us, but I wouldn't want to move to a different cabin on only one leg. I'm satisfied with what we're paying, which is several $1000 less than our upcoming Amazon Adventure even though we're in a deluxe outside for that one and a CC for the B2B, which is 4 days longer. But I'd be more than happy to have a price drop!