Trans-Atlantic Cruise or Crossing

[784caroline]

WHo has taken a Transatlantic cruise..and if so what was your route? I have known people that took the QE2 in late summer from England to NY via the north atlantic and had a very very rough cruise. Of course people that know better would call this a "crossing" rather than a "cruise" especailly since you typically transit in 5 days. The soutern route that most of the well know cruise lines take (Celebrity, NCL, Princess RCL etc) take upwards of 14 days and travels much calmer waters.

Are tansatlanic cruises a one time deal, did you enjoy your cruise, what did you do on the 5-7 sea days, how difficult was it to arrange return transportation or did you allow the cruise lines to make your one-way air transport!


Has anyone done a crossing vs a cruise...comments??

[MelZ]

Caroline:

Last summer we did a crossing from Barcelona we stopped in Spain, Portugal and Morrocco before cross TA. It took 4 days to cross, we enjoyed the rest, lectures and classes on the ship.

We will do another TA this september from Harwich UK, stopping in france, Ireland, Scotland, Iceland and Canada before landing in NJ.

[duffysmom]

We have taken many TA's and will do another in May on Royal Caribbean Jewel our favorite ship. We feel that you get a great bargain on TA's since the price is considerably lower than many other cruises. You can even get an inside for $400 to $500 for 13 to 16 nights at sea on a lst class ship. We always get a balcony. We have done the East and West routes and have had very calm crossings and one in which we had 30 ft waves where the ship rocked and rolled. As for the days at sea, the ship has many events to keep you busy. There is also a movie theatre and since I play MahJongg we can always play games. Of course reading is another favorite. Every evening there are live shows. We have gotten a glimpse of many European cities and are always excited when we visit ports. As for air, we book our own and usually manage to get good rates since we research intensely. Friends have booked with the cruise line directly and get good rates also. I recommend you visit www.cruisecritic.com where you will find volumes of information on cruising. Send me a email if you wish more information.

[gingin410]

We've never done the TransAtlantic...but can hardly wait to have the time to do so. Another in our future (after we retire) is a repositioning cruise going through the Panama Canal.

I love cruising, actually travel of any kind. The deals are great for Seniors. My top three links follow: I always check ships out on Cruise Ccritic (cruisecritic.com). Another favorite when shopping for cruises is Cruise Hotsheet (http://www.cruisehotsheet.com/) where you can find the per day cost for the type of cabin you want. The folks that set the hotsheet up use information from Vacations to Go (vacationstogo.com), a great site to find cruise deals using their 90 Day Tracker.

By the way, we will be getting our house keys and IDs next Saturday as we are on our way to Tampa for a Western Caribbean cruise. I can hardly wait to actually get to move to TV so we'll be closer to Port Canaveral and Tampa. Anyone ever tried to do any last minute cruises?

[Canwego2]

Do they have a Cruise Coordinator in TVs ?:

[784caroline]

There is no cruise coordinator in The Villages Per se, but there are plently of travel agents, local travel agencies, local bands that play at the squares, as well as neighborhood groups that put their own cruise group together. Its fairly easy to get a cruise together (for yourself or with other couples) and our location makes it easy to grab some last minute deals out of Tampa, Port Canaveral, Ft lauderdale, or even Miami. Having a good travel agent who knows how you like to cruise certainly helps you find the better deals.

If you have any specific questions send me a PM!

[Canwego2]

Thanks for information 784....you sound very knowledgeable!

[REH7380]

We have taken 5-6 transatlantic cruises and Royal Caribbean Cruise line had been our line of choice. Since our last transatlantic cruise in May we have decided never to use them again as thier service, customer care has gone down a great deal since 2 years ago. We are Diamond members on Royal Caribbean so we have used them a lot over the years when they were a good line. We certainly would not recommend them when you are chosing a Company. For our future cruises we are going to look for cruises on Princess line as everyone we spoke to had good words for them.

[dvcmembers94]

My husband & I did a trans-Atlantic 2 years ago on the Queen Mary 2. We left NY & stopped in Southhampton & then disembarked in Germany. We went in July & it was foggy for 1 day out of NY but then beautiful. The cruise was wonderful - our tablemates were perfect, food was wonderful & we had top notch entertainment & lecturers. You can always find something to do & I would definately recommend it. We've cruised many, many times but this has been our only crossing.

[REH7380]

Dvcmembers..
Thanks for the information on the Queen Mary 2. We going to avoid Royal Caribbean and it is good to have feedback on other transatlantics. It is
unfortunate that Royal Caribbean has elected to lower their standards and upset a number of loyal customers who will no longer cruise with them. We are one of them. They have gone to nickle and dime the customers even to the point of charging for "orange juice" for breakfast. This was unheard of in the past. It has essentially in our opinion become the "lower class" cruise line but the onboard charges continue to climb out of proportion to the reduction in service.
They are building mega ships and hope to fill them in the future. We sailed on one and it was a terrible. There were too many people on the ship, everything was crowded.
I may sound like I am picking on Royal Caribbean but 2-3 years ago it was a different line than today and it is very disappointing to have that happen.