Transatlantic choices in May

[GreenEggs]

We're planning a trip to Spain to celebrate our daughter's graduation from college. Instead of flying we've decided a transatlantic cruise would be much nicer.

I've been using www.vacationstogo.com to see what cruises are available this May. I've only found 3 cruise lines offering trips from the US to Europe in May. Cunard's Queen Mary 2, Princess' Island Princess, and Disney's Disney Magic.

The QM2 is a 7-night direct ride from NY to London.
The Princess is a 16-night from Ft Lauderdale, with a stop in Canada, 3 stops in Iceland, a stop in Scotland, and ends in London.
The Disney is a 12-night from Miami, with 2 stops in Portugal, a stop in Spain, and ends in Barcelona.

The QM2 seems the least interesting since it's just a non-stop.

I don't know much about cruise lines. Of course there's plenty of info online about the luxury lines, but I haven't found a way to search through the various luxury transatlantic offerings to compare their rates & itineraries. Is there a site that compares their deals, or do I just need to call each of them individually for their rates & specials? (Their brochures rates seem confusing, especially with 3 of us.)

I don't know how Princess compares to Disney. Obviously, Disney seems like it would likely be loaded with kids & cartoon decor, but perhaps not? Any opinions about Disney here?

Should I call a travel agent? If so, how do I find a good one?


(FYI the quotes I have for a balcony room for 3 on the Princess is $$6500, the Disney is $7350 & for the QM2 $5000, including tips & travel insurance.)

Any advice would be great.

 

[Souschef]

I would recommend the Princess ship. The itinerary is a lot more interesting.

 

[Moemg]

You do not need a balcony room on a transatlantic . There is not a lot to see until you arrive at ports .It is so windy you will spend very little time on the balcony .

 

[wproie]

I have done a transatlantic cruise and less than 1% of the passengers were children because of school. I would expect not too many more even on a Disney cruise.

The Disney will cost a little more but takes you direct to Barcelona, saving money on getting from another country to Spain. And weather would be nice all the way across.

The Princess cruise looks the most interesting, although weather may be a bit less desirable, but still okay if it gets you there in time.

Have you considered searching April? That is when the bulk of the repositioning is done and many departures are listed for April 25th but get there around May 9th. Probably not a factor though because I see that the Disney cruise gets you there in late May and some others don't get you there until June.

I plan most of my cruises on cruisesonly dot com. They list all the prices and options. I never called anyone.

 

[Bamaman]

We've been on three repositioning cruises--two to Europe.
The bulk of repositioning cruises are in April, not May, and they're mostly with Celebrity Cruises out of Ft. Lauderdale and Miami.
A good travel agent is Ann Kent, and independent agent of Avoya Travel. She's online.
Celebrity is one of my favorite mid cost cruise lines.

 

[mpeirce]

You do not need a balcony room on a transatlantic . There is not a lot to see until you arrive at ports .It is so windy you will spend very little time on the balcony .

I don't know about that.

When we did an Atlantic crossing, we had a room on the stern of the ship. I really enjoyed sitting out on our balcony watching the sunset every night. Just beautiful.

We even had room service bring dinner one evening to watch the sunset as we ate. So nice.

 

[sengsational]

Should I call a travel agent? If so, how do I find a good one?

Vacations to Go is a travel agent. You can call them and you'll get assigned a cruise consultant that can lay out the differences. I've only dealt with 'my guy', but he does know the differences between cruise lines, ships, itineraries, etc. Before my first trans-Atlantic, he gave me details about what other customers liked about that cruise line and 'warnings' about things other customers didn't like. He wasn't trying to jack up the price by selling something more expensive or overly pushy, just had lots of details for me to consider. Seemed like his goal was for me to go in with eyes open and have no surprises. BTW, I agree that the north Atlantic will likely be cold and windy (I've been on three TA's, the weather was never consistently good).

 

[GreenEggs]

Thanks for all the replies. You've given us a lot of good advice and things to consider. It's too bad that we're tied to May, but that's when kids tend to graduate.

This little crash course of reading & researching cruise deals has been a great eye-opener for us. We're looking forward to shopping for travel deals when we aren't limited to suboptimal dates.

 

[IMATERP]

We’ve done two TA’s from Europe to Fort Lauderdale. Both were in the fall and on Celebrity. We also got Veranda (Balcony.). The added benefit of a fall sailing is that you get an extra hour of sleep each night. [emoji3]

Based on your choices, I would look at the Princess sailing. Nice ports and some would be once in a lifetime opportunities. Sometimes there are “group” discounts on select cruises and staterooms on cruises. You can ask your travel consultant if either of your choices are providing any Perks for the sailing.

You can probably rule out the Cunard sailing.

I

 

[RunningBum]

I don't know about that.

When we did an Atlantic crossing, we had a room on the stern of the ship. I really enjoyed sitting out on our balcony watching the sunset every night. Just beautiful.

We even had room service bring dinner one evening to watch the sunset as we ate. So nice.

Sounds nice, but how long would you have to stay up on the Princess (northern route) to see this? I checked it out, that one is in late May. Maybe it'd be worthwhile on the others.

 

[gayl]

Are all 3 in 1 stateroom? If so I would want a premium balcony. On Princess a premium balcony is nearly twice the size of an ocean view room (and yes you'll spend time in the room). Search their website for deals.

 

[GreenEggs]

In the end, we decided that our goal was to cross the pond and tour Spain & Portugal. So, we decided to go with the Queen Mary 2 since it's nonstop. That will give us more time & money to be on the ground without the trip becoming too long. Hopefully, the food is decent enough and I don't regret the formal theme of the ship.

Thanks for all the input & advice. (Even though we went against it. )

I'll report back after the trip & let you all know how it went.

 

[gayl]

I'm doing the TA to Spain on the new Enchanted Princess next April and then searching for an alternative back after a layover in Lisbon. Will be interested in your review