Transatlantic cruise

[FIYes]

We are looking at a transatlantic-repositioning cruise to Europe. I recall folks mentioning that they have done this. I would be interested in comments or tips from experienced travelers on this topic. We have cruised before....longest cruise was 9 days...this would be a bit longer. Seems like a heck of a deal ...cheaper than flying. We will use frequent flyer miles to get back. Being ERed give us the time and flexibility to take advantage of a deal like this.


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[Nemo2]

This has been touched on in several (or at least a couple) threads; we're flying to St. Maarten in 54 days: http://www.early-retirement.org/for...e-your-travel-budget-80580-4.html#post1691324 (post #73)

A number of people use Vacations-To-Go, (you'll need to input an e-mail addy...no problems), and you might start with them as a template, since they have a fairly comprehensive list, generally covering a 2-3 year period.

When we find a repositioning cruise, (either East or Westbound), that appeals to us, we check and compare their pricing with that of the individual cruise line(s), Expedia, etc......sometimes we go with VTG, other times not.

Average repo to Europe or back runs (depending upon the start/finish points), around 12-15 days, with around 7-8 of these days (or more) being sea days.

We like them...not only cheaper than flying, but a heck of a lot more comfortable too.

 

[user5027]

We like them...not only cheaper than flying, but a heck of a lot more comfortable too.

+1 on the more comfortable.

We did the Titanic Memorial cruise in 2012 from Southampton to NY via Cobh (Queenstown) and Halifax.

I commented to the wife that cruising is the civilized way to cross the Atlantic. No jet lag.

 

[Teacher Terry]

WE did a 13 day re-positioning cruise from Boston to Tampa and it was fun. WE had 8 sea days but there was so much to do on the ship that we were not bored and we got a good deal. Plus we had never been to either city so spent some time in each one before leaving.

 

[Animorph]

We had a good time on the Quantum of the Seas repositioning. We took it from New Jersey to Singapore. The transatlantic portion was pretty uneventful, much smoother than I was expecting. However, the earlier transatlantic repositioning left plenty of people sick from stormy seas.

Basically it's just a bunch of sea days. As long as you can keep yourself busy that long (check out what's available on your ship) and can put up with any motion problems, go for it.

Our cruise was 42 days I think. We were fine for that long, but the Quantum has plenty to do. That might have been about our limit. On a ship with fewer things to do I think that would have been too long.

 

[brett]

We have done a fair amount of cruising. We have only done one transatlantic cruise. For us, there were too many at sea days in a row. After day three we were ready to jump! But that is just us.


I would wait and buy one in the final payment window. They are usually heavily discounted. Pick of few ships and watch the pricing.

 

[Nemo2]

However, the earlier transatlantic repositioning left plenty of people sick from stormy seas.

We were fortunate enough to encounter some mildly 'rough' seas near the Shetland Isles in 2013, aboard the Norwegian Star.......35'-40' swells for the most part, but I heard one passenger say that the captain had mentioned 47 footers......watching the bowcam, the seas were coming 'up & over'.

They secured the doors to the outer decks and wouldn't permit egress........................bummer.

 

[Alan]

Our first transatlantic cruise was in fact our first ever cruise. A great price of $500 on the Queen Elizabeth from New York to Southampton, 8 days, in March 2013. It was the last leg of the QE's round the world cruise which is why it was a low price. We came back 6 months later on the Queen Mary for $1,100

We are booked on a re-positioning cruise in April, out of Houston, 21 days with 6 stops until docking in Southampton. $1,600 which is on the high end for re-positioning cruises but we have virtually no travel at our end as we only live 22 miles from the pick-up point at the airport. Max time at sea is 7 days.

We have done a couple of 14 day cruises so 21 days will be by far our longest.

 

[FIYes]

I am concerned about the number of sea days, but we are fortunate in that we are easily amused. I think we will have a good time and instead of arriving in Europe totally jet lagged we would arrive refreshed and rested.

I think I just like the idea of going somewhere by ship. The other cruises we have done were to cruise. They were fun and we enjoyed the port days, but we also enjoyed the sea days. Slow travel appeals to me.


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[Alan]

I am concerned about the number of sea days, but we are fortunate in that we are easily amused. I think we will have a good time and instead of arriving in Europe totally jet lagged we would arrive refreshed and rested.

I think I just like the idea of going somewhere by ship. The other cruises we have done were to cruise. They were fun and we enjoyed the port days, but we also enjoyed the sea days. Slow travel appeals to me.


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The 2 transatlantic crossings we've done were with Cunard and they had a lot of entertainment for all the sea days. The one this year will be with Princess so we don't know what to expect for the 7 days at sea but we do like the leisurely pace of traveling by sea.

 

[YVRRocketSurgery]

Haven't done a transatlantic cruise but been wanting to do one because some of the deals look so good. We aren't retired yet so unfortunately vacation days are limited to other destinations priorities currently.

A couple of thoughts...
We did the last cruise of of the European season for X Reflection. A few of the cruisers we met tacked on the transatlantic which I thought was cool. I love the thought of a back to back.

With limited ports of call, we'd want to pick a ship with great onboard amenities/shows/activities since we're not really lay by the pool type people. I'm not sure if they offer it on transatlantic cruises but I'd love to take advantage of an unlimited drink package.

Not sure if your plans are flexible, but I think a lot of people enjoy travelling west instead of east to ease the time zone changes. (Or did I get it the other way around? )

 

[Souschef]

Years ago I did a transatlantic on the QE2. The only reason we did it was because we could fly back on the Concorde for about $300!
Every night was formal and the food, unless you were in Grill Class was lousy.
That was many years ago., but I think doing a positioning cruise on a mainstream line like Princess now would be great.

 

[sengsational]

Years ago I did a transatlantic on the QE2. The only reason we did it was because we could fly back on the Concorde for about $300!

That would have been the right way to fly back! I wish I could do that in a few months when I need to fly back.

Booking a flight back to the US from Spain this spring was "interesting", and FIYes, you might look into that concurrently with finding the cruise. What I found was that a one-way from Spain to the US was twice as much as a round-trip (with the return booked within a few weeks of the flight to the US). So that's 4X on a per-mile basis for a one-way vs round trip. I'm still looking for someone to tell me they've figured out why this is or if I'm in the weeds. It's not true for flying back to Canada. And you can get some flights on 'weird' airlines like Norwegian, that only go on one day a week that isn't priced strangely. But all the airlines I checked using Kayak had this kind of 4X thing going on. What I ended-up doing is buying a R/T with a return to Spain in October (the season where the ships come west). I could throw away the return, or take another trans-Atlantic.

 

[FUEGO]

I am concerned about the number of sea days, but we are fortunate in that we are easily amused. I think we will have a good time and instead of arriving in Europe totally jet lagged we would arrive refreshed and rested.

I think I just like the idea of going somewhere by ship. The other cruises we have done were to cruise. They were fun and we enjoyed the port days, but we also enjoyed the sea days. Slow travel appeals to me.

We just returned from a 5 night cruise to the Caribbean from Charleston. It was awesome (hey, it's a cruise; how could it not be?) but too short. Only 2 sea days bookending the two days in port in the middle.

I've always been easily amused as long as I have games, books, entertainment, a space to walk around and explore. I've found all of those on board the cruises I've been on.

7 days straight at sea would be no problem. If you like formal dining, that will consume 3-4 hours each day. There's usually a decent broadway type show every day or two (another hour). Live music for another hour or so. Play some cards (with friends, not in the casino!) for another hour. Read a book (pack your phone/tablet with plenty of books). Sit on deck and stare at the water. Occupy the hot tub and pontificate. Crap, where did my 7 days go and why are we already in Europe?

I'm still trying to orchestrate a grand trip to Europe using repositioning cruises to get at least 1 way between the US and Europe (with airline miles covering 1 way flights if necessary). Ideally I'd like to head over in March/April, spend the summer there, then catch a cruise back in October/November like Alan did.

Very hard with kids' school schedule so it might be 15+ years out when we're "old". Maybe it'll be a "the kids are out of the house; it's time to partayyy!" present to ourselves.

 

[Bamaman]

What I found was that a one-way from Spain to the US was twice as much as a round-trip (with the return booked within a few weeks of the flight to the US). So that's 4X on a per-mile basis for a one-way vs round trip. I'm still looking for someone to tell me they've figured out why this is or if I'm in the weeds. It's not true for flying back to Canada. And you can get some flights on 'weird' airlines like Norwegian, that only go on one day a week that isn't priced strangely. But all the airlines I checked using Kayak had this kind of 4X thing going on. What I ended-up doing is buying a R/T with a return to Spain in October (the season where the ships come west). I could throw away the return, or take another trans-Atlantic.

I thank Norwegian Air Shuttle for keeping sky high prices of international travel down. We flew them to Copenhagen and return from Bergen, Norway in August/Sept., 2015 for about $750 round trip.

They're flying brand new Boeing 787 Dreamliners, and will be flying to more U.S. locations whenever new airplane orders are received.

You can get to London Gatwick from Barcelona for about $50 on EasyJet. Norwegian Air Shuttle fares in April to Orlando are as low as $385. Total flights would be $435--not bad.

Norwegian Air Shuttle currently has service to and from Gatwick from:
Boston (begins 27 March 2016),https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatwick_Airport#cite_note-DY_LGW_BOS_LAX_OAK-113 Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, New York-JFK, Oakland (begins 12 May 2016),https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatwick_Airport#cite_note-DY_LGW_BOS_LAX_OAK-113 Orlando and San Juan

Transatlantic cruises are often very great bargains in travel. When you stay over for a week or two and fly back on bargain airfares, you've had a trip of a lifetime for very little money.

We're flying Norwegian into Rome the end of April, and going on a Celebrity cruise to Malta, the Greek Isles and Turkey--ending in Venice. And we're really getting our money's worth with free drinks and all tips/gratuities covered.

 

[Meadbh]

I'm planning a transatlantic repositioning cruise this spring (Florida to Italy) followed by some European adventures, and a return flight to Canada using airline points. So this thread is encouraging!

 

[robertf57]

Did a Barcelona to Ft. Lauderdale transatlantic last fall on Oceania. Had several sea days bu there was plenty to do on the ship and I brought lots of reading material. Very good value in my mind. So much so that we are going Ft Lauderdale to Rome this spring for an Italian cooking vacation. Cheaper than the roundtrip airfare would have been and we had just enough points to make the flight back free.

 

[jabbahop]

Do they have good lecturers on any of these cruises? I am not so interested in Broadway shows but learning something while cruising might be interesting.


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[Nemo2]

Do they have good lecturers on any of these cruises? I am not so interested in Broadway shows but learning something while cruising might be interesting.

In 2013 we were on the Nieuw Amsterdam, Barcelona-Ft. Lauderdale......there was a historian/lecturer aboard who gave some very informative/interesting talks on the evolution/backgrounds of each of the ports........also in 2013, on the Celebrity Constellation, the then captain talked about a variety of subjects, including the design/building of a new vessel that he had been involved with.

On the Norwegian Star however, everything was a sales pitch for their excursions....yer takes yer chances.

 

[donheff]

T

Booking a flight back to the US from Spain this spring was "interesting" ... What I found was that a one-way from Spain to the US was twice as much as a round-trip (with the return booked within a few weeks of the flight to the US). So that's 4X on a per-mile basis for a one-way vs round trip.

Sounds like you should have booked a round trip and skipped the return portion.

 

[Alan]

Do they have good lecturers on any of these cruises? I am not so interested in Broadway shows but learning something while cruising might be interesting.


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The 2 transatlantic cruises we did there and back in 2013 had excellent lectures, we loved that aspect of the trips. On the Queen Mary they even had a subset of the London Philharmonic, with the conductor being the same chap who did that year's Proms in London.

They also had a shakespeare group giving performances. Really good stuff.

 

[Meadbh]

Do they have good lecturers on any of these cruises? I am not so interested in Broadway shows but learning something while cruising might be interesting.


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I took a Caribbean cruise on Celebrity Equinox the same day the Zcosta Concordia sank. As you can imagine, it was a hot topic! Several days later, one of the senior officers gave an excellent presentation about maritime navigation. On the same cruise, there were courses in computers and other topics that I did not participate in. But the most interesting one for me was the glassblowing studio on the top deck. Three glass blowers were there twice daily. One would narrate to explain what the others were doing. They started with simple stuff and worked their way up to very complex pieces, which were raffled for charity. There were giveaways too.

On a Danube river cruise in 2014 (Avalon) we had, amongst other educational offerings, a fascinating presentation about the science and history of canals and docks.

 

[FUEGO]

Do they have good lecturers on any of these cruises? I am not so interested in Broadway shows but learning something while cruising might be interesting.

I've never been on a transatlantic but sailed with many of the big lines. I recall Norwegian having some decent lectures on a 7 day cruise back in 2008. Costa cruises and Celebrity had 1-2 lecture type presentations.

Carnival is completely devoid of any type of lectures from our experience on 3 cruises (2x 5 nights, 1x 7 nights). Still great cruises, but I would have appreciated something along the lines of a history lecture about the ports we are visiting or maritime history, navigation, cruise ships, life on board, the home countries of the wildly diverse staff on board, etc. They did have a few lecture-ish presentations but I'm assuming they were sales pitches for the on board art gallery, the spa, or the in port shopping (didn't attend so can't personally state with certainty - it just smelled promotional from reading the description in the ship's daily newspaper).

 

[sengsational]

Sounds like you should have booked a round trip and skipped the return portion.

Great minds...that's what I did! Or have the option of doing, at least. I might want to use the return to Spain for a westbound transit.

You can get to London Gatwick from Barcelona for about $50 on EasyJet. Norwegian Air Shuttle fares in April to Orlando are as low as $385. Total flights would be $435--not bad.

Yep, that's roughly the pricing I saw. I didn't know they were flying those nice new planes...I might have gone for that instead of the "round trip and skip the return" thing. The flights arrive a bit too late to catch a plane home from FLL or MCO. So that means a night in a hotel plus the domestic one-way on the (higher priced) weekend (only time when Norwegian flies) that puts us up in the territory of the r/t & skip. Besides, the idea of not skipping, but instead going back in the fall kind of captured my imagination.

 

[FIYes]

Wow! You guys rock. Glad to hear positive reports from others who have done this.

We enjoy playing trivia and board games...like I said we are easily amused. We have zero interest in the casino....probably on a deadbeat list of low spenders on cruise ships, ha, ha. We also enjoy the Broadway type shows, I was a fan of Glee. So I think we would have a good time.

The return flights using frequent flier miles work. I think this is going to be a trip. Great to have the time to take advantage of an opportunity like this. We could never have even considered it prior to ER.


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