Nemo, Alan, and anyone else who's done transatlantic repositioning cruises.

[W2R]

I haven't been on a (non-work, recreational) cruise in 50 years, although I spent a lot of my childhood on cruise ships due to my father being quite the "travel addict".

But you know me, I've gotta "chime in".

I don't think ANY of us spent more than 10 minutes/day in the cabin, other than sleeping. If we had had a balcony, I doubt any of us would have noticed. We usually had reserved deck chairs, where I remember spending a lot of time reading, and there are so many other activities available on cruise ships.[...]

unaware that those exist .... which line?

Perhaps they no longer exist? As I said in my post, this was well over 50 years ago, back in the 50's and 60's. Cunard, maybe? Matson? I was a little kid, and we traveled on dozens of cruise ships so I really don't know for sure. Sorry! There was always a deck chair available, whether it was reserved for us or not. I like the reserved ones best. But anyway, if you can't read books from the ship's library in a reserved deck chair, what about ping pong? Shuffleboard? Swimming in the pool? Gambling? Other activities? The point being we were never inspired to spend much time in the cabin.

 

[YVRRocketSurgery]

I want to try a TA cruise if just to give us time to enjoy all that a nice ship has to offer. We're usually so go-go-go around the port days that we don't fully have a chance to enjoy a sea day unless they are back to back sea days which are typically rare for the itinaries we choose.

Unfortunately, the missus isn't so keen on a lot of sea days. I similarly can't convince her to do a Hawaii to Vancouver cruise which is about 5 sea days but would be so simple sailing back to our home port. One day.

 

[gayl]

Perhaps they no longer exist? As I said in my post, this was well over 50 years ago, back in the 50's and 60's. Cunard, maybe? Matson? I was a little kid, and we traveled on dozens of cruise ships so I really don't know for sure. Sorry! There was always a deck chair available, whether it was reserved for us or not. I like the reserved ones best. But anyway, if you can't read books from the ship's library in a reserved deck chair, what about ping pong? Shuffleboard? Swimming in the pool? Gambling? Other activities? The point being we were never inspired to spend much time in the cabin.

Sorry. Missed that.

 

[Koolau]

Perhaps they no longer exist? As I said in my post, this was well over 50 years ago, back in the 50's and 60's. Cunard, maybe? Matson? I was a little kid, and we traveled on dozens of cruise ships so I really don't know for sure. Sorry! There was always a deck chair available, whether it was reserved for us or not. I like the reserved ones best. But anyway, if you can't read books from the ship's library in a reserved deck chair, what about ping pong? Shuffleboard? Swimming in the pool? Gambling? Other activities? The point being we were never inspired to spend much time in the cabin.

I recall from our cruise getting down to the pool area around 9:30AM. There were perhaps 3 other people sitting on lounges. But EVERY lounge was "saved" with a towel and/or beach bag. I considered going around and pulling every one of them off, but I didn't. So next day, we got there even earlier and did get a lounge BUT almost no one came out to claim their saved lounge until about 10:30. YMMV

 

[sengsational]

Booked my 1st transatlantic a while ago. Goes September 2nd -17th. Princess website sort of leaves a bunch of holes about covid testing but I fly out for 16 days so maybe it'll get cleared up

Nice! You'll have a great time.

Getting on in London isn't something I've got experience with, but I'd bet they'll make the Covid dance pretty painless; they will not let you fall through the cracks. There's a benefit of the fall TA's... You get the little notes on your pillow every now and then, awarding you with an extra hour of sleep

 

[gayl]

I recall from our cruise getting down to the pool area around 9:30AM. There were perhaps 3 other people sitting on lounges. But EVERY lounge was "saved" with a towel and/or beach bag. I considered going around and pulling every one of them off, but I didn't. So next day, we got there even earlier and did get a lounge BUT almost no one came out to claim their saved lounge until about 10:30. YMMV

Do it!! Then pick one to sit on

 

[Koolau]

Do it!! Then pick one to sit on

Heh, heh, if I ever do a cruise again (not likely) I will. Heh, heh, it occurs to me to pick up the lounge and move it elsewhere. That would confuse the 'offender.'

 

[FIYes]

We have taken two transatlantic cruises pre Covid. We really enjoyed them, but they are not for everyone. If you don’t like sea days then this is not for you.

Back when I was interested in travel hacking, I was able to score some deals using repositioning cruises. For less than the cost of airfare we were able to cruise across the Atlantic. I used frequent flyer miles from credit card sign ups to cover our return flights home. Once we arrived in Europe we used Airbnb type accommodations. These were my more time than money trips.