Transatlantic Cruise

Happy Diamond Anniversary!!

I haven't done the Med - Fort Lauderdale route but I did, many years ago, make frequent Liner crossings Southampton - New York and often in mid Winter.

You will be after hurricane season so that's good. You won't be in the Irish Sea in December so that's good. You will be south of the North Atlantic in mid winter so that's good.

The NY--Southampton and reverse route has all those difficulties and we did it several times and had no real problems. QE2, SS United States, several smaller Cunard ships. One trip was on a French ship but fuzzy brain can't remember which one. We always slowed down a little and went around storms, all except the SS United States who was always trying to set a record crossing, and that Captain just ploughed on regardless. When that happened it got a bit lumpy and memorable but again we didn't lose much more than a plate or glass off the dining table even with the edges, and my brother lost his lunch a couple of times.

But I loved Liner travel. If I could I'd do it again anytime.

But you should be well south of all that, you will be on a much larger ship which has all sorts of stabilizers we didn't have and I expect that your Captain will go considerably slower than 4 and a half days dock to dock.

Good luck and I expect that both you and your wife will have a great time.

John, It's very difficult to predict. I crossed Barcelona to Tampa in November 2016 and we hit the tail end of three storms. But in December 2022 we crossed from Barcelona to New York City and it was like sailing on smooth ice. The captain took the ship south off the Senegal, Africa coast and sailed across to Florida and then up the Atlantic coast to avoid bad weather. On the other hand, friends who left four days earlier than we did in 2022 were sailing Barcelona to Florida. They hit a lot of very rough weather, and their outside decks were off-limits for several days, as ours had been in 2016. So, did our captain make his choice based on the previous week? Or, we had one extra day after some stops were canceled due to difficulty docking in certain ports at that time of year, so did he use it to sail down towards Senegal? It's difficult to say. I can say that Bermuda was canceled on both sailings, and beautiful Madeira was available as a port both sailings. Bon voyage and have a good crossing.

Edit: After reading Irv's post, I want to add that I've never gotten seasick, even with the storms in 2016. I didn't know anyone who did, though they would probably be in their cabins. In fact, I loved the motion. So, even in rough weather most everyone is fine.

Bonine can make a big difference in stormy weather. Make sure to pack some “just in case”.

I hope you and your wife have a wonderful trip.

There are no guarantees on the weather crossing the Atlantic in the winter except that it will be "variable". The lessons of my few ocean voyages and heavy weather are simple:

1) An empty stomach is a nervous stomach which in turn becomes an upset stomach. Even though food is the most repulsive thought in the world, get a sandwich or something solid and go out on deck and gag it down.

2) Go outside where you can see the motion motion of the horizon which reduces the nausea inducing conflict between you eyes and your inner ear when you are inside.

3) Stay way from people who are sea sick. It is a well known fact among those of us who have worked on excursion boats that sea sickness is highly visually communicable.

We do the westbound TA annually, and the weather, as others have said, really varies according to the route and the luck of the weather draw. Rest assured that the captain and his crew are on top of hourly weather reports/radar and do everything they can to route around storms. Fresh air and visualizing the horizon is helpful, but you can count on windy and pretty chilly weather on the top deck. To a certain degree, how the seas are experienced also depends on the size of the ship. For example, a crossing with Azamara can be a rocky ride because of the ship's size; but the same trip might be nothing at all on a medium-to-large ship. May I ask which line and which ship you will be taking? For seasickness, most ships carry ginger in various forms and green apples. Both have worked well for me.

We've taken two repositioning cruises going to Europe over the years in April. As experienced cruise passengers, we really enjoyed the peace and quiet at being at sea so many days.

We didn't find the weather or waves to be any serious issue. We once had to ride out an almost hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico with the ship just floating--in 50-60 mph winds. We got 2 free days waiting for the Mississippi River to reopen.
It's no big deal.