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Transatlantic, boring?
- Thread starter Ralphlaw
- Start date
ChuckElias
Well-Known Member
I've never done a Transatlantic, despite my wife really wanting to. We've just never had the time to do it. I'm kind of jealous. The pricing looks pretty great, too.
So having admitted that, here's my two cents:
1) You have 6 consecutive sea days. This is similar to what we did when we sailed from San Francisco to Hawaii. My wife loves the sea days. She loves just relaxing, finding a spot to read, etc. We were on Princess and they were pretty good about having activities for the sea days. I would bet a lot of money that DCL will be even better about having great activities available all through the day to keep people from being bored. I would also bet that they have special stage shows that they don't show on normal itineraries. When we did 12 nights in the Med with DCL or 10 nights in the Baltic, the Walt Disney Theater had several shows that aren't in the normal rotation. Some of them were great, and to be honest, a few were stinkers (did anybody else see the "Bumblesquat Family Reunion"?
). But the point is that they went way out of their way to provide unique entertainment for the longer itinerary.
Plus, after your sea days, you have some really interesting ports of call: Ponta Delgada, Lisbon, Cadiz, Malaga, Cartagena. I would love to see Lisbon and Cadiz. Maybe take in a soccer game in Malaga.
2) It's always warm enough to swim. The pools are heated to 82°F. The AquaDunk might be chilly, tho!
3) Atlantic crossings are always liable to have rough seas, although I think in May, it shouldn't be as bad. If you were going in March or April, I'd say you were guaranteed to hit really rough seas at some point. But in mid-May, I think it's possible that you might get lucky and avoid any bad patches. (No guarantee is stated or implied!) And if you are prone to sea sickness, my daughter has always good success with Bonine (over the counter) in mitigating any nausea.
So having admitted that, here's my two cents:
1) You have 6 consecutive sea days. This is similar to what we did when we sailed from San Francisco to Hawaii. My wife loves the sea days. She loves just relaxing, finding a spot to read, etc. We were on Princess and they were pretty good about having activities for the sea days. I would bet a lot of money that DCL will be even better about having great activities available all through the day to keep people from being bored. I would also bet that they have special stage shows that they don't show on normal itineraries. When we did 12 nights in the Med with DCL or 10 nights in the Baltic, the Walt Disney Theater had several shows that aren't in the normal rotation. Some of them were great, and to be honest, a few were stinkers (did anybody else see the "Bumblesquat Family Reunion"?
). But the point is that they went way out of their way to provide unique entertainment for the longer itinerary.Plus, after your sea days, you have some really interesting ports of call: Ponta Delgada, Lisbon, Cadiz, Malaga, Cartagena. I would love to see Lisbon and Cadiz. Maybe take in a soccer game in Malaga.
2) It's always warm enough to swim. The pools are heated to 82°F. The AquaDunk might be chilly, tho!
3) Atlantic crossings are always liable to have rough seas, although I think in May, it shouldn't be as bad. If you were going in March or April, I'd say you were guaranteed to hit really rough seas at some point. But in mid-May, I think it's possible that you might get lucky and avoid any bad patches. (No guarantee is stated or implied!) And if you are prone to sea sickness, my daughter has always good success with Bonine (over the counter) in mitigating any nausea.
HMFan999
Well-Known Member
Something else to consider is that being at sea that long is likely to give you land sickness once you get off the ship. It's not usually a huge deal, but you'll feel like the entire world is rocking for a few days to a week. It usually doesn't hinder people at all (flying or driving tends to make the symptoms go away) but if you're like me you might want to plan for some extra R&R on the other side until your body adjusts.
NelleBelle
Well-Known Member
DH and I did the Western TA back in 2017 and absolutely LOVED it! The only downfall for us was that due to hurricane Maria coming up the eastern seaboard, our port of call into St. John's, Newfoundland was cancelled as we would've been sailing into NY right as the storm was scheduled to hit. So we ended up with 6 nights at sea (a few rough days due to some storms). It was definitely a port I was looking forward to seeing. DCL did make up the missed port by staying in NY overnight so the ship was basically our hotel. They did arrange some last minute excursions (which we didn't do--we decided to tour the city on our own).
We sailed in Sept. and definitely had nice enough weather to layout and "sun" ourselves in swimsuits. I never got tired of the sea days, personally, as I love to read/nap up on deck or even just watch the funnel vision movies. There were interesting guest speakers onboard and things heard more for adults on this cruise (I think they said there were less than 100 kids onboard). That being said, we were NOT prepared for how busy the adults' only section would be--definitely NOT a relaxing spot! You had to fight for the nice padded lounge chairs, people left towels on them so you never knew if someone was actually using it or if they left their used towels there for the cast member to "clear away."
Biggest highlight for us was sailing into NY harbor in the morning and having a view of the Statue of Liberty from our verandah! We did go up on deck for some hot chocolate and to get some NY skyline pictures but it was too windy to stay up there for long. So glad we booked a port-side room!
I would definitely love to do the Eastern crossing sometime or the Panama Canal for the same reasons: good price, long cruise, less kids on board, and romantic time spent with loved one!
We sailed in Sept. and definitely had nice enough weather to layout and "sun" ourselves in swimsuits. I never got tired of the sea days, personally, as I love to read/nap up on deck or even just watch the funnel vision movies. There were interesting guest speakers onboard and things heard more for adults on this cruise (I think they said there were less than 100 kids onboard). That being said, we were NOT prepared for how busy the adults' only section would be--definitely NOT a relaxing spot! You had to fight for the nice padded lounge chairs, people left towels on them so you never knew if someone was actually using it or if they left their used towels there for the cast member to "clear away."
Biggest highlight for us was sailing into NY harbor in the morning and having a view of the Statue of Liberty from our verandah! We did go up on deck for some hot chocolate and to get some NY skyline pictures but it was too windy to stay up there for long. So glad we booked a port-side room!
I would definitely love to do the Eastern crossing sometime or the Panama Canal for the same reasons: good price, long cruise, less kids on board, and romantic time spent with loved one!
Club Cooloholic
Well-Known Member
Did they have more movies on rotation than usual? As for seats. I am a firm beliver in that if I dont see flip flops under or some sort of personal item on the chair, it is no longer claimed.
NelleBelle
Well-Known Member
I think we saw at least 2 first-run movies (cars 3 and some other movie that I can't recall). They seemed to have more "recent" movies playing, but we'd seen them and I tend to fall asleep in movies quite often
They did have "shows" that they don't have on their "regular" cruises (e.g. when we left Cadiz, they had spanish dancers with a live band do a couple of numbers in one of the lounges one afternoon). They had an interesting boat tour that I'd not seen offered on any of the other cruises either. One worry I thought I'd struggle with is that prior to this cruise, we'd only ever said on the Fantasy so were used to the amenities of the bigger ship; however, we fell in love with the smaller size of the Magic, loved the staterooms and the extra storage they offer, and would love to sail on the Wonder next!
Club Cooloholic
Well-Known Member
I liked the Magic better than the Dream too. So much easier to get around, and I thought there was more drawers and space in the stateroom as well. Also, because there are less total bars in the after hours sections it made them seem more lively. On the Dream, it seemed like half of them were empty. Also, I like that the adult section has a real pool and hot tubs. That said the spa on the Dream looks much better.I think we saw at least 2 first-run movies (cars 3 and some other movie that I can't recall). They seemed to have more "recent" movies playing, but we'd seen them and I tend to fall asleep in movies quite often
NelleBelle
Well-Known Member
I told DH that the Dream is one ship we likely won't sail on unless they do longer cruises (although I did like @ChuckEliasidea of doing a BTB cruise on it (may have to leave DH at home and just do a girls' cruise)! I did love the adults after-hours events--first time we really got to partake in them (our kids have been too young on the last few cruises that we never left them alone)!
ChuckElias
Well-Known Member
We're going back August 16-23, BTB on the Dream for summer vacation before school starts back up! Come with???
NelleBelle
Well-Known Member
Would love to! Except that I think my kids go back to school right around the 24th
I should see if I can find someone to go with me and leave DH to get kids back to school 
Miss Bella
Well-Known Member
We did this cruise last year. No we did not get bored. Yes it was warm enough to swim and the ocean was a pond during the cruise.
We got lucky there was a high pressure system sitting over the Atlantic making it the smoothest sailing I've ever experienced and I've been on over 20 cruises. Unfortunately it doesn't mean you will have the same weather, but I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.
If you need ideas on what to do that don't involve ship excursions just let me know.
joanna71985
Well-Known Member
I've never done a TA before, but I hope to someday! (especially as I love days at sea)
Maelstrom Troll
Well-Known Member
I could really stand to be bored on a Disney Cruise right now 
Seriously though, I’d love to do a TA cruise some day.
Seriously though, I’d love to do a TA cruise some day.
Nmoody1
Well-Known Member
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
It depends on the person. I'd be bored, but I don't love sea days as much as I love interesting ports. This is why I'm increasingly turning toward European cruises...I'm assuming you love sea days or you wouldn't have booked this route, so you should have a wonderful time.
ChuckElias
Well-Known Member
4 days until boarding! I'm so jealous!!