Cunard Queen Mary 2 Transatlantic Crossing

[catseye00]

DH and I have our 20th wedding anniversary next year and we have always wanted to do this (ideally Southampton to New York rather than the other way)

Has anyone done it and want to share experiences? How do you pass your time on board? Is the Atlantic bleakly cold and windy even in summer (ie how much time do you spend on deck)? Are the grill suite upgrades worth it?

[catseye00]

Bump

[Funf]

We went on the Queen Victoria.
It was snobby and I only wish it was half as good as they try to portray them selves.
For such a special occasion I would try Celebrity, plenty of activities, great value friendly crew
Have look on Cruise Critic forum loads of info

[ComingtoKent]

I'm watching with interest as I fancy doing this for my 60th birthday. I'm sure I can entertain myself at sea, but my partner is not so sure - so we've booked a short (4 night) cruise to see what we think. If we like it on the ship (we've never done any kind of cruise before) we'll book the transatlantic trip.

I will report back - but our trial trip is not until October!

[cupcakedaisy]

We looked into this but in the end decided that dressing up for dinner every night could quite possibly be the highlight of the trip and that it wasn't for us!

We are now looking at a transatlantic repositioning cruise that goes to New York. There are not many, but they do exist.

[YellowLemonshade]

@cupcakedaisy

We looked into this but in the end decided that dressing up for dinner every night could quite possibly be the highlight of the trip and that it wasn't for us!

We are now looking at a transatlantic repositioning cruise that goes to New York. There are not many, but they do exist.

Can I ask how you found the repositioning one, pls?

[spongedog]

@cupcakedaisy

We looked into this but in the end decided that dressing up for dinner every night could quite possibly be the highlight of the trip and that it wasn't for us!

We are now looking at a transatlantic repositioning cruise that goes to New York. There are not many, but they do exist.

Sorry what is a repositioning cruise?

I am single, older, and love to travel and keep wondering about a cruise. Not sure i could take the rough Atlantic!

[Rockbird]

I've done it 4 times, one of them was a round trip, back to back, 14 straight days at sea with 6 hours in New York in the middle! Time on board goes ridiculously quickly. I bring a kindle full of books and intend to sit out on deck every day and watch the world sea go by. I don't think I've finished one book! By the time I'd done RSC acting classes, various other daft classes, lectures, films, swimming, afternoon tea, guest speakers, shopping, pub and explored the ship there was no time left. It's windy out on deck but not cold in the summer. We've only ever done the crossing in July and August, don't fancy the North Atlantic outside those times as unfortunately I'm a very bad sailor and can only do it drugged up.

We went with children aged from 2 up to about 14 at the time and every one of them loved it and have done each time. We've never done grills though, with kids it would have been hugely expensive.

[Rockbird]

Never found the Queen Victoria snobby in the slightest. Haven't been on the Elizabeth. Our favourite is definitely the QM2.

[cupcakedaisy]

A repositioning cruise is where the cruise lines move their ships across the globe to their new locations for different seasons. The most common is from the caribbean to the med in March and October. These are one way trips although different lines often make them a fly-cruise.

Cunard is the traditional transatlantic 7 days without ports, repositioning cruises are generally 14+ days and normally include ports along the way depending on routing.

[cupcakedaisy]

YellowLemonshade www.cruisekings.co.uk/cruise-details/norwegian-cruise-line/norwegian-getaway/transatlantic-from-new-york-to-london/depart-24-apr-2022-for-14-nights/1653178/

This is one between New York and Southampton, there are more routes if you are happy to go the southern route as the main lines relocate their ships from the Caribbean to the Med for the summer season. But there are some that head north to port in Southampton for the summer season, you just have to look harder

Try www.cruisekings.co.uk/destinations/transatlantic-repositional/?cpno1361sid=0&cpno1361page=2&cpno1361azid=1361&cpno1361destination=&cpno1361duration=&cpno1361cruiseline=&cpno1361cruiseship=&cpno1361sailfromuk=&cpno1361departureports=&cpno1361visitingports=207&cpno1361tagging=&cpno1361depdates=&cpno1361depdatesrange=&otab=ftab_cpno1361&otab=ftab_cpno1361 and just see what you like.

[Thoosa]

No experience but it sounds lovely.

[spongedog]

@cupcakedaisy thank you for the explanation. More to research!

[cupcakedaisy]

@spongedog try www.cruisecritic.co.uk
to get you started. If you click on the 'find a cruise' button you can filter all sorts of routes, just be aware that it is an american site and the views and opinions differ to europeans.

Another site good for info is www.iglucruise.com/ as when you filter your searches you can easily see the routings. Enjoy your research, I can spend hours down this rabbit hole!