Transatlantic cruise reviews, crossing the Atlantic on a cruise ship, what’s it like? And tips for transatlantic cruise crossings.
Nerves got to me in Southampton in February before our journey across the Atlantic to New York. I had no idea what lay ahead on our voyage and weather conditions concerned me. Want to know the good news?
We loved our Atlantic crossing on Norwegian Getaway. So much so that we booked a return Atlantic crossing on Norwegian Epic for later in the year.
Read on to see how our maiden cruise, NCL Getaway’s maiden voyage, her repositioning cruise, went.
Everything you’ve ever wanted to know about crossing the Atlantic on a cruise ship and transatlantic repositioning cruises.
What’s a transatlantic cruise like? Let’s get that on the travel blog. Watch our short video, below, to see what a transatlantic cruise can be like.
Are you wondering what it’s like to cross the Atlantic on a cruise ship?
Maybe you’re a first-time cruiser, as we were on our first transatlantic cruise crossing.
Are you a wannabe cruise traveller or a flashpacker looking for the most affordable way to cross the Atlantic?
We were budget travellers when we slotted our first transatlantic cruise into our round the world travel itinerary.
I wouldn’t even call us a flashpacking family because this cruise was so cheap.
Discover how cruising can fit into a round-the-world trip or gap year with ease and affordability.
Everything about cruising will be new on your first transatlantic crossing, the experience of being on these huge ships, the ocean herself and the thought of 10 or so days at sea.
Transatlantic Cruise Review
We’ve arrived in New York after our 10-day Trans-Atlantic Cruise on Norwegian Getaway and we’re still buzzing with excitement and swaying like drunken sailors.
We didn’t sink. That’s a relief.
It was strange at first, getting used to cruise-world. I think I actually experienced culture shock for the first time.
That’s not something that’s ever happened to me during my lifetime of travelling adventures.
The cruise was something so totally different to our normal lives and experiences that it just weirded us out for a short while.
But we got into it quickly and we had lots of fun.
We’re really, really glad we took this opportunity to cross the Atlantic the slow way when we did.
A Maiden Voyage Repositioning Cruise From Southampton to NYC
It’s pretty special being on the maiden voyage of a brand new ship.
We guinea pigs enjoyed the luxury of the ship being 2/3 empty.
We saw no queues, no waiting and no crowds.
Since taking a full ship on a second transatlantic cruise, we can compare and know how lucky this was.
The crew was fabulous and would do anything and everything they could to make everyone’s cruise experience the very best it could be.
There was actually more crew on board than customers on our Atlantic crossing on Getaway.
I think there were more entertainers than customers, there was a different show in the theatre every night. That won’t continue, shows will be repeated on future cruises and customers will have to book seats.
We could just turn up at the theatre and bag front row seats.
She is a magnificent ship, beautifully equipped, particularly the outdoor ropes and climbing set up. That was superb.
What’s It Like On a Cruise Ship in The Atlantic?
No internet was top of the list of weird experiences. Satellite internet was available but at $15/hour. I stayed offline.
I think it’s easier for me to go cold turkey than to ration myself.
They teased me for the first day with free access to Facebook and Twitter, but after our first night at sea, that vanished.
I’ve not even tried to write many posts offline, we’ve been too busy.
That’s not like me at all, a day never goes by without me working.
But we really were rushing around from one activity to the next and falling into our beds exhausted, I didn’t miss my computer. You’d be amazed by the number of things to do on a cruise ship.
Entertainment and Activities on a Transatlantic Cruise
The activities and entertainment on Getaway were great and extremely diverse.
There was a full schedule every day, but none of them were the sort of things we’d normally take part in at home, or on our usual travels.
We’ve watched dance, magic, hypnosis and music shows, joined in silly competitions, done crosswords and Sudoku puzzles, won quizzes, tried our hands at cake decorating, been to a hypnosis seminar, eaten foods that we normally wouldn’t eat and played a lot of ping-pong, and that’s just for starters.
It was a little tricky to get our cruise heads on at first.
We looked at the entertainments programme on the first day and just thought it wasn’t for us, but once we started having a go at everything we had a really good laugh.
It was fun!
Chef developed a new interest in the highly competitive world of blongo ball, you’ll have to take a cruise to find out what that is.
We’ve done some stuff that is more normal to us, swam in pools, wallowed in hot tubs, whizzed down water slides, climbed on an outdoor climbing wall and had a go at a terrifying outdoor ropes course.
Normal, other than they were 15 floors up on a constantly moving monster platform in some pretty wet and windy conditions.
That was scary and weird, although the boys showed no fear, as usual.
It’s a very long drop to a very big ocean from the top of that rope swing.
You could even walk the plank in very calm conditions.
We were busy most of the time and it took its toll, we were worn out and slept longer than usual despite the 25 hour days as we cruised through the time zones.
The evening shows started at 8 pm. We’re normally in bed around then, but in cruise ship world that’s the start of the evening.
It was weird, but it made a nice change.
Being around people who freely and openly discussed their millionaire status, loudly, was interesting and weird.
They were in the minority, most customers were as un-cashed-up as us.
It’s really not particularly expensive to cross the Atlantic this way, but you do need time and that’s a luxury few of us have.
If you keep an eye on regularly updated sites such as this one, you’ll see special offers you may otherwise miss.
CruiseDirect: Special Offers & Top 10 Weekly Cruise Deals.
There is a Trans Atlantic cruise on there for under $600 at the moment, our favourite, Norwegian Getaway is on sale in the Caribbean too. We know NCL have a Transatlantic Crossing for this year. Take a look. (this section is not current)
Hanging out with a professional world-class magician and his family was weird but super cool.
Alain Nu, The Man Who Knows, was a superstar on stage and off.
The boys and his family had a ball together.
Sailing through the Sargasso Sea was amazing and weird.
I never thought I’d be able to say I’ve been there.
Yes, we saw sargassum weed! (I get excited about some really strange things!)
Freaky weird was the art photo on our deck. We’re 99% sure it’s Mirissa, Sri Lanka, our last slice of paradise.
We were in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on a floating holiday camp. That, in itself, was totally weird!
The Transatlantic Cruise Route
The route we took from Southampton to New York wasn’t what you might expect.
We went a long way south, past the Azores and on southwest almost to Bermuda, taking a sharp right up towards New York.
The course changed a few times, at one point we were heading south of Florida. The captain’s announcements told us that this was a ploy to catch good weather, he was expecting blue skies and sunshine down south, but we hit a patch of rain and fog.
Changing course seems to be big deal in the transatlantic cruising industry.
Is a Transatlantic Cruise Rough? Weather and Conditions
The seas were mostly fairly calm.
In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean we only had 1.5 m waves.
We had a bumpy couple of days just after we left the English Channel, then north of Bermuda and approaching New York waves got up to 5m and the ship was rocking a bit.
When the ship was really rolling the swimming pools and slides closed but they were open for most of the crossing.
They were heated enough to be comfortable.
I didn’t expect to be using the water park at all on a trans-Atlantic cruise, in January, so that was a really nice surprise.
It’s pretty amazing to be in a pool that sloshes about violently with the movement of the ship, you can almost swim on the spot. The children loved the moving pools.
Rain closed the climbing wall and ropes course now and then, but we had plenty of chances to use all the outdoor facilities during dry periods.
All equipment on the cruise ship was pretty outstanding, brand new equipment and the staff were great with all of us.
Another surprise was how focused the Norwegian team were on avoiding outbreaks of illness, the smiling, gorgeous “washy washy” crew reminded us to use hand sanitiser before entering the dining rooms.
The kids loved them.
Seasickness Crossing the Atlantic, in Winter?
There was no seasickness at all on this transatlantic cruise. Which was great because I was worried about that.
I stopped worrying about sinking Titanic-style pretty quickly, too.
When we were lying in our bunks we seemed to be totally immune to seasickness. The only time the ship’s motion started to feel a little odd was when we were getting dressed or moving around in our cabin, maybe trying to balance to put socks on, that sort of thing.
Other than that we were all totally fine with the ship’s motion, it was relaxing really. Gently rocking us to sleep.
What Are Cabins Like on a Transatlantic Crossing?
Our cabin was on floor 11 high up at the back of the ship, interior, with no windows and it was fine. On our second transatlantic crossing we took an outside cabin or stateroom.
Either is fine. We really didn’t care about not having a window or balcony because we spent no time in our room.
From our interior stateroom we could hear the purring sound of the engines, but nothing that would disturb anyone.
Soundproofing of the cabins was excellent, I never heard any outside noise other than the engine purr and a few loud slaps and bangs as the ship hit bigger waves (I think that’s what they were, I’m not sure.)
Did We Have to Dress for Dinner on This Repositioning Cruise?
I was wondering if we’d have to wear formal clothes on this transatlantic cruise. We didn’t.
There was no requirement for formal wear at all.
We only have our backpacks, and most of our clothes are worn out after almost 8 months of travelling but we did treat ourselves to new (charity shop!) jeans and tidy shoes before we left the UK.
There were two evenings designated as “Dress up or Not.” A few people pulled out their best bib and tucker but we were perfectly comfortable in our jeans.
I had a dress and some borrowed shoes with me and never wore them.
Most people on this ship wore casuals. We saw a lot of tracksuits and extremely dressed-down outfits.
Were There Families and Kids On-Board?
There were a handful of families with children around my boys’ ages and younger on this Atlantic crossing.
One pre-departure worry for me was around safety. Would a cruise ship be safe for kids?
I’m pleased to report that I had no safety concerns at all.
So long as you’re keeping a watchful eye on your kids, particularly around pools and on deck, it was good.
We heard there were 30 kids in total. Families were in the minority, most of the passengers were older people with a smattering of singles.
We were told that in future, on Miami based cruises in holiday time, this ship would have more like 2,000 under 18s on board.
That would be a totally different experience for everyone.
The boys made friends and had loads of fun, with us, and without.
They met some lovely people from all sorts of backgrounds.
Most passengers seemed to enjoy having children around, but a very few were intolerant or grumpy with kids. That’s their problem.
We’ve seen far more of this bad attitude on other cruise lines and would avoid those cruise companies in future.
The crew was fantastic with the younger passengers, particularly the chefs and front of house staff in the main buffet restaurant.
I got the impression that a lot of them were missing their own families back in their home countries. The crew came from over 60 countries and it was beautiful.
Most of the school-aged children on our cruise were homeschooled, it was great to meet others like us leading non-conventional lives, living differently, and to the max.
A Transatlantic Cruise With Kids
This totally depends on the cruise line (some aren’t so great) but on this Norwegian cruise ship there was so much to do that my boys now want to live on a cuise ship!
On this cruise there were endless, fun, adventurous activities for the whole family, multiple swimming pools and a kids’ club that ran from around 9am to 1am (crazy right?).
The boys weren’t very keen on kids’ club at first, they couldn’t pick what they wanted to do there.
Parents couldn’t enter to supervise or make sure the kids were happy which was a huge red flag for us.
We prefer to do things as a family, so we were occasional kids’ club users although D (9) and Boo (7) did get really into the club by the end of the 10 day crossing as they developed confidence and trust in the youth crew.
By day 10 we were struggling to get them out of there.
We would drop them off and ring the club often to see if they were happy and wanted to stay in the club or come and try some activity with us, which worked well.
The boys made friends with another little girl, also not a huge kids’ club fan, and they played together between activities.
If the weather was good all the time Getaway would be kid paradise, they’d be in the pools and using the sports facilities all day, but bad weather drove us indoors sometimes.
There wasn’t an indoor play area, which was a bit of an oversight. We all hung out and played in the quiet end of the buffet restaurant when we didn’t have any activities lined up.
The children loved the nightly shows in the theatre. They could also join in with the indoor games, throwing bean bags, ring toss, that sort of thing.
They enjoyed the daily trivia quizzes. We won two, go the homeschoolers!
There were daily family craft classes and demonstrations and talks on all sorts of weird and wonderful topics.
The kids’ club had a very limited choice of computer games and they were only available for an hour twice a day.
That was a major disappointment for the boys, they were looking forward to Skylanders after 7 months of travel and of course, an hour isn’t even close to long enough to get into a game.
Mario was the only game on offer at first.
Once we told the manager how much it meant to the boys, he set up Skylanders for them.
Despite our teething problems with the kids club, we were very happy with how things eventually worked out.
The manager handled our issues extremely well and with grace.
With my homeschooling head on for a moment, the cruise was an absolutely stellar learning experience. An incredible amount of learning happened for all of us in those 10 days.
I’ll get another post out about it on Homeschool Group Hug.
One mind-blowing example. I bet my boys are the only kids in Australia to have seen the short film collaboration between Dali and Disney and some of the original 1940s storyboards.
They had a screening as part of the onboard art programme, just totally wow!
(But I’ve just discovered it’s on YouTube, the auctioneer made it sound like a never-before-seen short film, sneaky!)
What Was The Food Like on The Transatlantic Cruise Crossing?
There was so much food on Getaway!
You could eat right round the clock if that’s your thing.
We ate in the free buffet restaurant for most meals and there was a huge choice to suit us all, from fairly healthy to diet destroying and the sea views from deck 15 were pretty incredible.
The food was good, but not spectacular, mass catering and buffet dining always rule out top-end food. Chef (my husband, he’s Exec Chef at a 5-star resort back home) says they hit their market well.
I really think it would be hard to put on a better buffet, based on my experience over the years of Chef’s widowhood.
The cakes were fantastic and I think just about everything was made onboard and not bought in.
We tried seated complimentary dining twice when there was entertainment on in that dining room.
The food was similar to that on the buffet really, nothing special, but the dancing was great.
We paid extra for the premium dinner and magic show one evening, at $25 each (no reduction for children) it was a pretty expensive night out for us.
The magic show and The Illusionarium were spectacular, the food less so.
There was nothing wrong with it at all, it just wasn’t what we wanted to eat.
The set meal was steak with mashed potato and courgettes, we had no choice.
We would have preferred the show without the meal and would happily have still paid the $25.
I guess they really go to town with the food in the pay-to-eat restaurants.
Chef and I aren’t too bothered about paying extra for fine dining, we do it often enough back home as part of his work, so we didn’t.
I took away the impression that food on cruise ships is OK, it’s just mass catering, not restaurant quality but some diners were very excited over the availability of steak or lobster.
It was there, but it wasn’t done particularly well.
My favourite part of the buffet was the wine dispenser machine. It’s not free, (prices are good, as are the wines) or it would be dangerous!
How Much Does a Transatlantic Cruise Cost?
Our tickets on this transatlantic cruise were $700 each including taxes. There are additional charges on top of this ticket price.
Compulsory tipping charges came in at $12/person/day. Children pay too, so in total $480.
The ticket price included all complimentary dining, tea, coffee, and juice at breakfast and a fruity drinks machine at dinner and lunch.
Room service before midnight was also complimentary.
We paid for alcoholic drinks, the prices were good $7-8 for a glass of wine, about the same for a cocktail.
Tipping
They added a 15% gratuity to drinks prices, even when you bought them from the machine.
We thought that was a bit odd when we’d already paid for tips upfront.
Some of the staff were so lovely that I found myself giving them a tip on top of the 2 sets of tips that we had already paid.
Entertainment & Shows on a Cruise Ship – Costs
The ropes course, climbing wall, mini-golf and water park were free.
Illusionarium, $25 each. Premium seats were $35 each. We think the kids got a better view from the cheap seats at the back, they could stand up, they wouldn’t have been able to do that in the premium seats.
We took part in a Margherita tasting event, it was $15 each and loads of fun. I’m now an expert on Margheritas.
You could spend a lot of money on board if you used the pay-to-dine restaurants and the spa.
There were a few shows and tastings that had a fee, too.
We didn’t feel we were missing out on anything by not spending more and we were very happy with what we got for our money.
We were disappointed that we didn’t get to see the ice bar, the kids were really looking forward to that.
There was an entry fee of $20 US each, kids too. That gave the grown-ups 2 cocktails. I’m not sure what the kids got for their $20.
I’m not usually a cocktail drinker and $80 is a lot to us, so we had to skip it. New York is still frozen solid anyway.
Update: We visited the ice bar on Norwegian Epic on our return transatlantic cruise and loved it!
We thought the laundry service was a bargain at $25 to fill a laundry bag, less than we were paying to take our clothes to the launderette back in the UK.
That special offer appeared towards the end of the cruise, to get items washed individually was more pricey, $6 for jeans, $2 for socks.
Would We Recommend a Transatlantic Cruise?
We had a great time on Norwegian Getaway. Even with all the research we did it wasn’t exactly what we expected, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
We’d jump at the chance to do it again and we did.
Our review of this first transatlantic crossing is entirely positive.
We never expected to see a different show every night and to enjoy them as much as we did.
The magic show in the Illusionarium was sensational, they had some top innovators from the world of magic on board.
The Burn the Floor dance show and The Beatles tribute, From The Cavern to The Rooftops were fantastic too.
We saw this Transatlantic Cruise Crossing as a once-in-a-lifetime chance to experience something completely different, it certainly was that.
We are considering booking another Atlantic Crossing, in reverse, on Norwegian Epic in a few months’ time. If we can find a great deal, we’d love to travel this way back to Europe.
UPDATE: We have booked a return 11-day cruise Trans Atlantic cruise at under $30/person/day
Is a Transatlantic Cruise Crossing Boring?
I wasn’t bored on Getaway at all, I could happily have stayed on board for a couple more weeks and it was sad to leave our floating home as she carried on down to Miami, her new base.
I’ll miss her.
So what’s a Trans Atlantic cruise like? For us it was awesome!
I can’t possibly fit everything we experienced on Norwegian Getaway into one post, but I’ve done my best. Sorry, it’s so long.
If you actually read it all I’ll be surprised, maybe stick something in a comment to tell me you did. Would you?
We have more content relating to cruising, take a look at our comparison on crossing the Atlantic in an outside v inside cabin, here.
If you have any questions I’ll get back to you, either here or on our Facebook Page, either is good. Thanks for reading!
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I read it all – very enlightening, thanks! I’m sailing on the Joy from Miami to Southampton. In Jan/24 and wondered about looks, etc. I hope I’ll get to use them… at least once, just to say I did! 😊
Thanks! So glad to be helpful (and read!) What are looks? Is this Norwegian Joy? If it’s a new ship relocating maybe we should be on it!
Wow! Great article… The transatlantic cruise that you have planned will help you change your life for the better.
Hi,
Thank you for ur detailed review, I did read all of it 🙂 listen wanted to know if the weather was good enough to have kids in the pool? Or should we get full swimsuits instead of just shorts?
And u mentioned the water was some what warm?
We are booked for April 27 -May 9th from New York to london on the getaway. Really excited 🙂
We did use the pool. And the slides. From memory it wasn’t too cold but the swaying of the ship when the seas got rough did close the slides and pool from time to time. Not sure what you mean about the swimwear.
Thanks Alyson 🙂
Read every last word! I’m planning to jump-start our year+ RTW trip in April with a TA cruise. It will be just me and my 10 year old daughter out in the world, hoping to hit all 7 continents by cruising to Antarctica if we can squeeze it into our budget (which will be a challenge) and our calendar. I’ve been devouring your blogs over the last three days and loved this one.
Thanks Shari! 10 is a great age to do this, I think possibly the best age. Have fun, check the ship suits you, not all cruise lines have the same facilities or same relaxed style as Norwegian. I’m having to upgrade my wardrome substantially for our cruise with MSC in February.
Gosh, you have so many comments!
I have never been tempted to go on a cruise, but I loved looking at your pictures!
I so liked your post.
Good descriptions.
Wonderful pics.
Adorable children.
Awesomeness in your entire post.
🙂
Great review and pics! I was on the Getaway in March and loved it. It’s a beautiful ship and the crew was fantastic!
I’m curious as to the activities available during the day? Were there many offered? Did you happen to keep the dailies?
Thanks!
Hi Jenny, I may have one somewhere from Getaway, I know I’ve got a few from Epic in my bag. What did you want to Know? I’m pretty sure I have photos of Getaway ones too.
SOOOO glad you enjoyed it! We did it on the other side of the ocean (Trans-Pacific) and it was a heavenly 18 day cruise hitting up some islands. Maybe you should try that route on the way back?!! 😉 Okay…it’s not exactly going back to Europe…but a pit stop in Oz wouldn’t hurt you, right?!
Wow – I would love to go on a cruise someday. I keep wondering about kids activities, and glad to see there are a lot of things for kids to do (and eat! lol!).
Fantastic post Alyson and I too read right to the very end LOL!
You guys had a great time. I only wish we had that much time and that hubby wasn’t so sea sick….
At those prices, we might just experiment!!
So fun!! I really want to do a cruise soon… the options sound endless.. but I really don’t know if I could survive w/out the net for that long!!
Waiting everyday to see if there is a note in my email that your posted new post.
we were missing you guys. was reading all till the end. seem so great we want to find the nearest cruise for us to go..
missing you all-good to have you back.
Addicted follower..waiting to see your freezing adventure in NY
Thank you Iris, that’s very kind. I missed my online support network too. Thank YOU for following!
I read and loved the post. Thanks for sharing. We are going to be on a 19 day repositioning cruise from S. Africa to Europe in April as part of our RTW trip. (Was cheaper than flying!) Excited to see what all is has to offer. Will miss internet but I know we will be busy with all the other activities. Cheers!
That sounds awesome! What an amazing route, enjoy your cruise!
Great post Alyson, after 4 cruises – South Pacific, Bahamas, Caribbean & Mediterranean this looks like it could be a winner for our next one. Thanks for the write up!
This looks ace! We’ve been considering a trans-Atlantic cruise for some time now. Getting on that maiden voyage was a bit of a bonus! Are those prices in USD or DUD (Down Under Dollars)? Thanks for the write-up and welcome to America!
Mostly USD. Although the initial $700 may have been AUD, I can’t remember. There isn’t a huge difference, when we booked the rate was almost 1:1 although the AUD has since dropped a bit.
They have 2 more new ships and maiden voyages coming up next year, keep an eye out doofus!
A cruise has never really appealed to me but this actually sounds like fun! Great value too although I was a bit shocked to hear about the compulsory tipping. That picture of Boo in his best clothes is classic! Looking forward to hearing about what you get up to in America.
Same here Amy, never, ever fancied it. It’s hat my mum and dad do. But it was great, loved it. Such a surprise and almost cheaper than flying if you have time to spare.
Bloody Brilliant. I read every last speck also. How fun. I think I’ll retire on a boat.
So happy for you all that there was no sea sickness and that you all enjoyed the experience so much. I would love to read a blog post from the boys sharing their thoughts on it all. Didn’t one of your boys have a page to visit?
Enjoy New York.
Love us
xox
Yes, my boys would post about it if they didn’t think blogging was the worst torture ever inflicted on boy-kind. But they LOVED it!!!!
Been hanging our for this post, and I did read right to the very end. How fabulous!! Thank you for all the detail and the lovely pics. My homeschooled daughter (9) and I are looking at cruising in the very near future, so thanks for all the info and tips. Would love to see some commentary from Chef about the food onboard and the food in New York. A question: how do/will you manage the tipping in the US when you are travelling on an extreme budget? What is the best approach? Would love to hear your thoughts!
Hi Thursday! Love you, you’re great. Anyway…our budget is blown totally, we’re spending a fortune. $50/day was for Asia only, we were never under any illusions that we could pull that off in Europe or the US. Tonight we are eating bananas and muffins that levitated all the way to our 19th floor room from breakfast along with deli shop hummus. Washed down with Pinot Grigio. We’re cheap, but not THAT cheap! We’re going to run out of money later this year because of our switch to the Western Hemisphere ( to see my elderly Mum and then, just because!) . But what the heck, we’re having so much fun!!!!
Oh , yes, tipping, be Australian, nobody expects Australians to tip, do they? ( we do sometimes)
Hilarious!! Great advice. Thank you!
Like you normally, I more a backpacker kind of person so I was looking forward to read your article about that cruise. Kind of surprise that it can fit you and your family. And really surprise by the price! It’s a good deal!
Thanks for the links…
That $350 was on Norwegian’s website, it was there for a few days, we decided to book and then it was gone. We’re working on it now. Relocation cruises can be great value. Bubulle is such a great name, love it!
yes I read the whole thing LOL. We are about to go on our third cruise (our girls second) in June this year. Can’t wait!!
Loved reading all about your cruise adventure! As you know, we love cruising – we weren’t sure we would either, but if you get into it, there is something for everyone. Interesting you have to pay for non-buffet. Very glad you didn’t get sick (sea or otherwise).
My kids enjoyed an emptier kids club too – 2000 kids would be overwhelming for them. And I had to have a word with them to allow Video Boy play his choice of games too – it’s his holiday too!
PS: my kids have seen that Disney short film too when we went to see Fantasia at the Sydney Opera House! But we would be in the minority of cool kids 🙂
You didn’t have to pay for all non buffet restaurants Ingrid, there were 3 seated complimentary ones. The buffet just suited us better, more choice and endless top ups for my slightly tubby ( now) husband.
Wow, it sounds like such an interesting experience. I don’t think you could get my husband on one for all the money in the world, he’s not the biggest fan of boats!
I’ve read all the way to the end too, and loved it as usual. Looking forward to reading about New York. What’s happened to the Chef’s posts I always enjoyed reading from both points of view? Carry on enjoying your trip and inspiring the rest of us.
Chef is a complete slacker Vickie, but I’ll pass on your sentiments. Thank you for reading and commenting.
What a lovely relaxed way to travel to New York, I like it! I didn’t know you could anymore!
You so can Kate, the Queen Mary still does the Trans Atlantic too.
This was a repositioning cruise, they were moving Getaway from the European ship yards to Miami, her future home, you have to watch out for repositioning cruises and catch them when you can, beginning and end of seasons usually. They’re pretty good value for those of us with time on our hands.
I definitely want to try one too 🙂 however I’m curious if you will feel the same about a cruise on an older ship. Oh do they charge for medical services on board? I’ve been toying with the idea of working as a ship doctor. If you go again – chat to one on my behalf would you 😉 I enjoyed reading allllllllll of it! Your husband is crazy with those height stunts lol ! Love your little hero 😉
They do charge, I know that much. That would be a great opportunity for you! Ray could come too, families do travel with crew sometimes. Yes, my husband has always been crazy, he’s Australian, he can’t help it.
Cute pics!!
7lbs?!??? In 10 days he put on 7lbs WITH exercise??? Shazam — that’s a surprise. Lol.
It sounds like you guys had a blast. I’ve always wanted to do a Trans-Atlantic — returning to the Med. If you’ve seen them previously for $350, I’m definitely going to check it out. I’ve never seen them that low.
Glad all that worry about seasickness was for naught. Glad you’re back on solid ground. I missed your posts. 🙂
Yes Suzi, and he’s a bit tubby. If you look at the photos from the end of Sri Lanka, he was 69Kg, now he’s 76Kg. I’ve put on a fair bit too, we need to get back into the budget travel rather than the all inclusive, that shifts it fast!
Wow! Great catch-up! And so nice to have the ship so empty! Glad you all had a fantastic time! Enjoy New York – our kids loved sony technology lab – and it’s free!
Thank you Anita, we’re checking that out now, the forecast is minus 11 tomorrow, so we need something indoors!
Now that you have made the US … we would like to extend the offer of accommodations if you are passing through Baltimore, MD. Baltimore is about 4 hrs south of NYC and on the I-95 corridor, if you are traveling to Washington DC. We are a family of 3 with a 7 yr old daughter. We own our own company that allows us to travel quite a bit more than most Americans but only for 4-6 weeks at a time and mostly domestic for now. We do plan 1 yr “off” in 2017. The StudyLadder has been wonderful in relaxing my mind about April’s road education. So, Thank You SO much for that!! If you would like to get in contact you have my email. If you want to “check us” out I hope that we can connect. Marisa