Trans Atlantic Crossing

April...October is still hurricane season!
"Rosalie B." wrote in message
...
"Easy News" wrote:

I have always wanted to do a Trans Atlantic crossing.
I know the two times of the year are usually in April and October when the
ships are either going to Europe or coming back for repositioning. I
realize we will have to fly one way and take a cruise the other way.

I was thinking that it would be the best thing to fly over and then take
the
ship back. That way we would be able to bring back gifts without
worrying
about the weight. and lost baggage. That would be in October.

I have been looking at the different cruise lines and the ports in Europe
where they go and where one needs to fly too to catch the ships and NCL
seems to have the best schedule of ports for us. They would be leaving
from Barcelona and arriving in Fort Lauderdale.

My questions are these;
Would October be a good time to do the Trans Atlantic crossing, weather
wise, or would April be safer?

Has anyone done the crossing and if so, would you comment about it?

Are there any specials one can find for the crossings like you find for
the
Eastern and Western Caribbean?

Other than Carnival, would there be any cruise lines cheaper than NCL?
Carnival doesn't have enough stops to make it worth while, for me.

Any other information will certainly be appreciated.

Thanks for any and all replies.

We are currently on our own boat in the Chesapeake, so I don't know
where I will get to send this. But..

I've done two TAs but they were both in July and it was 50 years ago
when the ships were used for transportation. My husband has done a
number of Atlantic cruises courtesy of the USNavy - sometimes on a
destroyer or submarine but mostly on aircraft carriers. He was on one
North Atlantic cruise (in the winter) where the green water was
crashing over the flight deck and the ship broke the keel. It wasn't
scrapped for several years after that so I guess they fixed it.

We were on the NCL Crown in the middle of November to Bermuda and back
- this was at the time the smallest NCL ship and had no stabilizers.
On the way over it was rough, but we are not prone to seasickness so
it didn't bother us. On the way back it was like glass. My BIL went
on the same cruise the week before and it was rough both ways. The
following year, the Crown did a repositioning cruise in October-
November. We had to avoid Hurricane Wilma, but it was not as rough as
it was going to Bermuda the year before.

It makes a great deal of difference at what angle the ship takes the
waves. Going downwind, it's fairly comfortable. A ship will pound
going into the waves (depending on how far apart they are - if they
are closer together than the length of the ship, the bow will bury at
the bottom of the trough, but if they are farther apart, you will
hardly notice). If the waves are coming from the side the ship will
roll.