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First Cruise (Transatlantic) May 4 2019


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Hello everyone,

My wife and I will be embarking on our first cruise this May and decided to go big or go home. 15 day Transatlantic cruise on Brilliance of the Seas (Tampa > Azorez > Ireland > Belgium > Netherlands). We have probably watched 100 youtube videos trying to be prepared.

Have any of you done a transatlantic cruise around May?
What kind of weather can we expect during the first half to Azorez and the second half near europe?
How are the seas this time of year? (not that we can change our minds now anyways ?

Thanks for your time, I look forward to getting to know the RoyalCaribbeanBlog members and plan on doing a "live blog" for our trip.

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On our eastbound T/As in April and May the weather has been very moderate to warm across the Atlantic. Also have been fortunate to have had very smooth seas all the way across.

Northern Europe might be a couple degrees cooler as compared to a Mediterranean destination, but not that much to worry about.

We will be heading to the same region just a week ahead of you on the Serenade out of Ft. Lauderdale. Only difference, we end up in Copenhagen, Denmark.

I think you will enjoy your sailing, we just did a Brilliance T/A a few months ago from Holland. If you have any questions about the ship, I am sure folks here would be glad to help......enjoy! 

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2 hours ago, L454S said:

On our eastbound T/As in April and May the weather has been very moderate to warm across the Atlantic. Also have been fortunate to have had very smooth seas all the way across.

Northern Europe might be a couple degrees cooler as compared to a Mediterranean destination, but not that much to worry about.

We will be heading to the same region just a week ahead of you on the Serenade out of Ft. Lauderdale. Only difference, we end up in Copenhagen, Denmark.

I think you will enjoy your sailing, we just did a Brilliance T/A a few months ago from Holland. If you have any questions about the ship, I am sure folks here would be glad to help......enjoy! 

Thanks for your input. Greatly appreciated

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Our very first cruise as a married couple was on Brilliance of the Seas first transatlantic crossing bck in 2002 when she was just about 6 weeks old. We went from Harwich England to Boston. It was the great northern route and we happened to get caught in the edge of Hurricane Gustav. We had one day of 80 mph winds and 40 foot swells. All outer decks closed. It was pretty exciting. We had a balcony cabin on deck 9 and the swells were so hight the spray was hitting our glass door 

Brilliance is a beautiful ship. The Radiance class ships have lots of glass, etc and I have read many recent accounts saying that RCCL has kept Brilliance in great shape. We will be cruising on one of her sister ships, Jewel of the Seas, on a Greek Island cruise this September.

As far as weather and conditions during your crossing it may have more to do with what route you take than the month. I am guessing from your embarkation port and ports of call that you will be taking the Southern route crossing the Atlantic and both times we have done that the water has been incredibly calm. It was like the ship was moving through a swimming pool. On the Northern route even the times we have done it where we did not encounter a tornado the seas were rougher but not a problem. We never got seasick.

Our next T/A on RCCL will be a 15 nighter like yours but on Independence of the Seas in May of 2020. My favorite cruises are ones like these where you have a combination of port intensive days and then a bunch of sea days in a row to enjoy the abolute solitude of being on the ocean away from anything.

I think you are going to have an amazing time!

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21 hours ago, Notlad said:

Our very first cruise as a married couple was on Brilliance of the Seas first transatlantic crossing bck in 2002 .....

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences. The only thing we're really nervous for is getting sea sick. Neither of us really like taking medication. Plus we paid for the deluxe drink package ???. We plan on using ginger pills and see bands hoping for the best but will bring with some Bonine as backup.

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On 3/4/2019 at 6:18 PM, CrusingWithMatt said:

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences. The only thing we're really nervous for is getting sea sick. Neither of us really like taking medication. Plus we paid for the deluxe drink package ???. We plan on using ginger pills and see bands hoping for the best but will bring with some Bonine as backup.

Do you guys tend to get motion sickness from other things? Like trips in cars, amusement park rides, etc? If not I wouldn't worry about it. Unless you encounter heavy seas there is very little motion on these large modern ships. During a t/a if they encounter rough seas they will deploy the stabilizers which will help a lot as well. 

Sounds like you have a good plan with the ginger and seabands. I would take some Dramaine II (the version that doesn't make you drowsy) just in case. 

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On 3/5/2019 at 8:17 PM, Notlad said:

Do you guys tend to get motion sickness from other things? Like trips in cars, amusement park rides, etc? If not I wouldn't worry about it. Unless you encounter heavy seas there is very little motion on these large modern ships. During a t/a if they encounter rough seas they will deploy the stabilizers which will help a lot as well. 

Sounds like you have a good plan with the ginger and seabands. I would take some Dramaine II (the version that doesn't make you drowsy) just in case. 

As I have gotten older (and a few concussions from sports) I don't do well on rides or even swings anymore. Cars I'm okay. My wife still likes the rides but gets car sick easy. We will hope for the best.

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Wow...15 day cruise for your first one...and a transatlantic......talk about jumping right into it....good luck.

 

Saying you don't do well on rides or even swings would tend to make me think that you could be affected by the sea swells but who knows till you try!

 

I hope you enjoy it..if not, your stuck for over 2 weeks.......

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Done around 20 TAs both ways, you can get good weather In May, the Bay of Biscay can be the one that gets bumpy but the captain will steer around the bad stuff, a cabin midship or aft really helps, 

Thats great in itinerary Ireland is very nice ?  

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  • 2 weeks later...

My wife and I are on your ship for the same trip. We've cruised about 20 times and done a number of repositioning cruises,  but this is our first TA. We appreciate others' comments re weather. One thing in our experience I'll share--our very first cruise we hit heavy seas the first full day out. Even most of the crew were sick. After losing just one day of our vacation that one time, I've taken 1 (not 2) meclizine each night before dinner. I find it takes the edge off without making me tired, and I sleep most of it off at bedtime anyway. We're greatly looking forward to this trip, to our ports of call, to meeting new people, and to spending time in Amsterdam after we arrive.

AB-BB 2-19 (2).jpg

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On 3/8/2019 at 1:20 PM, CrusingWithMatt said:

As I have gotten older (and a few concussions from sports) I don't do well on rides or even swings anymore. Cars I'm okay. My wife still likes the rides but gets car sick easy. We will hope for the best.

I don’t like taking medication either but I swear by scopolamine patches. I get extremely motion sick in cars and on rides - I can’t imagine trying a cruise for the first time without them. They don’t make me feel weird at all. Your primary care doctor could probably even write you a prescription over the phone - they’re not habit forming and don’t have contraindications. Just make sure you wash your hands really really well after application and removal and don’t touch the patch and then touch your eye. I like them much more than Bonine or Dramamine! 

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16 hours ago, Brian Bass said:

My wife and I are on your ship for the same trip. We've cruised about 20 times and done a number of repositioning cruises,  but this is our first TA. We appreciate others' comments re weather. One thing in our experience I'll share--our very first cruise we hit heavy seas the first full day out. Even most of the crew were sick. After losing just one day of our vacation that one time, I've taken 1 (not 2) meclizine each night before dinner. I find it takes the edge off without making me tired, and I sleep most of it off at bedtime anyway. We're greatly looking forward to this trip, to our ports of call, to meeting new people, and to spending time in Amsterdam after we arrive.

We look forward to seeing you on the ship. We are praying for smooth sailing. We will be bringing Bonine (meclizine hcl). But hoping not to use it.

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  • 2 months later...

My husband and i just got back from the May transatlantic crossing to Amserterdam.  The seas were incredibly calm even through the English Channel.  We had a wonderful time and met so many interesting people. We loved Ponta Delgada, Ireland, Belgium and Amsterdam, where we stayed for 3 days.  We would definitely do this cruise again and would like to stay on and continue to the Baltic.  I have a terrible problem with motion sickness and would take a Bonine everynight before bed.  Even though it was calm i still tooks the meds.  If you want a relaxing vacation, this is it!  

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