Advice on a Transatlantic Cruise from Florida and to Florida

[xnavyss]

 

Advice and Suggestions Please.

 

We are Seniors who live in Florida 

 

Is there a way to do a Transatlantic or a Repositioning Cruise out of Florida and take a cruise back to Florida?  If so, we would only want a minimum layover.

 

Thanks

Joe

(proud military veteran and retired navy submarine sailor)

[WAAAYTOOO]

I don’t believe this is possible on Royal Caribbean.  The Trans Atlantics are seasonal.  They go one way in the spring and the opposite direction in the fall.  There may be other lines that go in the opposing directions but I doubt it.  It would be nice, wouldn’t it ?

[RoyalGreek]

Joe,  Thank you for your service!  It takes a special person to service in the silent service!! Beat Army!

This is something my wife and I have talked about doing. Take a transatlantic from Florida to Europe in March/April. Spend the 6 months or so traveling in Europe with a Euro rail pass and AIR B&B’s Then catch a transatlantic back to Florida in October/November. What a great way to travel. 

[twangster]

With jet airplanes the concept of scheduled transatlantic passenger service pretty much stopped.  All that's left is when cruise ships are repositioned to spend summers in the Mediterranean and winters in the Caribbean.   

The Mediterranean cruise season is primarily during the summer.  It isn't a popular mode of vacation travel during the colder winter months.  Consequently modern cruise lines tend to get out of the Mediterranean during the winter which results in Westbound transatlantic in the fall and subsequently Eastbound transatlantic in the spring so the ships are back in the Med for the summer.

Once in a while there is an exception if a ship needs to cross for maintenance or dry dock purposes but even for those most cruise lines try to match those events to occur before or after a natural repositioning to capitalize on the normal summer cruise trends.   

Transatlantic cruises are not as popular so the rates are often lower to fill the ship.  For this reason I am drawn to transatlantic crossings and I dislike paying almost as much for transatlantic airfare as I do for the transatlantic cruise fare but unless you can spend several months exploring Europe it's very hard to find return ship service.   

[mbk999]

It won't get back to Florida but if Cunard still runs their weekly trans-atlantic, you could at least get back to NYC.

[Allen2]

Depending on Cunard's timing, it is also possible that your return trip could connect with one of Cunard's "Around the World" cruises, and purchase a segment from London to Ft. Lauderdale (which usually stops in NYC on the way).  Your travel agent could do some quick research or your could check Cunard's web site.  

[xnavyss]

Thanks everyone for your input.  

 

[BarbieBell]

We do transatlantics twice every year and really enjoy them. We sometimes do a B2B and stay on the ship for the next cruise in Europe. We use our airline miles for the one way fare and on American it’s usually 30K per person. One tip, you do need to book your airfare well in advance (I usually book at least 6 mos in advance.