TransAtlantic Cruise Questions

[Blonde Princess]

Hi! I'm new to Dis boards. I hope the following questions have not been beat to death previously.

We are scheduled to take the Westbound TransAtlantic Cruise in August. We have a few questions:

1. Were there any major issues or trouble shooting advice anyone has about their experiences in Spain?

2. During the 6 sea days were there any additional entertainment, activities or anything of the like that would be a no-miss activity? My husband and I are travelling with our 10 year old and 7 year old boys.

3. Is there any internet available on the cruise ship during the cruise, especially interested in the six days at sea?

4. I have heard that the weather during the crossing was not pleasant. I have heard there were 20-30 foot seas, it was very cool and very windy. I have also heard that the Captain says an Atlantic Crossing is always this way in the spring-summer. Any info anyone can share would be great.

5. Our trip information does not mention formal nights. By this I mean tuxedos not suits. Were there formal nights? if so how many? If yes did you rent tuxes on the ship?

6. Any great info from your cruise and/or any great disappointments from your cruise.

7. Last, I heard that the fresh and highly perishable foods, fresh fruits, vegetables, etc., were gone toward the end of the six days at sea. Is this true?

Any help and info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[kaseyC]

Hi and Welcome to the Dis. We have a cruise meet thread for the August Westbound Repo. Come on over and join us.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1062787

There is alot of great information on the thread as well as some great people.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

You may also want to look at the Cruise Trip Reports. There were several on the EB cruse that wrote reports.

http://www.disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=10

Have a great cruise and welcome to the DIS boards.

 

[misseulalie]

Hi! I'm new to Dis boards. I hope the following questions have not been beat to death previously.

We are scheduled to take the Westbound TransAtlantic Cruise in August. We have a few questions:

1. Were there any major issues or trouble shooting advice anyone has about their experiences in Spain?

2. During the 6 sea days were there any additional entertainment, activities or anything of the like that would be a no-miss activity? My husband and I are travelling with our 10 year old and 7 year old boys.

3. Is there any internet available on the cruise ship during the cruise, especially interested in the six days at sea?

4. I have heard that the weather during the crossing was not pleasant. I have heard there were 20-30 foot seas, it was very cool and very windy. I have also heard that the Captain says an Atlantic Crossing is always this way in the spring-summer. Any info anyone can share would be great.

5. Our trip information does not mention formal nights. By this I mean tuxedos not suits. Were there formal nights? if so how many? If yes did you rent tuxes on the ship?

6. Any great info from your cruise and/or any great disappointments from your cruise.

7. Last, I heard that the fresh and highly perishable foods, fresh fruits, vegetables, etc., were gone toward the end of the six days at sea. Is this true?

Any help and info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Hi,

Well, I had no issues with Spain. We had a great time in Barcelona. Be prepared for a great fireworks show (hopefully; they had a fantastic presentation when we arrived, I'm guessing they will do the same when the Magic leaves)

The extra entertainment included guest lecturers, cooking type classes, guest speakers and extra character breakfasts, deck parties, and a wonderful princess party. Let's just say that I brought 4 books with me to read during the sea days and I didn't read any of them!!!

Internet was working but VERY slow and not very useful. Most of us who complained got extra minutes or our money credited. Though the amount that people got back really depended on how much you complained...

The waves were never over 20 feet. Most days were 8-13 feet. After a day or two, we got used to it. The weather was pretty cold at night and very windy. A lot of people had to buy sweat shirts because no one expected it to be THAT cold... A few deck activities had to be postponed for better weather and the Mickey pool turned into a wave pool at times. But you will probably have better weather in August (hopefully no Hurricanes!!!)

I think there wer 2 formal nights and 2 semi-formal. I would say about 20% of the men wore tuxes. The rest worre suits and dress shirts.

The internet was a great disapointment. (since our jobs depend on us getting online..)
Be prepared for the boys to be SPOILED!!! You will get lots of neat surprises and there will be very few kids on the ship (ours had just over 400 and the Med. cruise had only 300) The typical amount of kids is around 1,000.

You really got to know the crew and we made really great friends. For some reason, we felt like a family and those of us who did the back to back cruises preferred to stay with our transatlantic friends. (not that there was anything wrong with the other DIS'ers, but it felt like we experienced something that they wouldn't understand... (that sounds stupid, but I'm not sure how to phrase it... )

We had fresh fruit the whole sailing and most important, never ran out of Chocolate milk, grapes or strawberries. ( actually I think the last 2 days they ran out of strawberries)
I didn't feel like I was missing out on any particular food.

Enjoy it!!! I loved the transatlantic and would do it again in a heartbeat. I'm trying to figure out ways to get on your sailing!!!

Jennifer

 

[padalyn]

Hi,

Well, I had no issues with Spain. We had a great time in Barcelona. Be prepared for a great fireworks show (hopefully; they had a fantastic presentation when we arrived, I'm guessing they will do the same when the Magic leaves)

The extra entertainment included guest lecturers, cooking type classes, guest speakers and extra character breakfasts, deck parties, and a wonderful princess party. Let's just say that I brought 4 books with me to read during the sea days and I didn't read any of them!!!

Internet was working but VERY slow and not very useful. Most of us who complained got extra minutes or our money credited. Though the amount that people got back really depended on how much you complained...

The waves were never over 20 feet. Most days were 8-13 feet. After a day or two, we got used to it. The weather was pretty cold at night and very windy. A lot of people had to buy sweat shirts because no one expected it to be THAT cold... A few deck activities had to be postponed for better weather and the Mickey pool turned into a wave pool at times. But you will probably have better weather in August (hopefully no Hurricanes!!!)

I think there wer 2 formal nights and 2 semi-formal. I would say about 20% of the men wore tuxes. The rest worre suits and dress shirts.

The internet was a great disapointment. (since our jobs depend on us getting online..)
Be prepared for the boys to be SPOILED!!! You will get lots of neat surprises and there will be very few kids on the ship (ours had just over 400 and the Med. cruise had only 300) The typical amount of kids is around 1,000.

You really got to know the crew and we made really great friends. For some reason, we felt like a family and those of us who did the back to back cruises preferred to stay with our transatlantic friends. (not that there was anything wrong with the other DIS'ers, but it felt like we experienced something that they wouldn't understand... (that sounds stupid, but I'm not sure how to phrase it... )

We had fresh fruit the whole sailing and most important, never ran out of Chocolate milk, grapes or strawberries. ( actually I think the last 2 days they ran out of strawberries)
I didn't feel like I was missing out on any particular food.

Enjoy it!!! I loved the transatlantic and would do it again in a heartbeat. I'm trying to figure out ways to get on your sailing!!!

Jennifer

I have to disagree with a couple of things here....

I also was on the EB crossing - the seas were at 23 foot for a couple of days. The ship was rocking, but completely tolerable. Some folks felt it, but I have sailed on DCL with worse. Captain Tom was very good at keeping the ship roll to a reasonable amount.

I think there will be a lot of kids on the ship for the WB crossing - since school was still in session for the EB a lot of parents were unable to bring the kids - being the WB is in the summer - expect a typical amount of kids.

I completely agree with the activities - I never even opened my book most days. We just enjoyed the company of the other Dis'ers and all the activities!

Yes, the adult pool was a "wave pool" that I spent quite a few hours in - even after the Mickey pool and Goofy pool were closed. The adults managed to convince the staff to leave the adult pool open!!!

 

[Kissimmee]

Hi,

I'm trying to figure out ways to get on your sailing!!!

Jennifer

You too?

 

[NHdisneylover]

1. Were there any major issues or trouble shooting advice anyone has about their experiences in Spain? None. Everything was easy to negotiate (we did all ports on our own).

2. During the 6 sea days were there any additional entertainment, activities or anything of the like that would be a no-miss activity? My husband and I are travelling with our 10 year old and 7 year old boys. TONS. Even when the cool tepms kept outdoor activities to a minimum (they just added even more inddor stuff). There were several new shows as well as two special performaces (Boyz 2 Men and Jim Brickman), lots of games, dance parties ,etc. If you click on the link in my signature you can read a detailed trip report of our eastbound crossing if you are interested (I am only up to our third day on the ship as of now, but I shoudl finish it before you sail )

3. Is there any internet available on the cruise ship during the cruise, especially interested in the six days at sea? There was. Even wirelss in the room but I was told it was VERY slow. We were so busy we never thought about using it (didn't even finish my book and I love to read).

4. I have heard that the weather during the crossing was not pleasant. I have heard there were 20-30 foot seas, it was very cool and very windy. I have also heard that the Captain says an Atlantic Crossing is always this way in the spring-summer. Any info anyone can share would be great. We went expecting this. Yes, the seas were high (I respectfully disagree with Misseulalie here). My DH always had the Bridge Report on the TV if we were in the cabin for even a moment. Once it was reporting 28-32 foot waves. Several times it was reporting 22-26 waves. We knew ahead of time that the open ocean could be rough (though we experienced 30 foot previously in the caribean--on DCL in 2000). My DH is prone to seasickness and started taking what works for him (ginger pills) a week prior to the cruise. None of us felt seasick at all and we really enjoyed the rocking of the boat as it felt so much like you were really at sea. I would guess it is less likely to be cool in August. However, I would suggest doing what we did and packing a sweatshirt and light jacket for everyone just in case. We also prewarned the kids they might not be able to swim much. They weather did not have a negative impact on our trip for any of us (kids are 8 and 10).


5. Our trip information does not mention formal nights. By this I mean tuxedos not suits. Were there formal nights? if so how many? If yes did you rent tuxes on the ship? We were told prior to the trip (and on a full trip navigator given out on the first day) there would be 1 formal and 2 semi formal nights. This ended up being listed as two formal and one semi formal in the actaul daily navigators. My DH owns a tux which he took (as did my DS). We had late dining and about 1/3 of the men wore tuxes on the first formal night. The second "surprise" formal night had about half as many in tuxes with many treating it as the semi formal we had been origianly told.

6. Any great info from your cruise and/or any great disappointments from your cruise. Best vacation we have ever taken. The staff was amazing. Go knowing it will not be a tropical vacation and be open to new expereinces and you will have a blast.

7. Last, I heard that the fresh and highly perishable foods, fresh fruits, vegetables, etc., were gone toward the end of the six days at sea. Is this true? Not that we noticed. There was lots of yummy stuff and no lack of food at all. Also, some of the soda machines were flat on the last couple of days, but there was alwasy at least one that was really fizzy if you checked around (I am a coke addict).

 

[misseulalie]

Ok, I must have missed the big waves... I was watching the bridge report a ton and never saw it go above the 13-20 foot swells.

 

[BobandLee]

Ok, I must have missed the big waves... I was watching the bridge report a ton and never saw it go above the 13-20 foot swells.

We were on the Repo also. Waves were not as bad as the rumors on the Dis.
Could have been 30' and I could have missed the report.

Personal experience with the internet. Was handy being able to do e-mail in the cabin. It was, however, quite slow and the signal disappeared a couple of times. This is to be expected considering that it was satellite internet and we were a moving target.

Knowing what we know about the crossing, we would do it again.....if it was on the Magic.

 

[txaggie94gigem]

we all got used ot the waves after a while and it became a running joke! the only time I was really nervous was when we were actually close to or in the med, i think it was the last formal night, and the waves were hitting the windows on deck 3 really hard during the pin trading event!

i never noticed them running low on any food...maybe just in certain places they did not put out enough?

we are VERY SPOILED now because of so few children...no lines for characters and lots of special attention....it did seem like we knew everyone after a while and had a blast...i wish i could go on the august cruise too but i have to work!

also! they had alot of characters that i have never seen on the ship before like quasimoto from Hunchback, etc....lots of pics with special borders for each port...bring extra $$$!

on our cruise i think alot of us were late to bed and late to rise...very non typical DCL because we kept losing an hour each night at sea and the time changes affected most of us...i wonder what it will be like to GAIN an hour each night!!!! i bet you will have a lot more morning activities than we did!