Transatlantic Cruises and Cruise Lines - Choosing A Transatlantic Cruise

How Many Days?
Transatlantic cruises come in two versions. The most popular way to experience the Transatlantic is on 6 or 7 day crossing on the Queen Mary 2 between Southampton and New York. A Transatlantic "crossing" is when there are only two ports involved - the port of embarkation and the port of debarkation.

The other way to cruise the Atlantic Ocean is on a longer 12 to 15 day cruise that incorporates several extra ports of call. I the spring those cruises start in various ports along the U.S. coastline, from Galveston to Boston. The cruises end in a number of European ports, from Copenhagen in Northern Europe to Venice in the Mediterranean.

When To Cruise?
The weeklong Transatlantic crossings on the Queen Mary 2 depart from April through December every year. The longer Transatlantic cruises on other ships take place in April and May or between September and November, when the cruise ships reposition to or from the summer cruise season in Europe.

by Ralph Grizzle. An award-winning travel writer, and recognized cruise ship expert.
New York has nearly always been the final destination for European liners that began Transatlantic cruises in 1840. The city has seen ships bring waves of immigrants and scores of millionaires and movie stars. The Big Apple has welcomed the world’s greatest sailing ships, stately icons that symbolized a time of great glamour, elegance and tradition.But the advent of transatlantic jet service in the late 1950s put the oceangoing liners out of business, and transatlantic cruises slowed to a trickle. Though cruise ships still sail into New York’s harbor, Queen Mary 2 is the only one regularly cruising between Europe and America.

The journey between Southampton, a bustling harbor in southern England, and New York takes only six days. Leaving Southampton, quite near where the Mayflower departed in the 1600s for the land that would become America, today’s cruise passengers sail past some of America’s greatest icons when entering New York’s storied harbor — the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and Manhattan’s towering skyline. Within an hour, they will disembark a few blocks from Times Square, having completed a classic cruise — crossing the Atlantic.

For nostalgia buffs or anyone that longs for the elegance of a bygone era, a transatlantic cruise is an absolute must.

No-Jetlag Journey: On transtlantic cruises, you lose an hour a night cruising eastbound from New York and gain an hour a night cruising westbound from Southampton, which makes for a smooth transition for such a long trip.

Trans-Atantlic Tip: Meet The Duke
Got an hour to spare before boarding Queen Mary 2 in Southampton, England? Walk several blocks from the cruise ship terminal to the Duke of Wellington pub.

We did, and what we found in the 15th-century pub located at 36 Bugle Street was a convivial maritime setting, stone fireplaces with logs blazing and a row of cask ales to accompany the menu of traditional English fare: Fish and Chips, Ploughman’s Lunch, and Bangers and Mash.

Sailors and “cruise” passengers from earlier times may well have stopped here for fortification. In 1620, more than a century after the pub opened, another ship set sail from the foot of Bugle Street. Its name: the Mayflower.