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Friday, December 26. 2025

Atlantic crossing


The Queen Mary 2 still does them. It's a 7-day crossing, not a cruise. NYC to Southampton in the UK.


I've done quite a few crossings back in the day, and enjoyed them enormously. Some Cunard, some Holland-American. They used to be sort-of formal (ties for boys at dinner, for example) but more relaxed now. Same for Med cruises which are wonderful.


Not be be compared with the mass market Caribbean cruises.  


I've never done a winter crossing, but I'd do it happily:



Posted by Bird Dog in Travelogues and Travel Ideas at 12:12 | Comments (6) | Trackbacks (0)

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Sounds like a wonderful adventure, except for the idea of being seasick and not being able to get away from it.
#1 feeblemind on 2025-12-26 17:07 (Reply)
We took the QM2 from Southampton to NYC in 2024, and had a fantastic time ! It's definitely not for everyone, but we loved it - how often do you get the chance to attend a lecture by the naval architect who actually designed the ship you're on ?
We're sailing again on her in 2026 - this time leaving from Le Havre .
#2 Jerseygirl Angie on 2025-12-27 07:03 (Reply)
We just finished a Barcelona to 16 day Miami transatlantic on Norwegian Pearl. We had stops in Malaga, Cartagena, Cadiz, Gibraltar, Casablanca and Madeira. We had 2 or 3 days of rain and slightly rough seas, no problem, the roll puts me to sleep faster.

The cruise quality was mixed at best. They refitted the ship a few years ago, but didn't really do much refit. They took out the card room, the library and one other guest area I can't remember so they could put in more cabins.

Food, music and entertainment were mediocre, with one exception, a musical duo "Lu & Sebastian", who were excellent. Our dinner in the expensive steakhouse was a complete shambles of so-so food served at noisy tables far too close together by incompetent staff - nice people, but clueless.

We like ballroom dancing but had not much luck on the Pearl. None of the dance floors are proper dance floors as they all have 'sticky' composite flooring. The areobics room in the quite good gym had a large shiny hardwood floor perfect for dancing. We and several other couples used it to practice. Lu & Sebastian often played in venues with no dance floor at all so many people danced on the carpet.

Oh well, it was cheap for base fare, $80 per person per night, but back to Cunard we go.
#3 Fred Z on 2025-12-27 09:35 (Reply)
DH was in the Navy on the Atlantic. The years were 1961-64. He still retells with horror crossing the North Atlantic in the winter!
#4 faculty wife on 2025-12-27 21:11 (Reply)
Mystery as hundreds of Victorian shoes wash up on beach

Here is an unusual story from a few days ago.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy84ezd4421o
#5 feeblemind on 2025-12-28 10:33 (Reply)
I certainly agree that Cunard is much better than Norwegian (which in my experience is execrable), but keep in mind that Cunard's crews are unionized and sometimes deliver poor service. A barman on the QE2 in fact told me that if he gave me poor service, he still could not be fired.

I prefer buying a Suite on Celebrity. All ships under that brand are nice (I like the oldest ones, in fact), and as a Suite passenger one eats Daniel Boulud curated food offerings day and night in a private venue, with acceptable quality free wine, beer and hard liquor.

Azamara has nice, smaller ships that do transatlantic crossings. Very friendly crews and also free alcoholic beverages.
#6 Cruising guy on 2025-12-28 16:28 (Reply)

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