Transatlantic Cruises

Most transatlantic sailings are repositioning cruises: ships moving between their Caribbean winter and European summer. That fixes the calendar - eastbound in spring, westbound in autumn - and the price, since lines need the ship moved whether or not it sells out. Routes from Florida usually break the crossing at Bermuda, the Azores, Madeira or the Canary Islands, so a two-week trip may still have several sea days in a row. A few go the northern way via Iceland and Greenland instead.

The exception is Cunard's Queen Mary 2, which runs the crossing as a point-to-point voyage rather than a repositioning. A June 2026 westbound sailing, for example, left Southampton at 4pm on a Friday and docked in Brooklyn at 6:30am the following Friday - seven nights, six of them at sea, with no ports between.

Direction changes the feel of the trip. Heading east you lose an hour on many nights - six or seven clock changes on a typical crossing - which means short nights but arrival in Europe with little jet lag. Heading west you gain the hours back, which suits early risers. Spring eastbound trips start warm and cool steadily toward Europe, so pack layers; the outdoor pools go quiet by the second half.

Every crossing is one-way, so you need a passport and an open-jaw flight home, and that flight is often the expensive part. The trip suits people who like sea days for their own sake - reading, lectures, the spa - and travelers with time to spare. Anyone who gets restless without a port every day will find a week of open ocean long.

Sources: gscworldtravel.com, icruise.com