Transatlantic in May Help...

[ck213]

Hi there,

My wife and I are looking at going across the Atlantic in May on either RCI's Jewel of the Sea, or Princess's Crown. They are similar in price, only slightly different Itineraries and Crown ends in Rome, whereas Jewel ends in Harwich, England. Both ships get great reviews.

We just wondered if anyone could help with info on weather to be expected in May going across and which ship may be better for us, or any other suggestions. We are 28 yrs. old and just want a good quality cruise, ports not as important as the ship itself and the days at sea.

Thanks in advance to anyone willing to take the time, appreciate it.

Chris
Winnipeg, CANADA

[katlady]

Well first off I need to have an idea of the ports. So I looked.
Jewel Of the Seas 13 day:

Mami, Florida;
Kings Wharf, Bermuda;
Lisbon, Portugal;
Brussels/Brugge (Zeebrugge), Belgium;
Harwich (London), England

Crown Princess 14 day:

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
Gibraltar
Alicante, Spain
Barcelona, Spain
Marseille (Provence), France
Florence/Pisa (Livorno), Italy
Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy

I have been to Lisbon and it's really nice. Also the Jewel of the seas does stop in Bermuda before the crossing, which would be interesting.

However, with the crown princess you see more of Spain and Italy. In 2008 we took a cruise the ended in Civitavecchia (about an hour from Rome). After the cruise we stayed two more days then took a Eurostar train (4-5 hours) across the Italian countryside to Venice and stayed in Venice. I loved Venice.

If the price is the same I would book Crown Princess to see more of Europe than take the train over to Venice. The train ride was comfortable and inexpensive. Here is the website for the Italian train system. http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/inde...0080a3e90aRCRD The train station in Rome is Termini and Venice the station is St. Lucia. Our Cruise was April 26 to May 10 and our ports did include Livorno (great place to shoe shop) and Rome plus we stopped in Malaga, Spain. So the weather at this time of year was sunny and in the 70s. It was a perfect time to see Venice I have heard in September Venice has some flooding. Here are some pictures:

Pisa (near Livorno)

Spanish Steps in Rome.

Venice, Italy

[ck213]

Ya, they definitely are very different itineraries , and the prices are pretty similar. I have travelled Europe extensively in the past, so like I mentioned the ports are more of a background bonus to the actual sailing and ship. Definitely sounds like a plan to get to Venice though, as it is a good time of year, before the summer heat too.

Another question I had was whether to go with a balcony or not? It's obviously a decent amount more, so we're wondering if we should think about it on a longer sailing. I've been on a few 7 nighter's and never bothered as we spent most time awake on deck. But maybe worth it on a longer one? Still think we'd be around the public areas more again though.

Thanks for the help

[katlady]

We had a balcony and it was nice for the sea days, but not needed. If you take a cruise to Alaska than a balcony is a must have. You see some amazing things from your balcony in Alaska. In the middle of the Atlantic ocean there isn't to much to see. But going out for coffee in the morning on your balcony is very nice.

[ck213]

Thanks so much for taking the time. You've been a great help.

[Kuki]

I have to agree that the Crown itinerary sounds much more interesting.

We've done a couple of crossings in May, and while weather of course can be anything, when we crossed west to east we had seas that looked like glass all the way across. Quite incredible.