Booking a Transatlantic Cruise – 7 Things I Learned

Serenity area on Carnival Sunshine.

After a couple weeks of research it finally happened, I booked my first transatlantic cruise on Carnival Sunshine – and boy was it a learning experience!

Also known as a repositioning cruise, a transatlantic cruise takes you from Europe to the states or vice versa, usually for a great price.

I spent hours researching this sailing from the airfare, the cruise, deck by deck of the ship and my budget.

Here are seven things I learned:

1. Lots of sea days. One thing about transatlantic cruises is plenty of sea days. They aren’t port intensive, more-so sea intensive. So you’ve got to love the water or you possibly could be bored out of your mind.

2. People meet up before hand. Facebook, Cruise Critic and ShipMate App, people gather everywhere in the name of this big sailing. It’s great to meet people before you sail, plan excursions together and a meet up on board is good to put a name with a face.

Hear our broadcast aboard Carnival Sunshine here.

3. It’s affordable. You can get a transatlantic cruise for a steal. The 16-night sailing I’m on is less than $35 per day. You can’t stay home for that cheap!

4. Pre-pay your gratuities. If you’re on a short sailing you may think that gratuities aren’t a big deal, when you add 16 days times $11.50 per day, it adds up. I definitely paid my gratuities before my sailing.

5. Air is cheap. Traveling to Europe in the fall is quite cheap. The summer months are jumping but rates fall as it cools down and all the ships retreat back to the Caribbean. The airfare from Florida to Barcelona is $574 right now. I haven’t bought it yet because I could be changing my arrival plans – but I will secure my airfare at least six weeks before I go.

6. Travel Insurance was a breeze. After my last trip and being stranded in Germany for almost 24 hours, I figured travel insurance is a must for this trip, too.

Because my cruise and air is so cheap, my travel insurance for me was only $35 for the trip. I bought it through TripInsurance.com and went with their “better” plan. They have good, better and best policies.

7. Lower port taxes. Because the itinerary is so sea day intensive and less ports, there are less port taxes to pay so a lower overall fare.

Subscribe to our Cruise Updates.

This is going to be my first time sailing across the ocean on a cruise ship, until now I’ve only crossed the ditch by plane.