Transatlantic Cruise vs. Flight to Europe
A century ago, you only had one choice to cross the Atlantic Ocean: ship. Now most people only think of flying when considering a trip to Europe. But the ship option is still out there.
We recently took our first Transatlantic Cruise on Holland America's Oosterdam, and below are some pros and cons for taking this option.
This is not a review of our specific cruise ship, but rather to help you evaluate which option is best for you: fly or cruise.
Time to travel
One of the biggest considerations is time: our most important commodity.
If you are working and have limited vacation time, you may not want to spend that time on a floating all-inclusive hotel on the ocean.
If you have five or six weeks of vacation per year, maybe you can take the cruise, enjoy two weeks in Europe, and fly home.
Or better yet, fly to Europe, spend two weeks of frantic sight seeing, and then spend two weeks on a ship going home to rest and be refreshed when you get back to work.
If you are retired, the cruise option is much more attractive. Time is not an obstacle to overcome, and the people on these cruises tend to skew toward the older community, largely due to the freedom available.
And if you are in our very small group, the full-time digital nomads, as long as you have two weeks vacation to spend, it works pretty well.
If you are working, and want to spring for the internet package and try to work on the cruise, just do your homework. Not all cruise internet is created equal, and it may depend on your bandwidth needs if it would be adequate for your work.
I lean toward vacation because that is the best way to get the most from any all-inclusive experience.
Comfort, peace, and disconnecting
This section is not for those who want to work on the ship.
If you leave off the internet package, you will experience something you may not have had in years: digital freedom.
No social media, no email, no texts, no calls. Reconnect with your spouse, read books, enjoy quiet reflection, and do it for two weeks where you can truly rewire your brain to relax.
And no airport to weigh your bags, worry about extra charges, hassle with the whole quick travel experience. You bring your luggage, unpack, store suitcases under your bed, and live without responsibilities for two weeks.
Hungry? There is always food on the Lido deck or special meals in the dinning room at meal times.
Tired? Rest in your room, on the deck in the sun with a book, in the Eagle's nest to play chess, or in an adults only serenity deck to have drinks with your person.
Bored? Go to one of the many scheduled trivia times. Enjoy the many music performances in all different styles. Listen to lectures from experts in interesting fields of study. Go to a comedy event, the evening show, or watch a recent blockbuster movie by the pool.
No shopping, no cooking, no cleaning, no chores. Just relax.
Timezone Change
When you fly and end up with a seven to ten hour time difference, it can be a tough adjustment. Sometimes this might even impact you for two or three days, cutting into your enjoyment of Europe.
Cruise, and you change one hour every few days and never feel any negative effect. When you arrive, you are already on local time.
This one is all upside.
Cost
When I first started looking into this, I was shocked at what I found.
Even on the surface, the cost is about the same to cruise across to Europe as it is to fly. Of course you can spend much more depending on your room selection, package options, and excursions. But we did it for the same price as our flight would have been.
And when we did the full financial analysis, we were actually saving money!
Two weeks of no groceries.
Two weeks of no lodging cost.
Two weeks of no dinning costs.
Two weeks of no entertainment costs.
When I finished my analysis for us, I realized that even if we ended up spending some extra on optional things on the cruise, we still broke even with the flight.
It was a game changer.
Two week vacation plus get to Europe plus spend the same or less as flying plus no jetlag.
It starts to make you wonder, why would I fly?
Stops along the way
We were able to stop in the Ponta Gorda, Funchal, and Ceuta as we neared the European mainland. And this represented two firsts for us. First visit to Portugal in the first two stops, and in Ceuta, our first opportunity to set foot on the African continent, as it is a Spanish territory bordering Morroco in northern Africa.
These are places we likely would never have visited, but we had the opportunity thanks to the cruise stops. These experiences enhanced the overall trip, and created a break from the ship after eight days at sea.
And it was free. We do not spring for excursion packages because we love to walk a city to get to know it, even if just for a few hours. But if excursions fit your preferences and budget, you have options. Or you can stay on the ship and enjoy a quieter time while so many are on shore.
Another perk is getting a few hours of connected internet without an extra charge. At least the way we do it, since we use Airalo esims and had bought 3gb of data for Europe before leaving on the cruise.
Book far ahead or last minute
The last minute bookings I can only base on other people's experience, but I have read you can get some deals.
I can speak to booking early.
We booked our cruise this year several months before the cruise, and we thought we had a pretty good deal for our interior room.
As we were looking, we casually looked at cruises for the following year, more than 12 months in advance.
We were shocked to find a 14 night cruise on the largest class of Princess Cruise ships (our cruise this year was on one of the smallest Holland America ships), and for a partially obstructed balcony room rather than interior, we were going to pay several hundred less than for our interior room this year.
We put a deposit down right away.
The lesson: to get the deals on such low-supply items as a discounted partially obstructed balcony, you must book early.
For those wondering about the cost for next year, it was less than $2,000 for the two of us, all in. Lodging, food, entertainment, and transport to Europe.
It is not for everyone. But as budget minded nomads, we have decided it is for us.
Happy sailing.