Imagine taking a leisurely cruise across the Atlantic Ocean instead of a jumbo jet traveling at high speeds. Consider lounging by the pool instead of lunging for your luggage from the airport carousel. The days and nights spent at sea present opportunities to dress up for dinner, sip a glass of wine beside the piano bar, catch a show, or simply read a book. Since on some days there is no port of call, the crew often has an onboard theme organized, such as a chocolate extravaganza, jazz festival, academic program, wine tasting or culinary lessons. From a dozen different North American ports of departure, 12 cruise line companies operate 20 ocean liners bound for England, so plenty of options are available throughout the year.
Cruises depart from the West Side piers in Manhattan or from Brooklyn, bound for one of the four arrival ports in England. London is not a seaport, so after seven or eight days at sea, ships mainly call at Southampton, with some disembarking in Dover, Harwich or Tilbury. The first of Royal Caribbean's newest generation of feature-laden ships, Quantum of the Seas, makes its maiden voyage to Southampton from Liberty Park, New Jersey, in late 2014. Cunard Line, the British shipping firm established in 1838, sails the Queen Elizabeth, Queen Victoria and their newest luxury flagship liner, Queen Mary 2, to Southampton with several crossings annually. Onboard the Oceania line, a premium line with European staff and midsize vessels, sailings to England come up trumps with a passenger bridge tournament.
Fort Lauderdale is a busy passenger seaport with two airports within 30 miles. Cruise liners boarding passengers in Fort Lauderdale bound for the U.K. include those operated by Cunard, Princess Cruises, Celebrity Cruises, Holland America and Royal Caribbean. Cunard's Queen Victoria completes a 12-day itinerary to Southampton with a call at Madeira, Portugal, while the Queen Elizabeth round-the-world cruise sails port-to-port, stopping at 42 destinations in 101 days, ending at Southampton. Elsewhere in Florida, a sailing on the Infinity by Princess travels from Miami. Norwegian Star calls in at Dover, England, but makes its final disembarkation in Copenhagen, Denmark. Both Silversea and Royal Caribbean offer sailings out of Tampa.
Cunard sails all three of her luxury ocean liners from a pier in the heart of downtown San Francisco, giving passengers a great view departing through the Golden Gate. One advantage to the Pacific start is avoiding colder North Atlantic climates. Another advantage for those who love cruising is that, at 17 nights, the voyage lasts longer. Cunard also offers a reverse trip with a Southampton start, completing a 76-night journey on the Queen Victoria that covers the Caribbean, Australia and New Zealand and returns via San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Occasional departures from Montreal, Quebec, and from Boston are scheduled on super liners operated by Royal Caribbean. For those wishing to fly out and cruise back, Silversea's Silver Whisper departs from Southampton on a 17-day journey calling in at Belfast, Dublin and Reykjavik, featuring a cooking school onboard. Cruise enthusiasts and travel experts explain that the repositioning of ocean liners between seasons means that a trans-Atlantic voyage may be logistically necessary for the company to run once or twice a year. For that reason, pricing on trans-Atlantic crossings can be one of the most economical cruise offerings on a dollar-per-mile basis.
