We love transatlantic cruises for many reasons--long lazy days at sea, camaraderie with new friends, and, of course, the wonderful food and entertainment. We prefer a transatlantic cruise to flying for the obvious reasons. Flying today is uncomfortable, tedious and boring. So, when given the choice to fly from Europe to the US or take a slower cruise, we always opt for the cruise. Flying might be quicker, but cruising is so much more fun, and since we are retired, we have the time to take the slower option. Transatlantic cruises are very affordable, too.

Transatlantic cruises are voyages the cruise line uses to move its ships from one location to another either at the beginning of the cruise season or the end . Generally, the ships that cruise the Caribbean in the winter move to the Mediterranean for the summer season in March.  Then, the same ships sail back to the Caribbean in November. These cruises are longer, anywhere from ten days to two weeks or more. There are fewer port stops and about six or more consecutive days at sea.

 How do you find a transatlantic cruise? You could shop at each cruise line's website, but that's time-intensive. I use this website: http://www.repositioningcruises.com. They have consistently offered the lowest prices and excellent service. Their website is also very easy to navigate and sort out the cruises by line, ship, date, or location.

We made so many new friends on this cruise that the sea days just flew by.  We used the website http://www.cruisecritic.com and signed into the Roll Call (under the Discussions link at the top) to meet our fellow cruisers even before the ship sailed. We met with about 30 people on the cruise from the CruiseCritic Roll Call for dinner in Barcelona the night before the ship sailed . Then, while onboard, many of us met for the Meet & Greet gathering and drinks and dinner during the cruise. We played games like Left-Right-Center daily on sea days. Cory and I bowled the crazy onboard bowling lanes, Cory played basketball, and we gambled with our new friends in the casino. The group even organized two Slot Pull tournaments that were great fun. We made many new friends who we've promised to keep in touch. Some of us are even planning on cruising again together next year on the Norwegian Escape's maiden voyage from Southampton to Miami on Oct. 31, 2015. It will be a fun-filled reunion!

Here's our itinerary for the Norwegian Epic cruise: 
 Sunday, October 26, 2014 Barcelona--05:00 PM
 Monday, October 27, 2014 At Sea
 Tuesday, October 28, 2014 At Sea
 Wednesday, October 29, 2014 Funchal 09:00 AM to 06:00 PM
 Thursday, October 30, 2014 At Sea
 Friday, October 31, 2014 At Sea
 Saturday, November 1, 2014 At Sea
 Sunday, November 2, 2014 At Sea
 Monday, November 3, 2014 At Sea
 Tuesday, November 4, 2014 At Sea
 Wednesday, November 5, 2014 Philipsburg, St . Maarten 08:00 AM to 06:00 PM
 Thursday, November 6, 2014 St.Thomas 08:00 AM to 04:00 PM
 Friday, November 7, 2014 At Sea
 Saturday, November 8, 2014 At Sea
 Sunday, November 9, 2014 Miami 08:00 AM

Enjoy the pictures below!