A Disney Transatlantic Is Not a Disney Cruise

I’m writing this from our balcony on the Disney Dream, somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic.

The water is like glass.

We boarded in Southampton and we get off in Fort Lauderdale. Two weeks. Nine sea days. All five of us.

We’ve done Disney cruises before, and this is a completely different trip.

What’s different about a Disney crossing

There are very few kids on board. That changes everything. There’s zero line for the waterslide, so Avilene has ridden it more times than I can count. She has made friends who show up at our door, and off they go to the pool.

The kids clubs turn into a real friend group. Gavin and Jake have been in Edge nonstop. They did the flash mob, the talent show and the movie nights. Two weeks with the same group of kids gives them time to bond. We move around so much that it means a lot to them. Avilene is loving the Oceaneer Club too.

There’s something new every single night. A new musician, a crew talent show, one of the big stage shows. On a short sailing you pick. Here you see all of it.

The characters, without the lines. We’ve seen the princesses and so many of the characters, and the shows have been incredible. The lines are so much shorter than on a short sailing, so nobody is standing around waiting.

We got the first fireworks of the season. Disney doesn’t do fireworks while the ships are in Europe, because they aren’t allowed there. So the show we saw at sea was the first of the season. Everyone dressed up for Pirate Night too.

The gift giving is the surprise of the trip. If you’ve never cruised Disney, a fish extender is a little organizer that hangs by your stateroom door, and other families drop small gifts in it. Pixie dusting is leaving a surprise for a family you’ve never met. I thought with so few kids on board there wouldn’t be much of it. Boy, was I wrong! We’ve gotten so many thoughtful treats, and we’ve given so many too.

Avilene turned 10 on board. We celebrated her 9th on the Disney Wish too… oh no, I see a pattern 😂 Her birthday banner went up right across our door.

Nothing is rushed. The movies, the characters, the restaurants. We have time for every one of them without a schedule on the fridge.

Nobody has been on YouTube. The kids don’t have Wi-Fi, so they haven’t opened it once since we boarded. Not one of them has said they’re bored. They’re relaxed, and so are we.

And Avilene is eating tacos three meals a day. Disney has flavored ice cream on top of the soft serve, and she has strong opinions on mango vs banana 😂

The practical stuff

The time change is easy. The clocks go back one hour a night. I’m waking up super early, but it’s nothing like a six or seven hour jump off a plane. You arrive in Florida already on Florida time.

The port days come first. We had a few stops early on, including Vigo and Lisbon, before the long stretch of open ocean.

Book connecting rooms. We’re in two connecting Deluxe Oceanview staterooms with verandahs. With five of us, two rooms and two balconies over two weeks is what keeps everyone happy.

Budget for Wi-Fi if you need it. I’m working while we sail, so we bought Wi-Fi for two devices. It’s about $13 a day per device and it adds up fast over two weeks. I’d decide before you board who truly needs it. For us that was the grown-ups, not the kids.

Working from sea is easy. Laptop on the balcony or up in one of the covered areas, lunch whenever I want, a Disney movie at night. If you work while you travel like I do, it’s perfect.

Who this trip is for, and who should skip it

There’s plenty to do. There’s a scavenger hunt every day for little details around the ship, like the carpets and the photographs, and I see a lot of the older guests all over it.

But if you need a new adventure every single day of your vacation, skip this one. It’s time at sea, and that’s the point.

It’s great for families who want to slow down, kids who love the clubs and the pool, anyone working remotely, and anyone moving between Europe and the US who would rather not fly.

Not traveling with kids? This one is for you too. With so few kids on board, a crossing is a grown-up kind of cruise. Bring a stack of books. Spend a whole sea day in the Rainforest room at the spa. Or just enjoy not cooking or cleaning for two weeks 🙂

What a repositioning cruise is

Cruise ships move with the seasons. A ship that spends the summer in Europe heads back to the Caribbean in the fall, and back to Europe again in the spring. Those one way sailings are called repositioning cruises.

Transatlantic crossings usually happen in the spring and the fall. Most run somewhere between 12 and 20 nights, depending on the route. There are Transpacific crossings too, between the US West Coast or Canada and Asia, Australia or New Zealand.

And it isn’t only Disney. Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Princess, Holland America, Norwegian, Cunard, Silversea and almost every other line runs them.

2027 Atlantic crossings worth a look

I’m already looking at 2027 for us. A few that caught my eye:

Disney Wish, Florida to Barcelona, April 25, 2027. 13 nights, with stops in Funchal on Madeira, Gibraltar and Cartagena in Spain. It’s the Wish’s first season in Europe.

Disney Wish, Southampton to New York, September 17, 2027. 12 nights, by way of Greenock in Scotland, two stops in Iceland and St. John’s in Newfoundland. That one is on my list.

Disney Magic through the Panama Canal. Not an ocean crossing, but the same idea: 14 nights between Galveston and San Diego, westbound in April 2027 and eastbound in November 2027.

Cunard Queen Anne, Southampton to Fort Lauderdale, January 10, 2027. 12 nights. Cunard is the classic crossing, and it has kids programs on board too.

And across the Pacific

Transpacific crossings run longer, and the ports are a big part of the trip.

Royal Caribbean Quantum of the Seas, Seattle to Tokyo, September 27, 2027. 15 nights. This is the one for a family that wants to start a Japan trip without the long flight.

Royal Princess, Auckland to Vancouver, April 2, 2027. 27 nights through the South Pacific, Tahiti, Hawaii and California.

Viking Orion, Tokyo to Vancouver, May 2027. 22 nights by way of Alaska, including Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay. Viking is adults only, so this one is for the grandparents.

Now I think I need to do a Transpacific so I can say we went around the world on a boat 😂

And if you’ve ever dreamed of going all the way around

Azamara just announced its 2029 World Cruise on Azamara Quest.

The full voyage is 195 nights, San Diego to Copenhagen, with 126 ports in 40 countries. If that’s too much ocean, you can take half. 179 nights from San Diego to London, or 139 nights from Sydney to Copenhagen.

The full voyage is open for booking now, and the two halves open October 14.

I would be on it in a heartbeat.

Want to cross an ocean?

Connecting rooms and family staterooms go first on every sailing, so it pays to start early. If a crossing sounds like your family, I’d love to hear about it.

Tell me who’s going and which direction you’re headed, and we’ll figure out which ship fits. Tell me about your trip here, or email me at Nicole@fgluxurytravel.com.

Nicole Damiano, ASTA Verified Travel Advisor with FG Luxury Travel. Adventures We Seek is my travel blog and planning resource. Trips are booked through Favorite Grampy Travels.