Odyssey is double (450 guests versus 220), not triple. The new Encore class ships will be larger but still slightly smaller than the HAL ships.

The Spring transatlantics on Quest have 11 sea days (9 consecutive) and it was perfect last year (and will be this year too)!

Seabourne was measuring in GRT according to their blurb

Does result in a lot more room as the base cabins in the older now-departed ships weren't exactly spacious compared to the newer ones.

These new ships are smaller than HAL's Prinsendam (nearly 39,000 GT) and a tad shorter. The Prinsendam (ex-Royal Viking Sun) did actually spend part of her career as the Seabourn Sun.

Between the now-retired Queen Elizabeth 2 and the Queen Mary 2 we have done a dozen Atlantic crossings on Cunard – and a few on other lines. As Cunard used to say in their adverts: it’s the only way to cross. Alas, we have usually had to fly one-way but that is a compromise worth making in order to enjoy the traditional crossing. We have travelled in every “class” on Cunard ships except for parcel post.

Princess Grill and Queen’s Grill are not in our budget, but we have received two fabulous upgrades and there are frequent sales. So we have enjoyed this luxury five times on crossings. But even in the basic level (Britannia) it is an excellent way to cross the “pond.” The Grills and the Club offer one-sitting dining (with flexible times) and an enhanced menu. Britannia is open seating at breakfast and lunch and dinner is assigned: first or second sitting. The other differences between the fare categories has been written about at great length elsewhere so I won’t elaborate.

The usual crossing time has been increased from five days to seven because of the cost of fuel. The QM2 was designed for a six-night crossing, but currently does it in seven unless there is an extra port of call en route, such as Halifax. The five-night crossings on the QE2 at 30 knots were quite exciting, but the trip seemed too short.

As others have said, the QM2 is a liner not a mere cruise ship. Only once did we experience unpleasant motion for one day and night. Some people moan about the class system, but in reality about 90% of the ship is open to all. The Grills passengers get a small amount of deck space and two small lounges in addition to the restaurant.

The entertainment programme is the most varied at sea. Unlike most cruise ships which have only pop music blaring at you everywhere, there is the complete range. There is usually a classical artist or group plus a string quartet and harpist. The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art graduates put on abridged plays and other entertainment. There is a pub and also a night club and the usual cruise-type big shows in the theatre. There are lectures on a variety of subjects. In short, there is something for everyone.

Cunard is dressy, but it is not necessary to bring actual formal clothes. The definition of formal has been dumbed down over the years. A man can, according to the definition, get by with a suit and tie. From our experience, I would say the percentage of men wearing tuxedos varies between 50% and 95%. Women don’t need to dress like Cinderella going to the ball, but long dresses or cocktail dresses are the usual. On informal nights men require a jacket (tie optional) in the restaurants. There is a casual alternative to those who dislike this tradition. The buffet is always open but even then passengers are discouraged from dressing like slobs in the evening.

Cunard has recently changed the system for advancing clocks on eastbound crossings. The time now changes by one hour at 12:00 noon on five of the days. On westbound crossings the time is retarded one hour during the night, as usual. These time changes are not stressful to the majority of people. It is certainly more civilised than the shock to the system experienced by flying.

Thanks for your review, DM: If you have been in GrillClass, can you tell us whether that was much more formal than the rest of the boat? How long does it take to dine there? Did you do the complete room service in Grill? Thanks...

I love TA and sometimes have done round trips without even leaving the ship.

I thought I'd give a read, as we will doa transat repositioning cruise in two weeks.

We depart Danta Cruz de Tenerife Sunday 5 Nov and arrive Bridgetown Saturday the 18th (with a few days each in Tenerife and Barbados) on Windstar's Wind Surf, a motor sailing ship built more like a sailing vessel and a capacity of just over 300 passengers.

Mostly, this is a sailing holiday, and usually sails do get used. The ship is definitely under-canvassed, but nonetheless they're useful, can render significant fuel savings and a more "at sea" experience. There's not the breadth of activities one has on the big ships, but there are various lectures and activities, as well as the opportunity to visit on the bridge.

This will be our second on the 'Surf, but we have done others - mostly as April or November repositioning cruises, but my early transats were many years ago: eastbound New York to Southampton on the Ile de France (French Line) and a return Cherbourg to New York on the RMS Queen Elizabeth (Cunard, no number, just QE).

We have made some very good friends on these cruises over the years, including some staff (we abd a couple of Captains keep in regular touch), a benefit of the smaller ships. But I suspect there are significant differences among those of us who prefer shorter, more formal trips and those of us who prefer more informal and lengthier cruises for repositioning / transatlantic.

I just complete a TPAC last month with pretty much no stops inbetween (there was a Dutch Harbour but that was cancelled and a stop in Sitka instead, and stops in Hokkaido).

Time change was gaining an hour overnight every day on the TPAC crossing for pretty much for ~7-8 straight days. By contrast, I heard that the eastbound on the same ship loses an hour overnight (presumably so pax are awake to spend more money on a non all-inclusive) which was bad for pax and more importantly, the crew.

Malaga?
 

I am currently on a TPAC + bumping this thread.............
Royal Caribbean seems to be a recent entrant to this market. Their Oasis class Symphony of the Seas is currently on a re-positioning cruise from Barcelona to Miami - its new home port.
I am quite impressed with Royal Caribbean.............until reaching Malaga. Its in the heart of the Costa del Sol. So why is there nothing to see & do here?

I tried reading this book years ago but all I associate with it is the Spanish Civil War. I think you're supposed to take an excursion to Granada. BTW, stopped here on a HAL TATL 6 years ago.

RCI has sold TATLs in the past. I remember one for as cheap as ~USD 350 in 2010-11 (from New Orleans). RCI used to periodically move the Oasis class ships to Europe for dry dock, and sold repo cruises for such. They may, in fact, be a way to cross the Atlantic out of season (i.e., other than westbound in the autumn and eastbound in the spring) if one doesn't want to sail on Cunard. The first such cruise was apparently quite a hit as the cruisers could spend time o enjoy the ship rather than visit a port nearly everyday as is the usual 7 day out of Fort Lauderdale(?).

Looks like now that there are at least 3 if not 4 or more Oasis class ships, they rotate them. e.g. stay in Florida until time for drydock where they go to Europe and spend time there until the next ship int he class need to be replaced.

Maybe it just depends on what you want to see and do. It's the birthplace of Picasso, so surely there are galleries of museums (not just of Picasso, of course....have you seen the beautiful Centre Pompidou?) And of course beaches, markets, churches, and public squares.

The bull-fighting ring was quite interesting.

Are you in fact on a TPAC, or TATL? A little confused by your post.....

I did wonder about visiting Spain on a transpacific, but I figured maybe it was a 'round the world trip.

If he's on Symphony of the Seas, he's on a transatlantic (TATL). It's the ship's first transatlantic.

TATL
 

There's a TATL crossing Miami to Spain on Princess this May. Rather than return by air, we are making our way up through Spain and France to Southhampton--and taking QM2 back on Cunard. This leg was cheaper than flying back Business class. Of course, it helps to be retired and have the time :) But seriously, a TATL crossing is often less expensive than flying Business class. Go figure :)

So there is always Cunard but I see more lines adding TATL crossings! I see Viking, Costa, MSC, Regent, Holland,Oceana..plenty of choices for a relaxed trip :)

Still very seasonal and somewhat limited directionally, however.

Yeah, I don't actually see other lines doing "crossings" like Cunard -those who sail the Caribbean in the winter will reposition to Europe for the summer etc but I can't think of any of those you've mentioned that "cross" more than one way each direction in any given year....

The only out-of-season TATLs (with exception of the Cunard ones) are the sub-polar cruises (summers in general) but these are generally very expensive. There are also the luxury lines where the ships may not follow the seasonal migrations of the man stream lines.

Hmm, I actually track some of the luxury lines (we like small boats, would do luxury all the time if we could afford ;-) and I haven't really noticed out of season crossings or migrations. They might go to "nontraditional' (or, non-mainstream) locations, but they're still crossing the Pacific in the fall (after Alaska to Asia) or Panama Canal fall (to Caribbean) or Spring (carib to Alaska). For the Atlantic, they might do a southerly route (to South America, or maybe San Juan) but they're still going Caribbean to Europe in the spring and back in the fall. True exceptions would be those doing world cruises.....

I fantasize about a world cruise, I fantasize about a trip to Europe that is cruise ship both ways etc. So am always interested to see where it might be possible. One thing we have noticed is that certain seasons are getting longer. For instance - Alaska never used to have September cruises, and now some lines don't leave until the beginning of October (I haven't really seen any starting earlier than May, but who knows, that could be coming....) So that might explain some "off season" migrations as well.....

Luxury lines on portions of world cruise explains it. Not something I keep in mind. Was checking for something else and there's two non-Cunard ships sailing from Europe to N. America in the spring/early summer of next year. A RSSC ship and a Princess (o.k. not premium let alone luxury).

Don't see any ships moving west across the Pacific in the spring except for the one I'll be on (part of an Antarctic - Japan repo).

When the RCCL Oasis ships were new and there were only one or two in the fleet, the ship would go to Europe from Florida for drydock (none big enough in the western hemisphere apparently) and come back - out of season. These days, there are enough so they just rotate.

My Father and I have taken Trans Atlantic cruises with Royal Caribbean since 2012 and will be Diamond after our upcoming Back2Back 22 night cruise on the Brilliance in October with the first 7 nights around the Med before crossing back to Tampa.

We will be visiting Nice, Eze Monaco, Almalfi Coast on a Private tour from the Cruise Critic Roll Call, Cinque Terre, Portofino, Malaga with a tour to Cordoba, Cartegena with a tour to Murcia, overnight in Lsbon with a tour to Cascais, Sintra and Lisbon and the Azores

​​​​​For the first cruise I. Booked an Interior Guarantee and on the second an Oceanview. $500+$850 tours and $$for tips. Airfare to BCN and back From TPA.

I love cruising.

I can't answer your question, but it seems to me that if you price the cruise low enough, any ship is likely to come close to being full.

Suggestion
 

A Travel Advisor (Agent) could usually check out a specific cruise you are looking at and tell you how full it is. On most lines, they can see open inventory. Of course, this could be time consuming so if you ask this of them, you should be prepared to book it with them. (No one likes working for free!)

Maybe
 

:)
Maybe...but it is also very possible that someone canceled their reservations, therefore releasing those cabins, or a group was holding cabins and released some...happens all the time. You are correct, though that if they are offering many incentives for that particular cruise (as opposed to a big general sale) it is likely not full.

Just saying that if it is important to someone to not be on a full cruise, a TA should be able to get an idea...but that doesn't mean it will still be empty by the ship sails!

Any hypotheses about why a cruise line would not be transparent on their cabin availability?

I know that Seabourn seems to show complete availability, but Silversea seemed very opaque when I booked my one cruise with them.

The mass market lines would lower their prices if they still have cabins available - the goal for them is to sail in FULL occupancy at all possible.

If you are not willing to pay higher prices to cruise higher priced lines, (for example, some Celebrity ships could still be not full due to the prices), then your quest will be in vain. Seriously.

As for booking guarantee cabins, other than obstructed oceanview (not found on newer ships any more), that one needs to pick the "right cabin", we always book guarantee, and have not had a single issue thus far - after over 14 or 15 TATL cruises since 2008, among Princess and HAL, as well as Celebrity. No idea on the lower level lines such as NCL / MSC / Costa - those I do believe you need to book the high end cabins in order to have a peaceful cruise, on NCL and MSC - the high end cabins have completely day and night experiences versus the "mass" who book the lower priced cabins. Costa you can forget about it unless you are willing to put up with lots of loud Italians / other Europeans who dont have the concept of queuing.

Exactly.

You can also go on the cruise lines' own website and start the booking process - see for yourself on how many cabins still not sold and get a feeling of it. It is a bit time consuming but it gives you the information needed - when the cabins available to choose from going down to certain level you need to make decision whether you want to take the price, or you dont want to go because the cruise would be "full of passengers".

Really, the thought of not sail on the luxury line and expect not a full ship - the 2 are almost mutually exclusive - unless in the situation that the itinerary is highly unattractive, the ship is undesirable (being old or the clients are often troublesome), you will not find a mass market TATL not sailing in full. You, of course, dont want to sail in that situations either - hence those not sail in full!

You are talking about the luxury lines.

The discussions seem to be on the mass market lines.

Even the luxury lines, they still dont know the accurate inventories until the last few weeks before sails.

I once know a lady worked for Regent 7 Seas which is now owned by NCL. Her job is to keep track on the inventory of her assigned ship - and one of the duties is to call passengers when the ship is overbooked, so the lines would offer the "Move Over" deal. She hates that part because Regent 7 Seas is in high end market and passengers dont much care about "Move Over" offers unless such are very sweetened. So there is a lot of back and forth she has to do to make it work.

Whether it is luxury market or mass market, cruise bookings have A TON of cancellation between the sailing opens to book to the deadline of final payment when after that, the payment will not be 100% refundable when cancelled, but at a pro-rate percentage.
Unless it is super luxury line, even the semi-luxury lines, do NOT know what their number of Truly Sold cabins until getting very close, or pass the final payment deadline - because most passengers unless they have compelling reasons they usually would not cancel their bookings after final payments are made - because they would lose some of their "investment" - though if they have bought insurance and the reason to cancel is covered, insurance would pay for the difference.

I never understand why many have the urge / need, to book cruises a year or 2 years from sailing - one of the reasons may be, the deposit is very cheap - even with the policies are no longer just $100 but at a fixed percentage of the total price of the sailing, it is still relatively low. On top of that there are almost always promotion going on, such as $100 reduced deposit to book, etc.

As long as people can cancel for free and get back every penny by deadline of final payment, there is NO WAY the cruiselines can tell how many cabins are actually sold because cancellation by deadline can be a large number...

For us. we always book our cruises whether it is TATL or just a generic Med or Caribbeans or Asia cruise, well inside the cancellation with penalty period - our cruises always are Paid In Full the next 24 hours after booking because the sailing often is less than one to two months away - our cruise agent is top seller of virtually all mass market lines. She sometimes can extend the hold period day by day to facilitate us (such as finding better award flights...) She also can see how the ship is selling that is different from what I can see on cruise line's own website.
On the other hand, I dont bug my agent on this and that - I found the cruise(s) we like to do, then I email her for quotes. 90% of the time we would book the cruise we make inquiry about. In other words, she does not handhold us at all. she acts as a conduit to book our cruises especially access to some prices do NOT show on cruise lines own websites.

Last Spring we had a Princess TATL followed by 11 days Med that ended at Rome - we wanted a cruise ended at Rome so we could go to Sicily for a land trip post cruise. She had a 27 days inside at $1400 before taxes and fee - that was never showing on Princess lines. In fact the availability had come and gone at least 3 times when I was hoping to see AMEX offer. Finally on its 4th appearance I felt I could not wait and went ahead to book it. The availability never returned. 4 days later AMEX Offer finally showed up - the usual $100/$500 thing... Ce La Vie.

Vacationtogo is a site you should monitor - their information is rather accurate. Sometimes they are a bit delay whether prices going up or down but by and large, what they show, generally is what can be booked - not necessarily book with cruise lines directly, but through the agents who have access to such pricing.

Our last year's Crown Princess TATL was a perfect example that the $1400 price was accessible by our agent and vacationtogo. I have not ever seen it showing on Princess website, nor some of the OTAs I casually look at. UR folks (before switched to Expedia) never saw that either.

This Spring we booked a Circle Japan cruise in Mid April less than 3 weeks ahead of the sailing - it was a filler for our time in Japan before catching the Celebrity TPAC cruise from Tokyo to Vancouver in late April. We put the AA award on JL to NRT on hold, then booked the Celebrity cruise with Chase UR pts. After that we figured out what to do in Japan then we found the Diamond Princess Circular Japan 8 days fit right in so we booked it thru our cruise agent - in fact at first I booked an Obstructed View guarantee, then realized this was a bad idea (too long ago when we booked obstructed view cabins and I forgot the peril of guarantee in this category). Then I found one of the only four oversize inside cabins was still available with the same price of regular inside. I called our agent and had her changed the booking to that cabin, put in "no upgrade" notation - because the next upgrade might put us in a fully obstructed view (looking into a lifeboat) - that would be a much worse option than an inside. I dont think our luck of an upgrade from inside guarantee to a balcony would repeat! (got that once on Regal Princess Caribbean sailing, no idea of the upgrade until our agent called me, "What have you done?" What? "You got a huge upgrade!" Oh wow. Thank you Princess... We received upgrade to a no obstruction at all "obstruction view" on Holland from an inside guarantee on a TATL a few years ago.

Unless you are very specific to want a particular cabin (location), I dont see why to not take advantage of booking guarantee. But you do need to know any potential perils of the category you book - that is, balcony is not created equal just as an example. Decks make some differences. Aft balcony often suffers from soot... things like that.

Celebrity is really pushing on this.

Though high end lines such as Viking also is doing this but in an even more forceful manner - they decide theirs are so sought after, that you pay the cruise ONE YEAR ahead of your booking WITHOUT REFUND should you cancel.
I honestly dont understand how their clientele thinks when this line has had so many incidents / accidents in recent years. I did not know until the recent high sea rescue in Norway when hundreds of passengers had to be rescued by helicopters, that unlike other lines, their captains and officers are not their employees, but contracted employees just like the service personnel most other lines do.
If you google its river cruises on accidents - they have quite some accidents involved fatalities that should never occurred - such as a ship forgot to lower its wheel house when sailing under a low bridge, so the whole wheelhouse was bumped off, causing death of the "officers" in it and of course disruption of the sailing... strikes to the piers happened a lot also.
It used to be a high end river cruise but now with 78 ships! the standard has gone downhill bigly per what the brother in law said. He stopped using Viking and now cruise Crystal instead.

Some people are very picky about itineraries, and on small ships, sometimes if you snooze you lose.

That's a pretty american-focused perspective - lots of other countries have different booking regulations.

Mass market will upsell, especailly after final payment and from two weeks out to 3 days before sailing.
Did a Carnival out of NY was a gift to nephew and family for his graduation, I had my own cabin. Got a call 1 week out, missed the call on my cell but it was a Florida number. Called my Carnival company (what ever they call their sales people) and he told me that they assign specific sales person at the 2 wees prior to sailing to sell cabin upgrades to booked passengers and then the vacated cabin at discount.
He said he couldn't sell me what they were calling about but would get back to me. He did an hour later with a direct number to the staff person doing the "upsells". I went from an inside to a Spa Balcony for $50 a day included Spa access, great way to get away from my wife's family. The cabin originally had a family of four. I know this because it took two nights for the cabin steward to stop turning down the beds for four people (drop the beds from ceiling) and our assigned dinning was a table for four and they asked when were the other two coming.

I don't sail Carnival much, in an inside on Royal Princess next cruise I doubt I will get anything like that!

The TATL repositioning cruises I have been looking at were Princess, HAL and Celebrity primarily. So I am still curious about passenger density on those.

You might get more responses over on cruisecritic than here on FT as everyone there has an interest in cruising.

All three of those lines are considered "premium" cruise lines.

I've been on one repositioning with Princess, and four with Celebrity, and all seemed pretty full. (I thought that Celebrity was better, by the way. And if it matters to you, Celebrity has a more-restrictive smoking policy. For example, the casino is completely non-smoking at all times.)