Can I Cruise from UK to USA?

The answer is Yes, you most certainly can cruise from the UK to the USA.

Here are your three Cruise options:

1. Cruise from Southampton to New York and fly home

2. Fly to New York and cruise back

3. Cruise from Southampton to New York and Cruise back.

Some cruise lines offer some fantastic cruising options around the USA.  One of these was the Sky Princess.  My friend and fellow cruiser Emma Watts of Cruise Addicted took a round-trip cruise from the UK to the USA and back again.  During our below interview, it became apparent that there are some very important tips to ensure your trip goes well.

Here is an example of a cruise itinerary onboard the Sky Princess.  Due to bad weather, the ship didn’t visit Sydney and Prince Edward Island.  Great excuse to book again I say.

Sample Itinerary: Sky Princess – UK to USA (Southampton to Fort Lauderdale)

Day 1: Southampton, England, UK.

• Embark on Sky Princess in Southampton.
• Settle in and explore the ship’s amenities as you prepare for your transatlantic adventure.
• Departure in the late afternoon.

Day 2-3: Sea Days.

• Enjoy the onboard entertainment, spa, and dining options, including live shows, fine dining, and relaxing lounges.

Day 4: Cobh (Cork), Ireland.

• Visit historic Cobh, a gateway to the city of Cork and famous for its Titanic history and Blarney Castle.
• Departure in the evening.

Day 5-10: Sea Days.

• Cross the Atlantic while taking advantage of the ship’s facilities: pools, fitness centre, lectures, and enrichment programs.
• Enjoy themed nights, wine tastings, and a variety of activities designed for relaxation and fun.

Day 11: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

• Arrive in Halifax, known for its vibrant waterfront and historical sites like Citadel Hill and Peggy’s Cove.
• Depart in the evening.

Day 12: Saint John (Bay of Fundy), New Brunswick, Canada.

• Discover Saint John’s unique tides, charming markets, and historical architecture.
• Depart in the evening.

Day 13-14: Sea Days.

• Continue enjoying Sky Princess’s amenities, preparing for the warm climates ahead.

Day 15: New York City, New York, USA.

• Spend a day in iconic NYC, exploring Times Square, Central Park, or the Statue of Liberty.
• Depart in the evening.

Day 16-17: Sea Days.

• Relax with the final sea days as you sail southward along the U.S. East Coast.

Day 18: Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA.

• Arrive in Fort Lauderdale, where you’ll disembark.
• From here, you can extend your stay in Florida or make arrangements to travel back home.

See below the highlights and nuggets of information from Emma Watts during our Friday night live interview.  Emma is Co-Owner of Cruise Addicted.  An uncurable addict of Cruising having cruised many times.  

Emma’s Transatlantic Crossing from the UK to New England, Canada and New York. 

It was 25 nights for her 25th wedding anniversary.  How about that onboard a ship one night for every year of marriage?  Perfect and it covered their anniversary, the first time doing a transatlantic crossing, and the first time to Canada for Emma and her husband.  They had also never visited America so it just seemed like the perfect timing plus it was going to be going to Prince Edward Island.  As a huge fan of Green Gables fan. But consequently, hurricane Fiona had other ideas and their call to PE Island was cancelled.  But the transatlantic was great it was quite moving leaving the Solent and leaving the Isle of Wight where we lived behind.  Knowing we were going to be at sea for six to seven days without seeing any land.  

What was the weather like, was it rocky during the transatlantic crossing?

“Emma was expecting possibly a bumpy ride or rough seas and we had fairly calm seas.  “But we had three days of fog and hearing the fog horn going on time every two minutes.  You are happy to stay inside and are thinking oh God so I hope the radio’s working.   It was going all through the night as well it’s constant.  Gives me a feeling of Titanic for three days and nights and then you came out and we were near the coast of Newfoundland.  It was just the most spectacular I’ve got some pictures of calm seas it was stunning”.

From Halifax we drove out to Peggy’s Cove, it was the most beautiful drive.  “I just wanted the coach to stop every little fishing Village we passed it was like a Mill Pond.  Being a photographer the photographs I took”. 

St. John’s, Newfoundland’s very narrow entrance into St. John’s in Arcadia National Park.

“This is beautiful Saint John’s Newfoundland a very narrow entrance into St John’s.  A really nice place to go Arcadia National Park from Far Harbor.  The autumn colours were just coming out.  I think we were a little bit early for the main colours.  Or maybe even too far east.   I don’t know whether you need to go more mid-country but we were just a bit early for the colours.  Then this is stunning that is the entrance to St John’s it’s super narrow that’s at Sunrise it was just wow”

A lot of people don’t ever think of going to New England and Canada on a cruise. 

“It is the best way to see that part of the world.  It was perfect and it’s one holiday that we’ve both said we will do it again.  There’s so much to see in each port.  You could spend two or three days at each destination or each port and still not see it all.  You have to also taste the flavours and try the local flavours.  In Boston, we walked across the common up to the stairs.  We kind of followed the Freedom Trail.  My sister and brother-in-law did the hop-on hop-off bus.  So they explored it differently.  We walked it so easy peasy lovely City”.

How many sea days were on the Transatlantic?  How did you occupy your time?

So you had 6 days over there that sounds like heaven to me just to unplug relax enjoy.   Because you get entertained they have a great schedule onboard the ship.  They had so much going on

with a captive audience.  Such long sea days they offered:

1. They organized a guest-formed choir and the uptake had like 80 guests.  They were running out of space to try and do the rehearsals for the choir.
2. Carpet bowls which they normally do in a little section by the crown Crown Grill.  They had to find a room so everywhere was trying to find rooms to host the events.  Pushing people out of other rooms.  
3. There was like a flash mob dancing and singing such fun.
4. Of course quizzes,  we all did the quizzes.  They organized a big syndicate quiz that built up to the end of the cruise. 
5. Wine tasting who needs an excuse to drink wine?
6. Even had a paper aeroplane competition.  Emma’s husband spent about an hour making this paper aeroplane.  Like a feat of engineering and it actually flew quite well.  But he didn’t win and occupied him for an hour.

Hurricane Fiona during the Transatlantic cross.

“We didn’t go straight into New York, we went to Corner Brook.  We should have visited Corner Brook, Sydney and Charlottetown for Prince Edward Island.  But because hurricane Fiona came up and engulfed the whole Bay.  The Straits of Saint Lawrence I think it is called where Prince Edward Island is.  The captain said, “I know on the way back we’re going to be calling it St. John New Brunswick but I’ve managed to get a support call there instead”.  Some of the guests were leaving the ship in New York so people were doing the Sail Out and fly home.  My sister and brother-in-law flew out and sailed home.  Some were doing the whole lot so they said we’ve got an extra Port of Call in Saint John. 

An Extra Day in New York, USA.

“We arrived in New York early so we got an extra day.  Instead of one night, we had two nights in New York which was brilliant.   I loved it in New York it is nuts it was it was crazy.  I think you have to do a lot of research before you go. 

TOP TIP:  You have to download the New York Ferry app before you even leave the UK.  Because you have to register a credit card with the app and it needs an address and if you’re downloading it in America it wants an American address.  It won’t accept a British address you must download your Ferry app before you leave the UK and register a card Apple pay Google Pay. 

DOWNLOAD THE NEW YORK FERRY APP HERE Download the NYC Ferry Service App

“We docked in Brooklyn not Manhattan if you dock in Manhattan you can walk into town.  If you’re in Brooklyn it’s a whole different ball game.  The Yellow Cabs don’t like to come to Brooklyn.  The taxi will cost you around eighty dollars just to get into say Times Square.  You have to be very organized and the ship docks by the Red Hook Ferry Terminal.  It’s only four dollars for the ferry.  But if you haven’t got the app you can’t book the ferry. 

The first day when Princess Cruises had been brilliantly got us into Port a day early.  However, nothing was organized and no tall buses because we weren’t meant to be there.  There was about an hour and a half – two-hour long queue for people to pay with cash to buy a ticket for the ferry.  It was bedlam but we bought our tickets in advance.  Just jump on and get on the ferry because you downloaded the NYC Ferry Service App in the UK before your trip. 

Things Emma did in New York.

1. Pier 11 is where Wall Street is.
2. Walk around 911 which is so moving.  When you visit you just cannot believe that they saved so many people. 
3. If you do dock in Brooklyn instead of the hefty $80 taxi back and forth a lot of people just book a hotel for the two nights and stay in the heart of Manhattan. 
4. As well as downloading the NYC Ferry Service App you should also pre-book your tickets for Empire State Building or the Chrysler Building.  Good idea to pre-book because everything is timed so you don’t have to cue and wait. 
5. You can also book a Pedicab which is a small pedal-operated vehicle, serving as a taxi with someone cycling not you.  They did the pedicab around um Central Park my husband cycled it on the electric bikes I walked it with my friend so we all kind of did different things it was fun that’s amazing oh I love it hello
6. Taking in the tastes of New York so we tried
   1. Cheesecakes
   2. Pizzas
   3. Pastrami on rye we ate everything I’ve never eaten so much food in my life
   4. McSorley’s which is from I think 1854 one of the oldest bars with swing doors and sawdust on the floor.  In one of the walls, all the men and all the soldiers had gone and had their last supper there.  They all left their Chicken wishbones on the light fitting.  All the chicken wishbones are still there.  The ones that came back got their chicken wishbone.  The ones that didn’t have their chicken wishbones are still on this light.  You sit there and you just think oh my life is so full of memorabilia.   

Emma’s visit was at the same time as Joe Biden’s visit to New York.  They almost were not able to get back to the ship.

We had to dash back to the ship because Joe Biden was flying in and they were stopping everything at four o’clock.  All the river ferries and all the buses all the trains.  Locking down New York but no one told the captain.  He knew nothing about it.  Everyone’s rushing to get back.  Luckily we have a Facebook group for that cruise.  There was a good number of us on there.  Thankfully someone alerted us and said Biden’s coming in.  Get back to the ship so everyone started to dash back to the ship. 

Oh my God, it was incredible all the Drone helicopters all Air Force One helicopters.  The Waterfront around Brooklyn Harbor Brooklyn Bridge was just police boats.  It was really exciting.  Did everyone get the message, did anyone miss the ship?  The captain did delay sailing so I think people did make it.  The Captain came on he said no one told me this was happening. 

To be fair the captain only joined the ship in New York.  Because the other Captian had got off, he said no one had told him.  The ship couldn’t leave it was stuck there until we had clearance.  Would you believe they wouldn’t even let them do the Princess Cruises horn?  He wasn’t even allowed to do The Love Boat horn. 

If you are interested in booking a return cruise from the UK to the USA.  These are just the links I got from their website, Cruise Search Results – Princess Cruises

If you have any questions about cruising to the USA.  Email me or if you need port maps or information we have it all. Melissa@cruiseshopsave.com 

Watch the video interview with Emma here Emma is the co-owner of Cruise Addicted which is an amazing group of Cruisers that have truly and utterly been addicted to cruises.  Here is the link to the growing Facebook Group Cruise Addicted. 

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