Transcript
Speaker: Hello and welcome back to the Sober Cruise. ah my name is Martin and as always I'm joined by Mark. Mark, how are you? I'm very well, Martin. How are you doing today? I'm very good, very good. We're recording this in July so the sun is shining for both of us, which is nice, isn't it?
Speaker: Yeah, it's a little bit too hot but no, it it's it's good. well we're going be talking about transatlantics and we'll we'll be covering the weather a bit later on about the transatlantic. because One thing people worry about is what the weather is going to be like on the transatlantic.
Speaker: Are you going to be cooped up indoors all day? But you've been on, was it five now, transatlantics? I have, yes. I just come back came back from my fifth one at the middle of May. and So I've done four solo transatlantics and one not solo transatlantic. And i have to say, I really, really enjoy them. I think they're now my cruise of choice. and Given the choice between a transatlantic and one that's port intensive, I think I would now these days choose the transatlantic.
Speaker: So tell us the reason why you, um what made the first one different from a normal cruise for you? So the first one I did was 14 nighter.
Speaker: It was on the Norwegian and NCL Joy and it left Southampton and didn't call anywhere until it got to Miami 14 nights later. Wow, no first of all. That is a long time. and And I guess I was a little bit, had a little bit of trepidation before it started because it did seem like a long time with no stops. I thought, and And really, when I say to someone I'm going on ah on a transatlantic cruise, there's this kind of fleeting look of horror crosses their face, you know, and then and the they ask these questions and the two questions are always the same. The first question is always, how many nights is it going to be at sea?
Speaker: And then the second question is always, are you not going to get bored? yeah And I suppose I was worried on the first one that I was going to get bored, but that just didn't happen. you know And really, the the big thing for me on a transatlantic cruise is that you very quickly get into a routine.
Speaker: yes And I think particularly for people in recovery, and it's having a routine to your day is is something really very nice. you know And on a cruise ship, there's not there's there's usually something to do.
Speaker: you know So it's... it's and With port-intensive cruises, although they are they are fantastic, and they can be a little bit stressful. you know that they they ah It's a happy stress and it's a fun stress, but it' it's still stress. It's still this idea of every day you're waking up in this place that you've never been to before. And you've got to get back in time as well. And you have to get back in time. There's always that little bit of fear of, will the boat leave without me?
Speaker: and You know, you're in a place where you you don't know where anything is, and you don't know how the public transport works, um you don't know how to get from the port to the centre of the town. And of course, all these things you work out pretty easily, but it it' kind of all adds up to to yeah if you have a fun day, but it's a stressful day. And whereas on a transatlantic cruise, just that knowledge of tomorrow I'm not getting off the ship you know tomorrow is going to be the same as today can be very relaxing it's very very true um so what walk me through what an actual day on board would be like what would color of your routine be like
Speaker: So i'll I'll talk about the the last cruise I was on, which was on the Scarlet Lady. Now that was going from Barcelona. No, sorry, from Miami to Barcelona. That's the one that's come off in May. And now because it's Virgin Voyages, it it has a couple of advantages. and And for me, one of the main advantages of Virgin Voyages is that all the exercise classes are free.
Speaker: So... My day, every day looked like this. I got up at seven o'clock and went to a stretching class. Just for everyone to know, you don't have to get up at seven o'clock. It's not compulsory. It's not compulsory. As long as you're there 7.15.
Speaker: Yes, as ah as for some people, they were going to bed at seven o'clock, but I was getting up at seven o'clock. ah So there would be a stretching class, then there would be a meditation class straight after that. and Then after that, at 8 o'clock, then there the Friends of LW, where, you know, service code for AA, but and basically people from any sort of 12-step fellowship would go along to that. So there'd usually be about 10 people, we'd have a chat, a cup of coffee, and the rest of the morning, and just pottering about, reading on, you know, getting a sunbed somewhere or a sofa, having a bit of a read.
Speaker: lunch with somebody new every day, then board games in the afternoon, wee bit of a siesta, dinner with the other solo people, go and see a show or don't go and see a show, maybe have a little walk around the deck and then the day's over, go to bed and then do the same thing the next day. So there was so there was plenty of time for relaxing, but there was pretty much all this something to do, you know. So even with that, there were a lot of things I wasn't doing. I wasn't doing the quizzes, I wasn't doing the karaoke.
Speaker: and you know there's There's plenty to do. We're all desperate to hear you do the karaoke. I'm sure you are. What would be your karaoke song if you hit the karaoke? So my my karaoke song is Danny Boy. so yeah So karaoke obviously is is um it something you can do because I think people just have this impression that could you some people just go there and they just lie by the by the pool all day because weather-wise...
Speaker: The times of the year that you're going, the weather is usually pretty good. So, for example, Virgin Voyages is October and May. They do their transatlantics. And October going from Barcelona towards Miami is ah when we went on our one, we had, I think, one day where maybe a little bit of rain, maybe slightly overcast. But the rest of the time it was...
Speaker: It was sunny. It was it was a T-shirt and maybe light jumper weather in the evening. It wasn't baking hot it like like in the UK right now, but it was nice kind of weather. um And ah on the way coming back as well from from um from your one in May was that. um Yes, that was sunshine weather. That was lying out weather every day.
Speaker: and Now, we did also do one in March this year and from Rome to Miami. um And yeah the the weather was noticeably different. it was still very pleasant, but it wouldn't have been warm enough to lie out every day.
Speaker: And of course, the other thing that people worry about is, ah are you going to get rough weather? Is the ship going to, you know, are are the plates going to fall off the tables? And really, I don't think I've ever experienced bad, you know, anything beyond a light rock. It's it's it's usually the the size of these ships are just so big. The stabilizers are so good that normally it's, it's very you know, there's there's no problem with that at all.
Speaker: The other thing is you could that they can, because they're not necessarily going in a straight line, they've got 14 days to get somewhere. what yeah know The Virgin Voyager one's got eight nights to go from part of Europe all the way to to Miami or vice versa. um If there's a storm off to the left-hand side, off to the port side, um They just go a bit further to one side. They don't have to stick to a particular... It's not a road. So the captain the ship once told me, it's not a road, it's not a train track.
Speaker: We can go around these things. That's right, yes. So if there's a still moth, they can... But I mean, absolutely so you do have to be a wee bit careful because I know at the same time that I was going from Miami to Barcelona, there was another ship, at another Virgin Voyages ship going from New York to Barcelona. Yes. And apparently they had hellish weather. Apparently it was very, very cold, very, very windy. that We are starting a lot further up in New York, especially, i mean, New York may sort time should be okay, but yeah, because I've done the transatlantic.
Speaker: on the Queen Mary going across. And luckily it was sort of June, July, so the weather was okay. But remember speaking to people and they said, yeah, if you can do this in December, it's not good.
Speaker: Yes, yeah. So let's look a little bit at the logistics. So tell us a little bit about what what is it that makes it a transatlantic cruise? Transatlantic means it's traversing the Atlantic. like mark yeah um I mean, they they were originally called repositioning cruises. So these ones are where the, so for example, a resilient lady would do um the summer season in Europe and then do the winter season um in the Caribbean.
Speaker: So it's repositioning from one part of the world to the other. So from one home port to generally, um Virgin Voyages was sailed out of Barcelona or Athens, occasionally out of what they're not doing anymore out Portsmouth. This year is the last they're doing it. Might do for 2028, who knows um but it's changing the home port to somewhere else. So it's starting in one place and finishing in another, which is reasonably, obviously, only happens January twice a year um with those ones.
Speaker: um From the logistics kind of point of view is that you then have to then see flight, depending on where you're starting in Barcelona and finishing in Miami, you need you fly out to Barcelona. That's quite easy from the yeah UK or from Europe or something And then you need to then fly back.
Speaker: from Miami back to ah back to wherever you live. and So sometimes, the good thing is is there's now a few low-cost airlines that do the Miami route.
Speaker: ah back to so they go to um Barcelona for example sort to to to Paris UK sometimes it's cheaper to go up to Orlando depends also going to stay over as well so some people just like to get off the off the cruise and fly straight back if you want to stay for a bit longer you know, if you're arriving into the States, you' you've got an Esther, so you'll be able to stay for up to 90 days anyway. So it kind of, so when I go over, I then tack on spending time in America. And then likewise, there's people from, they do it the other way. They, and when the cruise starts in Barcelona and they're from the from America or from Canada, they start with a couple of nights, four or five nights in Barcelona or maybe a bit more.
Speaker: And then, go back and then they go back out that way so um it's slightly more harder i kind of say to to to plan because you're not starting and finishing in one place but it's pretty easy to do and that's kind of one of the things that we do as well is we can do it with with flights if um as well or people can organize their own flights you've got points and that kind of stuff that you want to use so um yeah it's pretty much the logistics of a transatlantic And in terms of cost, what do they cost compared to a normal, say, med cruise?
Speaker: Well, if you work it out per night, the cost per night is usually lower than a regular kind of med cruise. It kind of depends. If you were going, if you were going that the if you're picking the busiest med cruise,
Speaker: um then that's going to be a significant kind of difference in price. If you're picking one where which maybe isn't selling particularly well for whatever reason, it might be kind of similar in price.
Speaker: So there's no kind of hard or fast rule that a transatlantic is going to be X amount cheaper than Mediterranean cruise. When you look at the price per night, then you do kind of see that the price is kind of pretty low um in comparison to doing a med cruise. um And the great thing about Virgin is there's so much included. So even when you're on board, you don't have to spend any money whatsoever.
Speaker: The Wi-Fi is included. Soft drinks are included. Drip filter, tea and coffee, UV-filtered water, that kind of stuff, all your food's included. There's no... and want Once you're on board, because when you break it down per per night, especially there's...
Speaker: I'm trying to think that the price that we've got for um for our one of our, what we'll butll talk about that a bit later on, but one of our transatlantics for two people sharing a cabin, it's less than a hundred pound per person per night, um which is when you think about how much,
Speaker: that is included in that you know just going in If you went to our favorite restaurant, The Wake, if you went there and you did an equivalent version of that um on land, you'd be paying, what, 40 pounds a head at least, probably?
Speaker: I would kind of kind of kind of guess. So when do them work out how much it is overall? It is really good value. But yeah, they do generally, when you look at it, because obviously Mediterranean, I've definitely gone a little bit, but when the Mediterranean cruises tend to be seven, maybe nine nights, whereas these are 14 nights. So the headline price might look the same, but when you then break it down per night, it is usually much cheaper than doing Mediterranean cruise.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah. And I would, I would, I would have found that as well. What I would generally find is that the cost of a two week transatlantic cruise is roughly going to be the same as one week around the mid. Yeah. and The biggest, the biggest additional expense, as you say, is the transatlantic flight, one way transatlantic flight and the hotel before, just to make sure you're in there. but But those are surprisingly um good value. I think when i'm I've been looking at getting the one bat from the flight back from Miami in October and it's coming out at about £350, which i think feel yeah pretty good.
Speaker: One tip I think is that if you can, to go with just hand luggage you know so what i would generally i want generally do is it go with just hand luggage and then use the ship's laundry to have my clothes washed at the end of one week and because generally that's a lot cheaper than putting a putting a bag in a hold and it's it's a lot easier you know you don't have to worry about your bag getting lost or it it does depend sometimes because the laundry, like a bag of laundry on board, I think is $50 or something. But it happens it's not just someone's throwing it into the wash and then giving you, you know, they wash, press it, iron it, it comes back looking better than... it's all full of it. Like it's brand new and and and everything. So, you know, you're kind of getting a good service for that. You can also, some people just drip dry, drip wash stuff in the... Of course, yeah.
Speaker: in In the cabin there is a little a drying line that you can hang stuff up on. I wouldn't put it on the balcony. It just might fly off. There's nothing left. And I think one of the one of the great mysteries of life is that but when I'm packing for a cruise, I pack what I think I'm going to use, but I always end up coming back with clothes that I haven't worn. Oh, no, you never use hardly hard hardy after the clothes. You think, oh, what about this? What about this? And you never end up.
Speaker: Oh, these are eight pair pairs of shoes. No, you don't.
Speaker: The heaviest clothes i go are the ones that I go with, in case it's a bit ah whatever. But um no, you don't really need a huge amount of clothes, especially for if you are going to use the laundry.
Speaker: It is kind of quite a bit kind cheap. Or if you're going as a couple, just if you are when you are flying, just take one. piece of luggage hold luggage between you you don't have to pay for for for two sometimes you can do so we've done this before in the past before we've booked people is um like british airways would do an open jaw flight so they a flight from london to ah barcelona and then from from miami back to um to to london so it's a strange thing that they do um because it shouldn't work but sometimes sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't there's no right more reason
Speaker: Okay. So what about the crowds on the ship, Martin? Do the do the these transatlantics generally sail full? They're technically full, as in you can't book any more cabins, but generally what most cruise lines do is they use this time to refurbish.
Speaker: the ships. So what they might do is they'll take X amount of cabins, say, for example, 100 cabins, they'll take those out of circulation, out of being sold. And then they will, you know, if they're changing, for example, the carpet. So when I was on Virgin Voyages a year ago, they were changing the carpet in all the cabins.
Speaker: So what they would do is they would change the the carpet in. However many of those cabins aren't being used, they would um take those out of of of sale and then they do refurbishings and things like that. The other thing is that because...
Speaker: uh with a transatlantic um you need more entertainment than than on a seven night cruise so they generally have slightly more people on board they put those into passenger cabins ago so again they take it out so you also find there's a lot of solo travelers on uh on them as well so one uh last october It was just over 300 solo travelers on board. So out about 2,200-ish people on board, 300 were traveling on their own as well. So I never really found them particularly busy. don't know about you, but I never kind of found them overly busy because there's no rush to do anything. People don't rush...
Speaker: Apart from maybe on the first night, everyone wants to get to a certain place. And it also tends to be people who have been on the ship before, a lot of them. So again, they're not rushed to do something because they know they've got 14 nights to do something.
Speaker: And they've generally done it before as well. Yes, yeah. And I think that's, yeah, so normally the i the ones I've been on have been sailing about sort of 85, 90% full. and But that 10 to 15% really does make a big difference. It does give the the ship a lot more space.
Speaker: And as you say, that the with the with the kind of tentpole shows, the big shows, whereas on a seven-night cruise, they'll only be running on one night. On the transatlantics, usually they're over two nights.
Speaker: usually two nights. And what you generally find is that if you go to the second show on the second night, there's no problem getting in. yeah you know Whereas on the first show, of the first night, you're going to be queuing and you might not get a seat.
Speaker: but they But as you say, that the point you made there about the solo passengers is a good one. is that that I was surprised at how many people are traveling solo. because it is a fear that people have about, you know, um am I going to meet people?
Speaker: But the the irony is, is that if you're traveling solo, you you end up meeting far more people than you do than if you were if you're in a couple. If you're in a couple, you you you spend a lot of time and the couple. yeah um and that. although and you People do talk and they do kind of mingle and things like that, but you do find that it's the solos that have got the WhatsApp groups and they're meeting up and they're doing things together and they're going to the quizzes together, etc. Going to the fitness classes together. um So they're the ones that actually seem to be doing more things. um But until you step on board, until you've done it for yourself, it's kind of hard to kind of really kind of graph get that it is like that.
Speaker: Yeah. And before we get beyond ourselves, I think and I would suggest that transatlantic cruises aren't for everybody. that And I definitely wouldn't recommend somebody to go on their first cruise on a transatlantic cruise because you you it's if you're halfway across the Atlantic, it's not a great time to find out that you don't like cruising.
Speaker: and and So somebody who's been on four or five cruising, but for people in recovery, I i really would recommend it because that time just hits a little bit differently once you're on a cruise. one should And I'm not sure whether it's because the the the lack of a mobile signal says that you're you're on your phone a little bit less.
Speaker: But that that's that that idea that there's no pressure to do anything, that you're basically just doing what you want to do or what or not doing what you want to do, really is very, very helpful.
Speaker: Yeah, think that there's a routine which really helps. um Obviously, as much as there is a routine that you want to do or don't want to do. But yeah, I think that if you've never been on a on any other cruise before and you're worried about getting seasick anything like that, then, you know, firstly, try us a short cruise to start with, like a three-night one out of out of Southampton. They do tend to be rockier to start with anyway. But um if you can survive three-night cruise out of Southampton, you can, you know, in the winter, you can survive anything at sea is pretty much what I sort say to people. um And the other thing is, it is designed for people who want to to switch off.
Speaker: So if you are someone who requires... attention and stimulation 24 7 the transatlantic cruise probably isn't for you because there are lot things to do but it is more a calmer pace um if you need to i mean you've got correct thing about virgin is you get free wi-fi um now the wi-fi can obviously be patchy the middle of the atlantic Wi-Fi is not always going to be out of work and you might not be able to keep in contact with everyone.
Speaker: And if that's really important to them, maybe don't do a transatlantic. um But I think for most people who want to switch off and relax, think of it as if you went to Jamaica and you went into a resort in Jamaica and you spent the time in the resort. It's just that just the the result is moving from one place to another.
Speaker: Yeah. Although having said that about the Wi-Fi, one of the interesting things I've noticed is that one of the reasons that these cruises are getting busier is that you're getting quite a lot of digital nomads on the cruises. People who are coming along think like you. yes and People who are coming on because it's relatively inexpensive and because of Starlink, that seems to be the game changer thing, that you have a reliable connection. And if you're willing to pay a little bit more for the premium service, you're you're getting a ah certainly something fast enough to stream on. So a lot of people are coming on the cruises and working through the day and then a enjoying the cruise ship at night.
Speaker: Yes. If you want to use things like Teams and Zoom, you need to pay extra for that. But just because it's about bandwidth that it takes up is unfair on everyone else. If you want things like WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, that kind of stuff, that's fine. That works okay. If you want WhatsApp calling, ah like video and like audio calling, that's fine as well. The video calling can sometimes work, some sometimes not work.
Speaker: But if you do want the... the full at home work experience work from anywhere kind of thing then you will need to pay extra uh to have the upgraded wi-fi which you can just add on uh when once you're booked you just go onto the app and and and and add it on you can put it on for the whole duration or if you say actually i just need it for one day that i need to work then you can add it on for a day it's not cheap but then to be honest you are in the middle of the Atlantic. And you're trying to do something. You're trying to an S face.
Speaker: Even 10 years ago, if you said to people that you could do a video call for work in the middle of the Atlantic, they'd go, well you want Star Trek or something? It's mad. is So, yeah.
Speaker: Okay. So cruise ships aren't exactly dry their environments, are they? um Literally in and in the other sort of sense as well. So there's bars everywhere, drinks, packages on certain cruise lines. There's,
Speaker: very much trying to push the drinks packages ah towards you. So how would you kind of navigate that? So again, on the transatlantic, the feel is very different. So the what what I've noticed is if say you're going around the Caribbean for a week or even the Med for a week, it is very much a party atmosphere. So it's kind of spring breaky, people drinking by the pool. But it's not like that on a transatlantic because you've got longer,
Speaker: and because the demographic tends to skew a little bit older, and there's less drinking involved. Now, one of the things I've noticed about modern ships is that if you go back sort of 10 or 15 years, what you would notice about ships is that if you wanted to lie out in the sun, the only option that you had was the pool deck.
Speaker: and So you would have the the waiters going along, you would probably have a band playing music much too loud or you would have the sexy legs competition or the line dancing. So it was very noisy, very, very boozy.
Speaker: But what I've noticed is, of all on ah pretty much all the ships over the last 10, 15 years, is that they now tend have a second area, so they tend to have a promenade deck. <unk> usually deck seven or deck eight, where you can walk along the entire rocker rock or around the side of the ship and they'll have fewer sunbaths, but they'll have things like comfortable sofas, comfortable seats.
Speaker: and they'll have They will have bars there, but they tend to be the bars attached to the restaurants. And the vibe there tends to be very, very different to the pool deck. It's very quiet, ah quite sedate. You'll find most people who are just you know relaxing reading. So I tend to find that if I go to that area rather than the pool area, it's almost as if you don't notice the bars.
Speaker: um I know we're plugging Virgin Voyages a little bit, but one of the great things about them is A, the soft drinks are free. So so you can get that for for nothing. You don't have to spend anything on that. But also the fact that they don't have a drinks package das does seem to me to mean that people drink a lot less than they would on say something like NCL or Royal Caribbean. Whereas is that sense of, well, I've paid for a drinks package, so I need to get my money's worth.
Speaker: that's Exactly. If you've paid $65 a day get drinks package and you know that a drink costs $8, eight dollars you your you're you're trying to drink X amount of drinks to break even and to make a profit on it, which is why the cruise lines that still have drinks packages have to put in limits. So I think it's 15 drinks, which is still enough. It's a lot of drinks. 15 drinks on most of them now.
Speaker: um But again, there's the good thing about Virgin, you're talking about virgin is there isn't any drinks packages the drinks aren't cheap they're not extortionate but they're not kind of you'd you'd have to have you know if you wanted to get drunk every day at 14 dollars a cocktail 14 15 dollars a cocktail you'd have to have serious amount of money uh so that it does mean people aren't drinking during the day as much they're not they're not drinking as much at night because it does start especially 14 nights it does start to add up doesn't it Yeah, yeah. And I certainly, the the first couple of cruises that I did when I got sober, and I was very aware of the of the bars and what other people are drinking, whereas nowadays i barely notice it, you know. and One of the things I do notice is how few people you see drunk drunk on a cruise ship.
Speaker: yeah and it's It's, you know, you kind of, my my mindset would be, but it's free. Drink as much as you can. But actually the vast majority of people don't. try to vote The vast majority of people is it's just a few drinks in and the afternoon, a few drinks with dinner.
Speaker: I think just the fact that sobriety is more commonly known and things like that, and that all these cruise lines do non-alcoholic drinks, they do mocktails, soft drinks, that stuff. So there's a wide choice. So you don't feel that you have to have an, you don't have to have an alcoholic drink.
Speaker: which So people don't, especially with with having the soft drinks. for Remember when we had one of our solo meetups, we were doing the, um we were in one of restaurants.
Speaker: There was probably, If we were in in test kitchen, so it's probably about 15, 20 of us all on a long table. And i think maybe two people had alcohol and everyone else was just sort because the soft drinks are free.
Speaker: Yeah. So we're all thinking, well, am I paying for a drink? And I can have Coke Zero for free or ginger ale or something like what would and that. So that i think that mentality, the fact that the soft drinks are included, if the soft drinks were paid for i think that that would make a difference and i think more people would would go well i'm paid for saying might as well have alcohol but i think the fact that the soft drinks are free i think just encourages people to have more soft drinks absolutely i think you're absolutely right there so you're mentioning about groups and then kind of meet up with groups so tell us ah about ah some of the groups you've met up with
Speaker: So I suppose the two main ones are the the the solo groups are always good. So a lot of the cruise lines now focus on their solos. and and NCL certainly has a very strong program for solos and Virgin. So Virgin would have a solo meetup in the the morning, usually about 11 o'clock. But the thing that they did really, really well was the solo dinners where you went at quarter to six, you went to the grounds cafe and you basically, the lady would say, I've got six seats here, I've got seven seats here. And you just put your hand up and and went off with with a group. And what people tend to find is that maybe the first two or three nights you're going with different people, but by the third night, yeah and you you kind of find your tribe and then you tend to stick with them for the rest of the crew. So that was really nice.
Speaker: The other thing that happened on my most recent Transatlantic, which was fantastic, was that, on you know, you mentioned earlier on the WhatsApp groups. And one of the WhatsApp groups was a gamers group. So on day two, somebody so somebody stuck a wee thing in the WhatsApp group. Anybody fancy a board game?
Speaker: and and four of us arrived down and it ended up from that day onwards we just met in the same place at two o'clock every afternoon and played board games for an hour and a half, two hours and it was just fantastic. It was just you just just gave ah just give you a focus for the day or that 12 days and and um one and over that fourteen days or that twelve days You kind of get to know each other pretty well. You know, you get to know people's stories, what their families are like at home, or their what their careers are, etc.
Speaker: So by the time the time it gets to the end, you do feel as if you've made you know you've made some pretty solid friendships. yeah and And I think that that doesn't happen on a med cruise. You know, that that the relationships on a med cruise are very different. Yeah, it's hard to you don't have time. and But also because yeah it's just the feel of the the demographics again, but also the fact that you're not off the ship, you know you do tend to and you do tend to get to know people better. you know And there was one little thing on the on the last one was that there was a guy, one of the baristas was from the Philippines.
Speaker: and And every time I went past and he was on board, he would shout out, hi, Mark. and I was shouting, hi Guy, and it just used to it just it used to make me ridiculously pleased. yeah It's just such a simple thing, but it was just so lovely to to to kind of just that idea that people know who you are.
Speaker: you know So it it' it yeah, the groups and the groups the groups make it, you know and of course then you've got your Bill W group, and So there's all, whatever kind of whatever you're into, there there will be a group, you know, and WhatsApp has made that so much easier that's bad that people can keep in contact.
Speaker: And we'll be talking momentarily about our group as well. So ah we will tune for that. But what's the one thing that you would want a newly sober person to know about a transatlantic cruise?
Speaker: I think it would be that it's about time. It's about time. acts a little bit differently when you've got 14 days with no commitments, no getting on land, no, nothing to do, but just take the time to do the things that you enjoy, you know, or take the time to not do anything at all.
Speaker: and And I think the, the, the thing we talked about earlier on was about the routine, you know, that idea of, I'm going to do the same thing tomorrow that I did today.
Speaker: And it's very odd because by, you know, the first few days it's, oh, this is what I'm doing. But by day four, day five, you're thinking, well, this is what my life is now. yeah So, and for, you know, and then of course it comes to the end of the 14 days and you have to get back to real life, but there's just something very, very lovely about that idea of it's two o'clock I play games. It's midday. I go for lunch. It's five 30. I go and meet the solos for for the solo dinner. It's seven 30. I go to the show.
Speaker: um it's It's just great, you know. Yeah, it's it it's it's a it's a nice routine to get into, isn't it? It's a good routine. So part of the reason we've done this episode, Martin, is to talk about the cruise that and we're putting together for May of next year, the Transatlantic Cruise. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?
Speaker: Yeah, so um we've done um we we did a transatlantic cruise together ourselves um last year, but back in October 2025, which seems seems like sounds like a long time ago. wouldn't that you alone ago um And we were thinking what other kind cruises we could do for the Sober Cruise. And... um For all the reasons we've discussed um throughout the the podcast, we thought that Transatlantic is one of the kind of best kind of cruises um for people to go on to. And one of the reasons we've chosen Virgin Voyages, is again, a of the stuff we already talked about is um there isn't a and ah ah drinking culture on board. It's not like certain other cruise lines where, you know, the the drinking is the the forward kind of thing. um The soft drinks are free. The Wi-Fi is included.
Speaker: The fitness classes are included. These are things that a lot of the other cruise lines were charged for. um All the restaurants are included. So you want to have steak every single day, you can have steak every single day. um So that's why we've chosen Virgin Voyages. um But the extra things that we'll be bringing on board. So you have your build up your meetings every single morning. So we just tell us a little bit more about what people can expect about being in the group with us.
Speaker: Yeah, so we we're going to keep it fairly light touch. So there will be the build up meetings, which aren't part of our group, but they are on board. And then the idea is that we would have a ah daily meetup. So that we would sort of say 3.30 to 4.30, we are going to be in this particular place. Anybody who wants to come along can come along. Anyone who doesn't, doesn't have to.
Speaker: We would have maybe three or four group dinners, and you know, through for for the whole group through the trip. And if if there are any ports to call, we would organise one or two excursions at of the ports to call. But the idea is basically you can join in as little or as much as you want. So on top of that, for example, we will have a WhatsApp group.
Speaker: and And then what we would expect is that is that, for example, I know you're very keen on quizzes so that you would kind of you you would do the quiz and then anyone who wanted to join you would do that. And then we could sort of have another WhatsApp group for the shows.
Speaker: and so that any people could go together to see to see the shows. So it's not kind of and compulsory fun. it's it if you if feel on know but ma If you want to ah be part of the Sober Group every day for large parts of the day, that will be an option. But also if you want to sort of say hi on the first day and then not be part of the group again until the last day, that's also an option.
Speaker: Yeah, I think that's ah that's right. So the maximum we have is 25 people within the group. because we've got the WhatsApp group beforehand, before we set sail, people get to know each other beforehand. So if you are going on solo or even if you're going on as a couple, either as friends or whatever, it means that you already know people who are in the same, rat excuse the pun, in the same boat as you. So it's going to be a group of other people who don't drink um that are going there for the same reasons as you. So you already have that group that if you want to go and watch a show, do a quiz,
Speaker: you know go and enjoy the opera out at the back of the ship at 3.30 every day at the drop. 3.30, yes. There's not a few met C in the afternoon. wow yes It's really nice, yeah. So if you want to do that, you've already got that kind of group. and you Obviously, you can kind of join all the other groups and things like that. The trouble is, if you join, for example, the solo meet-up group, which is fantastic, you don't know what those people are going to be like, as in they might be there for different reasons to you without labelling people, whatever.
Speaker: So it's having that group and having that backup that you know that you're with like-minded people. i think that's what people really love about the Sober Cruise. Yeah, it's the choice, really. It's the choice to to interact as much or as little as you like.
Speaker: Yeah, so the Sober Cruise will be set in sale from Miami on the 2nd of May, And that two weeks later, we'll be docking in Barcelona.
Speaker: So it's the 16th of May 2027. There's people from all over the world. you know we we People think it's because we're see um ah from the UK and Europe that it's mainly people from there. But Americans and things that, Canadians, people from all over, the main thing is that We want people who are going there to enjoy themselves um in a safe environment. That's basic.
Speaker: Yeah. And of course, it's not just the cruises that you can help people but organize flights. and Generally, what we would do is we would have a suggested hotel the night before where people can stay and so we'll organize transfers to the port, etc.
Speaker: and But it's, yeah. And in terms of cost, can you give us an indication of the, how much roughly it would be for a balcony cabin for two people?
Speaker: So balcony going for two people was about £2,300. So you per person, Coke Zero. less less than a hundred pounds per person per night we well or less and that's probably me ninety pounds per person per night and i know i can get through ninety pounds with a steak in coke zero Yes, I can vote for that. yes yeah and We do also have um solo sea terrace cabins um as well. We can also do the solo inside cabins and the inside cabins and CVU cabins. Just get in touch with us. Use links below or thesebracruise.co.uk and we'll be able to help with the prices. But most people, I think, go go for the sea terrace cabins because they want to be able to sit out. And we have another podcast all about the cabins, so we won't dive too much into it now. but
Speaker: I think most of them go for the CV. Yeah, and just just for comparison, would it be fair to say that that price of 2300 is about 30% less than and people would be paying for one week around the Med in July and August?
Speaker: Yeah, so if you're going... Yeah, if you're going July and August around the Med, you'll be looking at around the same kind of price. The other thing is that the flights to Barcelona... for, um, or the flight back from Barcelona, um, would be more expensive in July and August. Of course. Yeah. Sometimes you're looking at two, 300 pounds for a flight to, to Barcelona from the UK.
Speaker: It's a lot of money. Yes. And even Ryanair can be really expensive. But the, you know, 16th, 17th of May, it's not school holidays or anything. So the prices are pretty good. It's not bank holiday or anything. And then going over to Miami again, if you want to go beforehand, it doesn't fall over any of their holidays or anything as well. So,
Speaker: hotels aren't Hotels in Miami around the the cruise terminal, because as cruises every day, busiest cruise boat port in the world, um are always around the same price because there are cruises every day that go out of it, so they don't fluctuate that much. Or if you've got a later flight in,
Speaker: Just stay at the airport because if you're landing at seven o'clock, by the time you've gone for passport control and things at eight, eight thirty, pis your luggage, if you've got luggage, you might just stay at the airport. The other thing is that from the airport to the cruise terminal, if you take a taxi, separate doing yourself, they have fixed rates.
Speaker: Do they really? I didn't know. Yeah. So they have ah it's it's a fixed rate system from the airport to the cruise terminal. Whereas if you, as soon as you leave the airport bubble, which the hotels are classed as part the bubble, ah they then go onto a meter and they could be anything.
Speaker: Whereas it's fixed. And it's not particularly, expensive it's not particularly far the airport to the cruise, don't know, is it? It's not, no. And and just to, just to get I mean, the the Ubers in Miami tend to be relatively good value. Just to give you an example, we recently went from Miami Beach to the airport and I think we paid something like $35, which is pretty good value.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah. So another kind of thing to think about, and again, we'll have um ah hotels beforehand, so it's weather. people want to stay for a few nights beforehand and enjoy miami or other parts of the states wherever um or if you're coming from the states then you probably fly down um on the day or the day before we'd always recommend the day beforehand just in case your flight gets delayed or anything like that but if you are flying in late um then have probably the airport just just as good a place as i need to to stop yeah that's a good idea yeah
Speaker: Yes, so if any of this episode sounds familiar to anybody listening, and you know give us a wee look on the website, www.thesobercruise.com, and you'll find lots more details there. So about the itinerary, the ship, the pricing, et cetera.
Speaker: Excellent. Yeah. So I'm more than happy to help. you've questions either about the cruise itself, the transportation or what the actual sober cruise is, what you're going to get, then get in touch with us and we'll be happy to chat.
Speaker: But for now, thank you very much, Mark. And everyone, thanks for listening. Yep. Thanks, Martin. Speak to you soon. asma
