Virgin Voyages Transatlantic Crossing Guide
A transatlantic crossing is the most unusual thing Virgin sells: 12–15 nights, one-way, with five to eight consecutive sea days and some of the best per-night value on the ship. Twice a year, the fleet repositions between the Caribbean and Europe — and Sailors who know, ride along.
The routes and seasons
Crossings happen in two waves. Spring (eastbound to Europe) sails out of the warm Caribbean and lands in the Mediterranean, often routing through the Canary Islands and Morocco. Fall (westbound to the Americas) does the reverse as the ships come home for winter. Some northern routings — including the dramatic Reykjavík-to-New-York run — pass near Greenland and Canada instead. Because these are repositioning sailings rather than round-trips, fares are typically far gentler per night than a standard voyage.
Who a crossing is for (and who it isn't)
If the idea of unpacking once, settling into ship life, and enjoying long lazy sea days sounds like heaven — with the spa, restaurants, and shows all to yourself — a crossing is magic. If you measure a cruise by the number of ports, it isn't your sailing: this is days of open ocean, on purpose. The two practical commitments are packing for more than one climate and flying home one-way — both solvable, both covered below.
Living the crossing: what 7+ sea days actually feel like
The first day or two, you'll do everything. By day three, you'll find your rhythm: a slow morning in The Galley, a workout or a nap, a long lunch, a show, a late dinner. That deceleration is the whole point.
One quirk to know: the clocks move. Eastbound crossings cross five or six time zones, so many nights you'll lose an hour — a string of 23-hour days that makes eastbound feel subtly more tiring. Westbound is the opposite: 25-hour days, an extra hour of sleep on repeat, which is why crossing veterans call westbound the "easy direction."
The ship's spaces don't change, but the programming does — the entertainment team layers in crossing-specific events, and Scarlet Night still happens mid-ocean. You will, however, cycle through the restaurants more than once, so read our restaurant booking guide and lock in repeat visits to your favorites early. Our sea days guide covers how to fill the hours without ever feeling bored — or feeling obligated to fill them at all.
Weather on a crossing
The Atlantic is not the Caribbean, and the two seasons behave differently:
Spring eastbound (April–May): starts tropical, ends cool into Europe. Mostly sunny, but the open Atlantic typically runs livelier — swells in the 4–8 foot range are common.
Fall westbound (October–November): starts cool out of Barcelona, warms daily as you drop south. Generally the calmer of the two, and ships route well around any late-season tropical weather.
The Iceland routing (Reykjavík toward New York): the coolest and most dramatic option — pack for genuinely cold days on deck, and expect the North Atlantic to show some personality.
If you're motion-sensitive, book midship, bring your remedy of choice (bands, ginger, or meds from home — don't count on buying them onboard), and take comfort in the fact that these are big, modern, well-stabilized ships.
Which side of the ship?
On a Northern Hemisphere crossing, the sun tracks across the southern sky — so the sunny side depends on your direction. Eastbound, starboard gets the sun. Westbound, it's port side. On the Reykjavík routing, which trends southwest, port generally sees more light. If you're booking a Sea Terrace specifically for hammock-and-coffee mornings, this is worth caring about; if you'd rather nap in the shade, book the opposite side. Tell us which camp you're in and we'll pick accordingly.
Packing for a crossing
Virgin is formal-free, so leave the tux at home — but a crossing demands range. Think layers: swimwear and shorts for the warm end, a real jacket, a beanie, and closed shoes for the cool end and breezy sea days on deck. Add comfortable loungewear you're happy to live in, a book or three, sunscreen (open-ocean sun is sneaky even at 60°F), and your seasickness kit. Our full packing guide has the complete list — for a crossing, just shift the whole thing one notch warmer and one notch cozier.
Getting home: booking one-way flights
The flight is the part that scares people off a repositioning cruise — it shouldn't, but it does take strategy:
Book early. One-way transatlantic cash fares are at their best months out and rarely improve.
Price an open-jaw (multi-city) ticket. Booking "home → departure city" and "arrival city → home" as one multi-city itinerary is often dramatically cheaper than two separate one-ways.
Points shine here. One-way award tickets cost half a round-trip, which makes a crossing one of the best uses of airline miles in cruising — transatlantic business-class awards are a classic sweet spot.
Time it right. Ships arrive in the morning, but don't book a morning flight — aim for mid-afternoon or later, or better yet, stay a night or two and make it a trip.
The Cruise Boys tip: we help our crossing clients solve the air puzzle as part of the booking — direction, dates, and which city is cheapest to fly from all interact, and it's much easier to sort out before you pick your sailing than after.
Ready to cross an ocean the Virgin way? As a Top 10 Virgin Voyages First Mate agency, we'll match you to the right crossing, the right side of the ship, and the flights home — at the lowest available price with no booking fees. Ask The Cruise Boys®.