Crossing the Atlantic to America on Queen Mary 2: what it’s really like

Crossing the Atlantic on Queen Mary 2 had been my dream since I was a child. I’d say it’s for people who want something other than an ordinary holiday. Expect seven days at sea without a single stop, cold weather and a dress code. It suited me perfectly, but it isn’t for everyone.

Quick factsby Milan Bez Mapy

Crossing time

Exactly seven days from Southampton to New York, without a single stop

My cabin

Britannia Balcony for two, about £4,000; cabins range from €700 to €40,000

My tip

I’d book a cabin at the back of the ship, as you feel the waves most at the front

Time on board

Heading to America, the clocks go back an hour almost every night; I had no jet lag and wouldn’t recommend the opposite direction

Extra charges

Gratuities of about $20 per person per day come off your onboard account automatically

With children

I wouldn’t recommend it, as there’s very little for children to do and the kids’ corner is small

Crossing the Atlantic to America had been my dream ever since 1998, when I first saw Titanic. The idea of crossing an ocean on a liner always fascinated me. A ship like that is a little world of its own, where time doesn’t matter. And you travel to America by ship, the way people once did to start a new life. For my 31st birthday I gave myself a present: I crossed the Atlantic to America by ship.

Crossing the Atlantic to America on Queen Mary 2

TIP: I’ve saved the best stories from the crossing in my Instagram highlights. Have a look, and follow me while you’re there.

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A transatlantic crossing to America

In this article you’ll find out:

• The history of transatlantic crossings
• How long the crossing takes
• What the ticket costs, what it includes and what you pay extra for
• What the weather is like at sea and what the dress code is
• Safety on board, and the eternal puzzle of what time it actually is and how the clocks change on the ship
• How much money to take, and what the mobile signal and internet are like in the middle of the ocean
• Whether you can take your dog, and whether I’d do the crossing again

The history of sailing to America: Cunard and the Titanic

Before the Industrial Revolution, a ship was the only way to get across the ocean to America. The voyage took about six weeks, depending mostly on the wind. Over time, ships and steamers became more modern, and the crossing came down to about six days. Then came the aeroplane, ships went into decline and people began flying from Europe to America instead. From the late 1950s, scheduled sailings dwindled fast: most passengers chose to fly, and shipping lines started going bust.

Nostalgia brought these crossings back, though. The British shipping line Cunard, which merged in 1934 with White Star Line, the company that owned the Titanic, keeps them alive. Queen Mary 2 has sailed them regularly since 2004. Several times a year, Cunard sends its flagship, Queen Mary 2, along the Titanic’s original route, from Southampton in England to New York. I didn’t hesitate: I bought a ticket and set out to make my dream come true. Now and then Cunard also runs this crossing with the smaller Queen Victoria.

• TIP: Read Milan Bez Mapy’s tips on what to see in Southampton

Fun fact: the restaurant waiters still wear a star on their jackets, the emblem of White Star Line (WSL). After the merger, Cunard adopted WSL’s customs. WSL had built its name on first-class service and a certain elegance, and Cunard took this over and has kept it to this day. In the past, WSL played the luxury card, while Cunard was simply a transport company carrying people between continents.

How long does a transatlantic crossing to America take today?

Today Queen Mary 2 gets you to America in exactly seven days, without a single stop. She weighs thousands of tonnes and crosses the ocean without any trouble, because she was built for exactly this job. She isn’t a cruise ship but an ocean liner, a type of ship designed specifically for Atlantic crossings. You may be surprised to hear that her average speed is only 35 km/h.

Queen Mary 2 has a hull shaped to cut through the waves, stabilisers and very good aerodynamics. So if you’re worried about seasickness, you needn’t be. Most of the time I felt nothing at all, only the occasional gentle rocking. TIP: When you book, I’d go for a cabin at the back of the ship. You feel the bow slamming into the waves most at the front, and some people find that unpleasant. The whole ship is wheelchair accessible.

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Is Queen Mary 2 suitable for children?

No, no and no. There’s almost nothing on board for children, and they’ll be bored stiff unless they genuinely love theatre, concerts, films in the cinema and dress codes. The kids’ corner is tiny. I walked past it once and it reminded me of a cellar.

Queen Mary 2 ticket prices: what a transatlantic crossing costs and what’s included

A cabin costs anything from €700 to €40,000. The cheapest cabins have no window, while the most expensive one has two storeys. I went for the happy medium and paid about £4,000 in total for a cabin in the ‘Britannia Balcony’ category. That works out at €4,600 for two people in a cabin with a balcony. You can buy tickets directly on the Cunard website. Bear in mind that prices change: the earlier you book, the less you pay. So what does the ticket include?

• Full board, meaning breakfast, lunch and dinner. I’d eat in the Britannia restaurant, where you always need to reserve a table. The food there is excellent. You can also eat at the buffet in Kings Court on Deck 7. I didn’t think the food there was as good, though: the place smelt of the kitchen and lacked the style I’d expect on a ship like this.
  In the Britannia restaurant I ate off fine china with silver cutlery and drank from glasses made by Rona, a Slovak glassmaker. I’d always ask for a table by the window, although watching the waves sometimes made me feel a bit queasy.
• Meals in your cabin: if you don’t feel like going anywhere, room service will bring food to your cabin, 24/7. Since 2025, though, only breakfast ordered before 10am is free in Britannia cabins, and all other room service is charged.
• Traditional afternoon tea
• All the entertainment on board: theatre, Broadway shows, concerts, games, dance classes, the planetarium and a masquerade ball. Every evening the next day’s programme was delivered to my cabin, and I could circle what I wanted to see.
• The library
• The gym, which was rather poorly equipped for my taste, but good enough for keeping in shape. If you fancy a run, Deck 7 doubles as a running track around the whole ship.
• A life jacket in your cabin and a seat in a lifeboat, just in case

How much does a transatlantic crossing on Queen Mary 2 cost?

What isn’t included in the Queen Mary 2 fare?

• Housekeeping and gratuities: about $20 per person per day comes off your onboard account for cleaning your cabin. Of course, you can ask them not to clean it, but why would you? The cabin stewards work around your restaurant bookings and clean while you’re eating. Your cabin is made up twice a day. Every order at a bar or café also has a tip added automatically.
• A flight to London and a train ticket to Southampton, where the ship sails from
• Masks, which are recommended for the masquerade ball; you can buy them on board on the day of the ball
• A flight home from London
• Cakes and coffee in the café (coffee in the restaurants is included, but it tastes like the water from cleaning the coffee machine). There’s a Godiva café on board, and that’s where I’d have my coffee: it’s really good.
• Drinks, although you can buy a drinks package, which cost $400 per cabin when I sailed and makes drinks free for both of you. Just as well I didn’t know about it: at least I didn’t drink as much. I’d head to the Commodore Club above the bridge and try one of its cocktails created in honour of Cunard’s former captains.
• Afternoon tea in the restaurants: you can safely skip the free one. I was seated with two retired Americans and we had to make forced small talk. Godiva serves afternoon tea every day too. You pay for it, but the coffee and cakes are better.
• Massages, the spa and the hairdresser: all of these are on board, at extra cost. What disappointed me was that you couldn’t buy a one-off spa visit, only a pass for the whole crossing at $160. There are three hot tubs and three pools at the back of the ship, though, so I survived without the spa.
• Shopping on board: there are a few clothes shops, but I didn’t see anything nice
• The casino

Money, weather, dress code and time on board

Money on board: how to pay on Queen Mary 2

How do you pay on board, and do you need to bring cash? The whole ship is cashless. Before you sail, you link your credit or debit card to your account on the Cunard website. On board you get your own ship card to pay with. At the end of the crossing, the total is charged to the card you linked (a Slovak credit card, in my case).

Atlantic weather, the dress code and what to wear

If you’ve seen Titanic like I have, you’re probably picturing beautiful sunsets over the ocean. Bad luck. The Atlantic is notorious for fog and rain. I saw just one sunset, when we were already approaching land near New York.

On top of that, extremely strong winds make walks on deck pretty unpleasant. They can top 100 km/h, and then the deck is closed.

There’s a dress code throughout the ship: smart attire, and black tie on special evenings. You do have to stick to it, although I saw people, mostly Americans, who sometimes missed the mark by a mile.

This is a ship with style, meant to remind passengers what sailing to America used to be like. So guests are expected to dress the part. Shirts, polo shirts, long trousers.

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How the clocks change on a transatlantic crossing

The time change on an ocean crossing was a big mystery to me. What time is it on board, when should I change my watch, and how do I know we’re crossing a time zone? Would I get jet lag? I didn’t. The clocks on board always change at night, while everyone’s asleep. On the way from England to New York, I always put my watch back an hour before going to bed and so got an extra hour in bed each time. I appreciated it most when I came back slightly tipsy from the G32 club below deck, which is great fun. That extra hour of sleep always came in handy.

Because of the time change, I wouldn’t recommend going the other way, from America to Europe: you lose an hour every day. I arrived in America completely relaxed, already on American time and with no jet lag. If you do get it, read my tips on how to beat jet lag. I slept very well on board too, with the balcony door open. The sound of the waves hitting the hull always sent me off quickly. Every cabin has a TV showing the current time and the ship’s position on the ocean.

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Internet, drinking water, safety and dogs on board

If you still lose track, as I did, every day at noon the captain comes to the main lobby to ring a big bell, announcing that it’s exactly midday ship’s time.

Mobile signal, data and Wi-Fi in the middle of the Atlantic

Getting online on board is no problem. There’s mobile and internet signal across the whole Atlantic, which surprised me. The network is called Telenor Maritime, and thanks to it I could text my mum at normal roaming rates. Data packages are expensive, though.

Queen Mary 2 also has its own Wi-Fi, but I didn’t connect once and enjoyed a week offline. Why? I needed it. The internet package costs extra, it’s expensive, and at the time of my crossing the connection was painfully slow. Since 2023, though, Cunard’s ships, Queen Mary 2 included, have had Starlink satellite internet, so the connection should be faster these days. Treat yourself to an offline weekend some time.

Drinking water on board Queen Mary 2

What pleasantly surprised me was that the tap water on board is drinkable. That’s not a given on ships. It didn’t taste perfect, but it wasn’t bad either. And of course water on board is free: there’s always some at breakfast, lunch and dinner. You can also fill up at Kings Court, which I mentioned above. But that’s a long way from the cabin, so I drank from the bathroom tap as well.

Safety on board: doctors, first aid and lifeboats

On such a long voyage in the middle of the ocean, there are of course doctors on board. There’s a whole operating theatre, and the staff are always ready to give first aid. There are lifeboats and inflatable life rafts for all passengers and crew, with room to spare, as the international SOLAS safety rules require.

The lifeboats on Queen Mary 2 are modern, enclosed against bad weather and fitted with engines. They’re nothing like the flimsy wooden boats you saw in Titanic.

Taking pets to America by ship: kennels on Queen Mary 2

Cunard ships have always carried animals. Some more eccentric travellers have even brought an elephant and a monkey. Dogs and cats still cross the Atlantic in style today. There are 24 kennels, plenty of space to play and a dedicated lounge for owners.

If you haven’t brought a dog, you can often see dolphins off the coast of Canada. I didn’t see any, but people on board told me they had.

Is a transatlantic crossing to America worth it?

Films about ocean liners and Queen Mary 2

If you’re interested in transatlantic crossings and looking for good films, I recommend Brooklyn and the Meryl Streep film Let Them All Talk, which was shot on board this very ship during a crossing.

Would I do this crossing again? For me it was the experience of a lifetime, and I’m glad I got to sail to America. Next time I’ll choose a voyage with interesting stops, on islands and so on. And maybe one day, out of nostalgia, I’ll do this transatlantic crossing again.

It’s a very particular experience. Cold weather, seven days of endless ocean without a stop and a dress code won’t suit everyone. For me, though, it was exactly what I was looking for: something different and less run-of-the-mill.

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