"Repositioning" Cruise

[sazzinfredericton]

I am a newbie and I have tried the search tool ...no luck.....have no idea what this kind of cruise entails but I am very interested.

 

How does one know that a particular cruise is a "repositioning cruise". I have been doing alot of research on X website have not come across this term except on this forum.

 

TIA for your feedback.

 

Nancy

[Orlandocruiser]

I guess you would call a couple of things "repositioning" cruises. One would be a cruise that moves the ship from the east coast to the west coast through the Panama Canal (or back) for the Alaskan season. Or a transatlantic cruise could also be considered "repositioning". Eastbound from the US to Europe for the summer season or westbound from Europe to US for the Caribbean season in the fall. Transatlantic cruises are wonderful!!

[deserttraveler]

Hi,

Great question! These come in the obvious and non-obvious categories. Except for Cunard, the Transatlantic cruises are pretty much always "repos," because the ship needs to move to or from Europe or the Caribbean for the season. The European cruising season is predominantly summer and early fall, while the Caribbean season is more in the winter. A hallmark of the repo cruise is that it starts and ends in different ports. (However, some non-repo cruises also do this, so it is not the only clue.)

 

Panama Canal cruises are sometimes repositioning, particularly those in early May and late September, because the cruise lines are each moving several ships to Alaska in spring and back to the Caribbean in the fall. At the same time, each line has one or two ships who do just the Panama Canal, back and forth, all winter. So it's the late Spring and early Fall Panama Canal cruises that are more likely to be repos.

 

Some cruise lines do an Australia/New Zealand season (our winter, their summer) with ships that do the Caribbean in our winter, so they will re-position across the Pacific at the beginning and end of that season.

 

The coastal cruise is another version of repositioning. These can be shorter cruises, such as 4 or 5 days to/from San Diego to Vancouver at the beginning and end of the Alaska season. The ships that do the New England cruises repo to the Northeast U.S. at some point and repo to the Caribbean later in the fall.

 

There are more, but these are the typical ones. There are also exceptions to all of the above. The Transatlantics are the ones on which you can get some great bargains if you don't mind the days at sea. There will be some ports at the beginning and/or end, but it's about a week at sea in between.

[sazzinfredericton]

I feeling rather dense when trying to process your helpful information. Am I correct in saying that when I search for ie Panama Canal and what I see is a 15 day Eastbound ending in Ft. Lauderdale and a 15 Westbound ending in San Diego this is a "repositioning cruise"?

 

This may be a question for a new tread...Looking at a Hawaii cruise...may start in Honolulu but end in Ensenada Mexico when one can take the beginning and end port in San Diego? I am not sure whether the logistics in the first scenario would be advantageous to ppl other than those living on the west coast.

 

Thanks

[cruisestitch]

In the case of Panama Canal cruises, you can't tell by just looking at one single cruise whether it is a repositioning cruise or not -- what comes before it, and what comes after it? If this cruise is moving the ship from Alaska to the Caribbean through the Canal, it is a repositioning cruise. But if there are a series of cruises eastbound, then westbound, then eastbound, then westbound, those wouldn't be repositioning cruises.

 

Same with Hawaii -- if the ship is going from California to Hawaii, and then going on from Hawaii to Asia, the ship is in repositioning mode. But if it is going back and forth from California or Mexico to Hawaii, and then back again, those would not be repositioning cruises.

[sazzinfredericton]

Great....finally got it!

 

Thank you.

[bob brown]

And as mentioned above, Cunard QM2 voyages from New York to Southampton and Hamburg, or vice versa, are considered classic "liner" voyages as opposed to repo cruises which typically take a lot longer and include a few ports of call along the way.

Another variation...HAL does a round trip transatlantic from Boston each summer with the Maasdam which makes multiple stops at different ports each way. You can also book it one way. This past summer HAL also did a pair of classic liner voyages with the Rotterdam, making no stops, in the fashion of the QM2, but a couple of days longer.

There are limitations on domestic repo cruises due to old 'cabotage' or Passenger Services Act regulations, but that is another subject often debated on these boards.....

[ghstudio]

I am a newbie and I have tried the search tool ...no luck.....have no idea what this kind of cruise entails but I am very interested.

 

How does one know that a particular cruise is a "repositioning cruise". I have been doing alot of research on X website have not come across this term except on this forum.

 

TIA for your feedback.

 

Nancy

 

The reason that folks talk about repositioning cruises are that generally speaking, they are less expensive per day. For example, folks want to sail around the southern tip of South America so many cruise lines move ships down there for the "season"...the "repositioning" cruises from the US to Buenos Aires, for example generally stop at "less interesting" stops with more time at sea so they can be great bargains.

[jakeil7]

...the "repositioning" cruises from the US to Buenos Aires, for example generally stop at "less interesting" stops with more time at sea so they can be great bargains.

 

If the group does not mind a newbie question regarding that: are the ports on a repo cruise "less interesting" or simply "uncommon"? Obviously, they are not going to be ready to handle cruise passengers in the same manner as a St. Maarten or Cozumel and you have to be ready to deal with that (ah, the difference between vacationing and traveling) but are they truly that boring? I ask as I have never had the time to take one of these unique journeys.

[cruisestitch]

Not boring at all, in my opinion. Just occasionally the less-traveled ports. But mostly the appeal of repositioning cruises is three-fold -- many sea days (for those of us who love them) and fewer ports (thus fewer port charges, thus a less-expensive cruise experience) and fewer children (since the cruises tend to be of the two-week variety, and not during school holidays).

[sazzinfredericton]

In the case of Panama Canal cruises, you can't tell by just looking at one single cruise whether it is a repositioning cruise or not -- what comes before it, and what comes after it? If this cruise is moving the ship from Alaska to the Caribbean through the Canal, it is a repositioning cruise.

 

Is there somewhere on the X website that states that a particular ship ie in the Soltice series is undergoing this kind of movement "from Alaska to the Caribbean........or do I search a particular ship to see where its next cruises are during end of a season?

 

Maybe it would be easier to just ask a TA or enquire onboard :)!

[ISABELLA]

From San Juan to NJ is repo when they start Bermuda season in the spring and going back to caribbean in the fall.

[cruisestitch]

There is no straightforward way that I know of to find the repositioning cruises, but I would start by looking at the Alaska cruises for a given season. You would then know when the last cruise of that season is. Now, search for the same ship but you want to see what's next, that is leaving on the day when the last Alaska cruise ends, and you'll see where the ship goes after Alaska. HOWEVER -- in the case of post-Alaska cruises, what you will find next will PROBABLY be the wine cruises down the west coast, and they are a special case -- not usually cheaper than any other cruise, but rather more pricey. So keep following that ship until it gets to San Diego or Ensanada. Then the next cruise should be through the Panama Canal toward the Caribbean.

[sazzinfredericton]

Sound like this type of venture is for the more seasoned cruise planner :). Going to have to get a few cruises in before I tackles this kind!

 

Thanks again to you and all posters to my question.

[jakeil7]

Which dates and ship are you looking at?

[travelnap]

In the case of Panama Canal cruises, you can't tell by just looking at one single cruise whether it is a repositioning cruise or not -- what comes before it, and what comes after it? If this cruise is moving the ship from Alaska to the Caribbean through the Canal, it is a repositioning cruise.

 

Is there somewhere on the X website that states that a particular ship ie in the Soltice series is undergoing this kind of movement "from Alaska to the Caribbean........or do I search a particular ship to see where its next cruises are during end of a season?

 

Maybe it would be easier to just ask a TA or enquire onboard :)!

If you are in the website, what may be the easiest way to tell is to see if this is a repo cruise is to see how often the cruise is available. If it is once in the spring and once in the fall then it is a repo cruise. If the cruise shows up every couple weeks then it is a regular Panama Canal cruise.

[mcrcruiser]

We have done many repo cruises .Mainly you can tell by the pricing ;which is much lower vs a non repo cruise;). The TAs are all repo cruises for Celebrity .Some West Coast cruises are repo cruises ;as are some Panama Canal cruises:).

 

You just need to research on the web .Celebritys web site is not geared for comparison shoping.Best websites to use are the major travel agent web sites ,to comparison shop:D

 

Good Luck:)

 

Cliff

[bob brown]

Indeed. Some major travel agency websites even have a search category named 'repositioning'.......

[Project_gal]

If the group does not mind a newbie question regarding that: are the ports on a repo cruise "less interesting" or simply "uncommon"? Obviously, they are not going to be ready to handle cruise passengers in the same manner as a St. Maarten or Cozumel and you have to be ready to deal with that (ah, the difference between vacationing and traveling) but are they truly that boring? I ask as I have never had the time to take one of these unique journeys.

 

IMHO, they can be more interesting precisely because they may be less frequented by cruise ships. We have found ports which rarely see a cruise ship can be much more welcoming and have known, for example, the "whole" population walk out to see the ship while we walk in to see their town or all the shops open on a holiday when they are normal closed. We have yet to cruise in the Caribbean [other than passing through on the way to the Panama Canal] but, from what I have read on these boards, most of the ports are very similar with the same shops and bars. On a repositioning cruise, the less frequented ports have their own personalitues.

 

Sue

[suncityga]

Sound like this type of venture is for the more seasoned cruise planner :). Going to have to get a few cruises in before I tackles this kind!

 

Thanks again to you and all posters to my question.

 

Another good option with 'repositioning' cruises is adding the ending home port cruise and/or the new home port cruise as a 'back to back' (B2B) or a B2B2B. We did a 14 day Northern Europe with a 12 TransAtlantic crossing back to the USA. It was a wonderful combination for us... with very interesting and uniques port days for 12 days and then many sea '25 hour' days during the crossing.

 

Some 'repositionings' are very unique... in 2012, RCI VOS is doing a 42 day cruise in 3 segments, from New Orleans to Barcelona to Dubai to Singapore. The VOS will be in SE Asia and Australia starting in 2012 instead of the Mediterranean.

[bestmom1]

Is there somewhere on the X website that states that a particular ship ie in the Soltice series is undergoing this kind of movement "from Alaska to the Caribbean........or do I search a particular ship to see where its next cruises are during end of a season?

 

Maybe it would be easier to just ask a TA or enquire onboard :)!

 

As a travel advisor, I would say that you are good candidate to work with a TA. A good one will listen to your interests, and the style of travel that you prefer, evaluate the budget and make a match based on those preferences.

 

Liz

[4774Papa]

We are booked on a Repo from Ft. Lauderdale through the Panama Canal, then down the West coast of South America to Valparaiso, Chile starting December 3.

 

Repos tend to have lower prices.

[Wolfie469]

This is an interesting thread.

[sazzinfredericton]

Some 'repositionings' are very unique... in 2012, RCI VOS is doing a 42 day cruise in 3 segments, from New Orleans to Barcelona to Dubai to Singapore. The VOS will be in SE Asia and Australia starting in 2012 instead of the Mediterranean.

 

How does one find this sort of info on a IMO convoluted cruise in advance? itinerary and cost? Dubai to Singapore etc.....

 

Thank you all .....the feedback is getting the "wow" factor for sure.

[Tinkerbellcgy]

Repositioning cruises are the best! I'm a solo traveller who is subject to the single supplement and anytime I can get an extended length cruise for a reasonable price with few children on board, I grab it. Repositioning cruises fit that bill for me. And the numerous days at sea make it even better!