Repositioning Cruises

Every Spring and Fall there is an amazing vacation opportunity most travellers do not know about. These are repositioning cruises. Almost every cruise line offers these itineraries, many at super low prices, to reposition a ship from the Mediterranean (Spring/Summer) to the Caribbean (Fall/Winter) or Alaska (Summer/Fall) to the Caribbean (Fall/Winter) and vice versa. Although Spring and Fall are the most popular times of the year for these type of cruises, they are offered almost all year long on one cruise ship or another. The Alaskan repositioning cruises may even include passage through the Panama Canal. Better yet, with the growing popularity of cruise itineraries in Asia and South America, some repositioning cruises cross vast oceans and offer travellers unique ports of calls (e.g., Hawaii, Barbados, Canary Islands, India, Tahiti, etc.).

Many of the pros and cons of repositioning cruises are the same. These include:
PROS

• The per diem price is often substantially less than a typical cruise that embarks and disembarks from the same port.
• Cruises are typically longer than a week and have more sea days. This lends to a more relaxing pace instead of arriving at a different port each day.

CONS

• Many people like visiting various ports of call and get tired of spending most of their vacation on a ship at sea.
• Often times, airfare is more expensive since you embark at one port and disembark at another.

Here is a list of some great upcoming repositioning cruises. Check out www.cruise.com for prices and additional itineraries (they are one of the few websites that has Transatlantic/Repositioning as an option under destinations).

Spring

To Europe from Texas, Florida or New York in April:

Silversea Silver Shadow, Regent Seven Seas Navigator & Voyager, Celebrity Century

Alaska to Caribbean (and vice versa) through the Panama Canal:

Regent Seven Seas Mariner, Coral Princess, Norwegian Pearl

Unique itineraries:

The Crystal Symphony will sail between between Dubai, UAE and the Mediterranean in May.

The MSC Melody will be sailing from South Africa to Europe.

The Regal Princess will sail from Los Angeles on August 31 and reach Sydney, Australia 31 days later.

In the fall, the transatlantic crossing start from Europe and back to the Americas. These ships will be making from 8 to 24-day crossings of the Atlantic in either September, October, November or December of 2007. Some of the highlights include:

Royal Caribbean Legend of the Seas - Barcelona to the Dominican Republic

SeaDream I - Lisbon to San Juan

Oceania Regatta - Barcelona to Miami

Norwegian Gem - Barcelona to Boston

SeaDream II - Canary Islands to Rio

Make sure to check these cruises out. They are truly an affordable option on some amazing ships with incredible itineraries. Feel free to send me an email if you have any questions. I especially like the SeaDream cruise line and will be posting about them in the future. Happy Travels.