On a Repositioning cruise what should I expect?

[EileenN]

PE: This person seems to put a negative angle on many things. Perhaps it is a personality trait, not found endearing to many of us. As my mother used to say" One man's meat is another man's poison".

Halos has appeared to me to be a positive and outgoing person whose postings I have enjoyed.

First he finds fault with older cruisers who are poor tippers, over eatting bargain hunters, who bring down the moral of the crew and lumps them all on repositioning cruises to complain about the excursions. WOW! He finds fault with Halos comments.

I think it is time we all ignore him and his opinions for lack of credibility. But that is only my opinion and I am free to voice it here on this forum.

Now it will be time for he/she to go after me. Please do not feel it is necessary to defend me. I stand comfortably by my statements.

It has always been my thought "if you don't feed the animals, they will go away!"

[SueSea]

You have to ask yourself why the cruise lines would discount repo cruises so deeply if the quality was as good as a regular cruise. Many of the pasengers live in the starting or ending port, so they already have a built in discount on airfare.

 

There is only one reason that cruise lines discount--to fill ships. So the question is really, why are repo cruises harder to fill? Longer cruises have less of a market. People who can do a 7 day or less may not have the vacation time for a longer cruise. Many repos occur during the school year, and parents may be reluctant to find longer term child care or take their kids out of school for 2 weeks, and teachers and other school workers are out as well. Of those who could take a longer cruise, there are those who don't like a large number of sea days and cruise primarily to see the ports.

 

After all, the ships being repo'd for a reason--because the season is over in the port they are leaving. It's not the optimal touring time for those who want to spend some time in the departure port city. The weather won't be great, and many tourist attractions close or have shorter hours in the off season. That would discourage some.

 

And I'm not sure how big a discount those who live in the departure or arrival port get. I can fly to Florida roundtrip for less than a one way ticket to Europe.

[Planer's Edge]

First he finds fault with older cruisers who are poor tippers, over eatting bargain hunters, who bring down the moral of the crew and lumps them all on repositioning cruises to complain about the excursions. WOW! He finds fault with Halos comments.

 

Hi Eileen, there are two different people involved here. BruceMuzz who thinks that repos are something to be avoided. And Owl61 who felt the need to defend BruceMuzz by attacking Angel.

 

PE

[mbisson]

I'll throw in my 2 cents, which after inflation is probably worth a lot less---

 

I haven't had the good fortune to partake in a repo cruise YET...but I have enough trust in some who have stated their good opinion of them that I certainly look forward to repo cruises in my future :D (and you guys know who you are ;))

[dtiger]

I love repo cruises, I've taken 6 on the Spirit and a few others. I find the service wonderful, great entertainment and a more relaxed pace. I also find them to be more economical. The last one, Oct. - Nov., 16 days on the Spirit was great.

[RichNY]

Actually I`m not disgruntled at all. Just realistic. And quite happy with my job.

But like all cruise line employees, I do whatever I can to avoid Repo cruises and all the hassles normally associated with them.

 

I do not enjoy being forced to choose which high cost items to cut from menus for the trip. I don`t think this is quite ethical, but most cruise lines do it.

 

It doesn`t seem fair when the "A-Team" of entertainers jumps ship and is replaced by substandard ones for the repo trip. But this happens very often. The good entertainers don`t want to be there either.

 

I`m not a tipped employee. But it is difficult to pull crew morale back up after the repo cruises. These people have worked extra hard in most cases, and earned far less for their troubles.

 

My biggest hassles are sorting out all the complaints about sub-standard shore tours, and trying to explain to the head office why the passenger ratings for the repo cruise were so low.

 

But the ratings for the cruises before and after the repo cruise are always quite high. Funny how that works.......

 

You have to ask yourself why the cruise lines would discount repo cruises so deeply if the quality was as good as a regular cruise. Many of the pasengers live in the starting or ending port, so they already have a built in discount on airfare.

 

 

While I appreciate you comments, after 3 NCL repos I have yet to experience any of the shortcommings you mention, except for a good price. But those good prices are only if you book early..

 

Are you speaking in general or are you NCL specific ??

[Planer's Edge]

I love repo cruises, I've taken 6 on the Spirit and a few others. I find the service wonderful, great entertainment and a more relaxed pace. I also find them to be more economical. The last one, Oct. - Nov., 16 days on the Spirit was great.

 

Be careful about disagreeing with an "experienced hotel manager for a major cruise line". :D

 

PE

[MrLee]

 

Hey Mr. Lee.. Just wanted to say Happy Holidays. 8-)

 

I

 

The very best of the holidays to you and Greg also. And the same to all of my CC friends. :D

[MrLee]

The very best of the holidays to you and Greg also. And the same to all of my CC friends. :D

 

Oops, I meant Doug of course. I'm terrible with names. Thanks to PE for correcting me. :o

[owl61]

Halos was commenting about adding someone to her own ignore list. She in no way suggested anyone else ignore this person. If you know this person to be "experienced hotel manager for a major cruise line" then good for you. We have no way of knowing this about the poster. Most of us that have comments to the contrary of his/her observations are basing it on our own experiences. We have thoroughly enjoyed out reposition cruise experiences. But' date=' then again we did not do reposition cruises back 20, 25, 30 years ago. I could go point by point and explain my differing experience to BruceMuzz's. But, what would be the point, he/she has their opinion and I have mine. He/she seems to believe that reposition cruise are these awful things to be avoided at all cost and I believe that they are one of my favorite itineraries.[/color']

PE

P.S. You may want to go back and read the terms and conditions, that you agreed to, about posting here at Cruise Critic. Specifically read the portion about personal attacks on your fellow members.

 

I sincerely apologize to halos if I misunderstood her post. From her words it clearly appeared to me she was mocking the prior poster. If so, my words were not out of line.

p.s. Some opinions are more credible than others.

[Planer's Edge]

I sincerely apologize to halos if I misunderstood her post. From her words it clearly appeared to me she was mocking the prior poster. If so, my words were not out of line.

p.s. Some opinions are more credible than others.

Are you apologizing or not? :confused:

 

PE

[romrai]

I have only done 2, but love them. Just off the "Spirit" in November. Had to be the most relaxing cruise yet. They are generally longer than average and cost less. You usually have more sea days and an older passenger list, as sometimes people have problems getting that many days off. I only remember maybe 10 kids. Our average age was 72 (it made me at 53 feel like a kid).

 

The staff were ALL extremely friendly and I certainly didn't see any "low morale" employees. The biggest problem that I noticed was the miserable "old duffers" constantly complaining, jumping the line and were generally rude to the staff. I also didn't notice a "down grade in the quallity of food"

[owl61]

Did you just make this crap up? What a fertile imagination.

I experienced none of this on the repos I have been on. But then again I did not do repos as a disgruntled employed either.

PE

Hmm, As someone willing to talk this way to a fellow poster I marvel at your chutzpah in presuming to correct the alleged indiscretions of others. I'll leave it to halos to ascertain whether my apology was sufficient as my comments were directed toward her apparent mockery of another. Not yours.

[Planer's Edge]

Hmm, As someone willing to talk this way to a fellow poster I marvel at your chutzpah in presuming to correct the alleged indiscretions of others. I'll leave it to halos to ascertain whether my apology was sufficient as my comments were directed toward her apparent mockery of another. Not yours.

 

Yes, but you quoted my post addressed to you, sunshine.

 

Besides, I do not see any personal attack on BruceMuzz in my post that you quoted. While I noticed a couple personal attacks on Halos in your post that I quoted.

 

I also see that you edited your previous post. Yes, I too believe that some opinions are more credible than others. Especially when some opinions are laced with nothing but negativity.

 

PE<---is done with this thread now that it has turned personal and lacking pertinent information...

[stegosaurus1]

The average age on a repo is 5 to 10 years older due mostly to the length and time of year. If you would go to the rollcalls on repos you will find threads like NCL Spirit Nov 3 2007 with 6,184 actual threads, still active. Do you think we liked each other and had a good time? NCL Dawn last Nov. 1 5901 threads, a pretty nice time both anticipating and remembering... repos aren't just fun, they're the best!:D

[disneydiane61]

There are those repo cruises that can appear to be just like a regular cruise, just going in one direction. I am on the Pearl 4/24-5/1. It is a 7 day cruise with 2 sea day and 4 ports. I'm expecting that the service, entertainment and food will be equal to a regular cruise. I can't imagine that they would take the time to change menus or cut items from their Specialty Restaurants or Main Dining room. The entertainment may be a little different, but with stops is San Francisco, Astoria, Oregon , Victoria and Nanaimo Canada we will have plenty of costal beauty to keep us busy. The smart cruiser is also going to book excursions independently. The crew can expect that the people sailing from Los Angeles to Vancouver are just the same as their "normal" passangers. My party consists of 21, 36, 48 years of age, with friend 49 and 52 coming along. We have a great roll call, come check us out and join the fun.

 

Merry Christmas to you all even you Scrooge .... I mean "BruceMuzz"

[sjbdtz]

Be careful about disagreeing with an "experienced hotel manager for a major cruise line". :D

 

PE

 

 

From 2006 on the HAL boards:

 

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=7884951&highlight=bruce+muzz#post7884951

 

 

Not that I think he's right...but on a HAL ship...can the passengers GET any older (just because it's a repo)???

 

My own repo experience was the most interesting trip I've taken (Alaska - China) port-wise....and it was FAR from cheap....and I was FAR from the passenger-type that he describes.

[RichNY]

We have found on a longer cruise the crowd tends to be older. Since most repo cruises also tend to be longer , the crowd tends to be older too ..very simple logic and not unique to HAL..Retirees have more free time....:D

[prunes10]

I'm new to CC. I am going on a repo cruise next year and was interested in this thread when I saw it.

I guess if a person has been a senior officer on a ship his opinion would be a better informed one than the ordinary cruiser with only a couple of repos under their belt. That seems kind of obvious to me. I don't think most pax would be aware whether some of the more expensive menu items have been removed, whether the A team of entertainers has been replaced with the B team, whether the morale of crew is lower and whether more problems with shore excursions occur. Those kinds of things might be hard for an individual passenger to notice, but at the same time I'm hoping there are offsetting benefits like more ship days ( which I like) and a lower per diem cost. I seldom take ship excursions so that issue will not affect me personally.

The increase in the total consumption of food on board, while interesting from mgmt's point of view will not affect my enjoyment of the cruise - I'll eat the same same as always. Well.

[Planer's Edge]

I'm new to CC. I am going on a repo cruise next year and was interested in this thread when I saw it.

I guess if a person has been a senior officer on a ship his opinion would be a better informed one than the ordinary cruiser with only a couple of repos under their belt. That seems kind of obvious to me. I don't think most pax would be aware whether some of the more expensive menu items have been removed, whether the A team of entertainers has been replaced with the B team, whether the morale of crew is lower and whether more problems with shore excursions occur. Those kinds of things might be hard for an individual passenger to notice, but at the same time I'm hoping there are offsetting benefits like more ship days ( which I like) and a lower per diem cost. I seldom take ship excursions so that issue will not affect me personally.

The increase in the total consumption of food on board, while interesting from mgmt's point of view will not affect my enjoyment of the cruise - I'll eat the same same as always. Well.

 

Let's see if I can alleviate some of your concerns pertaining to this "senior officers" extreme negativity (and this is an historic negativity here at CC).

The menus in the dining rooms on our repo cruise were the same as they were 4 -6 weeks earlier when the ship was in it's prime Bermuda season. So, they did not remove the "more expensive" menu items fo our cruise.

The crew morale is a very subjective matter all together. But, my impression is that the moral is a tick up from a few weeks earlier. Talking to few old friends aboard the Dawn, on the 3 previous repos I have taken, the crew is excited about getting to new set of ports and quite possibly a new set of passengers. Yes, the ship goes to some seldom visited ports on a repo but these are not "never before seen" ports.

The entrtainment is not nearly the "B team" of cruise ship entertainment. Unless of course you consider Jane L. Powell or Matilda & Patrick Murray "B" rate entertainers. They also maintain their normal production show offering.

The passenger age level is of course going to be a bit elevated. But not any more that most cruises longer than 7 days. Getting more than 5 days off work at a time is difficult for most people. The clintele that can take the 10 day to 2 weeks for a reposition cruise are retirees or an "older" passenger that owns their own business. I am 51 and have taken a repo cruise for the 3 last October/November's in a row. I don't consider my self old but maybe be considered older to others. Yes, most people on these cruises are older but they are there to relax and enjoy their cruise rather than trying to cram as much action into a 7 day cruies as they can.

I cannot answer to the supposed excursion problems that may occur during a repo cruise as we are not excursion people because we have been to most of these "never before seen" ports before and venture out on our own. Besides we do the same on shorter cruises and hear of bad shore excursion issues during those cruises also.

So, I just say take opinions such as BruceMuzz with grain of salt as well othe like myself. Everyone has an opinion and some opinions are tainted with some level of agenda for whatever reason. If you have a chnce to take a reposition cruise find one that fits your needs. If you like sea days try a transatlantic repo. if you like a lot of ports a NY (north east) to Miami (caribbean) repo will offer a lot of port opportunities.

PE

[halos]

I guess if a person has been a senior officer on a ship his opinion would be a better informed one than the ordinary cruiser with only a couple of repos under their belt. .

 

This is true, if the poster really is who/what he claims to be ;)....but regardless of who he is, an opinion is just an opinion. It doesn't matter who's it is.

 

I concur with everything PE just stated above.

 

 

Repositioning cruises on NCL are my favorite. I don't understand the whole 'B' team statement. I personally think it's a crock. Of all the NCL cruises I have taken, the repos have been the best....again, just an opinion. The only way anyone can know for sure is to sail a repo themselves and find out first hand if it suits THEM.

[stegosaurus1]

My only additional comment on this topic is purely a selfish one on my part. These repo cruises give the individual cruiser or couple to develop some wonderful friendships and shared experiences because of the extra seadays and time together. I would also like to take the liberty to direct you to the Dawn rollcall. terrymtex01 has written a most wonderful review, almost completed of our repo on the NCL Dawn, 11/01/09. OMG its a blast!:D

[stegosaurus1]

The review is on the Norwegian Board, not roll call, dummy me!:o

[BikerAl]

A while back in this thread, PE asked BruceMuzz what his current experience was with NCL. I may have missed the answer, but if it has been answered, forgive me. Some of the things he(Muzz) says, seem from a long time ago. Like low tipping (before mandatory surcharge), or is everyone removing it? NCL cruisers like Mr Lee, PE, Eileen and Terry, all report the shows are no different, and many top billed performers are still on board. We have seen menus from repos and non repo cruises posted here, and no change. All seem to report crew morale is great on the repos, except a few old cogers complaining about everything... what is the difference than a few young grumps complaining about everything on non repos? So, my conclusion, in the absence of Mr Muzz being a current (last 3 years) HD on NCL, his post means nothing to us.

 

Al

[/color]

[prunes10]

This is true, if the poster really is who/what he claims to be ;)....but regardless of who he is, an opinion is just an opinion. It doesn't matter who's it is.

Planers Edge, Thanks for the advice. I look forward to my repo cruise.

halos, Do you think BruceMuzz was fabricating his experience? If he wasn't then I can not reconcile your statement that on the one hand it is true that his opinion would be better informed, but on the other hand "an opinion is just an opinion" and that it doesn't matter who he is. Seems self-contradictory.