Repositioning Cruises?

[Colorado Kat]

A transatlantic repositioning cruise sounds really great to me. What cruise lines usually do these? And the time-period? Thanks...Kathy

[mtwingcpa]

Most that I've seen are in April-May (heading east) and September-October (heading west). Naturally, there are other possibilities. I think most of the major cruise lines do them.

[AmoMondo]

they are definitely my favourite, especially when travelling alone.

 

Love the combination of very different ports either end of the cruise and all those sea days in the middle.

 

I personally prefer to start on acruise at the furthest point from my home and disembark closest. main reasins

- it gets the horrible long flight out the way at the start

2. gets the sudden time change over with quick and means that when I leave the cruise at the end, I don't have to have all the good and relaxation of the cruise undone by having to go straight back to work still on the wrong time zone or waste extra days off work, readjusting.

3. I invaraibaly like to buy things on a long trip and if I'm finishing the cruise back in my own country I don't have to worru about what my baggae weighs or where liquids are or aren't packed or whatever.

 

I absolutely loved my last voyage from Italy to South Africa right up until the marathon 3 flights, 20 hour plus , hardly no sleep trip home! My next one I'll be flying to Brazil and returning to the UK. Within half an hour of leaving the ship, I'll be on the train home. No security and check in lines at an airport. No overnight flights!

[mtwingcpa]

I personally prefer to start on a cruise at the furthest point from my home and disembark closest. main reasons

- it gets the horrible long flight out the way at the start...

 

I've got to agree, that's excellent advice! And I wish I had followed it on more than one occasion. :-)

[Tenngal]

I'm cruising 14 nights with RCCL from Brazil to Barcelona in March...that equals a long flight at both ends, but the flight home from Barcelona is shorter than the outgoing one to Brazil. I selected this cruise because of the itinerary, though, as I've never visited any of the ports of call, and wanted to do a TA. Plus, the price was too good to pass up!

[Faith77]

I just took my longest cruise to the PC over the Christmas and New Years holidays. Since I work at a university May/June and the end of the year are the best times for me to travel.

 

I wondered how I'd do with all the sea days and I was happily surprised that I really enjoyed this relaxing cruise. So, I've been thinking about a ta cruise with an interesting itinerary for my 60th birthday in 2011.

 

Any suggestions?

When you are checking out possibilities how much emphasis do you put on the ship?

What are the best ways to check out the different itineraries from the different cruiselines.

Thanks,

 

Faith

[Tenngal]

Hi, Faith...

I've always wanted to do a TA crossing. I never thought about crossing the Equator as well, until I saw the cruise itinerary for the one I booked. It looked too good to pass up.

To answer your questions, the ship itself is somewhat important. I've never been on Splendour, but I know that RCCL is a good cruise line, so I'm not worried about the amenties onboard being to my satisfaction.

Choosing an itinerary is quite subjective--depends on where you'd be interested in going. To see different itineraries, probably the most direct way is to go to one of the online travel agencies, and plug in "transatlantic" on their search engine--see what pops up!

I hope you find a cruise that is enjoyable for you!

[Colorado Kat]

Hmmm...I never thought about making sure my long flight was in the beginning while I'm excited, and the short flight at the end. Sounds good! Now I've got to start searching for good deals.

 

Thanks...Kathy

[kitty9]

My preference is to cruise East to West---from Europe to the US. With those repositioning cruises you gain an hour on at least five nights, which means more fun, or sleep depending on what you prefer. But if you cruise from West to East, you lose an hour five nights during your cruise, and that gets pretty boring.

 

Spring trans Atlantics are March/April/May and go from the US to Europe. Fall trans Atlantics start in October and go through early December---starting mostly in Barcelona, Lisbon or London---some may start in Rome.

[zoncom]

Love em! In planning/deciding phase for Spring TA. 8th one. Best bang for the buck out there;also fewer flites. The date for final payment is fast approaching. fares will be going down soon; patience please; no ship will sell out this Spring. Looking at HAL Westerdam 20 nite and Celebrity Equinox 14N. W has excellent itin, full promenade,BYOW(wine)mediocre food. We are Elite on X. Equinox; soso itin,beautiful new ship,much better food. Solarium pool to die for. On Equinox with shorter itin, we could get off at Villefranche and go to Nice before going to Cinque terre where we have reservations. Westerdam ends Venice for 2 days, also nice. X has started good reductions, HAL not yet. Time will tell. Kind of leaning towards Celebrity.

[gregdude]

I'm doing a 45 day cruise on HAL from Rio and ending in NYC this March. As stated before the long flight is the first part of the trip. Since I live in New Jersey I have just a 45 minute drive home at the end of the cruise. Best of all we arrive in New York on April 25 just as spring begins in this part of the world.