Repositioning Cruise?

[WannaGoNorth]

We are seasoned cruisers. We are considering a 12 night  repositioning cruise from Southampton, England to New Jersey. I'd like to hear from others that have taken a repositioning cruise. What concerns should we have (other then possibly boring sea days)? Is the water rougher then normal? Trying to think this through before me make a commitment.

[CruiserBruce]

Have taken a couple of repositioning cruises, although not on the route you mention. There are no port stops? Really? I suspect there are some, perhaps in some pretty interesting places...Iceland? Greenland? Canada?

 

Anyway, MANY people here on Cruise Critic LOVE repo cruises, and the sea days they entail. But if sea days are not for you, then probably you shouldn't be going.

 

Seas can be rough, smooth, or probably someplace in between, no matter where you are...in the middle of the Atlantic, the Pacific, the Indian Ocean, you name it. Seas are not predictable until a few days prior.

[navybankerteacher]

We have done close to a dozen repositionings - it is the ideal way to come back from travel in Europe in the Fall - when weather there is best, the Atlantic is at its warmest, and fares per day are reasonable.

 

The sea conditions will be what they are - sometimes rough, sometimes flat calm.. We have done 7 day straight shots Southampton-NY, on QM2, a couple of Celebrity longer crossings from Harwich to Miami with a number of stops in France, Spain, Portugal, Atlantic islands, and several from Rome to Fort Lauderdale - one all the way to Galveston which tied in with Thanksgiving with daughter in Houston.

 

In the Fall, book a portside balcony -- the sun all day makes a big difference,  But ----- if you find sea days unbearable you should realize that you will probably have six or so.

[cruising cockroach]

My last cruise was a repo.  Left Honolulu and arrived in Maizuru 12 days later, no sight of land between leaving Oahu and transiting the Strait of Hokkaido.  No annoying stops to interrupt dining on French food and the all-inclusive wine.  Arrived 8 hours late to boot so we got an extra lunch!

[Flatbush Flyer]

42 minutes ago, WannaGoNorth said:

We are seasoned cruisers. We are considering a 12 night  repositioning cruise from Southampton, England to New Jersey. I'd like to hear from others that have taken a repositioning cruise. What concerns should we have (other then possibly boring sea days)? Is the water rougher then normal? Trying to think this through before me make a commitment.

What do you mean by “repositioning” cruise?

For some cruise lines, that plan the order of their itineraries to eventually take them across multiple regions of the world, transoceanic cruises are just another segment (or 2 or 3).

In any case, we’ve done 4+\- week crossings (Pacific, Atlantic - north and south) on our preferred cruise line and every cruise has been memorable (with plenty to do on sea days - including many special activities on sea days between unusual/interesting ports along the way (e.g., Rapa Nui).

One thing is for sure: choose a cruise line that has a higher end onboard experience: first class food and accommodations, no nickel/diming, etc. and excellent service with great crew/passenger and space/passenger ratios.

FWIW, folks who say the ship doesn’t matter, haven’t been on a long cruise, particularly one that has numerous sea days.

FWIW, the closest we’ve come to your plan is 4 weeks - Southampton to NYC but including Euro ports, Norwegian fjords, Iceland/Greenland and stops in Canada/US on the way to NYC. Throw in food considered the “best cuisine at sea” by the top food publications and what more could you ask for?

[Heidi13]

Been around the World at least 3 times and crossed the Atlantic way too many time to count.

 

Sea days are what you make them, and in our experience are definitely not boring. We prefer Westbound cruises, as the 25 hr days provide an extra hour to catch everything. Our last World Cruise we had 40+ sea days without getting ashore - no problem, always lots to do.

 

Weather could be anything from a mill pond (unlikely) to rough. Since you didn't mention time of year, or routing (other ports) it is impossible to provide an opinion of potential weather. On a positive side, W'bd cruises tend to avoid the shortest Great Circle routing, as it fights the North Atlantic Drift and Gulf Stream. Therefore, W'bd cruises tend to take a longer southerly routing, which may experience better weather.

[LHT28]

2 hours ago, WannaGoNorth said:

We are seasoned cruisers. We are considering a 12 night  repositioning cruise from Southampton, England to New Jersey. I'd like to hear from others that have taken a repositioning cruise. What concerns should we have (other then possibly boring sea days)? Is the water rougher then normal? Trying to think this through before me make a commitment.

Depends on the route & time of year

You could get  this  or it could be lovely

[Essiesmom]

Since you mentioned terminating in New Jersey, I assume you are on Royal Caribbean or Celebrity.  I have done at least four trans-Atlantic cruises, and one trans-Pacific.  There are always lots of activities during the day.  Sometimes there were so many things I wanted to do that I had a hard time fitting in a nap.  EM

[WannaGoNorth]

So this cruise that we are considering starts in Southampton, then the Azores, then the cross over the pond, Nova Scotia, Boston and ends in New Jersey. There are two 3-day sea days and a couple single sea days. It is in mid-October. I appreciate the comments from y'all. It sounds like the biggest risk is the weather. None of us get sea-sick but there is always a first. It's a very inexpensive cruise but the two one-way air flights would be costly. That in itself could cancel out the savings. The other benefit of this cruise is we could fly to England a few days early to see my ancestral home that was built in the 17th century. How cool is that?

[LHT28]

There is always hurricane season to consider 

 

Yes if you are flying to the UK you want  to spend  a few days there before the cruise  ..one to get over the jet lag  & two to see the sights

[Heidi13]

1 hour ago, WannaGoNorth said:

So this cruise that we are considering starts in Southampton, then the Azores, then the cross over the pond, Nova Scotia, Boston and ends in New Jersey. There are two 3-day sea days and a couple single sea days. It is in mid-October. I appreciate the comments from y'all. It sounds like the biggest risk is the weather. None of us get sea-sick but there is always a first. It's a very inexpensive cruise but the two one-way air flights would be costly. That in itself could cancel out the savings. The other benefit of this cruise is we could fly to England a few days early to see my ancestral home that was built in the 17th century. How cool is that?

 

Departing Southampton you will exit the Western Approaches and then the outside edge of Bay of Biscay, which can be unpredictable. From the Azores, while not getting too far North, you certainly aren't taking a southern route, so again weather could be an issue.

 

A few days in UK can be most enjoyable. A 17th Centrury house, is great history, although some will consider it fairly new.😀

[shipgeeks]

Since you mentioned the airfare, it might be worth checking out your cruiseline's air options.  We've had significant savings doing that for the non-domestic portion, at least.

[Hlitner]

Repo cruises are often about sea days (we once had 9 sea days in a row).  Some of us love sea days and there are other cruisers that have a strong dislike of sea days.   For DW and I they are relaxing lazy days where we do a lot of reading and sometimes attend an onboard activity (such as a lecture, cooking demo, etc).   There are others who participate/attend all kinds of activities from ping pong to dance classes.   Those of us who enjoy socializing and making new friends simply enjoy chatting, perhaps playing a board game, playing cards, etc.   DW and I have sometimes thought that our ideal cruise would be a 100 day round the world voyage that never stopped at any port :).

 

Hank

[LynnTTT]

On 2/22/2021 at 10:56 PM, WannaGoNorth said:

So this cruise that we are considering starts in Southampton, then the Azores, then the cross over the pond, Nova Scotia, Boston and ends in New Jersey. There are two 3-day sea days and a couple single sea days. It is in mid-October. I appreciate the comments from y'all. It sounds like the biggest risk is the weather. None of us get sea-sick but there is always a first. It's a very inexpensive cruise but the two one-way air flights would be costly. That in itself could cancel out the savings. The other benefit of this cruise is we could fly to England a few days early to see my ancestral home that was built in the 17th century. How cool is that?

I think you'll find that the one way flights won't be as expensive as you think. I agree with others ; we usually travel around Europe for a few weeks and take the transatlantic cruise back home. It's a great way to relax after hectic travel and to get acclimated to the time change. Five or six days at sea are no problem. 

[navybankerteacher]

On 2/23/2021 at 12:05 AM, Heidi13 said:

 

Departing Southampton you will exit the Western Approaches and then the outside edge of Bay of Biscay, which can be unpredictable. From the Azores, while not getting too far North, you certainly aren't taking a southern route, so again weather could be an issue.

 

A few days in UK can be most enjoyable. A 17th Centrury house, is great history, although some will consider it fairly new.😀

As I recall, the "Western Approaches" is a rectangular area of the Atlantic west of Ireland - the southern edge being a line from Lands End and the northern a line from the northern tip of Scotland,  A ship sailing from Southampton to the Azores is very unlikely to enter the "Western Approaches", and probably not really get into the Bay of Biscay - which is to the southeast of a line from Finnesterre in northwest France and the northwest corner or Spain.

Edited February 25, 2021 by navybankerteacher

[Heidi13]

1 hour ago, navybankerteacher said:

As I recall, the "Western Approaches" is a rectangular area of the Atlantic west of Ireland - the southern edge being a line from Lands End and the northern a line from the northern tip of Scotland,  A ship sailing from Southampton to the Azores is very unlikely to enter the "Western Approaches", and probably not really get into the Bay of Biscay - which is to the southeast of a line from Finnesterre in northwest France and the northwest corner or Spain.

 

Your definition might be the Navy version, but it certainly isn't what we used when operating from Southampton, or from UK/Continental ports.

 

The Admiralty has a number of charts titled "Western Approaches", for a ship departing Southampton, the relevant chart is, "Western Approaches to the English Channel" The coverage area of the chart is what we considered the Western Approaches. From memory, the chart extends from the Ushant traffic separation scheme to the coast of Southern Ireland.

 

Departing Southampton, we rounded Ushant, in the outbound lane, then set the course based on destination. Since I have followed these courses more than a few times, I correctly stated the outside edge of the Bay of Biscay. However, even when bound for the Meddy, we did not steam into the Bay of Biscay, but the routing is still described as crossing the Bay of Biscay.

 

In addition to working cruise ships, I have also sailed this route on cargo ships, with one of my ships sailing a UK/Continent shuttle to the Meddy about every 2 weeks. 

[SelectSys]

We like these cruises as we are happy just relaxing on the ship.  We also enjoy the rhythm of the ship that seems to set up after repeated days at sea.

[wowzz]

On 2/23/2021 at 3:56 AM, WannaGoNorth said:

that was built in the 17th century

We lived in a house where the "new" extension was built around 1650.

[Zach1213]

Never done a pleasure cruise across the Atlantic, but in my younger days I rode across on a freighter from Dakar to Nassau. This was in dead summer. Kind of as mentioned above - seas were all over the place, one day would be dead calm, the next choppy. Had a bit of a squall too, that was interesting. Obviously no entertainment or fine dining options, but I loved the empty days of reading, watching the world go by, etc. Looking up at the stars and planets at night was amazing, and definitely much easier on a (darker) cargo ship than it will be on a cruise ship, but you should still have some decent opportunities.