what is a great repositioning cruise?

[musicmansmom]

i have 3 weeks vacation now and take longer cruises if i wish. i would love to take a repo cruise but dont know what would be a good one. i really dont want to spend the money on a flight going over seas to meet the ship so i guess starting in the usa or canada is where the starting point should be.

 

please tell me about yours and what it was like and on what ship. i want to be out at sea longer and i have heard these cruises are cheaper. is this true ? please give me any advice you can. i want to start planning for next years cruise already.

 

hummmm, maybe a back to back would be just as good :rolleyes: . i will have to think about that as well :D

[BEAV]

A Transatlantic reposition is pretty much out of the question since you stated you don't want to do a one-way overseas flight. So based on that, the best recommendation I can give you is a Panama Canal cruise. Most repositioning canal cruises sail Florida to California or vice versa. And since you love sea days, these are also good cruises because there is generally always one or two sea days between each port. These cruises average 14 days, give or take a few. Longer if you start out (or end up) in Vancouver.

 

Also, since low cost carriers such as Southwest, JetBlue, Airtran, etc are all one-way priced, the major carriers have, for the most part, have been forced to follow suit. This can be a benefit when taking repositioning cruises since it's so much easier to find reasonable one-way air fare compared to just a few years ago.

[Steamboatin]

Another alternative may be to cruise with a cruise line that is repositioning its vessel from the Caribbean to the New England/Canada spring to fall cruises.

 

Thus you could sail from a port in Florida depending on the cruise line to Boston and than onto Monteral, Canada. That first cruise would be a longer run.

 

This cruise would be available in the spring when they are taking the vessel up north and in the fall when they are bringing it back down to do the Caribbean in the winter.

 

Thus as I see it you now have 2 options or 1 option for 2 years of cruising.

[crisp1]

For April 9 the Repo for the NCL Crown, 16 days, free air,free hotel pre cruise from Chile to Phila for $1600 pp from NCL.... If only I had the time

[musicmansmom]

you all have given me great ideas to think about. i really appriciate the itineries you mentioned. and being on the ship for that many days sounds great. i will really have to check these routes out and see what one i will choose. i really am glad for all the help here :) . this board is the best.

[chasetf]

you all have given me great ideas to think about. i really appriciate the itineries you mentioned. and being on the ship for that many days sounds great. i will really have to check these routes out and see what one i will choose. i really am glad for all the help here :) . this board is the best.

The repo's usually have more sea days than the round trippers. We like that ... but you need to consider / look at that too. Some of the Panama trips mentioned give you a wide variety of ports to start and end at. You can sometimes add the short leg (3 or 4 dayer) at the end. For instance a repo may end in LA, and have a 3 day trip getting to Vancouver.

 

We have been considering the trans Atlantic but worry about weather, especially in Apr. I would tend to consider a southern route coming out of the med to Fl for instance.

[musicmansmom]

chasetf

 

thanks for the reply. you are so right about the rough sea's on more sea day cruises. i would like to do the '' start in montreal and end up in florida if i can arrainge it. it would depend on the time of year. i do not want to book a longer cruise in the hurricane season. so perhaps doing one on the west side of the country would be a better choice. wow, there are so many things to consider :D . i will have alot of research and net-surfing to do this fall and winter :) . have a great time on your cruise when you go.

[trubey]

I loved my transatlantic crossing for the tranquility of the sea days and as a means to actually cross the Atlantic without the hectic to-do of air traffic.

 

My one bit of warning, advice, whatever: the average age of the passengers was quite a bit higher than my other cruise. If, this matters to you (I found it fine), be wary of finding any action after the shows. The place really shuts down. But, it also means that you are just about the only one in the pool.

 

susana.

[DanJ]

I kind of like the Jewel Of The Seas repo cruise departing Boston Oct 31. It stops in Bermuda, San Juan, St Thomas, Curacao, Aruba and ends in Ft Lauderdale. It's only 12 days, so it's a little on the short side as far as repositioning goes, I guess. But it has a sea day, then 2 days in Bermuda, overnighting there. Then another sea day before arriving late morning (11am) in San Juan, so you don't have to feel rushed to get up early. Then a full day in St Thomas before another sea day brings you to Curacao. Then a long day in Aruba (staying there till 1am) before 2 final sea days back to Ft Lauderdale.

[mii]

This coming May we are doing the repot on Coral Princess from FLL through the panama Canal and ending in San Francisco. 14 day. I think though that next year it will be from FLL to L.A. They ususally do repo either in late spring and then in the fall.

 

Marilyn

[LizaMM]

I kind of like the Jewel Of The Seas repo cruise departing Boston Oct 31. It stops in Bermuda, San Juan, St Thomas, Curacao, Aruba and ends in Ft Lauderdale. It's only 12 days, so it's a little on the short side as far as repositioning goes, I guess. But it has a sea day, then 2 days in Bermuda, overnighting there. Then another sea day before arriving late morning (11am) in San Juan, so you don't have to feel rushed to get up early. Then a full day in St Thomas before another sea day brings you to Curacao. Then a long day in Aruba (staying there till 1am) before 2 final sea days back to Ft Lauderdale.

 

 

Ohhh! This sounds great!! I would love a repo cruise for my next venture and have begun looking into them....I really do like the nightlife on board a ship though and am worried that I would miss this...On RCCL do the Repo cruises attract a mostly older crowd?? Are the night events present??? Thanks for posting this....Boston is not a long drive for me and I might be able to do it!! Anyone have experience on an RCCL repo cruise??

[musicmansmom]

This coming May we are doing the repot on Coral Princess from FLL through the panama Canal and ending in San Francisco. 14 day. I think though that next year it will be from FLL to L.A. They ususally do repo either in late spring and then in the fall.

 

Marilyn

 

this sounds like a really good one that would fit my needs. dans sounds good too. wow, i will have some deciding to do for sure :) . i will check into this one for sure for next year and see when the best time to go would be. cant wait to check it out.

 

thanks marilyn

[CaliforniaDreamin]

We like this 14 nite cruise with stops at Catalina Island, San Francisco, Seattle, Victoria, Hubbard Glacier, Juneau, Ketchikan, Skagway, Sitka, Inside Passage in May and reverse in September.

[DanJ]

.I really do like the nightlife on board a ship though and am worried that I would miss this...On RCCL do the Repo cruises attract a mostly older crowd?? Are the night events present???

 

They will still have the night time activities. Longer cruises do generally attract an older crowd, but you will still see a wide variety of age groups. I would love to do a cruise like this but I'm not sure I can convince my wife to leave the kids that long. The 7 day cruise we just did was long enough for her I think.

 

Pre-kids, we did a 10 day Panama Canal cruise on Carnival, and it was a very old crowd.

[Mmm...coffee!]

A repo I've got my eye on is Quebec City to Ft. Lauderdale on Princess. There aren't many sea days, though.

[musicmansmom]

A repo I've got my eye on is Quebec City to Ft. Lauderdale on Princess. There aren't many sea days, though.

 

that sounds like the one i was thinking about. how did you find the cruise? on the princess site or some other web site? thanks for any info. :)

[musicmansmom]

We like this 14 nite cruise with stops at Catalina Island, San Francisco, Seattle, Victoria, Hubbard Glacier, Juneau, Ketchikan, Skagway, Sitka, Inside Passage in May and reverse in September.

 

what ship is this on??? sounds good too. you guys are making it hard to nail one down. and the older crowd is fine with me. i would love to have the pool alone for a change :D . thanks for all the great cruise itineraries. they are fantastic

[CaliforniaDreamin]

what ship is this on??? sounds good too. you guys are making it hard to nail one down. and the older crowd is fine with me. i would love to have the pool alone for a change :D . thanks for all the great cruise itineraries. they are fantastic

 

It's the Celebrity Summit. The prices have dropped some recently for the May cruise. This was my favorite cruise. Look here: http://www.celebritycruises.com/plancruise/ships/ship.do?shipCode=SM

[musicmansmom]

thanks for the link. i will check it out.

[Mmm...coffee!]

that sounds like the one i was thinking about. how did you find the cruise? on the princess site or some other web site? thanks for any info. :)

 

I think it came out in a mailer we received. It's sometime in late October, at the end of the fall foliage season. Some websites have listings for repositioning cruises. Sometimes they are hard to find because they don't fit into the usual geographic searches.

[musicmansmom]

I think it came out in a mailer we received. It's sometime in late October, at the end of the fall foliage season. Some websites have listings for repositioning cruises. Sometimes they are hard to find because they don't fit into the usual geographic searches.

 

they are hard to find. their is one site ( vtg ) that does show them. it is a starting point. thanks

[RHefley228]

Celebrity has an 8-day repositioning cruise from NY to England leaving April 28th for $400 pp. Look at AirHitch for cheap ways to fly back. You could also buy a RT air ticket to get you home and not use the return--or, if you can break your vacation into two segments, go back to England in the fall, having booked a repositioning cruise back to the US.

 

The one I did in '94 was terrific: Lisbon to Cadiz to Casablanca to Funchal to Fort Lauderdale, with an emergency diversion to Bermuda to offload an extremely ill passenger. I personally loved the days at sea; I could feel my blood pressure declining every day. Of course, it helped that the ocean was smooth as glass all the way across; the North Atlantic in April might be another story...

[Leafpeeper]

I kind of like the Jewel Of The Seas repo cruise departing Boston Oct 31. It stops in Bermuda, San Juan, St Thomas, Curacao, Aruba and ends in Ft Lauderdale. It's only 12 days, so it's a little on the short side as far as repositioning goes, I guess. But it has a sea day, then 2 days in Bermuda, overnighting there. Then another sea day before arriving late morning (11am) in San Juan, so you don't have to feel rushed to get up early. Then a full day in St Thomas before another sea day brings you to Curacao. Then a long day in Aruba (staying there till 1am) before 2 final sea days back to Ft Lauderdale.

 

What's also great about this cruise is that airfare is cheap from Ft. Lauderdale home. Unfortunately, DH works retail and can't take time off in Nov & Dec. When he retires, we will book this cruise for sure--if RCCL offers it again. Between the NE foliage and sailing to Bermuda and the caribbean, I can't think of a better vacation.

 

We did a Boston to Bermuda and caribbean cruise in early October last year on Jewel and absolutely loved it. We were so disappointed when RCCL changed the itinerary to NE/Canada instead this year. Perhaps things will change next year--just give me one week in Bermuda and I would be so happy.

 

Mary

Plymouth, MA

[musicmansmom]

Celebrity has an 8-day repositioning cruise from NY to England leaving April 28th for $400 pp. Look at AirHitch for cheap ways to fly back. You could also buy a RT air ticket to get you home and not use the return--or, if you can break your vacation into two segments, go back to England in the fall, having booked a repositioning cruise back to the US.

 

The one I did in '94 was terrific: Lisbon to Cadiz to Casablanca to Funchal to Fort Lauderdale, with an emergency diversion to Bermuda to offload an extremely ill passenger. I personally loved the days at sea; I could feel my blood pressure declining every day. Of course, it helped that the ocean was smooth as glass all the way across; the North Atlantic in April might be another story...

 

that sounds like a great cruise. i am really getting some great ideas here for a repo. choosing one will be hard. :)

[atb]

If you're looking for a long trip - Holland America has 20-day Panama Canal - Sept 30, 2007, Seattle to New York.

Seattle, 2 sea days - LA, 1 sea day, Cabo San Lucas, 1 sea day, Acapulco, Huatulco, El Quetzal, 1 sea day, Puntarenas, Golfo Dulce, Panama Canal, 1 sea day, Aruba, 1 sea day, Half Moon Cay, 2 sea days, New York.

We are looking at this for next year - we usually book TransAtalantic - this year - Barcelona to Ft Lauderdale, 16 days.