Repositioning cruises

[Baseball Lover]

How do you find out about these? Are they booked far in advance or last minute? Are they less expensive than regular routes for the same time?

Thanks!

[KAYEF]

Some get booked far in advance, others don't. They are listed far ahead because the ships always have to get from one area to another (as from Alaska back to the Caribbean.)

We LOVED our long one from Seattle, north to Vancouver, south to the Mexican Riviera, to Guatemala, Costa Rica, through the Panama Canal and "all over" the Caribbean.............it was amazing and we'd do it again. In fact, we want to repeat it with one that also goes up the Amazon.

A friend took a repo cruise from Florida to Italy this spring.

They are in brochures and online.

We got ours at a great price from *****..........booked that one in March for a Sept. sailing date but have booked other cruises much closer to the date and one 13 months away. I check that site daily. ;)

[LAFFNVEGAS]

We are getting ready to take our first ever Repositioning cruise on the Veendam Sept.24th. Because it is the first 4 days of a 35 day cruise we will be occupying cabins of those that will embark this cruise in L.A. Because of this we also were not able to select a cabin just a Guanatee Catagory. It is still showing GUAR for us. We booked an S Guarantee and found it to be less expensive per day by about $135.00 per day of what we normally pay for a S Suite. I do not know how it compares with the other categories. We are planning on booking another one for next year in the Fall. I did notice that some of the repositionings are just that and not a continuation of another cruise so you can actually select your cabin number.

Also one thing of note, often my TA gets me slightly better prices than the rack rates prices on the HAL web site. With the repositioning cruise the best prices is what HAL offers as well as the On-Line agencies. Everyone tends to have the exact same price for these. But I beleive that they do sometimes off specials for these so if you live in the Seattle or Vancouver area it would be ideal for last minute mini cruise.:)

[Tinknock50]

Lisa,

My online TA website has it for $200 less than HAL for your cabin guarantee.

 

Also checked next year in May and a "C" ,for an example, was about half as much as HAL.

 

Unfortunately, the rules forbid me to name the agency here.:(

[Bramcruiser]

I actually stumbled across the repo cruise I did last year by accident. I was visiting online websites for cruises and came across a category known as "Pacific Northwest" and thought - I didn't know they did cruises there. As it turned out these were the repo cruises on the west coast before and after the Alaska season. I saw a Vancouver-San Diego cruise on the Oosterdam and just thought that the trip would be interesting enough to book. Sometimes these cruises are also listing under the heading of "Pacific Coastal" on some sites.

 

You'll likely find repo cruises on both the east and west coasts in spring (late April and early May) as well as in the fall (Sept/Oct). You'll also see transatlantic cruises listed on most cruise lines as they are simply repo cruises to transfer ships from Carribean destinations to Europe for various seasonal cruises. The only transatlantics that are not true repositioning cruises are the Cunard QM2 trips as this is a regular scheduled service. Most Panama Canal cruises are also repo cruises.

 

So as you can see repo cruises can vary in length from 1 day to more than two weeks. If you want to do something other than the traditional Carribbean/New England/Alaska or Mexico cruises they might be of interest. Only be forewarn that most repo cruises are one-way and thus the trip ends somewhere other than where it began.

 

As for prices? I found them usually good bargains as the oddball nature of the trip tends to attract smaller numbers and the cruise line needs to fill up the ships. You can usually do well price-wise with a repo cruise.

[jhannah]

They have been nice for us since we live very close to the left coast. We don't have far to travel, we stay in our home time zone, and it makes for a wonderful 3- or 4-day getaway. We have found that they don't give you a canvas bag or commemorative tile on the coastals. Maybe that's why they're cheaper! ;)

[papadave]

If you want to be sure you are getting a good deal, do a little math and check the price per day for the repositioning cruise versus other cruises. Most, although I doubt all, come out to be cheaper per day. A transatlantic cruise or repositioning from Vancouver to Florida is likely to be longer than many other cruises. Most repositioning cruises do not coincide with school vacations, so you won't encounter as many families with school age children.

 

If I were retired (I'm 43, so that's a long way off) I would jump on some repositioning cruises. It may be trickier to arrange for flights that are not round trip, but it seems like it might be worthwhile.

 

Be careful to check the itinerary as some repositioning cruises don't offer much in the way of ports. For example, a Nov. 15th cruise from Lisbon, Portugal on Oceana makes one stop at Ponta Delgada, Portugal, followed by eight sea days before reaching Miami, the final desination for that cruise. While it looks like a bargain (around $750 per person for an inside cabin through *****), you need to know going in that the itinerary lacks port stops before deciding whether it is the cruise for you. A RCCL cruise leaving Barcelona, Spain makes two port stops in Portugal, followed by 7 days at sea before ending in Miami (around $600 per person for an inside cabin at the same site). Contrast this with an Oct. 21 cruise starting in England, ending in Tampa, Florida, with a stop in Spain and three ports in the Carribbean (around $1000 per person for an inside cabin).

[obriendan]

HAL also does a repositioning cruise in the Asia-Pacific area. On March 2, 2007 the Statendam moves from Australia-New Zealand cruises to Hong Kong-Osaka cruises with a 20 day repositioning cruise. The prices are quite good. The 20 day repositioning cruise is about the same price as the 14 day Hong Kong to Osaka cruises that follow:) . But the airfare is quite high and getting higher:( !

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Actually as far as air fare here in Las Vegas it was quite cheap which surprised me. I purchased on-line at United. We fly non-stop to Vancouver on Air Canada and fly home on TED from L.A. and it was less than $200 per person total. Of course I bought it about 6 months ago, thought I better jump on it while the prices were appearing so cheap.:D

[Atomica]

I did a 3 day Pacific Northwest cruise on the Oosterdam last May, as well as a 4-day Vancouver to LA on the Veendam last September, and a 2 day Seattle to Vancouver on the Veendam this May. And I'll probably do some more next year :)

 

They're a fantastic value if you live on or close to the West Coast. Usually there are still cabins left at the last minute, though some will sell out faster than others - I noticed balcony cabins are already gone for some of the ones next May. All of the ones I've booked have been Guarantees only - no specific cabin numbers. That worked very well for us this May, when we were upgraded from a BB Balcony cabin to an S-Suite on the Veendam.

 

It's a great way to try a new ship or line, or just to take a quick little cruise. I introduced my girlfriend to cruising this way, and now she's hooked :)

[Bramcruiser]

To add to Atomica's comments, they are great if you live on the appropriate coast. However, I even did a west coast repo and I live in the east end of the continent. I simply decided to spend some land vacation time at both ends and extended a 4 day cruise into a 10 day vacation. However, it does help to have relatives to stay with at one or both ends like I had. Otherwise, get that cheque book out.

[Mary Ellen]

You don't have to live on a coast to get a deal. We were considering a Trans-Atlantic repositioning cruise next spring. We would've needed to fly home from Rome. I found a one-way Rome to Colorado Springs (not exactly a major hub) for about $500. You just need to look into it if something appeals to you.