posted by Joyce on May 5
Repositioning or ‘repo’ cruises offer some really great discount opportunities.
A cruise line that is moving a cruise ship from one home port to another will call that voyage a “repositioning cruise”. Generally cruise ships depart and return to the same port.
But sometimes the cruise line will want to maneuver its fleet a bit differently. Alaskan cruise liners might winter in San Diego in order to explore the Mexican Riviera. At any rate, they need to move a cruise ship from the old home port to a new home port.
You can bet the cruise lines want as many paying travelers aboard as possible.
The purpose of a repositioning cruise is getting from Port A to Port B. However, you will have access to all that the cruise ship has to offer just as on a conventional cruise. The only thing is that the cruise is not following a fixed route and lots of fun ports-of-call. In fact, a repositioning cruise may not stop at any ports of call.
That is the reason that you can often get a good bargain on a repositioning cruise. However, you need to be a particular type of passenger to really make this work out for you.
First, you need to be a cruise passenger who enjoys “ship time” more than “port time.” If you like onboard activities, or simply enjoy soaking in the scenery from the deck, this is a perfect vacation for you.
Second, you’ll have to deal with getting to one port to start the cruise and getting off at another to go back home. That means your airfare may be a bit pricier. You’ll be getting two one-way fares.
A fantastic value on a cruise would be a repositioning cruise that starts or stops in a port near your home town.
The advantages of a repositioning cruise are mainly financial. It usually does not offer any new sights or destinations beyond the standard cruise package and it creates a bit of a passenger inconvenience by starting and stopping at different places. However, it is often offered at a definite discount.
You can get information about repositioning cruises from most cruise line websites or travel websites. They are usually listed in among the regular offerings but they should be flagged as repositioning cruise.
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