What Are Repositioning Cruises?

If you're looking to save money, a repositioning cruise can make a great vacation.

What are repositioning cruises?

These trips take place at the end of one cruise season and the beginning of another in a different part of the world. The ship must sail from the old area to the new area, and you can sign up to be on board when she does.

Because repositioning cruises are more about covering ground (er, water) than stopping at every port along the way, you spend more days at sea than with traditional cruises. This can be very relaxing since you're not worrying about what you're going to do and see every day when you're in a new city or even country. You will still stop at some ports, but expect a higher ratio of at-sea days to at-port days in your trip.

Since the ships have so much entertainment on board, many people even prefer these types of cruises, because there is more time to just enjoy the ship's amenities.

Also, one of the big perks of repositioning cruises is that they are cheaper than regular ones. Because they only happen a couple times a year, the trips are harder for the cruise lines to promote. Thus the often deep discounts.

This can make repositioning cruises great vacation deals, and you still get the good food and all the on board activities you want to partake in.

Examples of Repositioning Cruises

In late April, at the end of the Caribbean "high season" cruise lines such as Princess and Holland America reposition some of their ships by sailing them from the Caribbean to Alaska where the summer cruise season is about to begin.

Around the same time other cruise lines reposition some of their ships from the Caribbean to Europe or the Mediterranean.

As you can imagine, these cruises can be a great way to see parts of the world you wouldn't normally see and get a great deal while doing it.