Cruises - Using cheap repositioning cruises for intercontinental travel

Sure, you have to be able to be flexible in time and uncertainty but repo cruises are offering some sweet deals for inter-continental travel.

I'm seeing some TATL cruises this autumn from Europe to the Americas for as low as $399 (before taxes/fees) and this one came with a $150 cabin credit. It's certainly attractive if one has enough time. Going for something smaller and more luxurious and it doesn't cost me that much more than fuel surcharges on an one way award ticket. :mad:

TPAC cruises are harder to find but they're out there. Often not as cheap but equivalent to a cheap TPAC BC ticket each way (e.g., Kobe-Vancouver $1,900 inc taxes exc. gratuities), and the repo cruises between California and Canada are almost as cheap as air travel (5-day cruise from LGB-YVR cost about the same as the OW ticket on AS YVR-LAX).

My last transatlantic had a musician who no longer flies onboard with his family & entourage. Cruising allows him to still please his fans worldwide.

Our family has done two transatlantic cruises- one as a repositioning, one as regularly scheduled crossing on the QM2. Both were great vacations in and of themselves-- but there were more activities and entertainments on the QE2 and it was much shorter (7 days vs 13) The repo was 825 per person for a balcony cabin and 599 for inside with added gravy of 225 cabin credit for the balcony and 125 for the inside.
We would love to do more repositioning cruises, but find that now that our daughter is in high school it is much harder to miss a week of classes (pretty much the minimum for a two week crossing even that means no time Europe once you get there).

The two transatlantic cruises I've done were both last minute for $399.
The first I got an inside cabin but the 2nd I was upgraded to a balcony stateroom. I went on the balcony exactly two times for about 5 minutes each. Just too windy and cold in the middle of the Atlantic in April. There's not much to see in the open ocean so I still wouldn't even pay for a window.

We did a TATL with a balcony cabin. I just like to look at the ocean and feel as if I have that extra room. We had a friend who feared flying and would always do cruises to Europe, etc.

We've done about a half dozen TATL cruises, mostly on the smaller ships of Oceania (https://www.oceaniacruises.com/).

We love the sea days and we participate in the daily round of activities - table tennis, shuffleboard, etc. - with like-minded cruisers.

They are a good fit for frequent flyers, who can use points and aren't afraid to arrange their own one-ways. We ordinarily do very well with the credit offered by the cruise line to "independents." In November we flew LH F one-way on points SEA-FRA-BCN, a very nice start to our TATL. :)

great if you have the time....also great value....

we won't take another, though, because we found out we don't like 8 days w/o a port.....even on seaboard...

great if you have the time....also great value....

we won't take another, though, because we found out we don't like 8 days w/o a port.....even on seaboard...

I would suggest a shorter and more port-intensive cruise as a starter for any first-time cruiser. Cruising itself is not for everybody and, as you suggest, YMMV regarding all those sea days on a trans-oceanic repositioning cruise.

great if you have the time....also great value....

we won't take another, though, because we found out we don't like 8 days w/o a port.....even on seaboard...

The northern transatlantic cruises are great because they usually are a few days in port a few sea days a few days in port a few sea days etc, ours was originally scheduled for no more than 2 sea days in a row (stopping in Iceland breaks it up) although we ended up with 4 in a row due to missing a port in Canada.

I found the sea days actually quite relaxing and didn't mind them at all, even when there were 6 in a row. Fortunately there was a guest lecturer who had pretty interesting material every day during the sea days. Of course dining in the dining rooms easily took up over 4-5+ hrs out of every day. I had intended to catch up on writing but never got a chance to. And not that I would pay for internet to while away the time.

A dearth of port days is what makes these cruises cheap. :D

As a point of how much of a bargain these cruises can be, one of the Holland America cruises I was considering dropped the verandah rate from $1,000 down to $629 a few weeks before crossing for a 13 nt voyage.

We are considering a TA cruise for our move to Germany. The cost of a RT ticket for the 3 of us and no knowing our return date=$250/change fee per ticket down the road vs a vacation relaxing at sea...about the same amount of $. We can get a return 1 way quite reasonably compared to 1 way from the US to Germany. Only problem is most likely our arrival date for the project is summer and limits us to the QM2 which is much pricier.

The 2 wk cruises in April/May are significantly cheaper and the kids and I can afford the time off from school. We will be removing my son from his school for the move (1st grade). Daughter is just in preschool and I am laid off from work. Hubby's employer is covering his flight and we can just meet up with him!!!

The kids can enjoy the kid's club and I can have mommy time! No cleaning, no cooking, no schedule! Love the idea!

My Father and I took a Trans Atlantic repositioning cruise last year on Royal Caribbean Serenade of the Seas from San Juan-Barcelona and loved it so much that were doing another one from New Orleans-Rome in April on the Navigator of the Seas and then we will tour Rome.

Cruising is the best way for intercontinental travel in my opinion. You get time to relax during the sea days and see ports that are rarely seen such as the Azores, Toulon France and Livorno Italy.

The dining room is really good as is the buffet and the activities on board including dancing, nightly shows are really good.

We found our upcoming cruise for $700 per person in an Oceanview Cabin. Looking at airfares to Europe it would be $1200. I had Southwest Vouchers that needed to be used from San Jose CA-New Orleans. Be aware you won;t fly to and from the same airport so be sure you use Cruise Air or your cruise line's air department. My Father found his airfare going back on Alitalia for $500 from FCO-LAX-SFO. He is staying overseas for a bit longer.

I was able to use my Frequent Flier Miles on Lufthansa(United Miles) 30,000+$75 in taxes. Airlines charge a lot for one ways so this is the best use of miles.

Plan to arrive at least 2 days before your cruise and stay at least a week or more in Europe to enjoy it and to avoid delays.

I picked the itinerary and had the choice between Fort Lauderdale or New Orleans which I thought would be more interesting than going to Orlando. And cruising down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico should be interesting.

Once you do one Trans Atlantic Cruise you will be hooked for life and it would be hard to do a 7 night cruise again. For the price of one week you can go for 2 weeks to awesome places. Its one of the best deals in the travel industry.

I would recommend you this site (http://www.repositioncruises.com/) as a great place to find info on departure dates, destinations and itineraries on cruise ship repositioning cruises. They update regularly the info there, and also add new tables, so I expect they soon will add a survey on Transatlantic repositioning cruises just like this one (http://www.repositioncruises.com/panama-canal-repositioning-cruises/) for repositioning cruises through Panama Canal.

As to the TA one-way crossings - see this link (http://www.shipcruise.org/repositioning-cruises/593-transatlantic-repositioning-cruises-europe) for Transatlantic repositioning cruise ships in 2013 and this for round-trip (http://www.transatlanticcruisecrossings.com/round-trip-transatlantic-cruises/) Transatlantic cruise crossings - I was surprised to see other ships doing Transatlantic round-trip cruises besides the Cunard's Queen Mary liner.

I was surprised to see other ships doing Transatlantic round-trip cruises besides the Cunard's Queen Mary liner.

Many of these are port-intensive ones that cover Newfounland/Labrador, Greenland, Iceland, Scandinavia in summer and are quite expensive. The other round trips are not as cheap as the repos.

we took 2 repos with NCL, and loved it.
Last one on Epic, went to see Blue Men Group twice, at no additional charge, just loved it. Flying on the way back, we stopped in Iceland, really cool place.

I really like sea days, very relaxing for me.