What is a Repositioning Cruise?
Have you ever dreamed of sailing across the Atlantic? Or maybe you want to go big and go for the Pacific? Let me introduce you to the repositioning cruise. These often have different names to them based on where they are going – Transatlantic, Panama Canal, Transpacific, Pacific Coastal, Eastern Seaboard and Canada/New England – but often these cruises are cruises for the purpose of bring the ship from one place to another, or “repositioning” the ship so to speak. What is a repositioning cruise? Are they really any different than a regular cruise? Let’s take a look.
What is a Repositioning Cruise?
To keep it simple – a repositioning cruise is a one-way cruise moving the ship from one region to another for the purpose of its changing seasonal itineraries. However, to better understand what a repositioning cruise is and why they happen you need to understand a little bit about how cruise lines schedule where their ships will be when and why.
Why Do Ships Need to Reposition At All?
Cruise lines will create itineraries and assign cruise ships where they think their customers want to go. These locations change throughout the year. This is largely because of weather, but it also has to do with school vacation schedules and what kind of cruise people are looking for at different vacation times.
The weather may seem obvious – cruising to Alaska in the winter, with the cold weather and short daylight hours – is not what most people would find to be a fun or relaxing vacation. Likewise cruising in the Caribbean in the summer – when it is hot, hot, hot, and when it is hot throughout most of the continental United States – is not what most people are looking for in a vacation, either.
School vacations and length of school vacations are also impactful in planning. It is easier for a family to take a cruise in Europe for instance, when at least a full extra day needs to be factored in because of flights, when the kids have longer school vacations.
If you’re from the United States, let’s say you’re from New York, it’s New Years and you want to go on a cruise with your family – do you want to go somewhere warm or cold? Going on a one week cruise in the Caribbean – get some fun and sun and unthaw from the harsh winter – will probably be more appealing than a cruise around Europe or a cruise in Alaska. Both a bit because of the weather but also because of the travel time needed to get there. Some cruises are for exploring, some cruises are for an escape, knowing which cruise should fall when is all part of the logistics of cruising.
What is the Purpose of a Repositioning Cruise?
As the ships need to go where the passengers want to sail, they have to change regions every once in awhile. The purpose of a repositioning cruise is to move the ship from one region to another. There are sometimes cruises throughout the year that will operate similar itineraries to these repositioning cruises. The difference here is that one ship is offering that itinerary regularly, back and forth, and the other ship is offering it for the purpose of moving the ship from one region to another.
These cruises are not often called a “repositioning” cruise in the cruise brochures and online. Typically they are listed under the region they are sailing. For instance, there are ships that will sail through the Panama Canal for an entire season, going back and forth from Fort Lauderdale to San Diego and then back again. Those are not a repositioning cruise because the ship is not repositioning from one region to another, but rather the region that ship is based in for that season (most likely winter) is the Panama Canal – it just happens to be one way itineraries rather than round-trip.
Where Do Repositioning Cruises Go?
Repositioning cruises go everywhere! Because they are used to bring ships from one region to another you can find a repositioning cruise to many different parts of the world. Among the most common are transatlantic cruises, but there are also repositioning cruises offered across the Pacific ocean, through the Panama Canal, along the Pacific Coast of the US, or heading from the south-eastern United States (think Florida) and heading up to Canada/New England. Here’s a quick sampling of some of the regions that repositioning cruises sail to:
| Winter | Summer | Which Repositioning Cruise? | Example Itinerary |
| Caribbean | Europe | Transatlantic | Royal Caribbean Int’l Explorer of the Seas |
| Caribbean | Alaska | Panama Canal | Norwegian Cruise Line Norwegian Sun |
| South America | Europe | Transatlantic | MSC Cruises Preziosa |
| Asia | Alaska | Transpacific | Holland America Line Westerdam |
| Australia/ New Zealand | Alaska | Transpacific | Princess Cruises Majestic Princess |
| Caribbean | Canada/New England | East Coast/ Canada/New England | Holland America Line Zaandam |
| Mexico | Alaska | Pacific Coastal | Celebrity Cruises Celebrity Eclipse |
What Time of Year Do Cruise Ships Reposition?
These repositioning cruises happen at fairly predictable times of the year, largely based on weather and vacation schedules.
Cruise lines want to get the most out of a region that they can, especially those regions that ships typically do not sail to certain times of the year. Most of these repositioning cruises will happen in March or April in the spring and in October and November in the fall.
Repositioning cruises are often scheduled to be outside of the busiest vacation times. As they tend to be longer itineraries, it would be hard to fit a repositioning cruise into a typical one-week spring break time-frame. Because of that cruise lines will often work to move ships either after or before big vacation or holiday weeks.
What Are the Typical Seasons for Different Cruise Regions?*
| Region | Season |
| Alaska | late April – September/October |
| Canada/New England | late April – early October |
| Mediterranean | mid-March through mid-November |
| Baltic | mid-April through October |
| Caribbean | Year round for some ships; however, cruise lines often take their ships out of the Caribbean to go to other regions |
| Asia | mid-October through April |
| Australia/New Zealand | mid-October through April |
Are Repositioning Cruises Less Crowded?
Remember that a cruise line is a business and especially after the pandemic they need to keep an eye on the bottom line. Repositioning cruises are one-way journeys from region to region that are often a little bit longer. This makes them generally less appealing to families traveling.
These repositioning cruises can also be from places quite far from home requiring not just one but two long flights. These flights can sometimes be expensive, but additionally many travelers do not want to take a long flight just to get on a ship and sail away. Many would want to stay and explore the region. This further makes it more challenging for families to sail on these repositioning cruises as if you want to explore the region you need to schedule that time in before the cruise (or add on a cruise before!)
By nature that these voyages tend to be outside of busy school vacation weeks and because they are slightly longer they will nearly always be less crowded than a typical cruise.
When you look at the passenger capacity of a ship, it will often show it to you listed either as “based on double occupancy” or for “lower berths”. This number does not take into account the third and fourth passengers (often kids) that can be accommodated in some staterooms.
As a personal anecdote – the ship I have worked on for awhile has a double occupancy of around 1,300 passengers. The ship could be sold-out (each cabin is occupied) with just 1,300 passengers onboard. However, during a cruise over a busy vacation week (or during the summer) there are a lot of families adding more people into those cabins. During those times our happy little 1,300 passenger ship can get up to nearly 1,600 passengers. On a megaship those 300 extra passengers might not seem like a big difference, but that’s adding nearly 25% more people to our ship and let me tell you, you can feel the difference.
How Long is a Repositioning Cruise?
Repositioning cruises tend to be at least 10 days in length; however, many are longer than that. The shortest tend to be along the west coast of the United States, listed as “Pacific Coastal Cruises”. These are usually from somewhere in California to Vancouver, moving from the Mexico/Hawaii season to Alaska or vice versa. Aside from these you will find most repositioning cruises are crossing oceans or sailing from one side of a continent to another it takes some time. Plus, cruise lines know that while being onboard is a vacation in itself, people cruise to see the world, so there are days in port on repositioning cruises as well making them a bit longer.
Here’s a quick sample of some repositioning cruises:
| Ship | Repositioning Location (And from which region to which) | Length of Voyage |
| Crown Princess | Pacific Coastal – from Vancouver (Alaska season) to San Francisco (Mexico) | 3 nights |
| Eurodam | Panama Canal – from Seattle to Fort Lauderdale (Alaska season to Caribbean) | 21 nights |
| Silver Cloud (Silversea) | South America – Fort Lauderdale (Caribbean) to Lima (South America) | 15 nights |
| Celebrity Summit | Caribbean – Boston (Canada/New England) to Miami (Caribbean) | 10 nights |
| Anthem of the Seas | Transatlantic – Cape Liberty (Caribbean – this ship is operating winter cruises to the Caribbean from New Jersey) to Southampton (Europe) | 11 nights |
| Westerdam | Transpacific – Seattle (Alaska) to Yokohama (Asia) | 13 nights |
| Majestic Princess | Transpacific – Vancouver (Alaska) to Auckland (Australia/New Zealand Cruises) | 26 nights |
Some Repositioning Cruises are Multiple Cruises Combined
Let’s take the Majestic Princess Transpacific sailing in October. This cruise is being sold as a 26 night cruise from Vancouver to Auckland. It is also being sold as a 21 night from Los Angeles to Auckland. And then, this same voyage is being sold as a Pacific Coastal cruise from Vancouver to Los Angeles. So many options but a little bit confusing. Let’s break it down a bit more.
This is what the 26 night option looks like:
Here’s a break down of how it’s actually a few cruises combined:
October 3rd – Vancouver, Canada – Passengers will join the ship either for 5 days to Los Angeles OR for 26 nights to Auckland, New Zealand
October 8th – Los Angeles, California – Those guests that were sailing only the Pacific Coastal portion of this repositioning cruise will disembark. Guests sailing on the 21 night Transpacific will join.
October 29th – Auckland, New Zealand – All guests sailing on both the 26 night Transpacific (beginning in Vancouver) and those guests sailing on the 21 night Transpacific (beginning in Los Angeles) will disembark in New Zealand. (Or maybe some of them will stay on for the cruise after!)
This is just an example of this – but it’s worth keeping an eye out for. Perhaps you had found the 26 night cruise initially but really leaving from Los Angeles would be a bit easier for you. Keep an eye out for itineraries that might be multiple repositioning cruises combined.
Can I Add Another Cruise onto a Repositioning Cruise?
A great way to get the most out of a repositioning cruise is to add a cruise on either to the beginning or end of it. Cruise lines have different names for this, but nearly all of them will allow you to sail back to back either on the same ship or even switch ships when you get to a specific port.
An example of this would be flying to Europe in the fall, enjoying a cruise around the Mediterranean and then taking the repositioning transatlantic cruise to Florida. This would give you a chance to explore the Mediterranean region and then enjoy the relaxation of a transatlantic cruise. The bonus of this of course is if you are from the United States you only have to take one long-haul international flight while still having spent a lovely holiday in the Med.
Here’s an example of a repositioning cruise with an extra cruise added on:
Holland America Line Mediterranean m/s Oosterdam, October 20th – November 1st, Athens (Piraeus), Greece to Barcelona, Spain
Holland America Line Transatlantic on m/s Oosterdam, November 1st – November 15th – Barcelona, Spain to Fort Lauderdale, Florida
It’s also being sold as a complete 26 night adventure from Athens (Piraeus), Greece to Fort Lauderdale, Florida – October 20th – November 15th
Is a Repositioning Cruise the Same as a Transatlantic Cruise?
When repositioning cruises come up this question isn’t far behind. The most well-known type of repositioning cruise is likely the transatlantic cruise; however, not all transatlantic cruises are in fact repositioning the ship between regions or seasons. Additionally, most transatlantic cruises that are offered are repositioning cruises. The big exception to this is on the great dame of the seas, the Queen Mary 2, still offering traditional New York – Southampton transatlantic cruises.
Is a transatlantic cruise inherently a repositioning cruise? No. But, honestly, there is a good chance that among the major cruise lines a transatlantic voyage is going to be a repositioning cruise.
Is a Repositioning Cruise Really That Different Than a Regular Cruise?
The onboard experience on these cruises is not usually much different than on a regular cruise. As cruises sail around the world every day offering a repositioning cruise across oceans and around continents is largely business as usual for a cruise ship, for the program offerings, and for the crew.
Sea days can be hard for the crew though – don’t be surprised if you are on an oceanic crossing and the crew start to seem a bit tired by the end of the crossing. Sea days for most of the crew is more work than a port day.
Want to know why sea days tend to be easier? Take a look at this post going over some of the pros and cons of sea days vs. port days.
Otherwise, repositioning cruises are pretty similar. There might have been crew just joining or just about to leave. It’s not uncommon to see big crew changes in between seasonal changes. Guests should largely not even notice this is happening.
Are Repositioning Cruises a Good Deal?
Repositioning cruises in my opinion are one of the best kept secrets of cruise deals out there. As these cruises tend to be between seasons (still a bit cool in Alaska for instance), are a bit longer, and often have quite a few sea days they can be an incredible deal! Sometimes it’s a last minute deal, but there are definitely some bargains to be had.
Most repositioning cruises are available for less than $50 per person per day. So, for a 14 night repositioning cruise it is likely going to be less than $700 a person. There are some that are around $20 per person per day (yes $20) – so there truly are some deals out there.
The bigger expense often with these repositioning cruises is the airfare. One way flights can be more expensive and many of these cruises will result in at least one international flight. The cruise fare; however, is typically very inexpensive.
Some great repositioning cruise deals in 2023:
Princess Cruises, Sapphire Princess, 6 nights, Los Angeles, California to Vancouver, Canada, $124 or just over $20/person/night
Princess Cruises, Royal Princess, 3 nights, Vancouver to Seattle, $64 or about $22/person/night
MSC Preziosa, 12 nights, April 16th Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Funchal Portugal, $289 or about $24/person/night
Royal Caribbean Int’l – Explorer of the Seas, 15 nights, April 23rd, Miami, Florida to Civitavecchia, Italy, $582 or about $39/person/night
Holland America Line – Zaandam, 11 nights, April 18th, Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Montreal, Canada, $499 or $45/person/day
MSC Cruises, Seaview, 18 nights, November 17th, Marseille, France to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, $499 or $27/person/day
