These cruises are amazing because they are cheap, go to beautiful ports, and are typically less crowded than regular cruises. Check out our rundown on repositioning cruises to see if they would be right for you!
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Transcript
Rod: Welcome to the Jetsetting Family Travel Podcast. I’m Rod. I’m Jess. And today we are returning to a topic that we love, one of our favorite ways of travel, which is cruising.
Jess: Yes. I always laugh when we talk about cruising because when Rod and I met, I hated cruising. And I remember when we got our first cruise job, I was like, oh, it’s a job.
It’s paid. Let’s go. All right. And then now I absolutely love it. I think it’s because as a mom now, I just realize it’s such a great vacation for every age and everyone in the family. We get time with our kids, we put them in the kids club and get time just as a couple. Everyone’s happy. We stay busy and we see a ton of locations.
What’s not to love?
Rod: Yeah, it’s a little sampler size of different places that you can go to. And if you find the place that you really enjoyed, then that gives you an opportunity to plan a trip to return and spend more time on a follow-on trip. But instead of just talking about general cruising today, we have a very specific type of cruise that we’ve done and we highly recommend for a variety of reasons, and that is repositioning cruises.
So what’s a repositioning cruise, Jess?
Jess: So repositioning cruise is essentially when a cruise line is trying to get their ship from one part of the world to another. So this ship’s going to go on a long haul trip, whether that’s from Europe all the way to the US, vice versa.
Sometimes they go from Australia to the US or Hawaii. They have these giant trips that aren’t typical itineraries that a cruise ship does, but since the ship has to do the trip no matter what, it’s essentially a requirement for it to get to its Newport. Its new destination. They offer them at ridiculously low prices.
They are really long cruises. Typically, they’re, I’d say 10 to 18 days. Yeah. And they are so cheap that if you can take the time off, I highly recommend it.
Rod: Yeah, and I think we, we wanted to structure this episode like a pro and con list, right? Because even though there are a lot of benefits, mostly benefits to repositioning cruises, there are some cons that make it a little bit harder to plan for.
But, you know, just mentioned the, the number one pro, I think really. That it is more affordable than a typical cruise. And we were looking up repositioning cruises right before this episode, and we were shocked at some of these prices. So, to give you an example, there’s a 14-night repositioning cruise that’s going from Barcelona to Tampa, Florida. And that happens usually within the, the changes of the season. So this one’s happening in November. Once Europe is going into the winter months, then a lot of those cruise ships go to different, more sunny types of regions. And this one, the price for two adults and two kids. Granted this was an interior state room, but even so was around $1,500.
You know, just averaging that out into a two-week thing where everything is included and you had some stops, I think it was stopping in Spain and different islands in Spain. It’s going to the Azores, which is an awesome Atlantic Island that we have not been to. It’s stopping through The Bahamas and then it’s going around Florida to get to Tampa.
And for 1500 bucks, I mean, usually a seven-night cruise would cost you anywhere between, I’d say four to five grand. And you’re getting twice that with some really cool stops for less than half the price. That is incredible.
Jess: Yeah. I’d say the average price for repositioning crews per person is anywhere from $525 to 850.
Yeah. But these are all long cruises, 11 nights, 17 nights, and it’s just crazy because you think about it. And you’re getting food for all those nights for free. Right. All you can eat. It’s like that alone is crazy that you can do that for $500.
Rod: Yeah. Yeah. And let alone all the activities that they’re going to have.
I think one of the other benefits and pros to this is, the reason why they’re a lot cheaper is because they, the cruise ships don’t fill up that that much. And you’re also going to have the benefit of having less crowds. So if there’s a specific bar or restaurant or show that you really want to see, then chances are you’re going to have that opportunity.
Also the ports, since they’re typically happening towards the ends of those seasons where it’s not high tourist season, then the ports themselves are not going to be as crowded either. So a lot of big benefits all around to repositioning cruises.
Jess: Something we discovered on our repositioning cruise was. It was less crowded, but it also was really cool because since we were on the ship for so long, ours was, I believe 16 nights.
Yep. We were able to make really good connections, I feel like on these, you know, four-to-seven-night cruises. There’s so much to do. There’s very little downtime. You don’t, I mean, at least for us, the kids make friends at the kids club, but we don’t really form strong connections because we’re just so busy.
But on this longer ship, and we actually ended up sailing, I think it was 20 some nights because we did a seven-night sail. And then we did the 16-night sail, and some people were on both sails with us. Yep. So over the course of 20 some days, we became really good friends with some of the people that were on the ship, and it was really cool to be able to foster those relationships that we probably wouldn’t have had it been a shorter sale.
Rod: Yeah. Yeah. And let’s give you a quick rundown of what that Repositioning Cruise was. As Jess mentioned, it was 16 weeks. We started in Rome in Italy, and the entire purpose of that cruise was to reposition the ship because it was in November of 16 days. 1916 days. Yeah. What did I say? 16 weeks? 16 weeks old man.
Yeah.
Jess: I was like, took me a moment to process.
Rod: That would be pretty awesome. No, 16 days or 16 nights, I. And the ship was meant to reposition from Europe, where it was starting the winter months into Dubai, which stays pretty sunny year round. So that itinerary was very unique. Started in Rome. We went through to Sicily, we crossed over to Greece, where we stopped in Athens, we stopped in Santorini.
And then from there we crossed the Suez canal, which that experience in itself is a very, very rare thing for like a, a traveler, you know? That’s just happening to be there and doing it sort of on vacation gets to do. And there we stopped in Aqaba Jordan, where we went to Petra. We rounded over into the Middle East to go and stop at Oman and finally to get to Dubai, where we got to Dubai one day before the official end of the cruise.
So we were able to stay overnight in Dubai, be able to go back to the ship, do some activities in the area and then we got off the, the next day so that, I think that itinerary doesn’t happen very often. And we had a great time. We got really familiar with the ship that we sailed on. This was on Royal Caribbean’s Jewel of the Seas.
And as Jess mentioned, we got to meet some awesome people both from other fellow cruisers as well. Some of the staff that work there from the restaurant waiters to the bartenders, to the activities team. It was, yeah, it was a lot of fun.
Jess: It was amazing, and I just highly recommend it because if you can, one of the cons of these cruise ships is you do have to take a lot of time off work if you’re not a remote worker.
And even if you are a remote worker, depending on which cruise you do like, we were near a coastline. So internet wasn’t awful, but some of the ones that are actually crossing the Pacific Ocean or the Atlantic Ocean, I don’t know what wifi would be or how dependable that would be. Right. So it’s just something that you would need to consider.
But unless you have a, you know, you’re retired or have remote work or can afford to take two weeks off, it can be a little bit trickier to plan. Right. But the cost savings is huge. Sometimes when I see these cruises pop up and the amazing destinations and how cheap they are, I’m like, I wish I was homeschooling again because I mean, I would love to do it.
There’s one coming up this year, Quantum of the Seas, for example, that I would love to go on. It’s in April of 2023. The stops include: Brisbane, Australia, Tahiti, French Moorea, Polynesia, Hawaii. It stops in Kona and then in Oahu.
Rod: That’s this month already. That’s like right now
Jess: An incredible opportunity.
So there’s just so many cost saving. And something I love about the repositioning cruise is, like Rod said, we started in Rome and ended in Dubai. So for people who want to spend more time, yes, that’s more time off work, but in different places you could go to Rome. We spent, I think five days in Rome before getting on the ship.
So we kind of use that as like, oh, we’re going to spend five days here. We boarded the ship, we did our, all of our stops. Petra still remains my favorite cruise port to date. And then we ended in Dubai and we tacked on five extra days in Dubai before flying out. And so, It was really cool if you like the beginning and ending destinations that you can tack on a trip on both the front and back end to really extend your time and see those cities.
And that’s something that’s not just a quick cruise stop. It’s you, I can spend a week there if you have the time. And I love that about these destination cruises. Like if I ever get to do this trans-Pacific Cruise, I’d want to fly to Brisbane for five days before my cruise and enjoy that area and then spend five days in Honolulu before flying back.
So I kind of get two little extended vacays tacked onto it.
Rod: Yeah. And it also could lead to some cost savings too, on the flights themselves. So for example, I mentioned that repositioning Trans-Atlantic Cruises from Spain to Florida, right? So if you can plan a one-way flight to Spain, spend some time in that area in Spain, and you go on the repositioning cruise, you’re ending back up in the United States where it’s not going to cost you as much to travel from Tampa to wherever you’re from.
Then it would be if you’re tr doing a round trip from, Barcelona to and from. I think it, it does simplify it in a way. If you can get the timing right that you’re going to save money on the actual flights and travel itself, and you get the benefit of having a very scenic, I would say return to the US if that’s the type of cruise that you’re booking.
Jess: Something to note though, I guess another con, I feel like I’m giving all the cons. I’m like the Debbie Downer over here, but I honestly would do a repositioning cruise tomorrow if I could. So take that. The cons with the, you. Into perspective, but no, I would love to do it. Yep. Is that there are a lot more sea days.
We actually enjoyed some of the sea days. I feel like we don’t get to enjoy the ships as much as we did during our repositioning cruises. But with that being said, is if you’re doing a Trans-Atlantic or a Trans-Pacific, We have not done one, but we have heard that some of those sea days could be rockier than normal.
You’re out in the middle of the ocean. and so that’s just something I would say to be prepared for. If you do experience seasickness, I would take some Dramamine on the trip with you or take the wristbands. People say help or just be a little bit prepared for that. I’m not sure like to what extent. I know on our repositioning cruise, we were really lucky that we weren’t out in the open ocean.
We went down the Suez Canal, which in itself was an incredible experience. Yeah. Super calm. Super calm
Rod: In terms of the sea days themselves, I think that is going to be very dependent on the weather, right? So your experience may vary from one person to another depending on the season as well. I think the last con that we do have for repositioning cruises is that you don’t have as much flexibility, right?
With traditional cruising, you have one ship that is making the same run every week, basically, of whatever that season. So you have a lot of choices with the kind of dates that you want to go to. When you’re planning a repositioning cruise. You don’t have that flexibility. You have to pick that one or two weeks where that specific ship is making that repositioning cruise.
So that might limit you to typically ends of seasons, right? So in November you’ll see a lot of repositionings that are happening from Europe, either to the Middle East or back to the US. You’ll see repositionings from Alaska, I think in August or September that are leaving to California or down to Hawaii.
And then I think in April, uh April you’re seeing the transpacific Repositionings from Australia over to Hawaii. And then October, I think is when they go back from Hawaii to Australia, so…
Jess: it seems the vast majority are April, October, and November, which you don’t see that many kids on these cruise ships.
One, because a lot of children homeschool, or sorry, a lot of children don’t homeschool. A lot of children don’t homeschool, so you will not see as many kids because a lot of people do not homeschool their kids. Therefore, kids are in school during April and October. It’s not a break season. It ended up working out.
We got so lucky. I think there. Maybe six kids on our repositioning cruise. Right. It was really small, but thankfully they matched up with our kids’ ages, so ended up working out well.
Rod: And the kids club was still open. Yes. So they basically got like one-on-one attention
Jess: at the kids club was still open, which was awesome.
And they had the slides and things. At the pool almost to themselves, which my kids actually loved. Right. We did it on a smaller ship as well, Jewel of the Seas, which I was really worried, I’m not going to lie. I was like, we are going to be on this really small ship for 20 some days. What are we going to do?
Because Jewel of the Seas is very, very different than a Symphony or Wonder that has, I mean, you could be on there for months and probably still not do everything right. But we actually, I feel like it made us slow down. And I really appreciated that. We got in a routine, we got in a schedule, we did the gym, the kids went to the kids club.
I mean, it was wonderful.
Rod: Right. I think when we go on these seven night cruises on the big ships, we get so overwhelmed and can’t decide whether we want to do some of the onboard activities, whether we want to go explore a destination. If we’re going to see a show, or if we’re going to have the main dining, or we’re going to go to a specialty dining.
When you have that much longer, you can really think of what it is that you want to do. We did some of those fun activities where we did the trivia night and Jess. won a trivia game.
Jess: Yes. It was awesome. I partnered, oh, I wish I remembered his name with this cute, older gentleman. Yeah. From, I want to say Australia and we dominated is great.
Rod: Yeah. We did the things by the pool. We did the fitness classes. I mean, that was a great opportunity to turn the cruising experience into more of a relaxation focus thing rather than like a thrill, thrill, thrill kind of thing, especially on those sea days.
Jess: A repositioning cruise is one of the few cruises I would recommend.
We didn’t and we were fine, but if I had done it again, I would recommend if you have a little bit extra in your budget to get a bigger room for that sale, whether it’s a balcony room or a suite depending on what your budget one, because the sail itself is so much cheaper and since you’re on it for so much longer and there’s more sea days, like it would be nice to have a little bit extra space.
Whenever we do these shorter sails, our family is so busy from morning to night, I could care less what our room was. I honestly already spend time there. Don’t care if there’s a balcony. I don’t care. I mean, we just are never in the room on the repositioning. I think just if it’s not something that’s going to make or break it, but if you have it in your budget, that would be where I would splurge and maybe upgrade your room.
Rod: Yeah. Yeah, I agree. The prices are going to be different. You’re not going to get those cheap $500 per person rates, I don’t think for the balconies. Those are usually for the interior rooms. But yeah, definitely, you know, a, a decision that you’d have to make. But we still highly, highly recommend repositioning cruises, and
Jess: I feel like repositioning cruises are the one cruise that people.
I never hear people taking advantage of ’em enough, especially my family members who I know, aunts and uncles that are retired, or even Rod’s dad. It’s just like if you have the time and love to travel, it’s so cheap.
Rod: Oh yeah. We found such a cool cruise from, I think Rome to Portugal. And then from there on, he could have even taken a Portugal repositioning to Florida, which that would’ve been what, like 20 plus days at sea.
That, but for, for the rates, for him, it was just him traveling right. For one person. Was going to be super cheap. He was going to stop at all these awesome European ports. But yeah, he didn’t do it that time.
Jess: Maybe this time we’ll convince him right. That it’s something. I mean, I think when Rod and I are retired and the kids are grown and we have a little bit more flexibility, I feel so blessed.
We’ve done so much with kids. Yeah. Uh, when we homeschooled, which maybe one day we’ll get to do again. I could see Rod and I trying to do a lot of these repositioning cruises because it’s just such an amazing way to travel. And some of the ports are so unique, they’re so different than like a typical Royal itinerary.
Like royal doesn’t typically go, I believe, to Jordan and Oman all that often. Right. So it’s cool to see what ports come up.
Rod: Yeah. And even, even still, repositioning cruises, they don’t have to be the big trans-Atlantic one. Right. We did. A very small river cruise in Cambodia that, started us in, um,
Jess: started us.
We started in, we started in Cambodia and we ended in Vietnam. I will say though, those smaller repositioning cruises that are almost a set itinerary, and it’s not so much to move their ship, that’s what they actually. Offer, right. Was incredible. It’s actually one of my favorite trips to date. I need to see if we’ve done a podcast on it.
It was probably one of my top experiences in the world with this river cruise. But those are not more affordable. No, because that is the regular route. So yes, you’re repositioning, but it’s very different when you’re repositioning on a regular. Scheduled route that a ship is doing versus the ship is moving based on seasons.
And is has to do that trip, whether there’s one person or a thousand people, those larger cruise lines. And it’s not just Royal. I know we talk about Royal, Royal, we’re loyal to Royal typically, and that is like our baby, but. Carnival offers them, I believe.
Rod: Yeah, Disney Cruise line. I saw they have a repositioning that crosses the Panama Canal.
So they’re leaving from San Diego and going over to Texas.
Jess: So that’s, so you can look up all different cruise lines. There’s so many options. And these large cruise lines are the ones that offer these deep, deep, deep discounts.
Rod: Yeah, so we’ll link some of these cruises that we talked about. There’s a lot of good resources online where you can look up specifically repositioning cruises across different cruise lines.
So we’ll put that on the show notes. It’s going to be www.jetsettingfamily.com/episode49. And we’ll also put in some videos and stuff from our cruising experience. So…
Jess: yes, I think, eventually. This one was more pros and cons of the repositioning cruise, but I’d love to do a whole episode just on our repositioning cruise experience because it was pretty incredible.
And make sure we do one on the Cambodia cruise, because that also was a, a highlight, right?
Rod: Yep. Yeah, there’s so much to cover, guys, I know. But we have covered our topic for today. We hope you enjoyed this episode. Once again, we want to thank you for listening. Always feel free to reach out to us.
You can find us on Instagram @thejetsettingfamily. And if you want to make sure that you keep getting these episodes delivered straight to your phone or wherever you listen to your podcast, make sure that you’re subscribing to our show. That way we know that you’re enjoying it and it can continue to help us grow.
So once again, thank you for listening and until next time, Happy Jetsetting!
