Why do the cruise lines charge so little for their “repositioning” cruises? Why do they price them as low as $53 to $60 a day for everything: transportation, accommodations, meals, entertainment and more?
It is because a repositioning cruise spends many days simply at sea instead of stopping at ports – and is therefore anathema to most American travelers. People flock to the port-a-day sailings that dock every morning in a nondescript seaside city decked out like a shopping mall to entice the thousands of cruisers who descend on shore and often reduce whatever charm these towns once possessed.
By contrast, a repositioning cruise usually includes a trans-
atlantic crossing of six days and more; it is designed to move the ship from a continent where the travel season is ending to another continent or region where the season is beginning. The passenger is relegated to the world’s great oceans, to endless hours of reading a book in a deck chair while inhaling the sea air; contemplating the vastness of the Earth; making use of the ship’s libraries, lounges, fitness rooms and theaters, lecture facilities and classes. A crossing of that sort is my own idea of heaven but is considered something else by most U.S. travelers. Therefore, the cruise lines need almost to bribe the public into booking such sailings.
On Sept. 20, the large and elegant Norwegian Dream of Norwegian Cruise Lines, with six restaurants and 10 bars and lounges, will undertake a 17-day repositioning cruise from Dover, England, to Houston, at a price of $949 per person for inside cabins, or about $55 a day. You can confirm that sum – and book the cruise at that stunning price – by going directly to the line’s website at ncl.com.
From Dec. 2 until Dec. 19, the Opera of MSC Italian Cruises will undertake a 17-day repositioning cruise from Genoa, Italy, to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., sailing the Mediterranean and then making a calm, southerly crossing of the Atlantic with stops at several Caribbean islands before reaching Fort Lauderdale. The price? As low as $899 per person, or $53 a day in an inside cabin, with a free stateroom upgrade to the next category. Call MSC Cruises at 800-666-9333 or go to MSCCruises.com.
If you’re willing to commit yourself to April 2007, you can use a 15-day, $749 repositioning cruise to travel from Miami to Italy and Greece aboard the almost brand-new Norwegian Jewel of Norwegian Cruise Line (phone 866-234-0292 or log on to ncl.com). You’ll cross the Atlantic to Portugal’s Madeira Island west of Morocco, where the ship will stay for two nights, and then spend three more days simply at sea passing through the Mediterranean to Civitavecchia, the port of Rome, then to Naples, Crete and Athens. That price works out to about $50 a day for everything except port charges and taxes (which were assessed on the earlier-quoted prices).
These are among the most remarkable bargains in travel, for an interlude at sea that can be among the most memorable times of your life. And yet they cost the least of any cruises.
Arthur Frommer, who first published “Europe on $5 a Day” in 1956, is an authority on budget travel.
