By Phil Reimer
In a few months, many cruise ships will start finding new homes for the summer. While cruises in the Caribbean and the Mexican Riviera are in full swing year round, many ships that are there now will soon move to Europe and Alaska for the spring, summer and fall seasons.
The movements of these ships from one area of the world to another are known as repositioning cruises, which means lower prices. Two reasons for the low fares are the length of the cruises and the fact that more than half of the time is spent at sea instead of visiting ports of call.
If you have the time to spend at sea here are some repositioning cruises to consider. All prices are based on double occupancy and do not include taxes and fees and were available at time of writing.
* NCL has one of the shorter cruises on this list with their ship
Norwegian Jewel. The cruise is 11 days from Miami to London leaving on April 17. You are sea on eight of those days with only two port visits before arriving in Dover. The low starting price makes up for the lack of ports. Packages start at $399 with balconies at $849. Prices are in U.S. dollars.
* Royal Caribbean’s Voyager of the Seas is sailing from Galveston
to London on April 19. It’s a 14-day cruise with nine days at sea. Ports include Bermuda, Azores, Cork, Ireland, and Cherbourg before arriving in Southampton. Starting price is $739 CAD.
* Royal’s Independence of the Seas, a sister ship to Freedom and
Liberty, the three biggest ships in the world, has a 13-day cruise out of Fort Lauderdale on April 12 to Southampton starting at $709 CAD. The cruise has 9 days at sea.
* There is a back-to-back cruise on the Princess Ruby that
provides a little bit of everything. Add the Ruby’s 7-day Caribbean cruise out of Fort Lauderdale on April 11 to their 16-day Atlantic cruise to Barcelona and you have a 23-day cruise starting at $1,800 CAD.
If you just sail the Atlantic cruise it’s $1,600 so you’re really getting the Caribbean portion for just $200 more. This one has 10 days at sea, which is less than half the cruise’s duration and two of those days are in the Caribbean.
* In the Premier class of ships, Celebrity’s Century leaves Miami
on April 25 on a 14-day transatlantic sailing to Amsterdam with nine days at sea. Prices start at $789 CAD with a suite available at $1,979 CAD. Compare that to the re-positioning of their new ship, the Celebrity Solstice, and the price is a lot different. New means higher prices. A 15-night cruise on the Solstice to Rome departing on April 19 has a starting price of $2,009. Other reasons for the price difference are fewer days at sea and more ports.
* Still with Premier class ships, Holland America’s new Eurodam is
sailing from Fort Lauderdale to Copenhagen on an 18-day trip leaving on April 25. Prices start at $1,050. Eurodam will be at sea for nine days and the trip includes an overnight stay in Lisbon.
You can read details on each of the ports and more information on the cruises at the following websites: celebritycruises.com, ncl.com, princess.com, royalcaribbean.com and hollandamerica.com.
