MOVING DAYS/ What's a 'repositioning cruise?'

Taking a repositioning cruise is like hitching a ride on a nautical moving van.

With a few notable exceptions, most cruises don't really go anywhere. They start at a port, bop around the sea for a set number of days, make a few port calls, then return from whence they came. Then repeat the same itinerary for months at a time.

The repositioning cruise is a throwback to an earlier time, when sailings actually went somewhere. Many cruise lines operate their ships on split-year schedules: summers in Alaska or the Mediterranean, winters off western Mexico or the Caribbean.

Repositioning cruises are moving days for the ships and crews. Each autumn, when the air turns cold in Alaska, the squadrons of cruise ships migrate south like pods of steel whales. In the spring, the course is reversed.

Most months Cunard Line's Queen Elizabeth 2 has the once-bustling North Atlantic run to itself. But in May and October, it's joined by dozens of ships - from sleek, tall-masted Windstar schooners to the gigantic cruise liners of Holland America - making the move between Europe and North America.

Repositioning trips can be long: two weeks and more for ships moving from Alaska to the Caribbean via the Panama Canal, a week or more to cross the Atlantic.

But on the West Coast, they can be very short - three nights from Vancouver to Los Angeles, or in the case of my cruise, two nights from the Canadian city to San Francisco. Repo cruises aren't for everyone. For many cruise fans, the best parts of a trip are the port calls, with lots of shopping and sightseeing.

The repositioning cruise has few if any stops. Long days at sea gazing at the ocean are the main draws. It's also important to check with the cruise lines to make sure all the usual amenities of ships are open during a repositioning. On the shorter West Coast jaunts, there's usually little if any difference. But some ships making the longer voyage across the Atlantic will shut down some operations while sailing with reduced crews.

Because they require travel between two points and usually include few if any ports of call, repositioning cruises are heavily discounted by cruise lines that are just happy to have some warm bodies at the slot machines while they move ships from one city to another.

Discounts of up to 50 percent or more are common, and it's also a good chance to get single-occupancy accommodations without having to pay a supplement.

My cruise on the Island Princess had a list price of $1,018. But after discounts and a waiver of the single-occupancy charge because of the repositioning, my room with balcony and all meals for 42 hours came to $281 - or about $140 per night.

A bargain, but not the lowest available out there this fall. Some examples: Norwegian Cruise Lines offered a five-night cruise from Vancouver to Los Angeles on the Norwegian Wind for $229 per person. Princess advertised a weeklong trip from Southampton, England, to New York for $499 per person.

Budget-travel guru Arthur Frommer highlighted a 26-night repositioning cruise on Holland America's Noordam from Rome to Tampa, Fla., with several stops along the way that had a beginning price of $2,299. Sounds like a lot, but divided up it's just $88 a day.

Deals can go fast, so it's best to have a travel agent scout the best bargains for you. Get ready for 2004. Similar deals are expected for the April-May repositioning season.

MORE INFO A list of cruise lines can be found at www.cruising.org.

Copyright 2003
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.