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nursetanya1973 TUG Member Posts: 178 From: Valparaiso, Indiana Registered: Jun 2003	posted 10-04-2003 20:18 What is a "repositioning cruise"? How do you find one? ------------------ My husband thinks it's weird that I consider Mickey Mouse part of the family. IP: Logged
bhurley902 TUG Member Posts: 820 From: hoboken, nj, usa Registered: May 2003	posted 10-05-2003 05:43 Repositioning cruises generally occur when the seasons are changing -- e.g., Most cruise lines move from the NE (NY, Boston) to the Caribbean in October, then back again in the spring. Often you can get good deals, I guess because there are two different ports involved. Here's a great deal on a repositioning cruise I saw advertised recently -- I would jump on it if it coincided with my daughter's spring break, but unfortunatley it does not: 7 Day Southern Caribbean Cruise from San Juan to Baltimore Port Charges Included March 19, 2004 Inside $368 Ocean view $458 Balcony $638 Included: 7 Day Sailing of Celebrity's Galaxy Port charges of $139 P/P. Shipboard Accommodations. All Meals while on board ship. Some Beverages. Entertainment aboard the Ship Not Included: Gov't Taxes & Handling fees $33.65 P/P Itinerary: Day Port Fri San Juan Sat Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas Sun Philipsburg, St. Maarten Mon At Sea Tue At Sea Wed Nassau, Bahamas Thu At Sea Fri Baltimore, Maryland IP: Logged
nursetanya1973 TUG Member Posts: 178 From: Valparaiso, Indiana Registered: Jun 2003	posted 10-05-2003 12:54 So, If I read that right, it leaves from San juan and ends up in maryland? I guess that would add up in airfare, but otherwise looks like a good deal. How did you find it? Do they usually state repositioning in the adds or do you just know from the seperate ports? ------------------ My husband thinks it's weird that I consider Mickey Mouse part of the family. IP: Logged
bhurley902 TUG Member Posts: 820 From: hoboken, nj, usa Registered: May 2003	posted 10-05-2003 14:32 Nursetanya -- I don't know if you can get decent one-way tickets from Indiana, but a Jet Blue one way flight from NY to San Juan on 3-19 is $124 plus tax. We can always take a train home from Baltimore (under $100), so for us the transportation is not expensive. I'm not sure if the big sites (e.g., Travelocity) advertise repositioning cruises separately, but I always watch for them on this website: www.moments-notice.com Once I see something that interests me, I usually check the prices on other websites where you can check quotes for various cabin categories (e.g., Tavelocity). There are other good deals to be found, I just listed that one for illustration purposes. IP: Logged
DOV Non Member Posts: 26 From: Toronto, Canada Registered: Oct 2003	posted 10-09-2003 15:42 We have been on a bunch of cruises, mostly with Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, but the last big one was a 2 week Panama Canal cruise out of San Diego, ending up in Ft. Lauderdale, via the Celebrity Summit. Great great experience. Only frustration was that the majority of passengers were quite old. Not that I am a spring chicken either, (mid 50's) but most were considerably older than us. First time ever for a 2 week cruise and I thought I would be bored, but no such thing. So much to do, so much fun. The Panama Canal was absolutely awesome, ports were great, food was okay, nothing fantastic though. Breakfasts and lunches have been converted to "open seating" as opposed to the old formal same seats each meal. Dinners were still the same each night with the same group. Also did a 5 night, 4 day out of Ft. Lauderdale on the Carnival which was amazingly cheap - $60 pp per day, all in. Fun for what it was, especially the price. Food also was moderate; nothing especially great. Lots of security breaches and lapses though. Most of the RCCL trips have been exceptional, with top class food and entertainment. Only problem with RCCL is the size of the rooms (very small) but given that we don't spend too much time in the rooms (at least for non-honeymooners), it was tolerable. We travel 2-3 months a year, and even with timeshare, and a condo in florida. cruising is to us the best vacation possible. It's strictly a matter of choice, but it's great for us. enjoy david IP: Logged
BillMorrow TUG Member Posts: 235 From: Middlebury, VT Registered: May 2001	posted 10-09-2003 17:51 Has anyone here ever cruised on the Aranui out of Papeete? I'm not normally a cruise-type person, but this one looks rather special. IP: Logged
DOV Non Member Posts: 26 From: Toronto, Canada Registered: Oct 2003	posted 10-09-2003 21:51 art, we did the 2 week panama canal cruise on the summit last october. it was fantastic. only concern we had was the seating arrangements. we chose late seating, hoping that we could hook up with some younger (mid 50 ish) group of folks; but there were still far more senior seniors on board. thinking rationally, how many can afford 2 weeks off at that time of the year. dining arrangements are open seating for breakfast and lunch; same seating for dinners every night; you do have an option of a fine dining restaurant for an additional fee (so what else is new). they did offer discounted rates for the other cruises that they put out, towards the end of the cruise. they have an art auction that goes on just about every other day, but be careful; depending on which company does them, it can be a nightmare. we had an horrific experience with "Park West Gallery", spent a fair bit of money there, and it took us almost a year to get the damaged pieces (which came very very late to us) repaired and replaced. Enjoy David IP: Logged
Diane TUG Member Posts: 713 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Dec 2000	posted 10-10-2003 05:20 Has anyone done the Royal Caribbean 7 day Mexican Riviera cruise? The full day stops at Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta appeal to us as we have never been to any of those places in Mexico. We have done only 1 cruise so far, Crystal Symphony 11 days Panama Canal which we thought was great but overpriced for what was provided. The rates offered by Sun Tours for January 18-25, 2004 range from $899 (no window) to $1,499 (private balcony) each including airfare from Albuquerque on SW, port charges, transfer, government fees and air taxes. What do you think? How are these rates? Diane IP: Logged
stmartinfan TUG Member Posts: 346 From: Minneapolis, MN Registered: Dec 2000	posted 10-10-2003 08:10 We've done one cruise with our daughters - Carnival Paradise - chosen because it's a no-smoking ship. The smoke free environment was great, and I've read that it also means there are fewer heavy drinkers on board to become obnoxious. It was a very family-oriented atmosphere. The itinerary included Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Jamaica. Like another poster, I found my pre-teen kids didn't quite fit within the activity structure. My youngest needs more supervision than her activities seemed to offer; my oldest wasn't old enough yet to go to the teen club, and is more introverted, so didn't seem to find kids to hang out with. If they'd been traveling with friends, I could see it would be a great deal. Food was OK, but we enjoy trying more interesting/unusual foods when we travel. Compared to spending a week on one of the islands, just stopping for a few hours seems too short, especially when several cruise ships are in port and the number of passengers overwhelms the area. We probably won't cruise again for a while; maybe husband and I will try a more obscale ship after kids are older. I've also read about the pollution issues connected with cruise ships - the discharge of vast amounts of barely treated sewage into the oceans and the potential for long-term damage to reefs and waters around the islands. The islands are so eager for the tourism they ignore the issue; the cruise industry won't voluntarily do anything because of costs for ship redesign. I'm far from an rabid environmentalist, but I am troubled by knowing that the great bargains on cruise ships and the huge growth of the industry are at the expense of the beautiful oceans surrounding some of my favorite vacation spots. If a city of 2000 people in the US was simply dumping untreated sewage into the ocean, we'd be alarmed. Essentially, that's what all those huge ships are doing, just out from port a ways. IP: Logged
elaineUK TUG Member Posts: 486 From: leeds, uk Registered: May 2002	posted 10-12-2003 12:12 If I am selecting an interior room for myself and my daughter, does it make any difference to what floor of the ship we sleep on? The lower floors seem the cheapest, but why? Elaine IP: Logged
Fletcher921 TUG Member Posts: 350 From: El Cajon, CA USA Registered: Jan 2003	posted 10-12-2003 20:51 I guess we have cruised done 7 so far. We've cruised with Carnival twice, Holland America, Princess once, Royal Caribbean once. We have also chartered a 52 foot trawler and cruised the British Virgin Islands with another family for 10 days in 2002 - that was AWESOME! Last year we did a river cruise in southern france from Aigue Mortes to Avignon - really a great way to see that area. We (girlfriends and I are leaving husbands at home) are booked on a Uniworld cruise next summer from Nuremberg to Budapest. Anyone interested in joining us? Can't wait for that one. Babs ------------------ Westin Mission Hills [This message has been edited by Fletcher921 (edited 10-12-2003).] IP: Logged
Art TUG Member Posts: 988 From: Grand Island, NY Registered: Dec 2000	posted 10-13-2003 09:50 David We're just back from this year's Summit repositioning cruise thru the Panama Canal. It was outstanding. One of the nice things the last minute addition of Huatulco, Mexico as a port. Up to now, only HAL has stopped there. Anyway, Huatulco is still unspoiled by tourism. It's my idea of what a small Mexican seaside village should be. It got rave reviews from the pax, especially when compared with Acapulco. We had a great table for 8, mix of 50's and low 60's, some retired some still working. You're right, the 14 day cruise length is a problem with those still working and with children. We have bought Park West stuff and had timely delivery and no damage. The prices were good so it's too bad that you had problems. ElaineUK - Allegedly, midship and lower level staterooms are less prone to movement in rougn seas. The lower decks are less expensive because 1. they are further from pools and other activities that usually take place on the top deck and 2. the upper decks frequently have balconies which are naturally more expensive. Art IP: Logged
post it TUG Member Posts: 5 From: Registered: Mar 2004	posted 07-24-2004 23:24 Art, would be interested in hearing of your trip from San Diego thru the Panama Canal to Ft. Lauderdale. We plan to go on the Feb 6th cruise on the Legend. This will be our 11th cruise. All of the cruises have been great in one way or another. The Celebrity line was the best. The food was excellent. The room size was larger than other ships. Had more drawers and closet space than we needed.Carnival suprised us since we had been on that once before on the Destiny and it was average. Then we had some friends talk us into going on the Spirit. Room size was great and they upgraded us. Alaska was very good on the Sun Princess. Want to do it again, but just cruise not land tour. To much time on the train. Usually try to take our cruise in Feb. Pittsburgh is overcast and under snow at this time. IP: Logged
Jerry TUG Member Posts: 175 From: Anaheim, CA U.S.A. Registered: Dec 2000	posted 07-25-2004 09:56 We have been on 15-20 including 2-3 day shorter trips but 14 total cruises that were one week or longer. Most of our curises have been 10 days or more (one week is too short) and our longest cruise was 28 days on the Crystal Signature (West Africa from Capetown to Lisbon) which was one of our favorites. Antarctica was probably our favorite cruise on a Russian Ice Breaker with only 55 passengers and 50-60 crew. One of our favorite cruise lines was Rennanace, but it went bankrupt 2 weeks after 9/11, because they offered an extra 5% discount if you paid your full fare when you booked it; and they had so many full refund cancellations after 9/11 they couldn't handle them all. We liked their ships best of all because they held only 690 passengers each and had lots of balcony cabins. Princess bought two of their ships and we booked one of them on two back to back cruises last year both starting in Tahati one going to the Marquesas and the other to the Cook Islands (both trips were wonderful). It was great to have the same balcony cabin for both cruises and we didn't have to move between the two sailings. That's what we like best about cruising, you get to go different places and don't have to pack or unpack. Very convenient. Our preference is a 2-3 week cruise with less than 1000 passengers (500-600 passengers is ideal, because you get to know or recognize at least most of the passengers and it's still large enough for all of the amminities we look for) with a balcony cabin. We also did a North Alantic cruise last year on Holland American and enjoyed Greenland very much, but usually prefere the warmer climates such as the South Pacific, Mediterranean, or Caribbean. Most of our cruises have been on ships under 100-1200 people. The largest ship we have been on held 1900 which was too big for us. While we were on the ship it wasn't bad at all, because the ship was so large, but when we were in port it was terrible - too many people all at the same time, and getting on and off the ship was the worst part (when you really noticed that there were too many people). The smaller ships offer the more interesting itineries for us, and we select our cruises on the port destinations not the actual ship or cruise line unless there is a choice of more than one cruise line for the same inineary. We have been on 7 Holland American cruises, and they were a better cruise line 5-10 years ago than they are today, but they are still OK even thought they have obviously slipped from where they used to be. For that same price range we prefer Princess but that's an individual choice, and we don't like all of the Princess ships. We prefere the H/A smaller ships such as the Princedam that they bought from Silverseas several years ago. Someone said that there are no bad cruises, and I would agree with that statement, although no smoking cruises are much nicer than smoking ones IMO, and that is one of the biggest considerations for me. There is nothing worst than to be on a wonderful cruise and be bothered by smokers if you don't smoke. As long as you book on the major lines that do business in the U.S. you will be O.K. If you book with lines that do business strickly outside of the U.S. or with British lines you may not have the sme protection that you would expect in the U.S. Beware if you have problems with a cruise line not dependent on the U.S. market, you will not have much if any protection and your credit card payment will be too old to get you a refund by the time your cruise ends. We had problems with a British Company and they have a very poor record of protecting the consummer in any situation. I know U.S. travel agents that won't deal with any British cruise lines any longer, because they do not stand behind their product when problems arise. We had problems on an Indian Ocean/East Africa cruise earlier this year with a British Company that will not stand behind their product. We were caught in a categoty 5 cyclone with 200+ mph winds for 6 days on a ship that was not properly equiped for those weather conditions. Most of the passengers had cuts, bruises, and/or broken bones, and we were very close to all loosing our lives. The cyclone was not their fault, but the condition of the ship and lack of proper safety precautions were horrendous. We were 34 miles from the eye of the cyclone and a ship 1000 miles away went to the bottom of the Indian Ocean that same evening killing everyone on board. We had 176 passengers and 160 crew, and came less than 1 degree from rolling and going straight to the bottom. We never had one word from the Captain or had any safety warnings during the entire ordeal. We were told they had no safety proceedures and they were doing everything possible to keep the ship from rolling over. We lost one anchor, most of the railings from the top decks, most of the upper windows were blown out and water was entering the ship from the top two decks. We lost all electrical power on several occasions, had three fires and were down to one engine barely runing for one full day. Even though it turned out to be the "Vacation from Hell", we met some of the most wonderful passengers that will remain friends for life. Every passenger on board had been to at least 100 countries and all 7 continents, and we shared wonderful stories about all of the places we had each been to which is the best part of traveling IMO. We could all relate to each others travel experiences, because we had all been to most of the same places at one point in our lives, or if we had not been there yet we were at least planning to go. There were 157 Brits, 8 Americans, 4 German, 4 Italian, and 3 Italians on board. The itineary included Kenya, the Seychelles, Mauritius, La Reunion, Madagascar, Comoros, Tanzania, and Zanzibar ending in Mombassa. With the exception of the Cyclone and the ship not being up to standards it should have been, it was a great trip. We all took the trip because of the unusual itineary (no other ship offered such a comprehensive itenerary in that part of the world), and it wasn't even close to being cyclone season. The 10 days before the cyclone hit us were some of the calmest days at sea I have ever experiences - you never know when disaster might strike you and it can happen anywhere in the world. Jerry IP: Logged
Ginny TUG Member Posts: 96 From: Minneapolis, MN USA Registered: Dec 2000	posted 07-25-2004 12:15 Wow. After reading Jerry's post, all I can say is I'm glad you got back safely, and what an adventure!! We will never have that much travel experience, but here's our little horror story. We got into an unsafe situation on a day trip -- we were going out to tour some islands and ruins in the Turkish Riviera. It was a kind of bait and switch, after we booked a trip at the docks. We thought we booked on a nice teak boat, and found that we were put on an old car ferry that had no safety equipment on board. We got into some windy weather on the way back and waves were splashing on the deck, and it was so windy you couldn't sit up on top. There were some English ladies sitting near us, and every time the waves splashed up on the deck, wetting us (because there was only a chain across the back to the boat), they would laugh hysterically. I felt pretty hysterical myself -- I kept thinking about Gilligan's Island (TV show, where the cast is shipwrecked after a 3 hour cruise). We are doing the transatlantic crossing from Southampton to NYC on the QE2 in December. Previously, we cruised Alaska aboard Holland America, and I've crossed the Mediterranean from Greece to Italy (not a cruise). IP: Logged
hvsteve1 TUG Member Posts: 395 From: Hyde Park, NY,USA Powhatan Plantation Registered: Aug 2002	posted 07-25-2004 12:38 What a looong string. I see my original posting was last year. Since that time,we recently booked an Alaska cruise for next June on Radisson,which seems to overcome our dislike of what we would expect large cruise ships to be like. One question. As I assume we are all trimeshare owners,where do non-retired people who have several weeks of timesharing to use per year find time to take cruises? Going to Alaska for two weeks means we will only be able to use one week of timesharing and watch thousands of points carried over from the previous year go dowwn the tubes. The one thing about timesharing that has bothered me for the 20 or so years I have been an owner is the disincentive to do other things,as we have started to do in the past few years as money has become more available because we always know we are losing what we paid in timesharing costs for that year. IP: Logged
JP TUG Member Posts: 457 From: Poquoson,VA OceanVillasII NagsHead,NC Week23 Registered: Dec 2000	posted 07-25-2004 14:45 I have taken four cruises and am absolutely hooked! Three of the four were with Carnival, once to the Western Caribbean, twice to the Bahamas. Our last cruise was with Holland American to Alaska. While it was a wonderful experience, there were times, quite frankly, that I was bored. I am 54 years old but seem to fit better on Carnival than HAL. For those that have had unpleasant experiences with Carnival, there are a couple of things to keep in mind. The short (3-4 day) cruises traditionally get people that normally don't cruise much, frequently younger, and often drink more. Booking during traditional college break weeks will attract that crowd also. Longer ( 7+ days) tend to attract more older (at least slightly) couples without children and fewer single college age students. Even so, I have never had any problems with drunks even on the short cruises. I wish I could cruise half a dozen times a year!!! IP: Logged
Suzy TUG Member Posts: 92 From: Missouri Registered: Dec 2000	posted 07-25-2004 16:34 I have been on 4 cruises, 3 on Royal Caribbean (Bahamas, Mediterranean, and California/Mexico), and 1 on Princess (Scandanavia/Russia) My favorite of the two cruise lines is Royal Caribbean. My favorite cruise excursions were to see Pompeii and Capri, Italy during the Mediterranean cruise, and to see St. Petersburg, Russia for the ballet and museums. I also liked Gdansk, Poland. The Mediterranean and Scandanavia/Russia cruises were especially great because they were the result of a promotion by Chart House Restaurants a few years back. We ate at every Chart House Restaurant in the chain, and got the two cruises with airfare free! As a result of the Chart House experiences, I also got to see Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and St. Thomas for the first time, and more of the Northeast US than I had previously seen. That gave me the travel bug for sure. I'd love to see Alaska and also the Galapagos Islands via ship someday. Suzy IP: Logged
MRSFUSSY Non Member Posts: 259 From: Port Jeff., NY USA Registered: May 2002	posted 07-25-2004 18:29 Hello from Long Island....We're not crusing people. We hit a hurricane several years ago on the Queen Elizabeth II. It lasted almost all the way to England (from NY). Almost the entire boat was sick. There wasn't much anyone could do to help us. Another issue is the food, way too much. Temptation is too great. We resisted. Best part of the trip was the ride home, on the Concorde. IP: Logged

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