Column of ships along the Suez Canal - 3 Dec

A repositioning cruise (informal: repo cruise) is a cruise in which the embarkation port and the

disembarkation Disembarkation or debarcation/debarkation is the process of leaving a ship or aircraft, or removing goods from a ship or aircraft. ( ''debark'': from the French ''des'' meaning "from", and, ''barque'', meaning "small ship"). Civilian The loadin ...

port are different. This is a less common type of cruise; in the majority of cruises the ship's final destination is the same as the starting point. Some

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports of call, where passengers may go on Tourism, tours k ...

s relocate due to change in

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

(usually during the spring or fall) or economic conditions (a cruise line may relocate a ship when it forecasts demand to be greater in another region). Instead of repositioning an empty ship, cruise lines operate repositioning cruises. Many cruise ships spend the summer in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and the winter in the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

, as a cold winter in Europe decreases the demand for seasonal cruising there. Similarly, some ships cruise to

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

from the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

in the summer and for winter reposition to the Caribbean through the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...

or to the South Pacific. More recently, cruise ships have also repositioned to

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

Asia beckons cruise lines- TravelWeekly
/ref> as

economic growth In economics, economic growth is an increase in the quantity and quality of the economic goods and Service (economics), services that a society Production (economics), produces. It can be measured as the increase in the inflation-adjusted Outp ...

has increased the demand for cruising there. Repositioning cruises are generally cheaper because most passengers will have to combine them with a one-way airline ticket.Ocean Repositioning Cruises- GuideToCruising
/ref> Also, most passengers prefer port-intensive cruises (cruises which visit a lot of ports of call and have few days at sea), while some repositioning cruises have many days at sea, such as when crossing the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

. The lower cruise price is partially offset by greater

revenue In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of product (business), goods and services related to the primary operations of a business. Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some compan ...

on board the ship. Passengers typically spend more on-board (

casino A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos also host live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, conce ...

beverage A drink or beverage is a liquid intended for human consumption. In addition to their basic function of satisfying thirst, drinks play important roles in human culture. Common types of drinks include plain drinking water, milk, juice, smoothie ...

s and on-board

shopping Shopping is an activity in which a customer browses the available goods or services presented by one or more retailers with the potential intent to purchase a suitable selection of them. A Retail#Shopper profiles, typology of shopper types ha ...

) during a day at sea than they do when visiting a port of call.Repositioning cruises- About.com
/ref> Alternatively, these cruises can be used as an alternative to a one-way airline ticket,
/ref> for people who have the time (repositioning cruises usually last more than a week).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Repositioning Cruise Types of travel