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A repositioning cruise (repo cruise) is a
cruise in which the
embarkation
Embarkment (sometimes embarcation or embarkation) is the process of loading a passenger ship or an airplane with passengers or military personnel, related to and overlapping with individual boarding
Boarding may refer to:
*Boarding, used in the ...
port and the
disembarkation 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 know ...
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 tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...
(usually during the spring or fall) or economic conditions (a
cruise line
A cruise line is a company that operates cruise ships that operate on ocean or rivers
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into ...
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.
It is typical, for instance, for ships to spend the summer in
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...
and the winter in the
Caribbean, as a cold winter in Europe decreases the demand for seasonal cruising there.
In the past few years, cruise ships have also relocated to
Dubai
Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics ...
or
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an ...
[Asia beckons cruise lines- TravelWeekly](_blank)
/ref> as economic growth 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](_blank)
/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 are forced to spend many days at sea (when crossing the Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Afr ...
for instance).
This lower cruise price is partially offset by greater revenue
In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of goods and services related to the primary operations of the business.
Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some companies receive rev ...
on board the ship. Passengers typically spend more on-board (casino
A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live enterta ...
, 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, smoothies ...
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 typology of shopper types has been developed by scho ...
) during a day at sea than they do when visiting a port of call.[Repositioning cruises- About.com](_blank)
/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).
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Repositioning Cruise
Types of travel