Repositioning cruise ships

I’ve gone trans-Atlantic Barcelona to Tampa. Could you shoot out some specific questions that you want answered. Meanwhile you might find some info on cruisecritic.com.

For us the only drawback is several long days at sea. That is when things to do on the ship become important. But it does solve the jet lag problem. And it is a very inexpensive way to go.

What information are you looking for?
Each year, many of the cruise lines will reposition some of their ships. In early spring, these ships will reposition to Europe. In mid to late fall they will return to their North American itineraries.

There is really only one cruise ship/liner that makes regular transatlantic runs for a good part of the year - Cunard's Queen Mary 2.

I found this website doing a google search
http://www.repositioncruises.com/
Hope this helps in your search. Keep scrolling thru the site and it’ll give the cruise lines and where and when their ships go.

And it is a very inexpensive way to go...

This surprises me. Transatlantic air fare can be had for crazy cheap prices these days. Admittedly, coach is no fun, but I figure 5 or 6 days on a cruise ship has got to cost more than suffering 5 or 6 hours in sardine class.

Are repositioning cruises across the Atlantic really less expensive than low cost airlines?

The operative word here is "used" as in used to be much cheaper. 30 yrs ago a repositioning cruise was dirt cheap with few frills. Like more and more businesses cruise lines now use every opportunity to earn money. Most repositioning cruise now include a port or two, entertainment etc. A little cheaper but not as much that I would go out of my way to book one unless you desire a transatlantic cruise to Florida.

You should be able to find much more detailed discussion on Cruise Critic as well as sail dates on the web sites of all the major cruise lines: Princess, Celebrity, etc.

I would suggest instead book early with an airline that has a very high quality Prem Economy section---note that Prem Economy varies greatly between carriers. One of the best being Virgin Atlantic with 21in wide seats and a good recline.

A transatlantic cruise was a boyhood dream for Denis, so we took one last April and then another for the return in November. It is cost effective, when you consider that you have transportation, meals, and a room for two weeks. It is also, as mentioned, a great way to deal with eastbound jet lag. We arrived feeling like we had already adjusted to the local time zone, a decided plus for me, the one who doesn't do eastbound time changes well. We were underwhelmed by the entertainment options on board, but maybe that's just us. We made sure our e-readers were well stocked. On the eastbound cruise there were presentations about the ports of call, which were interesting and useful.

On the westbound cruise, well, it felt like we were never going to get back to Florida. Instead of some 23 hour days, we had some 25 hour ones. Again, on board entertainment options were underwhelming.

And for any picky vegetarians and/or vegans (especially vegans), the food was an issue for us on both cruise lines, even in the dining room.

This website can get you started. Please do cross check with each cruise line's websites though, as this main page is just a starting place and is not always accurate. If you are genuinely interested in the ports of call, pay attention to the amount of time each cruise line spends in port, as they can differ by several hours. And look at Rick's cruise ship books, check your library first. We did not take any of the cruise ship's excursions, we just wandered on our own.
http://www.cruisetransatlantic.com/cruises.html

Google Disboards - people are gaga there about the Disney Magic trans-Atlantic. From what I’ve heard people really like the crossing, there’s plenty to do, etc. I wouldn’t call such cruises “cheap” though. You also run into the issue of having to buy a pricey one way plane ticket back home. Would I do it if I had the time and money? Absolutely!

We took a Transatlantic in 2016 (Celebrity), and have another booked for next year (Royal Caribbean). I'm not sure I'd think of it as a substitute for air travel; you certainly should enjoy the cruising experience if you are going to do a Transatlantic. You won't avoid things like security by cruising -- but it is much less onerous than airport screening.

In 2016, we had six sea days before our first port of Ponta Delgada. I recall on that first day at sea thinking it was a mistake -- I was a bit bored. But we found the various activities that appealed to us and when we got to Ponta Delgada we wondered where the six days went. Our other ports were Lisbon, Alicante, Malaga and Cadiz, with disembarkation in Barcelona. We then stayed two weeks in Spain before flying home.

What I found on that trip is that while I love cruising, I don't want it to be my primary way of sightseeing in Europe.

We were fairly active on our Roll Call over on Cruise Critic and took one tour with folks that had organized a private excursion and were looking for participants. With our Roll Call folks, we also did a cabin crawl, a Slot Pull, and a book club. There was also a ship's officer led meet and mingle party for the Roll Call people. I would say choose carefully what you join.

We got a massive deal on our next Transatlantic. It ends in Rome (Civitavecchia) and we already have a hotel in Rome booked for five nights. Depending on how the budget is looking when we book flights, we might stay even longer in Italy.

What I really like about repositioning cruises (and not just Transat), is that since the start and end are different places you can combine the cruise with more land travel/exploration. (e.g. we also did a repositioning cruise from Puerto Rico to New York City, and stayed three nights both pre and post cruise).

Finally, if you decide to do it, the cruise lines offer terrific one-way airfares and you have several weeks each side of the cruise date that you can fly on those fare.

Hope this helps.