Have you considered a one-way cruise for your next trip?
When we wanted to travel to Japan, we crossed the Pacific Ocean from Seattle to Tokyo, but we did it without flying. How did we do that? We took a one-way cruise, also known as a repositioning cruise.
Watch our family’s repositioning cruise travel video about the 6 things we enjoyed
More about our family’s experience crossing the Pacific Ocean on a 14-night cruise
Instead of flying, why did we want to travel to Japan over 14 nights on a cruise ship?
One of our goals for 2024 was to take our first cruise as a family.
In addition to our first cruise as a family, we had another goal. We wanted to return to Asia, and especially Japan. A repositioning cruise made it possible for us to accomplish both goals.
What is a repositioning cruise?
Here’s a quick rundown of what a repositioning cruise is:
Throughout the year, cruise lines have to move ships from one region to another. That can be for seasonal cruising times of year, such as moving ships from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean. Our ship was heading from the USA to Singapore for some maintenance.
When ships make these big location changes, they still have to go from point A to point B. Since the ship is changing its main position from one location to another, these are often referred to as repositioning cruises.
A repositioning cruise is the same ship, same crew and same activities and amenities as a regular round-trip cruise. Often you can find great deals on repositioning cruises, and it’s not uncommon for them to have fewer passengers.
The main consideration is your return or onward travel. Since these cruises don’t return to their starting point, you’ll need to make onward travel arrangements from where the ship arrives.
Below we’ve got more info on our experience with our first cruise, repositioning cruises, and more about cruising as a family full of introverts.
A cruise isn’t just a fun vacation
When you take a repositioning cruise, it becomes a one-way, all-inclusive, jet lag-free way to cross an ocean to your next destination.
Our family of four used a repositioning cruise to sail from Seattle to Tokyo. After 14 nights at sea, we arrived at our destination ready for our next adventures—and ready for future cruising trips. In this video, we’ll share six things we loved about our first repositioning cruise.
6 things our family enjoyed about a repositioning cruise
1. Take a break from normal household tasks such as cooking and cleaning
Booking your cruise means that you’ll have a cabin, meals, some basic drinks, and many activities all included in the fare. But another nice part? Your cruise vacation is a break from day-to-day tasks such as cooking and cleaning.
We used this not only as a chance to relax and recharge. We explored new foods in our included buffet and main dining meals.
2. Cross the ocean and arrive fresh, energetic, and free of jet lag
We’ve crossed oceans a few times. While we do okay managing jet lag, it’s nice to skip it altogether. Instead of a fourteen-hour flight from the USA where we arrived groggy and jetlagged in Japan, we changed time zones gradually.
There’s still some adjustment though. For the first eight days, we woke each morning in a new time zone. Fortunately, our cruise line’s app helped us stay on “ship time.” We still had some adjustment day to day, but it was much easier than having to adjust fourteen hours all at once.
Instead, we arrived in the morning, ready to get settled into enjoying travels in Japan.
3. The kids could independently and safely explore the ship, and engage in age-appropriate activities.
The family friendliness of cruise lines varies. Some sailings are adults only, for example. Many lines, though, want to appeal to families. We sailed on Royal Caribbean. They’ve been pioneering cruise ship kid-friendliness since the 1990s, when they opened the first kid-centered spaces a cruise ship.
Our kids were 9 and 12 years old at the time of our sailing. Since each of us had our own sea pass, or card key, we could come and go from our room as we pleased. We talked over ground rules, such as no going into anyone’s cabin, and also how to identify crew members and officers if the kids needed help.
Aster would often go to the kid center, Adventure Ocean, in the morning, for activities. Our son Connor all but lived in the teen center, known as The Living Room, which was only for twelve to seventeen year olds.
The kids knew that they could go to any of the decks, and take advantage of the included food, such as hot dogs, pizza, soft serve ice cream, and more. For us, this meant they could work on their independence. They also met kids their own ages. Connor, for example, made friends who he’s still in touch with.
And the number of problems or safety concerns we had with either child? Zero.
4. The variety of included on-board activities and entertainment gave us to do as we wanted
Musical performances, dance shows, acrobatics, magic, comedy, informative presentations: Those are just a few of the activities we took part in individually or as a family. Every cruise line offers entertainment. Repositioning cruises are no different. Throughout the day and night, we could head just about anywhere on the ship and find something to do.
5. We got new perspectives during mealtime conversations with people from all over the world
Especially during the breakfast buffet, we often found ourselves at shared tables. These encounters led to engaging conversations with people from all over the world, such as two women who had moved years ago from Hong Kong to Toronto. They liked to use this sailing to go to Tokyo and fly to Hong Kong, or other parts of Asia they wanted to visit.
Two other people were a couple from Japan. They’d been living in Mexico, but were now moving back to Japan. Another person was some North Carolina, and her cruise and time in Japan were a trip she’d been looking forward to for years.
We adults got so much out of these morning conversations. Sometimes the kids were around too, and they got to take in stories from other people, broadening their perspectives on the world.
6. Sea days gave us more time to relax on-board.
Instead of days in port and nights sailing, most of our cruise was sailing. Only during the last few days were there any port opportunities. Personally, we enjoyed simply being on the water and having more time to relax on-board.
And when there were port days? We stayed on board. Many paid activities were free on port days. Plus, we practically had the ship to ourselves. We could sit wherever we wanted, and there were no lines at the buffet.
BONUS 7. The cruise wasn’t just the vacation. When we finished the cruise, we began another part of our travels.
Most cruises are round trip. You start and finish in the same spot.
On a repositioning cruise, you can indeed finish the cruise and fly straight home (which is what some folks on our ship did).
Or, your repositioning cruise can be what takes you from one region of the world to another. For us, we went from the USA to Japan. Instead of the end of our cruise being the end of our trip, it was just the start of a major new part of our family world travels.
We hope our repositioning cruise tips have been helpful to you for your travel plans. If you haven’t already, like this video, subscribe to our channel, and tell others about Learners and Makers!
Repositioning cruises are now going to be something we look into anytime we’re changing regions. Maybe now you will too.
