Travel Plan 2023

[NW-Bound]

As of 2 days ago, I had no idea where to go this year. Then, I got the idea of catching a repositioning cruise from the US to Europe, then continue the trip on land before flying back to the US.

The Atlantic crossing will take more than 1 week, something I have not done before but read about the idea by Nemo (who does not frequent this site anymore). I am not a habitual cruiser, and this is only my 4th cruise but also the longest one, but I can use some relaxing time.

My last 3 European trips involved so much driving that I decided to give myself a rest this time. I am now planning what to do once I disembark, but there are so many places in Europe I have not been to, it should not be a problem.

Previously, I alternated by taking a long RV trek one year, then a long European trek the next. I should be taking the RV in 2023, but am going back to Europe again this year. I guess I am afraid I may get old too soon for more rigorous international travel. The RV will have to wait until later.

 

[tulak]

Excellent idea NWBound. I’m curious what time of year you’re planning to travel?

We’re still in the discussion phase of where to go this year. Odds are I’ll be in Europe end of April for a family event. I’m tempted to visit Asia, since we haven’t been since…well now I can’t remember. I’ll have to look it up later, but it was probably in 2017.

 

[brett]

Tentatively Thailand/Malaysia in Feb/March.

Morocco in either the spring or the fall. Four or five weeks.

I may do an organized tour in India. Spouse not interested so I will go single.

 

[NW-Bound]

Excellent idea NWBound. I’m curious what time of year you’re planning to travel?

We’re still in the discussion phase of where to go this year. Odds are I’ll be in Europe end of April for a family event. I’m tempted to visit Asia, since we haven’t been since…well now I can’t remember. I’ll have to look it up later, but it was probably in 2017.

Trans-Atlantic cruises are typically repositioning cruises. Cruise lines take the ships from the Caribbean to the Mediterranean from April to June. For the winter, they take the ships from Europe to the Caribbean in October or so.

If I go late in June, after the cruise I will head to northern Europe to avoid the heat. It could ruin my vacation.

Nemo was fond of taking a cross-Atlantic cruise because he said he had the time, and it was way less expensive than first-class or business airfare. I am checking this out to see if it will work for me.

PS. Cunard runs many trips between NY and Southhampton with no stops, and it's not repositioning but more like a shuttle. It takes 7 nights for the crossing,

PPS. What I am afraid of is that being at seas for several days in a row, I might get bored. Or I might eat too much and lose my girly figure.

 

[Trailwalker]

Mexico for February and March. Colorado and New Mexico for June with the travel trailer. DW is researching a couple of weeks in Portugal for fall.

 

[audreyh1]

Relative went from Barcelona to San Juan Puerto Rico this past December. Seemed late for a repositioning cruise, but I guess not!

 

[rodi]

Trips planned for 2023:

A week in Mazatlan in early April with my BFF and my sister. (DH will stay home with the pooch.)

Then Mid April-Mid May we are going to Italy: Sicily to visit husband's cugini, ferry to Genoa for a week hiking Cinque Terre, Florence, Venice, and Milan. Older son is seeing if he can join us for the Cinque Terre portion.

Younger son is likely doing a semester abroad in Florence or Turin in the fall... We'll probably go visit him while he's there... because, well, it's an excuse to go back to Italy.

2024 I'm in early planning stages for a trip to Cambodia, Thailand, and Japan.

 

[Scrapr]

We were planning on a canal boat trip on Canal du Midi (south of France) with about 14 of our good friends. We had RT vouchers from Virgin atlantic so booked a month about 300 days out. then all the boats on the Canal trip got booked for our week. So we are pushing that trip to 2024. And we are wide open now. We have a deposit from last year on an Ireland tour that got cancelled. So we'll probably try to put that together with a side trip to Scotland. And then Paris....because that is always the right answer

 

[Gremlin]

One of my dear elementary school friends I vacationed with every summer died unexpectedly in October. In honor of her memory ( she constantly berated me for putting travel off until retirement) I am taking my dream cruise 3 years early - originally scheduled for after retirement. 13 night Holy Land Cruise on Royal Caribbean. I have zero expectations and just want to relax and enjoy the ride!

 

[Teacher Terry]

I took a 13 day repositioning cruise on royal Caribbean and we had 8 sea days. There was so much to do that we were never bored. I am going to Zurich, Munich, Salzburg, Vienna and Prague for 11 days in April and then in 2024 going to France for 11 days.

 

[Montecfo]

Quick trip to New Orleans-already completed.

Trip to Kauai sandwiched by a week of sports/family/friends visit to Texas. This will cover February.

Then a basketball regional in March-TBD

Next some sort of Europe trip in May or a return to the British Virgin Islands.

If summer travel is crazy again we will likely stay close to home and go to theatre, music shows and local events.

June we have a wedding in Nashville

October going to Tennessee for a week or so.

If we do not do BVI in May then maybe Greece in Sept/Oct

With family in Texas for Christmas.

That is the outline.

 

[bmcgonig]

Where can one find out about repositioning cruises?

 

[Zona]

This is hopefully going to be a big travel year for us. In spring we are planning six weeks in Eastern Australia and Tasmania followed by six weeks in Asia — Bali, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia and Singapore. We’ll come home for the summer and do some weekend camping trips with extended family. Then in fall we will spend two months in Europe split between the Lake Como area in Italy and Nice, France.

The Australia/Asia trip will be constantly moving from place to place. But for the fall Europe trip we have booked Airbnb apartments for 4 weeks each. We’ll get to see and do a lot on the first trip, and slow travel for the second one. I like traveling both ways but I know that as we get older we may slow down a bit, so we are trying to do the more adventurous trips sooner rather than later.

 

[Sunset]

Where can one find out about repositioning cruises?

Most cruise lines have them

You can get an overview here, on the left select the region either Transatlantic or Transpacific near the bottom of the drop down.

https://www.vacationstogo.com/

 

[Sunset]

OP - maybe we will be on the same ship, as I've been thinking of this too. .

We did a TA from Barcelona to NY with stops in Portugal and Halifax Canada, it was about 5 days at sea.
The beauty besides being cheaper than 1st class is sleeping in a bed and zero jet lag. Personally I'd prefer to go both ways by ship, but it's harder to schedule.

 

[NW-Bound]

This will be my 1st repositioning cruise with so many days at sea. I expect to see a lot of geezers on board. Who else has that much time to spend on a ship?

The longest cruise I have taken was a 7-night trip late in the year, and most of the travelers were 60+ on that trip because it was not peak summer travel. Worked great for us, because there were no rowdy young'uns like I have seen on these Carnival ships, a cruise line I would never use for the above reason.

 

[DrRoy]

Caribbean cruise, a month in Arizona, Alaska cruise + additional 10 days there, Shenandoah Valley.

 

[donheff]

I will be interested to hear about your repositioning cruise NW. DW and I have long thought one of those or a standard cross Atlantic cruise might be fun,

This year we are going to Antarctica at the end of the month; a bike tour in the Italian lake country in June; and a beach week in the Outer Banks in late July. With the triple-demic roaring we plan to wear masks on our flights to the Antarctic cruise and got a second bi-valent Covid booster.

 

[pacergal]

No definite plans yet, this may be the year we do our NE Fall foliage tour with friends. It was cancelled due to covid a couple years ago.
Possible drive trip to California.
Week at the coast with kids and grands again, or possible Great Wolf Lodge for a few days.
Starting to plan 2024 trip to Maui--we are taking the whole family, a definite BTD.

 

[Dash man]

We just finished a Caribbean cruise and have another set for next month. Heading to Raleigh, NC for a wedding in May. Other than that, we’ll just be traveling between our Florida condo, our Pennsylvania main home and our Jersey Shore home. My health isn’t allowing me do do anything adventurous.

 

[Sunset]

This will be my 1st repositioning cruise with so many days at sea. I expect to see a lot of geezers on board. Who else has that much time to spend on a ship?

The longest cruise I have taken was a 7-night trip late in the year, and most of the travelers were 60+ on that trip because it was not peak summer travel. Worked great for us, because there were no rowdy young'uns like I have seen on these Carnival ships, a cruise line I would never use for the above reason.

Our TA was May 09, years ago, and while we had a balcony, it was often too cold or chilly with the wind to sit out for long periods of time. Some days were fine.
I looked and it was actually 6 days at sea, then stopped in Halifax before heading to NY (with another sea day).

It was on Carnival, but a 14 day TA trip, meant no kids. We had the slide and roller coaster thing all to ourselves on days that were not too windy

 

[explanade]

Trans-Atlantic cruises are typically repositioning cruises. Cruise lines take the ships from the Caribbean to the Mediterranean from April to June. For the winter, they take the ships from Europe to the Caribbean in October or so.

If I go late in June, after the cruise I will head to northern Europe to avoid the heat. It could ruin my vacation.

Nemo was fond of taking a cross-Atlantic cruise because he said he had the time, and it was way less expensive than first-class or business airfare. I am checking this out to see if it will work for me.

PS. Cunard runs many trips between NY and Southhampton with no stops, and it's not repositioning but more like a shuttle. It takes 7 nights for the crossing,

PPS. What I am afraid of is that being at seas for several days in a row, I might get bored. Or I might eat too much and lose my girly figure.

Or get a virus.

Dang 7 nights is a lot of time. Probably no online connectivity so pack a lot of books and TV/movies?

Not that it matters for retired folks but whatever your savings, is it worth all that time? The ship itself would have to be an attraction or offer something interesting to bide the time.

So they probably have activities, casinos, etc.? Is there scenery to enjoy?

 

[explanade]

I'm booking some accommodations and I'm still leery of booking non-refundable rates.

Anyone else?

Before the pandemic, I often did, because barring some illness (to me or family member), I couldn't imagine not going.

I have a colonoscopy and upper endoscopy coming up and I was reluctant to book annoying just a few days afterwards.

 

[FIYes]

We have taken two transatlantic repositioning cruises and enjoyed them both. It was great to arrive in Europe rested instead of jet lagged. There were plenty of activities available on the many sea days. We never got bored.

I was able to get great deals on both trips. I called them our more time than money trips. Our cruise cost was less than airfare and we used frequent flier miles to get back from Europe.

Now, if you don’t like sea days then this mode of travel is not for you. However, if you enjoy sea days and are willing to spend time bargain hunting, repositioning cruises are one of the best deals out there.

 

[Ronstar]

I didn't know what a repositioning cruise is. Googled it - seems like a repositioning cruise would be much better than the Caribbean cruise we went on.

I think I would enjoy a cruise where I wasn't pigeon holed into a given dinner time, didn't have to dress up, and didn't have to sign up in advance for sub par shore activities.