Spring and Fall is when many cruise lines move their ships from seasonal cruise itineraries. In the Pacific Northwest, this means that the cruise ships sailing Alaska will be migrating to warmer waters for the winter and returning again in the summer.
This presents a unique opportunity for one-way cruises for as short as over night to much longer sailings. Cruise lines often make rooms on these sailings available at a discount and sometimes offer themed sailings, like "wine country" with several California stops as the ship makes its way along the Pacific Coast.
If you're not picky about "when" you sail, since there are only two per year per ship, a repositioning cruise can be a fun and inexpensive trip. You will need to begin or end your sailing in a "foreign" port or make at least one stop at a "foreign" port of call. So leaving from the Pacific Northwest Area means embarking in Canada for a "Pacific Coastal" sailing, although there are many itineraries to choose from including sailings through the Panama Canal and trans-oceanic. The Rhapsody of the Seas that we sailed on to Alaska earlier this summer spends the winters in Australia and has a very long repositioning sailing with stops in Hawaii and Fiji!
Why is this? Well, the U.S. Passenger Vessel Services Act requires that foreign flagged cruise ships make at least one foreign stop. You may have noticed many cruise ships fly flags for the Bahamas, Panama, Italy, Bermuda, Malta, and other countries, even if they mostly sail out of U.S. ports.
The questions that naturally follows is, "why isn't the ship flying an American flag?"
According to this resource:
"Current manning regulations for U.S.-flag vessels engaged in coastwise trade mandate that all officers and pilots and 75% of other onboard personnel be U.S. citizens or residents. In addition, U.S. flag vessels engaged in coastwise trade must be owned by U.S. citizens and constructed in U.S. ship yards. This construction requirement applies to the entire hull and superstructure of the ship and the majority of all materials outfitting the vessel."
The translation basically means that to fly a U.S. flag, the ship must have been mostly made in America and be manned by a mostly American workforce. This is why Norwegian Cruise Line's Pride of America (the only large U.S. flagged cruise ship) is on the pricey side - federal minimum wage and no foreign stops. This is also why there is no casino onboard - because Hawaii doesn't allow gambling and the ship never ventures into international waters. And also why your repositioning cruise must start or stop or stop at a foreign port of call. Interesting bit of trivia.
You can combine repositioning cruises for a longer sailing. You could board in Vancouver and sail the first "leg" to Los Angeles, the book a second "leg" through the Panama Canal and disembark in New Orleans or Miami.
There's some great deals on for repositioning cruises. I have some specials listed here, or call or email me for additional sailings.