So, it turns out, we’re not cruise people. We probably knew that. But we’d never taken a cruise, so there was always a chance, wasn’t there, that we’d adore it? And 2026 being the year of new things (as witness our SEA tour), we thought, why not? It helped that the repositioning cruise left from Brooklyn the day after we were in the Northeast United States. The other thing that helped? It cost $1300 USD per person, for sixteen days at sea with literally all the food we could possibly eat. The luggage limits – 23kg per bag for a total of four checked bags each – were what eventually sold us. How could we pass up on the chance to transport a crap-ton of books and even a few pots and pans to Europe?
Friends, we could not! Even though we suspected this might not be our ideal way to spend two and a half weeks. So we hauled our bags, each weighing just under 23 kg, on board, and prepared to enjoy everything the ship had to offer. And there were so many things!
On Board
Our ship was a big one, apparently one of the biggest on the ocean, with over 4500 passengers and 1500 staff. All of them, besides us, on vacation, and eager to enjoy themselves. Most, seemingly, taking full advantage of the unlimited drinks package (which, money saving tip #1: we did not get, since it would have more than doubled the total cost of our journey). We imagined that there might be fewer people on a repositioning cruise but apparently every cabin was occupied.
The Problem
And therein lies the rub: soooo many people. People everywhere: in the buffet and at the pool and in the casino (at least, we imagine: we never went in there) and in the faux-British pub and in the too-small gym and in the restaurants and especially in the theatre during showtimes and on the decks during port days and at bingo and at dance lessons. And don’t even get us started on the karaoke lounge, which (how can this be?) was always teeming with people. Or the shiny crystal staircase.
We like people, sort of. Just not in such quantities. Luckily, our cabin, where we spent at least twenty hours a day, was lovely. We had a desk and a sofa and a beautiful balcony where it was far too cold to sit and enjoy the North Atlantic but we sometimes did anyway. And did we mention, it was quie
A repositioning cruise means you spend lots of time at sea; for us, eight days of sixteen. The four in a row, from Halifax to the Azores, were the trickiest. It was, as they say, a rough crossing. But we eventually came up with a routine. Get up at 6 to rush to the gym before it fills up. Have breakfast delivered to the room (Tip #2: free with our class of cabin!). Read in our room. Eat lunch at the buffet at around 3.30 because nobody else is there, except the mah-jong players. Skip dinner. Read more, maybe have a drink while everyone else is eating. Why did we usually skip dinner? Because we did have our own table but it was mere centimetres from all the other tables. And our waiter was, in a word, pushy, always trying to get us to order more food than we wanted.
Talking of food, as we usually do, we found ourselves feeling a little grossed out by all of the eating everyone (including us) was doing.
Things We Liked
- The staff were very helpful and solicitous.
- Spending little bits of time in Halifax, the Azores, Lisbon, Cadiz, Malaga, and Marseille. And also crossing through the Straits of Gibraltar
- The individual drinks in bars were not nearly as expensive as we’d imagined.
- Our solitary excursion in the Azores, where we took a bus with a hundred other people to see the beautiful Lagoa das Sete Cidades. (Tip #3: we did not, for the most part, think the excursions were worth the money, especially when they were just ‘walking tours’.)
- Disembarking!
We made no crafts. We learned no dances. And we didn’t even buy any swag or chatchkes. While we did eat some cakes, we did not, alas, make any lifelong friends (though we met some nice people, all of whom talked about their prior cruises). You could say we didn’t enter into the spirit of cruising. And you’d be right. But we have no regrets about it. It was a new experience for us, and when you are meandering minimalists, you always have to be ready to try something new, even when it’s not for you.
