Just a quick scenerio..My husband's family is in Genoa. We'd like to visit them next year AND take a cruise. We live in Arkansas.<BR><BR>I've been looking at all the repositioning sailings for next year. Of course, there is Costa out of Genoa but they all go to Florida and are a lot more expensive than, say, the Splendour from Lisbon to Galvestion. Haven't looked into getting from Genoa to Lisbon yet but we'll figure that out. And we are looking at the fall schedule opposed to the Spring. In part because it looks like we may have to fly there and forfeit half of a r-t ticket because the one-way fare quoted by American was more than double the r-t fare. And have you ever inquired about an open-end ticket?..don't unless you are sitting down.<BR><BR>My question is..have you done this? Would you do it again? How did you fare? The cruise and it's ports look very inviting but will it be worth all the hassle?<BR><BR>Thanks!

Elaine, if you're budget conscious but might enjoy something different, you might consider a freighter across the pond - see http://www.freighterworld.com/places/transatl.html for example. The freighter agents are pros on working out the one way airfare business.

As my father would say....swimming is not crowded. TEE HEE!

Elaine, we've gotten good one-way fares from flights.com (formerly tiss.com) for our transatlantic repositioning cruises.

Thanks John and JP!<BR>My husband was a merchant seaman in the 50's and 60's, lastly on the Pia Costa. I've heard him mention taking passengers but we've never talked about ever going that route ourselves. He'll be fully retired next year and so having the time isn't the problem but we are spoiled (I admit it!) and like our creature comforts and might miss the cruise ship amenities. I'll ask him this evening.<BR><BR>And I went to Flights.com and it said it couldn't compute LR to Genoa..maybe it's too far in advance so I'll try again down the road. BUT, have you actually been on a repositioning cruise because the way it was worded, you could have just helped others with their arrangements. If yes, what did you think? Any other advice, route or port comments? <BR><BR>Thanks again!

One option is to come back from Genoa on First European's &quot;European Vision&quot;, leaving Genoa 11/30/03 and arriving at Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on 12/14/03 ($1100 pp).<BR><BR>It's hard to say how much it would cost to get to Little Rock from there (since it's more than a year from now), but I saw a fare for less than $300 pp on an earlier date.<BR><BR>Also hard to know with the Little Rock -&gt; Genoa part, but be flexible; you may find much better fares from Houston to Rome, for instance.<BR><BR>I've been on 4 transatlantic cruises in the last 12 years, but always the spring ones, Florida to Europe. I much prefer Europe in the spring, and that way you don't have to do the overnight flight. You also tend to have more options for Mediterranean ports in the spring, since many of the ships that start out in the south migrate to northern Europe during the summer and then return from there.<BR><BR>

Just returned from 25-day repositioning cruise on Holland America's Noordam. We flew to Rome and ended up in Ft. Lauderdale. The airfare to Rome was included as part of the package deal, arranged by Your Man Tours. Any number of passengers arrived a number of days prior to the ship's departure in order to have more time in Rome, so I don't know why you couldn't do the same with Genoa. Ports of call included Naples, Sicily, Livornia, Corsica, Malta, etc. and the trip more than fulfilled our expectations (research on this web site was very helpful in giving us a realistic idea of what to expect) even though we had several stormy days and missed two scheduled ports, including Casablanca, which was a great disappointment to many.

More good info..thanks.<BR>Adding Noordam to list of possibilities. Leaving from Rome is appealing since there wouldn't be a language problem. And I got info on the Noordam after reading your post and it sounds and looks like a wonderful ship.<BR>One question..how close to your trip did you make your reservations? <BR><BR>Thanks!