After the great trip we had last year  (http://perrisinfo.com) we thought we’d try and save up and have another go next year in 2013. We had thought about going to Europe but the lengthy plane flights deterred us, even with a stopover in say Singapore. Also we enjoyed Alaska so much last year we didn’t mind going again. The big decider of course is the price of repositioning cruises, so much cheaper than regular cruises. For the uninitiated ‘repositioning’ cruises are when the cruise companies move their cruise ships from one part of the world to another part to meet the demands of travellers. Hence in April cruise ships move from Asia back to the States as winter (fall) ends and the demand for cruises to Alaska intensifies. Likewise in September the reverse happens, Alaska is too cold for tourists and they move the cruise liners back to the warmer climate areas such as the Carribean and the Asian continent.

We haven’t formalised all the itinerary at this stage other than we have booked two cruises back-to-back i.e. same ship (Diamond Princess) and same balcony cabin – on the port side of the ship. This is strategic as the vast land component will be on the port side, even when cruising down the inside Alaskan passage.

 So we will head to Bangkok early April and spend a week there before the cruise departs on April 17. We have some friends who are joining us for this first cruise up to Beijing.  This 16 night cruise will visit Singapore, Ho Chi Min and Nha Trang in Vietnam, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Nagasaki, Busan (Pusan) South Korea before arriving in Beijing.

After dropping our friends off to go explore Beijing we head off from China and after visiting Osaka and Tokyo across the Pacific and down the inside passage in Alaska to Vancouver.

 From Vancouver we’re flying to Toronto and visiting Niagara Falls. Then down to the Big Apple (New York) where initially we stay overnight before embarking on an 8 day cruise around the Caribean on the Carnival Splendor.

This is the map of our 8 night cruise to the Caribean.The it’s back to New York where we
will stay for a week, living like a New  Yorker in an apartment.  We managed to book a one bedroom apartment in the Lower East Side for a very reasonable AU$140 a night. This is the art deco, music trendy area with lots of nice bars and restaurants with easy transport to access  all of Manhattan and Brooklyn. We anticipate seeing a couple of shows on Broadway and also looking forward to the buzz of some baseball games.

From NY it is  back towards home visiting Anaheim (Disneyland) and Los Angeles (Universal Studios) before stopping by at Honolulu for some sunset cocktails overlooking the beach. Having visited Waikiki Beach previously it is such a great holiday destination. Finally, one last stopover at Fiji for a week, just to unwind from a busy holiday before heading back home to Sydney. We have some friends flying over to Fiji from Australia to join us on this last week of our journey.