Of all the ways to find discount cruises, one of the greatest is to book your ticket on a repositioning cruise. A repositioning cruise generally sails in either the fall or the spring, during which time the cruise companies are moving their boats from Alaska to the Caribbean or vice versa.  These just happen to be, in my opinion, the best time to cruise Alaska anyway.

Instead of moving these vessels without any passengers between the two regions, destinations, the cruise companies carry passengers on these repositioning voyages at what often amounts to a huge savings over regular in-season Alaskan cruise pricing.

When you take a repositioning cruise, your journey can last anywhere from three days (along the route from Vancouver to San Francisco) to much longer voyages across the Pacific Ocean.

The longer types of cruises that include ocean crossings often stop at few ports, but this gives ship passengers an excellent opportunity to partake in all the modern entertainment on board the ship when it is not very crowded.

Of course, it is easy to spend a lot of money in the ship's bars and casino during a long cruise, so you might want to keep track of your tab along the way to avoid any unexpected and aggravating surprises when you get your final bill after the cruise ends.

One other factor to weigh when considering a repositioning cruise is the cost of the airfare getting you to the starting point and home from the ending point of the cruise.

Because these repositioning cruise routes begin and end in totally different ports, often far apart, you'll need to buy a split fare airline ticket in all likelihood, and this can really drive up the cost of your trip.

However if the cost of the air transportation is quite reasonable, the you are in luck — a repositioning cruise could be a very good way to visit exciting new spots on the most modern cruise ships for very little money. You simply cannot beat that type of discount.  The cost alone make these routes among the best Alaskan cruises of all.