If you’re wondering whether a luxury cruise is right for you, booking a repositioning voyage is the perfect way to test the waters at a budget-friendly price.

Repositioning cruises are offered with discounted fares when cruise lines need to relocate ships to a different region at the start or end of cruise seasons. The cruise lines prefer to fill their ships on these journeys rather than travel empty.

We booked a Tasman Sea crossing aboard Ponant’s Le LaPerouse earlier this year, sailing from Hobart to Christchurch on the South Island of New Zealand.

In our case Le Laperouse had been traversing the Kimberley and Queensland before heading to Hobart for a Christmas/New Year circumnavigation, then moving across to New Zealand.

It was luxury all the way from the moment we stepped aboard Le Laperouse and were greeted by waiters bearing trays of Charles Heidsieck champagne. Then we wandered to the outdoor grill to dine on wild mushroom risotto and steak with bernaise sauce as more bubbles flowed.

The outdoor grill became our favourite place for lunch and dinner most days. The ship also has a luxurious dining room that is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner for those who prefer to be indoors.

Le Laperouse is an all-inclusive ship, with all meals and drinks included, plus a fully stocked mini-bar in your room for those moments when you fancy making your own gin and tonic. Mind you, there is also free room service, so you can ask for your cocktails to be delivered to you in bed if you prefer!

We sailed down the Derwent River at 4pm, taking a dip in the heated plunge pool and admiring the spectacular scenery as we cruised past the heads and out into the open sea. It was a stunning way to spend an afternoon.

We then sat down to a four-course dinner in the dining room at sunset, before retiring to our suite, which was bigger than our hotel room in Hobart.

It included a dressing room, separate toilet, shower and sink room and a sofa, alongside a king-sized bed. It also had a balcony, which didn’t get a huge amount of use as it was only reaching a maximum temperature of around 11-12C each day by about mid-way through our voyage.

We spent our five days at sea doing not very much at all and loving every minute of it. We would rise in time for a 9am meditation or stretch class, have breakfast in the dining room, laze around drinking coffee, head to the grill for lunch and a few glasses of French wine, have an afternoon nap, visit one of the bars for a pre-dinner cocktail, head to the dining room or grill for dinner, then visit another bar for a post-dinner cocktail.

One of the bars is even positioned in the hull of the ship with two glass “eye” windows that look out on the sea roaring past. It’s quite hypnotic.

I took lots of books and planned to tap away at my laptop during my days at sea, but I mostly gazed at the sea, drank Champagne, relaxed and slept. It was glorious.

We really enjoyed the opportunity to switch off and be pampered. We are not prone to seasickness, so the open seas didn’t bother us much, though other passengers struggled a little.

It was very exciting to sight land for the first time on day four, Solander Island, which is described by the Museum of New Zealand as “a rugged, inhospitable lump of an island lying in the western approaches to Foveaux Strait. About 40 km south of Fiordland and 70 km north-west of Stewart Island.” But we thought it was dazzling after spending so long at sea and took endless photos.

Our last day of the voyage was the most magical. We slept in past the 9.30am cut-off for breakfast, but fortunately our cabin attendant had left us two rhum babas on a little plate.

We lazed around in our cabin until it was time to wander out on deck for lunch, where I ordered my third steak with bernaise sauce for the voyage, teamed with frites, salad and Champagne as we watched the gorgeous New Zealand South Island’s coastline glide past.

The sky was gloriously blue and the sea was blissfully calm. A fellow passenger waved us over to the side of the ship to watch seals frolic beside the ship.

Later the Captain announced that a pod of minke whales was accompanying the ship and we raced onto deck to gaze in awe as they undulated through the glassy sea.

But the dazzling highlight of the day came after dinner as hundreds of tiny Hector dolphins surrounded the ship, leaping through the waves as far as the eye could see. It was so beautiful that I found myself crying with happiness – a truly special way to end our voyage.

Would we book another repositioning cruise? Definitely, if time wasn’t an issue. And particularly if it was a prelude to an expedition cruise – it’s such a relaxing, cost-effective way to start and adventure.

Fortunately we only needed to step off Le Laperouse for a few hours to explore Christchurch, before reboarding the vessel for a New Zealand cruise. More about that adventure in a later post …