"Tramp" generally refers to a ship that does not follow a set schedule. A tramp goes to where the cargo is to take it to anywhere the shippers or consignees want it to go.

The opposite of a tramp operation is a "liner" service. A liner service, today, is likely to be a company operating container ships on a set route with regular calls at a certain set of ports. If you were to get on a container ship today, you would probably not get to see all that much besides the ocean, the ship and for a day a week a container terminal. In New York Harbor, the container ships arrive at the sea buoy about 4:00, dock around 7:00 and begin loading and unloading at 8:00. In all likelihood, that ship will be on its way to another port within 24 hours.

And the container terminals are not in the scenic places. Few port operations are today.

A repositioning cruise is simply that. The ship is used in one area for a while, such making cruises from the Seattle-Vancouver area tio Alaska during the summer. At the end of the season, the ship is repositioned to service a different area. A ship might service the Caribbean from November to May and leave during hurricane season, so that it can service the Alaska cruise trade from June to October.

OBG, and any one who takes a cruise, read you ticket contract. These things are enforced STRICTLY. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnival_Cruise_Lines,_Inc._v._Shute