Have you ever been on, or would you ever go on a World Cruise?

Yes! I did one segment of a world cruise on Princess last year (went through the Panama Canal). My friend and I were very envious of all of our friends on the cruise who were going to stay on the ship when we disembarked in LA. They were offering a deal onboard if you booked the next segment, and we seriously thought about it. So yes, I'd love to do one someday.
 
Never been, and would love to, but DW definitely would not. We just did an 18-night repositioning cruise with 10 sea days and I loved it, but she was ultra-bored.
 
Just saw on Facebook that I friend of mine is on a 2025 Island Princess, 116 day, 5 continent world cruise right now. They say it's a total of 51 destinations and 35,000 nautical miles total, so I'm sure I'll see all kinds of pics over the next few months.
 
Last edited:
Never been, and would love to, but DW definitely would not. We just did an 18-night repositioning cruise with 10 sea days and I loved it, but she was ultra-bored.
Was she bored because of the number of sea days or just because it was so long of a trip in one go?

For number of sea days that's why I don't know that I would be a fan of the repositioning cruises although some parts of other cruises have a lot of sea days like getting from the mainland U.S. to Hawaii and then Hawaii to the French Polynesia area and in those cases it's just part of the territory that comes from trying to get to more remote places far away from other places. I know some people really love ships in general so they don't have an issue with too many sea days.

Our first cruise together was in 2023 7 days no sea days. The upcoming cruise in March is a 12 day with 2 sea days and I think we'll enjoy having some time to just be on the ship but I wouldn't want too many sea days eating up our cruise at my stage.
 

a lot of cruisers take their first cruise thinking they will hate the sea days and then it turns out they love sea days. That's how it was for me. My first cruise we book 7 night with only 2 sea days. Now I would be happy to take 7 night without a port. They can't offer those roundtrip from US ports, but if they did...
 
a lot of cruisers take their first cruise thinking they will hate the sea days and then it turns out they love sea days. That's how it was for me. My first cruise we book 7 night with only 2 sea days. Now I would be happy to take 7 night without a port. They can't offer those roundtrip from US ports, but if they did...
Many people want a balance; too many port days and you may feel like you're not getting a break (although personally we're typically commando type vacationers on most destinations) and too many sea days and you're asking yourself where's the variety and excitement. It also depends on where you're coming from in the world and where the cruise is going. And if you're not able to physically get off the ship easily enough that often adjusts how you view a cruise. Repositioning cruises are not meant for high amounts of ports but they often cost less to account for that.

But on this Board a lot of people take the 3-4 day cruises on DCL just to go to their islands with some saying they just don't even get off the ship. We're not willing to spend that cash nor the vacation time and the travel hassle for such little time. It however appeals to enough people. Virgin Voyages also does short trips going to Bimini for their private club and it doesn't interest me either. I have such little interest in a Caribbean cruise (I've taken one before) because I want to go far and explore a lot. I think for people in the U.S. only wanting to go to the Caribbean those sea days take on a different meaning.

But for a world cruise? You'd be far less likely to find someone who is willing to book a several month long trip with an uneven amount of sea days at least en masse unless it's getting from destination to destination like I mentioned with getting from mainland U.S. to Hawaii and then Hawaii to French Polynesia area where you may spend 5-7 days at one time at sea.
 
Well it's not exactly that being the reason that region isn't really used as much on cruising. Most of it is because of the waterways being unsafe due to pirates, terrorism and more. Red Sea and Suez Canal have been the biggest issues. The cruise lines were keeping cruises with ports either on one side or the other or in these waterways until they basically had no choice. I saw so many comments about when Seabourn for instance was going to cancel cruises in this area last year and in 2023 and they tried to wait as long as they could. So while Egypt for example has some safety issues they would cruise there if they could get through the Suez Canal safely. As is in one of the more recent cruises they sailed the ship it needed as a ship with no passengers and only necessary crew around the coast of Africa to get it to Singapore for its next season after being done in the Mediterranean rather than use the Suez Canal on an actual cruise.

I saw a lot of cruises that were going to and from Haifa (Tel Aviv) on Seabourn (as that was a main port used as a starting and ending point for cruises in that part of the world for Seabourn) in 2022 and into 2023 but obviously no longer due to war. Going to countries with active and heavy war going on is scary and ill advised for anyone much less a cruise ship.

Yes, good point on why they don't cruise there. I more was meaning for us a big downside is no more Middle East and some folks initially think these countries are unsafe, when the actual country isn't unsafe. MSC has some great options leaving out of Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Doha that just stays around those countries, so you forgo needing the transit passages. So those are an option to cruise that part of the world for us.
 
Yes, good point on why they don't cruise there. I more was meaning for us a big downside is no more Middle East and some folks initially think these countries are unsafe, when the actual country isn't unsafe. MSC has some great options leaving out of Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Doha that just stays around those countries, so you forgo needing the transit passages. So those are an option to cruise that part of the world for us.
That's true but I would say there are reasons why someone might say a country is unsafe even if you feel it might be. For a woman traveling to Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Doha is very different than a man traveling there regardless of absence of war like you might have in Israel. Those are cultural things at play but it can indeed be part of why someone, rather than a cruise line, deems an area unsafe but that is also nationality and ethnically driven. Dubai, for example, solo women travelers have generally been advised it's safe but you also have to adhere to the laws for women there which can make someone feel unsafe even if the place is considered generally safe for them. Even for my husband it makes him uncomfortable at the rules that I as a woman would have to adhere to. But my sister-in-law's fiance who is Muslim and formerly from Pakistan would view a trip to Dubai differently (as would his entire family). That's obviously going a different route here, Seabourn used to have routes going to the places you listed, it's still part of their marketing for Arabia, Africa and India cruise page but right now they only go to Africa.
 
The longest cruise we've done is 45 days. It's not the length of a world cruise that is daunting, but the logistics of being away that long. DH and I sat down and figured out that we've pretty much circumnavigated the globe in segments -- except for one small portion. We hope to fill in that gap someday before we're too old to travel, but it's Singapore to Athens, a problematic area, as others have been discussing.
 



New Posts










Save Up to 30% on Rooms at Walt Disney World!

Save up to 30% on rooms at select Disney Resorts Collection hotels when you stay 5 consecutive nights or longer in late summer and early fall. Plus, enjoy other savings for shorter stays.This offer is valid for stays most nights from August 1 to October 11, 2025.
CLICK HERE













DIS Facebook DIS youtube DIS Instagram DIS Pinterest

Back
Top