I want to do a World Cruise sometime in future

Hi all!

Sometime in the (indeterminate) future, I want to do a World Cruise.

I am 41 now, in a career in craniofacial anomalies laboratory research as well as public engagement for awareness of craniofacial anomalies and the need for research into these.

I am single and will remain so for the foreseeable future, unless of course I find a special someone to finish out my life with. (By the time I get married, if it does happen, it will be late in life anyway.)

I realize there are quite a number of choices, in terms of cruise lines, ships, itineraries, prices, etc. for World Cruises.

I would love to do Cunard's QM2 (because I'm an Anglophile, having lived in London for 3 years recently). I regrettably missed out on QE2 (I wish I had taken that option for when I first moved to London years ago). QM2 is the only ocean liner out there (and worry that it could be the last).

But I'm open to other options for WCs on other cruise lines.

1) How soon should I consider doing a WC, considering I'm 41 now?

2) How early can I start planning? I'm thinking probably around age 45-50 (which would be 2020-2025), as a nice round number and a milestone for age, for my first WC. Or it could be later. How early do cruise lines start opening bookings for world voyages?

3) How much do I really need to pack? I use a CPAP machine to keep myself breathing at night (due to my small airway, part of my craniofacial birth defects), so of course I need to carry that and have the cruise line provide distilled water for the machine. Other than that, I want to carry as little luggage as possible (I'm small and not physically strong, besides the fact I'm alone and live and travel alone, so don't want to carry a whole lot). How little in terms of luggage can I get by with?

4) What cruise lines offer the best experience for their WCs in terms of what you get for your money, as well as the best WC experience for solo travellers? Or, if I get married someday, for a middle-age/senior couple?

5) I am still physically active (meaning, I walk miles each day, but I don't swim, dive, play ball, or do anything else strenuous), so I love to explore cities on foot. I picked up this habit (I call it "urban hiking" when I lived in London, and have continued it in San Francisco, Calgary, and now, Denver). A WC would provide the opportunity for me to explore new cities worldwide on foot, is that right?

6) On a WC, what kind of cabin accommodation would be best for me, since I'm single? Are solo cabins available for WCs on many lines?

Or, if I get married at some unforeseen and indeterminate later stage by the time I chose to go on a WC, what kind of cabin would be best for a late middle-age or early senior couple? Would a balcony be a minimum to aim for then? A suite would be nice (especially if there was a piano in it, as I'm a lifelong pianist), but might be quite pricey, or would that be a good value?

7) I've also discovered Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV), the UK cruise line using classic ships (Marco Polo, Magellan, Astor, etc); they will do their first WC soon, and are advertising the lowest prices of any line for the WC. What do you think of them?

8) I notice Carnival, NCL, and other mass market lines have not done or don't do WCs. Is it because they serve a market not predisposed to WCs?

There are many more questions I haven't thought of.

Please let me know more!

I would research what the cruise lines are doing right now . They do slightly diferrent routes each year .

Aurora? I am from Evergreen, now Aspen.Nice to see some new blood on this site. Coloradans not big cruisers. My longest was several segments on Oceanias Insignia, 71N, a good length for me. Are you aware that lines divide WCs into 8 or so segments? A good way to start . You want to make sure you select best ship for you, especially as you will be youngest cruiser on board.So pick an area of the World you have always wanted to see and try it on the Queens segments.And these are discounted on line. They still have 3 classes. HAL, also a ship for Seniors has about best itins other than Oceania. HAL is nicely priced too.. You will never see CCL or RCL doing full WCs. Wrong target audiences. Celebrity, my favorite go to line, told me in a lecture they will never do a WC either. They are considered a premium line. I could live on Oceania but my pocketbook says no. Start reading. Colorado has a great library lending system.You can get books from any library in State.

Curious if you realize that cruising alone in a double cabin will cost you double or close to it? Like 40G. All this is different from a 7Ner on Carnival A much more conservative, subdued crowd..On O we had 30 single ladies and 3 guys. Rest married. Most cruising with friends due to cost. A delightful crowd from all over the world.

I was five years older than you when I decided I wanted to do a world cruise. Being a teacher I knew that it could not happen before I retired as there was no way I could take four months off in the middle of the year. Because of that, I started saving for a cruise, read a little about world cruises, sent away for some brochures but not much else. When I made up my mind that I would retire after the 2011-2012 school year, I started doing more in depth planning.

Could you take four months off of work? I did meet a few people onboard who could so they were taking the voyage and were a bit younger than the majority who were 60+ and retired. You will not find a huge number of younger people doing the entire world voyage although there will likely be some on segments.

The first (and probably the hardest) task for me was deciding which cruise line. I wanted to do a full circumnavigation so some of the few cruise lines that do a "world voyage" started and ended in different places and did not go all the way around the world and were eliminated. My choices finally came down to Holland America and Cunard. I chose Cunard because I could get a balcony (with the single supplement) for over $25,000 less than HAL. Cunard's three queens all do a "world voyage" but usually only one does a complete circumnavigation so I was on the Queen Elizabeth.

There were about 525 people doing the full voyage and about 85 were solo cruisers. Cunard has a get together every sea day morning for solos to get together and get to know each other. They also sat ten of us solos at the same dinner table.

One thing you might not like about Cunard is the dress code. If you want to pack light it would be a little tougher. You have to adhere to the dress code in order to go to most of the venues onboard after 6 p.m. I do know of a couple of women who wore a little black dress for every formal (and some elegant casual nights) for the entire voyage and some men who made do with one suit and a couple of different ties.

I don't know much about Cruise and Maritime Voyages but their ships (at least at the present) are all about 30 years or older.

Except for the premium lines (Oceania, Regent, Crystal, etc.), world voyages are usually not published until 16-20 months ahead of the sail date.

You can definitely walk around in most ports. In a few cases the ship will dock in an industrial port, sometimes miles from the city, but will usually run a shuttle bus into the city.

Although a balcony is nice, every cruise line I know will charge a solo 200% of the per person/double occupancy price except for Cunard (they charge about 175%) for one. A suite with a piano would likely cost $200,000-300,000 (or more) for a solo on those lines that have them.

Cruise lines are familiar with passengers with CPAP machines so that would be no problem.

Have you read any of the world voyage blogs? I started reading them after I discovered Cruise Critic in 2011. You can learn a great deal about the ships and ports from them.

I am planning my second world voyage now. I will be going on HAL this time so I will not get a balcony.

I think I have covered all I can from your post. But if you have questions about anything I've said or have more questions, feel free to ask. A world voyage is an amazing experience!

Kathi

My wife and I recently completed the Oceania world cruise (180 days)

There were a number of singles on board - more women than men.

If you are looking to do it around age 50 you will be 1 of the youngest as most people are retired but generally the full voyage is not sold out so some younger people will be doing segments.

You can only do a limited early planning such as finances as the itinerary is not known overly early - generally roughly 18 months ahead. Also the actual ships used now may not still be part of a company's fleet 5 or more years from now.

One thing you can do is read live from reports and reviews here on cc from those that have done these voyages. These will give you a great feel of the company and what it is like to be away for a longer period. There were 2 of us doing daily post - see Oceania board. I created a word doc of everything I posted which is available on request.

If you don't want to pack a lot consider Oceania as they have no formal nights and as of now free laundry is included in the w/c package.

Cruise lines run a w/c similar to any of their other cruises as far as service activities, food etc so the kind of reviews you generally get for a given line on shorter cruises will not vary greatly on their grand voyages.

The type of cabin you get depends on how much time you want to spend in it. Only the very top of the line cabins would include a piano. Solo cabins are very rare and if they exist on a ship, they would sell out very quickly.

As far as exploring cities, a w/c is just like shorter cruises except you go to more ports over a longer period. In general the ships used tend to be smaller than average and sometimes that helps get into ports where larger ships can not go.

Be aware that w/c have more sea days as a percent than the average cruise. The typical w/c is 110 - 115 days and to go all the way around the world requires a lot of sea days. Oceania w/c is 180 days and is about 50-50 sea vs port days.

Each company has their own target market. It is unlikely mass market lines that cater more towards families will get into the w/c type of voyage.

Hi Scrapana/Kahti,

Noticed this post of yours, and I'm also eyeing a world circumnavigation. I've found a few alternatives, including Cunard, but am wondering if circumnavigation could also be done by booking a series of separate interconnecting segments, much like a train journey.

Don't know if such a 'scheduler' exists somewhere.

Hope to hear from you,

regards,

V.

I was five years older than you when I decided I wanted to do a world cruise. Being a teacher I knew that it could not happen before I retired as there was no way I could take four months off in the middle of the year. Because of that, I started saving for a cruise, read a little about world cruises, sent away for some brochures but not much else. When I made up my mind that I would retire after the 2011-2012 school year, I started doing more in depth planning.

 

Could you take four months off of work? I did meet a few people onboard who could so they were taking the voyage and were a bit younger than the majority who were 60+ and retired. You will not find a huge number of younger people doing the entire world voyage although there will likely be some on segments.

 

The first (and probably the hardest) task for me was deciding which cruise line. I wanted to do a full circumnavigation so some of the few cruise lines that do a "world voyage" started and ended in different places and did not go all the way around the world and were eliminated. My choices finally came down to Holland America and Cunard. I chose Cunard because I could get a balcony (with the single supplement) for over $25,000 less than HAL. Cunard's three queens all do a "world voyage" but usually only one does a complete circumnavigation so I was on the Queen Elizabeth.

 

There were about 525 people doing the full voyage and about 85 were solo cruisers. Cunard has a get together every sea day morning for solos to get together and get to know each other. They also sat ten of us solos at the same dinner table.

 

One thing you might not like about Cunard is the dress code. If you want to pack light it would be a little tougher. You have to adhere to the dress code in order to go to most of the venues onboard after 6 p.m. I do know of a couple of women who wore a little black dress for every formal (and some elegant casual nights) for the entire voyage and some men who made do with one suit and a couple of different ties.

 

I don't know much about Cruise and Maritime Voyages but their ships (at least at the present) are all about 30 years or older.

 

Except for the premium lines (Oceania, Regent, Crystal, etc.), world voyages are usually not published until 16-20 months ahead of the sail date.

 

You can definitely walk around in most ports. In a few cases the ship will dock in an industrial port, sometimes miles from the city, but will usually run a shuttle bus into the city.

 

Although a balcony is nice, every cruise line I know will charge a solo 200% of the per person/double occupancy price except for Cunard (they charge about 175%) for one. A suite with a piano would likely cost $200,000-300,000 (or more) for a solo on those lines that have them.

 

Cruise lines are familiar with passengers with CPAP machines so that would be no problem.

 

Have you read any of the world voyage blogs? I started reading them after I discovered Cruise Critic in 2011. You can learn a great deal about the ships and ports from them.

 

I am planning my second world voyage now. I will be going on HAL this time so I will not get a balcony.

 

I think I have covered all I can from your post. But if you have questions about anything I've said or have more questions, feel free to ask. A world voyage is an amazing experience!

 

Kathi

Booking an entire World Cruise will likely get you more "perks" than booking separate trips.

There are also the intangibles-- such as creating relationships with others taking the journey with you -- both staff and other passengers. Unpacking once -- my favorite :)

I personally do not know of a scheduler-- sorry.

Hi Scrapana/Kahti,

Noticed this post of yours, and I'm also eyeing a world circumnavigation. I've found a few alternatives, including Cunard, but am wondering if circumnavigation could also be done by booking a series of separate interconnecting segments, much like a train journey.

Don't know if such a 'scheduler' exists somewhere.

 

Hope to hear from you,

regards,

V.

I have seen a couple of cruise lines that allow you to do part of a world cruise on one ship and the second part on another. Cunard often sends two of the "Queens" to Australia within a few days of each other so you can get off one, spend time in Australia and then get on the other. Crystal is doing something similar with two of their ships for the 2018 WV.

I suppose you could piece together parts of different cruise line's world cruises but I can see a number of disadvantages in doing so.

1) You would likely have to take at least a few flights and spend a number of nights in a hotel, raising the cost of the cruise. Making connections could become troublesome if there were flight issues

2) Luggage would be a hassle. If you are one of those people who can travel for a month with just a carry-on (and more power to you if you are:D) it wouldn't be too bad. But otherwise you are schlepping bags a number of times and packing and unpacking numerous times.

3) WV perks. Most every cruise line that does a WV gives a few really good perks to people doing the entire WV. I know Cunard and HAL pay for your daily Hotel Service Charge (for 100+ days that's a nice savings) if you book early enough. HAL and Cunard also give a few gifts along the way and also have a special dinner at some point in the cruise. HAL also pays to send two pieces of luggage free (both ways) when booking certain types of cabins. You also can get a nice amount of OBC from most cruise lines.

4) Getting to be part of the ship "community". You can get well acquainted with people during a world cruise. I have read complaints from some who said they were treated as "second class citizens" if they were only doing a segment or two. I never actually heard that personally from anyone but at least a few people have felt slighted (may have nothing to do with the segment but with the complainers;)).

For me, doing segments on multiple lines would just be too stressful.

Kathi