Year long Cruise

[Mary229]

For something fun to talk about and perhaps dream about:  Has anyone ever done a year long cruise or planned a year long cruise?  Which line, which route?  Do you mind sharing your thoughts about costs?  I had considered retiring to Cayman but the DH was not onboard with that so now we are thinking about a full travel year.  Cruising sounds like an ideal method.  I have just started exploring this idea and would love to hear your dreams, schemes or experiences.  

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

We do the World Cruise 128 days every year and   90 plus days in the fall  .. 7 months ..

[Mary229]

Do you do have a house sitter or do  you just wing it?   

Do HAL world cruises change significantly every year?  I have never watched them

[Mary229]

15 minutes ago, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

We do the World Cruise 128 days every year and   90 plus days in the fall  .. 7 months ..

BTW, you must really be in cruise withdrawal.  I travel about 6 months of the year but much of that is independent domestic which though difficult is not impossible

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

8 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

Do you do have a house sitter or do  you just wing it?   

Do HAL world cruises change significantly every year?  I have never watched them

We Pay a person to take care of the house .. and yes the W.C. is a little  different every year 

Edited May 6, 2021 by Gail & Marty sailing away

[Gerd]

Hi, 

so god will, I do this autumn a 50 days cruise around the Nord-Atlantic, and then 143 days on a world cruise, and extend this cruise while around Europe sailing -> all together 229 days ….

 

Best G E R D

Edited May 6, 2021 by Gerd

[Mary229]

14 minutes ago, Gerd said:

Hi, 

so god will, I do this autumn a 50 days cruise around the Nord-Atlantic, and then 143 days on a world cruise, and extend this cruise while around Europe sailing -> all together 229 days ….

 

Best G E R D

How many ships, are you jumping from one to the other or are you going home between cruises?

[Evilmuffin]

Can’t imagine what it would cost.   I would want to be in the Pinnancle Suite for that length of time.   My upcoming 10 day cruise in Bahamas is just over 13K.   (Hence the reason I don’t cruise too often).    I doubt I could afford a Neptune Suite for that long.  Maybe include cabin or down below in the engine room.   But there is always the lottery so never say never.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

3 minutes ago, Evilmuffin said:

Can’t imagine what it would cost.   I would want to be in the Pinnancle Suite for that length of time.   My upcoming 10 day cruise in Bahamas is just over 13K.   (Hence the reason I don’t cruise too often).    I doubt I could afford a Neptune Suite for that long.  Maybe include cabin or down below in the engine room.   But there is always the lottery so never say never.

We always do a inside cabin

[Mary229]

1 minute ago, Evilmuffin said:

Can’t imagine what it would cost.   I would want to be in the Pinnancle Suite for that length of time.   My upcoming 10 day cruise in Bahamas is just over 13K.   (Hence the reason I don’t cruise too often).    I doubt I could afford a Neptune Suite for that long.  Maybe include cabin or down below in the engine room.   But there is always the lottery so never say never.

I don't need Pinnacle but I don't need the bottom either but I have heard people say once a Pinnacle, always a Pinnacle.  I probably will never try one for that reason.   I sail for the ports so I would be in port everyday, my cabin need only be a comfortable bedroom without disruptions.   I think the costs of adding the cruises is pretty simple but I wonder what type of discount the lines give you for stringing a number of cruises together.  I also wonder about the costs of keeping the home fires burning, house sitting, mail forwarding, prescriptions and all of that.  

[Gerd]

Hi,

 

I will do all on the Ms Artania with a nice balcony

and Yes, between November 11 and December 23 in 2021,  I'm back home...

 

You will find more on my blog, once I board the vessel

 

 

G E R D

[KirkNC]

Pre-pandemic we were similar to Marty, 200 plus days a year.  Some years almost 300 days.   Not all one cruise usually 2-3 with some B2B’s involved. We moved into a townhouse when we retired.  We shut the water off, hot water is on pilot only, can control the HVAC remotely.  Never had a problem.

[KirkNC]

47 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

I don't need Pinnacle but I don't need the bottom either but I have heard people say once a Pinnacle, always a Pinnacle.  I probably will never try one for that reason.   I sail for the ports so I would be in port everyday, my cabin need only be a comfortable bedroom without disruptions.   I think the costs of adding the cruises is pretty simple but I wonder what type of discount the lines give you for stringing a number of cruises together.  I also wonder about the costs of keeping the home fires burning, house sitting, mail forwarding, prescriptions and all of that.  

No special discounts, same pricing is available to all.  We have no cost for the house.  We do rent the largest PO Box available and forward all our mail to it.  Never comes close to full as junk mail is not forwarded.  We do bring enough prescription pills to last for the cruise.

[KirkNC]

51 minutes ago, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

We always do a inside cabin

We are the same.  We wouldn’t do it if we had the need to travel in the premium cabins.  There used to be a lady on the Amsterdam that basically had a cabin all year.  Rumor was she paid $1 million per year but that was for the top line cabin.  If you do inside you can cruise (cabin and port fees only) for around 100-125k.

[Mary229]

2 minutes ago, KirkNC said:

No special discounts, same pricing is available to all.  We have no cost for the house.  We do rent the largest PO Box available and forward all our mail to it.  Never comes close to full as junk mail is not forwarded.  We do bring enough prescription pills to last for the cruise.

Thanks.  Did you stay in your community or did you actually move to be closer to ports?

[Mary229]

For someone who has never sailed the World Cruise, how do I get wait listed for the 2024.  I understand the WCs fill fast.

[KirkNC]

Just now, Mary229 said:

Thanks.  Did you stay in your community or did you actually move to be closer to ports?

We stayed where we were.  We can drive (an all day drive) to Fort Lauderdale for the world cruise.  Other times we fly to the port and just stay on the same ship/same cabin for 3 months or so.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

To get the same cabin for 8 back to backs you have to book early or get lucky 

[Mary229]

2 minutes ago, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

To get the same cabin for 8 back to backs you have to book early or get lucky 

I certainly would prefer one cabin but I could make do with an occasional change.  Looking over the current offerings I think I will need to change ships occasionally also.   Of course the offerings currently are not comprehensive.  

[Mary229]

Do you use a travel agent or HAL?  Is there a website that shows the meanderings of a single cruise ship for the year.  Let's say I picked the Zaandam, is there some where I can easily see its full year's journey on a map.  

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

9 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

Do you use a travel agent or HAL?  Is there a website that shows the meanderings of a single cruise ship for the year.  Let's say I picked the Zaandam, is there some where I can easily see its full year's journey on a map.  

Holland America has staff called Personal Cruise Planner this would be a great start for a long trip.

[Mary229]

10 minutes ago, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

Holland America has staff called Personal Cruise Planner this would be a great start for a long trip.

That is what I was thinking as they probably know the routes best. 

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

7 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

That is what I was thinking as they probably know the routes best. 

There computer can see it all

[USN59-79]

We enjoy longer cruises, but not quite that long.  We generally cruise about three months a year.  The longest was 89 days on the Ocean Princess around Africa, but we have taken two half world cruises; once from Ft Lauderdale to Hong Kong and once from Hong Kong  back to Ft Lauderdale.  We have also enjoyed two Grand Asia on the Amsterdam, 69 and 70 days.  We often take back to back to back 14 day cruises.  If we have to change cabins, no big deal.  We don't do anything special about leaving our house for 2 or 3 months.  Just mow the lawn and turn off the water on our washing machine and fill out the yellow card for the post office to hold our mail.  I know the form says 30 days max, but our postman said don't worry about that, they will hold it for as long as you need and they have done that.  I go the the airport (about 60 miles from home) the day before and rent a car so we can drive it and our luggage when we leave and don't worry about parking.  Take the airporter home with a short taxi ride.  This is what we did pre-pandemic, normally booking a cruise about 30 days in advance.  Not sure about the future; our next cruise is 42 days on the Noordam starting in February of next year.

Ray

[Mary229]

10 minutes ago, USN59-79 said:

We enjoy longer cruises, but not quite that long.  We generally cruise about three months a year.  The longest was 89 days on the Ocean Princess around Africa, but we have taken two half world cruises; once from Ft Lauderdale to Hong Kong and once from Hong Kong  back to Ft Lauderdale.  We have also enjoyed two Grand Asia on the Amsterdam, 69 and 70 days.  We often take back to back to back 14 day cruises.  If we have to change cabins, no big deal.  We don't do anything special about leaving our house for 2 or 3 months.  Just mow the lawn and turn off the water on our washing machine and fill out the yellow card for the post office to hold our mail.  I know the form says 30 days max, but our postman said don't worry about that, they will hold it for as long as you need and they have done that.  I go the the airport (about 60 miles from home) the day before and rent a car so we can drive it and our luggage when we leave and don't worry about parking.  Take the airporter home with a short taxi ride.  This is what we did pre-pandemic, normally booking a cruise about 30 days in advance.  Not sure about the future; our next cruise is 42 days on the Noordam starting in February of next year.

Ray

That is very similar to our experiences.  The longest we have sailed is 42 days but we have traveled longer but never more than 6 weeks without touching home.   We have a small local car rental operator who is always delighted to give us a car to return to the big airport and if I call directly he will give me a nice car for $30 for a 24 hour rental. .I am thinking that if we go up to a year we might have a mail box with a forwarding service like the RVers use.