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Which line for a "world" cruise?


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I bet a new thread title woke everyone up :D

 

Mrs D and I are thinking ahead a few years to a time when we won't have anything tying us down, and could travel for a few months. We are interested in taking a loooong cruise, on the order of 2-4 months.

 

We'd like to find a line that goes to very interesting, and perhaps far off the beaten path, places. We'd want a very spacious cabin, preferably a small suite. And a modicum of "luxury". Good food and wine goes without saying, but all-inclusive of booze/wine not necessary, as I'm sure we would soon tire of "included" wines.

 

Since MrsD is easily bored, the ship should offer interesting activities and entertainment. Sea days should be minimum. It would be nice if a large percentage of pax are doing the world cruise, so we could regularly annoy them...

 

And, of course, cost would be somewhat of a factor. We don't need "ultimate luxury", but nor do we want a mass market experience. Adventure is prefered to pampering, etc.

 

An again, this is for a few years from now. We don't even know what areas of the world we'd like to visit on the cruise yet. Any suggestions for cruise lines we should begin investigating?

 

Thanks,

 

Ragnar "The Wanderer" D.

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Hi R. We are also thinking along these lines. When I was younger my dream cruise was a world cruise on QE2. 90 days and many ports. They made good use of her 30+ knot speed and 4 days at sea was the longest between ports. Sadly, she is crumbling in Dubai, never to sail again in that manner. Nowadays the mantra is "save fuel sail slower". For example, Queen Mary 2 has a 120 day World Cruise......With 39 ports. Any way you look at it that's a lot of sea days. Most other lines are similar. One line we have tossed around for one of the WCs is Oceania. Cunard has 3 ships that do annual World Cruises but you need to decide if it is for you. Cunard Grills accommodations are excellent and the food is very good. Most lines end up filling the ships by selling segments so a new bunch of targets for you every couple of weeks. Let us know what you work out.

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Thanks Jim. Looked at several lines' 60-120 day iteneraries and they do have A LOT of sea days :( I think MrsD would go stir-crazy on those. Maybe the thing to do is tie several longish, port intensive itineraries together with flights. On different lines if necessary. Maybe spending a few days ashore between cruise segments.

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Conde Nast Traveler just had an article on just that. A total of 350+ days on several longish cruises on multiple lines with Biz air between and even a few days back home interspersed. A mere $155K p/p. Not much more than Sea, Sky, and Safari.:D All those sea days are a result of the world no longer looking at ships as transportation as much as it is about saving fuel.

Edited by Jim Avery
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Thanks, will look for the article. That's about the right price range, in terms of $/day. Actually pretty low as it's under $1,000/day for a couple. Will have to see what the $310k per couple included.

 

We are thinking around 90 days. I know from past experience that traveling loses its appeal at about the three month mark. Nothing like one's own bed :D

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We're normally SeaDream cruisers, but have done both our (partial) world cruises on Crystal). This year, we did San Francisco to Sydney with 22 days, most of them sea days. We liked them quite a bit, but would prefer a smaller line. We had *great* table mates, though.

 

Unfortunately, Cunard is not the ship line of yore, so I hear you.

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Been discussing the sea days thing with MrsD. She doesn't like them. So, her gentle "guidance" on the subject is to have, on average, no more than one sea day per week on small ships, and up to two sea days per week on large ships (if they have lots of things to do).

 

This will likely highly constrain cruise choices, but at least I now have something to work with :p

 

I suspect we'll have to string several shorter iteneraries together, perhaps with flights stitching them together, to avoid cruising long stretches of water.

 

But at least this should encourage Her Majesty to pack light(er) :D

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I am sitting in Miami airport waiting to fly to Lima for a S. American cruise on Oceania..(R ship Insignia). With a pre trip to Machu Picchu and a few days in Rio, we will be gone for about 30 days. We have an Owners Suite for the extra space and have not been on a smaller ship for this length of time, but will update you when we return. We really like Oceania and longest trip was a B2B for 21 days on their larger Riviera.

If you would consider a main stream line, we have found that Celebrity offers quite a bit to do, and their Suite experience is exceptional. We cruised with them for a month last Fall for OZ, Fiji islands, and New Zealand. Everything is included and it makes life easy. For the price, & what they offer, the suites and butlers are some of the best we have had. Something to consider?

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I am sitting in Miami airport waiting to fly to Lima for a S. American cruise on Oceania..(R ship Insignia). With a pre trip to Machu Picchu and a few days in Rio, we will be gone for about 30 days. We have an Owners Suite for the extra space and have not been on a smaller ship for this length of time, but will update you when we return. We really like Oceania and longest trip was a B2B for 21 days on their larger Riviera.

If you would consider a main stream line, we have found that Celebrity offers quite a bit to do, and their Suite experience is exceptional. We cruised with them for a month last Fall for OZ, Fiji islands, and New Zealand. Everything is included and it makes life easy. For the price, & what they offer, the suites and butlers are some of the best we have had. Something to consider?

 

The aft Owner's Suites on the R-Ships are super! Some still have the bath and a half configuration. Only downside is they are famous for vibrations underway. We had to put the glass top of the dining table on the deck when the ship was making over about 15knots. Loved the very large aft veranda too.

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I am sitting in Miami airport waiting to fly to Lima for a S. American cruise on Oceania..(R ship Insignia). With a pre trip to Machu Picchu and a few days in Rio, we will be gone for about 30 days. We have an Owners Suite for the extra space and have not been on a smaller ship for this length of time, but will update you when we return. We really like Oceania and longest trip was a B2B for 21 days on their larger Riviera.

If you would consider a main stream line, we have found that Celebrity offers quite a bit to do, and their Suite experience is exceptional. We cruised with them for a month last Fall for OZ, Fiji islands, and New Zealand. Everything is included and it makes life easy. For the price, & what they offer, the suites and butlers are some of the best we have had. Something to consider?

 

Thanks for the tips! We had a great experience with Celebrity in the Galapagos, but wasn't sure if that would be representative?

 

Do you have a dog? If so, how do you get away for so long? Does it travel in your GS4? :)

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Thanks for the tips! We had a great experience with Celebrity in the Galapagos, but wasn't sure if that would be representative?

 

Do you have a dog? If so, how do you get away for so long? Does it travel in your GS4? :)

 

I had looked at Celebrity Galapagos trip and probably not similar due to size of ship etc. We were on Solstice (larger ship). In a suite you have private restaurant, private club, unlimited internet, premium beverage package, and prepaid gratuities and priority disembark for tours. I have booked a cruise of Japan on their Millennium ship for 2018 because of a great itinerary. Have their largest Penthouse suite (over 1000 sq. ft) with all of the amenities. All of the suites go quickly because of what they offer. It helps us stay incognito and avoid the larger number of passengers.

 

No G anything, and no pets. My pets left the kennel at 18 for college and have not been asked to return ;-).

 

Now, I must tell Jim that the OS on Oceania Insignia is fabulous, still has the 2 bathrooms and the vibration as I am typing at 6 a.m. Some rough seas last night enroute to Chile. A bit of vibration is fine with me and a great tradeoff for the YUGE aft deck and interior space.

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You might like to think about stringing together some back to back cruises with Azamara. R class ships with recent refurbs. Wonderful crew/service. C. 600 pax and get into places that the bigger 'ships' can't. Inverted commas for ships because they look more like floating multi-story car parks.

We tried Cunard and QE a few years ago and it was AWFUL!

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The aft Owner's Suites on the R-Ships are super! Some still have the bath and a half configuration. Only downside is they are famous for vibrations underway. We had to put the glass top of the dining table on the deck when the ship was making over about 15knots. Loved the very large aft veranda too.

 

The R-ships also have some very nice suites forward. We did one on Azamara, and it is nice to see where you are going. I will always remember standing on our balcony as we pulled into Haifa, our first trip to Israel. In the forward suites, Jim, you do not get the vibration that you experienced aft. However, we were awoken several mornings when they dropped anchor. A bit noisy.

 

That was our fifth cruise on an R-ship (3 on Oceania and 1 on Renaissance) and it is a very comfortable ship. Nice layout, and with about 680 pax it is the largest I ever want to go on. And we have been quite happy with both Oceania and Azamara, which we sailed right after Larry Pimintel took the helm.

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Thanks Jim, the Viking WC does look like it has some interesting segments. And thanks to everyoneone else for the other suggestions!

 

It's become crystal clear to me that I will have to go the route of doing interesting segments, with minimum sea days, stitched together with flights and land stays. After reading ho-hum's crossing logs, I would love a week or so at sea occasionaly. But the Energizer Bunny couldn't handle it :eek:

 

So far I'm thinking:

 

- Fly LAX to Tahiti, do 10 day cruise.

- fly to New Zealand, do 15 day cruise.

- Do two weeks on Land in Australia

- Do 15 day cruise in Asia (no ideas yet where)

- Fly to Germany to drop in on, and annoy, cgmv.

- Do 15 day Baltic cruise.

- Stalk ho-hum in London. Visit Ireland.

- Fly home or do a Seadream week or two in caribbean to wind down.

Edited by Ragnar Danneskjold
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That one I mentioned has 5 days as the longest sea day period. Most others are one or two days between ports. Don't know about you Left Coasties but after a few days of solid eat/drink I usually welcome a day where sleeping in and not running ashore starts the day. Just a weenie......No. Not Wiener!:eek::D

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Looks like 7 sea days out of Los Angeles:

 

Days 23-29 Jan 6-12, 2018 Cruise the Pacific Ocean

 

http://www.vikingcruises.com/oceans/world-cruise.html

 

Though it does take about a week to recover one's sanity after spending a day in LA...

 

Hey, who's counting? And yes, LA is best in the rear view mirror.:eek::D

PS: Just get Mrs. D some Valium brownies.

Edited by Jim Avery
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