Celebrity needs to offer a World Cruise in 2022

[TeeRick]

On 7/31/2020 at 9:42 AM, TeeRick said:

Just board any ship after the restart of cruising operations if there is no vaccine.  Wait for the likely COVID outbreak.  Then you might just get your 100 day cruise.  Just like back in March. 

 

"Uncharacteristically pessimistic today TeeRick".  ---- Blackduck59

 

"Well aren’t we the grim reaper today 😛" ---- pumpkin 11

 

😀😀  I was actually trying to attempt some humor but I guess I failed miserably!  I guess I need to use the emojis!😀

 

[Blackduck59]

Just now, TeeRick said:

 

"Uncharacteristically pessimistic today TeeRick".  ---- Blackduck59

 

"Well aren’t we the grim reaper today 😛" ---- pumpkin 11

 

😀😀  I was actually trying to attempt some humor but I guess I failed miserably!  I guess I need to use the emojis!😀

 

 

No worries TeeRick, it just seemed like a bit of a downer moment from you and that isn't your style. Be well

[begood2me]

On 7/30/2020 at 4:20 AM, chemmo said:

We love cruising and our favourite cruise ever was the longest (TP) but I can’t see us wanting to be on a ship much longer than 20 days without a break...Much prefer to choose a cruise with different start and finish port and enjoy a stay in those with a cruise of 12/14 nights in the middle. 

 

I can’t remember the name of the poster now but a few years ago someone had a land stay in Hawaii, did the TP on Solstice, got off in Australia for a two week land tour, got back on Solstice for the New Zealand cruise and then finished with a New Zealand land tour. Always thought if you fancied a really long holiday doing a HOHO on a cruise ship would be perfect!!!

 

It would be nice if Celebrity added some new ports of call, however...

In 2015 we did 2 weeks in eastern europe, flew down to Italy and then did 2 weeks on Med cruise to Israel then back to Italy for 2 weeks in Italy and then did the transatlantic.  That was 2 months, half on the ship and 1/2 on land.  That was ideal. 

[vulcan1971]

Like many others, I would be excited to have an opportunity to do a world cruise on Celebrity. I don't see that happening anytime soon. I'd be fine with either an M-Class or S-Class ship. I will experience Apex in 2021 and will reserve comment or judgement till that cruise has been taken.

 

Until then, I mentioned I continue to dream and plan. I found the video for Viking's 2022 world cruise on Viking Star and I have included a few others I've considered as described below:

 

1. Viking Star (135 days) | 24 Dec 2021 - 09 May 2022 | Ft. Lauderdale, FL to London (Tillbury), England

2. Crystal Serenity (116 days) | 17 Jan 2022 - 13 May 2022 | Miami, FL (roundtrip)

3. Oceania Insignia (180 days) | 06 Jan 2022 - 05 Jul 2022 | Los Angeles, CA to New York City, NY

4. Princess Island Princess (111 days) | 05 Jan 2022 - 27 Apr 2022 | Ft. Lauderdale (roundtrip) (video is for the 2021 world cruise)

5. Regent Seven Seas Mariner (120 days) | 05 Jan 2022 - 05 May 2022 | San Francisco, CA (roundtrip)

6. Cunard Queen Victoria (111 days) | 08 Jan 2022 - 01 May 2022 | Hamburg, Germany (roundtrip)

7. MSC Poesia (112 days) | 05 Jan 2022 - 01 May 2022 | Genoa, Italy (roundtrip)

8. Crystal Serenity (140 days) | 11 Jan 2023 - 31 May 2023 | Miami, FL to Barcelona, Spain

[pumpkin 11]

2 hours ago, vulcan1971 said:

 

@pumpkin 11 - In some past years I have taken 4 weeks of vacation. One of those years, I started my trip with a week in Italy, followed by a 16 day transatlantic cruise (Rome --> Ft. Lauderdale), then another week where I drove to a B&B in Key West, FL. That took me to just before Thanksgiving where my family gathered in Georgia for our gathering on the family farm.

Sounds great. We are doing our first TA spring hope it sails 

[Baron Barracuda]

Given the extreme glut of ships in the Caribbean during winter you would think they could get better pricing sending a ship anywhere else for a few months.

[zoncom]

4-5 years ago at a Meet the officers meet I addressed this question. Empathitic  reply was NEVER.After maybe 30 X cruises I changed to Oceania. Now have 130 days and 2  more WCs booked .Wonderful experience.Miami sevice center another story.

[Lady Chew]

13 hours ago, LXA350 said:

It would really not be a bad idea that X and or RCL will dedicate one or two ships each year during European / US winter for a world cruise, which is a niche market and if done right with unique itinararies could be high yielding business for the cruise line.  One option would be to book the whole itinarary and the other one would be to split the cruise up into various seperate itinararies that could be booked with duration of let's say 14- 21 days for instance. Like this there shouldn't be a issue to fill the ship at higher yielding fares.

 

This is how the itineraries are set - you can book the entire cruise, or any number of segments.  Segments are anywhere from 10/11 days to 30 days.  However, on our long cruises we have seen people get on & off at ports that are not official end/beginnings of segments.  (not talking about crew or entertainers)  We had actually discussed doing this on our world cruise, and our TA & HAL told us that as long as the port had customs/immigration capability, people can get on & off.

[BEAV]

On 7/30/2020 at 5:25 AM, ECCruise said:

We've considered world cruises when they have been offered (Oceania, Azamara, HAL) but when it gets down to it we pass because we have been to the vast majority of places it would visit and really not interested in a stretch of 100+ days on a ship. 

We did around 90 days in about a 120 day period late 2019/early 2020 but that was on 4 different ships.  And the breaks were actually refreshing.

Would love to learn what those 4 itineraries were! 

[BEAV]

On 7/30/2020 at 2:45 PM, Ravbo said:

Celebrity is our cruise line of choice but with no Celebrity World Cruises, our research ended up with a Crystal Serenity World cruise in 2022.  We considered all available 2022 World Cruises and Crystal came out on top.

 

Our most cruise days are also on Celebrity, followed by Crystal. But if both offered world cruises, we’d pick Crystal. They’ve been doing world cruises since the mid-90’s and, our opinion, have it down pat. Our longest Crystal voyage to date is 19 days. Their vast array of offerings on sea days (variety of enrichment) is fantastic. Which I believe is a major component to a world cruise given the number of sea days. And nighttime entertainment is first class as well. I’d be a bit leery to sail Celebrity’s maiden world cruise. Like the first post-Covid sailing, I’m not interested in being part of an “experiment”. 

 

While Kelmac is correct their ships are older (Serenity sails the world cruises and hit the seas in 2003), they are impeccably maintained and frequently updated stylistically. HAL’s Amsterdam is older, I believe, and much more dated looking IMO. 

 

I’m thrilled you’ve booked 2022 world cruise on Crystal! 😉

 

Finally, I think it would be a cold day in Palm Springs before X would sail a world cruise on S-class due to the numbers. The best ship that would have suited an X world cruise, IMO, would have been the refurbished Century. And if not that, M-class. 

 

Bottom line, I think Azamara world be RCL/X’s answer to a world cruise. But we can dream. After all, it’s 2020, and we already know anything goes. 

 

 

[ECCruise]

6 hours ago, BEAV said:

Would love to learn what those 4 itineraries were! 

Here you go. 

Crossing from Barcelona to FLL. Break in Sanibel, FL. Round trip Miami to Manaus via Caribbean and Amazon. Holiday break at home. San Francisco to NYC via Canal. NY to Cape Town by air, break in Cape Town, sail Cape Town to Dubai (actually Muscat because of COVID). 

And now really long break at home watching booked sailings wither away one by one. 😐

Edited August 2, 2020 by ECCruise

[ipeeinthepool]

On 7/31/2020 at 9:42 AM, TeeRick said:

Just board any ship after the restart of cruising operations if there is no vaccine.  Wait for the likely COVID outbreak.  Then you might just get your 100 day cruise.  Just like back in March. 

 

I enjoyed the gallows humor.

[TeeRick]

2 hours ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

I enjoyed the gallows humor.

Well I knew that you would get it!😀

[BEAV]

4 hours ago, ECCruise said:

Here you go. 

Crossing from Barcelona to FLL. Break in Sanibel, FL. Round trip Miami to Manaus via Caribbean and Amazon. Holiday break at home. San Francisco to NYC via Canal. NY to Cape Town by air, break in Cape Town, sail Cape Town to Dubai (actually Muscat because of COVID). 

And now really long break at home watching booked sailings wither away one by one. 😐

 

 That was an awesome way to spend winter traveling. Thanks so much for sharing. 

[Lady Chew]

11 hours ago, TeeRick said:

Well I knew that you would get it!😀

 

Hey, I'm pretty sure a few others of us got it!! 😇

[mrsgoggins]

All of the long-distance cruises we have looked at, the ships have had an on-board laundry room for passenger use, something which Celebrity does not have.  The laundry room on Viking ships is free to use and (environment friendly) detergent is automatically dispensed -  included in your $100,000 fare 😁. Despite having the free bag of laundry each with Celebrity, we rarely use it - I do not want anyone washing my not-so-smalls and this lack of facility would make Celebrity a no-no even if I were interested 😉.

Edited August 3, 2020 by mrsgoggins

[sanger727]

On 8/1/2020 at 9:38 PM, Lady Chew said:

 

This is how the itineraries are set - you can book the entire cruise, or any number of segments.  Segments are anywhere from 10/11 days to 30 days.  However, on our long cruises we have seen people get on & off at ports that are not official end/beginnings of segments.  (not talking about crew or entertainers)  We had actually discussed doing this on our world cruise, and our TA & HAL told us that as long as the port had customs/immigration capability, people can get on & off.

 

Curious how they meet the muster drill requirements if people are able to embark/disembark in any port. I can see the muster drills being set up around the segments, but if you boarded two days into a segment then you would miss the muster drill. 

 

As far as people booking smaller segments of a world cruise; I'm still not sure how much appeal there will be to that. Apparently some cruise lines do it and I assume it's successful. But as pointed out, Celebrity seems to be catering to a younger crowd in recent years. Certainly there will be segments in Europe and Asia which are primarily ports that would hold alot of appeal as a unique itinerary. But they will also have to sell the segments to cross oceans and get to isolated places like Australia, Hawaii, etc. I personally wouldn't take 2-3 weeks off work to take a cruise that has 5-7 sea days in a row. Whether or not they would try this would just come down to whether they think they can sell the totality of the world cruise and all the segments for more than they could sell their typical cruises for. 

Edited August 3, 2020 by sanger727

[kelmac]

6 hours ago, mrsgoggins said:

All of the long-distance cruises we have looked at, the ships have had an on-board laundry room for passenger use, something which Celebrity does not have.  The laundry room on Viking ships is free to use and (environment friendly) detergent is automatically dispensed -  included in your $100,000 fare 😁. Despite having the free bag of laundry each with Celebrity, we rarely use it - I do not want anyone washing my not-so-smalls and this lack of facility would make Celebrity a no-no even if I were interested 😉.

Having to frequent the self-laundry rooms on the Queen Victoria during our World Cruise had its own challenges, as it seemed like everyone was competing for the four sets of machines on the six decks it was offered.  Many times it was impossible to find an open machine during open hours.  It drove some people bonkers!🤪

On the positive side, you could meet some interesting people. My wife spent the afternoon with Margaret Atwood, and I got to help one of the comedians create a bit about how to reserve a washing machine by using the plastic "out of order" signs.(People actually did this)  Always, some individuals seemed to have inside information and gossip about upcoming events on the ship.  After several weeks together, you do form an unique community of international vagabonds, and the bars, lounges, and the laundry rooms provide the spaces needed to interact.

Our next long cruise will be on HAL's Noordam and we are opting to pick up the whole cruise laundry package.  The cost is $198 for 28 days.  Well worth it, and our philosophy is any item that can't survive the laundry stays home.  Celebrity does provide two loads of laundry, per person, as part of the Elite Plus level of the Captain's club, although I'm not sure if they would allow that to recycle for each segment of a World Cruise?

 

Enjoy!

Kel

[vulcan1971]

1 hour ago, kelmac said:

 Celebrity does provide two loads of laundry, per person, as part of the Elite Plus level of the Captain's club, although I'm not sure if they would allow that to recycle for each segment of a World Cruise?

 

Enjoy!

Kel

 

@kelmac - I, too, have wondered if the perks of your cruise line status level would refresh upon the next cruise (if you are doing multiple connected segments). I realize this is slightly off topic to the OP question, but if this is how a cruise line creates a World Cruise is to have multiple segments that can be booked separately, I would expect that one should be able to "refresh" their perks on the next cruise segment.

[mrsgoggins]

1 hour ago, kelmac said:

Having to frequent the self-laundry rooms on the Queen Victoria during our World Cruise had its own challenges, as it seemed like everyone was competing for the four sets of machines on the six decks it was offered.  Many times it was impossible to find an open machine during open hours.  It drove some people bonkers!🤪

On the positive side, you could meet some interesting people. My wife spent the afternoon with Margaret Atwood, and I got to help one of the comedians create a bit about how to reserve a washing machine by using the plastic "out of order" signs.(People actually did this)  Always, some individuals seemed to have inside information and gossip about upcoming events on the ship.  After several weeks together, you do form an unique community of international vagabonds, and the bars, lounges, and the laundry rooms provide the spaces needed to interact.

 

 

I have heard that reserving a machine by using an 'out of order' sign was a thing!  Now that would drive me bonkers.  I've only ever used 2 guest laundry rooms; one on Viking and also on Princess but I either went very early or very late. What also drives me bonkers - and this happens at Disney resorts - is where guests are quite happy to leave their stuff in the machine long after the end time.  So inconsiderate.  Maybe I need disposable 'smalls' and to use those laundry bags after all 😉.

 

Enjoy your HAL cruise, which I hope happens, and your laundry package - it does sound like a good deal for a such a long cruise.

[C-Dragons]

6 minutes ago, vulcan1971 said:

 

@kelmac - I, too, have wondered if the perks of your cruise line status level would refresh upon the next cruise (if you are doing multiple connected segments). I realize this is slightly off topic to the OP question, but if this is how a cruise line creates a World Cruise is to have multiple segments that can be booked separately, I would expect that one should be able to "refresh" their perks on the next cruise segment.

Agreed.

Especially since passengers are paying for each individually priced segment.

[Fouremco]

5 hours ago, sanger727 said:

Curious how they meet the muster drill requirements if people are able to embark/disembark in any port.

My understanding is that embarking/disembarking at other than designated ports is an exception, not a routine occurrence. Celebrity also allows passengers to do so, in cases such as missing sail away and embarking at the first port stop. How has Celebrity handled muster drill for such passengers in the past? Celebrity also allows passengers to depart a cruise early with the requisite advance notification.

[BEAV]

6 hours ago, sanger727 said:

Curious how they meet the muster drill requirements if people are able to embark/disembark in any port. I can see the muster drills being set up around the segments, but if you boarded two days into a segment then you would miss the muster drill. 

 

For the most part, world cruises divided into multiple segments don’t allow further boarding/disembarking within segments. Not like a bus, train or ferry operation with people continually coming and going. 

 

And the reason most (if not all) cruise lines break up world voyages into segments is out of necessity in order to fill staterooms. You have a limited audience that’s looking to sail 90 days or longer. Segment cruisers are needed to fill remaining inventory. 

[Baron Barracuda]

We did a 17 night PC on Infinity a few years ago from SF to MIA.  Didn't feel too long at all.

 

DW and I had booked two segments of a Viking world cruise last year but unfortunately had to cancel due to a family obligation.  Starting in London, had stops in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, over to Norway up to Faroe and Shetland Isles, across to Iceland and Greenland and up the St. Lawrence to Montreal.  28 days $30k (for 2)  including air and grats.  Could have added the next 15 night segment to NYC for $12k more and almost walked home.  

[ORV]

2 hours ago, vulcan1971 said:

 

@kelmac - I, too, have wondered if the perks of your cruise line status level would refresh upon the next cruise (if you are doing multiple connected segments). I realize this is slightly off topic to the OP question, but if this is how a cruise line creates a World Cruise is to have multiple segments that can be booked separately, I would expect that one should be able to "refresh" their perks on the next cruise segment.

I don't know about other cruise lines but with Oceania there is a set of perks that comes with booking the world cruise. Among them is free laundry, free medical care, free Visas, First class air to embarking and disembarking port, included hotel at the start, Free shipping of your luggage to ship and back home, being at the Gold Level of their Loyalty club when you step on the ship, even if you've never been on them before, which comes with it's own set of perks which are refreshed for each segment, or under most circumstance 15 times for a 180 day cruise. Unlike most cruise lines where you have to actually already have sailed the days to earn the loyalty level, with Oceania it's whatever you would earn by the end of the trip, which for a World cruise is 15 segments. 

 

No wonder it's so expensive, you could buy a small house or a really nice car for what it takes to book an inside(which I wouldn't do) for the WC. 

Edited August 3, 2020 by ORV