World Cruise vs Lots of Cruises!!

A hypothetical question:

A World Cruise is on your wish list; you suddenly come into some money, enough to pay for the dream trip but wait, do you

a) Book the cruise, spend all the money and have a fantastic time

or

b) Take a step back and realise that instead of just the one cruise, you could afford to have LOTS of cruises.

Which would you do? BTW, I don't know the answer myself.

I don't think I'd want to take a world cruise in one swoop. I WOULD like to take segments over a few years. Being gone for 100-ish days is too long, too much to see and process in a 100 span, and too much "vacation" in one dose. As I said, I'd like to do different segments, none being longer than 30-ish days at one time and explore different parts of the world, one at a time.

There is no "answer", only opinion.

On long cruises (more than two weeks) I find that

- food & entertainment get repetitive (can hardly blame the kitchen or entertainment troupe for that)

- I don't have time to digest the different ports - they all get mashed-together in my brain. The magnificent temple at Borobudur. Or was it on Bali? Or Bangkok? or Da Nang? If I have to check back-copies of Cruise News or figure it from the sequence of my photos, it's clearly overload. Ditto if I have to figure what day-of-the-week it is by checking the itinerary.

- if there's an issue, such as a mechanical gremlin or a health problem, it can screw up the rest of the cruise. Two days or two months????

- ditto some problem on the home front that needs me to get back. From a flood or fire to a burglary to a relative taken seriously ill.

- even relatively minor issues, difficult to deal with at a distance, that can wait a week or two but not a couple of months

- one cruise line, one ship? Nah - in three months I can sample up to a dozen. And if I don't rate one or two it's no big deal.

- three months away from home? Missing friends, family, events. Mebbe even half a season of soccer?????

- looking forward to a cruise is part of the fun, as is looking back on it. One cruise or half-a-dozen or more?

It's a no-brainer for me. ;)

JB :)

I would also break it into segments. Probably 30 to 40 days at a time.

I would take the world cruise. Seems like more of an adventure. Plus, flying isn't my favorite thing to do, so I would rather sail to a whole bunch of different countries than fly to them. Besides, I think you would develop some good friendships since you are "in it together" with a bunch of other people.

A hypothetical question:

 

A World Cruise is on your wish list; you suddenly come into some money, enough to pay for the dream trip but wait, do you

 

a) Book the cruise, spend all the money and have a fantastic time

 

or

 

b) Take a step back and realise that instead of just the one cruise, you could afford to have LOTS of cruises.

 

Which would you do? BTW, I don't know the answer myself.

Look @ it this way.

If you really want a Steak , will a bunch of hamburgers Do ???

.

I can't picture myself on a World Cruise...there are actually places I have no burning desire to see, and that's a lot of money to just stay on the ship.

I would consider longer voyages as long as they had ports I wanted to see. I'd love to see the South Pacific, circumnavigate Australia, and see many ports in the Med and northern Europe.

Look @ it this way.

 

If you really want a Steak , will a bunch of hamburgers Do ???

 

Huh????????????

Pretty poor analogy.

More like if you really want steak, do you want one 32ounce steak or four 8 ounce steaks or a dozen medallions.

JB :)

Too many unforeseen family events to be so far away that long .

I gave serious thought to doing a world cruise a couple of years ago, but concluded that I wouldn't enjoy being gone that long. Plus not all of the itineraries looked interesting to me.

So add me to the list of those who would prefer 30 day (or so) segments.

I would put 50% of the windfall into savings and then spend the remainder, if enough, on the world cruise. If not enough, I'd save until I had the remainder.

AHOY SHIPMATES

a good question to discuss, I have been fortunate enough to do 5 complete WC by skimping a great deal at home and several shorter cruises all departing from east coast, which cost much less in travel expenses to & from home that taking segments of a WC. WCs can be planned a year in advance and a long

TO DO list of money saving things that make the WC affordable, book an inside cabin for 40K, using all the perks from TA and HAL.(have been upgraded to OV more than half the time). Or a FF guarantee the last few times

The only extra expense is a one day rental car from JAX to FFL each way

Taking the "Baltic Capitals", Voyage of the Vikings, Med cruise s, anarc tia/

Amazon etc. are nice and fill in what is missed on WC, but more expensive per day.

The WCs are an experience that cant be duplicated

DW and I are both ret from USN and on soc sec so we have figured that a WC actually only costs us about $8000. out of our savings.

The grandkids can do OK without it.

This info is worth pondering the decision. I do my homework as can anyone and a WC becomes doable. You know how to reach me.

As my wife and myself 12 years ago could we sail on a World Cruise of 100+ days and we would have said are you kidding. In fact, 50 days would have gotten the same response.

Well, my wife's sister passed away two years after that at a young age and not too long after getting her diagnosis and we said, maybe we should do a world cruise and we did. Well, we loved it so much that we have done several since then.

It is not for everyone but I have to say it is very special.

Keith

I would think that the airfare to and from the embarkation and debarkation cities on the segments (Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, Istanbul, etc.) would eat up a lot of money, plus the time and discomfort of long flights. Think it would be more cost effective to a WC if you book early and take advantage of incentives.

Roz

We used to think taking a world cruise would be the ultimate indulgence. All those days onboard...The longest cruise we did then was 26 days, Singapore to LA, plus the 33 hours travel to get to Singapore from the east coast, and an overnight in Singapore. But I concluded the urge to do longer cruises sprung from the reluctance to go back to work at the end. Once I was retired, there was no longer the sadness that the vacation was over. I could go home and relax and plan for the next one. EM

A hypothetical question:

 

A World Cruise is on your wish list; you suddenly come into some money, enough to pay for the dream trip but wait, do you

 

a) Book the cruise, spend all the money and have a fantastic time

 

or

 

b) Take a step back and realise that instead of just the one cruise, you could afford to have LOTS of cruises.

 

Which would you do? BTW, I don't know the answer myself.

I'd probably book a few Transpacific cruises instead, including one to Australia.

Many years ago, I decided that I wanted to see the World.

So, I made up a Bucket List.

I looked at a WC and saw that I would spend one/two days here/there.

So, decided to travel by Sea/Land/River.

Where I travelled to that a WC would not take me:

Zodiac landings in Antarctica.

Zodiac landings on the Galapagos Islands.

River Cruise on the Nile.

Touring Israel for a week.

A week in the Amazon Forest.

A week in Paris.

Renting a car and driving around Germany.

My out-of-pocket expenses were a little more than a WC;

however, I saw much more than a WC had to offer.

You may want to post this on the World Cruising Board if you would like to get responses from those who have taken a world cruise or are booked on one.

Keith

You may want to post this on the World Cruising Board if you would like to get responses from those who have taken a world cruise or are booked on one.

 

Keith

Huh, didn't know they had one. I'll check it out cos I'm thinking of doing it. Breaking my DH in slowly LOL. Keith, did you take one this year cos if you did I missed being in on your blog and would like to get back on the list.

Look @ it this way.

 

If you really want a Steak , will a bunch of hamburgers Do ???

 

 

.

This makes zero sense to me. The issue with world cruises is you barely touch a country before you move onto the next one. I would break it down to 3 or 4 indepth segments. Europe, South America, Asia Pacific

Huh, didn't know they had one. I'll check it out cos I'm thinking of doing it. Breaking my DH in slowly LOL. Keith, did you take one this year cos if you did I missed being in on your blog and would like to get back on the list.

Yes, we took one this year.

You can write to me at kesworld AT aol DOT com and I can give you the link.

Keith

There is no "answer", only opinion.

 

On long cruises (more than two weeks) I find that

- food & entertainment get repetitive (can hardly blame the kitchen or entertainment troupe for that)

- I don't have time to digest the different ports - they all get mashed-together in my brain. The magnificent temple at Borobudur. Or was it on Bali? Or Bangkok? or Da Nang? If I have to check back-copies of Cruise News or figure it from the sequence of my photos, it's clearly overload. Ditto if I have to figure what day-of-the-week it is by checking the itinerary.

- if there's an issue, such as a mechanical gremlin or a health problem, it can screw up the rest of the cruise. Two days or two months????

- ditto some problem on the home front that needs me to get back. From a flood or fire to a burglary to a relative taken seriously ill.

- even relatively minor issues, difficult to deal with at a distance, that can wait a week or two but not a couple of months

- one cruise line, one ship? Nah - in three months I can sample up to a dozen. And if I don't rate one or two it's no big deal.

- three months away from home? Missing friends, family, events. Mebbe even half a season of soccer?????

- looking forward to a cruise is part of the fun, as is looking back on it. One cruise or half-a-dozen or more?

 

It's a no-brainer for me. ;)

 

JB :)

Well put. Unexpected problems at home, the difficulty in clearing a three month period of all routine activity, and the paling of the on-board experience with the passing of days into weeks, all combine to make a hundred day cruise worth far less than several two week ones. Additionally, for me the anticipation is a value in itself: I'd far rather have several to look forward to than just one - especially during the down time immediately after debarkation.

Always remember that a World Cruise is not a cruise it is a journey/adventure.

We have made life long friends as a result of taking a World Cruise. It is an amazing experience.

It's not for everyone for many reasons but if one can do it I highly recommend it.

Keith

Always remember that a World Cruise is not a cruise it is a journey/adventure.

 

We have made life long friends as a result of taking a World Cruise. It is an amazing experience.

 

It's not for everyone for many reasons but if one can do it I highly recommend it.

 

Keith

I don't think it would be for us. I would rather make a bucket list of the places I want to cruise to and the places I want to do land trips to and mix it up in my retirement. Being gone that long from my family all at once just isn't appealing to me. We do plan on doing a lot of traveling when we retire....just not all at once on a ship :).

When I have priced world cruises, I found I could always string together multiple cruises B2B for cheaper. There is no "volume discount" for world cruises, in my experience. Plus you get more loyalty points for stringing together four 7-day cruises than you do one 28-day cruise.