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If travel is all about having amazing experiences, creating great memories, and jumping off the hamster wheel to discover the world, then going a cruise is the best way to do that.
Cruising is a great way to create memories, ignite your sense of adventure, and go on a journey of discovery into a short space of time.
Yet, cruising doesn’t have to be a week or two week affair, you can go on a round the world cruise for as little as 100 days, or as long as three years.
But, why would you want to? Is it worth it to go on a round the world cruise? You might have the time free, but wondering if the expense is worth the reward, so this guide reveals all the reasons to go on an around the world cruise.
Reasons To Go On An Around The World Cruise
To tell you the truth, in the 30 or so years we’ve been traveling, we’ve mostly favored overland travel and have been camp and canvas supporters with the occasional 5-star hotel thrown in.
Then, we went on a 104-night world cruise, and our perspective changed.
Our friends took up bets to see if we’d come back alive and/or still married. In truth, they were hoping for spurious tales about how awful being on a ship with 2,000 other passengers might be.
“Why spend three and a half months at sea? What for? In a floating city – Why?” they asked.
At the time, we couldn’t really answer their questions, but now we can, and I have to say we are total cruise converts. Here’s why…
1. Cruising is so easy!
Cruising really is an easy way to travel and you only have to unpack once. You take one flight to the port, and once you are onboard the ship, everything is taken care of.
The itinerary, the fares, the food, the accommodation, the transport at each stop, even tours are arranged for you.
You’re waited on hand and foot, and you don’t have to worry about restaurant bookings as you always have space in the dining room.
Plus you have no worries about how you’re going to get to the next destination.
2. No flights! No planes to catch!
Once you’re on board your cruise around the world, you don’t have to catch any more planes.
Think of that! No more cramped seats, no more rushing to get to an airport on time and no more taxis or rental cars to get you there.
No more delayed flights. No more crappy in-flight meals. No more angst and stress and worry.
Your ship is now your plane with every conceivable amenity to make your journey comfortable.
3. You have more time for yourself
Traveling overland requires thought, planning, and often extra energy to accept delays and travel hassles.
On a world cruise, everything is taken care of so you have plenty of time to catch up on things you haven’t had time for at home.
Instead of researching your next destination, you have more time to read the books that have been stacking up on your bedside table, getting to grips with the craft, or getting stuck into a course you’ve been wanting to do.
One of the biggest perks of world cruisers is there is no stress as there’s always someone to do it for you.
4. Visa and entry hassles are minimal
Because the cruise ship (mostly) takes care of the visas you’re going to need, and you (generally) don’t have to go through passport controls when getting on and off the ship, most of your entries and exits into different countries is quick and painless.
But this is not always the case, it depends which ports you dock in. Do check which visas are covered by the ship and which aren’t, particularly if you’re on an around the world cruise.
Usually at the time of booking, they will tell you whether you have to get visas for certain countries and how long you need it for.
But don’t take this as default, not all cruise liners tell you everything you need to know. If you book with a travel agent, they will sort that for you.
5. No more arguments about where to go or what to see
I don’t know about you, but when travelling the world, we often end up in a huff with each other if we go on a vacation that requires us both to come up with decisions about where to go and what to see.
“Let’s do this,” one of us will say, and the other will go, “or how about doing this instead,” and then you end up throwing out loads of suggestions and not settling on anything.
In the end, exhausted by the decision, you end up not doing anything at all.
On a cruise around the world, you don’t need to plan your own trips and tours if you don’t want to, because there’s almost always a shore excursion happening you can take.
If not, there’s an advisory desk on board with plenty of ready-made touring options.
So for us, it would come down to overarching questions like, did we want to do something energetic, something adventurous, something cultural or even just go on a coach tour.
If we both wanted to do different things – we could! We didn’t have to stay together.
6. There are plenty of options to keep fit
People expect world cruise guests to come back fat because everything is included.
“But you didn’t put on any weight on the world cruise,” they said in slightly disappointed tones when we returned.
Nope, because we took advantage of the many exercise options available.
We had the promenade deck for power walking and jogging, a well-equipped gym where we could work off calories on the exercise machines, as well as yoga, pilates, spinning, Thai Chi, Zumba, dancing, and stretching classes to choose from.
Plus, we nearly always booked energetic shore excursions, or went hiking, or just walked a lot in general.
7. You get a unique kind of immediate cultural immersion
I was worried about only having a short amount of time in each place.
I found cruising allows you to immerse yourself quickly in different cultures, and you don’t need a lot of time in each place to get a feel for it – contrary to what most travellers will tell you.
Tours arranged by the ship are designed to show you the very best of a place, or a particular aspect of that place, in the shortest amount of time.
Of course, you can explore under your own steam if you wish – research while you’re at sea, and dive in deep to the culture when you get there.
But having a short time means you become very focused on doing and seeing as much as you can, which can totally deplete your energy bank.
You know that when you get back on board ship, all you have to do is sink into a hot tub with a long cold cocktail, or dine under the stars and talk about the wonderful memories you’ve just created, so you’re happy to be depleted!
8. No need to search for a local doctor in a foreign country if you fall sick
There’s almost always a resident doctor or support medical staff on board the cruise ship so you can rest assured if you have any health concerns.
Should they not be able to treat you, they can arrange for you to see a doctor at the next port.
Tip: do not forget to take out travel health insurance cover because onboard medical can be expensive. It’s available, but it’s not necessarily included in your price package.
9. Convenience shopping for personal basics is covered on board
On most cruise ships, there are convenience shops that sell all the small things you might need on a daily basis; from hair shampoo to suncream, to toothpaste to chocolate and lollies, to water bottles, to birthday cards and more.
So if you run out of soap, you don’t have to set out in a foreign country in search of a shop selling familiar hair shampoo, for instance.
You do also get given small toiletries with your room, but the free toiletries aren’t the same as the brands you like back home.
10. No need to search for ATM’s or change currency every few days
On board ship, you should have no currency concerns – you should be able to use your cruise card to swipe for anything that isn’t included in your cruise deal,.
When you go ashore, if you’re not going to use your credit card, you may find that there’s an ATM temporarily set up on the ship dispensing local currency.
Be warned, this can be a fairly costly option of getting local currency.
Ideally, you should use credit cards when leaving the ship, and use your cruise card when purchasing on the ship.
11. You’re on a luxury floating hotel
It was incredible knowing that really we were on a very luxurious floating hotel carrying us from one amazing destination to the next.
We sailed on the Sea Princess, which was grand and theatrical in design, with glass lifts and palm trees. We often saw musicians playing, or a retail promotion, or watch a fruit carving demonstration in full swing.
Elsewhere there were bars, and restaurants, a plush theatre, a cabaret lounge, a casino, and all manner of things to keep us entertained.
Did we feel cramped by all the other passengers? Actually no. It was incredible how people seem to spread out and we never felt hemmed in by people.
12. You can choose what kind of accommodation you prefer
Most cruise ships will offer a variety of cabins and staterooms.
We had a cabin with a balcony, which was lovely to sit out on when we wanted to be alone, or if we wanted to watch a new destination come into view from the comfort of our bed.
Plus, it gave us a bit more space to work as we had two laptops and lots of blogging paraphernalia.
You can choose for a inward facing room (room without a window) on a lower deck to save money. The room is really just a place to sleep, and you can enjoy the rest of the ship’s amenities when you need some sunlight.
13. Fabulous amenities
Depending on the cruise you book, you’ll hopefully find, as we did, that the amenities and services on board are luxurious and comprehensive.
On our voyage, there was a fabulous spa offering relaxing treatments, a hairdresser (which didn’t cost the Earth), and a boutique selling clothes at what I considered reasonable prices.
Then there were theatres staging fantastic productions, a casino, a variety of great restaurants and bars, a well-stocked library, an internet cafe, and on each accommodation deck a coin laundromat with 2 irons and ironing boards – ahem, not that I did much ironing.
14. Five-star resort facilities with benefits
The adults-only deck on Sea Princess was called The Sanctuary and it really was.
Tucked away at the top of the ship it was a place to day dream where you were pampered with tasty morsels of food throughout the day as you gazed out across the ocean.
When you’re bored with that, you could pop to the pool deck or jump in one of the hot tubs.
15. There’s on tap entertainment
You don’t have to get in the car, worry about parking or worry about drink-driving. Just glam up (if you wish) and walk out from your stateroom.
Most round the world cruise ships will offer a variety of entertainment each night.
I think this is where you need to be careful when deciding which cruise line to cruise on.
On Sea Princess, there was non-stop high-quality entertainment from singers and dancers to comedians.
There were novelty acts and there were also tribute shows, folkloric acts, and bands from around the world.
16. Learn and come back enriched
A big thing on Princess Cruises are the enrichment lectures, which I really enjoyed – especially the ones on positive psychology.
There were always classes going on, such as cooking classes or fitness classes, but there were also cultural talks and workshops.
There were so many educational lectures to choose from – such as the history of opera, a palmist talking about palm reading, a man who in real life was a horse whisperer talking about animal psychology, as well as lots of informative lectures about the destinations we were visiting.
You’ll also probably have time to visit the library.
17. Daily activities
If you’re like us, then each sea day you’ll probably plan out what you want to do each day.
There are likely to be a range of organized daily activities and events to attend.
You might find there are cooking demonstrations, music or choir practices, card schools, arts and crafts classes, dance classes, zumba classes, and much more. There’s no possibility of being bored.
18. Memories that last a lifetime
You hear a lot of people say it, and it’s very true, that the memories you create on an around the world cruise will stay with you forever.
You’ll remember that time you sailed into Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong, the time you sat sipping beers out on deck whilst sailing down the Panama Canal, the palm trees of Miami waving you off, and the toucans flying overhead in Costa Rica.
It’s not just the destinations that you remember, but the time spent on board too.
The staff are so attentive and friendly, they put in the effort to get to know you and your name. Every day you walk past your favorite coffee shop and the barista will wave and say “Good morning, Caroline,” immediately making you feel warm inside knowing they remember you.
You’ll remember the colours of the Indian Ocean, the pod of dolphins swimming along next to you, and the final joke of the night by the onboard comedian.
I loved the fantastic sail-away parties – watching exotic destinations fade from view as the party band played on and the champagne flowed, it was just amazing.
I’ll never ever forget leaving the very beautiful Polynesian island of Moorea, or sailing under Sydney’s iconic harbor bridge.
Every day is a special day when you’re cruising.
19. Destinations and tours
I also loved the excitement of cruising towards a new destination, full of eager anticipation about what we would discover.
You might cruise to adventure, or visit a tropical island, or be lucky enough to see orca whales in Antarctica.
Perhaps you’ll get to haggle in a bustling souk in the Middle East, or visit one of the great wonders of the world such as Christ the Redeemer in Brazil, South America.
You might, like us, be lucky enough to sail past the Statue of Liberty as the sun is rising.
With a world voyage, you can cruise to the most magical, mystical, iconic and diverse destinations you can imagine.
If you choose a world cruise, as we did with Princess Cruises, then you’ll visit multiple places in just over 100 days. We visited 5 continents, 27 countries, and 39 different destinations.
On board, we were offered a comprehensive tour program and could choose from a variety of ship’s shore excursions focusing on culture, food, adventure, photographic, scenic, art or wine.
Or, if you’re super organized, you might plan and book independent tours before you leave home.
Be warned, though, if an independent tour fails to get back to port in time for the ship’s departure then the ship probably won’t wait for you. If you book a ship’s tour, in all likelihood it will.
So decide beforehand what the likely risks are – if the ship is a long way from the city you’re visiting, could there be a train strike that day (in Italy this could happen!).
I couldn’t imagine anything worse than your new mates waving you goodbye from their balcony!
20. You’ll make great friends for life
You just don’t know who you’re going to meet on a round the world cruise.
You’re out of your comfort zone of mixing with your regular friends, to mixing, dining and touring with a whole new range of people.
We were lucky to meet adventurous baby boomers, energetic youngsters, wonderful tour guides, and interesting crew members with wonderful stories to tell, many of whom became friends for life.
There is always the anxiety that you won’t get on with people on a cruise. But with 2,000 passengers, you’re bound to find someone in your tribe.
The reality is you are all there with a love for travel, so if anything, you can bond over that.
21. So much scrumptious food
Oh, where to start? If you don’t like the food on a cruise, then really there’s no hope!
They make it so that you won’t EVER have a problem with food. With several specialty restaurants and dining options, from buffet bars to the stately dining room, to burger bars and sushi bars, there’s several options to choose from when it comes to finding dinner.
And every restaurant has something new and unique each night.
Fabulous eateries, sometimes celebrity chefs, cordon bleu steakhouses, pizza joints, a la carte dining, a bakery and poolside BBQ’s and themed nights – you name it, there are so many dining experiences on a large ship.
Final Thoughts
After a long cruise, you may well come back a changed person.
In fact, the Princess Cruises tagline is “Come Back New.”
When we first got onboard, we actually thought we’d probably just come back fatter and flabbier, but the truth is we didn’t.
We came back fitter and slimmer, with much more knowledge about the world, new friends for life, and a love of cruise travel.
And the memories – oh WOW. Don’t get me started on those!
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