Is this really ‘The Most Epic World Cruise Ever To Set Sail’?

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“The Most Epic World Cruise Ever To Set Sail”: that’s the declare from Royal Caribbean in regards to the 274-night voyage aboard Serenade of the Seas. It is undoubtedly the Twenty first-century cruise that has caught the eye of the world like no different. But I’ve been taking a better take a look at the “Ultimate World Voyage”, and it is probably not all unremitting pleasure throughout its nine-month circumnavigation.

The Independent first reported on the voyage when it was introduced in October 2021. That was an audacious transfer by the cruise line, on condition that it was not on the time even authorized for British guests to go to the US – not to mention board a vessel for a journey calling at 60-plus nations across the globe. But when it comes to the Covid pandemic being over, Royal Caribbean known as it proper.

That determine of 60-plus has fluctuated, with Russia and Ukraine taken out of the itinerary after the Kremlin’s invasion of its southern neighbour. Ashdod, the primary cruise port for Israel, was eliminated following the assault by Hamas on 7 October 2023 and subsequent occasions.

At this stage, with Houthis nonetheless attacking transport within the Red Sea, I might not put cash on the Aqaba-Suez Canal-Alexandria section. I counsel the passengers put together for a protracted detour across the Cape of Good Hope.

A long term of “sea days” is probably not vastly interesting to these on board. Serenade of the Seas is much from the last word cruise ship. She is comparatively outdated (in service for over 20 years) and small (about 2,000 passengers, in contrast with 7,600 aboard the brand new Icon of the Seas). And a big a part of the enjoyment of a cruise is the numerous ports of name.

The Ultimate World Cruise comes with precisely 11 World Wonders:

Some of these are conventional cruise excursions, comparable to Petra – about 80 miles inland from Aqaba in Jordan. But others are bold.

The Taj Mahal is 500 miles distant from the coast of India, which is inconvenient for an ocean-going ship. Instead, on 1 May some passengers will likely be flown from Kochi to Delhi, the place they are going to in a single day in a lodge. Next morning, they take a prepare to Agra, a bus to the Taj Mahal after which one other switch to a lodge. On day three, they fly to Goa, the place they are going to rejoin the ship. They will discover it considerably empty as a result of different passengers will likely be on a Goa-Taj-Mumbai tour.

It sounds exhausting, and never the best solution to ponder an indeniable world surprise: India’s final tribute to timeless love.

The superb sight of Iguacu Falls, the place Argentina and Brazil converge at a spectacular cliff edge, is just not famous for its proximity to Buenos Aires, which I calculate is 655 miles away. But some passengers flew in for a few days on terra firma.

Should you want to board the vessel, there may be loads of room. The Ultimate World Cruise doubles as a protracted sequence of shorter cruises. Relatively few of the passengers on board are going all over the world within the full 9 months; most are doing only a brief stretch, comparable to Southampton to Belgium on 26 July, and onwards to the Baltic, ending in Copenhagen 15 days later. The opening value: £2,482, which tallies properly with the common value per evening on the entire voyage: round $200 (£165) per individual for an inside cabin.

Given the extraordinary curiosity within the voyage, I think about Royal Caribbean and different corporations are busily packaging up comparable options to reply the query: “What can we do with this rather antiquated vessel.”

I’ll do my finest to achieve Southampton to speak to the passengers on 26 July, and hope to be satisfied that for individuals with the odd £50,000 to spare, this is the optimum solution to expertise the world. Want a wager – let’s say, £1,000 – on it? No, thanks.