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Life at sea: the longest cruise journeys in the world

With the popularity of cruises growing, some companies are offering increasingly longer journeys to capitalise on this heightened interest. What are the longest cruises available on the market right now?

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The popularity of the ‘grand expedition’ genre of cruise is growing, and with the total number of passengers carried by the cruise industry projected to reach 27.6 million by 2020, several companies are capitalising on this growth by offering longer and longer voyages.

Regent Seven Seas Cruises recently announced its 117-night round-the-world journey aboard the Seven Seas Mariner , setting sail in 2021. But even this mammoth journey is dwarfed by several options already on offer through competing cruise operators.

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Oceania Cruises, for example, dominates the market. While the company might not have the title of ‘longest cruise’, Oceania has the widest array of journeys available to travellers.

Oceania Cruises: Around the World in 180 Days (180 nights)

Announced for January 2019 aboard Oceania’s Insignia vessel, the Around the World in 180 Days cruise is set to visit 96 UNESCO World Heritage sites, stopping at 90 ports over five continents, with 14 overnight stays.

Playing off Phileas Fogg’s famous adventure contained within Jules Verne’s ‘Around the World in Eighty Days’, Oceania describes the journey as one “perfectly designed for the seasoned traveller”, which invites passengers to “discover a more profound connection with cultures spanning the globe”.

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Oceania Cruises: Connoisseur’s Collection (182 nights)

Described as for the traveller who has “seen it all”, the Connoisseur’s Collection from Oceania is designed to show off parts of the world passengers might not have thought to visit, in addition to the more traditional cruise ports.

As well as San Francisco, Cape Town, Hong Kong and Tokyo, the cruise liner is scheduled to stop at the less-well-known Japanese ports of Oarai, Aomori and Hakodate, as well as Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in Russia – an area so remote it cannot even be reached by car. The Connoisseur Collection cruise sets sail in late January 2020.

Oceania Cruises: Global Quest (200 nights)

You can travel from Miami to New York in three hours, says Oceania, but you can also do it in 200 days. The Global Quest cruise really is just that – a round the world journey via 40 countries and over 100 unique destinations.

The cruise includes overnight stays in Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town, Singapore, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Kyoto and more, on top of day visits to an even wider array of destinations. Also taking place on-board Oceania’s Insignia mid-sized vessel, Global Quest is set to begin on 8 January 2020.

Viking Cruises: Ultimate World Cruise (244 nights)

Winning the prestigious title for the longest continuous cruise currently available anywhere in the world, the Ultimate World Cruise spans 113 ports in 59 countries, on six continents.

Taking place on-board the Viking Sun – Viking’s newest vessel – the trip is set to begin in London on 31 August 2019, and will mark Viking’s third voyage around the globe. The journey will nearly double the length of any cruise Viking has offered thus far. If the offering feels a touch too long, Viking does offer passengers the option for joining for specific legs of the trip – 127 days for the Viking World Treasures section, or 119 days for the Viking World Wonders leg.

Mundy Cruising: the 357 day package

Despite not being a continuous journey, the 357 World of Travel itinerary offered by speciality cruise-holiday storefront Mundy Cruising in 2017 surely deserves an honourable mention. The package deal promised travel on seven different cruise ships, featuring journeys to seven different continents.

Each leg of the journey was separate, allowing passengers to go home and re-pack, though the longest stints were across South America and Europe, which respectively took 94 and 92 nights.

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All four corners, one epic voyage.

The Ultimate World Cruise

The most epic world cruise ever to set sail.

Get ready to see the world in a whole new light — introducing the Ultimate World Cruise onboard Serenade of the Seas®. You can spend 274 nights bonding with like-minded explorers over global discoveries across all seven continents. Or pick a corner of the globe and explore every inch of it on one of four Ultimate World Cruise℠ segments — each an immersive voyage of 60+ nights. Connect with countless distinct cultures, soak up the most spectacular landscapes on Earth, and marvel at World Wonders that showcase mankind’s boundless imagination.

Or call your local travel advisor . For more information, call the Ultimate World Cruise Contact Line at 800-423-2100.

Dive deeper into the world's wonders

Ultimate world cruise.

Visit 150+ destinations and 8 World Wonders, across 7 continents and 60+ countries. The Ultimate World Cruise features four distinct segments that traverse the globe in one incredible journey.

Dec 10th – Feb 11th

Ultimate Americas Cruise

Feb 11th - May 9th

Ultimate Asia Pacific Cruise

May 9th - July 10th

Ultimate Africa & Southern Europe Cruise

July 10th - Sep 10th

Ultimate Europe & Beyond Cruise

Chichén Itzá, Cozumel, Mexico

Christ the Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Iguazu Falls, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Machu Picchu, Lima, Peru

Great Barrier Reef, Cairns, Australia

Great Wall of China, Beijing, China

The Taj Mahal, Cochin, India

The Colosseum, Rome, Italy

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Berlin, Germany

Copenhagen, Denmark

New York, New York

Dec 10th 2023 – Feb 11th 2024

Venture across Three Continents

36 Destinations, 64 Nights

Arica, Chile

Your once-in-a-lifetime journey begins December 2023, embarking from in Miami on the first segment of the Ultimate World Cruise℠ — the Ultimate Americas Cruise. Go from postcard-perfect Caribbean shores—including the ABC islands —to viewing abundant wildlife like sea lions, penguins and whales roaming glacier-studded Antarctica as you round Cape Horn. Along the way, discover World Wonders in South America, including man-made marvels and extraordinary natural phenomena.

Take in the largest Art Deco sculpture in the world, Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro. Behold the largest waterfall system on the planet, Iguazú Falls near Buenos Aires. And explore Machu Picchu, one of the most iconic symbols of Peru’s ancient Inca heritage. Then sail up to the Yucatàn Peninsula to discover hidden coves and dramatic rock formations along Land’s End in Cabo San Lucas before exploring Ensenada.

Feb 11th 2024 - May 9th 2024

Far East. Down Under. And up for anything

40 Destinations, 87 nights

Taj Mahal, India

Venture miles from ordinary in Australia and Asia on this leg of the Ultimate World Cruise SM . Explore Hawaii and discover the crystal-clear waters of Mo’orea and Tahiti in unspoiled French Polynesia. Set out for Australia’s Great Barrier Reef — the only living thing on the planet that’s visible from space. Trek from pristine natural beauty in Bali to one of the most iconic man-made World Wonders, the Great Wall of China. And discover the unparalleled culture and modern architecture of Tokyo, then take in one of the most breathtaking sights in the world — The Taj Mahal.

May 9th 2024 - July 10th 2024

Beauty beyond belief

Ultimate Africa & Med Cruise

39 Destinations, 63 Nights

Walvis Bay Sandwich Harbour

Explore the orange sand dunes of the world’s oldest desert in Namibia. Bask in the beauty of idyllic beaches in Cape Town. And hike mist-topped rainforests along the Ivory Coast. Plus, go back in time as you wander through the Colosseum in Rome and get lost in the Venetian-style streets of Corfu.

Then your journey continues to even more destinations known for their storied history — like the fortified walls of Split, Croatia and the cobblestoned streets of Barcelona, Cannes and Provence.

July 10th 2024 - September 10th 2024

Set a course for the north

40 Destinations, 63 Nights

Blue Lagoon, Iceland

The final leg of the Ultimate World Cruise is an immersive cultural exploration starting in the Med heading north. Discover Barcelona’s brilliant architecture, including Gaudi’s Sagrada Família. Savor flavors across continents — like a dinner of tagine and mint tea in Morocco.

Go from taking in fjords in Norway to biking through Copenhagen. Finally, experience another natural marvel — the other-worldly geothermal seawater at The Blue Lagoon in Iceland before stopping in New York and Perfect Day at CocoCay on your way back to Miami.

Amenities Included in your entire adventure

Join us for the entire Ultimate World Cruise, you’ll enjoy exclusive perks and amenities — all included in your adventure. So you can complement back-to-back discoveries onshore with all your favorite comforts onboard, plus thoughtful touches to elevate every moment.

*New World Wonders Shore Excursions included for Crown & Anchor® Society Platinum members & above

Business Class Airfare

Premium Transportation Between Airport, Hotel and Ship

Pre-cruise Hotel & Gala

New World Wonders Shore Excursion*

Deluxe Beverage Package

Wash & Fold Laundry Service

VOOM Surf & Stream

A World Wandering Fleet Favorite

Designed with acres of glass offering panoramic vistas of sea, sky and land, Serenade of the Seas® is the perfect ship for scenery-scoping. Take in captivating views of Norway’s majestic fjords, gaze at glaciers in Antarctica, and soak up the sun and the sights while cruising through French Polynesia. In between adventures onshore, you can unwind poolside or tee off on the mini golf green. Settle in for dazzling entertainment or dance until dawn beneath the stars. And with top-notch restaurants onboard, every meal turns into a global taste-tour that’s as immersive as your Ultimate World Cruise.

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Machu Picchu, Peru

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Cruise Details & Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Ultimate World Cruise?

The Ultimate World Cruise is a never-before-offered Royal Caribbean adventure that takes you on a 274-night journey around the world from December 10, 2023 – September 10, 2024. The adventure begins and ends in Miami, Florida, visiting all 7 continents, 65 countries, 150 ports of call, with 16 overnights and 8 World Wonders. More than 40 of the ports you’ll visit are either rarely available on our other itineraries or brand new to Royal Caribbean, so get ready for the exploration of a lifetime. Book The Ultimate World Cruise early to ensure the best accommodation throughout the entire voyage.

What is the starting price for the Ultimate World Cruise and its 4 individual segments?

Ultimate World Cruise Starting Price

Considering all that’s included in your 274-night Ultimate World Cruise fare, you’ll enjoy an incredible value. No matter which stateroom you choose, your fare includes Ultimate World Cruise complimentary amenities like business class airfare, pre-cruise hotel and gala, Deluxe Beverage Package, gratuities, VOOM internet package, wash and fold laundry service, and more.

*Taxes, fees, and port expenses of $4,667 USD per person are additional and are subject to change at any time. All starting prices listed are per person, in USD, cruise only, based on double occupancy and are subject to change at any time.

Ultimate World Cruise Segments Starting Price

Considering all that’s included in your Ultimate Cruise segment fare, you’ll enjoy an incredible value. No matter which stateroom you choose, your fare includes Ultimate Cruise segment complimentary amenities like Deluxe Beverage Package, gratuities, VOOM internet package, and wash and fold laundry service.

*Taxes, fees, and port expenses are additional and are subject to change at any time. All starting prices listed are per person, in USD, cruise only, based on double occupancy and are subject to change at any time.

What are the 8 World Wonders the Ultimate World Cruise and the four Ultimate Cruise segments will visit, and on what dates?

Ultimate Americas Cruise: December 10, 2023 – February 11, 2024

Chichen Itza: via Cozumel Dec 13, 2023

Christ the Redeemer: via Rio de Janeiro Dec 31, 2023

Iguazu Falls: via Buenos Aires Jan 5, 2024

Machu Picchu: via Lima Jan 29-30, 2024

Ultimate Asia Pacific Cruise: February 11, 2024 – May 9, 2024

Great Barrier Reef: via Airlie Beach and Cairns March 13-14, 2024

Great Wall of China: via Beijing April 7-8, 2024

Taj Mahal: via Cochin May 1, 2024

Ultimate Africa & Med Cruise: May 9, 2024 – July 10, 2024

Colosseum: via Rome July 1, 2024

Ultimate Europe & Beyond Cruise: July 10, 2024 – September 10, 2024

There are no World Wonders visited during this Ultimate Cruise segment.

What benefits are included when booking the Ultimate World Cruise or one of the four Ultimate Cruise segments?

Guests who join us for the entire Ultimate World Cruise will receive the following inclusions:

Embarkation Amenities

Round-trip business class airfare

Pre-cruise hotel and gala

Premium transfers between airport, hotel and ship

Onboard Amenities

Deluxe Beverage Package for entire voyage

VOOM Wi-Fi internet for entire voyage

Gratuities for entire voyage

Wash and fold laundry service

Our Crown & Anchor Society guests who hold Platinum status and above will also receive the exclusive benefit of included excursions to the 7 New World Wonders.

Guests who join us for one of the four Ultimate Cruise segments will receive the following inclusions:

Deluxe Beverage Package for entire segment

VOOM Wi-Fi for entire segment

Gratuities for entire segment

Wash and fold laundry service for entire segment

Will I receive the same stateroom for the entire duration of my Ultimate World Cruise or Ultimate Cruise segment?

Our Ultimate World Cruise team will ensure that you get the same stateroom for the entirety of the cruise when purchased within the exclusive booking window through November 2021. If you are purchasing your Ultimate World Cruise after the Ultimate Cruise segments have opened for sale, our team will work with you to make every effort to secure the same stateroom for your entire time onboard, based on the remaining available inventory.

What is the payment schedule for the Ultimate World Cruise and the four Ultimate Cruise segments?

To reserve a stateroom on the Ultimate World Cruise or one of the four Ultimate Cruise segments a non-refundable deposit is required. Final payment must be received by Royal Caribbean 180 days prior to cruise departure. For bookings created within 180 days prior to cruise departure, final payment must be received within 48 hours of booking.

How long do I have to place my deposit for the Ultimate World Cruise or one of the four Ultimate Cruise segments?

If outside of final payment, our Ultimate World Cruise and Ultimate Cruise segment guests are able to place a two-week hold to lock in their preferred stateroom and price before deposit is required. Your deposit must be placed within the two-week offer period to secure your selected stateroom.

Are there travel insurance options available on the Ultimate World Cruise or the four Ultimate Cruise segments?

There are travel insurance options available to guests who meet certain qualifications. For more information, please call 800-423-2100 or contact your Travel Advisor.

Why are the Ultimate World Cruise and the four Ultimate Cruise segments only offered as nonrefundable?

Our Ultimate World Cruise and the four Ultimate Cruise segments are a unique adventure that has never before been offered by Royal Caribbean and we want to ensure that our guests who are committed to sharing this experience with us receive priority placement. To preserve this unique experience, all sailings onboard Serenade of the Seas from December 10, 2023 – September 10, 2024, will be offered as exclusively nonrefundable.

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Royal Caribbean announces world's longest cruise spanning nine months and seven continents

Ultimate world cruise is dedicated to travellers who wish to 'make up for lost time'.

The Royal Caribbean cruise ship Serenade of the Seas docked in Juneau, Alaska. AP

The longest and "most comprehensive" world cruise, lasting nine months, with stops in 65 countries and covering all seven continents, is set to sail soon. Bookings are now open for Royal Caribbean International's Ultimate World Cruise, which will begin its journey in Miami on December 10, 2023, and last through September 10, 2024.

The price range for the full excursion is between $66,000 to $112,000 per person, according to CNN Travel . Ticket prices are inclusive of business class airfare, transportation and accommodation at a five-star hotel before setting sail. Taxes and fees are not included.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Royal Caribbean International (@royalcaribbean)

“This is the world cruise of world cruises,” Royal Caribbean International's president and chief executive Michael Bayley said. “Now more than ever, people have resolved to travel the world and make up for lost time. Royal Caribbean is making that a reality with the ultimate vacation that welcomes those seeking adventure and exploration to taste, dance and dream with us around the world. To travellers asking themselves where they should go next, we say everywhere.”

The record-breaking journey will be on board the company's Serenade of the Seas , the 294-metre-long ship with 13 decks that can accommodate up to 2,476 guests. The ship's facilities include a mini-golf course, an arcade, rock-climbing wall, pool, theatre and spa.

Upon leaving Miami, the ship will travel around the Caribbean, before scheduled stop-offs in Central and South America, including trips to the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro and Argentina's Iguazu Falls. A total of 150 destinations will be covered across the 274 days, including stops at Casablanca in Morocco, Qaqortoq in Greenland, and Shimizu in Japan, as well as stops to visit 11 wonders of the world, from Peru’s Machu Picchu to the Taj Mahal in India.

Travellers can book the full nine-month experience or join for specific legs. The journey has been split into four main categories: the Americas and Antarctica, Asia and the Pacific, the Middle East and the Mediterranean, and northern Europe.

Royal Caribbean resumed sailing in June with vaccinated adult guests, ending a year-long hiatus brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.

In July, a luxury cruise starting at $73,499 per person, set to sail around 31 countries across four months, sold out within three hours of its announcement.

Called the Moments In Tim e world cruise, the journey by Regent Seven Seas Cruises promises to offer passengers the opportunity to “experience a lifetime of travel with one unforgettable adventure after another.” It is scheduled to depart from Miami in January 2024.

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This 154-night Sailing Is One of the Longest World Cruises Ever — Crossing 3 Oceans, 41 Countries, and 40,000 Nautical Miles

The trip will cover 39,722 nautical miles and stop at 77 ports of call.

Courtesy of Regent Seven Seas

Regent Seven Seas Cruises just announced its longest sailing yet, a once-in-a-lifetime trip called The Sense of Adventure.

The 154-night trip crosses three oceans with stops in the Americas, the South Pacific, Australia, Asia, Africa, and Europe on board its Seven Seas Mariner ship. The sailing, departing from Miami on Jan. 10, 2026, will cruise a whopping 39,722 nautical miles, stop at 77 ports of call, and help travelers gain 41 new stamps in their passports across six continents.

“Luxury travelers want to travel further afield and for longer durations, which is why we are excited to announce our newest and longest World Cruise for 2026,” said Andrea DeMarco, the president of Regent Seven Seas Cruises, in a release sent to Travel + Leisure . “' The Sense of Adventure' appeals to those who desire just that — over 154 nights of unforgettable experiences where guests will travel to the far-flung reaches of the globe.” That includes stopping in three new-to-the-company ports along the way, including Lifou Island and Maré in the South Pacific's New Caledonia archipelago and Sumba Island, Indonesia.

As part of the journey, guests can take part in more than 400 free shore excursions to help them fully immerse in each destination. The trip also includes 16 overnight stays, in destinations like Bora Bora in French Polynesia; Darwin, Australia; and Walvis Bay, Namibia. 

On board, guests can expect perks like unlimited valet laundry, all-inclusive dining at seven venues, and plenty of entertainment options, like a casino and a theater hosting living performances. For more practical purposes, the ship also comes with onboard medical services, and guests can take advantage of its comprehensive visa package, so they don’t have to worry about destination-specific paperwork. The delights extend to the rooms as well, thanks to the ship’s all-suite accommodations. 

“Our World Cruise guests will enjoy unmatched personalized service, impeccable hospitality, the sumptuous comfort of our all-suite, all-balcony accommodations, and an extensive list of inclusions that provide every luxury,” DeMarco added. 

Fares for the extended journey begin at $94,999 per guest. Reservations open on March 22, 2023, however, those interested can pre-register as of March 13 by visiting RSSC.com/2026-World-Cruise .

Related Articles

Record-breaking cruise sets sail from London

Sep 3, 2019 • 2 min read

Viking Cruises's new journey is attempting to set a Guinness world record. Image by Viking Cruises

The world's longest continuous cruise set sail from London this week for an epic odyssey that spans six continents, 51 countries and 111 ports in 245 days.

Viking Cruises has just launched the  Ultimate World Cruise , an eight-month journey that will attempt to set a Guinness world record for the "longest continuous passenger cruise." The cruise set sail from London on 31 August on the Viking Sun ship and will take passengers through Scandinavia , Iceland and Greenland before sailing along North America 's east coast and into the Caribbean and South America . Guests will then journey down through the tropical islands of the South Pacific , and into  Australia and  Asia before sailing the Mediterranean for the final stage of the journey. The ship will return to London in May 2020 where an official from Guinness World Records will be waiting to verify the achievement.

Torstein Hagen, the chair of Viking, says: "our ultimate world cruise is the most extensive itinerary available in the industry, nearly double the length of our previous world cruise itineraries." He describes the journey as "the thinking person's cruise" thanks to Viking’s ' Culture Curriculum ' which offers regional entertainment and lectures, as well as learning opportunities with on-board historians. Guests also have the chance to take part in optional excursions that will provide insight into local life at various ports of call. That might mean visiting little-known gems, learning to cook regional food or meeting with local cultural organisations.

Viking Cruises bills the cruise as "the journey of a lifetime" but a journey like this doesn't come cheap. Prices started at around £66,990 ($80,567) for the trip and the most expensive suite is £194,390 ($233,788). All meals, and beer and wine with lunch and dinner are included, as well as 24-hour room service, Wi-Fi, business class airfare and shore excursions at each port of call.

If you missed your spot and have a pretty clear calendar for next year, there's a slightly cheaper and shorter option that departs from Los Angeles for a 111-day trip from £32,000 ($38,490).

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Royal caribbean to offer 274-night cruise — the world’s longest.

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Want to float away from your worries for the better part of a year?

Then Royal Caribbean International has the cruise for you: a 274-night, 65-country water journey across the world, aptly titled “Ultimate World Cruise.”

Bookings for the seven-continent experience are now open — the inaugural journey of which is set to happen in 2023, and it’s being billed as the world’s longest.

For those looking to take on the full, 150-destination package, including “11 great wonders of the world,” tickets start at $60,999 per person.

If committing more than two-thirds of a year to see the world by boat isn’t for you, there’s also the option to book single legs of the four-leg trip.

The globe floating adventure will set sail from Miami on Dec. 10, 2023, and return there on Sept. 10, 2024.

“This is the world cruise of world cruises,” Royal Caribbean CEO Michael Bayley said in a press release . “Now more than ever, people have resolved to travel the world and make up for lost time. Royal Caribbean is making that a reality with the ultimate vacation . . . to travelers asking themselves where they should go next, we say everywhere.”

The new, extreme offering comes amidst an ongoing, if ebbing, nightmare for the cruise industry as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, with passengers testing positive for the coronavirus aboard ships as recently as this month. 

Still, executives clearly believe people are ready for the Serenade of the Seas’ ambitious expedition which touches every continent, with stops including Australia’s Great Barrier Reef; the Great Wall of China; the Taj Mahal in India; the Pyramids of Giza, Egypt; the Colosseum in Rome, Italy; Iceland’s Blue Lagoon; Brazil’s Christ the Redeemer; Peru’s Machu Picchu and more. 

Indeed, the full itinerary reveals a truly action-packed schedule of visits, with one or two cruising days consistently followed by some of humanity’s most heralded tourist attractions, one after another after another. For anyone with deep pockets, a flexible schedule and a love for nautical travel, Ultimate World Cruise is certainly an efficient way to see all the sights.

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Mundy Cruising Unveils World's Longest Cruise

By Jordi Lippe-McGraw

If you find yourself stuck in the uncomfortable predicament of having a bunch of extra cash, and a year’s worth of vacation days to burn, don’t worry—we've got a solution: Luxury cruise line Mundy Cruising just announced a new, 357-day itinerary that will hit all seven continents. Oh, and did we mention it sets sail in three months?

Starting in Miami on January 10, 2017, lucky passengers will begin the longest cruise ship journey in the world by heading to South America on board the award-winning Crystal Serenity. (The next longest cruise journey, in case you're wondering, is a 180-day trip from Oceania.) During this first leg you get to climb Machu Picchu , visit the Nazca Lines, head up to Christ the Redeemer, and cruise along the Amazon River.

The remaining 263 days are broken up by continents with short breaks (ranging from 13 to 39 days) in between time to go home and re-pack. “It has the appeal of a world cruise but can be done in manageable chunks,” a spokesperson for Mundy Cruising told the Telegraph . “It’s ideal for those who want the opportunity to return home and prepare for the next trip.”

The next leg begins May 4 out of Athens on Oceania Cruises’ Nautica , hitting everywhere from Turkey and Spain to the United Kingdom and Sweden. Passengers will get the chance to explore the Amalfi Coast , St. Petersburg, and the Vatican. After another short break it’s on to North America aboard the luxury Seven Seas Mariner , where you will set sail out of Vancouver to explore Alaska, San Francisco, and Costa Rica before sailing through the Panama Canal and cruising up North America’s east coast to New England and Québec. Overwhelmed yet? You’re only about halfway done with your bucket-list voyage.

The remaining seven months have you spotting carnivorous lizards on Kimodo Island, dipping your toes in the sand at the bucolic beaches in the Seychelles, and hanging with colonies of penguins in Antarctica. Hong Kong, Shanghai, Hiroshima, Cambodia’s Angkor Wat , the beaches of Thailand and the Philippines are also included, before you finally call it quits on May 15, 2018. The cost? A whopping $155,000 per person, including business-class flights and all overseas transfers. Not bad, considering you'll be ticking off nearly every bucket-list destination ever.

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The World’s Longest Cruise Hits All 7 Continents in 357 Days

By shaunacy ferro | oct 17, 2016.

The world’s longest cruise is the ultimate addition to your travel bucket list. The new “ World of Travel ” package from the UK’s Mundy Cruising is the pinnacle of around-the-world journeys, clocking in at 357 days that will take you to all seven continents, according to Condé Nast Traveler .

The trip leaves from Miami in January and sets sail around South America, stopping in Rio, cruising up the Amazon, taking in Machu Picchu, and more. From there, you’ll travel to Athens and wind your way through the Mediterranean to the UK and through the North Sea and the Baltic all the way to Russia. By late August, you’ll be sailing from Vancouver up to Alaska before going through Central America over to the Atlantic and to New England and Quebec. October will bring you to Australia, and in December, you’ll spend 33 nights traveling around Africa. After you check out Antarctica, you’ll travel to Singapore, where you’ll set sail for China and Indonesia. The trip ends in May 2018.

Each leg of the journey is separate, giving you time to fly home and repack for the next leg of the journey or to travel on your own before meeting your ship at the next continent. The South American and European parts of the cruise are the longest, at 94 and 92 nights each, respectively.

The cost comes in at around $155,000, including business-class flights to your departure points and back home after each leg. If you can’t afford such luxuries, there are plenty of other record-breaking trips that will cost you a little less.

[h/t Condé Nast Traveler ]

Know of something you think we should cover? Email us at [email protected].

I Sailed on the World's Largest Cruise Ship. Here's What It Was Like

Royal Caribbean's Wonder of the Seas is as big as it is impressive

Jalyn Robinson is the assistant travel editor at Dotdash Meredith, working for both Travel + Leisure and TripSavvy. She started at TripSavvy in 2021 and joined Travel + Leisure in 2023, where she writes, edits, and assists with other editorial operations. 

Courtesy of Royal Caribbean

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Before embarkation, embarkation, my experience, disembarkation.

When I first learned I had the opportunity to travel on Royal Caribbean's newest and biggest cruise ship , I felt two things: excitement (I had never traveled outside the U.S. or Canada before) and fear, mostly because I kept picturing Jack from "Titanic" slowly drifting to the bottom of the ocean. But regardless of my conflicting emotions, I knew I couldn't pass up traveling on one of the most impressive ships in the world, especially for my first cruise.

The Wonder of the Seas is the fifth ship in Royal Caribbean's Oasis class , coming in at 236,857 gross tons. At 1,188 feet long and 210 feet wide, it has earned the current title of the largest cruise ship in the world. It can hold up to 6,988 guests and has about 2,300 crew members from worldwide servicing it. And with 18 decks, there's plenty to do at all times.

Now that I'm back, I'm glad that I faced my fears and set sail on the cruise of a lifetime. Here's how it went.

Construction for Wonder of the Seas began before the pandemic, but when COVID-19 hit, Royal Caribbean made sure to consider all possible aspects of health and safety. Wanting guests to have the “safest possible vacation,” the cruise line worked closely with a team at the University of Nebraska to study airflow through the rooms and ships to create a healthier cruise experience. There are more than several sanitization stations on board, and the buffet-style restaurant, Windjammer Market , has an entire row of sinks for guests to wash up before getting their food. (As you enter, the staff chants “washy-washy before yummy-yummy;” eventually, they had the kids saying it, too.) 

In my opinion, Royal Caribbean’s COVID policies are more than fair and straightforward. All guests over the age of 12 must be vaccinated to board the ship, and although the cruise line isn’t mandating booster shots at this point, they are strongly recommending them. A negative COVID-19 test is also required to board, to be taken 48 hours before embarking, and a health questionnaire must be completed within 24 hours of departure. All crew is vaccinated and must take regular COVID tests while working. Masks are entirely optional for vaccinated guests; I wore mine, but most guests did not.

Those who catch COVID during the cruise will be required to stay in their rooms, and food and drink will be delivered to their door at mealtimes. Royal Caribbean takes it a step further by covering all costs related to onboard medical care and travel home. If you test positive before the trip and cancel before 48 hours, they’ll give you a “Future Cruise Credit” that matches 100 percent of whatever you paid. That, at least, should quell some COVID concerns for those hesitant to book a cruise again.

Upon arrival to Port Everglades , we were hustled through security. They had us put all of our bags through a luggage scanner and walk through metal detectors. After we had the all-clear, we lined up as they checked to make sure we had all of our travel documents : passport, boarding pass, vaccination card, health questionnaire, and negative COVID test. Having the Royal Caribbean app made this part a bit easier—they gave us the option to upload photos of our travel documents before boarding. Once our documentation was all checked out, we were guided upstairs. The staff took my picture before boarding, which was then attached to my Royal Caribbean account. Whenever I used my SeaPass card (which serves as both a room key and credit card for onboard purchases), my photo was pulled up, so staff and crew could quickly identify me. Then, it was time to board the ship.

As it was the inaugural sailing, I expected some setbacks here and there. And setbacks are what we got.

When we boarded, they asked everyone to report to their muster station, where each passenger's assigned lifeboat is located. The ship is huge, so finding my way around initially was super challenging, and almost everyone on board was confused about where to go. Luckily, the staff was super helpful in pointing everyone in the right direction. After reporting to our muster stations, they started going through what would happen in the event of an emergency; this demonstration admittedly quelled a majority of my fears about the ship.

After the demonstration, I was free to head up to my room. It took me a while to find mine (I didn't realize that the first number of the four-digit room number was the floor, and the last three were the actual room numbers), and that's when I hit my first snag: The keycard left outside of my room didn't work. After several attempts (I even tried using the Royal Caribbean app , which can also be used as a keycard), I went to guest services with all my luggage. When I got there, I realized I wasn't the only one with this problem. The guest services line was long enough that it started jutting into the main walkway. And it wasn't just keycard issues that people were having. There were missing drink packages, problems with prepaid excursions, and more. I was anxious to leave that line as soon as I could.

Luckily, the team also expected that something like this would happen, and there was plenty of staff on hand to help people as soon as possible. I was in the middle of the line and had been waiting for about 20 minutes when a staff member approached me and offered her assistance. (Always expect a bit of chaos on boarding day, she told me.) After that, the hard part was over, and I was finally able to put my luggage down.

I couldn't have been more impressed with my room. I stayed in a balcony stateroom (facing the ocean) , and if you're going to sail, this is the way to go. The room itself was both nice and spacious—it came with a full-sized bed with plenty of storage space, a safe, access to the thermostat, and a couch. But it was the balcony that stole the show. I enjoyed an excellent breakfast there, I did some work, and I watched the sunset; there was no better place to look up at the stars at night and enjoy the sound of the ocean.

The room, as amazing as it was, wasn't perfect. The first night, I woke up to the sound of jiggling doorknobs and a slamming door. I panicked, thinking someone was trying to get in my room, but soon realized it was just my neighbors. While I couldn't hear them in their rooms, I definitely heard them every time they came in and out. Also, there wasn't any water in the rooms, nor was there an iron and ironing board. For passengers who've purchased a drinks package, I recommend picking up a complimentary cup at one of the many onboard restaurants and filling it up before taking it back to your room; otherwise, consider packing an extra water bottle (and a travel steamer).

For those returning to Royal Caribbean, Wonder of the Seas still includes some of the brand's signature specialties. The rock climbing walls and zip lines are both waiting for you on the boat, as well as FlowRider, the surf simulator, and The Ultimate Abyss, the tallest slide at sea. 

But what's so appealing about being on the biggest ship in the world is partaking in all the new experiences that set Wonder of the Seas apart from Royal Caribbean's other cruise ships. From a Southern-style restaurant to a new suite neighborhood, you won't be disappointed with anything that's on Wonder.

The Mason Jar

If you’re a fan of Southern eats, the Mason Jar serves up dishes like lobster and crawfish gumbo and fried chicken. They offer a fantastic brunch, too—a first for Royal Caribbean—and the people loved it: Seating at the Mason Jar was booked solid throughout my whole trip. I did manage to snag a spot during brunch, however, and got to try the breakfast biscuits and the Sweet-Tooth Cinnamon Roll. Both were delicious and super filling; I had to take the cinnamon roll to go (it was still good when I went back to it that night). If you’re there for dinner, you’ll be treated to a live country band from California (and probably some country dancing, too).

Suite Neighborhood

Royal Caribbean has several different neighborhoods on their vessels, which are themed areas that offer unique experiences. The Wonder of the Seas offers the standard seven of the Oasis class —the Boardwalk, Central Park, Royal Promenade, the Pool and Sports Zone, Entertainment Place, the Youth Zone, and Vitality Spa and Fitness—in addition to a brand new neighborhood, the Suite Class Neighborhood. This exclusive neighborhood features a private whirlpool, plunge pool, sun deck, bar, and the Coastal Kitchen restaurant and is available only to passengers who've booked a suite. The Suite Class Neighborhood also includes the Ultimate Family Suite , built to fit a family of 10. It's every kid's dream room.

Wonder Playscape

The coolest part about Royal Caribbean is the designated play spaces for kids, and they’ve taken it a step further on Wonder. The Wonder Playscape is the new, outdoor family-themed area, and it is something to behold. My inner child was amazed at everything they packed into it—tons of games, slides, spring riders, puzzles, and more. It isn’t in an entirely enclosed area, but it has its own designated section, making it perfect for families to watch their little ones. 

The Vue Bar

Also new to Wonder is the Vue Bar, located on deck 15. Overlooking the water, it’s a colorful new edition to the ship and a great spot to settle in when the weather is nice. Just be careful—if the wind picks up, you might just get blown away. 

365: The Seasons on Ice

Who would've ever thought that we'd be able to see an entire ice routine on a boat floating in the ocean? "365: The Seasons on Ice" is one of the newest shows on Wonder, and admittedly my favorite one. Projecting different colors and images on the ice, the show takes you through each season of the year, and the skaters deliver a choreographed skate to the many songs of the season. A lot of the songs are right on the nose (i.e., Alice Cooper's "School's Out" during their summer routine), but the familiarity of the music makes it that much more enjoyable. This is something you want to check out, whether you're an ice skating fan or not.

Royal Caribbean can add another feat to their repertoire: the biggest and best all-women aqua show at sea. "InTENse" takes place in Wonder's Aqua Theater, located at the back of the Boardwalk on deck 6. It is a stunning sight—it's an open-air theater, and the background scales up about three decks high. With projections on the walls and back screen, loud techno music, and performers suspended dozens of feet in the air, the entire show aims to give guests an incredible experience. Did I mention the all-women cast? That aspect was unintentional, Nick Weir, the line's senior vice president of entertainment, said during my tour of the practice studio. "Out of all the candidates we saw, the ones that fit the roles the best were women," he said.

"Voices" was the only new entertainment addition that I did not get to see. Described on their website as "a show that delivers a dynamic combination of virtual and live performances—in real-time," the show brings together singers and dancers from all over to perform in the world's "largest theatrical venue at sea."

As a first-time cruiser , I had no idea what to expect on Wonder. I knew it was big, and I heard of some things that Royal Caribbean offers, but even then, my expectations were obliterated. I can't think of any place, resorts included, that provides the same things that this cruise did. With just the standard package, you can have dinner, see a show, hit the pools, and take a turn at karaoke—all for no additional charge.

While the ship is large, it doesn't feel as big as it looks. Depending on how fast you walk, it would probably take about five to seven minutes to go from forward to aft on deck five, where it's all connected. The worst part, and the thing that'll consume the most of your time, is waiting for the elevators, especially during days at sea. Even though the longest I waited was probably around five minutes, sometimes I had to wait for the next one because there were just too many people on it, especially on the entertainment decks.

The entire staff was pleasant and wonderful, from the bartenders to the waitstaff. They were all super engaging and ready to accommodate, and each had their own unique stories. The woman who cleaned my room greeted me every morning with a smile and by name and was always ready to chat about what I did onboard the previous day.

All of the food was excellent, both at the complimentary and specialty restaurants (I'm still dreaming of the lobster thermidor at 150 Central Park and the New York strip steak from the Main Dining Hall). Sorrento's pizza was also a highlight, as there was nothing quite better than getting a slice after a show or dance party. It was the perfect late-night bite—and this is coming from a New Yorker very serious about her pizza. The buffet, Windjammers Market, was usually packed, but I didn't have to wait long for food at all. There were so many stations to choose from, and there were doubles of each station on either side of the restaurant.

On this sailing, we stopped at Labadee, Haiti; San Juan, Puerto Rico ; Nassau, The Bahamas ; and Perfect Day at CocoCay , also in the Bahamas. Labadee and Perfect Day were both places meant for relaxing and soaking up the sun, and that's exactly what I did: I had some delicious drinks and enjoyed the beautiful ocean water. Through the Royal Caribbean app, I signed up for an on-shore excursion in San Juan, where a tour guide led us around Old San Juan and took us to make mofongo from scratch. It cost me around $129, but it was worth it to learn more about the city, its culture, and Puerto Rico's culinary scene. I didn't get to explore Nassau as much as I would have liked, but we did end our day there with a giant party on the dock, which was a blast.

A couple of days before the end of the cruise, all guests received a QR code that led to a quick survey about disembarking. Then, on our last night, they sent around departure information and a luggage tag with a number on it. There are two ways to disembark—you can either take your luggage with you off the ship or have the staff take your luggage down to the port for you. If you decide to handle your own bags, you can pretty much disregard the bag tag and leave the boat anytime before 9 a.m. or whenever the ship clears through customs. It's the fastest way to get off and head to the next destination.

Those who want their bags taken down for them will attach the luggage tag to their bag and leave it outside their room before 11 p.m. on the last night. The number on the bag tag lets passengers know when to head down and pick up their luggage (smaller numbers are earlier and larger ones, later times) the following morning. As I chose this latter option, I headed to my designated waiting area (based on the tag number) and waited for my number to be called. Once it was called, my bag was ready at the port, and I was free to leave the ship.

I then hopped on one of the many shuttles that Royal Caribbean offers (you have to purchase a seat on the shuttle before the trip) to Miami International Airport , which I flew out of that evening.

The experience I had on Wonder of the Seas is one that I'll never forget. In fact, I was so impressed that I might start planning a cruise for my 30th birthday—it'd be fun to head back on Wonder, but there are already rumors flying around about their next Oasis-class ship, and it might be even better.

Royal Caribbean. "Wonder of the Seas Fact Sheet." Accessed March 14, 2022.

Royal Caribbean. "Royal Caribbean Group, In Collaboration with the University of Nebraska Medical Center and the National Strategic Research Institute, Release Study on Cruise Ship HVAC System." February 26, 2021.

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Seven agonizing nights aboard the Icon of the Seas

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Updated at 2:44 p.m. ET on April 6, 2024.

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MY FIRST GLIMPSE of Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas, from the window of an approaching Miami cab, brings on a feeling of vertigo, nausea, amazement, and distress. I shut my eyes in defense, as my brain tells my optic nerve to try again.

The ship makes no sense, vertically or horizontally. It makes no sense on sea, or on land, or in outer space. It looks like a hodgepodge of domes and minarets, tubes and canopies, like Istanbul had it been designed by idiots. Vibrant, oversignifying colors are stacked upon other such colors, decks perched over still more decks; the only comfort is a row of lifeboats ringing its perimeter. There is no imposed order, no cogent thought, and, for those who do not harbor a totalitarian sense of gigantomania, no visual mercy. This is the biggest cruise ship ever built, and I have been tasked with witnessing its inaugural voyage.

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“Author embarks on their first cruise-ship voyage” has been a staple of American essay writing for almost three decades, beginning with David Foster Wallace’s “A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again,” which was first published in 1996 under the title “Shipping Out.” Since then, many admirable writers have widened and diversified the genre. Usually the essayist commissioned to take to the sea is in their first or second flush of youth and is ready to sharpen their wit against the hull of the offending vessel. I am 51, old and tired, having seen much of the world as a former travel journalist, and mostly what I do in both life and prose is shrug while muttering to my imaginary dachshund, “This too shall pass.” But the Icon of the Seas will not countenance a shrug. The Icon of the Seas is the Linda Loman of cruise ships, exclaiming that attention must be paid. And here I am in late January with my one piece of luggage and useless gray winter jacket and passport, zipping through the Port of Miami en route to the gangway that will separate me from the bulk of North America for more than seven days, ready to pay it in full.

The aforementioned gangway opens up directly onto a thriving mall (I will soon learn it is imperiously called the “Royal Promenade”), presently filled with yapping passengers beneath a ceiling studded with balloons ready to drop. Crew members from every part of the global South, as well as a few Balkans, are shepherding us along while pressing flutes of champagne into our hands. By a humming Starbucks, I drink as many of these as I can and prepare to find my cabin. I show my blue Suite Sky SeaPass Card (more on this later, much more) to a smiling woman from the Philippines, and she tells me to go “aft.” Which is where, now? As someone who has rarely sailed on a vessel grander than the Staten Island Ferry, I am confused. It turns out that the aft is the stern of the ship, or, for those of us who don’t know what a stern or an aft are, its ass. The nose of the ship, responsible for separating the waves before it, is also called a bow, and is marked for passengers as the FWD , or forward. The part of the contemporary sailing vessel where the malls are clustered is called the midship. I trust that you have enjoyed this nautical lesson.

I ascend via elevator to my suite on Deck 11. This is where I encounter my first terrible surprise. My suite windows and balcony do not face the ocean. Instead, they look out onto another shopping mall. This mall is the one that’s called Central Park, perhaps in homage to the Olmsted-designed bit of greenery in the middle of my hometown. Although on land I would be delighted to own a suite with Central Park views, here I am deeply depressed. To sail on a ship and not wake up to a vast blue carpet of ocean? Unthinkable.

Allow me a brief preamble here. The story you are reading was commissioned at a moment when most staterooms on the Icon were sold out. In fact, so enthralled by the prospect of this voyage were hard-core mariners that the ship’s entire inventory of guest rooms (the Icon can accommodate up to 7,600 passengers, but its inaugural journey was reduced to 5,000 or so for a less crowded experience) was almost immediately sold out. Hence, this publication was faced with the shocking prospect of paying nearly $19,000 to procure for this solitary passenger an entire suite—not including drinking expenses—all for the privilege of bringing you this article. But the suite in question doesn’t even have a view of the ocean! I sit down hard on my soft bed. Nineteen thousand dollars for this .

The viewless suite does have its pluses. In addition to all the Malin+Goetz products in my dual bathrooms, I am granted use of a dedicated Suite Deck lounge; access to Coastal Kitchen, a superior restaurant for Suites passengers; complimentary VOOM SM Surf & Stream (“the fastest Internet at Sea”) “for one device per person for the whole cruise duration”; a pair of bathrobes (one of which comes prestained with what looks like a large expectoration by the greenest lizard on Earth); and use of the Grove Suite Sun, an area on Decks 18 and 19 with food and deck chairs reserved exclusively for Suite passengers. I also get reserved seating for a performance of The Wizard of Oz , an ice-skating tribute to the periodic table, and similar provocations. The very color of my Suite Sky SeaPass Card, an oceanic blue as opposed to the cloying royal purple of the standard non-Suite passenger, will soon provoke envy and admiration. But as high as my status may be, there are those on board who have much higher status still, and I will soon learn to bow before them.

In preparation for sailing, I have “priced in,” as they say on Wall Street, the possibility that I may come from a somewhat different monde than many of the other cruisers. Without falling into stereotypes or preconceptions, I prepare myself for a friendly outspokenness on the part of my fellow seafarers that may not comply with modern DEI standards. I believe in meeting people halfway, and so the day before flying down to Miami, I visited what remains of Little Italy to purchase a popular T-shirt that reads DADDY’S LITTLE MEATBALL across the breast in the colors of the Italian flag. My wife recommended that I bring one of my many T-shirts featuring Snoopy and the Peanuts gang, as all Americans love the beagle and his friends. But I naively thought that my meatball T-shirt would be more suitable for conversation-starting. “Oh, and who is your ‘daddy’?” some might ask upon seeing it. “And how long have you been his ‘little meatball’?” And so on.

I put on my meatball T-shirt and head for one of the dining rooms to get a late lunch. In the elevator, I stick out my chest for all to read the funny legend upon it, but soon I realize that despite its burnished tricolor letters, no one takes note. More to the point, no one takes note of me. Despite my attempts at bridge building, the very sight of me (small, ethnic, without a cap bearing the name of a football team) elicits no reaction from other passengers. Most often, they will small-talk over me as if I don’t exist. This brings to mind the travails of David Foster Wallace , who felt so ostracized by his fellow passengers that he retreated to his cabin for much of his voyage. And Wallace was raised primarily in the Midwest and was a much larger, more American-looking meatball than I am. If he couldn’t talk to these people, how will I? What if I leave this ship without making any friends at all, despite my T-shirt? I am a social creature, and the prospect of seven days alone and apart is saddening. Wallace’s stateroom, at least, had a view of the ocean, a kind of cheap eternity.

Worse awaits me in the dining room. This is a large, multichandeliered room where I attended my safety training (I was shown how to put on a flotation vest; it is a very simple procedure). But the maître d’ politely refuses me entry in an English that seems to verge on another language. “I’m sorry, this is only for pendejos ,” he seems to be saying. I push back politely and he repeats himself. Pendejos ? Piranhas? There’s some kind of P-word to which I am not attuned. Meanwhile elderly passengers stream right past, powered by their limbs, walkers, and electric wheelchairs. “It is only pendejo dining today, sir.” “But I have a suite!” I say, already starting to catch on to the ship’s class system. He examines my card again. “But you are not a pendejo ,” he confirms. I am wearing a DADDY’S LITTLE MEATBALL T-shirt, I want to say to him. I am the essence of pendejo .

Eventually, I give up and head to the plebeian buffet on Deck 15, which has an aquatic-styled name I have now forgotten. Before gaining entry to this endless cornucopia of reheated food, one passes a washing station of many sinks and soap dispensers, and perhaps the most intriguing character on the entire ship. He is Mr. Washy Washy—or, according to his name tag, Nielbert of the Philippines—and he is dressed as a taco (on other occasions, I’ll see him dressed as a burger). Mr. Washy Washy performs an eponymous song in spirited, indeed flamboyant English: “Washy, washy, wash your hands, WASHY WASHY!” The dangers of norovirus and COVID on a cruise ship this size (a giant fellow ship was stricken with the former right after my voyage) makes Mr. Washy Washy an essential member of the crew. The problem lies with the food at the end of Washy’s rainbow. The buffet is groaning with what sounds like sophisticated dishes—marinated octopus, boiled egg with anchovy, chorizo, lobster claws—but every animal tastes tragically the same, as if there was only one creature available at the market, a “cruisipus” bred specifically for Royal Caribbean dining. The “vegetables” are no better. I pick up a tomato slice and look right through it. It tastes like cellophane. I sit alone, apart from the couples and parents with gaggles of children, as “We Are Family” echoes across the buffet space.

I may have failed to mention that all this time, the Icon of the Seas has not left port. As the fiery mango of the subtropical setting sun makes Miami’s condo skyline even more apocalyptic, the ship shoves off beneath a perfunctory display of fireworks. After the sun sets, in the far, dark distance, another circus-lit cruise ship ruptures the waves before us. We glance at it with pity, because it is by definition a smaller ship than our own. I am on Deck 15, outside the buffet and overlooking a bunch of pools (the Icon has seven of them), drinking a frilly drink that I got from one of the bars (the Icon has 15 of them), still too shy to speak to anyone, despite Sister Sledge’s assertion that all on the ship are somehow related.

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The ship’s passage away from Ron DeSantis’s Florida provides no frisson, no sense of developing “sea legs,” as the ship is too large to register the presence of waves unless a mighty wind adds significant chop. It is time for me to register the presence of the 5,000 passengers around me, even if they refuse to register mine. My fellow travelers have prepared for this trip with personally decorated T-shirts celebrating the importance of this voyage. The simplest ones say ICON INAUGURAL ’24 on the back and the family name on the front. Others attest to an over-the-top love of cruise ships: WARNING! MAY START TALKING ABOUT CRUISING . Still others are artisanally designed and celebrate lifetimes spent married while cruising (on ships, of course). A couple possibly in their 90s are wearing shirts whose backs feature a drawing of a cruise liner, two flamingos with ostensibly male and female characteristics, and the legend “ HUSBAND AND WIFE Cruising Partners FOR LIFE WE MAY NOT HAVE IT All Together BUT TOGETHER WE HAVE IT ALL .” (The words not in all caps have been written in cursive.) A real journalist or a more intrepid conversationalist would have gone up to the couple and asked them to explain the longevity of their marriage vis-à-vis their love of cruising. But instead I head to my mall suite, take off my meatball T-shirt, and allow the first tears of the cruise to roll down my cheeks slowly enough that I briefly fall asleep amid the moisture and salt.

I WAKE UP with a hangover. Oh God. Right. I cannot believe all of that happened last night. A name floats into my cobwebbed, nauseated brain: “Ayn Rand.” Jesus Christ.

I breakfast alone at the Coastal Kitchen. The coffee tastes fine and the eggs came out of a bird. The ship rolls slightly this morning; I can feel it in my thighs and my schlong, the parts of me that are most receptive to danger.

I had a dangerous conversation last night. After the sun set and we were at least 50 miles from shore (most modern cruise ships sail at about 23 miles an hour), I lay in bed softly hiccupping, my arms stretched out exactly like Jesus on the cross, the sound of the distant waves missing from my mall-facing suite, replaced by the hum of air-conditioning and children shouting in Spanish through the vents of my two bathrooms. I decided this passivity was unacceptable. As an immigrant, I feel duty-bound to complete the tasks I am paid for, which means reaching out and trying to understand my fellow cruisers. So I put on a normal James Perse T-shirt and headed for one of the bars on the Royal Promenade—the Schooner Bar, it was called, if memory serves correctly.

I sat at the bar for a martini and two Negronis. An old man with thick, hairy forearms drank next to me, very silent and Hemingwaylike, while a dreadlocked piano player tinkled out a series of excellent Elton John covers. To my right, a young white couple—he in floral shorts, she in a light, summery miniskirt with a fearsome diamond ring, neither of them in football regalia—chatted with an elderly couple. Do it , I commanded myself. Open your mouth. Speak! Speak without being spoken to. Initiate. A sentence fragment caught my ear from the young woman, “Cherry Hill.” This is a suburb of Philadelphia in New Jersey, and I had once been there for a reading at a synagogue. “Excuse me,” I said gently to her. “Did you just mention Cherry Hill? It’s a lovely place.”

As it turned out, the couple now lived in Fort Lauderdale (the number of Floridians on the cruise surprised me, given that Southern Florida is itself a kind of cruise ship, albeit one slowly sinking), but soon they were talking with me exclusively—the man potbellied, with a chin like a hard-boiled egg; the woman as svelte as if she were one of the many Ukrainian members of the crew—the elderly couple next to them forgotten. This felt as groundbreaking as the first time I dared to address an American in his native tongue, as a child on a bus in Queens (“On my foot you are standing, Mister”).

“I don’t want to talk politics,” the man said. “But they’re going to eighty-six Biden and put Michelle in.”

I considered the contradictions of his opening conversational gambit, but decided to play along. “People like Michelle,” I said, testing the waters. The husband sneered, but the wife charitably put forward that the former first lady was “more personable” than Joe Biden. “They’re gonna eighty-six Biden,” the husband repeated. “He can’t put a sentence together.”

After I mentioned that I was a writer—though I presented myself as a writer of teleplays instead of novels and articles such as this one—the husband told me his favorite writer was Ayn Rand. “Ayn Rand, she came here with nothing,” the husband said. “I work with a lot of Cubans, so …” I wondered if I should mention what I usually do to ingratiate myself with Republicans or libertarians: the fact that my finances improved after pass-through corporations were taxed differently under Donald Trump. Instead, I ordered another drink and the couple did the same, and I told him that Rand and I were born in the same city, St. Petersburg/Leningrad, and that my family also came here with nothing. Now the bonding and drinking began in earnest, and several more rounds appeared. Until it all fell apart.

Read: Gary Shteyngart on watching Russian television for five days straight

My new friend, whom I will refer to as Ayn, called out to a buddy of his across the bar, and suddenly a young couple, both covered in tattoos, appeared next to us. “He fucking punked me,” Ayn’s frat-boy-like friend called out as he put his arm around Ayn, while his sizable partner sizzled up to Mrs. Rand. Both of them had a look I have never seen on land—their eyes projecting absence and enmity in equal measure. In the ’90s, I drank with Russian soldiers fresh from Chechnya and wandered the streets of wartime Zagreb, but I have never seen such undisguised hostility toward both me and perhaps the universe at large. I was briefly introduced to this psychopathic pair, but neither of them wanted to have anything to do with me, and the tattooed woman would not even reveal her Christian name to me (she pretended to have the same first name as Mrs. Rand). To impress his tattooed friends, Ayn made fun of the fact that as a television writer, I’d worked on the series Succession (which, it would turn out, practically nobody on the ship had watched), instead of the far more palatable, in his eyes, zombie drama of last year. And then my new friends drifted away from me into an angry private conversation—“He punked me!”—as I ordered another drink for myself, scared of the dead-eyed arrivals whose gaze never registered in the dim wattage of the Schooner Bar, whose terrifying voices and hollow laughs grated like unoiled gears against the crooning of “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.”

But today is a new day for me and my hangover. After breakfast, I explore the ship’s so-called neighborhoods . There’s the AquaDome, where one can find a food hall and an acrobatic sound-and-light aquatic show. Central Park has a premium steak house, a sushi joint, and a used Rolex that can be bought for $8,000 on land here proudly offered at $17,000. There’s the aforementioned Royal Promenade, where I had drunk with the Rands, and where a pair of dueling pianos duel well into the night. There’s Surfside, a kids’ neighborhood full of sugary garbage, which looks out onto the frothy trail that the behemoth leaves behind itself. Thrill Island refers to the collection of tubes that clutter the ass of the ship and offer passengers six waterslides and a surfing simulation. There’s the Hideaway, an adult zone that plays music from a vomit-slathered, Brit-filled Alicante nightclub circa 1996 and proves a big favorite with groups of young Latin American customers. And, most hurtfully, there’s the Suite Neighborhood.

I say hurtfully because as a Suite passenger I should be here, though my particular suite is far from the others. Whereas I am stuck amid the riffraff of Deck 11, this section is on the highborn Decks 16 and 17, and in passing, I peek into the spacious, tall-ceilinged staterooms from the hallway, dazzled by the glint of the waves and sun. For $75,000, one multifloor suite even comes with its own slide between floors, so that a family may enjoy this particular terror in private. There is a quiet splendor to the Suite Neighborhood. I see fewer stickers and signs and drawings than in my own neighborhood—for example, MIKE AND DIANA PROUDLY SERVED U.S. MARINE CORPS RETIRED . No one here needs to announce their branch of service or rank; they are simply Suites, and this is where they belong. Once again, despite my hard work and perseverance, I have been disallowed from the true American elite. Once again, I am “Not our class, dear.” I am reminded of watching The Love Boat on my grandmother’s Zenith, which either was given to her or we found in the trash (I get our many malfunctioning Zeniths confused) and whose tube got so hot, I would put little chunks of government cheese on a thin tissue atop it to give our welfare treat a pleasant, Reagan-era gooeyness. I could not understand English well enough then to catch the nuances of that seafaring program, but I knew that there were differences in the status of the passengers, and that sometimes those differences made them sad. Still, this ship, this plenty—every few steps, there are complimentary nachos or milkshakes or gyros on offer—was the fatty fuel of my childhood dreams. If only I had remained a child.

I walk around the outdoor decks looking for company. There is a middle-aged African American couple who always seem to be asleep in each other’s arms, probably exhausted from the late capitalism they regularly encounter on land. There is far more diversity on this ship than I expected. Many couples are a testament to Loving v. Virginia , and there is a large group of folks whose T-shirts read MELANIN AT SEA / IT’S THE MELANIN FOR ME . I smile when I see them, but then some young kids from the group makes Mr. Washy Washy do a cruel, caricatured “Burger Dance” (today he is in his burger getup), and I think, Well, so much for intersectionality .

At the infinity pool on Deck 17, I spot some elderly women who could be ethnic and from my part of the world, and so I jump in. I am proved correct! Many of them seem to be originally from Queens (“Corona was still great when it was all Italian”), though they are now spread across the tristate area. We bond over the way “Ron-kon-koma” sounds when announced in Penn Station.

“Everyone is here for a different reason,” one of them tells me. She and her ex-husband last sailed together four years ago to prove to themselves that their marriage was truly over. Her 15-year-old son lost his virginity to “an Irish young lady” while their ship was moored in Ravenna, Italy. The gaggle of old-timers competes to tell me their favorite cruising stories and tips. “A guy proposed in Central Park a couple of years ago”—many Royal Caribbean ships apparently have this ridiculous communal area—“and she ran away screaming!” “If you’re diamond-class, you get four drinks for free.” “A different kind of passenger sails out of Bayonne.” (This, perhaps, is racially coded.) “Sometimes, if you tip the bartender $5, your next drink will be free.”

“Everyone’s here for a different reason,” the woman whose marriage ended on a cruise tells me again. “Some people are here for bad reasons—the drinkers and the gamblers. Some people are here for medical reasons.” I have seen more than a few oxygen tanks and at least one woman clearly undergoing very serious chemo. Some T-shirts celebrate good news about a cancer diagnosis. This might be someone’s last cruise or week on Earth. For these women, who have spent months, if not years, at sea, cruising is a ritual as well as a life cycle: first love, last love, marriage, divorce, death.

Read: The last place on Earth any tourist should go

I have talked with these women for so long, tonight I promise myself that after a sad solitary dinner I will not try to seek out company at the bars in the mall or the adult-themed Hideaway. I have enough material to fulfill my duties to this publication. As I approach my orphaned suite, I run into the aggro young people who stole Mr. and Mrs. Rand away from me the night before. The tattooed apparitions pass me without a glance. She is singing something violent about “Stuttering Stanley” (a character in a popular horror movie, as I discover with my complimentary VOOM SM Surf & Stream Internet at Sea) and he’s loudly shouting about “all the money I’ve lost,” presumably at the casino in the bowels of the ship.

So these bent psychos out of a Cormac McCarthy novel are angrily inhabiting my deck. As I mewl myself to sleep, I envision a limited series for HBO or some other streamer, a kind of low-rent White Lotus , where several aggressive couples conspire to throw a shy intellectual interloper overboard. I type the scenario into my phone. As I fall asleep, I think of what the woman who recently divorced her husband and whose son became a man through the good offices of the Irish Republic told me while I was hoisting myself out of the infinity pool. “I’m here because I’m an explorer. I’m here because I’m trying something new.” What if I allowed myself to believe in her fantasy?

“YOU REALLY STARTED AT THE TOP,” they tell me. I’m at the Coastal Kitchen for my eggs and corned-beef hash, and the maître d’ has slotted me in between two couples. Fueled by coffee or perhaps intrigued by my relative youth, they strike up a conversation with me. As always, people are shocked that this is my first cruise. They contrast the Icon favorably with all the preceding liners in the Royal Caribbean fleet, usually commenting on the efficiency of the elevators that hurl us from deck to deck (as in many large corporate buildings, the elevators ask you to choose a floor and then direct you to one of many lifts). The couple to my right, from Palo Alto—he refers to his “porn mustache” and calls his wife “my cougar” because she is two years older—tell me they are “Pandemic Pinnacles.”

This is the day that my eyes will be opened. Pinnacles , it is explained to me over translucent cantaloupe, have sailed with Royal Caribbean for 700 ungodly nights. Pandemic Pinnacles took advantage of the two-for-one accrual rate of Pinnacle points during the pandemic, when sailing on a cruise ship was even more ill-advised, to catapult themselves into Pinnacle status.

Because of the importance of the inaugural voyage of the world’s largest cruise liner, more than 200 Pinnacles are on this ship, a startling number, it seems. Mrs. Palo Alto takes out a golden badge that I have seen affixed over many a breast, which reads CROWN AND ANCHOR SOCIETY along with her name. This is the coveted badge of the Pinnacle. “You should hear all the whining in Guest Services,” her husband tells me. Apparently, the Pinnacles who are not also Suites like us are all trying to use their status to get into Coastal Kitchen, our elite restaurant. Even a Pinnacle needs to be a Suite to access this level of corned-beef hash.

“We’re just baby Pinnacles,” Mrs. Palo Alto tells me, describing a kind of internal class struggle among the Pinnacle elite for ever higher status.

And now I understand what the maître d’ was saying to me on the first day of my cruise. He wasn’t saying “ pendejo .” He was saying “Pinnacle.” The dining room was for Pinnacles only, all those older people rolling in like the tide on their motorized scooters.

And now I understand something else: This whole thing is a cult. And like most cults, it can’t help but mirror the endless American fight for status. Like Keith Raniere’s NXIVM, where different-colored sashes were given out to connote rank among Raniere’s branded acolytes, this is an endless competition among Pinnacles, Suites, Diamond-Plusers, and facing-the-mall, no-balcony purple SeaPass Card peasants, not to mention the many distinctions within each category. The more you cruise, the higher your status. No wonder a section of the Royal Promenade is devoted to getting passengers to book their next cruise during the one they should be enjoying now. No wonder desperate Royal Caribbean offers (“FINAL HOURS”) crowded my email account weeks before I set sail. No wonder the ship’s jewelry store, the Royal Bling, is selling a $100,000 golden chalice that will entitle its owner to drink free on Royal Caribbean cruises for life. (One passenger was already gaming out whether her 28-year-old son was young enough to “just about earn out” on the chalice or if that ship had sailed.) No wonder this ship was sold out months before departure , and we had to pay $19,000 for a horrid suite away from the Suite Neighborhood. No wonder the most mythical hero of Royal Caribbean lore is someone named Super Mario, who has cruised so often, he now has his own working desk on many ships. This whole experience is part cult, part nautical pyramid scheme.

From the June 2014 issue: Ship of wonks

“The toilets are amazing,” the Palo Altos are telling me. “One flush and you’re done.” “They don’t understand how energy-efficient these ships are,” the husband of the other couple is telling me. “They got the LNG”—liquefied natural gas, which is supposed to make the Icon a boon to the environment (a concept widely disputed and sometimes ridiculed by environmentalists).

But I’m thinking along a different line of attack as I spear my last pallid slice of melon. For my streaming limited series, a Pinnacle would have to get killed by either an outright peasant or a Suite without an ocean view. I tell my breakfast companions my idea.

“Oh, for sure a Pinnacle would have to be killed,” Mr. Palo Alto, the Pandemic Pinnacle, says, touching his porn mustache thoughtfully as his wife nods.

“THAT’S RIGHT, IT’S your time, buddy!” Hubert, my fun-loving Panamanian cabin attendant, shouts as I step out of my suite in a robe. “Take it easy, buddy!”

I have come up with a new dressing strategy. Instead of trying to impress with my choice of T-shirts, I have decided to start wearing a robe, as one does at a resort property on land, with a proper spa and hammam. The response among my fellow cruisers has been ecstatic. “Look at you in the robe!” Mr. Rand cries out as we pass each other by the Thrill Island aqua park. “You’re living the cruise life! You know, you really drank me under the table that night.” I laugh as we part ways, but my soul cries out, Please spend more time with me, Mr. and Mrs. Rand; I so need the company .

In my white robe, I am a stately presence, a refugee from a better limited series, a one-man crossover episode. (Only Suites are granted these robes to begin with.) Today, I will try many of the activities these ships have on offer to provide their clientele with a sense of never-ceasing motion. Because I am already at Thrill Island, I decide to climb the staircase to what looks like a mast on an old-fashioned ship (terrified, because I am afraid of heights) to try a ride called “Storm Chasers,” which is part of the “Category 6” water park, named in honor of one of the storms that may someday do away with the Port of Miami entirely. Storm Chasers consists of falling from the “mast” down a long, twisting neon tube filled with water, like being the camera inside your own colonoscopy, as you hold on to the handles of a mat, hoping not to die. The tube then flops you down headfirst into a trough of water, a Royal Caribbean baptism. It both knocks my breath out and makes me sad.

In keeping with the aquatic theme, I attend a show at the AquaDome. To the sound of “Live and Let Die,” a man in a harness gyrates to and fro in the sultry air. I saw something very similar in the back rooms of the famed Berghain club in early-aughts Berlin. Soon another harnessed man is gyrating next to the first. Ja , I think to myself, I know how this ends. Now will come the fisting , natürlich . But the show soon devolves into the usual Marvel-film-grade nonsense, with too much light and sound signifying nichts . If any fisting is happening, it is probably in the Suite Neighborhood, inside a cabin marked with an upside-down pineapple, which I understand means a couple are ready to swing, and I will see none of it.

I go to the ice show, which is a kind of homage—if that’s possible—to the periodic table, done with the style and pomp and masterful precision that would please the likes of Kim Jong Un, if only he could afford Royal Caribbean talent. At one point, the dancers skate to the theme song of Succession . “See that!” I want to say to my fellow Suites—at “cultural” events, we have a special section reserved for us away from the commoners—“ Succession ! It’s even better than the zombie show! Open your minds!”

Finally, I visit a comedy revue in an enormous and too brightly lit version of an “intimate,” per Royal Caribbean literature, “Manhattan comedy club.” Many of the jokes are about the cruising life. “I’ve lived on ships for 20 years,” one of the middle-aged comedians says. “I can only see so many Filipino homosexuals dressed as a taco.” He pauses while the audience laughs. “I am so fired tonight,” he says. He segues into a Trump impression and then Biden falling asleep at the microphone, which gets the most laughs. “Anyone here from Fort Leonard Wood?” another comedian asks. Half the crowd seems to cheer. As I fall asleep that night, I realize another connection I have failed to make, and one that may explain some of the diversity on this vessel—many of its passengers have served in the military.

As a coddled passenger with a suite, I feel like I am starting to understand what it means to have a rank and be constantly reminded of it. There are many espresso makers , I think as I look across the expanse of my officer-grade quarters before closing my eyes, but this one is mine .

A shocking sight greets me beyond the pools of Deck 17 as I saunter over to the Coastal Kitchen for my morning intake of slightly sour Americanos. A tiny city beneath a series of perfectly pressed green mountains. Land! We have docked for a brief respite in Basseterre, the capital of St. Kitts and Nevis. I wolf down my egg scramble to be one of the first passengers off the ship. Once past the gangway, I barely refrain from kissing the ground. I rush into the sights and sounds of this scruffy island city, sampling incredible conch curry and buckets of non-Starbucks coffee. How wonderful it is to be where God intended humans to be: on land. After all, I am neither a fish nor a mall rat. This is my natural environment. Basseterre may not be Havana, but there are signs of human ingenuity and desire everywhere you look. The Black Table Grill Has been Relocated to Soho Village, Market Street, Directly Behind of, Gary’s Fruits and Flower Shop. Signed. THE PORK MAN reads a sign stuck to a wall. Now, that is how you write a sign. A real sign, not the come-ons for overpriced Rolexes that blink across the screens of the Royal Promenade.

“Hey, tie your shoestring!” a pair of laughing ladies shout to me across the street.

“Thank you!” I shout back. Shoestring! “Thank you very much.”

A man in Independence Square Park comes by and asks if I want to play with his monkey. I haven’t heard that pickup line since the Penn Station of the 1980s. But then he pulls a real monkey out of a bag. The monkey is wearing a diaper and looks insane. Wonderful , I think, just wonderful! There is so much life here. I email my editor asking if I can remain on St. Kitts and allow the Icon to sail off into the horizon without me. I have even priced a flight home at less than $300, and I have enough material from the first four days on the cruise to write the entire story. “It would be funny …” my editor replies. “Now get on the boat.”

As I slink back to the ship after my brief jailbreak, the locals stand under umbrellas to gaze at and photograph the boat that towers over their small capital city. The limousines of the prime minister and his lackeys are parked beside the gangway. St. Kitts, I’ve been told, is one of the few islands that would allow a ship of this size to dock.

“We hear about all the waterslides,” a sweet young server in one of the cafés told me. “We wish we could go on the ship, but we have to work.”

“I want to stay on your island,” I replied. “I love it here.”

But she didn’t understand how I could possibly mean that.

“WASHY, WASHY, so you don’t get stinky, stinky!” kids are singing outside the AquaDome, while their adult minders look on in disapproval, perhaps worried that Mr. Washy Washy is grooming them into a life of gayness. I heard a southern couple skip the buffet entirely out of fear of Mr. Washy Washy.

Meanwhile, I have found a new watering hole for myself, the Swim & Tonic, the biggest swim-up bar on any cruise ship in the world. Drinking next to full-size, nearly naked Americans takes away one’s own self-consciousness. The men have curvaceous mom bodies. The women are equally un-shy about their sprawling physiques.

Today I’ve befriended a bald man with many children who tells me that all of the little trinkets that Royal Caribbean has left us in our staterooms and suites are worth a fortune on eBay. “Eighty dollars for the water bottle, 60 for the lanyard,” the man says. “This is a cult.”

“Tell me about it,” I say. There is, however, a clientele for whom this cruise makes perfect sense. For a large middle-class family (he works in “supply chains”), seven days in a lower-tier cabin—which starts at $1,800 a person—allow the parents to drop off their children in Surfside, where I imagine many young Filipina crew members will take care of them, while the parents are free to get drunk at a swim-up bar and maybe even get intimate in their cabin. Cruise ships have become, for a certain kind of hardworking family, a form of subsidized child care.

There is another man I would like to befriend at the Swim & Tonic, a tall, bald fellow who is perpetually inebriated and who wears a necklace studded with little rubber duckies in sunglasses, which, I am told, is a sort of secret handshake for cruise aficionados. Tomorrow, I will spend more time with him, but first the ship docks at St. Thomas, in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Charlotte Amalie, the capital, is more charming in name than in presence, but I still all but jump off the ship to score a juicy oxtail and plantains at the well-known Petite Pump Room, overlooking the harbor. From one of the highest points in the small city, the Icon of the Seas appears bigger than the surrounding hills.

I usually tan very evenly, but something about the discombobulation of life at sea makes me forget the regular application of sunscreen. As I walk down the streets of Charlotte Amalie in my fluorescent Icon of the Seas cap, an old Rastafarian stares me down. “Redneck,” he hisses.

“No,” I want to tell him, as I bring a hand up to my red neck, “that’s not who I am at all. On my island, Mannahatta, as Whitman would have it, I am an interesting person living within an engaging artistic milieu. I do not wish to use the Caribbean as a dumping ground for the cruise-ship industry. I love the work of Derek Walcott. You don’t understand. I am not a redneck. And if I am, they did this to me.” They meaning Royal Caribbean? Its passengers? The Rands?

“They did this to me!”

Back on the Icon, some older matrons are muttering about a run-in with passengers from the Celebrity cruise ship docked next to us, the Celebrity Apex. Although Celebrity Cruises is also owned by Royal Caribbean, I am made to understand that there is a deep fratricidal beef between passengers of the two lines. “We met a woman from the Apex,” one matron says, “and she says it was a small ship and there was nothing to do. Her face was as tight as a 19-year-old’s, she had so much surgery.” With those words, and beneath a cloudy sky, humidity shrouding our weathered faces and red necks, we set sail once again, hopefully in the direction of home.

THERE ARE BARELY 48 HOURS LEFT to the cruise, and the Icon of the Seas’ passengers are salty. They know how to work the elevators. They know the Washy Washy song by heart. They understand that the chicken gyro at “Feta Mediterranean,” in the AquaDome Market, is the least problematic form of chicken on the ship.

The passengers have shed their INAUGURAL CRUISE T-shirts and are now starting to evince political opinions. There are caps pledging to make America great again and T-shirts that celebrate words sometimes attributed to Patrick Henry: “The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people; it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government.” With their preponderance of FAMILY FLAG FAITH FRIENDS FIREARMS T-shirts, the tables by the crepe station sometimes resemble the Capitol Rotunda on January 6. The Real Anthony Fauci , by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., appears to be a popular form of literature, especially among young men with very complicated versions of the American flag on their T-shirts. Other opinions blend the personal and the political. “Someone needs to kill Washy guy, right?” a well-dressed man in the elevator tells me, his gray eyes radiating nothing. “Just beat him to death. Am I right?” I overhear the male member of a young couple whisper, “There goes that freak” as I saunter by in my white spa robe, and I decide to retire it for the rest of the cruise.

I visit the Royal Bling to see up close the $100,000 golden chalice that entitles you to free drinks on Royal Caribbean forever. The pleasant Serbian saleslady explains that the chalice is actually gold-plated and covered in white zirconia instead of diamonds, as it would otherwise cost $1 million. “If you already have everything,” she explains, “this is one more thing you can get.”

I believe that anyone who works for Royal Caribbean should be entitled to immediate American citizenship. They already speak English better than most of the passengers and, per the Serbian lady’s sales pitch above, better understand what America is as well. Crew members like my Panamanian cabin attendant seem to work 24 hours a day. A waiter from New Delhi tells me that his contract is six months and three weeks long. After a cruise ends, he says, “in a few hours, we start again for the next cruise.” At the end of the half a year at sea, he is allowed a two-to-three-month stay at home with his family. As of 2019, the median income for crew members was somewhere in the vicinity of $20,000, according to a major business publication. Royal Caribbean would not share the current median salary for its crew members, but I am certain that it amounts to a fraction of the cost of a Royal Bling gold-plated, zirconia-studded chalice.

And because most of the Icon’s hyper-sanitized spaces are just a frittata away from being a Delta lounge, one forgets that there are actual sailors on this ship, charged with the herculean task of docking it in port. “Having driven 100,000-ton aircraft carriers throughout my career,” retired Admiral James G. Stavridis, the former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe, writes to me, “I’m not sure I would even know where to begin with trying to control a sea monster like this one nearly three times the size.” (I first met Stavridis while touring Army bases in Germany more than a decade ago.)

Today, I decide to head to the hot tub near Swim & Tonic, where some of the ship’s drunkest reprobates seem to gather (the other tubs are filled with families and couples). The talk here, like everywhere else on the ship, concerns football, a sport about which I know nothing. It is apparent that four teams have recently competed in some kind of finals for the year, and that two of them will now face off in the championship. Often when people on the Icon speak, I will try to repeat the last thing they said with a laugh or a nod of disbelief. “Yes, 20-yard line! Ha!” “Oh my God, of course, scrimmage.”

Soon we are joined in the hot tub by the late-middle-age drunk guy with the duck necklace. He is wearing a bucket hat with the legend HAWKEYES , which, I soon gather, is yet another football team. “All right, who turned me in?” Duck Necklace says as he plops into the tub beside us. “I get a call in the morning,” he says. “It’s security. Can you come down to the dining room by 10 a.m.? You need to stay away from the members of this religious family.” Apparently, the gregarious Duck Necklace had photobombed the wrong people. There are several families who present as evangelical Christians or practicing Muslims on the ship. One man, evidently, was not happy that Duck Necklace had made contact with his relatives. “It’s because of religious stuff; he was offended. I put my arm around 20 people a day.”

Everyone laughs. “They asked me three times if I needed medication,” he says of the security people who apparently interrogated him in full view of others having breakfast.

Another hot-tub denizen suggests that he should have asked for fentanyl. After a few more drinks, Duck Necklace begins to muse about what it would be like to fall off the ship. “I’m 62 and I’m ready to go,” he says. “I just don’t want a shark to eat me. I’m a huge God guy. I’m a Bible guy. There’s some Mayan theory squaring science stuff with religion. There is so much more to life on Earth.” We all nod into our Red Stripes.

“I never get off the ship when we dock,” he says. He tells us he lost $6,000 in the casino the other day. Later, I look him up, and it appears that on land, he’s a financial adviser in a crisp gray suit, probably a pillar of his North Chicago community.

THE OCEAN IS TEEMING with fascinating life, but on the surface it has little to teach us. The waves come and go. The horizon remains ever far away.

I am constantly told by my fellow passengers that “everybody here has a story.” Yes, I want to reply, but everybody everywhere has a story. You, the reader of this essay, have a story, and yet you’re not inclined to jump on a cruise ship and, like Duck Necklace, tell your story to others at great pitch and volume. Maybe what they’re saying is that everybody on this ship wants to have a bigger, more coherent, more interesting story than the one they’ve been given. Maybe that’s why there’s so much signage on the doors around me attesting to marriages spent on the sea. Maybe that’s why the Royal Caribbean newsletter slipped under my door tells me that “this isn’t a vacation day spent—it’s bragging rights earned.” Maybe that’s why I’m so lonely.

Today is a big day for Icon passengers. Today the ship docks at Royal Caribbean’s own Bahamian island, the Perfect Day at CocoCay. (This appears to be the actual name of the island.) A comedian at the nightclub opined on what his perfect day at CocoCay would look like—receiving oral sex while learning that his ex-wife had been killed in a car crash (big laughter). But the reality of the island is far less humorous than that.

One of the ethnic tristate ladies in the infinity pool told me that she loved CocoCay because it had exactly the same things that could be found on the ship itself. This proves to be correct. It is like the Icon, but with sand. The same tired burgers, the same colorful tubes conveying children and water from Point A to B. The same swim-up bar at its Hideaway ($140 for admittance, no children allowed; Royal Caribbean must be printing money off its clientele). “There was almost a fight at The Wizard of Oz ,” I overhear an elderly woman tell her companion on a chaise lounge. Apparently one of the passengers began recording Royal Caribbean’s intellectual property and “three guys came after him.”

I walk down a pathway to the center of the island, where a sign reads DO NOT ENTER: YOU HAVE REACHED THE BOUNDARY OF ADVENTURE . I hear an animal scampering in the bushes. A Royal Caribbean worker in an enormous golf cart soon chases me down and takes me back to the Hideaway, where I run into Mrs. Rand in a bikini. She becomes livid telling me about an altercation she had the other day with a woman over a towel and a deck chair. We Suites have special towel privileges; we do not have to hand over our SeaPass Card to score a towel. But the Rands are not Suites. “People are so entitled here,” Mrs. Rand says. “It’s like the airport with all its classes.” “You see,” I want to say, “this is where your husband’s love of Ayn Rand runs into the cruelties and arbitrary indignities of unbridled capitalism.” Instead we make plans to meet for a final drink in the Schooner Bar tonight (the Rands will stand me up).

Back on the ship, I try to do laps, but the pool (the largest on any cruise ship, naturally) is fully trashed with the detritus of American life: candy wrappers, a slowly dissolving tortilla chip, napkins. I take an extra-long shower in my suite, then walk around the perimeter of the ship on a kind of exercise track, past all the alluring lifeboats in their yellow-and-white livery. Maybe there is a dystopian angle to the HBO series that I will surely end up pitching, one with shades of WALL-E or Snowpiercer . In a collapsed world, a Royal Caribbean–like cruise liner sails from port to port, collecting new shipmates and supplies in exchange for the precious energy it has on board. (The actual Icon features a new technology that converts passengers’ poop into enough energy to power the waterslides . In the series, this shitty technology would be greatly expanded.) A very young woman (18? 19?), smart and lonely, who has only known life on the ship, walks along the same track as I do now, contemplating jumping off into the surf left by its wake. I picture reusing Duck Necklace’s words in the opening shot of the pilot. The girl is walking around the track, her eyes on the horizon; maybe she’s highborn—a Suite—and we hear the voice-over: “I’m 19 and I’m ready to go. I just don’t want a shark to eat me.”

Before the cruise is finished, I talk to Mr. Washy Washy, or Nielbert of the Philippines. He is a sweet, gentle man, and I thank him for the earworm of a song he has given me and for keeping us safe from the dreaded norovirus. “This is very important to me, getting people to wash their hands,” he tells me in his burger getup. He has dreams, as an artist and a performer, but they are limited in scope. One day he wants to dress up as a piece of bacon for the morning shift.

THE MAIDEN VOYAGE OF THE TITANIC (the Icon of the Seas is five times as large as that doomed vessel) at least offered its passengers an exciting ending to their cruise, but when I wake up on the eighth day, all I see are the gray ghosts that populate Miami’s condo skyline. Throughout my voyage, my writer friends wrote in to commiserate with me. Sloane Crosley, who once covered a three-day spa mini-cruise for Vogue , tells me she felt “so very alone … I found it very untethering.” Gideon Lewis-Kraus writes in an Instagram comment: “When Gary is done I think it’s time this genre was taken out back and shot.” And he is right. To badly paraphrase Adorno: After this, no more cruise stories. It is unfair to put a thinking person on a cruise ship. Writers typically have difficult childhoods, and it is cruel to remind them of the inherent loneliness that drove them to writing in the first place. It is also unseemly to write about the kind of people who go on cruises. Our country does not provide the education and upbringing that allow its citizens an interior life. For the creative class to point fingers at the large, breasty gentlemen adrift in tortilla-chip-laden pools of water is to gather a sour harvest of low-hanging fruit.

A day or two before I got off the ship, I decided to make use of my balcony, which I had avoided because I thought the view would only depress me further. What I found shocked me. My suite did not look out on Central Park after all. This entire time, I had been living in the ship’s Disneyland, Surfside, the neighborhood full of screaming toddlers consuming milkshakes and candy. And as I leaned out over my balcony, I beheld a slight vista of the sea and surf that I thought I had been missing. It had been there all along. The sea was frothy and infinite and blue-green beneath the span of a seagull’s wing. And though it had been trod hard by the world’s largest cruise ship, it remained.

This article appears in the May 2024 print edition with the headline “A Meatball at Sea.” When you buy a book using a link on this page, we receive a commission. Thank you for supporting The Atlantic.

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Princess Cruises to Sail Largest-Ever Europe Cruise and Cruisetour Season in 2026

New sun princess one of five to sail region. season also features total solar eclipse cruise - return to copenhagen – plus new roundtrip rome itineraries..

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FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. (May 9, 2024) – Princess Cruises is going big in Europe for 2026. The “Love Boat” line today announced that its 2026 European cruise and cruisetour season will be its biggest ever, with five Princess cruise ships sailing the region, including the sensational new Sun Princess. Set to sail on a record-breaking 222 cruises, guests will have unparalleled opportunities to explore the beauty and diversity of Europe.

Running March through November 2026, the European season features 59 unique itineraries, visiting 101 destinations across 29 countries, ranging from five to 42 nights. Highlights of the upcoming season include an opportunity to experience the 2026 total solar eclipse; sail on the newest Princess ship – Sun Princess; the return of roundtrip cruises from Copenhagen and new itineraries from Rome. The robust season goes on sale May 23, 2024.

“There’s incredible demand for European vacations and we don’t see that slowing down anytime soon,” said Terry Thornton, chief commercial officer for Princess Cruises. “Guests should book early as our best pricing will be when these cruises first go on sale. Our 2026 season delivers the best of Europe with incredible voyages visiting a mix of marquee ports, as well as smaller, off-the-beaten-path spots offering guests their very own personalized journey.”

2026 Europe Highlights

Sun Princess , the next-level Love Boat from Princess, will sail 7-, 14- and 21-night Mediterranean voyages departing from Civitavecchia (Rome), Piraeus (Athens), and Barcelona. Guests on a 14- and 21-night voyage can enjoy an itinerary without calling to the same port twice for a Grand Mediterranean Adventure .

• Itinerary Sample: A seven-night Mediterranean voyage sails roundtrip from Piraeus (Athens) to Barcelona, calling at Santorini, Kotor, Corfu, and Messina (Sicily).

The newest Princess ship is a true engineering marvel, offering an extraordinary cruise experience with not-to-be-missed culinary, entertainment and luxury accommodations. Sun Princess debuts new eye-catching experience venues including The Dome, a groundbreaking geodesic, glass-enclosed structure at the top of the ship inspired by the terraces of Santorini. The outward and suspended Sphere Atrium, the namesake of this new class of ship, takes the central Piazza hub of the ship into a new dimension. With 30 inviting restaurant and bar venues with an unprecedented collection of celebrity collaborators, high-end ingredients and culinary experiences, Sun Princess has something for every guest to love.

The 3,660-guest Sky Princess will return for its sixth year to home port in Southampton. Sky Princess takes guests on itineraries ranging from seven to 28 nights to destinations including Northern Europe, the Canary Islands, and the Mediterranean.

On August 12, 2026, Sky Princess will sail directly into the “path of totality” on a special 14-night Total Solar Eclipse Cruise which also visits France, Spain and Portugal. The cruise departs Southampton August 8, 2026.

NEW for 2026 is a 28-night Northern Europe and Mediterranean itinerary sailing roundtrip Southampton and calling to Skagen, Copenhagen, Warnemunde (for Berlin), Stockholm (overnight), Helsinki, Tallinn, Visby, Zeebrugge (for Brussels/Bruges), Southampton, Vigo, Cadiz (for Seville), Malaga, Cartagena, Gibraltar, Lisbon, Bilbao, Le Verdon (for Bordeaux). Departs September 12, 2026.

NEW for 2026, the 3,660-guest Enchanted Princess offers Mediterranean itineraries roundtrip from Civitavecchia (Rome), ranging from five, seven, eight, and 14-nights.

• Itinerary Sample: A seven-night Mediterranean & Adriatic sailing roundtrip Rome (Civitavecchia) to Dubrovnik, Kotor and Corfu.

For the first time-ever, the 3,560-guest Majestic Princess is sailing roundtrip from Southampton , offering British Isles and Northern Europe itineraries ranging from 11, 12 and 14 nights. British Isles voyages take guests to historic ports across England, Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland, while the Northern Europe itineraries include stops in Scandinavia, Iceland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium.

• Itinerary Sample: A 14-night Northern Europe cruise visits Haugesund (Norway), Skjolden/Sognefjord (Norway), Olden/Nordfjord (Norway), Aalesund (Norway), Reykjavik (Iceland), Isafjordur (Iceland), Akureyri (Iceland).

Princess Cruises returns to Copenhagen after six years with the 2,670-guest Sapphire Princess , providing 12-night Northern Europe itineraries.

• Itinerary Sample: Visits to Skagen, Oslo, Gdynia, Klaipeda, Riga, Tallinn, Helsinki, Nynashamn (for Stockholm), and Visby.

Prior to sailing from Copenhagen, Sapphire Princess sails in the Mediterranean for two months between March and April 2026, from Barcelona, plus itineraries sailing roundtrip from Civitavecchia (Rome).

Cruisetours: Guests can combine a Europe cruise with multiple days on land to experience more of the region with five cruisetours to choose from. Guests can choose to sightsee in the cosmopolitan city of Madrid on the Highlights of Spain cruisetour, visit Florence and Rome on the Classic Italy cruisetour, explore Mediterranean treasures on the Best of Greece cruisetour or take in the spectacular landscapes of Ireland on the Ring of Kerry cruisetour.

Grand Adventures and Passages: All five ships sail ultimate transatlantic crossings, offering voyages ranging between 14- and 29-nights.

More Ashore: 19 ports include ‘More Ashore’ late-night stays on select itineraries, and three ports provide overnight stays – Alta, Hamburg and Stockholm.

With Princess Plus and Premier inclusive packages guests enjoy the ultimate in savings by adding popular amenities like WiFi, beverages, fitness classes, crew gratuities and more at an even greater savings of up 65% when amenities are purchased separately.

Princess Captain’s Circle members can take advantage of an early booking window starting May 16, 2024, and are eligible for a special discount if booking before August 31, 2024.

Additional information about Princess Cruises is available through a professional travel advisor, by calling 1-800-Princess (1-800-774-6237) or by visiting www.princess.com .

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Negin Kamali, +1 661-753-1539, [email protected]

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About Princess Cruises

Princess Cruises is The Love Boat, the world’s most iconic cruise brand that delivers dream vacations to millions of guests every year in the most sought-after destinations on the largest ships that offer elite service personalization and simplicity customary of small, yacht-class ships. Well-appointed staterooms, world class dining, grand performances, award-winning casinos and entertainment, luxurious spas, imaginative experiences and boundless activities blend with exclusive Princess MedallionClass service to create meaningful connections and unforgettable moments in the most incredible settings in the world - the Caribbean, Alaska, Panama Canal, Mexican Riviera, Europe, South America, Australia/New Zealand, the South Pacific, Hawaii, Asia, Canada/New England, Antarctica, and World Cruises. The company is part of Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE:CCL; NYSE:CUK).

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The 10 Biggest Cruise Ships in the World

Where to float on the biggest boats.

E very vessel that's once held the title of "biggest cruise ship" has one thing in common: It is a destination in and of itself. Of course, these enormous passenger cruise ships also transport guests to thrilling ports, exotic islands and remote locations too. It's almost as if you could live on a cruise ship !

These massive ships each have so much going on: theater and music on a multitude of stages, water slides, roller coasters and go-kart tracks, zip lines, ice skating rinks, laser tag arenas—you name it. There are also hidden cruise features waiting to be discovered and more restaurants than you will ever need to feed yourself. They are, simply put, awe-inspiring creations. Have you ever thought about how cruise ships float ?

One of the most important cruise tips for vacationing on one of these big boats is to accept that you won't be able to do it all on your first visit. Thankfully, with many itineraries to choose from, you can sail on the largest cruise ship again and again, learn cruise ship code words and have new experiences every single time you're on board one of these massive ships.

What is largest cruise ship in the world?

The current reigning champion is Royal Caribbean's Wonder of the Seas. But next year, there will be a brand-new biggest cruise ship, the Royal Caribbean Icon of the Seas . Planned with 20 decks, 2,805 staterooms, seven pools and nine hot tubs, the future largest ship in the world is currently being built in Finland. Here are the details about the biggest and grandest ships to sail on.

Wonder of the Seas

Cruise line: Royal Caribbean

Length: 1,188 feet

Width: 215 feet

Guest capacity: 7,084

A true wonder, the current biggest ship in the world delights guests every week with a feast of activities, shows, meals and memories. Royal Caribbean's Wonder of the Seas , an Oasis-class ship that is a city at sea, has 16 guest decks, 2,204 crew members from every corner of the planet and more than 10 bars and 20 dining destinations—nine of which are complimentary. Curiously, even though the Icon of the Seas will eventually take the mantle as the largest cruise ship, Wonder will still have more staterooms than its new big sister, a whopping 2,867 of them.

It also features a carousel on a real boardwalk, a dry slide that twists down 10 decks, surfing simulators, a laser tag arena, an ice skating rink and a zip line that spans the interior width of the ship. It also has interior rooms with balconies that look out over the restaurant and a tree-lined neighborhood that looks like Central Park. Wonder of the Seas will soon lose its crown as the biggest cruise ship in the world, but it'll never lose its ability to provide unique vacations thanks to affordable cruises for every kind of traveler.

World Europa

Cruise line: MSC

Length: 1,093 feet

Width: 154 feet

Guest capacity: 6,762

MSC is not only a privately held shipping company, the largest in the world, they are also the maker of some of the largest cruise ships in the world. The World Europa , which took to the sea for the first time in 2022, is currently escorting passengers all over the Mediterranean, using one of the cleanest marine fuels to do so.

The World Europa features some of the best rooms on a cruise ship, thanks to having the most cabins with a balcony. It also has the world's longest dry slide at sea, taking adventurous cruisers down 12 decks in a shiny, twisting stainless steel tube, and bumper cars in a SportsPlex arena that also hosts rollerblading—not at the same time, however. People looking for something a little less dramatic will enjoy six pools, some surrounded by tropical greenery, 14 whirlpools and MSC's first-ever department store at sea. Finally, you'll never go hungry on this ship , given its 10 restaurants, including four main dining rooms and three buffets.

Cruise line: P&O Cruises

Length: 1,130 feet

Width: 138 feet

Guest capacity: 6,685

Whether you want the sunshine of the Caribbean or the culture found in and around Mediterranean ports, Arvia is P&O's largest cruise ship and one of the biggest cruise ships in the world, with 1,800 crew members, a three-screen cinema complex, a wide range of staterooms to choose from and four pools, including an infinity pool with a swim-up bar. There are also nearly two dozen whirlpool spas, a sauna, steam room and a hydrotherapy pool.

This means that whether you're taking a singles cruise or have children in tow—the Arvia is a family-friendly ship with age-specific kids clubs on board—serious rest and relaxation are definitely on the agenda. Then, when you're feeling spry and ready for some adventure during your vacation at sea, you can try an escape room or ropes course, play in the sports arena or strut your stuff in a dance class.

Costa Toscana

Cruise line: Costa Cruises

Length: 1,105 feet

Width: 137 feet

Guest capacity: 6,600

A sister to the Smeralda , the Costa Toscana became the fleet's largest cruise ship when it took to the water in March 2022. The ship uses LNG propulsion engines to make sea travel more sustainable, both while cruising and in ports of call around the world. An international crew of 1,678 works to deliver dream vacations for up to 6,600 passengers who will love to discover all there is to do, see and experience on board.

The ship has 1,550 staterooms ranging from interior cabins to elaborate suites, a baker's dozen pools and whirlpools, and a total of 20 restaurants, bars and lounges. Costa's new flagship vessel is a smart city at sea, offering subtly high-tech sailings that provide fun for the whole family, thanks to Peppa Pig character parties, an aqua park with water slides and a mind-bending skywalk 213 feet above the ocean! So book a vacation on one of the largest cruise ships in the world, then pack your cruise ducks and your appetite for learning how to cook at Toscana 's Food LAB cooking school, among other adventures at sea.

Celebration

Cruise line: Carnival

Guest capacity: 6,631

As cruise lines jockey for position at the top of the biggest cruise ship in the world leaderboard, the original family-fun ships are also getting larger. A total of 1,735 international crew, famously considered the best in the business, will ensure that every family's cruise on the Celebration not only maximizes the fun but also the memories, and all at some of the most affordable prices in the cruise industry.

This ship has BOLT, the first roller coaster at sea, Dr. Seuss children's themed cruises with character appearances, and incredible water parks with multiple slides. Delicious food is made fast-and-fresh at Guy's Burger Joint, Shaq's Big Chicken and the Seafood Shack, as well as tasty street-food carts located near the pools. Plus, with all the extra space on the largest cruise ship in their fleet, Carnival's Playlist Productions has more stages to dazzle you and your kids with famously fantastic live music and musical theater.

Cruise line: Norwegian

Length: 1,094 feet

Width: 136 feet

Guest capacity: 3,998

With 1,700 crew members and more than 2,000 staterooms, including suites in The Haven—Norwegian's luxurious, private and tranquil ship-within-a-ship concept high atop the ship, which comes with 24-hour butler service and its own lavish sundeck—the Encore ranks among the largest cruise ships in the world. Curiously, this vessel from 2019 is still the largest in the Norwegian fleet! Both Prima  and the forthcoming Viva were built after Encore but are considerably smaller in size, bucking the cruise industry trend of "bigger is better."

Encore shines as a superior and super big ship, the fourth in the Breakaway Plus class, and features a multi-deck go-kart track, the Cavern Club music venue, fashioned after the famous Liverpool room where The Beatles became big, a virtual-reality gaming room, an outdoor laser-tag arena and some of the best food at sea. No doubt, this will become one of every passenger's favorite cruises.

Symphony of the Seas

Width: 216 feet

Guest capacity: 6,680

None of the many all-inclusive cruises take place on the largest cruise ships, but you may be forgiven for thinking you're enjoying an all-inclusive experience on Symphony of the Seas . The ship's many spectacular activities include a zip line that soars above the boardwalk many decks below, an old-fashioned carousel, Broadway-style theater shows, surfing simulators and the 10-story Abyss dry slide. There's also delicious food all over the ship that is 100% complimentary. And while you may fly on the zip line over and over again, you'll probably still wonder, Why do cruise ships have wings ?

After its maiden voyage in April 2018, Symphony was the biggest cruise ship in the world. But because of its ingenious neighborhood concept, guests rarely feel overcrowded. Seven distinct areas carve up the ship into unique spaces to play, eat, stroll, sleep and enjoy live entertainment, and the traffic flows brilliantly to make passengers feel as though they're on a more intimate ship and not cruising with upward of 6,680 other people in more than 2,700 staterooms, some of which are interior cabins with balconies that boast views of the Central Park neighborhood's greenery and eateries.

Cruise line: AIDA

Guest capacity: 6,654

While American travelers looking to cruise the Caribbean may not encounter her, the AIDAnova is not only the largest cruise ship in the AIDA fleet, she's also a revolutionary lady. The ship's Four Elements adventure deck, with its three water slides and climbing garden under the dome of a retractable glass roof, drops jaws on every sailing. The ship's more than 2,600 staterooms with 20 different types, ranging from a glorious two-deck penthouse to budget-friendly interior cabins, allow guests to sleep well and arrive in port well rested, and the two-deck spa offering 80 different treatments provides even more healing and luxury.

But AIDAnova is also impressive because it made history as the world's first cruise ship to be powered in port and at sea by liquefied natural gas (LNG), the world's cleanest burning fossil fuel. It's important that big ships can be more sustainable, but did you ever wonder why there are big balls on cruise ships ?

Sun Princess

Cruise line: Princess

Length: 1,133 feet

Guest capacity: 4,300

The Love Boat is getting much, much bigger! Yes, this is the namesake ship from the beloved '70s TV show. With 2,150 cabins, the Sun Princess is close to carrying 4,300 passengers to Europe for its inaugural season later this year. And then all around the world, people will be asking, "Why do cruise ships have to stop in Canada?"

The third ship in the history of the fleet to be graced with the iconic name, the S un Princess is poised to be a fan favorite. There are more than 29 bars, lounges and restaurants on board, with the Sea View Terrace and Bar ensconced in glass at the top and front of the ship, book-ended by the Wake View Terrace at the back, which has a stunning infinity pool hanging off the edge. Drawing inspiration from the tiered terraces of Santorini, Greece, this evocative area will have an indoor/outdoor pool to enjoy supreme relaxation during the day. But once the sun says goodbye, the pool becomes a stage and the dome above transforms into an entertainment venue with eye-popping lighting effects.

Length: 1,085 feet

Width: 141 feet

Guest capacity: 6,334

Come June 2023, one of the newest and biggest cruise ships at sea will be carrying eager pasengers, and more than 1,700 dedicated crew members, to world-class destinations in Northern Europe and the Mediterranean. While on board the Euribia , cruisers will enjoy a massive amount of personal space (100-plus square feet per person) at any one of five unique pools, including one of the most intricate waterparks at sea, covering more than 10,000 square feet.

These watery areas of rest, relaxation and revelry will comfortably accommodate more than 1,000 guests at a time. Indoors, a 360-foot-long Mediterranean-style promenade is lined with myriad shops, along with some of the 20 bars and 10 restaurants found on the ship. It also features a domed LED screen that magically displays the sky and other animations throughout the day and night. MSC continues to be a favorite cruise line of environmentalist travelers looking to ease their mind and minimize their footprint, as the Euribia has an advanced onboard wastewater treatment system that doesn't allow any water to leave the ship without being treated and cleaned.

The post The 10 Biggest Cruise Ships in the World appeared first on Reader's Digest .

Will a cruise ship wait for me if I'm running late at a port stop? Here's what a captain has to say.

• People considering cruising might wonder what would happen if they were running late to the ship.
• In a Q&A on board Royal Caribbean's Wonder of the Seas, Captain Rob Hempstead shared what to do.
• Call the ship agent if you're running late so the captain can decide if they have time to wait.

On March 27, eight travelers on a Norwegian cruise in Africa were stranded on the island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe after their private excursion arrived back at the ship more than an hour after boarding closed. The cruisers chased the ship for almost a week before reboarding in Dakar, Senegal.

More recently, on May 13, a couple sailing in the Mediterranean with the same cruise line was left stranded in Motril, Spain, after their excursion (not organized by Norwegian) had an hour bus delay getting back to the ship due to rain,  CNN reported .

On any cruise, travelers have the freedom to experience multiple destinations on one trip with port stops where they can exit the ship and explore a new place.

But cruise ships run on a tight schedule, often only allotting passengers around seven or eight hours for a one-day stop, sometimes even less. This leaves many to wonder what happens if you're running late getting back to the ship : Will the crew wait up, or will you end up stranded, chasing the ship from stop to stop?

Will the captain wait for you?

The answer is maybe. 

On an April 2022 cruise on board Royal Caribbean's Wonder of the Seas , Business Insider attended a Q&A with Captain Rob Hempstead, where he answered this very question. 

Hampstead, who's been a Royal Caribbean captain for two decades, started his career in Alaska's fishing industry. After 14 years of fishing, he became a captain. Before Wonder of the Seas, Hampstead served as captain of seven other Royal Caribbean ships, including Oasis of the Seas and Symphony of the Seas .

Related stories

The most stressful part of a cruise for the crew is getting out of the ports on time, he said, "Because the faster we go, the more fuel we have to burn."

Some people come late, and as a result, are left behind, he added. 

However, this doesn't mean he won't wait for you — you just need to know what to do. 

Two cruise ships docked at Royal Caribbean's private island in the Bahamas — Coco Cay. Joey Hadden/Insider

When will a cruise ship wait for passengers.

There are two instances in which the ship will wait. The first is if you're late returning from a cruise-line organized excursion. Since the excursion is supposed to only take place within the allotted port time, the ship will wait for passengers coming from a cruise line excursion that's running late.

However, if you've spent the day independently on your own, or with a private tour company, there are certain steps you must take to avoid being stranded.

If you're behind schedule, call the ship agent to alert the cruise that you're running late, he said. On Royal Caribbean cruises, this number can be found at the bottom of Cruise Compass, a daily flyer all passengers receive in their stateroom each day detailing the day's activities.

The agent may also be referred to as a port agent, according to a copy of Cruise Compass obtained by BI.

Whether the ship can wait for you, however, will depend on how late you'll be, he added.

"If I know you're 10 minutes away, I can make an educated decision about whether or not we can wait," Hampstead said. "We will wait if we can." 

Of course, if that's you, you'll have to run up the dock to the ship with many passengers watching, wondering what is holding up the departure, as they quickly realize it was you. Instead, always plan your day with ample time to return to port, or better yet, book your excursions through the cruise line.

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Best of Greece

From ATHENS (PIRAEUS), GREECE - onboard CELEBRITY INFINITY

†Taxes, fees and port expenses $193.37 USD *

At Celebrity Cruises®, we believe choice matters. That’s why we’ve pre-packaged our most popular amenities—drinks, and Wi-Fi— Tips charged separately. So you can now choose the most convenient way to get the best value from your cruise.

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Cruise Itinerary

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Athens (Piraeus), Greece

Sat, Aug 30, 2025

Departs: 8:00PM

At Sea - Cruising

Sun, Aug 31, 2025

Santorini, Greece

Mon, Sep 1, 2025

Tendered: 7:00AM to 10:00PM

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Tue, Sep 2, 2025

Docked: 9:00AM to 9:00PM

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Tendered: 7:00AM to 6:00PM

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Thu, Sep 4, 2025

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Fri, Sep 5, 2025

Docked: 8:00AM to 6:00PM

Kavala, Greece

Sat, Sep 6, 2025

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Mon, Sep 8, 2025

Arrival: 5:00AM

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Celebrity Infinity Along Panama Canal

Celebrity Infinity

Set sail on a vacation aboard Celebrity Infinity® and discover an unforgettable journey to the most exciting destinations in the world. Relax and feel at home in luxurious accommodations. Unwind and recharge aboard Celebrity Infinity and we’ll take care of every detail, so all you have to do is enjoy your vacation.

Onboard Features

The airy Main Restaurant offers exquisite menu selections, which change nightly to give you a variety of classic and contemporary choices. And the service? Legendary.

Clean, crisp flavors and inventive cuisine meet an extensive list of sustainable and biodynamic wines. Exclusively for AquaClass guests.

The exclusive restaurant for Guests of the Retreat. Select and cutting edge, the globally inspired menus at Luminae are not available in any other restaurant on board.

Constellation Lounge

The perfect daytime spot to gaze over the sea with a cocktail in hand. At night, the space comes alive with live music and dancing.

Rendezvous Lounge

On Millennium Class ships, the Rendezvous Lounge is the perfect place to gather before dinner for a cocktail and dancing.

Cellar Masters

Immerse yourself in wine culture. Cellar Masters lets you try a bold collection of both familiar and unknown wines from around the world.

The Retreat is an unparalleled vacation experience that includes every stunning suite, a private restaurant, and an exclusive lounge that rivals any high-end resort.

Say "Ahh" in spa-inspired staterooms designed just for you. Savor clean eating at Blu and escape to the Persian Garden.

Tailored services and amenities await you in these exceptionally appointed staterooms. We're here to help you make the most of your time on board and on shore.

Fortunes Casino

Relax, recharge, and play the hottest slots and table games at Fortunes Casino. It offers a sophisticated ambiance and a captivating atmosphere that comes alive with plenty of action.

Camp at Sea

For our Camp at Sea program, we’ve designed more than 500 activities that make every sailing a brand new experience and an unforgettable memory for our junior cruisers.

Art Gallery

When you visit the Art Gallery, you'll be surrounded with one of the world's largest permanent collections of contemporary art, accompanied by a complete art program.

Fitness Center

Bring your workout routine along on your modern luxury vacation and enjoy a variety of new fitness classes and seminars along with world class cruise fitness amenities.

Shops on Infinity

Celebrity's European-inspired piazza and elegant galleria hold riches of chic sophistication. Marble walkways lead you to modern boutiques and fine jewelry stores.

Rooftop Terrace

An alfresco movie theatre with cozy furnishings. The inviting Rooftop Terrace beckons you to stay a while.

Adults-only Solarium

A serenely beautiful adults-only pool and hot tub experience, The Solarium let’s you relax and daydream of the next destination you’ll be exploring.

Basketball Court

Shoot some hoops before or after your day’s adventure. Located centrally aboard the ship, you can enjoy a great basketball game while a nice ocean breeze keeps you cool.

SEARCH FLIGHTS FOR THIS CRUISE

Price is per person and applies to selected sailing, lowest available fare stateroom category, based on double-occupancy, reflects any promotional savings, and is subject to change and availability until booked. Additional terms and conditions apply to offers. Full deposit must be paid by deposit payment required due date. Standard full deposit penalty is applied if booking is cancelled within final payment period; see Celebrity’s cancellation policy for details. Non-Refundable Deposit Bookings (“NRDB”): To qualify for the lowest available cruise fare, guest must choose a non-refundable deposit. All deposit payments for NRDB made after 03/02/23 are non-refundable from the time of booking. NRDB are applicable to groups at prevailing rates. Not applicable to incentive, contract, or charter groups. Nonrefundable deposit offers are applicable to sailings within final payment, however full deposit is due at time of booking. 

Celebrity Edge® Series Iconic Suites, Edge Villas, Penthouse Suites, Royal Suites, Celebrity Suites, AquaClass® Sky Suites, and Sky Suites (and Family Suites during Holiday sailings) require double the deposit amounts listed.

All Included  pricing applies to sailings booked and departing on or after October 4, 2023, excluding Galapagos cruises, in an inside, ocean view, veranda, Concierge Class, or AquaClass stateroom (“Eligible Bookings”). All guests within an Eligible Booking who choose “All Included” pricing, will receive a Classic Drinks Package and an unlimited Basic Wi-Fi package. All guests in the same stateroom must choose the same rate.  Please visit www.celebritycruises.com/things-to-do-onboard/onboard-packages/beverage-packages for further information on available beverages and full restrictions and www.celebritycruises.com/things-to-do-onboard/onboard-packages/internet-and-phone-packages for further information on wi-fi.

All Included pricing applies to new individual bookings only. Changes to booking may result in removal of Offer. Prices and Offers are subject to availability and change without notice, may be withdrawn at any time, and not applicable to charters or contracted groups. All Included pricing is non-transferable and not combinable with certain rates including, Travel Agent, Interline, Net, Exciting Deals, or worker cabins.  Single occupancy guests paying 200% cruise fare are eligible for All Included pricing. Refer to celebritycruises.com and the Cruise Ticket Contract for additional terms and conditions. Celebrity Cruises reserves the right to cancel offer at any time, correct any errors, inaccuracies, or omissions, and change or update fares, fees, and surcharges at any time without prior notice.

Imagery and messaging may not accurately reflect onboard and destination experiences, offerings, features, or itineraries. These may not be available during your voyage, may vary by ship and destination, and may be subject to change without notice.

*Port sequence may vary by sailing date.

Departing Aug 30, 2025

$876 USD * Avg Per Person

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More From Forbes

One woman's solo journey from london to lagos: an interview with pelumi nubi.

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Nubi was appointed as a Tourism Ambassador for the State of Lagos upon arrival in Nigeria.

With several thousand kilometers and more than ten countries between them, most travelers transiting from London to Lagos opt for a 6.5-hour plane ride—but Pelumi Nubi isn’t your average traveler. Originally hailing from Nigeria’s largest city and raised in the UK capital, Nubi’s deep affinity for travel led her to launch a truly valiant feat at the end of January 2024: a one-woman road trip spanning from the northern reaches of Europe to the West African coast. While the journey was met with its fair share of obstacles, Nubi reached her destination on April 7th, ultimately cementing her status as the first Black woman to complete a solo road trip from London to Lagos.

For Forbes , Nubi shares some of her toughest challenges and fondest memories throughout the journey, all while highlighting some of her favorite destinations across West Africa.

What first inspired you to take this trip, and what did you have to do to prepare for it?

The inspiration was really for me to connect to places that I considered home. I was born in Lagos and grew up in London in the UK and I’ve always enjoyed exploring, I’ve been to over 80 countries. I really was trying to connect my two homes, London and Lagos. I found there wasn’t enough representation between the overlapped community of people that looked like me and their stories being shared.

I wanted to challenge myself to do something adventurous and show that the impossible can be done, to inspire the next adventurers and inspire some representation in the overland community.

How did people initially react when you told them that you were driving from London to Lagos?

My close family members were very familiar with me doing this kind of adventure. I had driven across Namibia, and also from London to Lake Como, so they weren’t surprised. But strangers were saying it was impossible, that I was crazy. They were mostly curious as to how I would actually do it, so documenting on social media was important to show the step-by-step of how to do it.

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What’s the biggest challenge that you faced during the trip?

Being a woman doing this solo, as this kind of exhibition usually has something behind it. Usually when people do this they’ll have a chef, a medic and a whole team behind them. I had to wear this cap the whole time and also be active on social media as well. It was definitely challenging navigating these numerous roads.

But the biggest, biggest challenge for me was being in an almost fatal accident. I had a collision with a truck that had no warning signal, the airbags came out and I thought I was going to be badly hurt. No one wants to have an accident, period, but talking about having an accident where you don’t speak the language and you’re far from home and medical facilities aren’t what you’re used to, it was definitely layered. Having to deal with doing this expedition that a lot of people were invested in and having to pull myself up from such a negative situation and turn it into something positive, I’d say that was a very big challenge.

The border issue was definitely a challenge, especially going more into West Africa. For example, in Liberia I had to sleep there for two days, I was just feeling like it was getting more and more difficult to travel through Africa. I was feeling frustration as someone that was born within the continent being able to fully travel in other places and not feeling much resistance, but coming back home and feeling such a big resistance, that was definitely a bitter pill to swallow. This has been pushing me and motivating me to look into policy change, especially with my new role as Ambassador of Tourism within Lagos State in Nigeria. How can we make our borders better? How can we make a smoother journey for people? How can we make tourism and trade easier between Pan-Africa, really?

What’s one of your most cherished moments that you look back on now after your trip?

The experience of leaving home and the excitement of putting something that I’ve wanted to do for so long. This took over a year of planning to bring it to life.

From driving through the Atlas Mountains to being in total awe of driving through the Sahara Desert to driving through Mauritania (a place that isn’t often explored) to trying Senegalese food and being obsessed with it to enjoying the beach in The Gambia. Back-to-back memories. And being welcomed back home, to have my homecoming received with such grace back in my home country.

Of all the countries that you visited across West Africa, which would you recommend visiting for someone that’s never been to that part of the world?

That’s hard! Of course I’m going to say Nigeria, I’m definitely biased to that. The next I would say is… Sierra Leone. There was just something special about that place. The food was amazing, the culture was amazing, the vibes of it. I spent most of my time in Freetown, it has a lot of similarities to Lagos. Sierra Leone is a place with a nice mix of all of West Africa.

As a Lagos Tourism Ambassador, what are some top activities that you recommend for first-time visitors to the city?

For first-time visitors, definitely experiencing the nightlife in Lagos. People come down in December just to really get into the parties, they’ll go until 5:00 AM. Lagos has a lot of hotspots in terms of where to go and what to do.

Another place I absolutely recommend is La Campagne . Lagos can be kind of hustle and bustle, so if you want to organize a nice weekend away, it’s still in Lagos but has a nice resort kind of vibe. If you want to see the city itself, you can go to Nike Art Gallery , the Danfo resto for cultural food. You can try agege bread with beans inside of it, there’s so much, the list just goes on.

Now that you’ve completed your journey, what’s the next road trip that you’d like to go on?

Lagos to South Africa, I would love to explore regions that I’ve never been to before. But something different, maybe the American Route 66. I would love something like that. But if I’m sticking to the continent, definitely Lagos to South Africa.

Lumi completed the journey in a Peugeot 107.

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