Are world cruises set to follow the Dodo?

So, the famous children’s story goes that Phileas Fog travelled around the world in 80 days visiting many different countries along the way, today Princess Cruises have announced the longest world cruise voyage for 2018 of any cruise line, with a voyage lasting 106 days.

World cruises have long been an aspirational voyage for many a person, and are often still seen as one of the last remaining features of the glory days of cruises from a by gone era.  Many a time I speak with a client who talks to me about one day they would love to complete a world cruise voyage, attracted by the glamour and prestigious status that comes with this.  Who would love to, given the opportunity, sail the circumference of the globe in on a luxury cruise liner?

But my question is, in the modern day, is there still a place for a world cruise, or could we start to see this form of cruising disappear.  In the today’s world, as much as we would like to, there are increasingly fewer people who can and want to take 100 plus days out of their lives to travel the globe.  P&O and Cunard who are two of the most famous cruise liners to offer world cruises have recently been seen to change their tactics when it comes to their journeys.

Not so many years ago, you would have 3 plus ships from each line, each completing a 100 plus night voyage, each slightly different from the next sailing in different directions.  In the last couple of years we have seen the number of full world voyages slowly decrease, and there has been the rise of the 50-60 voyages around South America and the Caribbean, which have been hugely successful.  In my job, I have seen the number of people who ask for the full world voyage slowly decrease over the years, with the rise of more people interested in doing the sectors on offer.  Whether this is due to time or cost or other reasons I cannot say.  But this trend can clearly be seen here at cruise.co.uk with the success out Tailor Made itinerary’s and Bucket List cruises where many of these are based around the world cruise sectors.

In addition to this we have also seen these two cruise lines launch their world cruises earlier than ever this year, with the traditional launch being in September, with a shock move to March for their 2018 itineraries.  This could be said to be a move that would be to give them more time to sell these cruises as they find less people taking the full voyage which is their main source of revenue for the cruise.

With this trend, could we see other cruise lines start to offer more cruises around 50 nights and move away from the full world voyages?  Although Princess have been offering world cruises for 10 years now, could it be a risk offering one so long, or could this work to their advantage?  Only time will tell.

What are your thoughts on the future of world voyages?  Let me know below!