When Holland America announced the other day its 2011 and early 2012 “Grand Voyages”, the first question that popped into our minds — given that like most North Americans we do have a travel budget so we’re always shopping for bargains — was this:
“How do you know if one of these exotic, expensive, multi-month cruises is a good deal?”
So we did a little research on “world” cruises. Unless we’ve missed someone, there are five other cruise lines that offer something that could be described as a universal cruise, while not necessarily a trip around the world.
The other five are Cunard, P&O, Princess, Regent and Seabourn. To qualify, a cruise line had to offer itineraries of 100 days or more.
While all offer different ports, countries, experiences, dining options, shore excursions, etc., we made it just a dollars-and-cents issue. How much to get on the ship?
At times it felt a bit like comparing rowboats and aircraft carriers, and perhaps at times we did. However, everybody who’s been on one knows that cruise ships are rarely, if ever, bad, so there’s a certain comfort with the level of quality. Given that, here were the top five “world cruises” based on per-night, per-person costs:
1. P&O Oriana (above), January 2012, 97 days, $122
2. P&O Aurora, January 2012, 98 days, $124
3. P&O Arcadia, January 2012, 109 days, $128
(Are you seeing a trend here?)
4. Holland America Amsterdam, January 2011, 110 days, $162
5. Holland America Amsterdam (below), January 2012, 112 days, $178
Obviously, we’re also talking about ships of different sizes, and some people prefer the bigger Amsterdam to the P&O cruise ships, or vice-versa.
Cunard’s best performer is the Queen Mary 2, at $195 a night for a January 2012 cruise that lasts 108 days. Princess’s Pacific is just over $200 for 2011 and 2012 cruises of 107 days. Regent’s top performer is a 145-day Voyager cruise that includes air and a bunch of extras. Luxury, small-ship brands Seabourn and Crystal are both well over $400 a night for world cruises.
You think there’s no market for this type of cruising? For the P&O cruise that leaves Southampton next month, there’s not a stateroom available on the Oriana.