Holland America goes massive with its newest around-the-world cruise.
The Seattle-based line on Monday revealed plans for a globe-circling voyage in 2026 lasting 132 days — as many as 19 days longer than different around-the-world sailings it is supplied lately.
Kicking off in Fort Lauderdale Jan. 4, 2026, the Grand World Voyage, as the road is asking it, will embrace visits to all seven continents — a relative rarity for world cruises. It will additionally embrace in depth time in South America and Northern Europe — which is hard to drag off logistically on an around-the-world cruise.
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“This one is formidable within the sense that we’re actually stretching that line … all the way in which down the east coast of South America to Antarctica and offering that have after which working our approach form of diagonally again as much as the Mediterranean and Northern Europe,” Paul Grigsby, Holland America vp for deployment and itinerary planning, instructed TPG in an unique interview upfront of the announcement.
Grigsby famous that an around-the-world cruise the road supplied in 2019 included stops in Northern Europe however not an intensive exploration of South America. To get each areas into the 2026 itinerary, Grigsby’s workforce needed to make the crusing significantly longer than the 2019 crusing. The 2019 crusing was simply 113 days in size.
“I believe we’re extra snug now with longer cruises,” Grigsby famous.
Within the final couple of years, Holland America has been doubling down on longer sailings, one thing for which the road has lengthy been recognized. Increasing longer sailings has included a brand new collection of so-called Legendary Voyages that concentrate on a single area and vary from 25 to 59 nights in size.
The newly introduced world cruise will characteristic stops in 47 ports in 39 nations in all — a hefty quantity for a world cruise supplied by any line.
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World wide from Fort Lauderdale
As is commonly the case with Holland America’s around-the-world cruises, the just-announced 2026 crusing will probably be on the road’s 1,432-passenger Volendam, one of many smallest Holland America vessels.
After beginning in Fort Lauderdale, Volendam will first head southward to Barbados within the Caribbean earlier than working its approach down the east coast of South America towards Antarctica. Stops in South America will embrace Satan’s Island in French Guiana; Belem, Recife and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil; Punta del Este and Montevideo in Uruguay; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and the Falkland Islands.
From the Falklands, Volendam will proceed southward to Antarctica for a multiday go to earlier than cruising alongside the coast of Chile and into the Chilean fjords. It will then cross the Pacific to French Polynesia, New Zealand and Australia on a course that may take it previous the hardly ever visited locations of Easter Island and Pitcairn Island.
Easter Island and the islands of French Polynesia have ranked excessive in surveys from Grigsby’s itinerary planning workforce that requested previous passengers the place they need to go, in response to Grigsby.
Particularly, Easter Island is a “bucket record vacation spot” for a lot of Holland America regulars, and the South Pacific is “one of many top-rated areas,” he stated.
Australia is also fashionable with Holland America passengers, which prompted Grigsby’s workforce to work in stops within the Australian ports of Sydney, Townsville, Cairns and Darwin. Each the Townsville and Cairns stops enable for excursions to Australia’s Nice Barrier Reef.
“I do not suppose I’d ever not have Australia and New Zealand in a world cruise,” Grigsby stated. “It at all times charges excessive amongst our visitors.”
From Australia, Volendam will head to Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Sri Lanka and the Maldives earlier than rapidly transiting by means of the Purple Sea and the Suez Canal to Europe.
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In distinction to many world cruises of the previous, stops within the Center East have been largely left off the schedule, except for calls in Safaga and Alexandria in Egypt to permit for visits to the traditional Egyptian websites of Luxor alongside the Nile and the Nice Pyramids close to Cairo. That is partially due to waning curiosity within the area amongst world vacationers as a result of current outbreak of warfare in Gaza and assaults on transport within the Purple Sea.
“I do not suppose you would be shocked to know that the realm round Dubai (within the Persian Gulf) and Oman is of much less curiosity to our visitors than it has been up to now,” Grigsby famous. “That is why you discover a pretty speedy transit by means of the Purple Sea and Suez Canal.”
As soon as in Europe, Volendam will cease in a variety of locations, together with the Mediterranean ports of Piraeus, Greece (the port for Athens); Civitavecchia (the port for Rome) and Naples in Italy; and Alicante, Spain.
Extra northerly ports will embrace Oslo, Norway and Copenhagen, Denmark.
Among the many extra uncommon stops in Europe will probably be Bordeaux, France, which is on the Garonne River in southwestern France. It is a port that’s solely accessible to smaller cruise vessels reminiscent of Volendam.
The voyage will go to 39 nations in all, with stops at 47 ports.
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9 of the calls will probably be in a single day, permitting for extra in-depth touring. These in a single day calls embrace stops in Rio de Janeiro, Sydney, Safaga, Alexandria and Lisbon.
The longer stays are in locations the place Holland America’s previous passengers have stated they wished longer stays, Grigsby stated, citing knowledge from an intensive survey of greater than 30,000 previous passengers.
Early reserving bonus
Fares for the newly introduced Grand World Voyage will not be introduced till Might, when the crusing goes on sale to most people. However Holland America on Monday stated it could provide an early reserving bonus of as much as $2,000 per individual in onboard credit score and a free Wi-Fi Surf bundle to those that guide the crusing early. The corporate did not specify a deadline for getting the bonus.
As well as, passengers who pay for the crusing in full will get a 3% low cost on their fares.
Further perks for passengers who guide early will embrace a $500 per individual air credit score when reserving air by means of Holland America’s Flight Ease program and complimentary round-trip airport transfers to and from the Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood Worldwide Airport (FLL).
Passengers additionally will get complimentary baggage supply service to and from the Fort Lauderdale airport, pay as you go gratuities (referred to as “crew appreciation” charges at Holland America) and included laundry and dry cleansing service when reserving sure cabin classes.
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