Why Take a World Voyage?

People have been going on ships for thousands of years because it was usually the fastest and easiest way to get from one place to another.  The idea of cruising for enjoyment is a relatively new concept (only about 150 years old).  A number of the ocean liners would take cruises to interesting ports during the off season (for example, when you wouldn't want to cross the North Atlantic due to weather - think pesky icebergs!).  These vacation cruises proved to be popular with the well-to-do.

In 1922 American Express chartered Cunard's brand new RMS Laconia (her predecessor was a U-boat casualty in WWI) to embark on a complete circumnavigation of the earth.  This voyage would visit 22 ports over the course of 130 days.  Laconia sailed from New York City on November 21, 1922 and returned on March 30, 1923 - completing the first continuous circumnavigation by a passenger ship.  This cruise was very popular and a world voyage (expanded to six months) became common until the Depression and then WWII.
Prosperity during the 50s and 60s saw people returning to cruising and World Voyages were sailing again.

When I started telling my friends I was going to sail around the world when I retired, I got mixed reactions.  Some people thought I was crazy, others looked like, "That will never happen".  A lot of people said they would love to do that but would never have the time, the money, etc. to actually do it.  At first, I was thinking about finding someone to travel with me, but the more planning i did, the more excited I got about going on my own.

I recently found this article that you might find interesting about the top ten reasons to go on a world cruise.

Smooth sailing until next time!