Around the World in Mighty Ways

There’s a classic joke about the woman who goes into her travel agent’s office and says, “Last year I went around the world, so this year I want to go somewhere different.”

But this winter Cunard’s Royal Viking Sun holds 130 passengers who are spending more than 100 days cruising around the world, and most of them have done it several times before.

The social life aboard the ship is much more important than the ports of call to most world cruise passengers.

“Oh yes, the regulars are back,” says manager Gerard Eltzner of Cunard. Eltzner and his staff are responsible for organizing the countless private cocktail parties “the regulars” host for each other throughout the sailing. The ship provides engraved invitations, the place for the party, canapes and cocktails. The party hosts pay only for the drinks consumed, and for any special-order tidbits.

The hotel staff remembers from year to year who prefers which cabin and which dining table. “You cannot just move the staff around because the people are accustomed to their regular cabin and dining room stewards,” Eltzner says.

So are the world cruise passengers more demanding than most?

“Just the opposite,” says Capt. Tore Lura. He says a world cruise is “a lot more relaxed” than shorter sailings. “We know from year to year what they want and how they want it. They are in many ways like a big family, and most of them do only the world cruise each year,” Lura says. “They always say they want new ports, but when it comes down to it, they want to go to the places they like best.”

Cruise director Bob Haines has been planning the around-the-world-cruise entertainment and lectures since last summer, and says the headliners include comedian Bill Cosby and Broadway stars Tommy Tune and Hal Linden.

In the 1970s, when Haines worked aboard the QE2, “It was not unusual to have 900 passengers signed up for the full world cruise. In those days, they didn’t sell segments of the voyage like they do today.”

Aboard the first leg of the world cruise, which left San Francisco on Jan. 6, 314 of the 444 passengers are segment passengers like us and will disembark variously in Suva, Fiji; Sydney; Hong Kong or Haifa, Israel, where others will embark for later segments. Only 208 are from the United States, with many passengers from Britain and other European countries.

Cunard’s QE2 also offers an annual world cruise, as do Crystal Cruises’ Crystal Symphony, Holland America Line’s new Rotterdam VI, P&O;’s Oriana and Arcadia, Princess’ Island Princess (in the fall of 1998) and Saga International Holidays’ Saga Rose.

Besides these upscale offerings, the new World Cruise Co., created by the founders of Canada-based Marine Expeditions, recently announced two moderately priced world cruises for 1999, starting at less than $100 a day per person, double occupancy, aboard a pair of vintage Greek-owned vessels, the Ocean Majesty and the Aegean I.

For free color brochures about world cruises, contact a travel agent or call Cunard at (800) 5-CUNARD; Crystal at (800) 446-6620; Holland America at (800) 426-0327; P&O; and Princess Cruises at (800) PRINCESS; Saga Holidays at (800) 952-9590; and World Cruise Co. at (800) 263-9147