Recently, we profiled the world cruise of Seabourn Cruise Line. For the better part of four months with Seabourn, you could see the world for between $54,000 and $100,000 (and up). With Seabourn, you get what you pay for with the ultimate in luxury and personal attention.
However, if you don’t have that kind of coin, Princess Cruises offers a similar route as Seabourn at a much more attractive price. The Princess Cruises world cruise can be had for between $20,000 and $26,000.
The 108 day cruise tour of the world embarks from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on the Pacific Princess. After passing through the Panama Canal, the boat heads down the South American coast, visiting Equador, Peru, Chile and Easter Island before heading to the South Pacific. The run down the coast of South America is something you don’t get on the Seabourn world cruise.
After visiting Australia, New Zealand, Asia, India and the Middle East, the Princess world cruise enters the Mediterranean and finishes up in Venice, Italy. In all, the cruise visits six continents (all but Antarctica) with 40 destinations in 25 different countries.
About the Boat
The Pacific Princess is one of two ‘small ships’ in the Princess line. Pacific and Ocean are the only two in the fleet that are ‘Panamax’ sized. Panamax is a term for a ship that is able to pass through the entire Panama Canal. In order to do this, a ship must be no longer than 950 feet and no wider than 106 feet. The Pacific is just 592 feet long. The Panamax guidelines will change some time around 2014 when construction is completed on new and improved locks, capable of taking on larger ships.
The Pacific Princess has capacity for 680 guests. The ship is excellent for seeing the world from the privacy of your own state room. 92% of the ship’s staterooms are on the outside of the ship, while 70% of those have private balconies.
As mentioned, the Pacific is just shy of 600 feet in length with eleven decks. In comparison, the Royal Princess is the company’s newest boat that will begin service in June, 2013. The Royal has 19 decks and a capacity for 3,600 guest.
The Princess world cruise route for 2013 (click on image to enlarge):
