World cruises are hardly new, but it is exceptional for a voyage to call at every continent.
Travelers with ambitions to visit all seven continents will be able to do so all in a single cruise itinerary in early 2026.
Holland America Line is planning a 132-day cruise which will visit each of the seven continents. Slated to depart onboard MS Volendam, the itinerary includes 47 ports in 39 countries, running an impressive spread of longitude, from as far south as Antarctica, to as far north as Oslo, Norway.
World cruises are hardly new, but it is exceptional for a voyage to call at every continent.
The voyage is also planned to be a true circumnavigation of the globe. World cruises on many cruise lines have in recent years trended toward being globe-spanning, but not perfectly globe circling—rarely ending in the same port from which they started. The ship will circle the globe from East to West, departing from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on January 4, 2026.
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In order, passengers will experience North America, South America, Antarctica, Australia, Asia, Africa, and finally Europe, before returning to Fort Lauderdale.
The sailing is currently available for Future Cruise Requests, meaning prospective cruises can make deposits to get first dibs on booking the cruise once the itinerary is made available for sale. Volendam is a smaller ship in the Holland America fleet, with capacity for just over 1,400 passengers, so the space is expected to sell quickly once the voyage is open to sell.
The voyage will sail east from Fort Lauderdale, skirting the east coast of South America, before entering Antarctic waters for four days of scenic cruising (only smaller expedition ships can disembark passengers in Antarctica). After returning north via the Chilean fjords, calls are planned at Rapa Nui (Easter Island), and Tahiti before heading to Australia. Travelers will be able to take in the Great Barrier Reef before heading north to Singapore, the Maldives, and Egypt, before continuing through the Mediterranean to Northern Europe and back to Florida.
The ship will call overnight in nine ports: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Papeete, Tahiti; Sydney, Australia; Bali, Indonesia; Singapore; Malé, Maldives; Safaga (Luxor), and Alexandria (Cairo) Egypt; and Lisbon, Portugal.
Like most cruise lines operating world cruises, Holland America Line typically elevates onboard elements. There are plans to change menus daily, focusing on regional cuisine and local ingredients procured in each port. Local cultural performers will also board the ship at intervals to supplement the onboard entertainment programs.
Holland America Line is also offering a true circumnavigation World Cruise in 2025, but the 2026 voyage will be more comprehensive, spending significantly more time in South America and Northern Europe. Another 2025 World Cruise, also onboard Volendam, will also go as far south as Antarctica and as far north as Northern Norway, but will concentrate in Africa, the Americas, and Europe. However, it’s important to note that by the time of the 2026 Seven Continents cruise, Volendam will have previously sailed in Antarctic waters on the prior year’s World Cruise, limiting the possibility for operational disruptions.
On World Voyages, cruise lines often allow travelers interested in only portions of the itinerary to book them as segments, instead of booking the entire voyage. Whether that will be permitted on this voyage will be released along with the full itinerary once the voyage is open for sale.
Holland America Line operated its first Grand World Voyage in 1958, when the 24,294 ton Statendam departed on a 110-day voyage from Hoboken, New Jersey. MS Volendam is over twice as large as that ship, at just over 61,000 tons.