This Is The First Cruise To Visit All 7 Continents & It Comes With SO Many Plush Perks

One of my life's goals was to circumvent the globe à la Phileas Fogg in Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days. Tragically, finances and a crippling fear of repetitive time change has kept me grounded, but thanks to this luxury cruise line's new world cruise to all seven continents, folks gripped with wanderlust have the opportunity to live out Fogg's experience and indulge nightly at an all-you-can-eat buffet. Truly, there is no better life than this, particularly thanks to the bread station.

According to a press release, starting in January 2020, luxury line Silversea plans to offer a 140-day trip on their Silver Whisper ship, making stops literally all over the world. The 382-passenger ship plans to depart from Fort Lauderdale (North America), then head down to the Caribbean, then hit up Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina (South America) prior to making its way to Antarctica.

After visiting the penguins, the Silver Whisper will inch up the coast of Chile, then hit up the continent of Oceania: Easter Island, French Polynesia, Tonga (home to the one-and-only Pita Taufatofua), Fiji, Vanuatu, and Australia. Once the Pacific is conquered, the ship will head for Asia, making stops in Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand, then Sri Lanka, India, Oman, and Jordan. There's one stop in Africa (Egypt), then a trip through the Suez Canal and onto Europe. Ports in the Mediterranean include Italy, Spain, and Portugal, whereupon the ship will make its way to North Europe, with stops in the United Kingdom and Norway. The trip concludes in May, in Amsterdam.

For anyone whose long dreamed of seeing the world, this trip is basically heaven — though heaven, naturally, comes at a hefty price. Fares start at $62,000 per person, and I can only imagine that price climbs considerably if you want a larger suite (a perusal of Silversea's website suggests all the rooms onboard the Silver Whisper have a window, so at least there's that). You're also looking at spending four months at sea, which certainly has its potential disadvantages (seasickness, norovirus, everything that happened in the cinematic masterpiece Titanic 2), though if you're going to live out a third of a year on a ship, the Silver Whisper looks like the one you want to do it on. Silversea says the ship boasts "the amenities of a grand resort," and indeed, there's a lot to love here. Each suite comes with butler service, for one thing; there's also a wellness spa, a multi-tiered show lounge, boutiques, several bars and restaurants, a jogging track, a fitness center, and a library. According to the Silver Whisper's current world trip, which leaves from San Francisco, circles the coasts of Africa but excludes South America and Antarctica, the ship offers a slew of excursions at each stop, with private drivers and bigger tours available.

This kind of deal makes me want to start playing the lottery — there's nothing more exciting to me than the idea of traveling around the world, but my bank account isn't super psyched about the idea. Then again, there are more affordable world trips out there. Star Alliance offers a round-the-world ticket that'll take you to 191 countries via various member airlines, and though it's not a cheap trip, naturally, if you plan it well you can find economy flights and legs that won't come close to the luxury Silversea ticket cost. Plus, when you're on a cruise, you're at the behest of the ship's itinerary, while a round-the-world flight deal lets you map out the trip you want to take on your own.

Or, pull a Phineas Fogg, hop on some ships (though I guess in the 21st century, you can just fly) and a bunch of trains, and see where the wind takes you.