The best Grand Voyages for 2027 and 2028

Pacific paradise with Oceania

We have long rated Oceania for the value it offers, particularly on its longer sailings, and the itinerary planning across a global fleet gives you plenty to choose from. In September 2026, Oceania Riviera leaves Vancouver on a 58-night run that heads first up the Inside Passage to Alaska, calling at Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway, before turning west across the Pacific. From there it is a week in Hawaii, island hopping through French Polynesia, then Fiji and Vanuatu, the length of Australia's East Coast and Top End before a final Indonesian flourish through Komodo, Lombok and Bali. The entry-level staterooms and the top suites have already gone, but balcony and concierge veranda cabins are still there for anyone quick off the mark.

A Mediterranean celebration with Crystal Grace

Crystal Grace arrives in 2028 as the line's first new ship in twenty-five years, and she carries everything Crystal regulars love: the exceptional dining, the acres of space, including a full wraparound promenade and a crew that delivers the service and the entertainment the brand is known for. Add more al fresco dining, a pool deck that runs from day into evening and a wider choice of larger suites, and she will not stay quiet for long. Her inaugural Mediterranean season includes a 34-night Rome round-trip built from a run of shorter sailings, taking in Italy, the Greek Islands, the Adriatic, Spain and France without repeating a port. With a season of inaugural calls ahead, water salutes will become a familiar sight. And if those first sailings feel too soon to commit to, a second 34-night journey follows close behind.

Asia explored with Regent

Regent Seven Seas runs so many Grand Voyages that it has gathered them into a collection of its own. Each one adds a one-night pre-cruise hotel stay, door-to-door luggage service, a shipboard credit and unlimited laundry, dry cleaning and pressing, on top of an inclusive fare that already covers a choice of shore excursions in every single port. They range from around 101 nights centred on Northern Europe to sweeping global transits from Athens to Auckland, spread across 2026 to 2028. The one we would point you to first is the Grand Silk Seas Passage in November 2028, a 61-night sailing on Seven Seas Splendor that starts in Tokyo and works through Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines before finishing in Hong Kong, with a wealth of included shore excursions along the way.

Expedition adventure with Seabourn

Seabourn's calendar is full of longer expedition sailings on its two purpose-built ships, Seabourn Pursuit and Seabourn Venture. There are Pacific crossings to far-flung outposts and Arctic voyages through the fabled Northwest Passage, but the one that stops you in your tracks is Pole to Pole, a 94-day expedition on Seabourn Venture that runs between the Arctic and Antarctica, setting off in August 2027. It begins in Greenland and the Canadian high Arctic, drops south along the Atlantic to thaw out in the Caribbean, carries that warmth down the coast of Brazil, then turns wild again for the Falklands, South Georgia and, to finish, Antarctica. If the full run is more than you can spare, there is a shorter 82-day version that joins the voyage a little later.

South American circumnavigation with Silversea

Silversea has the largest fleet in luxury small-ship cruising, so it is no surprise that it offers a real choice of Grand Voyages. The standouts each sail on a ship that carries the line's Sea and Land Taste programme, known as S.A.L.T., which tells the story of a region through its food, on board and ashore. That suits the 60-night Grand Mediterranean from Lisbon on Silver Dawn from September 2027, and the 51-night Singapore to Tokyo run on Silver Muse in February 2028, but when it comes down to it, our pick is the Grand South America voyage on Silver Ray in January 2028. The equivalent journey in 2027 on sister ship Silver Nova has already sold out, and space on the 2028 sailing is starting to go too, for good reason. Across more than seventy nights, it takes in the Amazon up to Manaus, the colour of Brazil, the Chilean Fjords, a Panama Canal transit, time in the Caribbean and a good deal more, with Silver Ray's generous outdoor space, al fresco dining, choice of restaurants and lovely spa, making her a fine home for the journey.

Across the South Pacific with Windstar

Windstar works on a smaller scale again, with yachts carrying between 148 and 342 guests and a knack for the kind of small ports the big ships sail straight past. Its Star Collector voyages string several itineraries together into one long journey, and the Grand South Pacific Adventure is the pick of them. Leaving Singapore on 24 January 2028, the 312-guest Star Breeze spends 52 nights crossing to Papeete by way of 26 ports, with overnights in Bora Bora, Papeete, Fiji and Bali and more than one call at Moorea. The route reaches from Indonesia's Komodo and Bali through East Timor, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, then on to Fiji, Tonga and the Cook Islands before the lagoons and volcanic peaks of French Polynesia and the Marquesas. There is plenty of open ocean built in, including a three-night crossing of the Java Sea, which is part of the appeal on a journey of this length.

A Grand Voyage is a serious commitment of time and money, so the right fit is so important. If any of these have caught your eye, or you would like us to weigh up two or three against each other, that is exactly the kind of conversation we enjoy.