Every January, while much of the Northern Hemisphere settles in for winter, a Holland America Line ship slips out of Fort Lauderdale and doesn't turn back toward home for four months. The Grand World Voyage is one of the industry's most established full circumnavigations — not the newest or the flashiest entry in the world cruise market, but one of the most consistently run, built around a formula the line has refined over decades of "grand voyage" sailings.

For 2027, Holland America is once again running two Grand Voyages in tandem, and together they show just how differently a "world cruise" can be built depending on how far you want to go.

Holland America's world cruise tradition isn't a recent marketing invention. The line has offered an annual world cruise for generations, and even a global pause was notable news in the industry: when Holland America's first Grand World Voyage since 2020 wrapped up, it was reported as a 128-day, 57-port, 34,651-nautical-mile achievement — a sign of how significant a pandemic-era interruption to the program actually was. Since then, the Grand World Voyage has been back on the calendar every January, and 2027 marks the continuation of that annual rhythm.

The flagship of the 2027 season is the ms Volendam, departing Fort Lauderdale on January 5, 2027, on a 129-day, full Grand World Voyage. It's a genuine circumnavigation: 53 ports across 28 countries and six continents, including seven overnight port calls — Copenhagen, Bordeaux, Cape Town, Bali, Sydney, Papeete and Callao — plus access to 81 UNESCO World Heritage sites along the way. Nineteen of the ports on the itinerary are exclusive to Holland America's Grand Voyages, including calls at Georgetown on Ascension Island and Jamestown on St. Helena — two of the most remote, hard-to-reach ports in mainstream cruising.

Sailing alongside it is the ms Zaandam, departing Fort Lauderdale on January 3, 2027, on the shorter but no less ambitious 70-day Grand South America & Antarctica Voyage. It calls at 31 ports in 13 countries across two continents, headlined by a four-day Antarctic Experience of fjord and glacier scenic cruising, plus a stop at the remote Robinson Crusoe Island off the coast of Chile.

This two-ship structure — one full circumnavigation, one shorter regional "grand voyage" — has become a signature of how Holland America runs the program, giving travelers who can't commit to 129 days a way into the same style of trip on a shorter timeline.

Holland America leans into culinary and cultural programming across the Grand Voyages, pairing the ships with celebrity Culinary Ambassadors such as Chef Masaharu Morimoto, Chef Ethan Stowell and Steve Schwartz on past sailings, alongside a run of themed evenings — Gatsby Night, a Masquerade Ball, a Casino Royale party — spaced throughout the voyage to break up the months at sea. On the current-generation sailings, the two ships have even crossed paths mid-voyage: the 2026 Grand World Voyage and Grand Australia & New Zealand Voyage met in Sydney for a joint chocolatier event, a reminder that despite each ship sailing its own route, Holland America treats the Grand Voyages as one connected annual program.

Early-booking incentives currently available for the 2027 Grand Voyages include up to $2,000 in onboard credit per guest, a 3% discount for paying in full, a complimentary Wi-Fi Surf package, a $500 air credit per person through Flight Ease bookings, and complimentary roundtrip airport transfers. As with any world cruise, cabin categories — especially verandas and suites — tend to book out well ahead of departure, so travelers eyeing January 2027 should expect availability to tighten as the season approaches.

Whether it's the full 129-day circumnavigation aboard Volendam or the 70-day Antarctica-focused voyage aboard Zaandam, Holland America's Grand Voyages remain one of the clearest examples of how a legacy cruise line builds a world cruise program around repeatable structure rather than reinvention every year.

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