Nicko Cruises has unveiled a genuine epic for 2027-28: a 172-day world cruise aboard Vasco da Gama, crossing six continents and calling at 41 countries on a single voyage from Lisbon and back.
The ‘Big World Tour’ departs Lisbon on 4 November 2027 and returns on 24 April 2028 — very nearly six months at sea.
For those who can’t spare half a year, Nicko is also selling a 125-day ‘Small World Tour’ from Panama City to Lisbon, and any of the nine individual segments can be booked on their own or combined.
The route
From Lisbon, Vasco da Gama traces the Atlantic islands — the Azores, Canaries and Cape Verde — before crossing to Barbados and Martinique for a fortnight of Caribbean island-hopping.
From there the ship works through Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and Central America to a Panama Canal transit, then spends Christmas ashore in Costa Rica and Guatemala and sees in the New Year at Cabo San Lucas in Mexico.
The Pacific is the heart of the voyage: French Polynesia’s Marquesas, Moorea and Tahiti, then Bora Bora, the Cook Islands and a crossing of the International Date Line to Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu and New Caledonia before Sydney.
After Australia’s east coast and Indonesia come Singapore, the Maldives, the Seychelles and Zanzibar, then Madagascar, Mauritius and South Africa’s safari country, before the long haul up Africa’s Atlantic coast and a final call at Tenerife on the way home to Lisbon.
Who are Nicko Cruises?
Nicko is a German-market operator, better known in the UK for its river fleet, with Vasco da Gama as its ocean-going ship — a mid-size, traditionally styled vessel that carries a little over a thousand guests, a world away from the mega-ships.
This is the ship’s second consecutive world cruise, following a 2026-27 circumnavigation departing this November.
As a German line, on-board life and much of the guest mix will lean German-speaking, which is worth knowing before booking, though the itinerary itself needs no translation.
Why it matters for UK cruisers
Two things make this worth a UK reader’s attention. First, it starts and ends in Lisbon rather than a long-haul embarkation port — a short flight, and close to a genuinely low-carbon overland option for the determined.
Second, and more usefully, the segment structure turns an intimidating 172-day commitment into something approachable: you could join for the 20-day Australia leg, or the 24-day Indian Ocean stretch through the Maldives, Seychelles and Zanzibar, and treat it as a one-off long-haul cruise rather than a life event.
World cruises are the ultimate bucket-list trip, but bought by the slice they become a good deal more attainable.
Image: Nicko Cruises
