If you ask someone to visualise their dream holiday, their answer often is a round the world cruise – the ultimate holiday experience.

World cruises are voyages in the true meaning of the word – stylish adventures that span the globe punctuated by opportunities to experience some of the most exciting, stunning and exotic places on the globe.

Full circumnavigations of the globe on a round the world cruise are often 100 days or more in length, and offer a wider range of fascinating and exciting shore excursions.

Visits to cities such as Sydney, Hong Kong and Singapore can now be interspersed with new, more unusual, ports of call such as the Halong Bay, a UNESCO world heritage site in north-eastern Vietnam, to meet the needs of more intrepid and adventurous passengers on round the world cruises.

If three months at sea seems too long a period of time when you cruise the world, many cruise companies offering world cruises parcel up individual sections of the voyage – ranging from 15 to 45 nights – which are often available at special rates for travellers wishing to explore only a specific part of the world.

And these segments of round world cruises can be enhanced with pre- or post-cruise stays in cities such as Auckland, Brisbane, Cape Town, Dubai, Fremantle, Hong Kong, Mumbai, San Francisco, Singapore and Sydney.

Many different cruise lines offer world cruises which generally visit similar cruise destinations. Typical destinations found on a world cruise itinerary are the major cities on both the eastern and western US seaboards, coastal cities of northern Europe and the Mediterranean, Egypt, India, Far East and the islands of Australasia.

And as well, on a world cruise, passengers can also explore the paradise islands of the Caribbean, the wilderness of Alaska, take in the history and culture of Europe's great cities, the excitement and dynamism of Hong Kong, the jungles of South America, the mystery of the Far East.