High SEAS

How seductive is a cruise on an ultraluxury ship (yes, that's a category) like the new Regent Seven Seas Grandeur? So much so that a 132-day sailing sold out in three hours. It was time to investigate.

- KLARA GLOWCZEWSKA

The attraction of cruising for me has long been the way a ship can take you multiple places without the need to repeatedly pack and unpack—the joy, in effect, of luggageless travel. So I was skeptical when I boarded the Seven Seas Grandeur in Miami last January. This sailing, on Regent Seven Seas’ sixth (and newest) vessel, wouldn’t be taking me anywhere at all. It was a showcase cruise—in this case, a twoday, two-night jaunt from the port of Miami out to sea and back again. Onboard were mostly travel pros, there to assess the experience before recommending it to their clients. I was on a mission of my own: With no terra firma experiences to consider—guides, itineraries, activities—I would zero in on the hothouse onboard world of an “ultraluxury” ship (as the current lingo has it), everything that might help me make sense of an intriguing rumor I’d heard: that some Regent passengers find the onboard pleasures so compelling, they don’t bother disembarking at ports of call at all.