What if every other day was 25 hours long? What if you could make an entire day vanish–or jump from one year to the next and back again?
And what if you could fly home from halfway around the world and arrive before you left?
Illogical you say? Well think again, because I’ve just come back from a reality-bending cruise that let me do all these things in luxurious style. It was part of a unique repositioning cruise on Seabourn Encore from Panama to Japan. Crossing more than 6,000 nautical miles of the Pacific Ocean with only a brief stop halfway across in Hawaii, the cruise featured two entire weeks of sea days.
And it became an enchanted experience, where the laws of time and place seemed no longer to apply.
The voyage was an experiment in what is likely to become a trend—sailing west to reach the Orient. Cruise ships that in the past repositioned from the Mediterranean to Asia via the Suez Canal and the Middle East are shifting routes to avoid uncertainty. For most, that’s meant going a long circuit around Africa.
But Seabourn Cruise Line took a different approach. The full route of Seabourn Encore’s epic voyage began in Lisbon and crossed the Atlantic to Miami. Then she sailed the Caribbean to Panama, where we joined the party. From there, it was a full month of cruising, with only stops in Costa Rica and the Mexican Riviera before sailing across the Pacific to reach Japan. Clearly, the 600 guests were aboard for the unique experience rather than setting speed records.
Spending those bonus hours
A phenomenal perk of sailing west through time zones was that we gained an hour on the clock almost every second day. Suffice it to say, I wasn’t complaining about being able to regularly sleep in an extra hour.
And with no ports to explore, the days were rejuvenating. Seabourn curates days with a philosophy in mind: unhurried mornings, lingering meals, and golden afternoons that invite you to be yourself. These processions of sea days are designed to teach you to slow down, savor more, and be present. But you can be as active as you’d like.
It made for more options and plenty of excuses for fun. Such as: it’s 4 in the afternoon, but yesterday it would have been 5. We’ve gained a happy hour by resetting the clocks, so why not pop that bottle of Champagne the room attendant left in in the fridge?
It’s a unique treat to do a toast on the balcony knowing your’re days from land in all directions, enjoying the incredibly deep blue waters and shimmering sunsets in the middle of the Pacific.
One leg of this voyage had us sailing nine straight days at sea from Hawaii to Tokyo. We could have shaved some time and distance off the trip by going north on the more polar route used by cargo ships, but staying south made the trip a lot more comfortable, Captain Andrew Pedder explained. This was January and the polar route would have made it chilly to be on deck and increased the risk of hitting rough seas.
In fact. by staying in the tropical latitudes we were treated to pleasantly warm and sunny days. I managed to get out on deck and catch some rays on all but the two final days when we were nearing Tokyo.
I’ve seen enough Japanese prints of huge waves engulfing shorelines that I had expected sailing through a sea of choppy whitecaps. But on most days, the fearsome Pacific was as calm as a swimming pool.
Even on the couple of days we were advised to brace for a blow, whatever swells the ship encountered were nicely tamed by the Encore’s stabilizers. Any showers we encountered were brief and when the clouds parted we were treated to double rainbows that seemed to encircle the ship in a heavenly light show.
And why did Tuesday disappear?
The International Date Line is a head-scratching phenomenon. It’s a line of longtitude that’s 180 degrees from the prime meridian of zero degrees that was established in Greenwich, England. Crossing to the west across the line is like going through a wormhole in space: It’s technically 24 hours later on the other side.
No, it isn’t a dramatic stripe in the sea and there’s no thump when you cross it. While it’s really an accounting trick; the seam in a globe divided into 24 time zones, something magical seems to happen anyway. Guests celebrating birthdays on the missing day had un-birthday parties instead. In fact, if we had been here on New Year’s Eve we could have zig zagged from Dec. 31 to Jan. 2 the next year.
Mind bending? Yes, but it isn’t as though suddenly 24 hours disappeared forever. We’ll get to gain that missing time back later, when we fly home and leave Tokyo at 5 pm only to arrive in Toronto at 4 pm the same day.
Meanwhile, there are many more fun days ahead on this voyage to enjoy the ship and its gourmet dining. And that’s food for another tale, coming soon.
Seabourn Encore remains in the Pacific in 2026 and 2027, offering Asia cruises in the fall and winter seasons and Alaska itineraries from Vancouver to Juneau in the spring and summer. Her repositioning cruises between Japan and Alaska in April and September cross the International Date Line .
Story by Wallace Immen, The Cruisington Times
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