Royal Caribbean International is offering a cruise that may not be out of this world, but it is certainly round this world.

The Royal Caribbean Group brand has begun taking reservations for an Ultimate World Cruise that plans to cover all seven continents in 274 days aboard the 2,490-berth Serenade of the Seas (built 2002).

This will not be the first time that Royal Caribbean or other cruise providers have held global trips, but it will certainly be the longest ever by far.

Round-the-world cruises to date have been up to four months, excluding ships such as The World that continuously circumnavigate the globe.

Royal Caribbean, which did not immediately return calls, did not say whether it had other global cruises of this length in the works.

Fares for the full world cruise will start at $60,999 per person, plus taxes and fees, USA Today reported.

The nine-month itinerary is set to depart from Miami on 10 December for an initial three-month voyage that will sail the Caribbean islands before heading south and around Cape Horn and up the coast of Chile on its way to Los Angeles, California.

On 11 February, the cruise will set a course for the Hawaiian islands on its way to New Zealand and Australia before reaching Tokyo, Japan on 9 May.

From there, the Serenade will spend two months taking passengers through the Middle East and into the Mediterranean Sea to visit destinations such as Croatia and the French Riviera.

The voyage will then enter a fourth and final phase that will drop anchor in places such as Barcelona, Morocco, St Petersburg and the fjords in Norway before visiting Greenland and then New York on its way back to Miami by 10 September.

“This is the world cruise of world cruises,” Royal Caribbean International chief executive Michael Bayley said in a statement.

“Now more than ever, people have resolved to travel the world and make up for lost time. To travellers asking themselves where they should go next, we say everywhere.”

Passengers may choose which voyages they wish to go on or take the entire trip, which will visit 150 destinations when all is said and done.