A passenger on Royal Caribbean’s 9-month ultimate cruise said she prepared by first taking a ’test cruise’ in the same room

• Angie Linderman is on Royal Caribbean's nine-month Ultimate World Cruise on Serenade of the Seas.
• Prior to booking, Linderman said she had never been on a cruise.
• To prepare, she booked a practice cruise and stayed in the exact same room she's living in now.

Familiarity set in when Angie Linderman stepped inside her cabin on Royal Caribbeans's Serenade of the Seas Ultimate World Cruise, a nine-month sailing to 65 countries.

The tan carpet with blue swirls was instantly recognizable under her feet, and the mattress and linens felt just as soft as she remembered.

The room was familiar because a little over a month earlier, Linderman, who is recording her adventure on her TikTok account @angielinderman, slept in the exact same stateroom on another cruise to prepare for the journey.

Linderman was inspired by her brother's family to book the nine-month cruise

The idea to board a nine-month cruise came about in the summer of 2022. Linderman's sister-in-law heard about the journey and pitched it to the family.

While Linderman's sister-in-law, brother, and their children weighed the pros and cons of going, Linderman was also intrigued, even though she had never vacationed on a cruise before, she told Business Insider.

"I want to go. This sounds amazing,'" Linderman, 38, recalls saying.

The idea for a nine-month cruise started as a lofty dream that Linderman and her brother's family joked about that summer.

But by the end of August, the idea became reality, she told BI. Linderman booked a solo room on the ship and her brother's family reserved a cabin, too.

Linderman said the cruise, which starts at $60,000, was possible after receiving money from her parent's life insurance plans. In the span of eight years, both of Linderman's parents passed away from cancer.

The trip was not only financially possible because of her parents, but their passing served as her reminder that "retirement is not guaranteed to any of us," Linderman said.

After booking her spot on the Ultimate World Cruise, she said she found a friend to house-sit for her in Portland, Oregon, while she is away. And with a contracted, remote job, she was able to reduce her hours to 10 a week while sailing.

To prepare for the world cruise, Linderman took a 'test cruise' on the same ship

As December 10 — the start of the world cruise approached — Linderman said she started preparing.

Unlike many of the other passengers onboard the world cruise, Linderman had zero experience on massive, vacation ships. She had, however, spent two years volunteering in West Africa with Mercy Ships, a nonprofit that operates floating hospitals.

There, she said she lived with a small group for 10-month stretches, ate at the same dining hall every night, and lived in a small space.

To prepare for this wholly different experience, she realized she wanted to do one key thing: take a vacation cruise.

Linderman told BI she planned what she called her "test cruise." Her travel agent booked her on a sailing in October on the Serenade of the Seas. Not only was it the same ship, but she was also able to choose to stay in the same exact room she had reserved for the Ultimate World Cruise.

Her first cruise was much shorter, sailing in and out of Boston to Saint John, Canada, and Portland, Maine.

The initial cruise gave her a visual of what nine months onboard could look like. She found places on the ship she loved, developed a better understanding of her room, and learned the ins and outs of vacationing on a ship, she said.

Linderman remembers thinking after the cruise, "OK, I can do this."

Staying in the same room allowed Linderman to plan how she wanted to design and organize the space for the Ultimate Cruise

For the nine-month cruise, each passenger was allowed to bring six bags onboard.

Linderman said her test cruise allowed her to visualize how she would store everything from toiletries to clothes for the next nine months. During that first sailing, she packed a tape measure, which she said she used to plan out storage for her closet, the bathroom, and the bedroom area.

"It made packing easier since I then knew what I needed and how I could make it all fit," she said. "I would look at a space and measure it, then get on Amazon to find a solution that would work."

The test cruise also helped Linderman realize she wanted elements to make her cabin homey. For example, she said she packed a throw blanket and twinkle lights, as well as a small fan near her bed to create airflow.

Linderman said she's not sure she would've packed some of these items if she hadn't done the test cruise.

When the nine-month cruise finally started, Linderman got to her room where she had five large suitcases, a carry-on bag, a backpack, and a weekender bag waiting to be unpacked.

When she started to put the items away, she said she recalled thinking, "OK, how do I win this game of Tetris."

Thankfully, she said the practice cruise left her prepared with a mental map of how she wanted to organize the space.

Looking back, Linderman said it was really this first cruise that set her up for success.

"I couldn't imagine having not done it," she said.