I completely agree, and I can't even imagine the game with portals anymore. I have a very mature starting world that has portals scattered all over it, but every time I do anything in it I almost immediately get bored.

There's very little challenge if you can drop a portal anywhere you go and hop home at any sign of danger. You barely have to think about your inventory, since your chest room is 30 seconds away. You never have to think about where you're going to pass the night. You never have to worry about your weapons breaking due to overuse and having to defend yourself with your bronze axe or a stone axe as happened to me during a particularly challenging time.

If you really don't like sailing, it's probably not for you, but it completely changes the nature of the game, in a good way IMO.