Itinerary Change #4

First off, kudos to Oceania for announcing the itinerary change early … especially since this one is a biggie that impacts two segments of RTW2023 — Southeast Asia Array (Singapore to Hong Kong) and Spiritual Shrines (Hong Kong to Tokyo).

Mui and I've been anticipating for a while now that China would be a no-go. The question was ... when would Oceania advise us of the changes the itinerary would have to undergo due to the removal of those ports. That question was answered today.

Some of the changes are brand-new additions … others are a shuffling of the order of existing ports. The only ports removed are the ones in China. The debark/embark port for the segments mentioned above has changed due to the removal of Hong Kong. But that does not impact those of us booked on the world cruise.

We are quite OK with the new itinerary. Luckily, except for an odd port here and there, I haven’t gotten much past Namibia in my excursion planning. In fact, the only port for which I need to make new arrangements is Bangkok ... just a date change that I am sure the operator will accommodate.

Rather than write it all out in longhand, here are a couple of maps showing the changes. A picture is, after all, worth a thousand words. I'm giving you two 😉

By the way. This change comes with a $300 shipboard credit. Not a big amount. I am sure there will be many who think it insufficient. I prefer to look at it as a massage or shore excursion that we do not have to pay for out-of-pocket.Read more