Itinerary Change #16: No Myanmar

It’s finally official. We won’t be going to Myanmar! Luckily, we did stop there for three days in 2017, so we’ve seen the highlights in and around Yangon and Bago.

It was mid-morning when I heard the P/A chime. I didn’t think anything of it, however, as CD Ray usually has a morning announcement to review the daily program.

Seconds later, I caught the tail end of a sentence that included the words “Myanmar” and “canceled.” I rushed in from the veranda to get the details of a cancelation that came as no surprise. We’ve been expecting this since there is a level 4 travel advisory against the country. The question was what would we be doing instead. It wasn’t just three days in Myanmar that were at issue. There were the three sea days to get there that needed to be worked out as well.

Ray gave us a quick synopsis of the changes, which included switching some sea days around and adding ports of call in Port Blair, on India’s South Andaman Island; Sabang, Indonesia; Langkawi, Malaysia; and an extra day in Phuket, Thailand with an overnight stay. Three new-to-us ports; one repeat port. Kudos to Oceania for pulling together an itinerary that did not simply increase the number of days we have at sea on the upcoming segment.

Now, to come up with plans for these new ports. The good news is that I was so sure Myanmar would be a no-go that I did not plan anything there. At least I have no plans to cancel with this go around of itinerary changes.Read more