IslandThyme

It's Piper-Heidsieck.

No "ports" per se are being added, basically just fuel stops with a visit of about 6 hours in each of Mauritius, Walvis Bay Namibia, Gran Canaria, and a day in Valletta. I don't have the exact times at each stop here, but it was made clear that most likely there will be no excursions, these are just gas and go stops.

I'd get that in writing, if I were you. And if you do, please post it here. I think we'd all be interested in seeing it.

The issue is the Red Sea and the Suez Canal.

We wish we knew!

Nope, no word yet.

Consensus of onboard rumors, if that can be considered to be a reliable source, is that they will tell us when we're in Sydney, so probably March 1, if they're going to change the itinerary. 

Agreed. It was pretty worthless.

My pleasure, and I'll be catching up on the last of French Polynesia soon. We're in a six-day run of sea days down to NZ, escaping from the worst effects of a tropical depression.

Very helpful, thanks. I'm on the Onward now and will be checking out some of your tour recommendations.

Thank you all so much for the lovely comments, and for appreciating my view of the world! Coming up soon, Mo'orea.

My pleasure. Today we will be on Fakarava for an Azamazing Day. I'm very curious about how that will unfold.

I'm onboard the World Voyage, scheduled to be in Jeddah on May 2, so that may be the cruise you are talking about. They have so far given us absolutely no information about a change in itinerary, although rumors and speculation are rampant.

And still being one, as here we are, anchored off Pitcairn Island, said to be the most remote inhabited island on earth.

It's taken me three weeks to overcome a variety of technical issues, but my blog of the 2024 world voyage on Onward is finally up and running. If you'd like to follow along, the link's in my signature. We're having a blast - c'mon over!

Yes, I just saw that as well. Now it remains to be seen whether cruise line insurers will consider that to be sufficient protection.

OP's cruise is on Journey, the WC is on Onward. Not that it makes any substantive difference when it comes to this volatile situation.

I have the same questions and concerns about the world cruise. We are scheduled to be in the Middle East and transiting the Suez Canal in late April and early May. Israel has already been taken off the itinerary, but we are still scheduled to visit Oman, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt. 

Thank you for an excellent and comprehensive review.

Forgive me if this has been asked a million times, but I can't seem to find the answer with Search. On Onward, is there a complimentary sauna and/or steam room? I'll be in a CC suite, if that makes a difference. TIA.

I just want to add, for the edification of anyone who might be interested, that I called Total Wine to ask whether they would deliver to our hotel in Ft. Lauderdale. They said sure, no problem, so long as someone is there to sign for it. So that makes taking a case of wine onboard super easy, just order online and have it delivered to the hotel.

Thanks for the detail, that will really help me out!

14 minutes ago, cancruiseforever said:

You mean you don't like those California Wines that are 15% to 16% Alcohol. I've even had 17% ones also. 

Nope, not for me. I prefer low alcohol wines - 12.5% is my sweet spot. I like to be able to drink wine all through a meal, or an evening, without getting wasted. It's why I really only drink European wines. 

Because Parker liked wines that were so hot and jammy that they needed dilution to be palatable!🤣🤣🤣

After all this detail I'm pretty well resigned to not being able to drink much of the onboard wine, although like Vicki I do think it's a raw deal to look forward to 155 days of bringing all my own wines onboard. Will they store wines you bring onboard, like cases? Or do you have to keep them in your cabin? Because for the World Cruise it's more than two months between AU/NZ and the next possible wine region, which I'm thinking is Greece.