January 30, 2024 . . . The Other Shoe Drops!
Those of you who have been following since we left Ft Lauderdale saw the itinerary for this voyage that was official at that time. If you haven’t been following since then, here is a link to the first posting for this voyage that sets out the itinerary in map and list form.
https://baderjournal.com/2024/01/08/third-voyage-around-the-world-in-2024/
In that posting we discussed two uncertainties about that itinerary. The first was the trip up the Amazon, which in the end came off as planned. The second was the war going on in the Red Sea, which we were scheduled to sail through to get to the Mediterranean for the last fourth of the voyage.
Well, that one hasn’t turned out so well. The war has kept spreading and the Houthis in Yemen continue to attack ships entering the Red Sea. So we have been anticipating for some time that changes would have to be made.
Today (we are in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico), we returned to our room from our shore activities to find the announcement we have been waiting for. The entire portion of our itinerary between Sri Lanka and Ft Lauderdale has been canceled because of the war. Instead, we will be sailing around Africa. Here is our new itinerary, first as a map and then as a list of ports. Lack of clarity is because these are photos of a paper notice; we have not yet received one by email.
(In case you are wondering, “Null Island” is not a port. It is the spot in the middle of the ocean where the Prime Meridian crosses the Equator. We have been there twice before and the only thing we could see there was . . . water.)
As noted, this was not unanticipated but it is very disappointing. Obviously we have been preparing and looking forward to the original itinerary ports, some of which were new to us and in many of which we had scheduled excursions to which we were really looking forward.
Second, though, is the cancellation of the two day stop in Mumbai, which is nowhere near the conflict zone. We had never been to India and had three interesting excursions scheduled there. It may well be less expensive and less difficult for HAL to schedule a trip around Africa leaving a few days earlier from Sri Lanka, but we don’t think that is a good enough reason to cancel this highly anticipated port that is not near any conflict.
Third, we have been to almost all of these African ports just two years ago on the Grand Africa voyage, and apart from Cape Town we have little left that we really wanted to do or see. Many on this voyage are in the same boat, having been on the Grand Africa in 2022 or 2023 and/or having been on the World Cruise in 2023 that also visited many of these same African ports. We wish HAL would have tried harder to schedule some new ports that haven’t been visited on Grand Voyages in the last two years.
Fourth, a quick look at the two itineraries indicates that there are now about 6 fewer ports than on our original itinerary.
So this ends up being a very different voyage than the one we all signed up for. HAL couldn’t have done anything to prevent the Red Sea conflict, but we think they could have done a much better job adjusting for it. They have said they will give us Future Cruise Credits for 15% of the basic fare for this cruise, but it has to be used on cruises scheduled before the end of this year and sailing before the end of next year. They are also giving all passengers $500 in onboard credit to compensate for the additional visas that we will need (and, I guess, for what we spent on the India visas we can no longer use). So that is something, if not much in comparison to what has been lost.
We are not suggesting that anyone should feel sorry for us. After all, we are privileged to be on a world cruise and are still looking forward with much anticipation to visiting Hawaii, Japan, China and Southeast Asia. This is still a great trip, just not everything we had hoped for. If there are any further changes we will let you know.
BADER JOURNAL 