Oceania Cruises will not drop Middle East and South Africa from Insignia world cruise following fire

Oceania Cruises has announced that they have been forced to heavily modify Insignia’s 180-night world cruise in 2015, which was scheduled to depart Miami on January 10, 2015, due to an engine room fire in December.

However, Dubai in the Middle East and Cape Town in South Africa remain fixtures on the modified world cruise.

Instead of departing Miami in January, the luxury cruise ship will instead sail on March 22^nd, 2015 from Singapore. The changes to the cruise are necessary as significant repairs are needed following an engine room fire while the ship was docked in St Lucia on December 7^th last year.

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“The timing of repairs has unfortunately required the cancellation of Insignia’s holiday voyage along with the modification of the world cruise,” Kevin Sheehan, president and chief executive officer of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd confirmed.

“We understand how disappointing this news must be to our valued guests and we extend our sincere appreciation for their cooperation and understanding,” Sheehan added.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings recently purchased Prestige Cruise Holdings, the owners of Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas cruises in a US $3-billion deal that was the largest in the industry since the acquisition of P&O by Carnival Corporation.

The first three legs of Insignia’s popular world cruise have now been cancelled, but the cruise ship will still visit Dubai on September 20^th and Cape Town on November 30^th, 2015. Both of these port calls will also be cruise departures marking the beginning of a new leg of Insignia’s 2015 world cruise.

The September 20^th cruise departure from Dubai will be a 20-night cruise to Singapore, while the ship’s cruise from Cape Town later in the year will be a 35-night trans-Atlantic grand voyage from South Africa to Miami via West Africa and the Caribbean.