P&O Cruises confirms Oceana for a second Dubai cruise season in 2019/2020

Editor’s note: due to tensions between Iran and the West, particularly UK shipping, P&O Cruises has announced the cancellation of its 2019/2020 cruise season out of Dubai.

P&O Cruises ship Oceana will cruise roundtrip from Dubai during the 2019/2020 winter cruise season. It will be her second full cruise season in the Arabian Gulf following her 2018/2019 debut.

Oceana will cruise from Dubai on a range of itineraries, ranging from one to two weeks, with 10-day cruises in-between.

The ship will homeport in Dubai for 28 cruise itineraries between the end of October, 2019 and mid-March, 2020.

It is the most comprehensive cruise season P&O has ever conducted in the Arabian Gulf and will include longer voyages to India for the first time.

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P&O’s 7-night cruises from Dubai aboard Oceana will be roundtrip voyages in the Arabian Gulf, visiting Dubai, Bahrain, Sir Bani Yas Island, and Abu Dhabi before returning to Dubai.

These voyages are unusual in the Middle East cruise market because they include an overnight port call in Abu Dhabi as well as in Dubai (on the final night of the cruise).

Oceana’s 10-night roundtrip Dubai cruises also stay within the Arabian Gulf, but visit more destinations, with all of those above, as well as Muscat and Khasab in Oman.

Oceana will visit Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Khasab, Muscat, Sir Bani Yas Island and Bahrain on her Arabian Gulf cruise itineraries in the 2019/2020 season.

Again on these itineraries Oceana will stay overnight in Abu Dhabi and in Dubai (but the two-day Dubai port calls will occur on both the first and last nights of the cruise).

Oceana’s 14-night roundtrip cruises from Dubai will be true deep ocean voyages, with the ship staying overnight in Dubai on the first night and then heading for Abu Dhabi, where she will stay overnight, before spending three days at sea en-route for Mumbai.

After Mumbai she’ll visit Mormugao (Goa) and Cochin before crossing the Indian Ocean once more, bound for Dubai.

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These two week cruise itineraries can be combined with her extensive 10-day Arabian Gulf itineraries to create a 24-night grand voyage.

The inclusion of India as a port of call is testament to the growing popularity of the country as a cruise destination on Dubai cruise departures, as well as the growing clout of the Indian cruise market, which has a taste for India-bound fly-cruises from Dubai.

P&O will be going head-to-head with MSC Lirica of MSC Cruises, and Celebrity Constellation of Celebrity Cruises with this itinerary. Both cruise lines will be offering roundtrip cruises from Dubai to India during the 2019/2020 cruise season.

The 77,000-tonne, 2,016-passenger Oceana is a mid-size cruise ship in the P&O fleet, with a contemporary atmosphere that makes her popular with the younger new-to-cruising set as well as experienced cruisers.

During school holidays, such of over the Christmas break when she will be homeporting in Dubai, the ship is very popular with families. She was thoroughly refurbished in November, 2017.