Oceania Cruises will be homeporting Nautica in Cape Town for a set of roundtrip cruises during the 2019/2020 cruise season, but will also be cruising from South Africa with Insignia, a sister ship to Nautica.
Insignia will cruise from Cape Town on April 9th, 2020, bound for Singapore. This 30-night voyage takes passengers across the Indian Ocean via the Maldives, India and Sri Lanka, with additional port calls in Southeast Asia.
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Reflecting the destination-intensive nature of Oceania Cruises, Insignia won’t spend more than a few days at sea during any leg of the voyage, with the longest stretch of seadays (three nights and four days) coming between Mauritius and the Maldives.
The full itinerary includes port calls in several South African cities – Mossel Bay, Durban and Richard’s Bay, as well as Maputo in Mozambique before Insignia heads out into the Indian Ocean bound for Saint-Denis, Reunion and Port Louis, Mauritius.
After a day in the Maldives, Insignia will then head for India, where she’ll make a port call in Cochin, as well as Colombo in Sri Lanka, before crossing over to Myanmar, where she’ll spend a full two nights and three days in port in Yangon.
After Myanmar she’ll visit Phuket in Thailand and Penang and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia before arriving in Singapore.
Oceania Cruises is planning to overhaul its interior decor from current (right) to new (left).
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Passengers on this itinerary can choose from more than 75 shore excursions, but the highlights are likely to be a hike or SkyCar ride up to the top of the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, the lava tunnels near Saint-Philippe on Réunion Island, an evening visit to Rangoon’s Shwedagon Pagoda, an awe-inspiring, jewel-encrusted, 326-foot-tall Buddhist temple and the pristine waters and abundant underwater life at Koh Khai Nok outside Phuket.
Aboard Insignia itself there are four restaurants, eight bars and cafes, two whirlpools, a spa and fitness centre, two lounges and a casino.
Insignia is large enough to be a comfortable cruise ship, but the environment on-board is intimate and quiet, reflecting the elegant, mature cruise crowd to which Oceania caters.
The ship’s decor is dignified, with mantles for would-be fireplaces, embroidered armchairs, Oriental carpets and drawings or paintings throughout the ship that could be Dali, Picasso or Rembrandt. She’s very much a floating manor house versus floating hotel.
This is all due to change in the near future, however, as Oceania Cruises recently announced a major refurbishment of the fleet that will give its ship’s a more modern, chic atmosphere.
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