Cunard’s 2022 World Cruise to call in Abu Dhabi, Cape Town cruise apparently dropped

Cunard Line recently announced that it was cancelling cruises into 2021 for all three of its ‘Queens’, with a newly released itinerary for the 2022 World Cruise aboard Queen Mary 2 that includes a port call in Abu Dhabi in the UAE.

However, the planned departure from Cape Town, South Africa appears to have been cancelled.

Queen Victoria was meant to sail a 112-night World Cruise from January 8th, 2022, visiting several dozen ports, including Cape Town, with an 18-night cruise offered in April from Cape Town to Southampton, UK.

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However, that has now apparently been cancelled in place of the new 2022 World Cruise aboard Queen Mary 2.

“Recognising the immense disappointment of those onboard Queen Mary 2’s curtailed World Voyage this year, and the cancellation of her World Voyage in 2021, we are delighted that Queen Mary 2 will sail a classic World Voyage in 2022,” said Cunard Line’s president, Simon Palethorpe.

“This will replace her scheduled sailings departing January 3, 2022 to April 3, 2022, including the voyage to South America.”

While no mention was made of Queen Victoria’s scheduled 2022 World Cruise, it would be highly unlikely for Cunard Line to deploy two cruise ships on a World Cruise in the same year, especially in the wake of a pandemic.

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The new 104 night adventure will depart from Southampton on January 10, 2022 and include calls to Greece, Dubai, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Australia and Bali before returning to Southampton via Abu Dhabi, Oman, Italy and Portugal.

Queen Mary 2 ship will sail through the Suez Canal both on the outbound journey and on return.

It will be bookable, either as a full world voyage or as one of six sectors, from September 8, 2020, the cruise line said.

“Given the current uncertainty, the complexity of our scheduled World Voyage with our international mix of guests visiting many countries and continents, each with its own evolving travel regulations was a very real factor in our decision making,” said Palethorpe.

It also wasn’t immediately clear from Cunard Line’s statement whether the Abu Dhabi cruise departure would be one of the six individually-bookable cruise segments, but Cruise Arabia & Africa has reached out for more information.