Nautica of Oceania Cruises to sail 44-night grand voyage from Dubai to Tahiti

Oceania Cruises is planning to sail a second Dubai cruise aboard Nautica in 2023 with a December cruise to French Polynesia.

The 44-night grand cruise sails from Dubai to Papeete, the capital of French Polynesia on the island of Tahiti.

Nautica’s Dubai to Tahiti voyage will depart December 8th, 2023, with prices for the full itinerary starting at $10,899 per person sharing for an inside cabin, while the shorter 20-night version ending in Singapore starts at $5,799.

There are 20 ports of call on the full itinerary, with half of them being on the Dubai to Singapore leg, while in Mumbai, Colombo, Yangon, and Bali, the ship stays overnight in port (2 nights in Yangon in fact).

The 20-night Dubai to Singapore cruise follows a near-identical itinerary to that of Insignia, which sails from Dubai on April 26th the same year, except without the port call in Penang and Klang (for Kuala Lumpur) in Malaysia.

Where Nautica differs from Insignia is in her onward journey from Singapore, which includes calls in Indonesia, Australia, and the islands of the South Pacific, such as Vanuatu, Fiji, Western Samoa, American Samoa and French Polynesia.

The port call in Bali, Indonesia is an overnighter, giving passengers more time to explore this island of jungles, mountains and terraced rice fields. Shore excursions offered give passengers the opportunity to visit a royal palace, watch an entrancing dance performance, or see carvers at work, as well as villages filled with beautiful arts and crafts and the daily festivals with villagers parading in their finery to local temples.

Nautica will then spend two nights at sea sailing for Australia, where she’ll call in Darwin, Thursday Island and Cairns, with a day at sea between each, because this is a huge country.

Darwin is the smallest, wettest, and most northerly of the Australian capital cities and has plenty to offer, from Aboriginal culture and art at the Fine Arts Museum, Territory Wildlife Park and waterfalls at Litchfield National Park, to a cruise along the Adelaide River with saltwater crocs that leap from the water to catch their prey.

The remote Thursday Island offers spectacular scenery and expansive views over the Torres Strait, with Cape York and its wilderness beyond, while Cairns is home to the Kuranda Railway, which runs through the rainforest and takes guests up close with koalas and emus.

After another three days at sea Nautica reaches Vanuatu’s capital city, Port Vila. With a population of under 50,000, this is one of the smallest capital cities in the world, with free ferries to small offshore islands, beaches for snorkelling and horseback riding and hiking trails up to the Cascade Waterfalls.

Suva, Fiji’s capital city, is the largest in the South Pacific and a particular draw for passengers will be the Victoria Parade, the main thoroughfare with shops and restaurants.

The next port of call, Somoa, is home to spectacular rainforests, waterfalls, sand dunes, beaches and brilliant sunrises and sunsets, while Pago Pago in American Somoa will provide world-class snorkelling in protected lagoons right out of Moana.

Bora Bora is the penultimate port of call, and with the dramatic Mount Otemanu towering over its turquoise waters and sugary sands, its easy to see why this island is known as the most romantic in the world. Shore excursions include snorkelling or swimming with manta rays or an outrigger canoe ride through the lagoon and its coral islands.

On January 20th, Nautica ends the cruise in Tahiti, at the port of Papeete, the urban center of this island nation, with shops and restaurants aplenty, but also the new Jardins Paofai city park and nearby Faarumai Waterfalls.