Vantage Cruise new in 202

[MomC]

We have a Vantage cruise tour booked on the new Ocean Explorer in late October.  While I think it is realistic that ships will be sailing by then, my question concerns whether the ship will be ready to sail.  Cruises were offered in January, but we all know that they won’t sail—perhaps until late summer.

 

How does one find out if the ship is ready to sail?  I am always hesitant to book the maiden cruise or even the second as there are bugs to work out.  It was being built by a shipbuilder in China.  Is there any way to find out if the ship is finished and ready to go when the CDC clears ships to cruise.

 

Thanks for your help in advance.

 

Mom C

[Essiesmom]

You won't know until you know.  We are all in the same 'boat'.  You have to look at the itinerary...where she sails from, where she visits.  EM

[Shmoo here]

25 minutes ago, MomC said:

We have a Vantage cruise tour booked on the new Ocean Explorer in late October.  While I think it is realistic that ships will be sailing by then, my question concerns whether the ship will be ready to sail.  Cruises were offered in January, but we all know that they won’t sail—perhaps until late summer.

 

How does one find out if the ship is ready to sail?  I am always hesitant to book the maiden cruise or even the second as there are bugs to work out.  It was being built by a shipbuilder in China.  Is there any way to find out if the ship is finished and ready to go when the CDC clears ships to cruise.

 

Thanks for your help in advance.

 

Mom C

As noted, you won't know, until they notify you that the ship isn't ready.  We were booked on a new build for our first river cruise.  While the ship was initially "ready" when it was supposed to be, Vantage didn't accept it (for whatever reason) and it was delayed, and we were moved to a different, older, ship for our trip.

 

 

[DonnaMW]

I was booked on Vantage Explorer B2B in April.  Both were changed to 2022.  But the same b2b was not available.  I was rebooked on the Odyssey instead.  
I have been tracking the Explorer docked in Singapore.  You can track it on cruisemapper.com

 

a hint. Just keep checking on their website. I got no call or notice it was rescheduled. But the itinerary was missing before the change for a month. They knew then obviously. So take care and watch your account. Don’t count on being notified 

[Heidi13]

The Ocean Explorer is currently docked in China and is reporting Bahama registry. This would indicate it has been delivered to the owners.

[Heidi13]

16 hours ago, MomC said:

How does one find out if the ship is ready to sail?

 

Further to my previous reply. You can monitor the ship's position on any of the AIS tracking websites. Many use CruiseMapper, but I prefer MarineTraffic.

[Host Jazzbeau]

See this thread for Official photos from Vantage: