Hong Kong port cancelled for upcoming Nautica cruises

[WESTEAST]

Interesting to read on the CC Asia ports site that a cruiser who is sailing on Oceania Nautica March 2023 from Singapore to Hong Kong received email from O that "Due to the uncertainty surrounding access to ports in China, your cruise will now conclude in Keelung, the port for Taipei, Taiwan".  O has given them a 20% cruise fare refund and if booked OAir, will receive new air routing from Taipei arranged.  Not good news for passengers with DIY air from HK.  Looks like O's site has removed HK and Shanghai from most 2023 itineraries. However, October forward itineraries still have Hong Kong and Shanghai included as guess O is hoping the 'uncertainty' resolves later in the year.

[AMHuntFerry]

"Interesting" is a good assessment. Personally I'd welcome the switch to Taiwan even if the airfare cost difference was higher (hopefully balanced by the 20% cruise refund and/or travel insurance).

[LHT28]

They usually will give those that do their own air a few hundred to help with the change fees

Might be in the letter they receive ?

 

[Queen of DaNile]

No surprise. Exactly why we switched our upcoming Asian cruise to avoid all Chinese ports.

[WESTEAST]

5 minutes ago, Queen of DaNile said:

No surprise. Exactly why we switched our upcoming Asian cruise to avoid all Chinese ports.

Agree same here. 

[osandomir]

We also dropped the B2B Singapore to Tokyo cruise some months ago and booked the European itinerary instead when the cabins were still available. While O removed Hong Kong and Shanghai there are some other Asian ports on this itinerary that I don’t believe will be ready for the March 1st ship arrival.

[pinotlover]

Chinese ports will soon ( if not already ) become as undesirable as Russian ports.

 

HK, Shanghai, Beijing for get about it.

[FlyerTalker]

4 hours ago, WESTEAST said:

Not good news for passengers with DIY air from HK. 

 

Not quite sure why you say this.  Most all carriers will nowadays let you make changes without a change fee.

 

Further, if flying in business class, both Eva Air and China Airlines have excellent products for flights back to the USA.  (And note that China Airlines is different from Air China, which is a mainland China airline based in Beijing)

[WESTEAST]

51 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Not quite sure why you say this.  Most all carriers will nowadays let you make changes without a change fee.

 

Further, if flying in business class, both Eva Air and China Airlines have excellent products for flights back to the USA.  (And note that China Airlines is different from Air China, which is a mainland China airline based in Beijing)

Not familiar with flights back to the USA from Taiwan as we in Western Canada. When we were considering a cruise embarking or disembarking in HK,  our choice was Air Canada or Cathay Pacific which had non stop flights from/to Vancouver. Other options were via HK and personally, would not want to have to stop in HK even in Business.

 

 

Edited November 12, 2022 by WESTEAST

[WESTEAST]

2 hours ago, pinotlover said:

Chinese ports will soon ( if not already ) become as undesirable as Russian ports.

 

HK, Shanghai, Beijing for get about it.

Agree. We are very grateful that we did see St. Petersburg as in our lifetime, Russia will be out of bounds.

[FlyerTalker]

17 minutes ago, WESTEAST said:

Not familiar with flights back to the USA from Taiwan as we in Western Canada. When we were considering a cruise embarking or disembarking in HK,  our choice was Air Canada or Cathay Pacific which had non stop flights from/to Vancouver. Other options were via HK and personally, would not want to have to stop in HK even in Business.

 

Both Eva (BR) and China Airlines (CI) have daily non-stop service to YVR from TPE.

 

And interestingly, they both depart and arrive at the same time - and no, they are not code-sharing.  BR uses a 777 and CI a 359.

[WESTEAST]

8 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Both Eva (BR) and China Airlines (CI) have daily non-stop service to YVR from TPE.

 

And interestingly, they both depart and arrive at the same time - and no, they are not code-sharing.  BR uses a 777 and CI a 359.

Thank you for this info but not our preferred airlines. 

[FlyerTalker]

18 minutes ago, WESTEAST said:

Thank you for this info but not our preferred airlines. 

 

EVA should be.  Top notch.   And CI is just a short notch below that.

 

https://www.uponarriving.com/eva-business-class-777-review/

 

https://thepointsguy.com/reviews/eva-air-777-business-class/

 

I would take either over AC in a heartbeat.

[susiesan]

17 hours ago, pinotlover said:

Chinese ports will soon ( if not already ) become as undesirable as Russian ports.

 

HK, Shanghai, Beijing for get about it.

These Chinese cities are now undesirable and impossible to visit as a land tourist. I'm glad I did a 2 week DIY tour of China in 2011 that included Beijing and Shanghai amongst others. So glad I went but will never ever return to China even if they allow tourism again. China is still under draconic covid restrictions until the end of 2023 so I doubt any cruises will stop there in 2023 or ever again. 

[EllaDuChien]

20 hours ago, LHT28 said:

They usually will give those that do their own air a few hundred to help with the change fees

Might be in the letter they receive ?

 

It was.  I was the one that posted that on the Asia ports page and I just didn't post the whole thing.  Oceania is offering $300/pp for folks that have DIY air.  In addition, if we wanted to cancel we could with no penalty for the next 7 days.

[benaround]

We're sailing Bangkok to Tokyo, so no worries with changing flights. Disappointed that we can't stop in Hong Kong and Shanghai, but looking forward to Taiwan and South Korea!

[LGW59]

On 11/12/2022 at 1:23 PM, susiesan said:

These Chinese cities are now undesirable and impossible to visit as a land tourist. I'm glad I did a 2 week DIY tour of China in 2011 that included Beijing and Shanghai amongst others. So glad I went but will never ever return to China even if they allow tourism again. China is still under draconic covid restrictions until the end of 2023 so I doubt any cruises will stop there in 2023 or ever again. 

Aus and NZ just lifted their very similiar "draconian" covid restrictions as well.  China has not announced that 2023 is or is not the end date.  After the Spring Festival/Chinese New Year, they will make further determination.    

[hawkesbaynz]

https://www.timeout.com/hong-kong/travel/travelling-to-hong-kong-heres-what-you-need-to-know

https://www.discoverhongkong.com/uk/latest-travel-advisories.html

 

Things are slowly improving. We have a cruise which ends in Hong Kong next November. I have booked flights with points and will need to pay with real money if they change to Taiwan😐

 

This time last year I had to cancel a ski trip to France as Geneva Airport changed their rules the day before I travelled (PCR rather than Lat Flow). Rebooked the next day with £150 same day PCR test and flight changes. Had to complete forms to travel into France. Tests before returning to UK etc.... Showed Covid app to get on lifts etc. Today I can go to France via Geneva with just my vaccine certificate that no one will look at. Basically things can change alot in a year. Crossed fingers!

[mountain grandma]

We are also on the Bangkok to Tokyo Nautica cruise and what no one has explained in this thread is the fact that China will not give out any visas right now due to very high Covid numbers so North Americans cannot go to China!  Oceania cancelled the Chinese port stops for that reason so blame China not Oceania!  Personally, we didn’t care since we had been there several times before but I understand that it is disappointing for some.  
 

Billie

[Mareblu]

On 12/17/2022 at 3:41 PM, LGW59 said:

Aus and NZ just lifted their very similiar "draconian" covid restrictions as well.  China has not announced that 2023 is or is not the end date.  After the Spring Festival/Chinese New Year, they will make further determination.    

Oh goodness, not sure where you’re getting your information, but as an Australian who travels regularly, I can assure you we’ve had no restrictions remotely resembling those the Chinese people have had to endure.  Covid patients are only requested to isolate for 5-6 days, out of courtesy and sensible respect to those vulnerable community members.  Even close contacts are free to come and go as normal.  We have an extremely high vaccination rate, so most Australians are well protected.  On a recent Oceania cruise, a very nice American lady told me she knew we had “camps”!!!  Americans need to read more widely, and I don’t just mean the American press.  No offence intended, but it wears a bit thin after a while.