Revised 2026 Itinerary

It's hard to believe we’re just a little over 5 weeks away from home now. Our world voyage seems like it’s passing quickly. We've now crossed the equator 6 times since leaving home! Needless to say, we’ve all put away our jackets and are wearing our summer clothes and eating on the deck again. 

Our 180-night voyage, originally scheduled to return to the US through the Suez Canal, was forced to make a major itinerary revision due to the ongoing political situation. Specifically, this meant eliminating ports in India, the UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Egypt and adding ports in the Seychelles, Madagascar, the Comoros, Mozambique, South Africa and Namibia. We were disappointed, because we had looked very forward to sailing through the canal and seeing the Mediterranean ports that we have not visited. Also because it meant repeating ports around South Africa.

Because of the extra sailing time needed to go around Africa, ports in Greece, Italy, Spain, France and Morocco were cancelled and replaced with other ports including Angola, São Tomé and Príncipe, Ivory Coast, Gambia and Cape Verde. This is the segment we’re on now – basically extra sea days with not very desirable ports. It’s unfortunate, but understandable. And we do appreciate the extra security that Oceania has brought on board along with all the extra safety measures.

We’ll resume our original itinerary in Southampton on June 14 before continuing to northern Europe, the North Atlantic, Canada, then down the east coast of the US as we make our way to Miami on July 6.

Revised 2026 Ports of Call

The updated voyage includes the following stops as it sails north along the Atlantic coast:

Cape Town, South Africa: Departure on May 21

Walvis Bay, Namibia: Arrival on May 23

Luanda, Angola: May 26

São Tomé, São Tomé and Príncipe: May 28

Abidjan, Ivory Coast: May 31

Banjul, Gambia: Scheduled replacement port

Mindelo (Sao Vicente), Cape Verde: June 5

Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands: June 7

Funchal (Madeira), Portugal: June 8

Lisbon, Portugal: June 10

Vigo, Spain: June 11

Paris (Le Havre), France: June 13

London (Southampton), United Kingdom:  June 14

Falmouth (Cornwall), United Kingdom:  June 15

Dublin, Ireland:  June 17

Belfast, Ireland:  June 18

Glasgow, Ireland:  June 19

Torshavn, Denmark:  June 21

Akureyri, Iceland:   June 23

Isafjordur, Iceland:  June 24

Reykjavik, Iceland:  June 25

Halifax, Nova Scotia:  June 30

New York, NY:  July 2

Charleston, South Carolina:  July 4

Miami, Florida:  July 6

Key Itinerary Adjustments

    Removed Ports: All originally scheduled calls in India, the UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Greece and Italy have been cancelled.

    Extended Sailing: The ship will now round the Cape of Good Hope, adding significant sea time along the western coast of Africa.

https://cruise-arabia.com/2026/03/30/oceania-vista-2026-world-cruise-rerouted-to-cape-town-amid-gulf-disruption/  

 

 

Luanda, Angola

We woke yesterday as we were making port in Luanda, Angola. Located on Africa’s southwestern coast, Luanda is the capital and largest city in Angola, and is home to over a third of the country’s population (9+ million people). It is also Angola’s primary port and a major industrial, cultural and urban center. It’s official language is Portuguese. The median age in Angola is 16.7 years old, and the average number of live births per woman is 4.9. https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/angola-demographics/ 

 

  

Our general plan as we head around the Ivory Coast of west Africa is not to get off the ship unless we have an Oceania excursion. However, in looking ahead, some of the excursions don’t seem all that desirable anyway. But today our excursion was titled “The Changing Face of Luanda”. We were accompanied by an Oceania employee and followed by security to each place we visited. 

We were off the ship by 8:30 and greeted by lively dancers, drummers and a terrible odor (think rotten eggs + dead fish). I snapped some quick photos while hurrying to get on the bus. Even the lobby on Deck 5 where we normally disembark smelled horrible all day long from the odor wafting in through the open door of the disembarkation ramp. Not a good first impression!

 

drummers drumming....

dancers dancing....

smiling...though it was terribly stinky and miserably hot

I was relieved to see that our bus was air conditioned and our guide spoke fair English – as long as he didn’t speak too fast. I’ll be honest. Between all the on-and-off stops, the heat, not always being within earshot of our guide or understanding him even if I was, it was just – a lot. Most of what he talked about concerned the history of Angola, its leaders, its wars, its fighting for independence, etc.

 

Port Luanda terminal

first stop - Iron Palace

1963-2026 Day of Africa celebration

 

Our guide explained the meaning of their flag and its colors - black (color of the people's skin), red (blood), yellow (rising sun), the sickle or blade (agriculture) and the cog (industry).

If anyone reading this is a history buff or just loves to learn, I've included some hyperlinks (bottom) that provide more information than I could give in one or two sentences. Our first stop (above) was the Iron Palace, a historical building believed to have been built by the designer of the Eiffel Tower. We weren’t allowed to enter but simply climbed several floors of iron stairs, then circled around the building and came back down. 

From there we were driven to the Church of our Lady of Remedies. As is usually the case, there were souvenirs that could be purchased and children asking for money.

 

Church of our Lady of Remedies

interior of Church of our Lady of Remedies

memorabilia for sale outside

Our next stop was San Miguel Fort. I'm resorting to AI for help explaining this one, as it will do a far better job than I could. I took tons of photos here.

• The Tiles: Inside the fort’s central courtyard, a low, squat building holds rooms featuring beautifully preserved Portuguese azulejos (tin-glazed blue and white ceramic tiles).
• The Murals: The tile panels were installed during the 1930s to serve as a permanent visual history book. They depict traditional Angolan wildlife, local flora and fauna, early regional scenes, and the colonial history of Angola.
• The Rest of the Museum: The fortress grounds act as an open-air exhibition featuring soviet-era murals, captured cannons, vintage military aircraft, and tanks. The location on Morro da Fortaleza also offers panoramic views over Luanda Bay and the Marginal.   

entrance to Fortress of Sao Miguel

Above is the entrance to the Fortress of Sao Miguel. Antonio Agostinho Neto (1922-1979, below) was an Angolan physician, poet and revolutionary who was Angola's first president from 1975 until his death.  

 

view of bay through gun port on top of fort

interior Fortress of Sao Miguel

lots of military displays

Pres. António Agostinho Neto

one of several hallways lined with beautiful tiles

Next was a visit to the National Anthropology Museum. As with the tiles at the fort, I took many photos there. Description of this museum - it "houses over 6,000 traditional artifacts spanning 14 rooms across two floors. It showcases Angola’s rich cultural heritage through ethnographic objects, musical instruments, sacred art, and historical displays representing the country’s diverse ethnic and linguistic groups." I would describe many of the items as quite creepy.

National Anthropology Museum

instrument made of gourds

 

many different masks - some creepy in appearance

 

Our last stop was the mausoleum where President Antonio Agostinho Neto, first president of the Republic of Angola lies in a glass enclosed casket inside a huge domed room, literally surrounded 360 degrees by (artificial) flowers. This was the only place we visited that we were not allowed to take pictures.

 

President Neto Memorial Building

 

mausoleum building entrance

 

Finally, after walking through all of the places listed above, we were driven past other points of interest (Igreja de Jesus, Maria & Jose, Houses of Parliament, Malanga and the National Bank of Angola). We were told not to take pictures of any of the government buildings. Apparently someone in the other van took one, and we were all stopped and that person made to delete it. I only took one "drive by" and that was the bank below (note bus window reflection in photo).

 

National Bank of Angola

Here is more info regarding all of the places we visited in case someone is really interested.

The Iron Palace - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pal%C3%A1cio_de_Ferro

Church of Our Lady of Remedies https://hpip.org/en/heritage/details/58

National Anthropology Museum  https://pamim.blogspot.com/2006/09/um-pouco-de-cultura-angolana-no-museu_17.html

San Miguel Fort https://welcometoangola.co.ao/en/directorio/fortaleza-de-sao-miguel-de-luanda/ 

Mausoleum of António Agostinho Neto https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mausoleum_of_Ant%C3%B3nio_Agostinho_Neto

 

 

 

 

Walvis Bay, Namibia

The ship’s fog horn sounded regularly throughout the night until we finally made port this morning. Visibility was a “0” when we went to breakfast and although our table was next to a window, it didn’t matter because we couldn’t see a thing looking out. However, soon after we docked around 10 a.m. the sun came out and it was a gorgeous day! The weather was a chilly 53 degrees with an expected high of 61 degrees.

Namibia required a face to face passport inspection. That's fine, but their website was down so no one could turn in the necessary paperwork. Then (not enough) passport people came on board the ship. Everyone who was going to get off the ship waited in a very long line in order to get their paperwork approved so that they could disembark. Through no fault of Oceania, the whole thing turned into a huge mess. We ended up standing in line over an hour, making us almost an hour late in getting off the ship. 

Our tour today involved first driving about 30 minutes to Swakopmund, a charming coastal town known for its German colonial architecture. We made a quick stop at the Swakopmund Hotel, which originally had been the train station. 

 

Swakopmund Hotel

back view of Swakopmund Hotel 

 

The swimming pool behind the hotel is where the train tracks and open platform area for the historic 1902 German Railway Station were once located. 

Next we were off to the Mondesa Township Market. We stopped at a food sellers table and our guide took the time to explain what everything was. In addition to the vegetables that we all recognized, he showed us dried catfish, seal oil, different kinds of seeds and bambara nuts (raw and cooked), millet, dried wild spinach, tiny red peppers (hot!) and caterpillars. Yes, you read that right.

 

our guide (dried fish)

seal oil in recycled bottles

bambara nuts, catepillars

 

From there we drove to visit Mama Erika’s house for what was called a “cultural learning conversation”. There are 2 main tribes in Swakopmund, and she is of the Ovahereo tribe. Before arriving, our guide taught us the "hello" and "goodbye" handshakes. After our greetings, he acted as our interpreter and let each of us ask her a question. She is 77 years old and lives in the small house her mother lived in with some of her children and grandchildren – 3 generations living under one roof.

When Mama Erika was through answering our questions, someone asked if she had any questions for us. She wanted to know about us, so basically we just went around the circle and told her a little bit about ourselves. After that, anyone who wanted to could have their picture taken with her. By the way, she is compensated by the cruise line for hosting us.

 

Mama Erika explains traditional headwear that is worn beginning at puberty

photo op with Mama Erika

After visiting Mama Erika, we drove to the DRC settlement to visit Maro Wilma’s house of the Nama Tribe to learn about his calling as a traditional medicine man. He is basically someone in the community who uses things found in nature to help alleviate certain physical ailments. 

 

medicine man

 

According to our guide, these traditional medicine people are “called” at birth and learn the trade as they are growing up from an older relative. Their spirituality is often tied to ancestors and they believe this gift runs in families. They claim to have visions and be able to see into the future. He is currently training his niece who he believes has "the calling".

He showed us probably a dozen or so different wild plants that he had found and dried, and told us what each is used for. I don't remember all of them but they ran the gamut from dried aloe vera to dried hyena dung. Yes, that’s what I said. He passed the various bottles and jars around for us to see and smell (?) as he talked about each of them.
 

desert "medicines" including dried hyena dung (R)

After showing us his herbs and such, he gave us a Click language lesson. I confess it was very distracting as he kept inserting these loud “clicks” throughout his sentences as he spoke. Apparently there are 4 different “click” sounds that they make and each has its own meaning.

 

giving us our "click" lesson

From there we drove past many ramshackle villages (built with whatever materials one might find and piece together) which he referred to as "the settlement". Then we were taken to new housing developments that have been built by their government. The original plan was to build over 3,000 houses but Covid brought construction to a dead halt; therefore hundreds of houses are empty shells waiting to be completed. 

 

hundreds of houses stand unfinished

inside one of hundreds of unfinished houses

One, two and three bedroom houses are being built. Family size is not a consideration; rather they are available based on income (the more money you have, the better the chance of a 3 bedroom and the less you have, you will get a 1 bedroom). We went inside one of many that had been sitting unfinished for several years. 

Our last stop was Tandikes Kitchen for a traditional food tasting. It was probably 2:30 by that time and no one had eaten lunch. That is the only explanation I can think of why some in our group gobbled down everything that was served. We were offered beer, cold wild spinach, cold millet porridge, cold mashed beans and yes, cold caterpillars. There were napkins but no flatware. It was all to be eaten with the hands. L to R: mashed beans, porridge, wild spinach, caterpillar

 

Call us sissies but we did not taste the caterpillars; however the older couple from Poland who sat across from us gobbled them down like we would chips and salsa!

 

not even with tomatoes & onions

surprise entertainment as we ate 

I videoed the guys who came in and sang several songs to us. They were really good, and I regret that this blog site won't allow me to share one of their tunes.

After "eating" we drove past miles and miles of desert. The vast Namib Desert is the oldest desert in the world. Though we were running late and stopping on the dunes was not planned, our guide insisted we take a quick walk up the dunes before heading back to the ship. That sums up our day in Namibia, but I will post some random photos at the bottom.

 

 

A few other photos from the day....

Medicine Man's powder puff compact

cell tower rises high above government houses awaiting completion

my footprints

local children

came ride, anyone?

 

And my favorite of the day....

Mama Erika's granddaughter