Key Cruise Ship Drydocks in June
If you're booked on Mitsui Ocean Sakura, note its maiden season starts September 20, 2026, with short Japan-based cruises. Nicko Cruises passengers on Vasco da Gama should watch for updates before the current July 2, 2026 return date, since additional repairs were recently found necessary. Heritage Discoverer or Polar Latitudes travelers should expect the ship's Antarctica debut later this year, followed by Australia and Asia sailings.
What jumps out here is how differently these three drydocks are going. Mitsui's conversion of the former Seabourn Sojourn into the Sakura, alongside the Odyssey, looks like a straightforward brand build-out toward a September 20 launch with short Japan-based itineraries under the "Funatabi" concept. The Vasco da Gama situation is messier: Nicko already had to cancel five cruises and shorten a world voyage after issues surfaced in April, and now a fresh assessment has turned up more repair work needed before the July 2 return — that's the kind of update that tends to slip. Heritage Expeditions' purchase of the former Exploris One is the most ambitious bet, turning a 1989-built ship into a new Antarctica expedition vessel before sending it on to Australia and Asia, with Polar Latitudes also chartering it. If I had a booking on the Vasco da Gama, I'd be checking for further updates before counting on that July 2 date.