The real reason for the shutdown, and the one everyone repeats
The line no longer publishes cruises on the Irrawaddy. It announced the
cancellation of its Burmese season as early as April 2018, and the reason it gave
at the time is explicit: traveller interest in the destination had waned. The
line even specified that the decision was not based on safety or security
issues.
That matters, because the version in circulation attributes the shutdown to
the coup of February 2021. Chronology makes that explanation false: the decision
came three years earlier. The media context of the time was heavy, the line cited
demand, and we report what it said rather than what gets repeated.
What this ship was
Sixty-one metres, eighteen suites, thirty-six travellers, three decks. Entered
service in 2015. The programme was run in partnership with a Burmese shipowner:
the hull did not belong to the line, which marketed her inside combined tours of
fourteen to nineteen days out of Yangon or Bangkok.
Each suite opened through floor-to-ceiling glass doors. Wi-Fi was available
only in the panorama lounge and the signal was judged unreliable. Current ran at
220 volts. Navigation on the Irrawaddy depended on the water level, a structural
constraint of the river.
The fate of the hull after the programme ended is documented nowhere: sold,
returned to her owner, laid up, no serious source says.
The active ships in the fleet
The Avalon Saigon holds the Mekong and remains the line's only Asian ship. The Delfin III sails
the Peruvian Amazon. The MS Farah holds the Nile. The Avalon Passion is a European hull.
Arranging this trip from Quebec
The flight to Europe or to the destination is not included in the cruise
fare. From Montreal the connection is direct to several cities in season, and
routed through one connection the rest of the year or for the far
destinations.
Plan one night ahead before embarkation, two if the time difference is large.
That margin is used exactly once, but on that day it saves the trip. Keep the
return day free as well.
We build the complete file, flight, cruise, hotels, transfers, insurance,
under the protection of Quebec's compensation fund for travel agency customers.
One call is enough to check what the season really allows.
