P&O Oceana 30th Sept 1st x cruisersAdvice on Share DIY shore excursions

1st time cruisers. Researching poss. sharing DIY shore excursion in florence, is this feasible, so far our dates do not seem to be on roll call. Also any tips of wardrobe space and formal wear Weather may be variable so unsure on packing :confused: Grateful to hear from Experienced ociania-cruisers, recommendations on which restaurants and any other tips....:o

The ship's DIY tour is probably best for Florence but we did a shared tour in Naples. We found two other couples on our Roll Call looking to share a minibus with AldoLimos, they were excellent, and will tailor trips to suit you.

Our Roll Call in May was very slow and the one for next year is non existent.

This was our 4th time on Oceana but our 1st Fly/Cruise. We normally sail from Southampton and packing was never a problem but I was worried about the 20kg luggage allowance with the airline as we were doing a 14 day cruise. I needn't have worried I packed more than I needed and still only had 18kgs. Light but layered clothing is best and always a rain jacket in Florence. Never been there when it was sunny yet!

Totally agree with previous poster. The only Ship's excursion I've ever taken was to Pisa/Florence as the latter is some distance from Livorno and I felt more comfortable knowing any traffic problems etc would not be an issue if on Ship organised tour.

As for the roll call. Been on other Cruise lines and arranged many excursions with fellow passengers but the P&O forums are poorly subscribed to for the most part. I'm on the Britannia in Nov and there are approximately a dozen people on the roll call, so there's less chance of sharing a taxi or tour operator than I've found previously.

Paul.

LJd48

Thank you that's really helpful - especially on the packing, I always overpack and end up with a trunkful of superfluous stuff I never wear! ;) How much does the P & Oshore excursion cost, we are thinking of finding an online local share tour to. For Naples, we thought about getting a train to Sorrento and Dubrovnik will probably go DIY? Any advice gratefully received!

Ollie121 we are not exactly old timers, but having just come back from the same cruise, I feel that I can offer a bit of useful advice for you.

Florence on your own could be tricky and expensive but you do have a lot of time, as the ship doesn't sail until 11pm. I would pay for the Florence on Your own trip offered by the ship and decide what you want to do there and book things online in advance.

In Dubrovnik, you could easily do the walls on your own, taking the ship's shuttle. You just pay for the walls when you get there. There would probably also be time to do Cavtat or the cable car... Again you can book them when you arrive in Dubrovnik town centre.

Day to day, there are lots of different options and variety of things to do. Make sure you try them all at least once! Afternoon tea is good fun, as are the late night snacks... Not because you are hungry, but because you CAN!

A tip that I picked up from here was to take some magnets to put the daily newspaper on the wall and keep the dressing table area tidy. I also took clothes pegs to hang up our wet swimwear - another useful tip from here!

Just relax and enjoy it! We can't wait to book our next trip! ;)

I'd personally (and did) book the P&O 'Pisa and Florence on your own' excursion. The traffic can be unpredictable and certainly if we had done this solo then we may have missed the ship as the traffic on the way back was horrendous.

We cruised on Royal Caribbean's Serenade of the Seas last year and through the Cruise Critic Roll Call, found that there were lots of people asking about private excursions and one of them organised several excursions through reputable companies and other members signed up to join the tours. These were all smallish groups and tended to be the same people on each tour. I can thoroughly recommend using "Rome in Limo" as a tour company. They offer tours to suit all types of people and a wide range of itineraries. In fact, you can make your own itinerary to suit you and your group. We did 3 tours with them; Rome, Florence/Pisa and Amalfi Coast/Pompeii and they were great! A very professional company with comfortable, airconditioned Mercedes minivans (with WiFi) and private tour guides with local knowledge. We went to places in Florence that you would never have found on your own - and had lunch in a tiny restaurant that was filled with local workers (the food was a bit unusual but it was good and very inexpensive). This company does this daily for hundreds of cruise passengers and there are some very good reviews about them. We also booked Ephesus with a private company and that was good too. We saved a lot of money doing these private tours and felt that we had had a more personal experience then we would have, had we joined a large bus load of people from the ship. This year we cruised to the Baltics with P & O and one of the ladies from the Roll Call arranged a private tour for the 2 days in St. Petersburg. There were 11 of us and we had a great time at a much cheaper price than the ship's tour. In fact the only tour that we did with P & O was Bruges and it wasn't very well organised at all and cost a lot of money for what it was. I would thoroughly recommend getting together with others from the Roll Call and organising your own tours. If there is no Roll Call up for your cruise, then set it up. It's easy to do and other people might be waiting to join you.

1st time cruisers. Researching poss. sharing DIY shore excursion in florence, is this feasible, so far our dates do not seem to be on roll call. Also any tips of wardrobe space and formal wear Weather may be variable so unsure on packing :confused: Grateful to hear from Experienced ociania-cruisers, recommendations on which restaurants and any other tips....:o

You can add your cruise yourself to the roll call - just post like any other thread and include cruise number and dates in the header.

We cruised on Royal Caribbean's Serenade of the Seas last year and through the Cruise Critic Roll Call, found that there were lots of people asking about private excursions and one of them organised several excursions through reputable companies and other members signed up to join the tours. These were all smallish groups and tended to be the same people on each tour. I can thoroughly recommend using "Rome in Limo" as a tour company. They offer tours to suit all types of people and a wide range of itineraries. In fact, you can make your own itinerary to suit you and your group. We did 3 tours with them; Rome, Florence/Pisa and Amalfi Coast/Pompeii and they were great! A very professional company with comfortable, airconditioned Mercedes minivans (with WiFi) and private tour guides with local knowledge. We went to places in Florence that you would never have found on your own - and had lunch in a tiny restaurant that was filled with local workers (the food was a bit unusual but it was good and very inexpensive). This company does this daily for hundreds of cruise passengers and there are some very good reviews about them. We also booked Ephesus with a private company and that was good too. We saved a lot of money doing these private tours and felt that we had had a more personal experience then we would have, had we joined a large bus load of people from the ship. This year we cruised to the Baltics with P & O and one of the ladies from the Roll Call arranged a private tour for the 2 days in St. Petersburg. There were 11 of us and we had a great time at a much cheaper price than the ship's tour. In fact the only tour that we did with P & O was Bruges and it wasn't very well organised at all and cost a lot of money for what it was. I would thoroughly recommend getting together with others from the Roll Call and organising your own tours. If there is no Roll Call up for your cruise, then set it up. It's easy to do and other people might be waiting to join you.

Thank you LanzaLady Sounds good will investigate

We're thinking of getting a DIY train to florence on our day excursion... Does anyone know whether or not the shuttle bus from the ship goes direct to the train station?

Don't know if P&O still run the Rowboat excursion but if they do it is well worth doing. A trip down the Arno river and then plenty of time to do your own thing without the worry of finding your way back as it was about an hour by coach if I remember:)

Got off Oceana this morning and the free shuttle in the port of Livorno took you to the Piazza Grande and then it was a minutes walk to the bus stop (in front of the H&M store) for the no.1 to the train station.

Buy your ticket at the tabac over the road from where the shuttle drops you.