New to World cruising

Hi,

We are looking at the 180 world cruise that Oceania is offering in 2015

The longest we have ever taken was 10 days. What could we expect it to be like?

How are shore excursions? Like the lines offer now?

If you are going to 100 ports are there excusions offered in every port?

Are there many over land options?

How much should we plan on for excursions?

How much should we plan on for ship board expenses?

I will have a thousand more questions in the future so please feel free ignore me if I seem to eager to learn about everything.

Thanks

D

Welcome

There is already a roll call started for this cruise: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1878374

There is so much information already on the roll call, it will really help you out.

Since you have already been on a 10 day cruise, think about what onboard and shore expenses you had then and multiply by 18.

They will have shore excursions for all ports and I believe there are some over land ones. I looked at some of the excursions and there prices seemed a little higher but then they're fingering in costs a year and a half from now.

A lot of the fun for a cruise like this is researching all the ports and planing what to pack and how to pay for it all. We don't live that far apart, I just down the road in Oviedo.

Don

D, as mentioned you can get a lot of information on the Oceania Board. Keep in mind this is their first World Cruise offering, ever.

About shore excursions. You need to do the research and forget the money it is not really practical to do organized excursions in each port when you are on a cruise of that length as you will get burned out from so much touring. We look at each port and decide what we want to do and see. In some ports, we do things on our own and in other ports we do an excursion with some being private and others through the ship. But to me the key is to pace yourselves.

There will be excursions offered in each of the ports if you choose to do the ones offered by the ship.

There will be overlands as well and some of them are actually shown on the Ocenaia Web Site.

They will be offering a wine and spirit package so if you like to drink you can consider that.

How much you budget for other items depends on what you plan to purchase but I do see that quite a few amenities are being provided and are already incorporated into the cruise fare such as internet.

Keith

Thank you both for your replies

They way I was looking at it was if I am going to visit a 100 places I was going to see 100 places, but I can see how that could get you burnt out quick.

D

Thank you both for your replies

 

They way I was looking at it was if I am going to visit a 100 places I was going to see 100 places, but I can see how that could get you burnt out quick.

 

D

I'm going on my first world cruise in January and it's for 94 days. There are plenty of sea days but we do have a week where we have six stops in a row. It will be challenge but they're in New Zealand. :D

I want to see everything that I can as I will never have this chance again. Just have to pace yourself.

Don

I agree. I do not think I will be burned out seeing new places. We can rest on sea days.

The key is to pace yourself.

In other words vary what you do in port and don't try to do 12 hours a day in each and every port on an organized excursion. Do some of that for sure and vary this based on the ports and what you would like to see. It is a terrific experience and there is almost nothing that compares to it.

Keith

I am booked on the same cruise - the excursion prices are on the high side but they do have packages such as if you book 12 or more you get 25% off. The PDF document of tours will keeping you busy reading for a few days. Lots of people on the role call plan on doing private tours in many port but it is early to book.

In the last week they have listed the segments that can be booked - I believe booking starts on Sep 17. The price list for the segments shows which of the bonus ammenities you get - the more segemnts you book B2B, the more of the full world benifits you get - that list also shows the full world price higher than the current price so if you have not booked you should do so now. Also booking now makes sense since once the segments start selling there may not be many cabins.

As far as on baord expense it will be mainly liquor and spa. Most other expenses are included. They allow you to bring on your own liquor for consumption in your cabin.

While loooking over the shore excursion list, many stops are DIY -- similar to Caribbean islands. Do you book tours on those stops? We often just take a taxi to a beach/town and wander around. However, there are some places we may never see again, so we're researching those ports in depth. The list is daunting!!! I'm so glad it is far off. Most of the ship's regular tours appear to be around the $150 pp, the land tours are closer to $1900 pp, some more expensive. We have already decided to not do the Taj Mahal tour, as the time spent to/from seems too high for the time spent there, even though it's something I'd love to visit some day.

Please post on the roll call, many of us seem to be World Cruise newbies.

From 10 days on a large cruise ship to 180 days on a 700 passenger ship? I would go to Miami and do a trial run on one of Os short Caribbean cruises.You may decide its not for you. Oceania is definetley for upscale self starters.

I agree about doing DIY tours when I can. At ports were security could be a question, I booked a ship tour but when it's safe and I can easily talk to the locals, I'll do on my own.

I did also book some 1/2 day tours so I won't totally burn out during my trip.

I also purchased some baseball caps that don't have any logos on them. This way I won't be announcing where I'm from and become an easy target.

Don

Zoo com..you mention that Oceania might not be the best as far as being so upscale....is there another line you would recommend?

Similar to cocoabeach...I am looking for more information and would be looking for something that isn't too stuffy yet still upscale.

Arch, I was concerned about the size of the ship ; its awfully small for such a long trip. I did TAs on her, Ship does move around too.There is just no room for all the amenities of a large ship. Tiny pool.lack of entertainment etc. BUT, wonderful food and service. Best WC itin to my taste. Seems like less sea days too. myself could do ship for maybe a month and boredom would set in.Not for everyone. I would hate to see someone spend all that $$ and not be forewarned. As the agent told me years ago O is all about food and ports.

As someone who has taken several world cruises one should be sure that the ship is the right size for them and has the amenities they will enjoy since you will spend a lot of time on the ship.

Keith

I think you are getting valuable advice. We, too are going on our first WC. However we are VERY comfortable with the cruise line, having traveled it several times on shorter cruises. You need to decide what amenities are most important for you. Having just returned from a short cruise on a "lower" rated large ship, I know we could never go on a long cruise on that ship or cruise line. We love the food, ports, service of a smaller ship. However, since we also love entertainment, we chose to go an a ship that is large enough to have top shows. lectures, and an overwhelming variety of classes. We also don't like being "nickeled and dimed" for additional charges every time you want to do something. Ship days will actually be the best part of the cruise.

So decide what is important to you. That really is all that matters. Have a great trip!

So which ship did you choose?