Riviera in West Med, Sept.

Hello first on Oceania section.

We are sailing in September on Riviera in West Med. What is likely to be a rough breakdown of the pax nationalities. Is it mostly Brits?

Do most people do organised port excursions or do their own thing or use a third party tour company. It is quite a cultural set of ports and we are looking forward to learning a lot about them.

Thank you.

It's hard to predict the nationality breakdown. You should see mostly North Americans, Europeans, Australians ... I haven't been on a cruise even through the UK where most of the passengers were Brits, but usually there are a number of them on board.

Some people prefer ships' tours, others (like myself) like to do private tours. Oceania's tours tend to be expensive (some would say very overpriced) so usually if you do your own you will save money and have a smaller group.

Best bet is to join your roll call and see what offers for tours come up.

Have a great time.

Mura

I can't speak specifically for Oceania, since my first Oceania cruise is still on the books...but my understanding is that the demographics of Oceania cruises can be very similar to other luxury lines that cruise in the Med. I've been on both Regent and Crystal in Europe, so I expect my experiences on those cruises will be largely equivalent.

I encountered mostly North Americans, quite a few Brits, and a large number from EU (especially France), with a smattering from Australia. Of course every cruise is different, but that's what I saw.

Certainly lots of cruisers prefer the convenience of ship tours, and don't mind paying the significantly higher prices for that. And there are some parts of the world where I wouldn't feel comfortable going with a private tour, and would only stick to ship tours. For example, if there's a very long drive to the destination (Alhambra in Grenada comes to mind), or if it's a country that feels particularly exotic (e.g. we used ship tours in Morocco).

But the Med is a perfect place to book private tours! There are many fabulous companies that are very experienced in taking cruise ship passengers. And in my experience, the roll call threads here on Cruise Critic are usually filled with other cruisers interested in connecting with others to share tours.

The benefits are significant: besides saving a LOT of money, your experience will generally be markedly better. Most ship tours are on larger buses, with the schedules set in stone. Whereas private tour companies will take small groups in a van or sedan, and go where YOU want to go, spending the amount of time YOU want to spend, with personal service and tour guides who are educated and experienced in giving visitors to their country the best possible visit. You will also get to skip the obligatory kitschy shopping stops.

Best of all, you will have the fun of connecting up with your fellow cruisers in advance, planning together, and then experiencing fabulous tours with people you've already established a connection with. Some of my private tours in the Med were among my favorite travel experiences of all time, and even years later I remain friends with some of the people I met on them.

My best private tours were in Monte Carlo, Marseille, & Cannes. Some ports I prefer to do on my own, only because I've been there so many times and know where I like to go: Rome, Florence, Portofino. But they all have many options for fabulous private tours.

Enjoy!

Many British, but nowhere near as many as on P & O or Fred Olsen, or Cunard.

We've always done our own thing re tours, easily arranged on-line.

Good advice from Mura re joining the Roll Call.:)

Hi

we are Brits,but choose Oceania for the great mix of nationalities on board ( we have forsaken P&0 and Fred.Odsen as they are too British!).

We are just about to take our 5th cruise(this time) on-board Riviera..............it's rather like coming home meeting lots of new people who become lots of new friends.

You'll have a great time

regards,

Josie