Oceania Nautica Asia, 3/7/2017 have you done pre/pos land to Terracota and Angkor Wat

Dear all:

I will cruise on March 7, 2017 and I would like to have info about the pre and post Oceania land programs (Terracota Warriors and Angkor Wat). Are they well organized and good? It is safe to travel with those Asian carriers? (the flight to Xian is MU292).

Or it is better just to stay in Shanghai and Bangkok before and after the cruise to know the cities on your own/join independent excursions?

Also if you had done this trip before, can you give me please suggestions about Oceania shore excursions to the ports Shanghai, Hiroshima, Kyoto, Xiamen, Hanoi, Hue, Saigon, Sihanoukville and Bangkok? Are they worth?

Thanks a million, sortuda

Maybe it would be a good idea to check out your roll-call for this voyage

http://www.cruisecritic.com/rollcalls/nautica-march-7-2017/

Apart from the price which still seem ridiculous we took the following tours while on our Tokyo to Bangkok, all of which were very well organised.

Kyoto -Traditional Kyoto

Hanoi- this is a very long day we took a tour on a junk in Halong Bay

Hue- Imperial Hue however on a previous trip we had been to Hoi An which is absolutely beautiful hard to choose on this one.

Saigon easy to do on you own we took a tour with Saigon Hot Pots

Bangkok we had booked the Royal Canals which was cancelled but don't miss a tour with the highlights and palaces.

However each to his own don't know your interests but do some research on trip advisor and on the port destinations with reviews.

Happy planning

Rosalyn

Dear all:

 

I will cruise on March 7, 2017 and I would like to have info about the pre and post Oceania land programs (Terracota Warriors and Angkor Wat). Are they well organized and good? It is safe to travel with those Asian carriers? (the flight to Xian is MU292).

 

Or it is better just to stay in Shanghai and Bangkok before and after the cruise to know the cities on your own/join independent excursions?

 

Also if you had done this trip before, can you give me please suggestions about Oceania shore excursions to the ports Shanghai, Hiroshima, Kyoto, Xiamen, Hanoi, Hue, Saigon, Sihanoukville and Bangkok? Are they worth?

 

Thanks a million, sortuda

The answer depends on what YOU would like to see more -Terracote Warriors/Angkor Wat OR Shanghai and Bangkok. Only you know the answer to that.

If money is a consideration, you can do all options a lot cheaper and more to your liking on your own; if you would feel "safer" doing it with Oceania and willing to pay more for the convenience then that is the way to go.

For shore excursions you should join your roll call - as suggested above. Perhaps you can join others on their private tours.

We did the Angkor Wat tour last year leaving Saigon and returning to Singapore. Definitely was worth the money. Only issue was the flights that O arranged. More from the standpoint of convenience. Rather than a direct flight from Siem Reap to Sin. They used a connection through Phnom Penh.

As far as sights. The temples are better than the clay warriors.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Thank you so much for all your answers. They are very helpful.

An important info would be if I can purchase right there nice local excursions if I book only the 3 days pre/post hotel with Oceania? I am interested in knowing the best of Shanghai and Bangkok. I feel insecure buying this in advance, paying and having problems if I have to cancel the trip.

Is it easy to do this also in each port? Or is it better to reserve and pay all in advance?

I hope I can meet all of you. We are a fun couple.

Sortuda

Thank you so much for all your answers. They are very helpful.

 

An important info would be if I can purchase right there nice local excursions if I book only the 3 days pre/post hotel with Oceania? I am interested in knowing the best of Shanghai and Bangkok. I feel insecure buying this in advance, paying and having problems if I have to cancel the trip.

Is it easy to do this also in each port? Or is it better to reserve and pay all in advance?

 

I hope I can meet all of you. We are a fun couple.

 

Sortuda

You've already been told to go to your Roll Call. Now, I'm going to add that you should go to the Port of Call board for Asia:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=70

This is where past travelers and locals offer advice about tour providers, itineraries, and more. After reading the threads for your ports of call, hopefully, you'll feel far less anxious about alternatives to Oceania's shore excursions. At the least, you'll get a better sense of which destinations you'll want to see when you're in port whether touring privately or with ship-sponsored excursions.

As a generalization, the people who post on the Port of Call Boards whether for Asia or any of the other destinations, prefer making private travel arrangements than booking Oceania's shore excursions.

you should probably know that in many of the ports, Oceania has a free shuttle that will take you to a certain drop off/pick up place that makes it easy to do some ports on your own.

You will be docked miles away from city center Bangkok and many use O tours just for this reason; there is never a fear that you will miss the ship's departure due to Bangkok's heavy traffic.

BTW...we did Xian and warriors and Angkor Wat with O's excursions and have nothing but high praise. We'd never been to either before and it took away a lot of stress with arranging air and hotels.

I personally would choose to go to Xian & AW--we loved both and are truly wonders of the world.

Our guide at A Wat took us to the various sites and turned us loose every time, after arranging the time to meet back at the bus. We never felt hurried or felt the need to "stay with the group." The hotel was gorgeous.

Xian was more structured but we were allowed to see the warriors at our own pace which was great. It also rained there so we were less likely to want to wander!!

Both guides were wonderful and can't be praised enough, especially Lindsey in Xian...one of the best i've ever had.

Several on our cruise did A Wat on their own having been there before and had a great time but they knew what flights and hotels they wanted. (one of them was a great organizer so she did most of the work!)

We found the Excursion people on board absolutely wonderful to work with and they can do all sorts of things for you. Have a great cruise