Nautica 35 Day Hong Kong to Athens Shore Excursions?

[Captain H]

We are booked on a 35 day Hong Kong to Athens cruise. Has anyone got recommendations as to which Oceania shore excursions are the best to take while on the cruise. Also any suggestions as to excursions engaged at the port of call appreciated. I can contact you offline for any names/email addresses of private excursion operators.

[KIWP]

We took the inaugural of thuis cruise in 2006 and it was fantastic...Agra (Taj), Petra and Luxor should not be missed.

 

The Agra trip is the most challenging since the airport there does not serve commercial traffic. Only military and charters. "O" charters a special plane for that. I don't know what the excursions cost (we paid $1,300.00) per person for that one in 2006 and it was worth every penny.

 

Jordan is an expensive country for non-Jordanians (we've visited the whole country on our own with a car and driver). You may want to do some price compares to hire someone vs. the "O" price...but the Petra/Wadi Rum excursion was a fabulous one and thoroughly enjoyed it with friends who were on board. You may miss out on the "camaraderie" factor if you do it on your own.

 

Luxor is amazing (have also done Egypt on our own and prefer it that way). Be careful if on your own because of the Egyptian rule of convoy travel when leaving the ship. Also be aware of the time element so that you will be back on board in time.

 

A great deal depends on your travel experience, spending capability and the destination. Perhaps others may want to join you and share costs if you go on your own. If you go on your own thoroughly research the viability of the company before paying...and pay by credit card NOT cash.

 

Whatever you do - ENJOY. It is a great itinerary and Oceania is wonderful.

[threeedogmedia]

KIWP, we too were on the HK to Athens cruise in 2006. I'm sure I would recognize you if I saw you again.... That was one #$% of a trip!

 

Anyway, we did Oceania private vans in many of the ports. I arranged the additional passengers via this board and the Yahoo message boards. I would do it again in a heartbeat except for Egypt. The cost was basically cheaper than if we booked tours individually. We changed from the van to the overnight in Luxor and would do it again without hesitation. It takes so long to get there that the extra time really gives you an opportunity to see so much more. That said, we took a van in Cairo and wished we were on the bus. There were no stops during the long drive to Cairo in the caravan and we were very uncomfortable without a bathroom stop. The bus on the other hand did have a bathroom and it would have been much better to travel this way. When we finally got to the pyramids, there were no bathroom facilities so we had to use the Oceania bus anyway.

 

In Athens, we had prearranged to use Sprios Halkides (***********@yahoo.com) for three days of sightseeing after our cruise. He was incredible and we've sent many friends his direction. If you need his telephone number, please let me know. His rates were very reasonable and he's a terrific guy. We let him plan our daily trips after we discussed what we liked and what we thought we wanted to see. If for some reason this board removes his email address from this post, maybe this url will make it through ********************. I just hate that we can't always recommend people on this site who have provided superior service. At least on the Yahoo board, we could send each other a private message with the details. Not so here. Let's just hope that when asked, we are allowed to give your our recommendations.

Karen

[threeedogmedia]

Well, as suspected, the board removed both the email address and the url for the web site. Can someone please tell me how we do this? It seems so darn unfair that we can't recommend someone when asked. I'm not trying to be difficult but this policy makes me so angry. How the heck are we supposed to find out who the good ones are if we can't give an answer to the question!?!

Karen

[Mura]

Karen,

 

In the past I've had luck posting my email address, asking people to write to ME if they wanted information.

 

But I agree with your comment! We should be able to provide recommendations. It's clear you aren't a shill touting your own business.

[threeedogmedia]

OK, let's try this again. If you want to contact me, regarding Spiros, I can be contacted at karensothermail. This is a yahoo account. Spiros happens to be *********** and he is also at yahoo. There is a web site and it's at athenstaxi. This is a net file not a com file. Normally, I wouldn't press the rules this much but for heavens sake, recommendations for tour operators that are great should be encouraged and not tossed out with the trash. If this doesn't work, I give up. Hop over to the yahoo message board and I can pm you with any information you want.

 

Karen

[gillianrose]

OK, let's try this again. If you want to contact me, regarding Spiros, I can be contacted at karensothermail. This is a yahoo account. Spiros happens to be *********** and he is also at yahoo. There is a web site and it's at athenstaxi. This is a net file not a com file. Normally, I wouldn't press the rules this much but for heavens sake, recommendations for tour operators that are great should be encouraged and not tossed out with the trash. If this doesn't work, I give up. Hop over to the yahoo message board and I can pm you with any information you want.

 

Karen

 

It's easy to find the person/company you recommend, including the email, since it is on TripAdvisor, and Cruise Critic is a TripAdvisor-branded site. ;)

[threeedogmedia]

Well I guess us old dogs can learn new tricks..... thanks for the heads up. This particular policy of not allowing us to recommend guides/agents etc when asked goes against what I believe sites like this are to do. How else will we ever know if we don't hear from other travelers who know the good ones to deal with? Anyway, I'll try your little trick and see what I find.

Thanks.

Karen

[LHT28]

Well I guess us old dogs can learn new tricks..... thanks for the heads up. This particular policy of not allowing us to recommend guides/agents etc when asked goes against what I believe sites like this are to do. How else will we ever know if we don't hear from other travelers who know the good ones to deal with? Anyway, I'll try your little trick and see what I find.

Thanks.

Karen

You can recommend private guides but not TA's

They must have some filters that blank out certain words in some URL's

http://www.oceaniacruises.com/default.aspx

If this one was blocked out you could just say Oceaniacruises dot com

 

use at instead of @ things like that

 

athens taxi dot net

[threeedogmedia]

On another thread, poster paulchili managed to get all of these links included in his original message and not one of the them was blanked out. See the clip below. It seems that these rules are hit and miss and in my humble opinion, quite unfair. I'll just forget about helping recommend anyone in the future. It's just too much of a hassle.

Karen

cbb,

After just having visited Meteora this year, I would put this at or very near the top of my recommendations for tours in Greece. Especially as it can be easily combined with a trip to Delphi as either a 2 or 3 day trip. Do not miss Meteora!

Here is one company that offers that tour (as well as many other tours):

http://www.allgreecetravel.com/tours-cruises/delphi-meteora-3days-tour.asp

Next on my list would be Corinth, Mycenae, Napflion & Epidaurus (Argolis tour):

http://www.allgreecetravel.com/tours-cruises/argolis-classical-tour.asp

Do not know anything about Olympia.

Check out some of these sites and pick a tour(s) that appeal to you most in price, timing, etc:

www.antelope-travel.com

www.keytours.gr

www.greeka.com

www.fantasy.gr

Have fun researching!

Paul

[Palmetto Lady]

My husband and I and two friends took the private van (booked through the ship) to the pyramids. For the four of us, it wasn't that much more expensive than the ship's regular tour. I booked the regular tour originally, but my husband had been sick with pneumonia and I wanted the flexibility to return to ship when we desired. We did have a bathroom stop on the way there as well as on the return trip. It was not the most desirable place, but then a bus isn't either.