Thoughts on Oceania Tours ??

[roger b]

Having read through a lot of the reviews on Cruise Critic, it seems that the most talked about topic is the outrageous price of the companies tours.

Why do they have to make charges for tours that can be done at considerably cheaper prices privately.

As Oceania Cruises have an older cliental who do not trust doing their own thing they are taking advantage of the people who have not where with all to do it for themselves.

I would like to see what other Cruise Critic Bloggers think.

[papa B me]

I have been researching luxury/premium cruises for about 6 months now and like you I have read many comments and threads regarding the costs of their excursions. I have narrowed my search down to Oceania and Regent. Here is my opinion as to why the costs are so high. Oceania has carved out a unique place in the cruise industry. Clearly from all the reviews and comments I've read they have created a line focused highly on food and have equaled if not surpassed many of the luxury cruise lines. They also have created suites that are superior to many of the luxury line(especially the higher end suites such as owners, vista, and oceania) at a price considerably less then the luxury lines. So they are appealling to a specific segment of the cruising poplulation that food and accomodations are important to at a price that can be 30-40% less then the luxury lines. So they are using their excursions and alcohol as a major profit center to compensate for the money they put into food and the lesser price they charge for often a nicer ship. So it gives the consumer the option to go the all inclusive route of a Regent or do it yourself route of excursions and choose the alcohol plan of your choice with Oceania. The demographic that sails with Oceania that chooses the excursions or excursions package from Oceania due to conveniece, saftey, health reasons, etc. can at least pick and choose what is best for them as opposed to the all inclusive pricing. With all that said, I'm still having a difficult time making my final choice between Oceania and Regent and excursions are a major reason. However, I believe this has been a good business decision on Oceania's leadership to carve out this niche. So I do wish the excursions were less expensive but I can see why they are not based on the model they've created. Just one man's opinon based on months of research for an upcoming 2016 cruise.

[Arusha]

As Oceania Cruises have an older cliental who do not trust doing their own thing they are taking advantage of the people who have not where with all to do it for themselves.

I would like to see what other Cruise Critic Bloggers think.

 

I disagree with your statement. If older cruisers don't want to take O's excursions, they can cruise on other lines that also cater to older cruisers (HAL,...) that presumably have cheaper excursions. It's all about choices. No one is forcing older cruisers to sail on O or take their excursions.

[Merriem]

Having read through a lot of the reviews on Cruise Critic, it seems that the most talked about topic is the outrageous price of the companies tours.

Why do they have to make charges for tours that can be done at considerably cheaper prices privately.

As Oceania Cruises have an older cliental who do not trust doing their own thing they are taking advantage of the people who have not where with all to do it for themselves.

I would like to see what other Cruise Critic Bloggers think.

 

Oops! Just because someone might be older has nothing to do with their level of adventure!

[Noxequifans]

While the O offered excursions are not inexpensive, we have booked some from time to time. I have never felt the price was outrageous or designed to take advantage of anyone. One has a number off options ... book private tours, join in tours organized on the Roll Call boards, go ashore by yourself, take local taxis, or stay on board. Each has to make their own value judgement. The features of O excursions that have appealed to us are they are easy to book, the itinery is defined, the vendor has proper insurance and O does monitor the quality. Also, they can be easily cancelled. We also viewed the price in the context of the entire cost/benedit package. From OPs message starting the thread it seems they are not the right fit for them.

Edited September 28, 2014 by Noxequifans

[Travelcat2]

Also disagree about the age of Oceania's clientele. While Caribbean and long itineraries tend to have much older passengers, the shorter itineraries and summer itineraries skew much younger. Some of us take private tours (or small groups set up through Roll Call) because we simply don't want to do a bus tour and prefer to do our own thing (many times more active than Oceania's excursions).

 

Although expensive, the excursions through the Culinary Center are amazing -- worth every penny (IMO).

 

Oceania and Regent use the same tour operators so the tours are likely similar. When you do pay for an excursion with Regent, the cost is about half of what you would pay on Oceania. However, Regent fares do include excursions which many people do not like.

 

On our upcoming cruise, because it is in the Caribbean, we are not booking any excursions. Instead, we have booked a couple small group snorkeling tours.

[CintiPam]

Well, from day one we have felt that the excursions are over-priced and now that we are taking our seventh Oceania cruise in January, we have yet to go on one of them. I prefer not to be waiting on 30 other people or stand in lines at ladies' restrooms.

 

We always are active on our roll calls and book private tours ourselves or through our roll call friends. So far, all but one have worked out great.

 

Another plus is that I actually enjoy the research involved in setting up our tours. The ports of call forums really are terrific in recommending tour companies, for which I then check their reviews on sister website tripadvisor.

Edited September 28, 2014 by CintiPam

[no fuss travel]

The only day I wished on my last cruise was when we were in Colombo. Our private tour was late getting back to the ship as the traffic is awful. Lucky for us an Oceania tour was later getting back then we were. On my next cruise, I have booked all private tours except for one. It is a long distance to where the tour goes and I do not want to go through the anxiety that we had in Colombo getting back to the ship. Also knowing where the tour is going, we will bypass the lineups at the sites which makes things much nicer for the passengers.

[LHT28]

it is a personal choice

some just prefer the ship's tours & willing to pay for them

 

some choose to DIY

 

Some choose to do private tours & maybe share with others on the ship

 

There is no right or wrong thing to do

Do what works best for you & do not worry about other people & how they choose to spend THEIR $$

[hypercafe]

We take the ship tours just because

They are 2 & 3 times as expensive however they are good, same as all lines. Its your choice.

 

Sent from my XT1032 using Forums mobile app

[rubysue]

We do a mix. I don't move well and can't stand for long periods of time, so quite often the easy or moderate ship tours are just right. We also do our own private tours for just the two of us or do our own activities in a port. We have also done tours with a small group, and that is probably our least favorite solution right now (yes, I know that is probably not a popular viewpoint). We booked sufficient tours on our upcoming cruise to get the 25% discount (we got our refund last week after some nudging by our TA).

[Waynetor]

There is no doubt that O's excursions are higher priced than similar on other lines but part of their marketing is to offer discounts if you book enough plus they offer higher OBC for passenger loyalty than other lines which sounds nice but just helps offset the higher excursion cost.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Does anyone have objective evidence that their prices are higher than, say, Seabourn or Silversea? I know we can't compare to Regent any more, but just wondering.

[Travelcat2]

We have been on three Silversea cruises. Many Silversea excursions are twice the price of Regent excursions and Oceania's are higher than Silversea. Note: We last sailed on Oceania in May, 2014 and on Silversea September 2014.

[Bowie MeMe]

When booking excursions it is sometimes hard to get a direct comparison! Lunch on a ship excursion in Baltic had caviar and vodka along with entertainment of folk dancers in costume and musicians in a historic building. The private tour had sandwiches and fruit in the van as you went to the next place. Both described as City tour with lunch.

 

Often if there are limited facilities like one major site or attraction, the ship excursion is the big gorilla paying for front of the line or even closing of the attraction and private tours don't get in (happened to us on our first few cruises many long years ago so maybe our tendency to go with ship tours). Another of the big gorilla factors is that guides tend to take the lower pay of ship for the better chance of getting paid at all -- marketing, communication, no-show customers all are problems for the small business tour guide and the pay check from the ship company is more secure with less additional time and money for the guide. There has also been problems with "wonderful guide" getting rather famous and handing work over to other folks like his brother-in-law who might not be the "wonderful guide" you were expecting. It is always too late when you are off the ship and on the way to the mini-van to do anything about it at that point but hope for the best. You might have less people to wait on in the bathroom but more stops at "my cousin's gift shop" for bathroom and fine jewelry buying opportunities :D

 

Make your own decision. Love it or learn from it. Don't worry about others who made different decisions. Celebrate choice and don't try to figure out how someone else spends their money. Makes for a happier life.

[Mura]

While I prefer independent tours, DH is very happy with the ship's tours, so we do a mix. I just don't like the larger crowds on a ship's tour and sometimes I really don't care for the tour that is offered. It depends on where we are.

 

But even though I prefer DIY tours, I do not tell anyone never to take a ship's tour, as some others do. Yes, O charges more for the ship's tours but many don't care about that. If you don't care, then take the ship's tour. You may more pay more you might otherwise, but if that doesn't bother you go for it.

 

Also, for people who are nervous about going out on their own, ship's tours are a good option. I've often mentioned the ship's tour we took in a small town in Chile where our bus broke down and it took 90 minutes to get a replacement bus to us. If we'd been on a DIY tour, it would have been very difficult to get to the next port. As it was, the non-tour passengers had extra time in port ... They just waited for us to get back and took the tender with us.

 

Mura

[hondorner]

Smaller ships have fewer passengers. If many of those passengers eschew the ship excursions, there are yet fewer candidates for ship tours. Cruise lines like Oceania only visit specific ports sporadically, unlike mainstream lines that repeat the same cruise all season.

 

Tour companies know this, and may charge less to the larger ships for many more passengers per season.

 

Private excursions are fine, but they are limited to a few by their very nature. One tour company with 4 buses can take 160 guests; one private tour guide with one or two minivans can take 6 to 12. Some folks on this forum always state "go private". There are very few ports with enough quality private guides to handle everyone. Ship tours are the only alternative.

 

I prefer private tours, also, but they are not always a viable choice. In some cases, like Komodo Island, they are not possible. We are, by necessity, taking a mix on the World Cruise.

[PSahoy]

Is it better to book pre-departure or can one wait until onboard to book? In other words how quickly does O's own tours sell out? Thanks in advance for any experiences in this regard.

[LHT28]

Is it better to book pre-departure or can one wait until onboard to book? In other words how quickly does O's own tours sell out? Thanks in advance for any experiences in this regard.

 

It depends on the tour

If it is very popular then you probably should pre book

 

This is an extreme example

We stopped in Murmansk ..we had pre booked a tour those that waited were out of luck & you could not get off the ship unless you had a tour booked

 

Lyn

[Mura]

But Lyn, as I recall that was very unusual. We had booked Murmansk in advance as well, but there just weren't local guides available.

 

We have been known to book a ship's tour on the morning of the day in question. Not that I recommend doing so and I'm not saying you'll never have a problem if you do so.

 

But in general you can book once on board without a problem. Remember, in the days before the internet no one could book in advance! And on occasion a tour gets cancelled because not enough people have signed up.

 

It can also depend on your particular itinerary. Also, depending on your itinerary it can be to your advantage to check the roll call and see if there are private tours that attract you. I know that not everyone wants to do private tours! I'm not trying to coerce you to a private tour if you prefer ship's tours ... but in general you can wait until you board to book a tour.

 

Maybe not if you want to go to a place like the Alhambra. Tours like that sell out VERY quickly. But the ship doesn't sell all places on a tour before anyone has boarded. So, I'd suggest that if you do want ship's tours, go down to Destinations as soon as you board to see what is available.

 

Mura

[LHT28]

But Lyn, as I recall that was very unusual. We had booked Murmansk in advance as well, but there just weren't local guides available.

 

 

Mura

 

That is why I said it was an extreme example ;)

 

We have seen some tours book up well in advance usually to places that are not easy to find local guide or far from the port

 

Others are no problem usually

[dorisis]

Oops! Just because someone might be older has nothing to do with their level of adventure!

 

You betcha. I am close to 90 and still like to plan my own tours. Usually with others on my roll call.

[Bowie MeMe]

Cruise Critic is the place that many frequent cruisers come to learn about ports and tours and for the very purpose of setting up tours with like minded others. They also have been know to (on rare occasions) come to the boards with the attitude that they are slightly superior beings in the travel experience department and certainly better than average at getting a deal.:p Perhaps sometimes DIY do better and Heaven forbid! sometimes the ship's tour which is more expensive is worth it.

 

The price of shore excursion is not very much compared to the cost of a long and exotic voyage to far off lands. Why would I pay so much to go so far and then cheap out on the unknown of a tour guide that one person recommends (not to mention that I don't know the person or understand their value system and decision making process) on opinion boards.

 

Shore excursions like all other travel decisions come down to "am I willing to spend my money on choice A or does choice B seem better with the information that I have on hand". Working with such a small group of contributors in such a big world -- private guides can not satisfy even small ship's passenger load. AS ALWAYS YOUR EXPERIENCE MAY TURN OUT DIFERENTLY THAN MINE. I really appreciate the community that helps me plan my trips but that help is limited to usually one experience.

[PSahoy]

Thanks. My itinerary is Dubai to Singapore. I already have O's multi-day overland tours booked in Mumbai and Myanmar but it sounds like from the last post I won't get shut out, at least for the most part, I won't get shut out if I book once on board. Appreciate the pops

[PSahoy]

Er, that's "pov's"