How are Oceania's excursions?

[tampadee]

I know Oceania is known for very expensive excursions but if some are included in the price, are they good?

 

We're planning a cruise to Mykonos, Rhodes, Ephesus, Patmos, and Satorini. These are the ports I'm interested in touring (haven't gotten so far as to see if we really need a tour in all of them).

 

Any information on Oceania's tours of these ports would be greatly appreciated.

 

Dee Dee

[skiladyldp]

I have taken them for my past two cruises and will take them for my next one. I find them to be good.

[Floridiana]

Don't know about these islands, but all our Oceania excursions were of good to excellent quality. They use the same vendors as everybody else if I am not mistaken.

You might want to peek into the Regent board. I believe Regent has had 'free' excursions for a while.

[hypercafe]

We took them on the Mayan Mystery trip. They were ok, same as I have gotten on other lines. In one port a NCL ship was with us, same busses, same guides, same tour. Difference is NCL was 69$ PP, Oceania 149$PP.

 

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[ronrick1943]

I would say good, but i enjoy booking ptv tour with my own driver--that why when we want to go back to the ship we can.............

Rick

[zoncom]

Most of your islands do NOT require a tour. Get some travel books. On WC recently many avoided O tours completely due to excessive cost.

[hondorner]

They're OK. Perhaps more expensive than others (I've sailed NCL, and theirs are less), but nothing wrong with them in general. Like anything else, some are not as good as others, but I've had some bum results with private excursions, as well. I've always take a healthy mix of ship excursions, private excursions and d-i-y exploration. Which I prefer has more to do with the port than with the excursions. For example, I tend to take ship excursions in more difficult areas. For example, private excursions in Japan generally use public transportation, and the language barrier is daunting. I prefer to stick with the ship group. I've seen too many episodes of Amazing Race in which taxis and private cars break down, run out gas, have a flat tire or simply get lost.

 

On our upcoming world cruise, the score is currently 37 ship excursions, 29 private, 3 overland ship excursions (like the 3 day Taj Mahal), 5 complimentary events that can only be taken with the ship groups, and 23 do-it-myself ports. I have turned down a couple of private excursions in favor of the ship, and cancelled several ship excursions as private ones become available.

 

In your case, we did Mykonos and Santorini on our own, and took part in an arranged private excursion to Ephesus.

 

If you have not already done so, look for a Roll Call for your cruise. If you provide more information (date and ship), we can help you find it.

[Mura]

Absolutely agree with Don.

 

I generally prefer private tours, DH likes ship's tours for the convenience. (I tend not to like the size of the group and the absence of leg room on the buses, but you can experience that on smaller vans as well.)

 

We've never had a really horrible tour. Some of have been better than others, both in the DIY category and the ship's tour category. And we HAVE had excellent ship's tours. Probably the ratio is more superior private tours than ship's tours, but I haven't kept score.

 

The longest cruise we've done is 24 days, which doesn't compare to the RTW cruise Don is contemplating! And when we did the 24 day cruise we were new to O, so aside from a few days when we joined with another couple and hired a private driver at port side, we did ship's tours. Since then we check our itinerary and decide where we want a private tour, and of course it depends on activity on the roll call.

 

Someone posted today that there are only two other posters on their Roll Call. That makes it difficult! So far we've been lucky to have more participants on our Roll Calls.

 

The main problem with ship's tours on O, of course, is the cost. Usually you can do better on your own. But that takes more work! I know fellow passengers who have booked private tours for the entire cruise and then looked for people to join.

 

In my case, I will book several tours on a cruise, depending on length of the itinerary and port, but I certainly do not want to book the whole thing. So far it has generally worked out, but I won't deny there have been some hairy moments.

 

Mura

[TrulyBlonde]

I happen to do both, some O and some private and it really depends on itinerary. On our recent Alaska cruise on Regatta, we did only O cruises and they are excellent.

When in Tuscany for example, (having been there many times) we opted for private tours to the Chianti region for wine tasting and 1st class luncheons.

 

We never risk "missing the ship" and that also reflects in our choices.

[Tansy Mews]

We're planning a cruise to Mykonos, Rhodes, Ephesus, Patmos, and Santorini. These are the ports I'm interested in touring (haven't gotten so far as to see if we really need a tour in all of them).

Dee Dee

 

You might want to look at Tom's Port Guides to get an idea of what options there are for visiting on your own.

http://www.tomsportguides.com/portguides.html#Katakolon_Olympia

 

There are other resources as well - including CC's port guides:

for example, Santorini

http://www.cruisecritic.com/ports/newport.cfm?ID=128

Here's a link to the others: http://www.cruisecritic.com/ports/area.cfm?area=15

 

I have only been on one O tour. We either do our own thing (the Baltic, for example) or join small group tours with other members of our Roll Call on CC. If it looked risky as far as time, I would consider going with a ship's tour. Don't want to miss the boat!

[mocrimlaw]

Thanks everyone - Tom's Port Guides was a fabulous tip!

[cruisr]

There is a huge mark up in a cruise line pricing for excursions. Onboard revenue, of which shorex is included, accounts for around 1/3 of a cruise line's revenue. If you are willing to pay more then you would by doing a little research and doing the port on your own or with a guide that has a good rep, then a cruise line's shorex is for you. Personally I have saved in some cases 50% by doing research and doing the port on my own or with a recommended guide/driver that I found on Cruisecritic or Tripadvisor.

[Lovesatq]

At this point of my cruising career, ports dictate which line I'm going to consider for excursions, Oceania or Regents. For instance, our last cruise Oceania stopped at many ports that you could walked off the ship and easily have a DIY day with some private tours for sights further out. However, we're now looking at a Med cruise and that's not the case along with the language barrier could be an issue so we're considering Regents because of the included excursions. An example of private vs Oceania excursion was the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland. We paid, I believe about 55 pounds per person vs. $300 if we took the Oceania offering. You really need to look at each port and decide what makes sense for you plus your comfort level. My brother won't under any circumstances take a private tour because he knows the ship won't wait for them if there's a problem and the the bus is late. I figure if by the very off chance there is a problem we probably could get to the next port on our own to meet the ship at the next port.

[LittleRedJohn]

We finished a lengthy Marina cruise last month. We took one ship excursion, because I couldn't find a non-ship excursion to my liking in that port. It was a fine excursion. We also signed up for a ship excursion at a port where I was afraid the ship might not dock. Sure enough, Oceania, which has a reputation for skipping ports, cancelled the stop. But I got my full excursion cost refunded. People with non-ship excursions in that port faced the loss of money. My advice is analyze every port and make a judgment of what you want and how to get it. Years ago, when we were in Santorini, we didn't sign up for any excursion and we took a municipal bus around. Had a great time, and the cost was nickels and dimes. LittleRedJohn