Oceania Barcelona to Lisbon Cruise, June 2018

[Jackplot]

I will be on the Oceania Riviera, with friends, from Barcelona to Lisbon in June. We are in the process of choosing excursions. I was wondering if anyone can help with excursions offered through Oceania for this itinerary. There seem to be a lot to choose from and they are pricey as well. The ports of call for this cruise are Toulon France, St. Tropez France, Livorno Italy, Civitavecchia Italy, Alicante Spain, Malaga Spain, Seville Spain and Lisbon Portugal. Can anyone recommend excursions that they did through Oceania that are worthwhile for each of these ports? Also, any bad experiences as well. Has anyone used an outside tour company? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.

[gbits]

I have been on 2 Oceania cruises and did not use the ship's excursions either time because I was able to find outside tour operators that did more for much less with far fewer in the group. You should join the roll call for your cruise & see if others have formed tours or put your own together and post those on roll call if you need to find others to join to make it more economical. As for tour companies, I used Sicily by Mario in Livorno to take us to Lucca & Florence and we were very happy with him. We started in Rome and did a full day tour with Best of Rome tours - our guide, Francesca was great & we had our son use her last October when Rome was the 1st stop on his honeymoon cruise & he loved her too. But be forewarned - the port is a long way (about 1 1//2 hours) from the tourist area so you must be very careful planning your day if using an outside tour. Have not been to your other ports but my son's cruised stopped in Toulon. Can't remember who I booked him with but he was not happy with them at all so if I could remember I would tell you to avoid them. Good luck planning!

 

 

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[Kate-AHF]

I don't take ship's tours much anymore. Unless it's a port where I'm just unable to put something together myself. That could mean booking a private tour, or it could mean putting together a list of sights to see during the day, and planning on how to get around. -And you are right, O's tours are expensive

 

Does someone in your group have the time, inclination and enthusiasm to spend a fair amount of time putting together private tours? If you are travelling with a small group, you've got a ready-made number to book a private tour and that puts you ahead of the game. But someone is going to have to do a fair amount of research and spend some time on this. Some folks, like myself, just live to do this kind of thing. Others view it as a big headache. The enthusiasm component is a big one.

 

I would first poll the group to see if there are two "must-see" or bucket list sights they have in mind over the course of the cruise (not in every port, because you can't make everyone happy, but you may be able to hit at least one sight for each person). Some folks have opinions, and just as many have a "build it and we will come" mentality and are just happy to show up. Using that information, start reading the "ports" section of cruise critic, and also destination reports on trip advisor (you can usually narrow it down under "things to do" to just "tours". Start jotting down tour operators and trips that are mentioned positively, then go to their websites to see what tours are available and the cost.

 

For planning purposes and what there is to see in port, check out Tom's Port Guides. https://www.tomsportguides.com/

 

Seville is a must-see city, but is an hour drive from Cadiz. O will have a guided tour, or you can book transportation to the old quarter and back to the ship with SpainDay tours and plan a walking tour on your own. Just google "self-guided walking tours" plus the city name. Also check to see if Rick Steves has put one together.

 

For Malaga, there is a definitive post on seeing the city right on cruise critic. Titled "What to do in Malaga" it's started by a native, with a WEALTH of information. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2268599

For Lisbon, we use Top Ten Tours. Super, super guides, nice vehicles. We are using them for a third time this spring. If your group is younger, look into http://wehatetourismtours.com/

Be aware of drive times as gbits said earlier. Florence is a ways from Livorno. Rome is 1 1/2 hours from Civitavecchia. And be aware that you are going at the height of the season, so there will be CROWDS. And it will likely be quite hot, particularly in Spain.

One last thought.... Plan a port or two where you just get off the ship and take a HOHO bus, or something similar, or just wander to find a cafe and people watch. If there are no sea days, touring the Med is unbelieveable exhausting.

Have a great cruise!

Edited February 3, 2018 by Kate-AHF
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[roothy123]

If you want something different in Lisbon, and if you're there long enough to sightsee, given that you (I think) disembark there, I would recommend "Bike My Side" as a wonderfully different way to tour the wonderful city of Lisbon. By the way, be sure to get up to see the sail-in to Lisbon - pretty nice sail in!

 

Malaga was an easy city to sightsee on our own. We took public buses and snooped around - up the castle, bull ring, down to the water, etc.

 

I loved Cadiz, although we took the train to Seville and bus back, and only got to see Cadiz in the evening. But it was a nice city, and I loved walking along the sea wall down to the beach, where vacationers were awaiting the sunset by the lighthouse.

 

Barcelona is, of course, a wonderful city.

 

Sounds like a wonderful cruise, although I haven't been to all the ports you've listed.

 

Kate and Gbits have given great info. As for ship tours, I seldom do any, so can't really comment on those. However, I DO look at the excursion information on O's website early on to get information on what kinds of things are available to see and do. I also look at Tom's Port Guides, the Port of Call section of Cruise Critic and other reference material, plus join the Roll Call to look for opportunities to share excursions.

[Mura]

Like many others, we tend to either do our own tours or wander on our own. With oLife we've been taking the ship's tours they offer since they are "free" -- not really, but if you choose carefully you come out ahead.

 

For Lisbon, though, we have favorites that one can do on your own. We've been there many times on our own so know the city pretty well.

 

Do you like museums? Two of our favorites are the Tile Museum and the Gulbenkian. Easily accessible by cab or metro. (We usually take cabs.) The Tile Museum is a former convent which shows off tiles from the Arab days til now. There is a beautiful chapel inside. We have been there 4-5 times now and it never bores us.

 

Gulbenkian was a Turk who made a fortune in oil and offered his art collection after WWII to a country that would take him in. Portugal won the bid. This is not a large museum but it has something from just about everything. You start out with Greco-Roman artifacts, go on to european and islamic art, oriental art, later on furniture, silver ... it's amazing that one person could have collected all of these beautiful objects.

 

When we were there in June 2017 we discovered a new (to us) modern art museum on the grounds, also very interesting.

 

You can take the 128 tram up from the bottom of the business district to the top to get the view from St. Georges ...

 

There is so much in Lisbon that you can see on your own.

 

Yes, when you only have one day in port a guide can make a more efficient visit. But Lisbon is one of our favorite European cities (if not THE favorite) and can be done on your own.

 

I would NOT advise going to Sintra. We did so a number of years ago and loved it. But when we were there this past June the crowds were horrendous. I won't go back! I find that very disappointing ... You CAN go by train (it takes about an hour from central Lisbon) and then take the "loop" bus to see the various sites ... but based on our June experience it's just become TOO popular. Given that we were there in mid-late summer on a weekend, maybe it wouldn't be so bad at other times of the year.

 

Good luck. I think you will love Lisbon as much as we do.

 

As to Alicante, on our first visit we had a wonderful private tour. When we were there more recently we did a ship's tours which was excellent. This was the Discover Villajoyosa & Altea tour, but I don't know if it will be available on your cruise.

 

Two times when we were in Malaga we did tours to the Alhambra, but the last time we just went around on our own. It was a lovely day. Many people seem to get "out of town" to go to Granada or elsewhere, but Malaga itself is well worth a closer look.

 

You shouldn't be afraid to do these places on your own.

 

Mura