Overland tours participation and cancellation

[the more ports the better]

Any opinions on overland tours and if O ever cancels for lack of participation.  If they do, how much advanced notice do they give you.  My TA is having surgery so she is out for 2 months and I’d like to get this situated before she gets back.  Her assistant is fairly new so he does not really have any answers.
 

We will be in Yangon in May.  We plan to visit Bagan but not sure if we should risk it and go with a private tour or overland with O.  Bus tours have always been a hard no for us.  We have never booked one.  6 people is our preferred max group size.  Plus, I’ve read of tourists having encountered cobras in the corners of the temples on occasion and having just the two of us and our own local guide might be beneficial if this situation arises as opposed to a big group.  (Unless, maybe the O rep carries cobra anti-venom). 🙂 

 

We are in Yangon for three days and Bagan requires a flight and overnight stay.  We can get there in the afternoon on day 1 and go back to the ship late evening on day 2.  After day three in Yangon there are three sea days.  Flights in Myanmar seem to be dependable but politically it is unstable.  The leaders are in jail and the military is in control right now.

 

This is probably the only time we will go to Myanmar.  Because of the situation I am leaning towards booking O overland to see Bagan but do they ever cancel overland tours last minute if there is not enough participation.  I’ve seen them do this with shore excursions last minute many times.  If they do cancel, how much advance notice will we receive. We may try an independent tour with shore x Asia or one of the larger tour companies but this really is an unusual situation that may require an O excursion.

[osandomir]

59 minutes ago, the more ports the better said:

Any opinions on overland tours and if O ever cancels for lack of participation.  If they do, how much advanced notice do they give you.  My TA is having surgery so she is out for 2 months and I’d like to get this situated before she gets back.  Her assistant is fairly new so he does not really have any answers.
 

We will be in Yangon in May.  We plan to visit Bagan but not sure if we should risk it and go with a private tour or overland with O.  Bus tours have always been a hard no for us.  We have never booked one.  6 people is our preferred max group size.  Plus, I’ve read of tourists having encountered cobras in the corners of the temples on occasion and having just the two of us and our own local guide might be beneficial if this situation arises as opposed to a big group.  (Unless, maybe the O rep carries cobra anti-venom). 🙂 

 

We are in Yangon for three days and Bagan requires a flight and overnight stay.  We can get there in the afternoon on day 1 and go back to the ship late evening on day 2.  After day three in Yangon there are three sea days.  Flights in Myanmar seem to be dependable but politically it is unstable.  The leaders are in jail and the military is in control right now.

 

This is probably the only time we will go to Myanmar.  Because of the situation I am leaning towards booking O overland to see Bagan but do they ever cancel overland tours last minute if there is not enough participation.  I’ve seen them do this with shore excursions last minute many times.  If they do cancel, how much advance notice will we receive. We may try an independent tour with shore x Asia or one of the larger tour companies but this really is an unusual situation that may require an O excursion.

On US Travel Government website Myanmar has Level 4 DO NOT TRAVEL warning. I seriously doubt the cruise ships will visit Myanmar at all in the nearest future. 
 

We wanted to visit Myanmar and were booked on the cruise that unfortunately was canceled in the beginning of COVID pretty much at the same time when political unrest in this country escalated. It’s not clear to me why Oceania even allows reservations for the cruises with the extended stay in Rangoon at this point. Anyway we aren’t ready to book it again yet.

[the more ports the better]

I hope they don’t cancel but I’m afraid you are probably correct.  It looks like the 2024 sailing makes an additional stop in Indonesia then a stop in Sri Lanka and skips Myanmar.  The Bagan temples were one of the main reasons we booked this 2023 sailing.  I’m fairly convinced that soon a large portion of Asia is going to be off limits for the rest of my life time so I’m trying to get in as much as possible.

 

 We are starting this trip in Delhi, which I believe will be safe for travel for sometime but our next stop is Kathmandu and I think the days are numbered there, the Chinese are encroaching and moving the border further into Nepal regularly.  We then board Nautica in Singapore and sail through Malaysia Thailand Myanmar and Southern India then to the UAE which should both be ok for some time.

 

In 24 we sail from Bangkok thru Vietnam to Hong Kong which will most likely be substituted with Taipei, if China has not invaded yet.  If it has, the China sea will be off limits.  If we can pull any of this off, come spring 2024, we’ll stick to Europe, South America and Oceania.

 

only time will tell……

[osandomir]

On the other hand to answer your original question, assuming that you make it to Myanmar I really believe that Oceania overland to Bagan will never be canceled for luck of participation, any other reason but this. People book because of this particular overland and not too many of Oceania cruisers are actually up for the private tours that involve internal flights.

 

 I wish you good luck.

[tigerfan75]

We are on the Marina now.  We booked an O overland for Israel, scheduled in October port visit.  Of the entire ship, my wife and I were the only ones on the tour.  Others had canceled.  The tour ended up being a private one for the two days.

 

This may not be typical, and may be port dependent.  We were very happy that O continued to do the overland.

[the more ports the better]

Thanks so much for the info.  That sounds really encouraging in Israel.  I’ll go ahead and book the O tour!