Got Oceania ShoreEx? -- Be Aware!

[marne-c]

When you first board, and on the first day of any follow-on itineraries if you're on a B2B, you'll receive an envelope with your Shore Excursion tickets and a printed list of with brief details on each ShoreEx tour.  The last item in the ticket envelope is a note telling you in large, bold type to check the details of your booked ShoreEx in the printed list.

 

Here's why:  For MANY tours, there are changes, often significant changes, to the itinerary destinations, travel and visit timings, and other key tour features.  

 

Here is a photo two pages from a ShoreEx list from our Marina cruise.   Every tour highlighted with an arrow has IMPORTANT INFORMATION and/or IMPORTANT ADJUSTMENTS which cite differences from the ShoreEx descriptions you based your online booking decisions on.

 

 

 

Further, the meeting times printed on your tickets often (very often) differ from what your booked excursions specified.  Net-net, you really need to go through each and every ShoreEx you're ticketed for, and carefully read its updated details in the printed list to see if what your actual reality will be.

 

For this second leg of a B2B, we found that we needed to change or abandon 60% of our ShoreEx bookings based on the updated info.  

 

I don't know how common this blizzard of ShoreEx changes is across Oceania's offering.  But it is worth being aware of the possibility of ShoreEx changes, and being proactive in reviewing your tour expectations

 

--Marne

Edited May 12, 2023 by marne-c

[pinotlover]

We boarded Marina on February 27th and were likewise given a packet of newly canceled ports and adjusted port times. We found it interesting that Oceania took 2 hours off one of our ports, and subsequent tour, but didn’t believe that necessitated a shorex price reduction.

 

We signed up for ZERO Oceania shorex on our upcoming Vista cruise.

 

Thank You for posting this. Many of the Oblivious will never read those until the day of the tour.

[cruisemom42]

Thank you -- I've just added your warning to my cruise notes for upcoming Insignia cruise.

[marne-c]

@pinotlover and @cruisemom42:  You're very welcome!

 

 

--Marne

[sofietucker]

2 hours ago, pinotlover said:

We boarded Marina on February 27th and were likewise given a packet of newly canceled ports and adjusted port times. We found it interesting that Oceania took 2 hours off one of our ports, and subsequent tour, but didn’t believe that necessitated a shorex price reduction.

 

We signed up for ZERO Oceania shorex on our upcoming Vista cruise.

 

Thank You for posting this. Many of the Oblivious will never read those until the day of the tour.

Yes. And the problem with not signing up for O's excursions is the possibility that any private tours--always our first choice-- may not accommodate last-minute schedule changes... After they started changing times for next week's cruise, we cancelled some private ones for O's instead (using our free shorex credit) so that at least the scheduling issues will be on them, instead of us to guess at. And we've made other days free, to wander off the ship at will. Have also just reserved some cheap, flexible-all-day transportation. We like to plan! This uncertainty isn't fun for us. Damned if you do and damned if you don't. 

[pinotlover]

1 hour ago, sofietucker said:

Yes. And the problem with not signing up for O's excursions is the possibility that any private tours--always our first choice-- may not accommodate last-minute schedule changes... After they started changing times for next week's cruise, we cancelled some private ones for O's instead (using our free shorex credit) so that at least the scheduling issues will be on them, instead of us to guess at. And we've made other days free, to wander off the ship at will. Have also just reserved some cheap, flexible-all-day transportation. We like to plan! This uncertainty isn't fun for us. Damned if you do and damned if you don't. 

What we found was, the private operators already knew about the cancellations and port changes before Oceania informed us. In a couple instances, our tour guides were the ones to inform us of port cancellations.

 

As a businessman I have to be flexible and DO business to survive. We always found the our chosen tour operators to be flexible and accommodating. They do so to eat and support their families. Cancelling them and signing up with Oceania only rewards their arrogance.

[sofietucker]

On 5/12/2023 at 1:21 PM, pinotlover said:

What we found was, the private operators already knew about the cancellations and port changes before Oceania informed us. In a couple instances, our tour guides were the ones to inform us of port cancellations.

 

As a businessman I have to be flexible and DO business to survive. We always found the our chosen tour operators to be flexible and accommodating. They do so to eat and support their families. Cancelling them and signing up with Oceania only rewards their arrogance.

Point well taken.

[Mccarbe2]

On 5/12/2023 at 11:45 AM, sofietucker said:

Yes. And the problem with not signing up for O's excursions is the possibility that any private tours--always our first choice-- may not accommodate last-minute schedule changes... After they started changing times for next week's cruise, we cancelled some private ones for O's instead (using our free shorex credit) so that at least the scheduling issues will be on them, instead of us to guess at. And we've made other days free, to wander off the ship at will. Have also just reserved some cheap, flexible-all-day transportation. We like to plan! This uncertainty isn't fun for us. Damned if you do and damned if you don't. 

interested in finding out the ports  you found offering cheap flexible all day transportation?

[sofietucker]

42 minutes ago, Mccarbe2 said:

interested in finding out the ports  you found offering cheap flexible all day transportation?

 

After I posted this, I realized I'm not in out roll call, lol. Here ya go: https://www.whatsinport.com/index.html

 

We've found the "What's in Port" site has excellent info about independently making your way from the pier to "town," which varies widely from one port to the next. May involve trains, buses, trams, where to get tix, costs, etc.

 

Porto, https://www.whatsinport.com/Leixoes.htm

Or: Metro (from cruise terminal to downtown) https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g189180-d9705615-r629122969-Metro_do_Porto-Porto_Porto_District_Northern_Portugal.html

 

Bilbao: https://www.whatsinport.com/Bilbao.htm

 

(Bordeaux? Fuggedaboutit)

 

Lorient: easy 1/2 mile walk to city center

 

St Malo: tender to shore

 

Le Havre: https://www.whatsinport.com/Le-Havre.htm

 

London (Tilbury dock): train or bus into town, 45 minutes: https://www.whatsinport.com/London-City.htm

 

Bruges: https://www.whatsinport.com/Zeebrugge.htm

Edited May 15, 2023 by sofietucker