IWantToLiveOverTheSea

Ports are crammed right now. I'm not totally surprised. Maybe the ports have been forced to "overbook" their berths right now. I'm watching what happens with my cruise later this year. There were about 5 ships that I "watched" go to one port where we're supposed to tender. All five docked, including the O ship I'll be on. So I'm hoping we'll dock there. I don't mind tendering, but it DOES complicate things a little.

Thank for that church/temple Deano. It sounds right up my alley, and does make me want to hire a car. And yes, I think you're definitely on my cruise. I've been researching a lot, but still have a lot to do. Have you joined the Cruise Critic Roll Call for your (our?) cruise? It can be found under the "Boards" under Roll Call section. It's not highly active, but there are other people besides me signed up. A couple people are looking for others to join tours. My disappointments so far (although few!) are that the "Mirroir" (pictured) in Bordeaux doesn't operate until we're gone, and that our Biarritz stop is on a national holiday - no car rental places open, and other things might be closed. And someone indicated the port (St Jean de Luz) is sometimes missed. Of course missed ports DO occur. My last cruise, however, had none in 12 days, so I was very happy. We were in Perth pre-Covid start. Met those furry friends on Rottnest! Here's Mirroir....when operating is empty, then mist and water, then reflection. Steve Rhodes, a Viking passenger, took the shot.

We took a bus up to Castelmola - higher up. Enjoyed walking around there.

All aboard will likely be 4:30, assuming you're on Oceania, and you're not tendering.

Well, at least one cruise line doesn't even post the times in their itineraries. And in my opinion, people on that line as a whole are more vocal/leaning towards perfectionists/less flexible than the people we've cruised with on Oceania. They would be yelling and screaming if they got a letter saying something was changed. (Hhmm...maybe that's why the cruise line doesn't post times?) I like that cruise line a lot, but I feel a little uncomfortable booking unless I have a general idea of how long we'll be in each port, even if it changes a little from the initial itinerary made long ago.

We disembarked a day early when our flight home to DC was canceled (Cathay Pacific, 2020) and rescheduling was very hard. We did get permission from Oceania pre-cruise, confirmed arrangements on the ship, and on last day did a face to face immigration check on the ship before departing. No fee or issue.

I don't think Oceania is holding people hostage in Le Verdon, but I'd love to hear from someone who was on Marina this summer/fall when she cruised down the Garonne to Bordeaux. We have excursions listed (Medoc wine estates, and/or Bordeaux, all ending in Bordeaux) for our stop in Le Verdon. As previously stated, stops in Le Verdon are due to the tide situation at time of arrival. (The Port of Bordeaux website warns of strong tide fluctuations and has a link to tide tables.) I'm thinking of staying on the ship for our cruise down to Bordeaux. But I'm unsure of what I'll do for the 3 hours we wait for the tides to change. So if anyone has been in Le Verdon recently (or even not recently), could you please post what there was available when you visited? Was there a shuttle to the town of Soulac or somewhere else, as some cruisers have reported in the past? One or two taxis? Were you there at night, so nothing? There are a couple things near by I'd like to see, but they may be too far for me to walk. Thanks to the person who posted about the train station.

Our cruise (smaller ship, 3 months out) has only 2 rooms (in two categories) available to book. All other categories show "wait listed." Two months ago there were only 6 rooms/suites. Yes, contact Oceania if you want to be wait listed on a particular cruise. But I'd also look at alternative cruises/dates. We've only been put on a wait list once, for a different room category than the one we had booked. So I don't know what the chances of you getting on a particular cruise might be. However, it's my opinion that the more unusual itineraries on the smaller ships are the ones that fill up first. And right now, everyone wants to cruise, so things may be filling up faster than usual.

We cruise in 3 months (Europe 13 days), and so far nothing has changed for us, and we haven't received a letter. It's my belief that not that many people spend more than 6 or 7 hours in most ports, so in reality, they won't suffer. With cruising, there's seldom enough time to see/do everything, but I research, prioritize, plan, and then give it a try! However, I seldom spend more than 7 hours ashore. I'm happy to come back and relax a little. Why cruise on a wonderful cruise line (and pay more for it) if all you want to do is stay ashore and not enjoy some of the things that the cruise line offers? Somebody has to start worrying about this planet. I'm OK with what Oceania is doing. And given their port-intensive itineraries, they probably use a lot of fuel.

Yes, boat or bus. Not sure of timing of each, however, and this was a while ago (started cruising O on 2004!) And with the bus we apparently got off above Positano, and walked down. But maybe the boat will take you closer.

Great info. May want to add a couple notes to the last list you can find (yes, list can be edited!) and then copy and paste to post a new list here. There's no real list owner who automatically updates the list. So it's much better if people edit and update so others don't have to hunt around a lot. I think it's safe to list Messina as something like "dock in front of city centre, no shuttle needed." Of course, it the berth(s) are full, a ship may have to tender and may drop somewhere else. But that really applies to a lot of lines/ships/occasions, so ALL of the info on this thread must be taken as subject to be different on any given cruise. As for Great Stirrup Cay, I'm not sure how to reflect it!

Was it called Bamboo Kitchen? I had that in my notes, no doubt obtained from something you wrote. I didn't have time to visit, but my notes say something like "at the end of the Capuhan Ridge Walk, instead of going to Karsa Kafe, continue on maybe 5-10 minutes." And it has now been reviewed on Trip Advisor, with someone saying it was a bit hard to find, "But there is a small junction near Sinar Spa (highly recommended) and there you walk into the ricefields, just a short pleasant walk. The place is very cosy, with nice breeze. Lovely owner and really the best sate ayam and yummy peanut sauce during our two months stay on Bali."

Dewa took us to Semar Kuning also. Very enjoyable and very good food. My spouse has a bit of a picky stomach too. But he never had trouble in Bali. However, I've read that often it's simply because people eat too many of the abundant fruits served there - and also drink too much alcohol!

I just looked back at my pictures at https://pbase.com/roothy123/italy_greece_malta&page=all I didn't note whether we tendered or docked, just that we explored Amalfi a little and then took a public bus down to Positano and back. The What's in Port site might tell you if Amalfi has a port. But I don't remember one.

I don't think so. Amalfi and Positano are different towns but close together. If Oceania suspects or knows it will tender, there is an anchor symbol next to a port on the itinerary. I assume they do that on their website, but I don't remember for suere. But when you book, and get your guest statement, it has a page for the itinerary. You'll see an anchor there. I said when Oceania "suspects or knows" there will be tendering because occasionally it's assumed tendering will be needed in a port, but things can change. If there's nobody in the port on that day, and there's an appropriately sized berth for a particular cruise ship, the cruise ship may end up docking. The assignments are made by the port authority, not the cruise line. Of course, some ports don't have berths long enough or deep enough to allow cruise ships to dock. If that's the case, you'll definitely tender. There's obviously some uncertainty involved, but sometimes things change for the better. And a lot can change. Itineraries are made up quite a while in advance, without regard to every little detail (for example, ferry schedules in a port). For our next cruise (April) the itinerary calls for tendering in the Spanish port of Santander. But this summer/fall I "watched" on Marine Traffic a number of ships, including Marina, pull up at a dock there. And one day there were two ships there. So I'm assuming we'll actually dock unless there are a lot of ships on the day we're there and we need to tender. Some people get really concerned about tendering/missing ports, and some people don't like doing it. But to me it's really not all that bad a thing. And at least Oceania gets the independent souls off the ship fairly quickly, which is good. As for a situation in which you see something like "Biarritz (Saint-Jean-de-Luz)" the first name is the tourist area and the name in parens is the actual port city. Usually the tenders are short and you're taken to a good location ashore. But in a case like "Seville (Cadiz)" you actually dock in Cadiz, a 1.5 to 2 hour drive or train/bus ride from Seville. Of course, if your itinerary says simply "Seville" you will cruise to Seville. The smaller O ships can do that. And they can go down the river to Bordeaux. But as for Amalfi/Positano, I've been there, but I forget if we tendered (probably) or not, and exactly where we were dropped off if tendered. But I believe with those 2 cities, once at one, you can get to the other by boat.

I loved the sights around Ubud, especially: -Sangeh Monkey Forest (but not one IN Ubud, one a little bit away) -Jatiluwih rice fields (not the more popular/populated ones of Tegallalang) You can do these two plus lunch on a day from Ubud; not sure if you start from the beaches of Nusa Dua, or the port in Benoa, however. We also went to Goa Gajah, Mas village, Bajara Sadhi monument (least favorite), Taman Ayun Temple, Setia Darma House of Masks & Puppets, Tegenungan waterfall, a daytime Barong & Kris dance at a temple (Batubalan? I forget. But if you're in Bali at night, I think the nightly shows are more impressive.) We also visited a family compound and a market (forget which one - not large artisan market in Ubud) and saw woodcarvers in Mas village. Didn't go to temples of Tanah Lot or Tirta Empul (spelling?) but those are often visited. We spent a night at Sanur Beach, but just because it was on the way (more or less) from the airport to Ubud, where we stayed pre-cruise. I'd definitely recommend going out into the countryside, and not the beaches, although we did enjoy the night/early morning in Sanur.

Me too. Very minor comment, but then came a phone call, asking if they could send someone to talk to me about it. I feel sorry for Oceania, or any cruise line for that matter. Some people say they should reduce all the paper used on board (and now they're trying to do that). But other people don't want to have to do or look at anything online, so they want the paper back!

I don't know if we're prohibited from posting the name of a tour company on here unless we've actually taken the tour. But if that's not correct, or if there's some other way to let me know who the vendor company was, or how to contact them, I'd be interested in hearing about it.

I haven't been there, so can't confirm. But it sounds likely to be true, assuming there's a dock/wharf there. And it's been my experience that all cruise lines usually use the same place for tendering. In trying to determine where a tender drops passengers, I've been know to ask on Trip Advisor boards if anyone knows, or ask in Ports of Call section of Cruise Critic, or look at vendor descriptions of tours to see if there are clues (or ask a vendor if they meet to a place to which a cruise ship might take passengers by tender. Or possibly the What's in Port or Cruise Crocodile sites may have more info, or asking the Guayaquil tourism department MAY know. But I don't know if What's in Port or Cruise Crocodile cover South America as well as they do Europe. Or a Facebook "fan" page might possibly get a response, though I haven't seen as much on SA cruises compared to European or Caribbean cruises. Just make sure people understand you're looking for tender drop location (or any kind of shuttle from there to somewhere else), not just the fact that the port is (apparently) usually a tender port.

As hallasm says, the "correct" Dewa's email is dgrock 1140 @ yahoo. com (remove spaces) We embarked our cruise in Bali. There were not any taxis or guides around at the port that I could see. It's a very basic port, and guides/taxi drivers must pay to enter, so perhaps that's one reason why! I would book something in advance. luvs2cruise, we had Dewa pick us up at the airport and take us to Sanur for the night. If you don't have a hotel, we liked the one we stayed at. It wasn't cushy, but the room was big, and we were very comfortable there. I forget the name but I can look it up. Then Dewa picked us up and drove us to Ubud, stopping a few places on the way.

So I'm a little lost. Could someone please match the CD's to the correct ship for me? Regatta? Insignia? Sirena? Nautica? Marina? Riviera? Ray Carr Peter (Carson??) John Clelford Dottie Kulasa Paul Baya Who else?

oops, mistake. ignore.

He was our favorite. But now he's gone....I believe, anyway.

For anyone who had to stay in Le Verdon and be taken by bus to Bordeaux, were you aware that you wouldn't be going down the river to Bordeaux beforehand? What did your itinerary look like? Did it show you'd be in Le Verdon 3 hours and then arrive in Bordeaux later the same day? I'm trying to second guess whether our river cruise day will turn into a bus day! And so far I've found info on Bordeaux as a port, with history, but the site has no schedule. And while sites like cruisemapper are helpful, I'm pretty sure they're based on initial itineraries developed a few years in advance and often tentative. And I can find tide tables, but don't know how to use them!