babydrum

I have 5 days in Israel. First day Ashdod, 3 days Haifa and last day Ashdod. I considered getting a permission to leave the ship and get a hotel in Jerusalem for 4 nights and doing all of my tours from there. The last day of my stay is on the Sabbath and I heard it's hard to get transportation out after 2:00. Guided Tours Israel is available for a private tour on my days, If I can get two couples the prices below would apply which are very reasonable. If we do it on our own it averages $910 for us per day and I'd be better off using a ship's tour. Would you mind sharing the name of the company you used? I'd rather have a Christian focused tour without the politics. May 27, 2024 - Jerusalem and Bethlehem : $159 per person May 28, 2024 - Biblical Galilee : $159 per person May 29, 2024 - Acre and Rosh Hanikra: $159 per person May 20, 2024 - West Coast - Tel Aviv, Jaffa and Caesarea: $159 per person May 31, 2024 - Dead Sea and Masada : $179 per person

Oceania. I've never been to Jerusalem and Bethlehem so I'm interested in seeing the standard sites, same with Nazareth and Galilee. If you could link me any Oceania excursions for those tours I'd greatly appreciate it.

They don’t have any yet so I posted on my roll calls. I would prefer to use them as I’ve read good reviews but I need two more couples. We still have time as our cruise isn’t until May but I may have to take a ship excursion if no one is interested. It’s hard to find reviews on specific Oceania tours.

We have 5 days in Israel and I’m trying to decide between the ships tours and Viator as they can both be hit or miss. The reviews are all over the place. I tried to arrange Guided Tours Israel for our b2b but the roll call is not very active.

That suggests NCL knows what is required for you to board. Why not just tell you?

Thanks for your review. You said they cancelled 4 ports and only replaced one, were you given at least 24 hours notice? Also, how many ports were there total in your original booking?

Has anyone taken tours in Israel through Oceania's shore excursions and if so, did you have a good tour? I'm looking at either shelling out thousands of dollars on private excursions for 5 days or booking something through Viator or Get Your Guide with mixed to terrible reviews. I've trying to arrange something through Guided Tours Israel but finding 4 people to join me isn't as easy on Oceania as it has been with other CC roll calls. I'm tempted to just book the ship's excursions but there are no reviews for them. If anyone has taken tours to Jerusalem and Bethlehem, Nazareth and Galilee or Masada and the Dead Sea with Oceania recently (within the last 4 or 5 years) and would be willing to share their experience I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks.

I'm hoping that is a joke even though I was surprised at the number of upcharges in the MDR and even Specialty Dining on my HAL cruise a couple of months ago.

What was the reason for the missed port?

Thank you. I'll check out their policies. Final payment isn't until mid December so I have a little time.

Would you mind sharing the name of one or two? We haven't insured our trip and would like to if we could get pre-existing conditions covered. We don't have any that we would anticipate causing problems but it's my understanding that they include things that they think you should have known about even if you didn't.

I didn't know such a policy existed. Is there a specific insurance company that you use?

Thanks for your mid ship review. I have an O cruise planned in May and I'm taking in everything. The canceling of ports is making me nervous and almost seemed guaranteed on every voyage at this point. I'm also disappointed to hear about the food but I figure, I'll be comparing it to my last 3 week HAL cruise in May and it cannot possibly be that awful. I skipped breakfast all together after the first week and figured which foods I was willing to consume for lunch and dinner. It came down to burgers at lunch or the Asian food in the buffet. I decided I can live with the food as long as I can find something edible and I'll just leave a few lbs. lighter but I get heartburn at the thought of missing ports because Egypt, Israel and Jordan are the main reason for the cruise. The Mediterranean portion isn't new to me so I would care less about some of those ports and as long as there is a valid reason, I'm fine with any change. It just feels like the tender ports are particularly susceptible to cancellation. Please keep us updated. I look forward to your next report!

I checked the NCL website and they do have some of the same titled cruises and at least a review option but most didn't have reviews. I did find it interesting that the same (or least what seemed to be the same) tours were in many cases significantly cheaper than on O. I think I found acceptable cruise ship tours to spend my SM on. These are places I've been before or just don't care about and would not have booked a tour at all. Mostly tender ports that will hopefully give me a priority on getting off the ship so that I have time to do other things after the tour. Thanks again everyone!

What kind of camera do you have? My son needs one and it definitely needs to be waterproof.

Thanks, I will check out the NCL website because there may be overlap. I decided to use the Shorex for the tender ports so that we can be assured to get off the ship early enough to enjoy them. Like Santorini, there will be 6 ships in port. Fortunately, we will get in port (if the current schedule holds) at 8:00 along with one other ship. I've cancelled my private tour and booked a Santorini tour that will get us off early. I've been to Santorini several times so I wanted to see some of the smaller islands but my son hasn't been so this ship tour will give him a great overview.

Thanks for your responses. I think for important ports like Petra, I will avoid Oceania tours. I've been told that they show preference to people taking their tours at tendering ports so I will plan to use some of the credits on those.

I'd like to know if Oceania Shore Excursions are worth the money. With SM, we get $1800 of excursion credit, but I don't want to ruin my vacation using it on lousy tours. I'm specifically interested in the Oceania Magnificent Petra tour if anyone can point me to a review. Most of the cruise lines that I have used have reviews on the shore excursions page that I've found helpful in avoiding certain tours and for setting expectations. We are on a port intensive cruise so there are some ports that I would normally DIY where I might use the credit but any insight would be helpful.

3.5 each way! We are doing an overnight with Egyptours because we want to see as much as possible but that is extreme.

No, I'm thrilled and I could care less where it came from. It only mattered when I was negotiating with them. When I initially booked, my price was $23,998 and they offered me $900 OBC. The cruise was in November 2024 and I said great! I found this one in May which was around $3000 more, had a better itinerary and decided to book it instead and they told me they could give me PPG + $700. I was even more thrilled. When I showed them the offer from the other TA, they tried to convince me that their offer was better. When I explained that I knew both companies were offering the PPG as a freebie from Oceania so the only real question was the amount of the SBC, they realized that I had learned something from somewhere and they offered to match the $1500. I was only upset because I felt like they were not being honest with me. If you don't want to match it, say so but don't try to convince me that an offer worth $2420 is worse than an offer worth $1650.

My TA matched the other TA offer so I'm getting the $1500 and the PPG for 2. I felt manipulated because my TA made it seem like they were giving me the PPG and I read on another thread that OCAPP means it came from Oceania not the TA. My TA wasn't being straight with me because I didn't know anything about the system since I've not used one since the internet became popularized. Someone on CC said, "you're leaving money on the table" so I decided to try one this time and he was correct. Just learning as I go but I do love these boards because everyone is so willing to share their knowledge of the industry and specific cruise lines and it's so helpful to people like me.

I think it is 30 days today. I'll be more selective in the future.

Can you transfer a booking from one TA to another? I'm being offered PPG for 2 plus $1500 for my cruise from one TA and my existing TA is only offering $700 plus PPG for 2. The problem is my cruise doesn't have any more B cabins and the A3 is $2000 more. This is my first Oceania cruise and it's just over $26,000. The itinerary is fantastic and that is for 3 in a cabin but it's significantly more than anything I've ever spent on a cruise before so I'd like to get the best deal possible.

What do ATW cruisers do about medications? I can usually on get mine for a maximum of 90 days.