NanciEA

I cannot comment on Lyon, but we recently returned from a week in Provence and I would highly recommend a pre-cruise stay. I would probably not stay in Marseilles. We stayed in Aix, Gordes and Avignon. If you are willing to rent a car, I would recommend a few days in Gordes in the Luberon area of Provence. Although we enjoyed all three places we stayed.

For davwen18, here is what our bike tours were like, although this was several years ago. On the first day of actual cruising, the ship dropped us bikers off in Volendam (which is just across from the Amsterdam port). We biked through the little town and then on to Edam. In Edam we stopped to sample cheese. From there we followed the dike north to Hoorn. Along the way we stopped at an inn/pub for a rest break, another time to be able to climb the dike for the views, and a third time to tour the inside of an old windmill. The ship was waiting for us in Hoorn. I'm not sure about how long it took, but probably about three hours. There were two guides (front and back of the pack) and perhaps 20 riders. We were in our early fifties at the time and we don't usually bike, but are active walkers and tennis players. The entire ride was flat and we did not have trouble keeping up. Most folks were at our level. There were two men who appeared on the dock to ride in complete "Tour de France" gear and seemed mildly upset that the rest of us did not want to do "top speed" to see how fast we could make the trip. They usually raced ahead and rode make to meet the rest of the group. No problem.

We enjoyed the trip so much we signed up for the second bike trip offered. Sign up was on board and there were limited spots although everyone who wanted seemed to have gotten to bike. The second trip was in Arnhem, which I see is not in the current AMA tuliptime cruise. This ride was about two hours and had some hills. There was one guide, but she was great. We stopped at several WWII sites. We enjoyed this ride as well.

It seems AMA listened to our comments that we would have liked more bike rides, because I see in their brochure that they now have four bikes trips on a seven day cruise. I hope this helps.

I would second the suggestion to go a few days early to Amsterdam. We had two days pre-cruise on our own. One day we visited the Rijkmuseum and the Anne Frank house (book as early as possible) and the other we went to Keukenhof Gardens. The cruise excursion to the gardens was the last day and we wanted to make sure we were there on a sunny day, so that is the reason we went early. We were lucky and both the day we went on our own and the cruise excursion had sun. At the time of our cruise AMA offered two bike excursions. For us, those were the highlights of the trip. We were very glad we went to Ghent. I would recommend it.

My husband and I were recently looking at a cruise to Cuba on Sirena in the new releases - January 2019. For several weeks the website showed availability in all categories. Suddenly yesterday every category was wait listed except Vista Suites. Today, Vista Suites are wait listed and one level of Concierge Veranda is available. How is it possible that a cruise over a year and a half away had plenty of availability and seemly overnight was sold out? Was it possible this became a charter, or all the cabins were booked/held by Alumni Groups? I know Oceania is popular with alumni groups because I occasionally receive flyers about cruises from my alma mater. I'm hoping it is just a website problem with the new releases. Anyone have an idea what's up?

I just want to assure CorgiNole that you are doing the right thing taking your 16 year old son. Eleven years ago my then 18 year old son selected an Oceania Mediterranean cruise as his high school graduation trip. Our family of four (My other son was 20 at the time.) had the trip of a lifetime. We had adjoining balcony cabins and the crew took down the panel so we could have one large balcony to share with our sons. I booked private excursions in all the ports and we ate every evening as a family. They were never bored, but they had books, the TV and each other so that helped. Also, this was a port intensive itinerary so we were off the ship all day most days. We still talk about all of our adventures on that trip - from the jeep we rented on Santorini to the wonderful ex-military guide we had in Istanbul. As a poster has already mentioned, our sons are now long off on their own with wives and starting families. Yes, we could have had that experience on a "family friendly" cruise ship, but we all loved the atmosphere on Oceania. Don't let the naysayers bother you. It will be wonderful because your son is with you. My husband and I have done cruises since then and I always enjoy seeing older children and young adults on cruises with their families.

We did the Waterways of the Czars three years ago and I concur with franski. We enjoyed the time on the river as much,if not more than the cities. As someone else mentioned, if you could find a trip with hotel stays in the cities and then the river cruise, that would be ideal. I was critical of Viking because I thought they did a poor job of planning around the traffic. Using the subway at times would have been much more efficient.

You mentioned several times that the ship was rocky or "very rocky" at night. Is this typical throughout the year, or was your June cruise less so? We are going in January. I have seasickness medication which I will definitely take.

Thanks so much for posting. We're doing the exact trip in January and we're getting very excited reading your posts!

Another "thank you"! My DH and I enjoyed you're posts so much. He never read any of them, but often at dinner he'd ask me "Where are the Canadian's on Oceania today?" (He's horrible with names!) I'd recount your adventures and insights. On days you were at sea, I could sense a little disappointment!

Any chance you could let us Oceania followers know if you and Freda travel again, even if it is on a different cruise line? I know I'd love to read about any future travels.

So which one is the more birds and penguins and which one is the other one? Silverseas labels them North Central and Western.

National Geographic/Lindblad's Orion is doing two different cruise this August which do not stop in St. Petersburg. One starts in Tallinn and ends in Copenhagen and the other does the reverse.

After having read through the two Galapagos Itineraries, I'm still not sure which one to book. Western or North Central? Can someone tell me the main differences between the two?

Our ship arrives at the Norde Toldbad port of Copenhagen, not either of the larger ones. We need to book our own transfer from the port on a Sunday morning. Will there be taxis at that location at that time?

My husband and I are looking into going to Egypt next January or February. All of the major river cruise company's websites said to contact them for dates and prices. Here's what I found out last week. Of the three companies who were in Egypt this year, Avalon is not scheduling for next year, however, Viking and Uniworld are. We are also considering Abercrombie and Kent's land and 4 night cruise. We would not do a trip like this on our own, as we trust these companies choices of guides, hotels, etc.

It has been mentioned here to exit at the Kauppakorkeakoulut stop for the Rock Church, but another source says the Sammonkatu stop from the 2T. Which is actually closer?

We recently returned from a 7 night cruise with a 3 night pre-cruise stay on Bora Bora. I took the airline credit from PG and booked the flights to Papeete myself. I live in a smaller city and they said I would have to drive an hour and a half to a larger city to book with them. It was no problem as I prefer to book my own flights to select my connection times and cities, as well as my preferred seats. I cannot recommend highly enough doing a pre-cruise stay, especially if you are on a shorter cruise. PG handled everything from the moment we arrived in Papeete. We arrived about 6:00am and had about two hours at the airport before our 45 minute flight on to Bora Bora. We were meet there and immediately whisked onto a boat for the 15 trip to the Intercontinental Thalasso resort. We were checked in quickly and offered the buffet breakfast! As soon as breakfast was over, they took us to our room. (It was low season, so they had rooms available in the morning.)

On the day of our cruise, we took the boat back to the airport and flew back to Papeete. They timed our flight for early afternoon. We arrived, found the transfer gentleman, and were on our way to the ship. We arrived just as passengers were allowed to check in - 2:00. All in all a fabulous way to start our vacation.

We just returned from Bora Bora where we had the best snorkeling excursion we have ever been on. Please contact Pure Snorkeling/Reef Discovery. There were just six of us and our guide. It was suppose to be a three hour tour with four stops. It ended up being four hours with five stops. There were stops for manta rays, "Nemo", sharks, the aquarium, and the coral gardens. You do not want to miss snorkeling in Bora Bora. Our guide was amazing and full of information. Yes, I got in the water even when the sharks were circling the boat!

Since someone replied to this post, I thought I would offer an update. I am the OP. All of the Orion's European sailings for this year now include alcoholic beverages. This is noted in their brochure entitled Europe 2.0.

Does anyone know if Oceania will repeat this summer's Insignia's "Nordic Quest" itinerary in 2017? This years is 10 days from Reykjavik to Stockholm departing on July 19. We cannot cruise this summer, but love to book this itinerary for 2017.

I enjoyed reading both you and your husband's reviews of your trip to Egypt. Thanks for taking the time to post. My husband and I were just saying we are considering this trip for 2017. (We've already booked our travel for 2016.) Your husband suggested we notify Uniworld we are interested as they may not stay in the market with such low volume. I think I'll do that.

I will second the vote for AMA as more active. We've done two Viking, one AMA and one Avalon. The demographic was definitely younger on AMA and Avalon. AMA has a small fitness room and biking excursions. Avalon also has a small fitness room. I specifically asked Viking why they did not put in a fitness room when they introduced their longships. Their response was "that is not our demographic". I'm not saying it's wrong, just a comment from someone whose been on all three river cruise lines.

Thanks so much, olesiabr, I really enjoyed your detailed review. It makes me even more impatient for our February trip! One question. You suggested not booking La Veranda for Huahine day. Something about it was served from L'Etoile? Can you please explain?

A big thanks to Mr. Rumor for his wonderful blog. I enjoying your writing very much and felt like I was on the cruise with you and your group. Like many others, I never posted a comment, but I certainly looked forward to signing on to Cruise Critic everyday to read about your adventure. Those of us who love to travel, love reading and hearing about other people's experiences almost as much as taking our own adventures. We read not just to learn about the ship and the destinations, but sometimes to relive our own travel highlights (and lowlights!). So, again, thanks so much for your blog and I very much look forward to "traveling" with you in the future.

Lindblad's website says the Orion's menu's for 2016 will be by Serge Dansereau of The Bathers' Pavilion in Sydney. This is the same as when we sailed on the ship prior to Lindblad's purchase. Previously, the Orion was owned by an Australian company, hence the Sydney connection. The food was fabulous. Whenever the weather was decent, there was a BBQ on deck after we returned from our morning zodiac expeditions and it wasn't hamburgers, but grilled lobsters, fish, etc. I just pulled out the souvenir menus I saved from the cruise and now I'm hungry!

My husband and I were so excited about the Orion's Europe cruises for 2016 we called and booked about two days after we first got their brochure with the itineraries! Maybe we'll be the only ones on the ship, but we are already looking forward to our Baltic cruise despite the fact it is over a year away. We sailed on the Orion five years ago, prior to it's acquisition by Lindblad. (10 day New Zealand) We travel a lot and it was our favorite cruise. About two years ago I received an email with a promotion to tempt us to book again. I replied that the itineraries were to long and to remote for us as we both still work full time and two weeks, including travel time, was our limit for any one trip. Consequently when we received the brochure for Orion in Europe, we were thrilled, and not just because of the shorter sailings, but because they are the only cruise line we have been able to find who do not stop in St. Petersburg while in the Baltic. Don't get me wrong, I like Russia, but were just there for a 12 day river cruise two years ago, including three days in St. Petersburg. All of the other cruise lines don't just spend one day there, they spend three. So with that factor, combined with the food, naturalist and historical focus, small ship, etc., it was the perfect cruise for us. Nightly entertainment for us is a wonderful dinner with interesting travel companions, relaxing on deck with a nightcap, and reading up on the next day's port of call. (And no, I don't work for Lindblad/National Geographic!)