willmschen

Re: the WWII museum. If you go, make sure to start by seeing the video narrated by Tom Hanks. Excellent!

4 hours ago, Europe and beyond said:

Were you on Marina or one of the smaller Oceania ships?

We were in Marina. 

We were there in 2019 overnight, and stayed in the heart of the city. Wonderful location for exploring on foot. Beautiful city!

I just checked our records, and it looks like we booked in 12/18 for a 9/19 tour. 

In 2019 we used Overlord Tours for the D-Day beaches.  They have a variety of options, and do a great tour. 

We docked in Bordeaux on Marina in September 2019. We spent two days there in the heart of the city. 

Salmon Berry Tours has a great 5 tour from Anchorage to the ship. 

We were in Denali in early September several years ago and saw the lights. 

CAG,

Malta is a wonderful place to start a cruise. Go a few days early if you can, and enjoy it. And sail away is beautiful. 

We did this as a shore excursion on an Oceania cruise a few years ago. Fjord Norway Tours has a description of the Hellesylt to Geiranger overland tour. Reading it just now made me want to do it again!!

The bus trip from Hellesylt to Gieranger is incredibly scenic, with several photo stops along the way, and a nice lunch stop with a great view. 

We used Overlord  Tours in September, and they were excellent. Their vans were very nice, carrying up to eight people. They have suggested itineraries, but will happily customize them. The guides are incredibly knowledgeable. 

We had an overnight in Lalong Bay two years ago. The first day we did the tour to Hanoi. The city and countryside were interesting, but it was about four hours each way. 

The second day we did the Halong Bay boat tour. Beautiful place. 

My account is back to normal now!

Same thing for me. No booked cruises shown. I looked at cruises in general for Oceania, and every cruise I looked at showed all cabins waitlisted, so I’d say it is a website problem. 

We are on Riviera right now, and enjoyed the very first ever Dom dinner last night. The food and Dom pairings were excellent. The pours of champagne were small, but they offered several refills. I am attaching the menu with descriptions of both the Dom and food. One thing missing from the first course description is the mention of the beautiful slice of fois gras. At $295 plus 18% gratuity per person, it is expensive, but where else can you have three vintages of Dom Perignon in one sitting. 

Franck’s mashed potatoes!  They mash them, evaporate excess water over low heat, then add in as much butter and cream as they will absorb. A true guilty pleasure. 

The Terrace always has sugar free cookies and ice cream at lunch.

We were there last year on Nautica and we docked out away from the city. It was a bit of a drive, but interesting countryside.

New_cruiser,

DH and I will be on Legend June 12. We would love to hear how far into Kenai Fjords you sail, and what you see. We’re debating a trip in there with one of the local companies before the cruise.

We took the Oceania excursion to the Tropicana and had great seats near the stage.

When you book a grand voyage, You receive a key card for the entire cruise.

As far as things to do around Southampton, we hired a driver a few years ago to see the New Forest area. It’s a beautiful area with forests and small villages.

Another consideration is that the liquor package price includes gratuity. When you purchase drinks without the package, an 18% gratuity is added the price of the drink.

We did Oceania’s Bird Island of Vigur tour when we were in Isafjordur a few years ago, and highly recommend it. We walked around the areas where the eider ducks nest (the family that owns the island built great little nesting cubicles for the birds), and where the puffins nest in holes in the hillside. They told us about harvesting down from the eiders’ nests and in their shop showed us how it is cleaned during the winter.

If Sandy Cares is the guest speaker, you’ll get some great info on Cuba. We did Cuba in November, and really enjoyed her talks.

You can tip the guides in dollars. If you plan get CUCs, buying them with Euros is a good idea.

One of our favorite O tours was the Tropicana Caberet. Great seats and a fantastic show.

From Cienfuego we did the Colonial Trinidad tour. The drive through the countryside was really nice, and Trinidad is a lovely city. A steel drum band gave a great performance. Ever heard Ave Maria on steel drums?!

One of our tours in Santiago was called Trova Night. We did not care for the musical part of the evening. We were in a very crowded room with very loud music. ($2 rum, though)

Also in Santiago, we did the El Cobre tour, and really enjoyed it. The fortress is beautiful. The tour included an excellent choir performance.