Question about Oceania Dubai to Rome and shore excursions

Dear Fellow Cruisers:

While my husband and I have cruised once with Oceania, we felt that we were nickel and dimed to death and indicated this on our survey near the end of their cruise. I guess we were not the only ones to voice this concern as it appeared in the new advertisements and brochures from Oceania that they were implementing OLife. However, we have spoken to some people who booked wth Oceania and said that the 8 shore excursions that are offered as part of OLife seem to go quickly and many people are told that they have reached their limit for these excursions and now they have to pay for other ones. My husband and I would love to do the Rome to Dubai or reverse trip but are wondering if it is worth it and if the excursions will end up costing so much that we may as well book with Regent whom we have cruised and know that we will be getting an excursion in each port, in addition to business class air and included gratuities and all beverages. We like Oceania but would like some feedback from my fellow cruisers. Thanks to everyone for providing me with information that I will be able to use to make future plans. I am most appreciative.

We have just cruised on Nautica from Mumbai to Rome. We did one Oceania tour in Israel and for the others we did private tours. OLife only includes excursions below a certain cost (about $200) so if you wish to go to Luxor or Petra/Wadi Rum you cannot include them as part of your OLife excursion package.

Thank you Sunnies!

It’s a simple but time consuming math.

O Life will include only a limited number of excursions and usually each under $200. Thus it will not include excursions like overnight in Luxor, etc You can either add those to the O Life included ones - potentially at 25% discount with YWYW package - or form/join private tours.

You can estimate those costs and then compare to the price on Regent. Remember that Regent includes only certain excursions - probably like O’s O Life. You can also estimate the price of alcohol, flights, etc and than decide which cruise line works best for you.

Remember, with either line nothing is free - only included.

There is no simple answer - I know that O works much better for me for many personal reasons (like no drinking, flying business for miles, etc, etc) but it may not be the case for you.

Lots of homework to do :D

It’s a simple but time consuming math.

O Life will include only a limited number of excursions and usually each under $200. Thus it will not include excursions like overnight in Luxor, etc You can either add those to the O Life included ones - potentially at 25% discount with YWYW package - or form/join private tours.

You can estimate those costs and then compare to the price on Regent. Remember that Regent includes only certain excursions - probably like O’s O Life. You can also estimate the price of alcohol, flights, etc and than decide which cruise line works best for you.

Remember, with either line nothing is free - only included.

There is no simple answer - I know that O works much better for me for many personal reasons (like no drinking, flying business for miles, etc, etc) but it may not be the case for you.

Lots of homework to do :D

Paul I can confirm that you are correct about the Regent Excursions. We just sailed with them from Dubai to Rome and as you said, neither the Luxor nor Petra tours were among the "included" excursions. We nevertheless had a wonderful cruise but do have to find fault with the misconception that both Regent and Oceania create with their respective "unlimited included excursions" or O life "free excursions" advertisements. We love sailing both lines but there was "disappointment" when, as "newbies", we found out that their brochures over promise on what they actually deliver. Putting a limit on "unlimited" is ingenious at best. There should be no place for a "car salesman" pitch in their marketing materials.

Paul I can confirm that you are correct about the Regent Excursions. We just sailed with them from Dubai to Rome and as you said, neither the Luxor nor Petra tours were among the "included" excursions. We nevertheless had a wonderful cruise but do have to find fault with the misconception that both Regent and Oceania create with their respective "unlimited included excursions" or O life "free excursions" advertisements. We love sailing both lines but there was "disappointment" when, as "newbies", we found out that their brochures over promise on what they actually deliver. Putting a limit on "unlimited" is ingenious at best. There should be no place for a "car salesman" pitch in their marketing materials.

You are right - welcome to “creative advertising”. It begins with 2for1 cruises and free business class air and it goes on from there (for all cruise lines in one way or another). Caveat emptor :)

This is where CC can be so helpful in finding out the fine details and the more we sail the more we learn and then pass on our experiences and knowledge.

We sailed on Nautica from Dubai to Rome April-May, 2018 and it is one of our favorite itineraries.

We had never been to Dubai or UAE nor to Luxor, Petra, or through the Suez Canal

We had been to the rest of the ports but since I love Rhodes I was thrilled to return and the elevator has been completed in Malta since we were last there so getting "up top" was easy for our diy walk.

We used a Hop-On Hop Off bus for Dubai and a couple of other ports, our own walking tours for others and 5 OLife excursions which we greatly enjoyed.

We also did the overnight to Luxor which we were more than willing to pay for just to keep from having to drive back and forth to the ship each day. We had dinner on the Nile at the hotel as part of the excursion package--lovely.

We used a Hop-On Hop Off bus for Dubai

Did you enjoy the HOHO in Dubai? We're planning to use it too. Did it start/end near the port?

Did you enjoy the HOHO in Dubai? We're planning to use it too. Did it start/end near the port?

We also took the HOHO in Dubai and it stops right in front of the ship. You can also take a cruise on Dhow included in the price! It's a wonderful cruise - one of the best!!

Arlene

Go Bucks--

not only was HOHO near the port, there was actually a woman on board as we lined up to leave ship selling tickets in the Lounge.

If we had bought online before we arrived we might have gotten it a little cheaper, but we could use our OBC...worked great for us.

There was another port that we also used HOHO, but whether it was Oman or a UAE port, I don't remember...and we bought those tickets from a kiosk set up right off the gangway....again just gave them our cabin # and OBC was used!

Yes, we enjoyed the HOHO very much. Use sunscreen & take a hat if you sit 'up top.'

Part of up top is closed in and a/c, part is open with a roof, and part is completely open.

We chose the open w/roof and if we wanted to take a photo on the 'other' side, we simply went in the back and shot and returned to our seat.

O always hands out water (free) as you leave, and the HOHO bus also had free water.

HOHO are a favorite of ours!! We've booked the Overland to Luxor and appreciate cbb sharing their positive experience.

We sailed on Nautica from Dubai to Rome April-May, 2018 and it is one of our favorite itineraries.

 

We had never been to Dubai or UAE nor to Luxor, Petra, or through the Suez Canal

 

We had been to the rest of the ports but since I love Rhodes I was thrilled to return and the elevator has been completed in Malta since we were last there so getting "up top" was easy for our diy walk.

 

We used a Hop-On Hop Off bus for Dubai and a couple of other ports, our own walking tours for others and 5 OLife excursions which we greatly enjoyed.

 

We also did the overnight to Luxor which we were more than willing to pay for just to keep from having to drive back and forth to the ship each day. We had dinner on the Nile at the hotel as part of the excursion package--lovely.

Hello cbb thank you for the info on the HOHO in Dubai, could you please expand on the overnight to Luxor? I have not seen anything about that, it is very appealing to not do the extra bus rides.

cavanac-

here is the detailed description for Luxor overnight. If this doesn't work, just do a search for "luxor" and there will be several cruises that pop up.

Then i clicked on Overland and there were several listed.

Among those is this Luxor overnight. We thoroughly enjoyed the overnight--rec'd the overnight highly as it saves you a bunch of time.

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/Mediterranean-cruises/port-luxor-SAF/landprograms/

cavanac-

here is the detailed description for Luxor overnight. If this doesn't work, just do a search for "luxor" and there will be several cruises that pop up.

 

Then i clicked on Overland and there were several listed.

 

Among those is this Luxor overnight. We thoroughly enjoyed the overnight--rec'd the overnight highly as it saves you a bunch of time.

 

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/Mediterranean-cruises/port-luxor-SAF/landprograms/

Thank you cbb that is what we were looking for, great help

cavanac--as I said, we thought it was a great overland. Dinner outside on the banks of the Nile, our guide was excellent and I believe she was from Cairo and was a licensed tour guide with a Master's in Egyptology.

We also had a gentleman who sat directly behind the driver and was from the 'tourist police' and there were several police road checks--we were waved through in most instances, but several young men had been stopped and their vehicles/motorcycles were being searched.

We never felt unsafe and the places we were taken were amazing....I mean, King Tut's Tomb??? Yes, we paid a little extra but it was under $15US and we were more than willing to pay the extra for the 'camera fee' which was $10US if I remember correctly.

Our guide said that much of the tourist $ went for the maintenance of the Valley of the Kings tombs--a splendid use of my $!!

Go Bucks--

not only was HOHO near the port, there was actually a woman on board as we lined up to leave ship selling tickets in the Lounge.

 

If we had bought online before we arrived we might have gotten it a little cheaper, but we could use our OBC...worked great for us.

 

There was another port that we also used HOHO, but whether it was Oman or a UAE port, I don't remember...and we bought those tickets from a kiosk set up right off the gangway....again just gave them our cabin # and OBC was used!

 

Yes, we enjoyed the HOHO very much. Use sunscreen & take a hat if you sit 'up top.'

 

Part of up top is closed in and a/c, part is open with a roof, and part is completely open.

 

We chose the open w/roof and if we wanted to take a photo on the 'other' side, we simply went in the back and shot and returned to our seat.

 

O always hands out water (free) as you leave, and the HOHO bus also had free water.

Thx for the info!!

We're taking a mix of ship tours, private tours and DIY. For the DIY, we love to take HOHO buses! Great views up top (where we always sit), plus narration. We usually go around the entire circular route, then keep going and get off at interesting places. The only issue we've had is that sometimes the next bus is too crowded for us to get on and we have to wait longer. That can be nerve-wracking if we need to get back to the ship. A couple times we just caught a cab so we wouldn't be late.

One of our fave places to take the HOHO is Cape Town, SA. Talk to the ticket agent and make sure it includes the cable car ride to top of Table Mt.

We were able to get off the bus, bypass the ticket line, and were on next car up. And we left ship as soon as we could so that we would be among the early people to go on cable car...it just gets too crowded up there sometimes.

Cape Town is so easy to DIY--as Table Mt began to get crowded we left, reboarded the cable car, then the HOHO bus...and zoom, off we went!!

Other great places to HOHO are Hong Kong (and tram up to Victoria Peak) and Singapore. Easy to do!