cabo43 Posted February 1, 2011 #1 Share Posted February 1, 2011 we are going on Oceania on June 27, 2011 black sea cruise. If you have taken this tour, what suggestions do you have for sightseeing. Also what to do in Istanbul. If you are going on the trip, lets talk on things to do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAG Posted February 2, 2011 #2 Share Posted February 2, 2011 We did this trip last August and if you are interested in private tours, I can give you some suggestions. In Sinop we just got off the ship and walked around. In Trabazon, we did the ships our to the Sumaela (sp?) monastary with lunch back on the ship and then a city tour. It was a very good tour and I highly recommend it. In Yalta and Sevastopol we had the same private guide and he was excellent. Odessa we just walked around on our own as we also did in Constanta and Nesbuar. Rick Steve's book on Istanbul was our guide in Istanbul and we had an easy time following his suggestions. If you are interested in who we used in Yalta and Sevastopol just let me know, I can be reached at ceniag at gmail dot com. We were not able to dock in Sochi due to very high winds, but we did have a private tour scheduled for there. We also used a private tour guide in Kusadasi. This was a very interesting trip and we then did the back to back from Athens to Istanbul. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benita Posted February 2, 2011 #3 Share Posted February 2, 2011 We hired a private guide in Istanbul and Kusadasi through Ekoltravel.com We also hired a guide for each of Sevastopol, Odessa, and Yalta through the national tourist agency in the Ukraine. In Nessebar, we walked around the beautifully maintained town. Costanta was a disappointment - an OK museum and very little else -we were back on the ship in two hours. For Sochi, we needed a Russian visa to tour on our own, so we took the ship's excursion to Stalin's villa. They had just announced the awarding of the Olympics to Sochi, so I am sure they have upgraded the city since our cruise in 2007. All in all, a very interesting itinerary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mura Posted February 2, 2011 #4 Share Posted February 2, 2011 We haven't done this itinerary but it is one that's at the top of my list. So I'm interested in getting info back from you guys who HAVE done this itinerary. As to Istanbul, we were there in February 2000 (when the R5 -- now Nautica -- was brand new) and we went around on our own. We did NOT feel the need for a guide even though our Turkish is non-existent! I don't doubt that guides are often wonderful (and we do use them) but we did not find them necessary in Istanbul. (When you go to a place like Topkapi, look for the licensed guides who will give you a private tour for a very reasonable price -- we paid $25/hour for a couple in 2000.) I will qualify my comment about guides: if you have one day in port, by all means a guide will be helpful just to maximize the use of your time. When we were there, we had 3 days on our own which is rather different. We extended our trip (which was an Athens-Istanbul cruise with Renaissance) by booking a private tour to the Hittite regions, Ankara and Cappadocia which was wonderful. In February, we encountered more snow than we expected! We used a brand new agency (which is now much more expensive) and the cost for the two of us on a private tour for a week cost $100pp more than the group tour (of 8-9 people) in a van. We would have taken the group tour except it wouldn't have gotten us back to Istanbul in time for our return flight. But if you have time (and depending on itinerary) spending extra time in Turkey, not just Istanbul, is well worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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