A few comments - best and worst of Nautica Singapore to Hong Kong

[pacheco18]

Overall a great cruise -- the staff was superb. The ship was wonderful as were our fellow cruisers.

 

The best:

David Peterson - cannot say enough good things

Service -- phenomenal everywhere

Toscana - excellent

Big O Points!! -- we ended up with 150

Waves Grill - burgers and shakes tasted great after a day in Cambodia

Ports were fascinating -- the stories told by the many Vietnam Veterans on board (my husband included) added a special something

 

The worst:

Polo Grill - how can you make a prime ribeye tasteless?

Coffee - often cold or very weak -- stick to lattes which were very good

Ship sponsored shore excursion -- we took our first one ever and it will be our last. Awful does not begin to describe it. In contrast, our private guides and excursions were fabulous. For those of you who always take the ship's tours, you are having a totally different experience from those of us who travel with private excursions.

Ship's shops -- worst rip-off on any ship I've seen yet -- we paid $3 in ports for items that the ship was selling for $30 or more!

 

Looking forward to Marina in November and another O cruise to somewhere in 2012.

[Paulchili]

Laraine,

Thanks for posting. My cousin and his family are taking their first O cruise from HKG to BKK - sounds like they will have a blast.

O points - what's the scoop? Are they "stingy" with them as implied on another thread? Do they take "old" O points?

Thank,

Paul

[pacheco18]

I think it will depend on the staff

David was VERY generous. He loved the fact that my friend and I were points-obsessed and did everything he could to feed our obsession. I had a hard time finding him some mornings for the daily question so he gave me 3 points for "trying hard." LOLOL

 

They are changing the points cards to make them ship specific. Until that happens, you can use your old points.

[Mura]

I'm delighted to see acolades for David Peterson, not that I have sailed with him. I just hated the thread that started out "how bad is" ...

 

I'm surprised at your thumbs down for Polo since we've always had great meals there. I haven't had that particular dish -- I usually get the 32 oz prime rib and have NEVER been disappointed. (On the other hand, you seem to have loved Toscana and we've rarely been that excited by it ... Personal tastes can differ.)

 

Regarding ship's tours -- we do prefer to do our own but we have done a fair number of ship's tours which for the most part have been excellent. We prefer to do our own for (1) cost, (2) smaller groups, (3) we set our own itinerary. But in 12 years of cruising between Ren and O we've had one, maybe two, sub-par ship's tours. To judge them all on the basis of one that did not meet your expectations -- well, that's unfair at the very least.

 

It might help if you explained just why you were unhappy, and why you project that unhappiness on ALL ship's tours.

 

There ARE times when we are better off using a ship's tour -- for example, if you don't have much time in port! If we do the fight to Misty Fjords from Ketchikan on our August Alaska cruise, we are in port from 7am to 1pm. In that case, we'll do a ship's tour rather than risking missing the ship. (Besides, we've done that flight before.)

 

Also haven't had your experience with coffee although it's a couple of years since we were on Nautica. I like mine very strong, for starters. But I've never received it cold, as far as I can remember.

 

Mura

[pacheco18]

Oh - where to begin?

 

It was a cold day and a hour and a half to our destination.

We had to wait outside in the cold for 16 women to use a single restroom -- about 45 minutes total

 

The guide had us do exercises to keep warm rather than find a comfortable place for us to wait (assuming the wait is acceptable)

 

The bus was uncomfortable - seats were awful

 

One egomaniacal fellow cruiser did not shut up -- giving a travelogue the whole ride -- causing many to seek to change seats. This is someone I would never be with on any tour.

 

The guide's English was almost unintelligible. I speak 4 languages and have few problems understanding the thickest of accents -- but this guide's English was unacceptable. She had such a limited vocabulary that she just kept repeating the same thing over and over. Moreover, the microphone on the bus had so much static that it made things worse. Everyone gave up.

 

When people returned to the bus (it was cold), the driver was asleep and did not open the bus door until everyone pitched in and woke him.

 

Some were upset (not I) that we were taken to a crafts center where only local money was accepted and no provision was made for anyone to obtain local currency. It was a tourist trap and I would not have bought a thing. There were other great places (markets) nearby but no chance to get there.

 

I could go on but why bother.

 

Never again. I spoke with other passengers and compared our private tours with the ship tours they took in other ports and there was no comparison.

 

I want a qualified guide, a comfortable ride, 6 to 8 people max of my choice, no bathroom waits, good organization and the ability to interact with the guide at will to learn about the places I visit. I want to choose where I go and how long I stay. You just cannot do that on any ship's tour.

 

Never again. I'd rather stay on the ship than take a ship's tour.

[msn123]

Laraine,

We are scheduled to do this same cruise next year. Thank you for your insights on the ship sponsored tours. We have done a few of them...usually where we absolutely can't arrange anything ourselves. (This will be our 11th Oceania voyage.)

 

When you have time, would you be able to send me the info on the private guides/tours you used? Would be most grateful. Margie

 

margnewman@aol.com

 

And if anyone who is reading this is doing this itinerary next year, feel free to contact me to see what we might arrange...too early for a Roll Call yet!

[Mura]

That sounds pretty horrendous, Laraine, I do have to agree.

 

And I am NOT trying to say that ship's tours are better than DIY tours because, as I already said, we prefer the latter ourselves. My point was that the ship's tours we have taken have generally been pretty good, and we have encountered some not-so-great private guides as well. Since you consulted other passengers and concluded that your tours were far superior, perhaps another factor was the itinerary.

 

When we were in Casablanca in November 2005, a last minute itinerary change caused by the elimination of Libya as a port meant that the highly recommended guide we'd booked months earlier would not be available to us since we were now coming in on a different day. He recommended a friend who was terrible -- friendly and accommodating, but his English was also poor. When he discovered that I could serve as a French interpreter, he just spoke to me in French and I translated for everyone else. (Nobody gave me a tip either!)

 

In Tauranga, NZ, in January 2008 our guides were a couple with a van who'd been leading tours for 3 years. The wife did the narration, the husband the driving. It turned out he knew the area better than she did. But she just read all of her material, and I can never stand it when people read since they tend to sound monotonous. (If they were trained actors it might not matter so much.) We had a "reading guide" on a Viking land tour in Germany once, too.

 

My only point here is that it's possible to get a not so stellar tour with your own private guide as well as with ship's tours. And ship's tours are often very good despite their limitations. Maybe I just don't like hard and fast rules about things like this.

 

I absolutely agree about 8 people being better than 40 or 50! I find the buses uncomfortable in general since the seat pitch is no narrow. I'm not tall but my legs get very cramped on the buses ... Private vans do tend to be more spacious as well.

[JimandStan]

I want a qualified guide, a comfortable ride, 6 to 8 people max of my choice, no bathroom waits, good organization and the ability to interact with the guide at will to learn about the places I visit. I want to choose where I go and how long I stay.

 

Well, there you go. If that was your wish list, you never should have considered a ships tour in the first place.

 

In fairness though, two of those six criteria are dependant on your fellow guests, and would be impossible for Oceania to monitor.

[vtbobby]

Never again. I'd rather stay on the ship than take a ship's tour.

A very petty and uncalled for review.

 

We have taken dozens of private and ship's tours over the years...some good, some bad...that's life.

 

On our Nautica cruise last year, we took 11 ship's tours...9 good, 1 great (Elephanta Is.-Bombay), 1 awful (El Alemein...didn't actually go to battlefield, locked (broke in) toilet with no light for 40 people...guide who knew almost nothing about WWII).

 

We also took 3 private tours...2 great, 1 awful (guide spoke very poor English and knew less than group).

 

On our upcoming Bangkok-Beijing, on Nautica, we will have three private tours also...six through the ship. I think we made intelligent choices...if not...that's life.

 

Cheers, :cool:

 

B&B

[Mary Ellen]

Thank you for sharing your observations with us.

[wripro]

imo, ships' tours are to be avoided at all costs. Being on a ship with fellow travelers is a wonderful thing. Being in a bus with 45 others is not.

[aohkay]

Oh - where to begin?

 

It was a cold day and a hour and a half to our destination.

We had to wait outside in the cold for 16 women to use a single restroom -- about 45 minutes total

 

The guide had us do exercises to keep warm rather than find a comfortable place for us to wait (assuming the wait is acceptable)

 

The bus was uncomfortable - seats were awful

 

One egomaniacal fellow cruiser did not shut up -- giving a travelogue the whole ride -- causing many to seek to change seats. This is someone I would never be with on any tour.

 

The guide's English was almost unintelligible. I speak 4 languages and have few problems understanding the thickest of accents -- but this guide's English was unacceptable. She had such a limited vocabulary that she just kept repeating the same thing over and over. Moreover, the microphone on the bus had so much static that it made things worse. Everyone gave up.

 

When people returned to the bus (it was cold), the driver was asleep and did not open the bus door until everyone pitched in and woke him.

 

Some were upset (not I) that we were taken to a crafts center where only local money was accepted and no provision was made for anyone to obtain local currency. It was a tourist trap and I would not have bought a thing. There were other great places (markets) nearby but no chance to get there.

 

I could go on but why bother.

 

Never again. I spoke with other passengers and compared our private tours with the ship tours they took in other ports and there was no comparison.

 

I want a qualified guide, a comfortable ride, 6 to 8 people max of my choice, no bathroom waits, good organization and the ability to interact with the guide at will to learn about the places I visit. I want to choose where I go and how long I stay. You just cannot do that on any ship's tour.

 

Never again. I'd rather stay on the ship than take a ship's tour.

 

Hi Pacheco18:

 

I am sorry to hear that the ship's tour did not meet your expectations. However, I do not understand why you booked it in the first place :confused:, as from other threads you do sound like you know what you want and what you don't want in a cruise/ cruise tour.

 

On our Med cruise, we booked 3 ship's tours and enjoyed them all. Only 1 wasn't fantastic, but my attitude is more, "If in Rome..."

[pacheco18]

Well, there you go. If that was your wish list, you never should have considered a ships tour in the first place.

 

In fairness though, two of those six criteria are dependant on your fellow guests, and would be impossible for Oceania to monitor.

 

Agreed -- we did much research but it was a new port and we could not find any guides recommended -- rather than risk being the "first

we opted for the ship's tour.

[pacheco18]

Laraine,

 

 

When you have time, would you be able to send me the info on the private guides/tours you used? Would be most grateful. Margie

 

In Tokyo airport - will do when I get home.

[pacheco18]

A very petty and uncalled for review.

 

/QUOTE]

 

Petty and uncalled for? It's MY experience and MY opinion. Are you the posting police? Do you have to approve or validate what I post? I don't think so.

 

I think there are many CCers who appreciate honesty. Apparently, you would like me to gild the lily. Not a chance.

 

And did I mention the bus driver used the bus as his smoking room when we were off the bus. We returned to an unbearable smoke-filled bus. I had to tell the guide to have him refrain from smoking on the bus.

[pacheco18]

Hi Pacheco18:

 

I do not understand why you booked it in the first place :confused:, as from other threads you do sound like you know what you want and what you don't want in a cruise/ cruise tour.

 

 

We felt like we had no other option. We tried to find a recommended local guide for this new port. We Googled it extensively. There were no recommendations on CC or any other reputable travel site. We did not want to be "the first" to try out a local guide in a small province of China.

[JimandStan]

We felt like we had no other option. We tried to find a recommended local guide for this new port. We Googled it extensively. There were no recommendations on CC or any other reputable travel site. We did not want to be "the first" to try out a local guide in a small province of China.

 

Did you ever consider that Oceania was probably in the same boat when it came to getting "good" help there? :cool:

[pacheco18]

Maybe so -- then give passengers fair warning. Tell us it is a new port, with limited options, guide's English may be poor -- may not be up to O's usual standards -- before you charge me $100 a person and list it among all the other recommended tours. Then at least I make an informed decision and lower my expectations.

[pacheco18]

imo, ships' tours are to be avoided at all costs. Being on a ship with fellow travelers is a wonderful thing. Being in a bus with 45 others is not.

 

I could not agree more.

 

This is also MY opinion: I also personally feel embarrassed walking around a foreign town (big or small) with 50 other people following a person holding a big Oceania (or other) sign and yelling -- "Bus 2 follow me." I would rather blend into the surroundings a bit more. To each his own.

[Earl Rosebery]

We felt like we had no other option. We tried to find a recommended local guide for this new port. We Googled it extensively. There were no recommendations on CC or any other reputable travel site. We did not want to be "the first" to try out a local guide in a small province of China.

 

If you are referring to Guangzhou, we blindly picked a tour off the internet and had a very good guide and driver and one of our best excursions. Probably just blind luck as he was subcontracted through an agency in Beijing. For Saigon, you can't beat Zoom and for Bangkok we were very pleased with bangkok Day Tours. Ko Samui, Hoi An Ha Long Bay not bad but not great. Did Singapore and Hong Kong on our own. Very easy as they both have fabulous subways and zillions of cheap taxis. Do not pay for Oceania transfer to your hotel or the airport. In HK a taxi from the Island to Kowloon hotel was 15 $ for 2. To the airport was 10 taxi to the airport express station and $8 each by high speed rail to the airport. PS senior fares available on subway in HK.

[caribbeansun]

Other than the coffee comment and David Peterson (wasn't on our cruise) your recap is pretty much spot on with our experience in October aboard Nautica.

 

Prime Rib at Polo was definitely the low point of the meals on the cruise.

 

Overall a great cruise -- the staff was superb. The ship was wonderful as were our fellow cruisers.

 

The best:

David Peterson - cannot say enough good things

Service -- phenomenal everywhere

Toscana - excellent

Big O Points!! -- we ended up with 150

Waves Grill - burgers and shakes tasted great after a day in Cambodia

Ports were fascinating -- the stories told by the many Vietnam Veterans on board (my husband included) added a special something

 

The worst:

Polo Grill - how can you make a prime ribeye tasteless?

Coffee - often cold or very weak -- stick to lattes which were very good

Ship sponsored shore excursion -- we took our first one ever and it will be our last. Awful does not begin to describe it. In contrast, our private guides and excursions were fabulous. For those of you who always take the ship's tours, you are having a totally different experience from those of us who travel with private excursions.

Ship's shops -- worst rip-off on any ship I've seen yet -- we paid $3 in ports for items that the ship was selling for $30 or more!

 

Looking forward to Marina in November and another O cruise to somewhere in 2012.

[qldtraveller]

Overall a great cruise -- the staff was superb. The ship was wonderful as were our fellow cruisers.

 

The best:

David Peterson - cannot say enough good things

Service -- phenomenal everywhere

Toscana - excellent

Big O Points!! -- we ended up with 150

Waves Grill - burgers and shakes tasted great after a day in Cambodia

Ports were fascinating -- the stories told by the many Vietnam Veterans on board (my husband included) added a special something

 

The worst:

Polo Grill - how can you make a prime ribeye tasteless?

Coffee - often cold or very weak -- stick to lattes which were very good

Ship sponsored shore excursion -- we took our first one ever and it will be our last. Awful does not begin to describe it. In contrast, our private guides and excursions were fabulous. For those of you who always take the ship's tours, you are having a totally different experience from those of us who travel with private excursions.

Ship's shops -- worst rip-off on any ship I've seen yet -- we paid $3 in ports for items that the ship was selling for $30 or more!

 

Looking forward to Marina in November and another O cruise to somewhere in 2012.

 

Hooray at last

Someone who speaks up about things as they are out there. Read all messages with interest and I would only book cruise line shore excursions as a last resort. We are due to go on a 25 day cruise with O and we have only taken 2 shore excursions with O as they provide the same tours as the local tour company and there is no difference in tour length.We have booked private tours in HKG, DaNang, HCMC, doing our own thing in Phuket, booked 3 tours in Yangon Mayanmar with local company as we have in Mumbai and will do our own thing in Muscat and Dubai before heading back home on the big silver bird.

 

With shore excursions organised with cruise lines one takes a chance on the other guests on the coach(loud mouthed so one cannot hear the guide anyway), in Asia all males tend to smoke so it will happen on coaches, tour guides have a set piece and schedule to work to, and as there is a large demand on the day for coaches, drivers and guides there will always a possible language issue and finally they only go to the sights they know whereas we identify the itinerary we want and the [private guide provides that. Much better and more culturally enlightening and less exhausting and please be assured much cheaper.

 

I also agree the cruise company has no control over the guests who do these tours and that is another reason to avoid the bus load.

 

So stick to your guns and try and do private tours wherever you can ands keep using those Internet search engines and tripadvisor for the reviews of travel companies.

 

Stick to your guns and regarding the meat dish in Polo Grill I will be interested in seeing how my comes out as I like mine "blue".

 

RSSC have tours included but interestingly the coach on the Med. and Pacific cruises only have 20 - 25 people on each coach.

 

Princess just pile them on until it is full and then get the next one ready and then travel in a convoy to the site so you all arrive at the same time. Did that once for a special trip and never again.

 

Have a good one and hooray

[Mura]

I always have the prime rib on our first Polo meal on a cruise and have never been disappointed. Perhaps the OP just had spectacularly bad luck.

 

I am another "blue" eater and have never had a problem getting beef cooked the way I like it.