Free Shuttles?

[Line Dancer]

FDR just recently posted that 60% of all ports will have FREE shuttles from ship to city center. Is there anyway to determine which ports these are?

 

Betty - New Orleans

[LHT28]

So far nobody knows in advance ;)

 

It would be nice if they could put the info in the cruise booklet that you recieve a few weeks before the cruise

Surely they know at that point ...anyone at H.O. listening:confused:

 

Lyn

[doubledobles]

I loved the free shuttles when we cruised with Regent. It comes in handy if you just want to explore on your own or if you've been to the port before and don't want to do another tour. I can't tell you when the free shuttle is provided, and I don't remember Regent letting its passengers know beforehand either.

[wripro]

On Regent, as with other luxury lines, one can pretty much assume there will be a shuttle in every port. With O, since that's not the case, it would be helpful to know in advance.

[skigrams]

I believe the policy is that if the ship is docked within a short walking distance from the center of town, then no shuttle is provided. But if they are docked in one of those huge container ports, there has been shuttles available, at least on my last couple of voyages.

 

It certainly is a nice thing for Oceania is provide not only for convenience but mostly for safety in those large ports. I know I appreciated the ones that we had which was in almost every port.

 

Bobi

[tgg]

We've loved the free shuttles on Azamara. It's nice to know that Oceania will offer the same thing. (We've sailed both lines.)

[kaimedia]

The free shuttles that Cunard provides in just about every port were great. When I called O to ask which of the ports on our upcoming Rome to Athens had shuttles there were only 3 or 4 ports out of the twelve scheduled. My math says that is not 60%.

[cbb]

We're also on a Rome to Athens cruise and I figure there might be some ports from which I won't even want to take a shuttle! Just yesterday Cairo had buildings being burned and more street demonstrations, Syria had some government vs protesters situations, Israel and Hamas are lobbing missiles at each other and Jerusalem had a suicide bomber hit a downtown bus station. I figure that is 5 days out of 14 that potentially could be iffy so we either take ship's tours for safety reasons or we stay onboard . I'm usually game for anything but that whole discretion/valor thing may be my motto on this cruise!

[TERRIER1]

We will be sailing in May and I just call to find out which ports would have a shuttle. I was told that they do not know and probably I will not know until we are practically at the port. It sounds like the shuttle bus is arranged hilly nilly right before the ship docks or that is the impression I was given by the O agent - kind of seat of the pants last minute arrangement.

 

How can O quote 60% of ports will have a shuttle when they do not know what is happening on a cruise 60 days out? Azamara seems to know as does Regent and Cunard.

[kaimedia]

We're also on a Rome to Athens cruise and I figure there might be some ports from which I won't even want to take a shuttle! Just yesterday Cairo had buildings being burned and more street demonstrations, Syria had some government vs protesters situations, Israel and Hamas are lobbing missiles at each other and Jerusalem had a suicide bomber hit a downtown bus station. I figure that is 5 days out of 14 that potentially could be iffy so we either take ship's tours for safety reasons or we stay onboard . I'm usually game for anything but that whole discretion/valor thing may be my motto on this cruise!

CBB,

 

We are taking the Rome to Athens cruise to celebrate my husband's survival of open heart sugery . Hope we survive the cruise!

[LHT28]

The free shuttles that Cunard provides in just about every port were great. When I called O to ask which of the ports on our upcoming Rome to Athens had shuttles there were only 3 or 4 ports out of the twelve scheduled. My math says that is not 60%.

 

I do not think it is per cruise but of the number of ports overall

Just my guess

 

Lyn

[gr'aunt]

It is my understanding (which may be all wet) that the shuttles will be provided in those ports where the ship is docked more than walking distance from the city center. But I can't believe that O will provide a shuttle to Rome from Civitavecchia, to Florence from Livorno, or to Ephesus from Kusadasi. The former are all listed in the brochures as the "destination" while the latter are listed in parentheses as the actual arrival port.

 

About the matter of O not knowing which ports will have shuttles, apparantly they don't know where we'll be docking in some instances. O's rep told my TA Cork...the harbor website says Cohb. It would be nice to know so I can tell the tour guide where to pick us up.

[kaimedia]

This is what I was told by the O help desk. The "helper" had no information on the (?) ports.

 

Sorrento (shuttle)

Taormina (no)

Zakynthos (no)

Alexandrira (no)

Cairo (no)

Haifa (no)

Ashdod (?)

Limassol (?)

Tartous (?)

Alanyna (?)

Ephesus (no)

[cbb]

Kaimedia,

thanks for the shuttle info. I was interested that there was going to be a shuttle at Sorrento since it is Easter Sunday and I bet there won't be many places open. We'll probably just walk around and then return to the ship for food and beverages. Congratulations to your husband, and to you, on his successful heart operation. Euphoria will be your travel companion!! c

[lmarmors]

I was told that they do not know and probably I will not know until we are practically at the port. It sounds like the shuttle bus is arranged hilly nilly right before the ship docks or that is the impression I was given by the O agent - kind of seat of the pants last minute arrangement.

That makes it difficult if you want to order a taxi service in advance to take you into town.

[kaimedia]

Kaimedia,

thanks for the shuttle info. I was interested that there was going to be a shuttle at Sorrento since it is Easter Sunday and I bet there won't be many places open. We'll probably just walk around and then return to the ship for food and beverages. Congratulations to your husband, and to you, on his successful heart operation. Euphoria will be your travel companion!! c

 

Oceania Cruises provide complimentary shuttle busses service in select ports.

Free shuttle busses are offered when:

• The ship is docked a long walk from the main thoroughfare

• Taxis and/or public transportation is not easily accessible from the port

• The port is industrial and not pedestrian-friendly.

This complimentary service is determined once the port berths have been assigned. Unfortunately, we are not notified which ports offer the complimentary service prior to departure. The information can be obtained upon embarkation. It will be published in the daily Currents or through our Destination Services Department onboard.

The complimentary shuttle busses are provided from the cruise port to the city central of the “port” city, NOT the actual “destination” city.

Feel free to contact a Cruise Specialist at 1-800-531-5658 for further assistance.

[menloman]

I recently contacted O re: our upcoming Dover to Dover on July 29, 2011. Even though we will be in a container port in Zeebrugge (for Brugge) which is a considerable distance from town and requires transversing a busy commercial port there will be no shuttle.

 

Re: Bordeaux, which actually docks in Le Verdon, another commercial port far from the town, (and 65 miles from Bordeaux....unlike many ships that go up the river to Bordeaux) no shuttle.

 

Evidently there are few taxis in Le Verdon and some have described it as "the dark side of the moon>

 

If these ports don't justify a shuttle.....:mad:

[TERRIER1]

I just contacted O regarding our 16 day cruise leaving on May 26. There will be no shuttles at any port. The reasoning is that there must be a distance of greater than 2 km to the town. Unfortunately, no one really know exactly where is the "town" since we do not know exactly where we dock/anchor.

 

The comment from FDR was that 60% of ports will have a shuttle. How can you derive a statistic and not know what ports these are? If you state that 60% of the ports will have a shuttle then communicate the associated ports to the passengers. It would have been nice to state this in the documentation received prior to cruising.

 

In the future, I will not hang my hat on any shuttles being available from O.

[LOGHL]

[:

• The ship is docked a long walk from the main thoroughfare

 

What a LONG walk is to a 30 year old & an over 80 year old can be VERY different.

We have been on cruises that supposedly, according to a staffer was 10 minutes walk,, actually turned out to be over a half an hour ... soooooo ?????

[LHT28]

I just contacted O regarding our 16 day cruise leaving on May 26. There will be no shuttles at any port. The reasoning is that there must be a distance of greater than 2 km to the town. Unfortunately, no one really know exactly where is the "town" since we do not know exactly where we dock/anchor.

 

 

Does the cruise booklet not tell you what ports you dock or tender at?

 

Maybe list the ports & people might be able to tell you how far from the town the ships docks

If you are the Marina

I can tell you the town is right there where the ship docks or tenders

for ST Malo, Copenhagen (Langeliene pier), Barcelona & I think Lisbon

Cannot help with the others