Ports/Tours

[yorkiemomjn]

My husband & I were previously booked on both of the Riviera's first two maiden voyages. When they rescheduled this last time, we were unable to go. Oceania has been great though, allowing us to keep all our credits and use them for a 2013 cruise.

We have booked the Riviera's May 25, 2013 sailing from Istanbul to Rome. We have either been to some of these ports or either had tours booked for them on the canceled cruises. However, we have never been to the following ports and we would really appreciate any suggestions you may have about whether or not we should even book a tour, and if so, which tour company/person you recommend. I plan to spend some time on the Port Board, but I wanted to hear from the Oceania people first. Thanks!! :)

The ports we have never been to are:

1) Santorini, 2) Crete, 3) Aghios Nikolaos (Crete),

4) Argostoli (Cephalonia), 5) Taormina (Sicily),

6) Olbia/Porto Cervo (Sardinia)

[no fuss travel]

Santorini you can do yourself. Take the local bus.

Taormina, we did a tour (private) which meant that we arrived at the mountain earlier than the tour buses did, had a chance to go to a winery as well as time in the towns. I unfortunately cannot remember who our tour guide was, but I remember he was good.

[tropicalkerry2002]

We had a fabulous tour on Santorini, first to the famous blue church view, a look at an incredible hotel built into the rock(from the outside) a winery, to Oia, and then an incredible lunch in a non-touristy cantina on the water.

 

Also booked a tour in Olbia, went inland with a fabulous guide, up into the hills/mountains, then to Porto Cervo. It was great too!

 

Let me know if you want guide contact.

 

Marian

[katz]

We did Santorini on our own. If you are adventurous, ride the donkeys up and take the cable car down. There are buses and taxis to take you to the town. You can spend the day seeing everything on your own.

 

We did an O excursion in Crete. We went to a rustic village and visited a typical home and saw how the people of the village lived and worked. We had lunch in the village and visited a Greek Orthodox Church.

 

I hope this helps.

[tropicalkerry2002]

It was a TAVERNA!

[canuck.qc]

My husband & I were previously booked on both of the Riviera's first two maiden voyages. When they rescheduled this last time, we were unable to go. Oceania has been great though, allowing us to keep all our credits and use them for a 2013 cruise.

 

We have booked the Riviera's May 25, 2013 sailing from Istanbul to Rome. We have either been to some of these ports or either had tours booked for them on the canceled cruises. However, we have never been to the following ports and we would really appreciate any suggestions you may have about whether or not we should even book a tour, and if so, which tour company/person you recommend. I plan to spend some time on the Port Board, but I wanted to hear from the Oceania people first. Thanks!! :)

 

The ports we have never been to are:

1) Santorini, 2) Crete, 3) Aghios Nikolaos (Crete),

4) Argostoli (Cephalonia), 5) Taormina (Sicily),

6) Olbia/Porto Cervo (Sardinia)

For Taormina we used a great company called Sicily Life www.sicilylife.com

which included a stop at MtEtna & countryside drive. We still get a Xmas card every year from them!

We did not have a tour for Olbia and regretted not booking one. The port town wasn't as picturesque/tourist friendly as others in the Med....seemed ill prepared for the onset of cruise ships...that was 3yr ago & things may have improved, in hindsight I would have definitely booked or shared a tour.

[rubysue]

For Taormina we used a great company called Sicily Life www.sicilylife.com

which included a stop at MtEtna & countryside drive. We still get a Xmas card every year from them!

We did not have a tour for Olbia and regretted not booking one. The port town wasn't as picturesque/tourist friendly as others in the Med....seemed ill prepared for the onset of cruise ships...that was 3yr ago & things may have improved, in hindsight I would have definitely booked or shared a tour.

 

We were in Olbia on another cruise line in 2007 with my 93-year-old Dad. We did a ship tour that went to the northern part of Sardinia. We took a short ferry ride across to La Maddelena island, had a tour of the island itself (with views of Corsica), then plenty of free time in the main town. We found a pizzeria and had appropriate beverages and watched the locals set up for a wedding in the town hall. My Dad, a veteran of over 50 cruises around the world, said it was one of the best days he had on a cruise.

[Bruin Steve]

1) Santorini, 2) Crete, 3) Aghios Nikolaos (Crete),

 

4) Argostoli (Cephalonia), 5) Taormina (Sicily),

6) Olbia/Porto Cervo (Sardinia)

 

I haven't been to all of them...but, here's my take on the ones I've visited:

Santorini: We've done an excursion here one visit and "on our own" the next...The excursion we did was actually a half-day...the advantage was a) a nice orientation of the island and b) a bus ride up rather than donkeys or whatever...The end of the excursion was in town and left us with tickets for the cable car down included for our return on our own schedule...We used the afternoon to have some lunch, walk around town and to take the public bus to Oia and back...The excursion took us to a few different sites around the island including a winery, a view point and archaeological site...

When we did it on our own, we took the cable car up and rented a car in town and drove on our own to Ancient Thira on a high mountain on the otherside of the island (a fairly scary drive up the mountain) and to the black sand beaches and other sites on the far side...

Aghios Nikolaos (Crete): Here we did an Ocenaia shorex to the Temple of Knossos--really the top attraction on the island...All things considered, I recommend this.

 

Taormina (Sicily): We did an Oceania shorex to Mt. Etna...Originally, we booked a full day shorex to Taormina and Etna--but they cancelled it (likely due to a slightly too short day) and we had to choose one or the other on a half-day tour...IMHO, we chose wrong. They don't really dock in Taormina (at least Nautica didn't)--rather in Naxos...several miles away and difficult to get to...We originally opted for the shorex since the private guides we found seemed a bit on the expensive side here...

 

BTW, you have Crete listed twice...Was that in error?

[Mura]

We haven't done many of these ports so I was hanging back ...

 

But I was interested in Bruin Steve's comments about Crete ONLY because we went to Knossos on our own. This was way back in February 2000, but we docked a 5 minute walk from the bus station. We bought tickets on the bus for about $1.50 each (back then).

 

We were wandering around Knossos, not really knowing what we were seeing, when we encountered a licensed guide who was charging $25/hour for a private tour. He had another couple already with him who turned out to be in the cabin next to us on the R5 (now Nautica).

 

The tour was excellent and gave us all sorts of information that we wouldn't have gotten on our own. Also, it was much better than being with a large bus tour .... and I'm awfully glad that no bus tour showed up in the time we were at Knossos!

 

So I would suggest, based on our experience, that Knossos can certainly be done on your own. If you don't want to take the bus, hire a cab and ask him to wait. Then keep an eye out for the licensed guides hanging around the premises, looking for tourists. It's a lot cheaper than a shorex from the ship and you can take the time you want.

 

One proviso: coming back on the bus we had a terribly long wait for the bus. It took us no time going up, but maybe a half hour wait returning to town. We still had time to visit the Archeological Museum in town (and buy a lapis necklace) before returning to the ship, but the wait time for the return bus WAS distressing.

 

Mura

[Bruin Steve]

Mura,

I have no doubt ports like Crete can be done "on one's own"...and one may save a bit of money...Shorexes and private tours tend to be expensive...

...and we do some ports "on our own"...but we typically reserve that for ports with which we are already very familiar...

 

For us, saving money is not a prime concern...

 

Especially in unfamiliar ports and places where timing may be a major concern--like where there are fairly large distances between port and attractions--I think I feel a bit more secure being on a tour of some sort...

Let someone else deal with the logistics, transportation and timing...

 

It's not a concern for me on a "land trip"--where the timing is not crucial...But, knowing I have certain time parameters and not knowing public transportation options or schedules or dependability, I find some advantage to having someone who knows where they are going picking me up at the ship and delivering me back on time...and I am willing to pay for that...

 

When one considers the thousands of dollars one pays for the entire cruise vacation (and it is not unusual for us to spend upwards of $15,000, $20,000...even $30,000, saving a few dollars on a tour is really not a big deal relatively speaking...

 

My first preference is usually to find a private guide or tour company and to put together a small group from my roll call of between 6 and 10 people...much better than a big bus tour...

 

Of course, in some ports either there is a lack of recommended local guides...or the timing on the port stop is tight...and the shorexes become a reasonable option...

 

Oceania now offers a lot of special shorexes with smaller groups--of course, for a higher price...and, in some ports, it even makes sense to book a private van through Oceania--we did exactly that in Egypt while on Nautica in 2009...

 

I enjoy the "adventure" of exploring on my own at times...My wife is very much into having things pre-booked and scheduled and having all of the certainty that goes with it...and the "planner" that I am, I have no problem obliging her...

 

I understand that some people sort of "default" to "on their own" wherever they can...I understand the attraction to that for many...For us, the criteria may be a bit different...

[Mura]

Bruin Steve,

 

I fully understand and in fact I agree. But when it IS possible to do it on your own efficiently, I like to mention it. That's all!

 

Back in those days (12 years ago), we pretty much wandered around a port on our own OR we did a ship's tour. It was later on that we figured out the benefits of finding fellow passengers for private groups.

 

I only meant that in Crete, you don't need a ship's tour. If you want to do a ship's tour, that's fine too!

 

It does depend on your port, but Crete is small enough that you can get to Knossos on your own, especially since the licensed guides just waiting for you (I assume they still are!) make it that much easier.

 

We pretty much do a combo of do-it-yourself, privately arranged tours and ship's tours. DH likes the ease of ship's tours, I don't like the size of ship's tours, so we usually compromise ... and do some of each.

 

If you are in a port where time is of the essence, there is no question that a ship's tour is the safest way to go. We were on a cruise in South America in January 2002 where we were on a ship's tour and the bus broke down. We didn't get back to port until an hour after the ship was supposed to have departed, but they waited for us. They wouldn't have waited for a taxi!

 

Mura

[yorkiemomjn]

 

My first preference is usually to find a private guide or tour company and to put together a small group from my roll call of between 6 and 10 people...much better than a big bus ...

 

 

I want to thank everyone for your help. Bruin Steve, this is also our first preference. This is one of the reasons I love CC. We get to "meet" so many nice people even before we we step foot on the ship! :). To answer your question about Crete, yes, it was just an error. I noticed it too late to correct it.