Shore excursions

[Waterdog 685]

This is our first cruise on Oceania, in Nov.2012. We would like some opinions on shore excursions in Messina Itly, Florence, Provence,Monte carlo, and Barcelona.

[JimandStan]

This is our first cruise on Oceania, in Nov.2012. We would like some opinions on shore excursions in Messina Itly, Florence, Provence,Monte carlo, and Barcelona.

 

I see that this is your first posting, WELCOME TO CRUISE CRITIC!

Happily, there is a specific area where one may research and discuss excursions in the various ports! :D

Look in the Ports of Call Section: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=5

 

Have a wonderful Cruise!

[cbb]

Waterdog,

Perhaps if you told us how you like to travel we could help you more. Some of us are pretty darn independent so we do our own thing, others like to hire private guides/cars while others are perfectly happy going on the excursions offered by Oceania. Some of us do all three, depending upon the port, on a cruise.

 

Give us some details of your travel style and/or personal needs and we can better direct you. JimandStan have directed you to a great site to begin your research.

 

I hope you enjoy O as much as I do! c

[pacheco18]

I suggest you go to the roll call for your cruise where you will find fellow cruisers. Be forewarned: Oceania's shore excursions are over the top expensive (a ripoff IMO). YOu can share private shore excursions with fellow cruisers for far less money and have a better and more intimate experience. All that information will be on your roll call.

[no fuss travel]

And the best part if you do it independently with a small group is that you do not have to wait for 40 people to get on and off the bus.:D

[cbb]

We took 3 Oceania Exclusive (or whatever they're calling it now) in Jerusalem and loved it. 15 people were in our group and our guides were wonderful. In fact I asked for the card of one of them so that I could use him again if needed. (Have to spend a little bit of time in the old dump document to locate the info though!)

[Andee]

We found Barcelona very easy to tour on our own.

[pacheco18]

We took 3 Oceania Exclusive (or whatever they're calling it now) in Jerusalem and loved it. 15 people were in our group and our guides were wonderful. In fact I asked for the card of one of them so that I could use him again if needed. (Have to spend a little bit of time in the old dump document to locate the info though!)

 

 

It's all relative. 15 people is at least 7 too many for me and for many of us. I am also betting that you paid 4x what others paid for similar private tours.

 

I am glad you loved it but you paid quite a premium.

[cbb]

Perhaps I did pay a premium, but then again we don't have a bar bill so some of us just choose to spend our $ differently. Our guide for Masada was amazing and if that is paying a premium....then I'm ok with that. (Besides, I believe we are paying a premium just sailing O and I'm very happy to do that)

 

Sometimes we just want a vetted tour guide to take us to specific places and O excursions does that for us; I also have someone to complain to if there has been a problem (hasn't happened yet). Most of the time we are totally DIY and self-sufficient and don't need or want any kind of guide.

[Mura]

We found Barcelona very easy to tour on our own.

 

Andee, I do agree with you because we've always done so.

 

But a question is how long do you have. If it's one day in port, then a guide can be helpful (maybe even essential) in a large city.)

 

If we are there pre- or post-cruise for several days, then we always do it on our own.

 

I only say this here because I've been called on "you can do Istanbul on your own without a guide", and it's the same situation there. In a major city if you only have one day, at least you don't make wrong turns trying to get where you are going!

 

Even Lisbon, which is smaller ... in port for one day (unless you know it, which we do) is better done with help.

 

Mura

[Floridiana]

Florence is far from the port. I would book a ship's tour to get there and back in a timely fashion.

[canuck.qc]

This is our first cruise on Oceania, in Nov.2012. We would like some opinions on shore excursions in Messina Itly, Florence, Provence,Monte Carlo, and Barcelona.

First thing is to go on to your RollCall and monitor posts, join or book a tour asap, tours fill up quickly. If you prefer to share the cost of a tour & can't find people to share excursions on your RollCall , there is a great site where you can enroll to share shore excursions with people from other ships in port on the same day www.shareashoreexcursioninitaly.com. For MonteCarlo dream-tours.com is very good (highly recomm. book soon) There are several good tour guides for Provence...go onto 'Search' there you will find several reviews...I think you should decide what type of tour you are interested in for which particular port-

Private: (expensive, personal service, can modify tour to you specifically)

Shared Small groups 2-4 couples: (cost effective and still personal)

Ship Excur: (expensive & somewhat impersonal, yet you have an amount of security that O is responsible for the group)