Rare Caroldoll Posted June 1, 2013 #1 Share Posted June 1, 2013 I would like to try one in Marsielle next year and include Provence. If anyone has any good advice, I would very much appreciate it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wripro Posted June 1, 2013 #2 Share Posted June 1, 2013 You are much better off with a true private tour which will cost you a fraction of what O charges. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Caroldoll Posted June 1, 2013 Author #3 Share Posted June 1, 2013 I have not heard good things about Marsielle. I only have one tour person's name. I was hoping someone on this board would either have a name or if someone took any of Oceania's tours--we don't care too much about the price. For both segments of this cruise, this will be the only tour we take as we have been each place multiple times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tropicalkerry2002 Posted June 2, 2013 #4 Share Posted June 2, 2013 tour.designer@provence-travel.com this is Catherine's email. We have done 2 fabulous tours of Provence with her, when docked in Marseilles. She will send you her suggested tours. We have done Luberon with her in 2011, and in 2007 went to Aix en Provence and Cassis. You don't want to stay in Marseilles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Caroldoll Posted June 2, 2013 Author #5 Share Posted June 2, 2013 I will write to her right away. I so appreciate the help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisesoon Posted June 2, 2013 #6 Share Posted June 2, 2013 I want to also confirm Catherine's private tours. We used her several years ago and she was great!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Caroldoll Posted June 2, 2013 Author #7 Share Posted June 2, 2013 I wrote an email immediately. Given that this is a weekend, I doubt if I will hear for a day or two. I hope this works out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clogs1 Posted June 5, 2013 #8 Share Posted June 5, 2013 You are much better off with a true private tour which will cost you a fraction of what O charges. They are a ripoff in price and you are dictated to by the slowest on the bus. Also programmes cut short by timetable (especially if a lunch is involved). Best to organise through internet and sus out Trip Advisor or Cruise Critic to check company. By being small and private more scope for flexibility and programme plus opportunity of seeing "the real people, food and culture". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChatKat in Ca. Posted June 5, 2013 #9 Share Posted June 5, 2013 We did Marseille on Regent last year. You can go to the Aix en Provence, Grasse and a few other hill towns. Many people did enjoy the port. It's been rehabilitated and people were quite surprised. We will be going in November and going to Aix and Cassis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimandStan Posted June 5, 2013 #10 Share Posted June 5, 2013 We will be going in November and going to Aix and Cassis You are travelling very late in the Season, so you will probably find Aix and Cassis enjoyable, albeit cool and perhaps a little wet, but people should be aware that both can be tourist trap nightmares in the Summer. The 5000 passenger behemoths have ruined coastal France for us (in Season, at least), so we always recommend going much further inland, unless we can confirm that they are out of the picture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hondorner Posted June 5, 2013 #11 Share Posted June 5, 2013 They are a ripoff in price and you are dictated to by the slowest on the bus. Also programmes cut short by timetable (especially if a lunch is involved). Best to organise through internet and sus out Trip Advisor or Cruise Critic to check company. By being small and private more scope for flexibility and programme plus opportunity of seeing "the real people, food and culture". I believe the OP's question was related to the private Executive Collection Full or Half Day Car or Van. While definitely expensive, they are not on a bus and there is no timetable -- the driver and guide will do as you wish. The desription in the shore excursion section of the Oceania web site is: This exclusive arrangement is designed to allow you the chance to customize your time ashore and discover the most interesting sights in the comfort and privacy of your own vehicle. With your private car and the personalized attention of your driver and English-speaking guide, you will have the flexibility and independence to design your itinerary ashore according to your own interests and sightsee at your own pace. See the most famous sights or go beyond to create your own intimate connections and unique cultural encounters. While I personally believe it would be less expensive to buy a car at the port and abandon it at sailaway ;), for the OP price appears to be no barrier. The short answer to the question is, no, I have never taken the Executive Collection option nor have I ever met anyone who did. That might be a better question to ask the Destinations department at headquarters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RetiredFL Posted June 5, 2013 #12 Share Posted June 5, 2013 At the base of the old port there is a Petit Train that goes all over the old area and up to the church on the hill which is interesting and has great views. You can get off, explore and then get the next train. We enjoyed the old port and walked up the main shopping street and visited the "arab" market area. We felt safe everywhere. We have done a car tour to Aix but it was a distance to go and we did not have much time there. We wanted to see the Matisse Museum but the line was hours long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hondorner Posted June 5, 2013 #13 Share Posted June 5, 2013 We visited Marseille during Riviera's Christening Cruise from Monte Carlo to Venice. We took a premium excursion to Avignon and Le Baux. It was an 8 hour excursion because of the distance, but it was fascinating, incredible and, in the case of Les Baux, amazing. It's one of the few excursions I would do again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travelglobetrotter Posted June 15, 2013 #14 Share Posted June 15, 2013 we were part of 4 of the O van excursions in 2010 in Jordan and Egypt and were well pleased. You can plan the itinerary as you wish and see a great deal more, and if you split the cost with 2 or 3 other couples, the high cost is much more reasonable. One couple books and pays for the van in advance, and is responsible for detailing the desired itinerary. It worked very well for us then, but I haven't checked into pricing lately. You can certainly book a tour privately, but for the areas we were in, we wanted the O vans because we knew they wouldn't sail without us, and the price was still less per couple than booking an O shorex much more limited in scope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Caroldoll Posted June 15, 2013 Author #15 Share Posted June 15, 2013 I feel bad about some of the comments, but I will survive. We did contact Catherine who seems delightful and this will work. Thanks for all the tips. We would certainly like to share tours, but my husband is so big...it is hard to say--he needs the front, so we have to go it on our own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypercafe Posted June 15, 2013 #16 Share Posted June 15, 2013 Just because your husband needs the front does not mean you can not share, make it clear you need the front seat and offer to pay more than half. If were on the same trip it would by ok for me, infact I would pay my share and sit in the back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Caroldoll Posted June 16, 2013 Author #17 Share Posted June 16, 2013 That is a wonderful attitude. I guess it is my fault as I am too embarrassed to ask. Perhaps if we met on the ship first, I could mention that. There is another poster on this board who we sometimes travel with and her husband is quite normal in stature. We do share with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tropicalkerry2002 Posted June 16, 2013 #18 Share Posted June 16, 2013 I know you will be happy with Catherine! I second hypercafe's comments...you must't be concerned about requiring the front seat for your husband, but I don't think you should offer to pay more than your fair share! I have organized MANY tours on cruises I have taken and it is HOURS of work: researching, communication/confirming with the guide, communicating/confirming with the other participants on the tour. Being the organizer: I was the one who got flack the one time a guide was late (what are YOU going to do?) I have been asked embarrassing questions while on the tour: despite sending all participants a detailed email of the tour and costs, and asking them to please have the correct amount ready to pay each guide, I had one participant yell from the back of the van, asking how much the tour was, and then arguing with me, with the guide right there! I was mortified. I have overheard a participant trying to discretely tell the guide to alter the itinerary. I have had participants say they have had enough and want to return to the ship before the planned tour, which they were well aware of, is over. (They were told to take public transit) I have had people cancel once on the ship, making it very awkward as I have to contact the others and tell them the cost has risen. I am not afraid to ask that participants be non smokers, for MY comfort. Of course, I have to rely on their truthfulness here! I am the one who has developed a relationship with the guide, not the others. I have spent many hours researching the best guides, booking them, often 18 months before the cruise, and once booked,, have to remember to get back to reconfirm a month before the cruise. I know that some people think that the organizer gets a free or reduced rate tour, but that has never been the case in ANY tour I have organized. I pay the same as everyone else. I feel I have every right to be in the front seat for all my work, that others have benefited from. Sometimes I offer to take turns, sometimes I don't, and I don't feel guilty! Off my soapbox now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare RachelG Posted June 16, 2013 #19 Share Posted June 16, 2013 Tropicalkerry, that is exactly why I no longer organize tours that include people I don't already know! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wripro Posted June 16, 2013 #20 Share Posted June 16, 2013 I agree with RachelG. I only do tours for the two of us unless we know someone VERY well. I do not want to share eight hours with moaners, complainers and ungrateful fellow passengers as outlined by tropicalkerry2002. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freddie Posted June 17, 2013 #21 Share Posted June 17, 2013 Another emphatic vote for only doing private tours with fellow travelers (not in the sense that Joe McCarthy or J. Edgar used that term ;) ) whom one knows well and with whom one has traveled sufficiently to be confident that they share the same sort of touring style. For example, in our case, the touring style is "no shopping stops" and "we spend as little or as long a time at each stop as our little group chooses to spend, irrespective of what the preliminary itinerary may have suggested". This system has worked marvelously with both our fellow tour participants and our tour guides, who usually love our "power touring" mode of not requiring excess time at a particular stop simply "to match the program". We frequently find that we have made a delightful and complete tour in six hours when we had booked eight. Rather than forcing the guide to kill time with us in order to "get our full 8 hours money's worth", we end the tour and liberate the guide to go pick up her daughter at school or some other such special surprise. Of course, we pay the full amount for the tour and tip the guide fully without regard to the fact that the total tour time may have been less than that for which we'd contracted. In our touring mode, it is the tour experience that we measure, not the elapsed time. Clearly, this method of touring does not work well with strangers, even with those with whom one has formed tight bonds on the Roll Calls. There will certainly be posters who state that they had excellent experiences with tour groups of strangers that they organized from contacts on the boards; but I will bet that there are many more occasions when such endeavors had much less savory results. Therefore, we will stick with Rachel's and Henry's advice that one doesn't private tour with anyone whom one does not know well. Snobbish, maybe? Prudent, absolutely!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caviargal Posted June 17, 2013 #22 Share Posted June 17, 2013 We always do private tours but book independently. I prefer to structure a tour exactly as we wish it and we are not fans of touring with strangers, nor in groups. When we travel with friends, I do the research and find what we want then send the details to them to see if they are interested in our specific itinerary. I agree that I would not book a private tour with strangers. We are active and enjoy a faster pace and do not want to slow down for others that may not. Like freddie, we want to enjoy our time in our style and not linger at places that we have no interest in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted June 17, 2013 #23 Share Posted June 17, 2013 I have arranged several private tours & have been lucky I guess we met & toured with many nice people Set the ground rules at the beginning before signing them up Only 1 tour did I have a problem ...I specifically asked for NO shopping stops Some person tried to get the guide to stop in some shopping areas ...I quickly vetoed that Everyone on the tour had gone in knowing we would not be doing the shopping stops (except one person) ;) It is unfortunate that people sign on knowing about the tour then try to change things to suit them Marian I would have told them to take the bus also :D Lyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tropicalkerry2002 Posted June 17, 2013 #24 Share Posted June 17, 2013 Except for those very few incidents (plus one I forgot to mention!)out of 20 or so private tours I have arranged, and it won't stop me from planning more, as We can't do them on our own. We have also made some wonderful new friends we still are in contact with and visit. I have found out that private tours are a bit like family weddings....and I can't BELIEVE the nerve some people have when there's a family wedding. I just have to have more nerve than them! (I would rather use a word that starts with b instead of nerve, but unsure it would be acceptable here!) And someday, I may be lucky enough to just sign up for someone else's tour, and be able to just pay and enjoy! What a luxury that would be! But when you want the best guide, you must book early, and to me that is worth the drawbacks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Caroldoll Posted June 17, 2013 Author #25 Share Posted June 17, 2013 Considering all of what you have laid out, I think I am much better off just fumbling through and doing our own thing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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