Jump to content

Questions about Greenland and Iceland on Oceania


cruisemom42
 Share

Recommended Posts

I'm considering two slightly different Oceania 20-day itineraries in August 2021 that both have similar stops in Greenland (3) and Iceland (3), as well as both stopping in Dublin, Belfast and Copenhagen. Both start in Southampton and both end in Stockholm. The different ports on each are:

 

Nautica: Plymouth (England); Torshavn (Denmark); Lerwick, Shetland Islands (Scotland); Haugesund (Norway); Kristiansand (Norway); 

Sirena:  Alesund (Norway); Visby (Sweden)

 

What I'm most interested in are the Greenland/Iceland stops, which are the same on each ship, as well as cruising the Prince Christian Sound, which both do.

 

Is there any big reason to select one of these ships/itineraries over the other one?

 

Also, in general, would Oceania have lecturers or naturalists onboard who would provide good information about the ports -- wildlife, culture, history, etc.?  That is very important to me -- otherwise I may consider a less expensive line.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We recently completed a North Atlantic crossing on Riviera that included Iceland/Greenland. It was terrific and either of your possible itineraries will provide a great experience.

Fortunately, Oceania is very selective about matching its lecturers to the itinerary. For example, we had a retried Fresno State agricultural archeologist (specializing in Latin/South American canals!!!) during our Panama Canal cruise. 

Though i don't know who would be your lecturers, rest assured that they will not be the bogus "port specialists" (hawking stores ashore) often found on some mass market lines.

As for Nautica vs Sirena, each has its own allure. With the Oceania NEXT renovations, they will be identical except for the restaurant configuration where Sirena has Red Ginger and Tuscan Steak (a combo of Polo Grill and Toscana, which are found on all other Oceania ships).

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The ships are the same except on Sirena  the Specialties are different than the other R Ships

 Lecturers   you never know what you will get  ..they may have nothing to do with the areas you are sailing

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cruisemom, there seems to be quite a bit of capacity in North. Europe.  So don't discount a line like Seabourn (Quest & Ovation).  The 2021 routes aren't out yet, but take a gander at the 2020 pricing.  Some of them are quite comparable to Oceania.

 

Seabourn takes enrichment seriously.  We took a completely unplanned Arctic Circle cruise with them this spring for an unbelievable price  They had an whole expedition team on board (naturalist, geologist, etc) that was very involved with the pax - and not just for lectures.

 

Now that I've said that, they are launching the Seabourn Venture, and some of the expidition team will go there.  The Venture pricing is more what you would expect with a lux line (meaning, "ouch").

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, Kate-AHF said:

Cruisemom, there seems to be quite a bit of capacity in North. Europe.  So don't discount a line like Seabourn (Quest & Ovation).  The 2021 routes aren't out yet, but take a gander at the 2020 pricing.  Some of them are quite comparable to Oceania.

 

Seabourn takes enrichment seriously.  We took a completely unplanned Arctic Circle cruise with them this spring for an unbelievable price  They had an whole expedition team on board (naturalist, geologist, etc) that was very involved with the pax - and not just for lectures.

 

Now that I've said that, they are launching the Seabourn Venture, and some of the expidition team will go there.  The Venture pricing is more what you would expect with a lux line (meaning, "ouch").

 

Thanks for the tip. I just realized I have a typo in my original post -- I was looking at 2020, not 2021 for this cruise. So I'll go have a peek at what Seabourn has to offer...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

39 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Thanks for the tip. I just realized I have a typo in my original post -- I was looking at 2020, not 2021 for this cruise. So I'll go have a peek at what Seabourn has to offer...

 

Gosh, I am just totally out of it this morning. I see now that of the two itineraries, the Nautica is 2020 and the Sirena is 2021. No wonder they are so similar. Chalk it up to still having jet-lag brain....

 

Still would be interested in hearing more thoughts on how well Oceania does Iceland and Greenland, especially vis-a-vis enrichment. Traveling as a solo, the real "expedition" type small cruises are not possible for my budget, which would just stretch to Oceania or Seabourn's normal ships (as kindly suggested above).

 

Edited by cruisemom42
Link to comment
Share on other sites

37 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

Still would be interested in hearing more thoughts on how well Oceania does Iceland and Greenland, especially vis-a-vis enrichment. Traveling as a solo, the real "expedition" type small cruises are not possible for my budget, which would just stretch to Oceania or Seabourn's normal ships (as kindly suggested above).

 

I would say Oceania is not really good with the lectures  like with the line you are used to

In Alaska  they do often have a naturist onboard  

Hopefully someone that has done the  Iceland route will comment

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We did Southampton to Southampton on the Nautica this past August hitting these ports ( or attempting to). We, in fact had two (2) excellent enrichment speakers for the entire cruise. One spoke about the people, the early settlers and immigration, history, and the economics of the area. The other talked about the geological forces that created, and continue to do so, of all the areas we visited. Both were excellent and fascinating. 

 

As Lyn pointed, just like stock advisors, past history does not guarantee future performance. However, I give them an A+ on our cruise. One of the speakers was a professor from NYU, and the second a retired Brit of similar pedigree.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Three important words in pinotlover's post above: "or attempting to."  

 

We were on the same August cruise.  Weather forced cancellation of the two planned Greenland stops because we couldn't safely sail around the southern tip of the island in order to reach those western shore ports.  A tiny town on the east coast was substituted, but it had little to offer other than a nice view and an energetic walkabout.

 

I've subsequently read about other ships not being able to make scheduled stops in Iceland, either, usually due to wind and rough seas -- and this in the summer!

 

The point, as often stated on this board, is that the best-laid itineraries can oft go awry in that part of the world, no matter the season.  It's important, therefore, not to have one's enjoyment (and sense of value received for money paid) be totally dependent upon specific port calls; it will only lead to disappointment.

 

We've now missed at least one port on each of our last four Oceania cruises.  It's a bummer, for sure, but...well...there's always the Horizons Lounge for drowning our sorrows.

Edited by DrHemlock
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, DrHemlock said:

Three important words in pinotlover's post above: "or attempting to."  

 

We were on the same August cruise.  Weather forced cancellation of the two planned Greenland stops because we couldn't safely sail around the southern tip of the island in order to reach those western shore ports.  A tiny town on the east coast was substituted, but it had little to offer other than a nice view and an energetic walkabout.

 

I've subsequently read about other ships not being able to make scheduled stops in Iceland, either, usually due to wind and rough seas -- and this in the summer!

 

The point, as often stated on this board, is that the best-laid itineraries can oft go awry in that part of the world, no matter the season.  It's important, therefore, not to have one's enjoyment (and sense of value received for money paid) be totally dependent upon specific port calls; it will only lead to disappointment.

 

We've now missed at least one port on each of our last four Oceania cruises.  It's a bummer, for sure, but...well...there's always the Horizons Lounge for drowning our sorrows.

 

Yes, I know it can be a bit of a crapshoot. I've been cruising for about 45 years now -- started as a kid. But it's a cruise I've always wanted to do and time is getting short to do it before the new ice-class rules come into effect...

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Yes, I know it can be a bit of a crapshoot. I've been cruising for about 45 years now -- started as a kid. But it's a cruise I've always wanted to do and time is getting short to do it before the new ice-class rules come into effect...

 

We missed ports in both Greenland and Iceland due to weather but still were able to get a good taste of both.  Our lecturers were good, especially one who concentrated on the Viking influence.  The Nautica 2020 itinerary includes both Torshavn in the Faroes and Lerwick in the Shetlands which we thought were really excellent, based on our independent tours experiences.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have done Iceland on Crystal, Oceania and Silversea, plus Greenland on Oceania and attempted it on Silversea.

 

Weather is unpredictable.  We made it through Christian Sound on Nautica.   However the next years cruise did not.

On Silversea, we failed to get to Greenland because the ice was so bad. 

Best advice, later in the season the better.  August/late July is better than late June/early July.

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Our June 2006 cruise (a long time ago, I'm aware!) included Iceland and the Faroes plus two Scottish ports, Dublin, Belfast, etc.  No Greenland. We had no problems missing ports back then but I was looking at our photos this afternoon and noticed that photos of my husband showed him well bundled up in many places.  In 2010 we made it to Svalbard on a Norway cruise without a problem.  (Well the taxi that had been booked for a private tour never showed up but we just took the ship's shuttle up to "town" so that ended up not being a problem.)

 

That isn't to say that we've never missed ports but it does seem to me that those occasions have been more in recent years than they were in the early years.  As I say that, however, I recall that we missed San Blas Archipelago in 2003 which is a tender port; this was indeed due to weather.  We were very disappointed to have missed this one!  But even the natives didn't come out in their canoes to meet the ship as they frequently did, so my guess is that  weather was the problem.  We'd already had difficult seas on that cruise -- on our way to Aruba the captain took us further out to sea to avoid the worst of the swells.  And Aruba was the next port after San Blas.

 

Climate change?  Just asking!  I'm not asserting anything ... I know there are other explanations some posters prefer to consider.  And they may be right.

 

Mura

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

I'm considering two slightly different Oceania 20-day itineraries in August 2021 that both have similar stops in Greenland (3) and Iceland (3), as well as both stopping in Dublin, Belfast and Copenhagen. Both start in Southampton and both end in Stockholm. The different ports on each are:

 

Nautica: Plymouth (England); Torshavn (Denmark); Lerwick, Shetland Islands (Scotland); Haugesund (Norway); Kristiansand (Norway); 

Sirena:  Alesund (Norway); Visby (Sweden)

 

What I'm most interested in are the Greenland/Iceland stops, which are the same on each ship, as well as cruising the Prince Christian Sound, which both do.

 

Is there any big reason to select one of these ships/itineraries over the other one?

 

Also, in general, would Oceania have lecturers or naturalists onboard who would provide good information about the ports -- wildlife, culture, history, etc.?  That is very important to me -- otherwise I may consider a less expensive line.

 

We were on Riviera from Iceland to New York City in Sept. of this year.  The cruise was great but the lecturer wasn't that good, he didn't give that much information about wildlife, culture or history.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, mandys mommy said:

We were on Riviera from Iceland to New York City in Sept. of this year.  The cruise was great but the lecturer wasn't that good, he didn't give that much information about wildlife, culture or history.  

 

Hmmm, it seems from experiences reported that there is some inconsistency in the lecturers.  Definitely something to think about.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We did the Nautica cruise last year and thoroughly enjoyed it.  My husband was very satisfied with the guest lecturer, but I did not attend so I cannot give an opinion on that.  Most people on the cruise though seemed to think that the lecturers were good.  If you have been to the ports before, do your own thing.  In the Shetlands we did take an Oceania tour which took us for tea and to see Standing Stones which were older than Stonehenge.  We enjoyed the tour.  For the ports in Iceland we did independent tours and found tours that were excellent within walking distance of the ship.  In Reykjavik we used a local company and I felt we got a way superior tour to the Oceania one.  We saw more and the guide was excellent.  My general rule of thumb is if it is a tender port use an Oceania tour.  That way you will be guaranteed getting off the ship unless the port is cancelled to bad weather.  We had rain but not all the time in the ports.  Bring some warm clothes as the wind chill can be bad at times.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On Oceania, we have had excellent enrichment speakers and some really bad ones. A true box of chocolates as Forest Gump would say. Some of the bad ones were really bad while the good ones could be great! 

 

In retrospect it’s kind of like some of the entertainment brought aboard. Some wonderful, others one wonders who auditioned them, or if they even were!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Hmmm, it seems from experiences reported that there is some inconsistency in the lecturers.  Definitely something to think about.


Oceania is NOT known for it’s enrichment. We only had one  fantastic lecturer on O for Alaska who was borrowed from Regent. She was a PHD and an outstandingly knowable, super well prepared and fun to be with.

For an outstanding experience with fantastic enrichment try Crystal where there are many lecturers on each cruise so always someone who will interest you. 

Edited by orchestrapal
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, orchestrapal said:


Oceania is NOT known for it’s enrichment. We only had one  fantastic lecturer on O for Alaska who was borrowed from Regent. She was a PHD and an outstandingly knowable, super well prepared and fun to be with.

For an outstanding experience with fantastic enrichment try Crystal where there are many lecturers on each cruise so always someone who will interest you. 

 

Unfortunately Crystal does not have a cruise to the area, at least not in the timeframe I'm looking at...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As to lecturers, we've been on cruises that had a number of wonderful lecturers, and others where they were not so impressive.  It's a matter of luck, I suppose, and there is NO predicting who or what you will get in advance of your cruise.

 

On our first Marina cruise (2011) I happened to meet a fellow cruiser when I was visiting family in L.A.  We met for lunch one day so we already sort-of knew each other before the cruise.  The husband was one of the guest lecturers and fortunately we loved his talks!  But that's the only time we knew a lecturer "in advance".

 

On our first Oceania cruise (2003) we had dinner in Toscana one night with one of the lecturers and a woman traveling alone.  They were both experienced in the area (this was a Panama Canal cruise) and gave us a lot of helpful information about upcoming ports.  If I am remembering correctly the lecturer told us that this was his last cruise as a lecturer on Oceania because they were cutting back.  But we continued to see lecturers on subsequent cruises, so perhaps he was simply losing "benefits".

 

On that Panama Canal cruise one of the lecturers concentrated on Spaniards in the Americas and gave several fascinating talks.  You just can't know in advance ...

 

Also, on a north atlantic cruise a few years ago there was a lecturer who spoke at length about the whales, etc., seen while we were sailing.

 

Good luck!

 

Mura

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The classic Ocean lecturer was the Professor of Alaska Native History on our Greek Med cruise on Riviera.   I lost count on the number of errors and missed facts he made...   So it is a 50-50 crap shoot on O..

Edited by PaulMCO
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/1/2019 at 2:40 PM, DrHemlock said:

Three important words in pinotlover's post above: "or attempting to."  

 

We were on the same August cruise.  Weather forced cancellation of the two planned Greenland stops because we couldn't safely sail around the southern tip of the island in order to reach those western shore ports.  A tiny town on the east coast was substituted, but it had little to offer other than a nice view and an energetic walkabout.

 

I've subsequently read about other ships not being able to make scheduled stops in Iceland, either, usually due to wind and rough seas -- and this in the summer!

 

The point, as often stated on this board, is that the best-laid itineraries can oft go awry in that part of the world, no matter the season.  It's important, therefore, not to have one's enjoyment (and sense of value received for money paid) be totally dependent upon specific port calls; it will only lead to disappointment.

 

We've now missed at least one port on each of our last four Oceania cruises.  It's a bummer, for sure, but...well...there's always the Horizons Lounge for drowning our sorrows.

We have missed out landing in the Falklands and Easter Island which were major disappointments considering the cost and distance covered to get there by ship.  Now news from Greenland.  I'm starting to think any Islands, North of Latitude 45N and South of Latitude 45S without docking inside breakwaters are out of bounds for us.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Covepointcruiser said:

Does Oceana use zodiacs when visiting Greenland?

We visited 3 ports in Greenland on the Marina in August. Docked in one and two others were tenders. Oceania doesn’t do expedition cruises, so no zodiacs were involved or expected.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • Hurricane Zone 2024
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...

If you are already a Cruise Critic member, please log in with your existing account information or your email address and password.