Can I ditch my excursion group partway through?

[Travelmama15]

Hi all -- cruise newbie here -- 

Wondering about ditching our excursion tour group partway through the day and catching up with them later for the return drive to port.

Have you done this? Obviously there's a risk of losing our transportation back to the ship...

Thanks!

*Should note: Mediterranean cruise; Trieste is the port but we want to tour Venice (previously scheduled).

 

[Cliff-FLL]

OMG, I don't think I can do this again! LOL!

🤪🤣

[Host Jazzbeau]

Check to see if the ship offers a "Venice on your own" tour.  That will satisfy all the nay-sayers here.

[Travelmama15]

11 hours ago, Cliff-FLL said:

OMG, I don't think I can do this again! LOL!

🤪🤣

Wow thanks. You know I introduced myself as a newbie. Are all cruisers this rude? Who needs this kind of negative energy in the world? 

[basor]

6 minutes ago, Travelmama15 said:

Wow thanks. You know I introduced myself as a newbie. Are all cruisers this rude? Who needs this kind of negative energy in the world? 

I am afraid you got caught in the middle of a very contentious subject due to the fact this very same question was discussed ad nauseum a week or so ago on this forum.  The comment was not directed at you but the subject......if you look down the topic list a bit, you will find the same question being discussed and all of the varying options offered.     Please find the topic and hopefully you will garner enough knowledge to make an informed decision.  Welcome to cruising and Oceania!

[basor]

I found the topic for you - 

 

[Cruzin Terri]

13 minutes ago, Travelmama15 said:

Wow thanks. You know I introduced myself as a newbie. Are all cruisers this rude? Who needs this kind of negative energy in the world? 

We are not all rude.  i was the one who asked the question one week ago with some varying responses (some of which were not very complimentary). The thread finally had to be closed.

Welcome to the Oceania board.  I hope you take the time to read through the threads and learn about cruising on Oceania.  We really are a nice bunch.

Terri

[Cliff-FLL]

1 hour ago, Travelmama15 said:

Wow thanks. You know I introduced myself as a newbie. Are all cruisers this rude? Who needs this kind of negative energy in the world? 

Hey, Mama - Sorry!  I apologize if my comment came across as rude.  As several have pointed out, there was a very spirited debate about this issue in the past week and I was an active participant on one side of it.  As a newbie, I think you'll find that practically everyone on the Oceania board is friendly and hoping to help answer your questions.  

[susiesan]

3 hours ago, Travelmama15 said:

Wow thanks. You know I introduced myself as a newbie. Are all cruisers this rude? Who needs this kind of negative energy in the world? 

Just some here on the Oceania boards😉 Spend any time on here and you will figure out who they are and get used to just ignoring them.🤣

[DENIE]

Travelmamma15 - Welcome to Cruise Critic.  This really is an amazing forum, and I have learned so much, and am happy to share what I learned. The vast majority of folks here are very helpful and kind. We were all "newbies" at one time. Yes, there was a spirited discussion - I didn't comment, but it was a great read! Don't be afraid to ask questions. 🙂

Edited March 5, 2022 by DENIE

[Mura]

Re a tour from Marseille to Aix, a few years ago we booked a private tour (with 3 or 4 other couples) to Provence which drove through Aix on the way back to the ship.  If you have a roll call, see if you can find others to share a private tour.  I did not arrange the tour myself (although I have frequently done so).  The outfit we used was privateshoretrips.com. Our guide was excellent and we had a lovely day.  I'm sure they could arrange a tour to Aix as opposed to what we did.  We'd already spent several days in Aix on an earlier trip so we were looking for something else.

 

 

[DENIE]

1 hour ago, Mura said:

Re a tour from Marseille to Aix, a few years ago we booked a private tour (with 3 or 4 other couples) to Provence which drove through Aix on the way back to the ship.  If you have a roll call, see if you can find others to share a private tour.  I did not arrange the tour myself (although I have frequently done so).  The outfit we used was privateshoretrips.com. Our guide was excellent and we had a lovely day.  I'm sure they could arrange a tour to Aix as opposed to what we did.  We'd already spent several days in Aix on an earlier trip so we were looking for something else.

 

 

Thanks Mura!

 

We actually joined another couple from New Jersey that we found on our CC Roll Call for an MSC 2014 cruise to to the Southern Caribbean. Ended up doing 2 tours with them -  and we are still friends to this day. Had a fabulous time!

 

 

[su-arizona]

I believe the original poster was asking about ditching a tour from Trieste to Venice.  Our May embarkation was just moved from Venice to Trieste, so I've done a bit of research.  There are about 30 trains daily between Venice-Trieste, but Italian trains are not always the most predictable, and typical time is 2-3 hours.  The drive is about 1.5 hours on the Autostrada, which is not always the most fun to drive.

 

Venice is a lovely city, but not the easiest to navigate.   And you can't just grab a taxi to get back to your meeting point on time. 

 

In the previous discussion, I thought it reasonable to ditch a tour from the Marseille cruise port to wander Aix...but I wouldn't make the same recommendation for Trieste-Venice.  It is more chancy to get to your meeting point on time in Venice, and your options for getting back to Trieste on you own are more difficult. For this one, I'd stick with the ship tour...

 

 

 

 

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[Host Jazzbeau]

I agree with @su-arizona that Venice changes the issues here, but in some ways it still makes your idea a good one.  If you have a private tour already arranged in Venice, your issue now is how to get there and the back to the ship.  Oceania's tour provides the transportation, and I'm sure the local tour guide will be happy to provide you with details about when/where to meet up – but you will have to be very careful to leave enough time to get back to that spot, as they won't wait for you and the alternatives are not easy.  It will also make for a very expensive day, between your private guide, the Oceania excursion, and tipping the Oceania guide [this is something I recommend, since they will be doing you a favor]. 

 

If you've never been to Venice, I can see that it could be worth it – but in that case one of the Oceania itineraries might be good enough on its own.  If you have been to Venice before, have you looked carefully at the Trieste options?  If my Azamara cruise gets rerouted from Venice to Trieste, I'm expecting them to offer an excursion to the Postojna Caves among other choices.  I've also heard that Trieste is an interesting city in its own right.