Oceania Ship Excursions

[NancyDrew1953]

I am considering a November 2023 cruise with Oceania. Although most cabin categories are fully booked, there is some limited availability.  This would be my first time with Oceania, and I have not be able to find answers about availability of ship excursions on either the Oceania website or here on Cruise Critic (maybe my searching skills are poor).

 

How far in advance of the cruise date are ship excursions open for booking?  I am particularly concerned that most of the excursions may already be sold out as the ship is almost full.  On the Oceania website, there is a listing of possible excursions for the ports. There are several excursions of interest, but are they likely to be sold out by now?
 

Excursions are important to me, and for a variety of reasons (not interested in debating thus), I am only willing to do ship (not private) excursions.  Thus, before I commit, I would appreciate any insight on the likelihood of booking ship excursions given it appears to be an almost full ship and that departure is only 10 months away.

[LHT28]

I would call Oceania  or  your TA  & ask  if the excursions you are interested in for the sailing are available 

I think you have to have  a deposit down in order to see if the excursions are available in your account

 

 

 Option 2  you could go to the roll call for the sailing &  if someone that is booked can check  online in their account to see if the excursions are still available for you

 

I do not think there is  an easy way to do it

JMO

[pete_coach]

When looking at the cruse you want, there is a tab that says Ports and Excursions.

There will be a list of excursions doe every port.

 

As an example :https://www.oceaniacruises.com/panama-canal-cruises/los-angeles-to-miami-VIS231103/port-san-diego-SAN/?voyageday=2&sr=%2fcruise-finder%23time_frame%3d2023-11%26marketing_region%3dpanamacanal%26sort%3dfeatured%3adesc%26page%3d1%26pageSize%3d10#all

[pinotlover]

Lyn’s advice is best.

 

You’re ten months out from your cruise and very few book ship tours that far in advance. This is partially due to the requirement to fully pay for the tour when booking. Also, I’ve learned that two conditions apply: not all tours are posted this far in advance; and some early listed tours sometimes get cancelled about 6 months out.

 

Also, to be thrown into the mix is the massive number of people that cancel booking at or before final payment. Not only does this open up cabin availability on almost every cruise, but it also opens up ship excursion opportunities.

 

Long story short, if you find an acceptable cabin for the cruise, you currently will have no problem booking shore tours you want.

[NewSalty]

15 hours ago, NancyDrew1953 said:

 

 

How far in advance of the cruise date are ship excursions open for booking?  

Excursions open for booking 365 days prior to sailing.  (At least for Oceanview cabins...)

[pinotlover]

31 minutes ago, NewSalty said:

Excursions open for booking 365 days prior to sailing.  (At least for Oceanview cabins...)

Be advised that while technically true, Oceania often adds to and subtracts from that initial listing of tours found at the 365 day mark. Consider it like airline schedules at even 330 days out. The final schedule may not resemble what first appeared.

[zalusky]

Beware that excursions right now are not that reliable.  We had 3 cancelled before our cruise even started and then on embarkation day we were given a notice of 2 more cancellations.

 

We booked an excursion last minute on the ship to a resort island last minute that turned out to be a bit of a disaster because it was a local holiday and lots of locals were at the island basically messing up the excursion events like bus rides.  Oceania did not properly guarantee ferry seats and bus seats on the excursion rather a tour guide would say let 30 people on.

 

A lot of tour operators are having problems finding staff or had to sell stuff like buses and are having problems getting back up to speed.  We never got clear answers why our selections were cancelled.

 

Be prepared to be flexible especially if your ports get modified/cancelled which is happening a lot in Australia/New Zealand.

 

 

Edited January 31, 2023 by zalusky

[pinotlover]

35 minutes ago, zalusky said:

Beware that excursions right now are not that reliable.  We had 3 cancelled before our cruise even started and then on embarkation day we were given a notice of 2 more cancellations.

 

We booked an excursion last minute on the ship to a resort island last minute that turned out to be a bit of a disaster because it was a local holiday and lots of locals were at the island basically messing up the excursion events like bus rides.  Oceania did not properly guarantee ferry seats and bus seats on the excursion rather a tour guide would say let 30 people on.

 

A lot of tour operators are having problems finding staff or had to sell stuff like buses and are having problems getting back up to speed.  We never got clear answers why our selections were cancelled.

 

Be prepared to be flexible especially if your ports get modified/cancelled which is happening a lot in Australia/New Zealand.

 

 

Super true!

 

I worked with South American tour operators on twice cancelled cruises that are no longer in business. Their vehicles taken for lack of payment. Two years of zero revenue does that to a business!

 

One of our guides, on an upcoming European cruise this summer, wrote me that bus drivers are at an extreme shortage. The license to drive a bus is different from that of driving a van. Those with the higher level license can make far more than tour companies can afford to pay. Keep your group below either 12 or 16, and in a smaller van, and the problems are less. 
 

Oceania’s traditional line of tour bus at the dock are a problem waiting to happen. Expect cancellations.

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, zalusky said:

We booked an excursion last minute on the ship to a resort island last minute that turned out to be a bit of a disaster because it was a local holiday and lots of locals were at the island basically messing up the excursion events like bus rides.  Oceania did not properly guarantee ferry se

 

Darn those locals

Guess they did not get the memo about the VIP's coming 😃

[zalusky]

3 hours ago, LHT28 said:

Darn those locals

Guess they did not get the memo about the VIP's coming 😃

I think Oceania learned their lesson because next year they are nowhere near New Years week when they port in Fremantle.