Insignia excusions 4/26 sailing from Barcelona

[ingeric]

My wife and I will be sailing on the Oceania Insignia from Barcelona to Istanbul on April 26. This will be our first time on Oceania. Is it necessary or advisable to book the excursions in advance because they fill up fast? If anyone has been to some of these ports on the cruise any advice would be appreciated? We have also made reservations to spend 3 days in Barcelona before the cruise leaves and 3 days in Istanbul after. Any suggestions beyond the usual attractions, and for restaurants, would also be appreciated

 

Thanks much

[Andee]

What ports?

[ingeric]

Sorry I forgot to list the ports of interest. They are:

Palma de Mallorca

Provence (Marseille)

Monte Carlo

Florence/Pisa (Livorno)

Olbia/Porto Cervo, Sardinia

Rome (Civitavecchia)

Amalfi/Positano

Santorini

Rhodes

Kusadasi

Mitilini (Lesbos)

Istanbul

 

Thanks

[Andee]

Amalfi/Positano: we hired Giovanni from tourofitalydotcom to take us on a day long tour, visiting Amalfi, Sorrento, Ravello, and Positano.

 

Palma de Mallorca: We took the Bus Turistic into town and did a self-guided historical walking tour, which included stops at the Cathedral, the Arab Baths, and other places I don' remember.

 

Santorini, Rhodes: I read several guide books, and found self-guided walking tours.

[tropicalkerry2002]

went to 6 of these ports in Oct, and hired private guides. I have a trip report posted under Oceania member reviews for Regatta, or you could search for it by clicking on my name.

I am jealous...I NEED another cruise!

[ingeric]

Thanks for the two thumbs way up review of Oceania and the ports. If you don't mind I have a few more questions. Did you book your private tours in advance or just find them as you got off the ship? You refer to them as private tours - were the two of you the only passengers or was it a small group tour? If you had wanted to, would the Oceania excursions still have been available when you reached port? How did the prices compare with the Oceania tours?

Thanks in advance for the info. We really look forward to the cruise.

[Andee]

Our "private" tour of the Amalfi coast was for six people. It cost, in 2004, 50 Euro per person, including tip. That was about half of what a full day Oceania tour would have cost.

[tropicalkerry2002]

I booked our private tours several months before leaving. I started a roll call for our cruise and found people to join us, limit was 8 on each tour...with the driver, 9 people in the van.

With 8 people it was MUCH less expensive than the O excursions.In Rome and Florence there was only 4 of us, and the price then was about the same as an O tour, but there was only 4 of us, rather than a busload. WE got to say how long we wanted to spend at each place. For all the tours I planned, I had researched and found what the 4 of us travelling together wanted to see/do, and then let other interested people see the itinerary.

This was my first cruise, and I was a wee bit worried about missing the ship, etc, but no problems at all!

On board, there seemed to be room left for the majority of excursions even once we set sail, a couple were sold out, and a couple were cancelled, I guess for lack of interest.

Have a great time!

[tropicalkerry2002]

And on price...the least expensive tour was Sardinia, but it was only 5 (fabulous) hours, at my request. Others ranged from 75 Euros PP to 125 Euros PP for Rome and Florence. The more people you have, the lower the price.