Discovery or Explorer shoreex packages

[Bowie MeMe]

Has anyone done the packages -- especially Nautica Istanbul to Athens (or backwards as a guide suggested on a taxi site). Slightly cheaper than the per excursion rate if the tours satisfy you. Certainly convient, without risk of no-show guide or missing ship or lacking a/c or non-smoking English speaking guide. Also not to be a "downer" but if problems were to happen the company has more obligations to help their own shore ex. Any opinions?

[LHT28]

You have to review the excursions offered in the package to see if they are the ones you would enjoy.

From what I understand they are non exchangeable & non refundable once you book the package.

In some ports it is easy to do on your own or a private shared tour.

It is a personal decision

 

We have done many private tours & never had a problem with the guide or being late for the ship.

 

 

Lyn

[hondorner]

Barbara, booking each ship's excursion separately gives you the same advantages as the packages in terms of convenience, risk or problems ashore. The only additional advantage to the package is a slight reduction in total cost, which should be balanced against the risk that you may not be feeling well on the day of the tour or you may not enjoy every tour in the package.

 

We have always considered the packages, but every time, we have chosen alternative tours in some ports or have chosen to not take any tour in some ports, but simply walk around town. In the end, it has always been to our advantage to make individual decisions rather than take one of the packages.

 

Additionally, many people decide it is to their advantage to book private tours. We are like you, considering the risk of having a port canceled, or scrambling to get information on an added port (both have happened to us on past cruises, however not yet on Oceania), and worrying about a breakdown causing us to miss the ship, so we generally take ship's tours when we decide to tour an area. That said, we have also occasionally taken a private tour or a local taxi, but only when the circumstances are in our favor -- a short tour on a long day in port, for example.

 

We plan to take private tours on our upcoming Alaska cruise, but we feel more confident in that we are still in the USA with a familiar language and currency; we are not as adventurous in strange ports.

[lcand1923]

We've always looked at the individual shore excursions for each of the ports and picked what we want to do. We THEN look at the packages to see what they include. Normally, we end up with the individual excursions.

 

We know many people who have bought the packages. These folks normally don't have any big Must Do lists. As they've told us, the packages give a good taste of the various ports at a discount.

 

Another negative for us regarding the packages is, you are locked in to those tours. You can't cancel or change. With the individual excursions you can cancel as long as you are within the cancellation time frame (Check the Currents, but 36-48 hours prior to the start of the tour is the usual).

 

We have always been satisfied with the Ship Sponsored Shore Excursions. (Been there, done that with independent travel. Have gotten lazy, now.)

[Bowie MeMe]

Received this information from TA who got it from O: The Discovery package is $829, the cost is put on charge at booking, the whole package is allowed to cancel up to 3 days before sailing, the shore excursions can be covered by travel insurance for $62pp (this is for the policy we bought for cruise and air), O guarantees you will get each of the tours listed in package--availability on these most popular tours. We selected the tours we wanted before we looked at the package and for this cruise they matched so will probably choose to take the package. The only duplication is a tour of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul and if it is anything close to the Mosque in Casa Blanca I will gladly take two tours. Now to find a month when the credit card is not full to the brim:eek:

[Bowie MeMe]

(Been there, done that with independent travel. Have gotten lazy, now.)

 

I didn't realize it but that is it exactly. Hope to move this summer after selling the house so just finishing the details for this trip (#10 in the last year) is worthy of perhaps a few extra dollars. I glory in planning the details but I also can get bogged down with them. :confused: