IWantToLiveOverTheSea

We were in Israel last year on O. We took the O excursion to Masada and the Dead Sea, and a group (16 people) tour with Guided Tours Israel to Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Some people don't like a coach full of people, but honestly, I found the O tour a little more comfortable than the 16 person GTS tour. However, we had a slightly unusual situation on that cruise because of Israel Covid regulations, and I think normally GTS tours don't have a full load of 16 passengers. Both tours, however, were worthwhile, had good tour guides, and no problems with waiting for people to come back to the coach or vehicle. Both required lots of time getting to and from the sights, but there's not much you can do about that. For Masada you'll go up to the top, get a tour, come back, and possibly have a little free time (I forget). After Masada we went to the Dead Sea, where we had lunch (buffet, pretty good) at a hotel, and those who wanted went to lie in the Dead Sea for a while. I think we had what is apparently obligatory demo/shopping stop for maybe 40 minutes and then back to the port. I think GTS had a Dead Sea/Masada tour also. Their prices are reasonable, at least if you take the group tour. You don't have to get a group together; they'll do it for you (all people from your ship). They can get into both Haifa and Ashdod ports, so they meet you right at the ship. We thought the Jerusalem/Bethlehem tour was pretty good, although one person wasn't crazy about the tour guide. I think they wanted more talk/explanation from him, but I thought he was fine. I don't really like all the non-stop talk that some guides provide. Their group tours are pretty much set in stone, but they have several different ones for Jerusalem, based on whether you'd prefer a Christian or Jewish focus. I have photos if you'd like to take a look at my photo site. If you want, I can post a link.

Never mind. Didn't mean to post.

Agree with ORV - Oceania may possibly give priority to people in suites when it comes to boarding. But they don't board by room category, just clean by room category! We do the online check in process in which we're asked when we plan to check in at the port. Last year and this year (in inside room once, veranda another) we put down 12 to 12:30. When we board we have lunch, maybe walk around in the public areas, and sit on The Terrace and talk to others or watch the waves until our room is ready.

If you do get a call, just be aware that you shouldn't wait long to reply to it - maybe call back same day? If they don't hear from you, I think they just go to the next person who might want to pay more money for a different room category. If you used a travel agent, the call will likely go to him/her, so be reachable! Have a wonderful cruise. Regatta was the first ship we sailed on. We love the smaller ships.

Regarding the guarantee on room: I've booked a guarantee probably five times, usually inside cabin, F category. Most were assigned about a week to ten days pre-cruise, but one was assigned a few days pre-cruise. We've only once gotten a free upgrade by getting the guarantee, but it was from an inside F to a veranda, so that was nice. Most times now, it seems like Oceania will call you a week or so pre-cruise and offer you what I call an upsell - pay $XX for a veranda or whatever. We've taken that once or twice, but normally just stick with the inside or oceanview room we've booked. We're fine with the inside rooms. It only takes a minute to go outside, or you can turn on the webcam channel on the room TV to see what's outside, weather, etc.

I can only tell you that on my cruise, which stops in Chan May, making both Hue and Hoi An reachable via long rides, that the imperial city in Hue is getting more interest than Hoi An. But I'm leaning towards visiting Hoi An rather than the imperial city in Hue, just because it seems to have lots of architecture, color and photo ops, all of which I love. And incidentally, when googling I did run across a tour which includes the Dong Thien Pagoda mentioned in the Hue excursion. As for Ho Chi Minh City, I am finding some places there which interest me. However, if I didn't have a whole day and a half there on the cruise, and instead (I guess) had choices like you do, I wouldn't be too upset about not seeing HCMC. Someone, however, recommended if possible, that I find a tour which includes a short visit in HCMC at night. It is supposed to be quite beautiful (Opera House, for example).

I don't remember seeing anything like you described in Miami for Piraeus on our two trips there. But it's been a long time, and I probably wasn't looking, so don't really know what Oceania might offer. I guess some possible solutions might be looking into a luggage forwarding service, a day hotel in Piraeus or Athens, or a storage facility (free standing, or at rail station or whatever) in either city, or at the Athens airport. I suppose with a private customizable tour you could have the tour guide take you and luggage to airport, drop them off or store them, tour the city a bit, and then be dropped off at a convenient point for taking a taxi or airport bus back to the airport. You may also want to post in the "Ports of Call" section of Cruise Critic, Europe section, asking what might be available in Athens or Piraeus.

Great to dock in Motril for the Alhambra. The other cruise line we sometimes use docks farther away.

Unfortunately, there were no takers on the Roll Call for that tour.

Thank you, agape01 and others - very helpful!

I was hoping to get a SDT excursion to Seville from Cadiz, but they and I were unable to get enough people to make it a go. But at least they notified me in plenty of time so that I could plan something else. Communication was good.

I'm not big on taxis (not sure why, just that I'm not). However, part of the reason tends to be price. But from what I've read, it seems like it's not too expensive to take a taxi around the general area of what might be considered center city. Can anyone offer me a guess as to how much it would cost to go from, for example, to the Gardens or the Cruise Port from a hotel located in Chinatown (1900 Hotel, located on Mosque Street, near an MRT station, though I forget which one!) And will most taxis take credit card payments, even if it's a fairly short trip? And what about a taxi from say, the Gardens to the Rain Vortex at Jewel? About how much might that cost?

I had to leave a cruise early once because the airline canceled my return flight home with no other flight we could make that day. I wanted to get home. I cleared early departure with Oceania a few weeks pre-cruise. Oceania had to get it approved with immigration/customs officials in New Zealand. They let us know when we needed to be in a particular place on the ship, with our luggage, on the day we were to depart. Our room steward helped us with the luggage, which was nice. On that morning, we and 4 other people met personally with NZ officials on the ship. We had already been to a NZ port by that time, which will be the same for us on our cruise ending in Laem Chabang. We ended up keeping the tour guide/transfer person waiting a bit, but otherwise all was OK. The prices quoted for the Laem Chabang transfer are for two people in a vehicle. The driver may not speak much English, but can use whatsapp to have someone translate. The email I received back was from booking@asiashoreexcursions.net. It indicated I should CC any replies to the person who sent the email, which was ngoan.le@travelauthenticasia.com to prevent any missed communications. (This is apparently Ms Ngoan Lee (File handle): +84 903 432 999). I haven't yet decided what I'm going to do, and haven't yet responded. So don't know much more -- for example, if the company requires a deposit or payment up front, if we can cancel, reputation of company, a guess as to how long trip will take, etc.

Just in case this helps anyone: I'm on a cruise next year which overnights in Laem Chabang, the port for Bangkok. Since Laem is so far, I hope to get to Bangkok on the first day with my luggage, stay overnight, sightsee the next day and fly home that evening. I'll probably need approval from the cruise line to disembark the ship a day early. I just started looking for transportation. I've heard from one company, .Asiashoreexcursions.net, and they will take 2 people with luggage in a car with a driver to Bangkok, then take us around the city for a couple hours to sightsee, and drop us at our hotel by 6 PM. They would charge $275 USD for that. If we want to go back to Laem Chabang the next day, they would charge $290, including the "to" Bangkok day activities. (I assume the driver has to drive back to Laem Chabang either way, so the cost is not all that different.) Entrance fees are not included, and the driver is not a tour guide. But prices include port entrance fees, car, driver, and $40 for the time/cost to sightsee. I have no idea if these are good prices or not, but I just thought I'd put this out there in case someone was interested.

We were there in Jan. 2020. There was a shuttle to Wakefield Street near the iSite (tourist info center) and the Te Papa Museum was within easy walking distance. I didn't write down exactly where the shuttle stop was, but have a map where I circled a shuttle stop on Wakefield between Taranaki Street (I think?) and Opera House Lane, which is just south of Cuba St. So that will at least give you a good starting point, assuming shuttle is still available and going same place. My photos and some narrative are here: https://pbase.com/roothy123/nz__australia_cruise__wellington_nz_jan_16&page=all if you'd ike to see what I did in Welly. No need to sign in or anything, just browse if you want. The map says there are two stops. The one I mention is near iSITE (tourist info center), Te Papa, Museum of New Zealand, Wellington waterfront, etc. The other one is near cable car, Botanic Gardens, Beehive, Parliament building, Old St. Paul's. See if you can find an online map produced by WellingtonNZ and Centreport, Wellington_NZ.com. Regatta docked at Centreport (cruise pier area) on Waterloo Quay above one of the ferry terminals plus the railway station.

I'm not the original poster, but I will be overnighting on my cruise in Bangkok (Laem Chabang). I would like to leave the first day with my luggage and stay in a hotel in Bangkok, then fly out the next evening. But after doing a little initial looking, I'm having trouble finding someone who will do this. Do you have any particular tour group you recommend - Tours by Local, Viator, or whatever? Also, are there taxis at Laem Chabang port who can take us and our luggage to Bangkok? We get in at 10 AM on a Sunday, which doesn't sound ideal for doing what I hope to do. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd appreciate hearing them! I'm feeling a bit intimidated at this point.

I haven't been to those ports, but will be going next year on Oceania. I think the answer to your question may depend upon whether you like mostly the bigger cities than the smaller ones, and also how much you love sea days versus days in port. Manila is obviously a big city with lots to see and do. And I hear the Philippines are gorgeous. I can tell you from my research that Coron is pretty small, with the emphasis on water activities rather than sightseeing. Silversea, Oceania, Norwegian, Seven Seas, Seabourn, Windstar, Aida, and Europa (Hapag Lloyd) are apparently visiting in late fall and winter. So apparently there is at least enough there to make for an enjoyable day! And there are hot springs, marine parks, and other things to do in or near the town of Coron Town. Oceania goes to Coron and also Puerto Princesa. One of the big draws for the latter place is apparently the Underground River. Sihanoukville is a curiosity of sorts. I hear it was supposed to be turned into a Las Vegas type place with tons of high rises and casinos. But the developers had to leave when Covid came. So there's a mishmash of development there now. The beach areas, however, have apparently been pretty popular for years now. And the town itself has at least 2 beautiful Buddhist temples in/around that I'm looking forward to seeing if I'm not "templed out" by the time we reach Sinoukville! There's also a national park plus waterfalls a bit out of the town. Oceania has a pretty interesting itinerary that visits Singapore, Brunei, Philippines, Vietnam Thailand (Bangkok only) and Cambodia (Sihanoukville only). Oceania isn't inexpensive, but I love their itineraries, as often the smaller places turn out to be a LOT of fun even when I know nothing about where I'm going. And there aren't that many sea days, which is fine for me. But others may not like that. You may want to look at the Docked Discoveries and What's In Port sites to see if they include general information on Coron (Busuanga port), Sihanoukville, and Manila.

Bus from port to Gardens by the Bay: Walk to Marina South Pier MRT station. Opposite station is bus stop for bus 400 bus. (Make sure you're on correct side of Marina Coastal Drive to go to Gardens by the Bay.) Bus runs every 30 minutes to the main road on east side of Gardens of the Bay. Get off at either stop known as "Before the Gardens" or the other "After the Gardens" stop. Walk into the Gardens. Bus starts 7 am or so & runs until 11 pm or so.

Looking at the Metro map (MRT), on a day in Singapore, I'd probably walk to the Marina South Pier MRT station (red North South line). I'd take it one stop and get off at the Marina Bay stop of the brown Thompson East Coast line. Then I'd take that line one stop to the Gardens by the Bay station, get off, and head toward the Supertree Grove in the middle of the Gardens. (I'm not sure if there are multiple exits, and if so, which one is closest to the Gardens. But I know you'll want to go west.) From the cruise port & Marina South Pier station, it looks like it would be relatively easy to just take the red North South line a couple stops up to Raffles Place or go one stop to Marina Bay stop and connect to Circle line in the direction of Harbour Front (west a ways), go 2 stops and get off at Promenade stop.

I've been doing a lot of research. Please check this, but from what I've read, there are a few ways to leave the cruise terminal area (Marina Bay) and go see some sights. Gardens by the Bay has plenty of walkways inside the area, but it's a large area and first you'll need to get to it. The brown "Thompson East Coast" MRT (subway line) goes closest (to the stop called Gardens by the Bay), which I believe might be an end stop. But there's also a stop called Bayfront that is served by 2 MRT lines (Downtown & Circle) on the other side of the Gardens. Gardens by the Bay are free unless you want to go into the Cloud Forest or another of the buildings there, which I think are around $20. The area of "Marina Bay" is a good place in which to just walk around, along the waterfront. You'll see things like the pretty impressive Marina Bay Sands Hotel, Merlion, Art/Science building (flower shaped), Singapore Flyer wheel, etc. And Chinatown and Little India are good places if you want to see lots of temples & atmosphere. Since you're there at night, you should try to see the light show at the Supertree Grove in Gardens of the Bay. There's also a Spectra Light show too, on the water. The cruise port is located near the Marina South Pier station, which is on the red North South line. Here's some draft information about the situation at the port about getting from the city to the port: Port (directions from city if walking Option 1: Board train along the East-West Line towards Pasir Ris or towards Downtown Station if coming from Downtown Line. Alight at Tanjong Pagar exit C or Downtown exit C. Board bus 402 at bus stop, near International Plaza (03223) or near Marina Bay Financial Centre (03391). Alight Marina Bay Cruise Centre. Option 2: Board train along NS line towards Marina Bay. Alight Marina S Pier Station, walk 600m 0.37 mi. along sheltered way to Cruise Centre. Address 61 Marina Coastal Drive, info mbccs.com.sg. Recommend taxi to port to embark as MRT a little walk away, rain happens, hot, walking with bags rough. But going back out is public bus 400 to CBD starts 6, runs until 11:45p daily. Bus stop at coach bay at Level 1, single fare S$1.40 to S$2. Have exact fare; no change. In city, catch 400 at Tanjong Pagar Station (exit C) or Downtown Station (stop DT 17 “opposite DT station”, then exit C). You could also check a fairly new website called "Docked Discoveries" for info on various ports (Asia, City/States section). Hope this isn't too confusing. But at least it might give you some ideas. Best subway map I've found is here: https://mrtmapsingapore.com/ Taxis are plentiful, I hear. The heat/humidity is crushing. The city is quite colorful. Enjoy!

I will be on a cruise ship, coming from Puerto Princesa and Coron, and then arriving in Manila on the ship. It's my understanding that the port that cruises use is up north, and I see a lot of long docks in several areas. But I don't know which docks the cruise lines use and which ones the ferries use.

Regarding flights: I live in the DC area and agonized on how to fly to Singapore. In the end, I decided to fly Qatar through their hub (Doha), although it's still 24 hours total from Washington DC. But I was trying to find the best combination for my trip, which is to Singapore and back from Bangkok. As for a hotel, these may be a little too reasonable, but they appear to be decent, in good locations, and reasonably priced: Quay Hotel and Hotel Mi Bencoolen. But I don't know if they're open 24/7.

I'm all for putting the date a person updated or added or revised or whatever. And hopefully people understand that just because one cruise had a shuttle that doesn't mean they're guaranteed in many ports. There seem to be a lot of newbies trying Oceania, and on FB they are not shy about commenting, good or bad. I was scratching my head when one person claimed very, very few shuttles were offered on the World Cruise recently. Then another person on the same WC said there were plenty of shuttles. Sometimes it's hard to figure out what you can expect! But likely everyone needs to know that Oceania is not contracting for shuttles in the hundreds and hundreds of ports they visit each year. I've been in ports in which our Oceania ship offered a free shuttle while the other ship in port charged for the shuttle. And I've been in more than a few ports in which the shuttle didn't run for two hours at lunch time. People need to be flexible, and be prepared to take a taxi or ride share if there's no shuttle. I'll get off my soapbox now.

Thank you to those have replied about Viet Nam. I haven't replied to all your posts, but appreciate the info, and have been taking notes. Jeremy, I'm working through your website, though I got sidetracked by Singapore and haven't looked at all relevant cities. It's good to have port information in addition to city information. I used to love Tom's Port Guides, even though they were out of date and also not all that inclusive when it came to other places than Europe. But now I can't even find the old guides online - I keep getting 404 messages.

It's renovated old world charm, but we enjoyed it! And there's plenty of old world charm around it, plus walkable to some of Mr. Gaudi's creations. Here's Hotel Granvia.