FlightMedic555

We returned four days ago from out Oceania cruise which ended in Lima. The port is an industrial port and you will have to take a shuttle to the port gates. There is a taxi stand and a few vendors but not much else there. Wandering away from the port did not look to be advisable.

Does the hop on bus stop at the pier and also go to the locks? Would that be a good option? The ship is not offering an excursion that includes the train.

We are on this same cruise and we get in at 8:00 pm in the evening and then leave at 6:00 pm the next day. My wife and I are interested in some type of tour of the locks and perhaps the train but I am finding it difficult to see how to organize this myself. We would also be interested in some type of excursion that allows for viewing wildlife.

Any help would be appreciated.

You can tell by my "name" that I have some experience. Obviously everyone's financial situation is different.

In my situation I am able to afford the $$ for the vacation and I could also afford any additional cost if I had to fly home unexpectedly. If I cruise in a winter season I always try to get to the departure city the day prior to avoid winter storm problems. If I have to cancel the cruise unexpectedly or have some of these other added costs I will be mightly pissed but I can afford this.

If I get sick overseas my current health insurance is excellent and will cover these costs.

If I have to be flown back to the US via an air ambulance I will go broke. Some have indicated a $25,000 charge. If you are being flown back from the Carribean figure more like $50,000. An easy $100,000 from Europe and about 18 months ago we flew a patient from NY back to India for $250,000. These are really, really big numbers.

For this reason I get evacuation insurance. Relatively inexpensive at places like www.medjetassist.com. You should look carefully at any evacuation insurance to see that you are getting the coverage you want. Most plans will fly the insured to the closest hospital that can provide care, no where you may want to go. On my recent cruise to Tahiti the closest hospital probably would have been New Zealand. Some policies allow for the insured to chose where they want to go which in most cases, after being stabilized locally, is back to your home city.

For specialty vacations such as a liveaboard for diving I would look into DAN insurance.

From the PG brochure the 3rd sails free except for "air, fees, taxes and surcharges". I am not sure what fees and surcharges includes.

We have done Christopher's Tour twice. Unfortunately both time we did not see any manta rays but we tried. His is a snorkel trip which does circle the entire lagoon, albeit at speed in the boat, so you do get a quick view of some sights. At one stop he did bring some bread into the water which is always pretty cool.

On our first trip Chris was our guide. This year it was Terry. Terry used to be part of the Paul Gauguin dive team but for some reason left. In any event, it was Terry that brought along some bread but his tour was just as good as the one led by Christopher.

Their boat is what I commonly refer to as a speed or ski boat and I would have felt a little uncomfortable if that boat was used to jam 11 or 12 people on board. One reason their tour seems special is that you are on a really, really nice and fast boat with some room to stretch out while motoring along. I guess they could expand to more than one boat but when we were there they only had the one which was the same speed boat they used the prior year.

We will be back in June and will use them a third time. Hopefully we will see the mantas this time.

Emdee, I would appreciate a copy of your tips. Flightmedic555@gmail.com.

Thanks

We have been fortunate to sail on the Paul Gauguin twice, once out of Tahiti round trip including the Cook Islands and recently from Australia to Tahiti stopping in New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji and the French Polynesian islands. We also did a 6 night cruise on the Blue Laggon ship (50 passenger) which was based in Fiji.

IMHO any cruise which begins in the States (California or Hawaii) by necessity has a lot of sea days just to get to the South Pacific. I think this is really a waste of time as you would be better to have more time on the islands. If you have time to take off from your personal life than I would combine a cruise which begins in French Polynesia with a land based vacation.

While Paul Gauguin is the only cruise ship based in Tahiti, Oceania and Princess do visit these islands and I believe you can embark on a cruise, depending upon their itenerary, from Tahiti.

Most of the South Pacific Islands are pretty small and the Princess and Oceania ships may inundate an island due to the number of passengers on board. The Paul Gauguin, at 330 passengers, seems to me to be the "right size" for the region. The PG is also considered a higher end ship and is all inclusive.

We are cruising out of Miami returning from Lima. If we don't use Oceanias air then they will refund us $750. Not a lot of $$ but when I asked about upgrading to business they wanted $4,200 extra PER ticket. I chose to book the air myself using miles to get from Lima to NY on LAN in business class thanks to BA miles. For the NY-Miami leg I will purchase an economy ticket.