Oceania's Free Shuttles List

[Santa Fe L&L]

Marina provided a shuttle bus from Zeebrugge to Blankenberg, with about a 5 min walk to the railway station. Direct trains from Blankenberg to Brugge.

Blankenberg is worth seeing, lovely town.

 

We agree....were there last month on Nautica. We'd been to Bruge before so took the shuttle to Blankenberg and had a GREAT day walking and window shopping in the beach area and eating mussels. Nearly every eaterie along the beach sells 2.2 kilos of mussels for 16 Euros. WOW!

[sitraveler]

Just back from Barcelona-Istanbul. Every city where we were not right in the city had a shuttle bus, provided by the town-not Oceania. They figured you can't spend money if you don't get downtown.

[Tansy Mews]

Does anyone know about South America shuttles, in particular Santos? We are hoping that there will be one from the dock to the centre of Santos. Other ports of call would be interesting too - Montevideo, for example.

[roothy123]

Does anyone know about South America shuttles, in particular Santos? We are hoping that there will be one from the dock to the centre of Santos. Other ports of call would be interesting too - Montevideo, for example.

 

Hi there! It's Ruth. It sounds like we did that same cruise a while back. I don't remember any shuttles but I could be mistaken, especially when it comes to Montevideo. Also, Oceania seems to be arranging more and more shuttles, so perhaps everything's different now anyway. Maybe someone else will pop in here and give you better information!

 

If you'd like to see pictures from when we went, go to http://www.pbase.com/roothy123 to find the South America gallery. Parati was one of my favorite places, but you certainly don't need a shuttle there, and the same for Buzios. In Montevideo we took public buses, but quite honestly, that was one of my least favorite ports. In Rio we had met someone onboard who worked for one of the jewelry shops there. He offered to have someone take us around the city, so we took him up on it. There were reps from two companies on board, both doing the same thing. I don't think Oceania was particularly happy with them being on the cruise selling their wares but at least the guy my husband spoke to was low-keyed about it. The other guy was more pushy, and you would always see him as you left the ship, handing out info. At one point Oceania made an announcement in the "Currents" newsletter to tell people that these guys were NOT Oceania reps! Anyway, you are under no obligation to buy anything or even tip, although they DO take you to their jewelry store. I've forgotten the name of the company. I didn't buy anything, but it wasn't a bad 15 minutes to spend politely browsing in order to get a couple hours worth of a tour!

 

Oh, now I'm remembering Santos. I never made it to town. There were several humongous ships in town that day, and I could barely make it through the terminal to get outside. Outside cabs were practically non-existent, and I don't think there were buses or a subway to get into town, so I was a bit stymied. There was, however, a kiosk to one side of the terminal with someone who could give information about Santos. There were also a few booths with people offering tours. I just said the heck with it and went upstairs to use the internet cafe. I think that's the only port I've been to where I didn't make it anywhere at all, but it was such a zoo outside that I was a bit discouraged. Hopefully you'll be in port on a quieter day! If nothing else, though, it made me even more thankful that I can afford to cruise on Oceania instead of the big behemoth ships, where you wait in line for hours just to check in!

Edited August 7, 2012 by roothy123

[Tansy Mews]

When you get off the ship in St. Petersburg, you must go through Russian entry controls. We used a tour company (SPb tours - great guide (Alex) and great driver) so we had our visas through the tour company and we didn't need a shuttle. I did talk to some other cruisers (July 2012 also) who made their own way with their own visa. They did not have a shuttle. On day 2, they decided that the whole thing was too complicated and they stayed on board. I am fairly sure that there was no shuttle on offer.

[roothy123]

I just got back from Baltic Treasures and there was no shuttle offered in St. Petersburg. I don't know if the port or the government would have even allowed one, as Russia seems to be very particular about what tourists do. I had never had to go through passport control before to get back ONTO the ship until I went to St. Petersburg! Practically the whole ship goes off in St. Petersburg but I didn't meet anyone who did it on their own. It was too daunting for me to do this port independently (shuttle or no shuttle) so we used Alla Tours. They, like the other tour companies, are allowed to pick you up right outside the port terminal. The next day, I was talking to one of the servers on Marina. He told me that there is a bus stop very close to the port terminal, so it apparently IS possible to get into the city from the port without using a tour group or a cab!

 

On our recent Baltic Treasures cruise, shuttles were available in Ronne, Gdynia (port near Gdansk) Helsinki, and Tallinn. Some people reported having a shuttle in Riga on a previous cruise, but we didn't have one. You really didn't need one, however.

Edited August 29, 2012 by roothy123

[Mexfolkart]

My friend and I did St. Petersburg one day on our own with Russian visas a few years back..

We had a fabulous time..went to the bank, ate lunch, shopped along Nevsky prospekt and went inside the Church on Spilled blood and to the craft market right there. We did take along a small russian/english dictionary. Everyone

was SO very nice to us!! At the bank we even asked for our rubles in small

bills, please in russian and the whole place lit up..they were SO pleased we

could do that! They appreciate any effort. I had asked on the ship for the

name of the dock to be spelled in Russian for our return by taxi and the approximate cost so we could negotiate in our broken "Russian"!!!

Great experience all around! We felt that if we had ANY problem we could go into one of the nice hotels on Nevsky Prospekt and they would help us. This last time we used SPB Tours and they gave us time on our own which was nice.

Sherry

[wp bob]

This is very useful. it should be a permanent thread.

[Riana]

Sorry if I missed it reading through the thread, but does anyone know about a shuttle in Tangier?

[JimandStan]

Sorry if I missed it reading through the thread, but does anyone know about a shuttle in Tangier?

 

No reflection on you Riana, but that is just one of the big problems with formatting this information as a thread.

 

Very few people are willing to scan through more than 100 posts, and even if they were, I meet an amazing number of otherwise very bright Cruise Critics who are unaware that anything exists beyond the first page of a thread,or the first page of the Oceania Board for that matter.

 

There must be a better way to do this

[Riana]

I agree. This thread in particular has become quite unwieldy. Maybe a "Sticky" would work? It would need to be able to updated, of course.

[robbie21]

One of the problems with this thread is its shear size. Another is the currency of the information. What happened last year may or may not be in effect this year.

It would be far better if Oceania posted their port shuttle plans on their web site. Perhaps the simplest way would be with an symbol on the itenerary for each cruise as they do for tenders. Of course the more information the better - like schedules or frequency.

In a perfect world they would also provide port locations in those cities such as Stockholm where there are some distance between the different areas. It would also be useful if information on public transportation and taxi's was provided. We spend an inordinate amount of time trying to find out this info. A lot of this info is available here on CC in the ports section and in the forums but some has to be dug out of local tourist sites. I am sure that some narrow minded executive believes that withholding this information steers people to the ship's tours. He is wrong. It just annoys us. We have already decided to tour on our own. Often we have been to the port before and previously taken the ship's tour. Now we have specific sights we wish to see. Show us a little consideration.

Robbie

[warburg]

When we were on Marina's TA in November of 2011, we received free ferry tickets to Hamilton from Dockyards. They were good for both days. The ferries are very comfortable and frequent. On Hamilton, they sail to more than one destination, so just check that you are boarding the right one.

[YoHoHo]

No reflection on you Riana, but that is just one of the big problems with formatting this information as a thread.

 

Very few people are willing to scan through more than 100 posts, and even if they were, I meet an amazing number of otherwise very bright Cruise Critics who are unaware that anything exists beyond the first page of a thread,or the first page of the Oceania Board for that matter.

 

There must be a better way to do this

Once the thread is found the 'Search this thread' tool works well. Spleling and typo's excepted of course!

 

I agree. This thread in particular has become quite unwieldy. Maybe a "Sticky" would work? It would need to be able to updated, of course.

Yes, if the thread was a sticky it would be then easy to find and could get updated from forum members.

 

That seems like an easy solution for CC members to self-help. I agree with jimandstan about looking beyond page one - not likely to happen so your suggestion for this to be made a sticky thread is a good one.

 

As another poster suggested for O to provide this on their website. If O's Destination Services had a list available in the same area were we can manage our bookings that would be useful and helpful to everyone on the cruise, not just CC members, but that has not happened.

 

In the meantime if this was a sticky at least CC could help each other more effectively.

 

I appreciate that wp bob found and bumped this thread alive again as its existence was discussed on another recent thread looking for shuttle list help and I was unable to search for this list (CC issue). Just because the thread has not had recent posts is not a reason to believe it is not the information a CC member is looking for. Or if they knew there was such a list they could post a recent correction to it. My point is that just because this thread languished back on page 55 does not mean that it is not an on-going beneficial list that CC could have as a sticky.

Edited February 3, 2013 by YoHoHo

[LHT28]

It would be far better if Oceania posted their port shuttle plans on their web site. Perhaps the simplest way would be with an symbol on the itenerary for each cruise as they do for tenders.

Robbie

 

+1 I agree

putting a symbol next to the port to designate a shuttle is available there would be most helpful in planning shore trips

 

 

Lyn

[Tansy Mews]

+1 I agree

putting a symbol next to the port to designate a shuttle is available there would be most helpful in planning shore trips

 

 

Lyn

My impression from two cruises in 2012 is that the shuttles are often offered by the port. There is usually a disclaimer about the shuttles in Currents.

[LHT28]

My impression from two cruises in 2012 is that the shuttles are often offered by the port. There is usually a disclaimer about the shuttles in Currents.

That is true but according to Oceania hype they offer shuttles in over 90 ports

It is not a big deal for them to mark them in the brochure or website is it??

 

Lyn

[kimanjo]

The spreadsheet whiz (2SeaAll) on "the Best Plat of Food" thread (post # 111) made a spreadsheet that looks like what we are looking for in the Port Shuttle information.

 

We would need as much contribution as possible.

 

I agree, ideally a little bus picture next the anchor on the web would be perfect, but this might be very helpful.

[FlightMedic555]

Callao - Port for Lima - free shuttle to Miraflores (50 minute drive)

Guayaquil - free shuttle to town square

Manta Ecuador - free shuttle into Manta, you have to take a $10 taxi to Montecristi

[Riana]

Another vote for the symbol next to the Port.

[Paulchili]

On our current Lima to Rio cruise the following places had shuttles:

Callao (Lima) to Miraflores

Pisco, Peru

Antofagasta, Chile

Coquimbo, Chile

Buenos Aires

Rio Grande, Brazil (stay on the ship)

Santos, Brazil

Rio

Several places, like Punta Arenas, Buzios and others were easy and short walking distance.

Edited February 20, 2013 by Paulchili

[roothy123]

On our current Lima to Rio cruise the following places had shuttles:

Callao (Lima) to Miraflores

Pisco, Peru

Antofagasta, Chile

Coquimbo, Chile

Buenos Aires

Rio Grande, Brazil (stay on the ship)

Santos, Brazil

Rio

Several places, like Punta Arenas, Buzios and others were easy and short walking distance.

 

I guess this is a bit off topic, but I have to ask: When you mention to stay on the ship in Rio Grande, is that because there's not a whole lot to do, a bit shaky in the safety department, or what? I don't remember much about Rio Grande, except that there wasn't a whole lot there, it seemed to be a poor city, and a folklore group gave us a great send-off at the port. However, I guess that kind of answers my question, but I was curious about your comment.

Edited February 20, 2013 by roothy123

[Paulchili]

I guess this is a bit off topic, but I have to ask: When you mention to stay on the ship in Rio Grande, is that because there's not a whole lot to do, a bit shaky in the safety department, or what? I don't remember much about Rio Grande, except that there wasn't a whole lot there, it seemed to be a poor city, and a folklore group gave us a great send-off at the port. However, I guess that kind of answers my question, but I was curious about your comment.

 

Duplicate post

Edited February 20, 2013 by Paulchili

[Paulchili]

I guess this is a bit off topic, but I have to ask: When you mention to stay on the ship in Rio Grande, is that because there's not a whole lot to do, a bit shaky in the safety department, or what? I don't remember much about Rio Grande, except that there wasn't a whole lot there, it seemed to be a poor city, and a folklore group gave us a great send-off at the port. However, I guess that kind of answers my question, but I was curious about your comment.

 

Truly nothing worth seeing and safety is a problem (at least one robbery and others were warned by local people to turn around and venture no further). Some people didn't get off the shuttle bus before returning back to the ships, others who got off couldn't get back on fast enough.

I truly could find nothing redeeming in this port and by listeng and talking with others, I was not alone. One can only hope that the newly found oil (and it's revenues) will revitalize this city in the future.

[skiladyldp]

Does anyone know if the St Tropez France has a free shuttle. Thank you