Any one done the new "Oceania Exclusive" smaller group tours?

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

We are looking at doing a few of the ship-sponsored shore-x tours and noticed the "Oceania Exclusive" versions of many of the offered tours. They claim only 10-16 participants. Anyone taken these? Do they offer a better experience than the regular versions? Are the coaches used as comfortable as the full-sized coaches? Do they have on-board restrooms for the longer tours? Do they really offer more service and flexibility? Or do they just use a small van and follow the main bus around???

 

Thanks!

[Mura]

We could have on our October cruise but did not.

 

We DID take 3 ship's tours because we had a lot of OBC to exhaust but none of them were in this elite class. I will say that given the choice, I'd opt for the more expensive one just because my main opposition to ship's tours is precisely because of the large bus loads.

 

But you bring up an interesting question about what size vehicle. If they have 16 people they might well use a larger vehicle.

 

I have been on private tours that used vehicles really too large for our group. I'm remembering an Alhambra group of 8 in a 16 passenger van, and 16 people in a full-size bus out of Belfast. But we didn't complain because each person had a double-seat to him/herself.

 

Sixteen tourists in a 16 passenger van can be as uncomfortable as a larger group in a full-size bus if we are all squeezed together.

 

Having said that, my preference would be to try the nose-in-the-air smaller group when using a ship's tour ... It's not a bad idea on Oceania's part. They are aware that lots of their passengers avoid ship's tours because of the large-size groups ... Of course they are also aware that they cannot accommodate all of the passengers on ship's tours.

 

I'm curious as to how this will work out. Back in 2005 our group of 8 booked several of those 8-passenger "executive" vans and we had great tours. The guides were super, the vans were comfortable. But the price was a LOT cheaper than it is now! At today's prices, I'd opt for the "exclusive" option over the "executive van".

[jfb128]

We did one in Riga, Latvia. We were able to see more of the town than the larger groups and actually got much more attention from the tour guide. And in this instance the price differential was not outrageous. They did use a smaller passenger van but it was large enough that we didn't feel squeezed. However, believe it or not, even with a small group we had one couple who meandered away and kept us waiting to go to the next stop.

[potterhill]

I tried to book some of these tours on our September cruise to Israel but they were all booked quite far in advance.

 

Mo

[Mura]

However, believe it or not, even with a small group we had one couple who meandered away and kept us waiting to go to the next stop.

 

I believe it! For some reason there is always at least one ....

[silkman]

We are looking at doing a few of the ship-sponsored shore-x tours and noticed the "Oceania Exclusive" versions of many of the offered tours. They claim only 10-16 participants. Anyone taken these? Do they offer a better experience than the regular versions? Are the coaches used as comfortable as the full-sized coaches? Do they have on-board restrooms for the longer tours? Do they really offer more service and flexibility? Or do they just use a small van and follow the main bus around???

 

Thanks!

 

I've never been on the Oceania's "exclusive" tours. Saying that, IMHO you would be better served booking private tours in a 6 or 8 person luxury mini-van and sharing it with other CC members. It is not overly difficult to find others on your "roll call " to share private excursions. I did that on our O cruise to France Spain and Portugal and it worked out great. I have already booked private excursions on our upcoming June British Isles cruise. The cost is not only considerably less than O's "Exclusive Tours", but also less than their over-priced bus tours. The other advantage is you can pick the places you want to see,and the length of time you want to stay there. (you don't have to spend an hour at a perfume factory , or an hour and a half eating lunch).

 

It does take time to find relieable guides in the various ports, but I think it is well worth it.

[bphman]

I don't think I have ever been on an excursion where some inconsiderate person or couple couldn't keep our schedule. And, with attitude. We were in Florence and had several stops. The same couple went missing at each stop. And not by a few minutes. When they were spoken to, it got worse.

 

Being a neophyte with Oceania, I am looking forward to the whole experience. I did not notice any smaller group excursions but I would definitely go for them.

[GrammieK]

We used the Oceania Choice tours exclusively on our Greek cruise. They were fabulous. Most times we had a full size bus. We often had headsets to enable us to hear the guide (especially helpful in Topkapi). In Ephesus, the guide was so great, she even got us to "Mary's House" before any other buses and we had private time with the Blessed Virgin.

The small group really worked for us and they were not that much more money. It was always easier to hear and ask questions in such a small group. They advertise as up to 16 persons, but most of ours were 10 - 12. Delightful!!

Try it, you'll like it!!

[GeorgesGal]

I've never been on the Oceania's "exclusive" tours. Saying that, IMHO you would be better served booking private tours in a 6 or 8 person luxury mini-van and sharing it with other CC members. It is not overly difficult to find others on your "roll call " to share private excursions. I did that on our O cruise to France Spain and Portugal and it worked out great. I have already booked private excursions on our upcoming June British Isles cruise. The cost is not only considerably less than O's "Exclusive Tours", but also less than their over-priced bus tours. The other advantage is you can pick the places you want to see,and the length of time you want to stay there. (you don't have to spend an hour at a perfume factory , or an hour and a half eating lunch).

It does take time to find relieable guides in the various ports, but I think it is well worth it.

 

We always opt for the private tours organized either by ourselves or some of our CC buddies on the roll call. Excellent choices and reviews can be found on the CC Ports pages. They have always worked out well!

[cbb]

We used them on our tour of Galilee and Jordan River(day 1) Jerusalem (day 2) and Masada and the Dead Sea (day 3.) They were wonderful and the guides seemed to love the smaller audience; they were all very enthusiastic and personable. The groups were small as promised and all used full sized buses. Everyone was very prompt and the small group is definitely the way to go. Count me as one who will use this type of O tour again. c

[Mura]

Guys, I never say "always".

 

We prefer -- well, *I* prefer -- small tours that we organize ourselves. DH prefers ship's tours because they are EASY. I don't like them largely because of large groups and uncomfortable buses. (I'm relatively short and I don't have enough leg room on these buses so I don't know you six-footers do!)

 

I would be willing to pay extra for the smaller tours offered by the ship, and we have booked the executive vans in the past -- although as I have already said, they were not nearly as expensive back then.

 

We look at cost and destination and how many people, and then decide.

 

And if *I* prefer smaller groups and DH prefers the ease of ship's tours, we can agree to compromise and do some of each. On our Marina cruise in October we had a lot of OBC so we used 3 ship's tours and 6 DIY tours (some I arranged, some others arranged).

 

Two of the ship's tours were excellent, one was not so much. But the one that was "no so much" was a last minute replacement for the tour we'd really wanted, which I suppose didn't have enough people signed up and so it got cancelled. But it wasn't horrible either. It was mainly a language difficulty with the guide. She knew English very well ... but she pronounced it rather oddly at times!

 

On those cruises where we had a pre-formed group of 8 we did nothing but DIY tours. But we haven't always been that lucky. In October we had a number of people, some of whom did this, some of whom did that ... and so we did what we could where we could.

 

Mura

[Andromeda93]

I was on the same Marina cruise last fall as Mura (Rome to Istanbul Oct-Nov 2011) and, like her, used a combination of ship's tours and private tours in the various ports we visited.

 

Re the ship's tours, we purchased both 'regular' tours (in Palermo, Volos, Athens and Ephesus) and Oceania Choice (in Istanbul). Our experience was that the quality of the guide and the tour itinerary was more important than the 'choice' vs 'regular' tour.

 

One reason our 'regular' O tours were still quite enjoyable was that they were not over-subscribed. I don't think any of our (full-size) buses ever had more than 22 people or so. This allowed everyone to stretch out and enjoy the bus rides, which were mostly short except for the Volos day (the Meteora Monasteries were 2.5+ hours from the port). Of course, this is the luck of the draw in terms of how full your bus will be on a regular tour.

 

The Oceania Choice tour in Istanbul wasn't great. We had a full group of 16 on a 'mini-bus' that seated perhaps 20-22. It had zero legroom and was hot and the seats uncomfortable. The biggest bummer of that tour was that the Topkapi Palace was closed the day we were touring (which we knew), so the Berylberi palace was substituted instead. However, this destination requires a great deal of driving through very heavy afternoon traffic. We had our time at the Blue Mosque and St Sophia cut by at least 2/3 as we crept along the waterside highway. And we had one of 'those' people in our group who complained a lot and made a bad situation worse.

 

I recognize traffic in Istanbul may be beyond anyone's control, but for O to schedule such a tour which left us with very little time at the mosques was greatly disappointing - and a misrepresentation of the tour. We were given literally 10 minutes inside the Blue Mosque. The size of the bus didn't make a bit of difference. Moreover, the guide made sure to get us out of the mosque with a full allotment of time to still visit his friend's jewelry shop outside the Bazaar (90 minutes). I was ready to mutiny, but without having planned a taxi or other private transport back to the ship we had to stick with the bus, to get back and pack in advance of a very early flight out the next morning.

 

In contrast, our 'Discover Ephesus With An Expert' tour was the best ship's tour we had. Small bus, small group, good guide and AMAZING expert who joined the tour at the archeological museum near Ephesus and then personally escorted us around the ruins. He's been excavating at Ephesus for nearly 40 years and it was awe-inspiring to see him discussing a piece in the museum prefaced by 'When I found this statue...". Being on-site and seeing the ruins with him was unforgettable. And this was a 'regular' O tour; I would have paid double for it and then some.

 

We were fortunate to be able to join private tours organized by Mura and others on some of the other port days, which was wonderful. I ran out of time to arrange more of these on our own but highly recommend doing so. If you do your own legwork on TripAdvisor and review the Ports info on CC, you can locate good tour providers, partner up with others in your Roll Call and have a grand day out on a shared private tour.

 

We also splurged on a full-day private tour in Valletta (Malta) which was unforgettable and a highlight of our trip. Lest you think we won the lottery, let me say that tours on Malta are much more affordable than private tours in Italy or France.

 

No matter what tours you choose, enjoy the trip!

[EDLOS]

I was on the same Marina cruise last fall as Mura (Rome to Istanbul Oct-Nov 2011) and, like her, used a combination of ship's tours and private tours in the various ports we visited.

 

Re the ship's tours, we purchased both 'regular' tours (in Palermo, Volos, Athens and Ephesus) and Oceania Choice (in Istanbul). Our experience was that the quality of the guide and the tour itinerary was more important than the 'choice' vs 'regular' tour.

 

One reason our 'regular' O tours were still quite enjoyable was that they were not over-subscribed. I don't think any of our (full-size) buses ever had more than 22 people or so. This allowed everyone to stretch out and enjoy the bus rides, which were mostly short except for the Volos day (the Meteora Monasteries were 2.5+ hours from the port). Of course, this is the luck of the draw in terms of how full your bus will be on a regular tour.

 

The Oceania Choice tour in Istanbul wasn't great. We had a full group of 16 on a 'mini-bus' that seated perhaps 20-22. It had zero legroom and was hot and the seats uncomfortable. The biggest bummer of that tour was that the Topkapi Palace was closed the day we were touring (which we knew), so the Berylberi palace was substituted instead. However, this destination requires a great deal of driving through very heavy afternoon traffic. We had our time at the Blue Mosque and St Sophia cut by at least 2/3 as we crept along the waterside highway. And we had one of 'those' people in our group who complained a lot and made a bad situation worse.

 

I recognize traffic in Istanbul may be beyond anyone's control, but for O to schedule such a tour which left us with very little time at the mosques was greatly disappointing - and a misrepresentation of the tour. We were given literally 10 minutes inside the Blue Mosque. The size of the bus didn't make a bit of difference. Moreover, the guide made sure to get us out of the mosque with a full allotment of time to still visit his friend's jewelry shop outside the Bazaar (90 minutes). I was ready to mutiny, but without having planned a taxi or other private transport back to the ship we had to stick with the bus, to get back and pack in advance of a very early flight out the next morning.

 

In contrast, our 'Discover Ephesus With An Expert' tour was the best ship's tour we had. Small bus, small group, good guide and AMAZING expert who joined the tour at the archeological museum near Ephesus and then personally escorted us around the ruins. He's been excavating at Ephesus for nearly 40 years and it was awe-inspiring to see him discussing a piece in the museum prefaced by 'When I found this statue...". Being on-site and seeing the ruins with him was unforgettable. And this was a 'regular' O tour; I would have paid double for it and then some.

 

We were fortunate to be able to join private tours organized by Mura and others on some of the other port days, which was wonderful. I ran out of time to arrange more of these on our own but highly recommend doing so. If you do your own legwork on TripAdvisor and review the Ports info on CC, you can locate good tour providers, partner up with others in your Roll Call and have a grand day out on a shared private tour.

 

We also splurged on a full-day private tour in Valletta (Malta) which was unforgettable and a highlight of our trip. Lest you think we won the lottery, let me say that tours on Malta are much more affordable than private tours in Italy or France.

 

No matter what tours you choose, enjoy the trip!

Can you furnish the Tour operator for Malta Website or e-mail address please

Edlos