fruitonian Posted February 20, 2012 #1 Share Posted February 20, 2012 We're booked on Riviera Rome to Venice in September. Reading numerous reviews, including on Conde Naste, looks like Oceania does not do well in the excursions dept. Anyone have insight? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mura Posted February 20, 2012 #2 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Personally, I prefer private tours. But I wouldn't say that Oceania doesn't do well in this department. The tours ARE expensive. But the relatively few ship's tours we've taken on various Oceania cruises usually have been very good. (There was one we took in Sardinia last October that we felt was lacking but that was primarily because of the guide's very heavy Italian accent ... other than that she was a very good guide. But Oceania doesn't hire the guides! It hires the agency.) Mura Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wripro Posted February 20, 2012 #3 Share Posted February 20, 2012 I agree with Mura. Private tours or doing it on your own is far preferable to ships' tours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksps cruise fan Posted February 20, 2012 #4 Share Posted February 20, 2012 We're booked on Riviera Rome to Venice in September. Reading numerous reviews, including on Conde Naste, looks like Oceania does not do well in the excursions dept. Anyone have insight? I can only think of three situations where I think a ship's excursion offers an advantage and none of these apply in your case: o In Russia, I could have avoided the intrusive and beauracratic visa application process if I had chosen to tour with our cruise. IIRC, cruisers booking ship's excursions could enter the country on the ship's umbrella visa. o In St. Petersburg, I was able to enter the Hermitage approximately a hour before the public's opening hours by taking an excursion booked through our river cruise ship. o During a port call in Seoul, I felt more comfortable taking the ship's excursion into the DMZ. That's about it! Since my husband and I book private tours for just the two of us, our choice clearly isn't a cost-saving decision. We strongly prefer the personalized experience of private tours so we're willing to put in the time it takes to arrange these tours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbwex Posted February 21, 2012 #5 Share Posted February 21, 2012 With respect to the previous answer, in Russia, if you use a private tour company, you do not need to get your own visa as they take care of it for you as does the ship with the ship's tour people. Yes, getting a Russian visa is a pain, but it is not necessary if you use a private tour company. Our private tour company (shoretrips.com) had their operator in St. Pete get us into the Hermitage early and without standing in line just like the ship's tour. So there is nothing special about the ship's tours in Russia generally or in St. Petersburg. No big deal with immigration control, we had been emailed all the necessary paperwork (which you must have printed out and with you, as you don't get to the tour people until after immigration control). I will note that we did a couple of ship's tours, and particularly in a city that can be well-covered by a half-day tour, a ship's tour isn't a bad idea. Go to the Ports of Call section, and just read other posts about tour companies, and get the gist of the comments about any one or more, before starting to ask specific questions. We did like Shoretrips, as they have operators in most ports worldwide, so you only have to deal with one company, and they are great if there are in fact any problems. But there are other good companies out there, and you should be great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted February 21, 2012 #6 Share Posted February 21, 2012 With respect to the previous answer, in Russia, if you use a private tour company, you do not need to get your own visa as they take care of it for you as does the ship with the ship's tour people. Yes, getting a Russian visa is a pain, but it is not necessary if you use a private tour company. The person was on a RIVER cruise VISAs are required in those circumstances It is not like Ocean cruises where you can hire a private guide & they take care of the group VISA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksps cruise fan Posted February 21, 2012 #7 Share Posted February 21, 2012 With respect to the previous answer, in Russia, if you use a private tour company, you do not need to get your own visa as they take care of it for you as does the ship with the ship's tour people. Yes, getting a Russian visa is a pain, but it is not necessary if you use a private tour company. As someone else has pointed out upthread, we were on a river cruise (Moscow to St. Petersburg) and, since we were in the country we -- like everyone else -- needed a visa. However, our need for a visa arose even before the cruise; we arrived four days early in Moscow. In fact, to obtain our visa, we needed documentation from both the hotel in Moscow and from the river cruise company. Incidentally, we hired the services of a private guide -- recommended by the concierge of our hotel -- because she was one of the few guides licensed to tour backstage at the Bolshoi Theater. (We visited the theater the last day it was open to the public before shutting down for six years for renovation. It re-opened last October.) She did not provide visa services, but her access to the Bolshoi and other places compensated for the bureaucratic hassle of getting a visa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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