Oceania vs. princess

[Mura]

Likewise Stockholm is easy to DIY ... we did, although we were there for two days which was advantageous.

 

First stop: The Vasa Museum. There is also a lovely handicrafts museum across the street. Walking through Old Town is most interesting. Unfortunately I long ago "lost" my diary for this trip since we were there in 2001. There is much to do in Stockholm and you really do not need a guide -- unless you want one!

 

http://www.visitstockholm.com/en/See--do/Attractions/gamla-stan/

 

Have fun! It's a beautiful city.

 

Mura

[cdn.cruiser]

Thank you to everyone. We are looking forward to our Oceania Baltic cruise.

[Pet Nit Noy]

We,start in Stockholm... We are on the July 8/17 Or July 9 ( can't remember) cruise from Stockholm to Southampton. I am enrolled in the roll call. Most talk is about St. Petersburg. Do you do Stockholm privately? What would you suggest? Thank you everyone for all the information, we really appreciate your expertise.

 

Definitely book an O Tour on July 15 when you'll be in Kleipedia. This port is a big meh! It seems to be included for reasons of logistics more than appeal. Coming to this port after the glories of St Petersburg and the charm of Tallin, the let down is especially hard. I recommend you book a tour to wring as much positive out of this port call as possible!

 

Book an O Tour the next day when you'll be in Gdansk. My husband and I did this port on our own because we wanted to visit the Solidarity museum, a destination not included in the O excursions. This is an excellent place with great audio-visual displays but you'll have to cope with the somewhat unclear route through the exhibits. We were so focused on Gdansk's important role in the downfall of Communism that we shortchanged our time enjoying Gdansk's historic glory. We simply walked down the main historic street and admired the beautiful buildings without the benefit a tour guide would have provided. (Note: Gdansk was leveled during WWII. What you will see is a somewhat fanciful recreation of the town. Architectural historians say the modern appearance is based more on 18th century Italian painting by Caneletto than on reality. The result is more unified than its true appearance which would have included a bigger assortment of architectural styles over the centuries. All I know is that after visiting Gdansk and seeing its beautiful old town, I was motivated to learn more about its historic past.)

 

If you've never seen a concentration camp, there is one accessible through Oceania tours from Gdansk. It's not one of the more infamous concentration camps, but it definitely captures the inhumanity of the N***'s final solution. Consider this if you've never seen/have no future plans to visit Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, etc.

[marylizcat]

Definitely book an O Tour on July 15 when you'll be in Kleipedia. This port is a big meh! It seems to be included for reasons of logistics more than appeal. Coming to this port after the glories of St Petersburg and the charm of Tallin, the let down is especially hard. I recommend you book a tour to wring as much positive out of this port call as possible!

 

 

We stopped in Klaipeda unexpectedly when the weather prevented us docking in Stockholm. I had therefore done no research, so booked the city sightseeing tour. This was a mistake! Do not book it. As the cruise director said as we reboarded the ship 'there's nothing there!'. The people who booked the other two excursions on offer which went further afield all seemed happy enough with their tours. So book a tour which goes out of town!

[Pet Nit Noy]

We stopped in Klaipeda unexpectedly when the weather prevented us docking in Stockholm. I had therefore done no research, so booked the city sightseeing tour. This was a mistake! Do not book it. As the cruise director said as we reboarded the ship 'there's nothing there!'. The people who booked the other two excursions on offer which went further afield all seemed happy enough with their tours. So book a tour which goes out of town!

 

Combining posts #25, #28, and #29, produces the following hierarchy:

 

Worst choice: DIY in Klaipeda

Marginal choice: City walking tour of Klaipeda with O KLA -002 (only in comparison to DIY)

Better choice: A tour outside the city (no specific excursion mentioned).

Best choice: ?????

[Mura]

I understand your quandary about where to book your oLife tours!

 

What I will say is that I agree with what everyone else has said about Copenhagen, Stockholm and Oslo. But if you DO decide to take a ship's tour in any of these cities bear in mind that very often if museums are included they are NOT full visits. We avoid tours that say we'll be going to a museum, especially if it is a major museum. You will have the advantage of a guide discussing a few of the exhibits, but our experience is that they usually are very few. And while you may have additional time to go around on your own, for US it is never enough. If you aren't museum people, then this aspect will not be of importance to you.

 

Mura

[Ken the cruiser]

Are both itineraries showing stops in St. Petersburg? If so for how long. Also what sort of extras are you getting? OBC's, specialty restaurants, included excursions, gratuities or a booze package. I am on an Oceania cruise in the Baltics and the included shore excursions totaled over $2,000 for 8 excursions.

 

 

We just booked a 32 day cruise on the Nautica in Northern Europe and opted for the 14 excursion option. However the O rep said we could only pick excursions that were valued at $199 or less. Did he give us bad info? If so what limit did they give you for pre-ordering your excursions?

[Paulchili]

We just booked a 32 day cruise on the Nautica in Northern Europe and opted for the 14 excursion option. However the O rep said we could only pick excursions that were valued at $199 or less. Did he give us bad info? If so what limit did they give you for pre-ordering your excursions?

 

 

That is mostly true.

Technically,you can book any excursion that is not OC or OE. It just so happens that just about all of those happen to be $199 or less :D

There might be an exception to this but I am not aware of any.

[LHT28]

We just booked a 32 day cruise on the Nautica in Northern Europe and opted for the 14 excursion option. However the O rep said we could only pick excursions that were valued at $199 or less. Did he give us bad info?

You can book any excursions that do not have a LETTER designation after the description most are under $199.

 

If it has OC, OE or other letters you pay for those

 

 

If all the excursions you pick are $199. then x 14 would be about a $2800 value

 

 

You must choose the free excursions 14 days or earlier from sailing date so be sure to have them booked well in advance

[Ken the cruiser]

You can book any excursions that do not have a LETTER designation after the description most are under $199.

 

If it has OC, OE or other letters you pay for those

 

 

If all the excursions you pick are $199. then x 14 would be about a $2800 value

 

 

You must choose the free excursions 14 days or earlier from sailing date so be sure to have them booked well in advance

 

 

Thanks for the explanation as it has been awhile since we cruised with O. For us the excursion option was definitely a better deal than the $1,400 OBC as we do like going on excursions when we are in port.

[Mura]

We like excursions in port as well, but we usually look for DIY tours. That's not to say that we haven't taken advantage of the oLife offers since they came on board. By and large they have been good tours. A few were excellent.

 

But I would suggest that you also consider going to your Roll Call and finding others who are setting up independent tours. They are usually less expensive, not to mention less crowded.

 

Not everyone wants to do so, and if you are in that group then forget what I am saying. But I would never assume that the ONLY way to do excursions in port is with ship's tours.

 

Mura

[roothy123]

In that case I would consider O tours in Klaipeda, Gdansk and Warnemunde.

Agree that Gdansk and Warnemunde are good places to take O tours, given the distance to the cities from where the ship docks. However, it is also possible to DIY in both places (real DIY, not booking a private excursion). This is probably not the "DIY" you have in mind, but just in case it helps others: In Gdynia (port for Gdansk) I took the shuttle arranged by Oceania to center of town, walked about 5 minutes to a funky commuter train that took me to Gdansk, and took a short tram ride to the historic part of the city. It WAS walkable from the Gdansk train station, but not easily so. Also, cabs were available in Gdynia for excursions to Gdansk. I forget the price; also don't know how good the drivers' English would have been! In Warnemunde we rented a car, drove to a commuter train right outside Berlin, and took a short subway trip to get to where we wanted to be. Yes, I know this type of traveling isn't for everyone, but we love planning and exploring on our own, so it worked for us.

 

As for Oceania versus Princess, we took one Princess cruise to Alaska on Pacific Princess, one of the smaller ships, back when O didn't go to Alaska. It was OK but we went back to O afterwards. If people want to reduce the price on O, they should at least consider booking an inside or ocean-view cabin. We don't spend that much time in the room, so we don't feel a veranda or somewhat larger space is worth the big jump in price that occurs when you book a veranda cabin. Also, in case it wasn't mentioned above, O's price often includes air, which can make quite a difference when comparing prices between cruise lines.

 

We were on Marina, and yes, we wiggled through the archipelago. While it was definitely pretty, I wouldn't say it was a life-changing experience.

Edited March 11, 2017 by roothy123

[awhcruiser]

 

[roothy123]

Deleted - duplicate post!

 

Edited August 31, 2019 by roothy123

[LHT28]

2 hours ago, awhcruiser said:

 

Was there  a point  in posting the link on a 2 yr old thread??

[don731]

We did the Panama Canal on Princess in February, and while the crew were great, the upsells, unmemorable food, and obnoxious fellow passengers (buckets of beer starting at 0900) make it unlikely we’ll do Princess again.  Ship had come out of dry dock half finished....pallets of carpet on the promenade deck, wires hanging from the ceiling, contract workers installing stuff all night long....you get the picture.  

We did the Baltic on the Cunard Caronia in 2000...an amazing cruise!  We did our own touring everyplace except St. Petersburg.  Stockholm, Visby, Tallin, Helsinki all easy and fun on your own.