O excursions ??????

[Sabbycat]

A question for experienced O cruisers....

 

What the heck is with all of the half day excursions? I am embarking on my first O cruise and am really hoping to love it as much as AZ. But currently i am finding the excursion aspect frustrating. Almost all of the excursions are 5 hrs or less, and of these, they generally include 2 to 3 hrs of drive time. This frustrates me to no end because i feel if it is 90 minutes each way why not make it a longer tour and see more sights? There are a lot of sights that are being missed, to keep the tours between 4.5 and 5.5 hrs. Why does O feel this is the ideal time frame?

 

And yes, i have tried to organize on the board, but alas that is not feasible for reasons i shall not delve into. And so cruiseline excursions have never been an issue in the past, but O does not seem to have stellar excursion products, and what they do have are insanely over-priced!

 

And so i guess my actual question is....is this how O usually operates excursions, or is this just perhaps a one-off cruise? I am hoping it is a one-off. This is the part of O i can't seem to understand!

 

Thanks for your insight! 😮

 

 

 

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[sandbag7]

Maybe you could provide relevant details like the cruise ports and how much time the ship is in each port? I suspect some of the mavens can answer without this information but it would be helpful.

[newbie60]

I'm wondering if the 5 hour tours are the ones included with "O Life". They tend to be less than $200 each and therefore are probably not 8+ hours. No one will disagree with you about the very high cost of O's excursions, that's why most of us do independent tours - even if we have to go it alone without other passengers sharing the cost.

[Sabbycat]

Maybe you could provide relevant details like the cruise ports and how much time the ship is in each port? I suspect some of the mavens can answer without this information but it would be helpful.

It is a Transatlantic starting in Europe. Time in port ranges from 7 hours on low end (for only one) to a more usual of 9 to 10 hours, and as long as 13. It is disappointing. Even the On Your Own in Granada is 7.5, and our stop is 10! So it is 4 hours of driving and 3.5 hours of on your own! So strange. It puzzles me why they don't use the 80% of the port time for an excursion rather than 40-50%.

 

One of the reasons we chose O is the more unique ports (same with Az.)

 

 

 

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[pinotlover]

1. Keeping the outrageous prices down for some.

 

2. Geriatrics that can't handle more.

 

3. Some people want to consume all meals aboard ship, so those schedules accommodates the dining room schedule.

 

4. Cruisers that demand to be back in plenty of time before Trivia. Incredibly, some schedule everything around Trivia.

 

#2 is huge!

[Sabbycat]

1. Keeping the outrageous prices down for some.

 

2. Geriatrics that can't handle more.

 

3. Some people want to consume all meals aboard ship, so those schedules accommodates the dining room schedule.

 

4. Cruisers that demand to be back in plenty of time before Trivia. Incredibly, some schedule everything around Trivia.

 

#2 is huge!

Are O cruisers that aged? I did not expect that. I guess my dh and i will be babies. (Late 30's and early 40's)

 

We travel for the itinerary, and after many X cruises, find ourselves redoing the same ports, hence, moving to Az and O. AZ had many all day excursions, which is why i am surprised with O.

 

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[pinotlover]

My last cruise was not terribly uncommon. Per a senior ship official, over half the passengers were over 80.

 

You will find younger cruisers on the Alaska and Carribean cruises.

 

O has a very senior clientele. We're in our later 60s and often feel young.

[Mura]

Just thinking about the ports versus the city they claim it is ...if you want to do Granada from Malaga, as I recall that's a 90 minute drive. I understand OP's objection to doing more driving than visiting! That is why I usually fulminate (although to little effect) that driving to cities like Paris or Berlin from distant ports is a real waste of time. I don't know about the ship's tours available on OP's cruise, of course.

 

We HAVE done some that required significant driving to get there -- that happens as well with independent tours. You have to decide if the driving time is worth the time there.

 

I think it was Sabbycat who objected to "Granada On Your Own" which only gave you 3-1/2 hours in Granada. That won't give you time to see the Alhambra, assuming you can get reservations on your own which can be difficult. The last time we were at the Ahambra the guide told me it's 2-1/2 miles to see the site and the walk through is indeed a walk, not a run.

 

I will say that on our last two cruises we did take several oLife tours, and they were good. Yes, of a shorter duration. But worth the time even with larger groups.

 

Right now I'm having a problem finding others who want to share private tours on an undersold cruise, but there you are ... We rejected the oLife tours on our next tour since we really wouldn't be able to take advantage of enough of them to make it worth the additional cruise cost -- we are meeting friends and relatives in three ports. But finding people to share a tour is no longer as easy as it once was!

 

Mura

[njhorseman]

Are O cruisers that aged? I did not expect that. I guess my dh and i will be babies. (Late 30's and early 40's)

 

We travel for the itinerary, and after many X cruises, find ourselves redoing the same ports, hence, moving to Az and O. AZ had many all day excursions, which is why i am surprised with O.

 

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My wife and I were 70 when we did a segment of the world cruise in January of this year and we were below the average age of the passengers. Longer cruises will have an older passenger demographic than shorter cruises, but on any Oceania cruise, even a relatively short one during the summer or a holiday period, I would expect late 30's to early 40's to be considerably younger than most of the passengers.

[srdancer]

We did a Med. Cruise in May. Chose the olife (4) excursion option. We did Florence on your own - 4 hours rt drive, 6+ hours in Florence.

In Marseilles we did tour to St. Remy and Arles. 8 hours. The other 2 olife tours were around 5 hours.

All the tours were very good to great.

3 of them had about 2 dozen people. Florence tour had 40+ but we were only together for the bus ride.

We are early 70s. Lot's of older and younger passengers.

Mostly over 50 but not many in 80s.

Was a port intensive itinerary with no sea days.

[Sabbycat]

Well, perhaps i shall find them quality over quantity!

 

On our AZ cruise we were among the youngest, but still enjoyed it a lot. Most of the other passengers were quite active. Although we did find the average on that cruise to be perhaps early 60's. We found an amazing an active group of late 40's and early 50's couples and organized a bunch of tours with them. We had a blast with them! Probably one of my favorite cruises to date.

 

Perhaps the older O demographic the the explanation for the roll call issues. None the less, we shall have fun no matter what we do. We are excited to try O, and experience all the great things that we have heard. 😀

 

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[I_r_a]

Hey S,

 

>What the heck is with all of the half day excursions?

 

Have you considered booking excursions on your own?

 

30 - 40 somethings are at the low end of the Oceania demographic.

 

Ira

[sandbag7]

Hey S,

 

>What the heck is with all of the half day excursions?

 

Have you considered booking excursions on your own?

 

30 - 40 somethings are at the low end of the Oceania demographic.

 

Ira

 

Right; we are 66 and we book our own excursions everywhere; much more enjoyable, directed and with much better value for money. We've tried joining groups through roll call but lately that hasn't worked for us. Being on a tour with two dozen people leaves you with no discretion and at the mercy of the slowest passengers.

Edited August 8, 2017 by sandbag7

[cbb]

OP-

 

remember that there are many people in port that day and when those "short" excursions come back to port, often every passenger must go through some screening in order to re-board. That takes time.

 

So if the excursion ends 1.5 hrs before the ship sails, that is time spent getting everybody back on board and that might be 500+ people, plus the ship itself may be going through some sort of government clearance.

 

Sometimes the ship has to leave by a certain time because of tidal flow and sometimes the ship has to leave in order for another ship to take its place.

[Pet Nit Noy]

It is a Transatlantic starting in Europe. Time in port ranges from 7 hours on low end (for only one) to a more usual of 9 to 10 hours, and as long as 13. It is disappointing. Even the On Your Own in Granada is 7.5, and our stop is 10! So it is 4 hours of driving and 3.5 hours of on your own! So strange. It puzzles me why they don't use the 80% of the port time for an excursion rather than 40-50%.

 

One of the reasons we chose O is the more unique ports.

 

You've just identified one of the drawbacks of cruising: cruising is simply not the best way to visit someplace. At best, cruising is best for sampling a destination rather than a full visit. Itineraries are increasingly trying to solve this problem by scheduling overnight port calls. (People can take advantage of this by leaving the ship and staying in a hotel to save one set of commutes.)

 

You're reluctant to share why you're unable/unwilling to set up private excursions, and by private, I mean an excursion for just you and DH. Considering your experience on the roll calls, that is going to be the only way you can tailor an excursion to your energy level and interest level. The price difference between a private excursion and O prices may be smaller than you imagine.

Edited August 8, 2017 by Pet Nit Noy

[pinotlover]

I've spoken with many that have voiced frustrations with low participation in roll calls. It definitely seems to be getting worse in the last couple of years. I could delineate some of the issues, but will pass this time around .

 

We are fortunate in that we separately meet a couple that will be on our upcoming fall cruise and have planned shore tours with them. We posted for others to join us, but got zero responses.

 

We don't do O tours anymore. Done with that. If we can't get participation from the roll call, we go by ourselves and pay the costs.

[colombiangirl]

We are on the same sailing and share your frustration. I keep looking at the excursions offered and nothing jumps out at me. I have a feeling that we will just explore on our own.

 

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[LHT28]

Best way to see & do what you want is to book your own private tours

We have done a couple in the Caribbean that were not cheap but we did the tour at our own pace

I have also shared tours with a small group & they worked out fine as well

[happy cruzer]

Transatlantics or any cruise of 2 weeks are typically an older crowd on any line, sometimes more than others. I too noticed the short excursion times.

[RJB]

I've spoken with many that have voiced frustrations with low participation in roll calls. It definitely seems to be getting worse in the last couple of years. I could delineate some of the issues, but will pass this time around .

 

We are fortunate in that we separately meet a couple that will be on our upcoming fall cruise and have planned shore tours with them. We posted for others to join us, but got zero responses.

 

We don't do O tours anymore. Done with that. If we can't get participation from the roll call, we go by ourselves and pay the costs.

Last summer we did a bunch of the O Life tours and they were mostly very good. A few were wonderful. Two were full day tours(7 and 8 hours) with lunch. We always in the past have been doing private tours but since these were included thought we would try them. Our next cruise in Dec. we booked them again and hope they are as good. :):):)

[sdbart]

I've spoken with many that have voiced frustrations with low participation in roll calls. It definitely seems to be getting worse in the last couple of years. I could delineate some of the issues, but will pass this time around .

 

We are fortunate in that we separately meet a couple that will be on our upcoming fall cruise and have planned shore tours with them. We posted for others to join us, but got zero responses.

 

We don't do O tours anymore. Done with that. If we can't get participation from the roll call, we go by ourselves and pay the costs.

 

I think it's sometimes the luck of the draw. We've done three transatlantic (one on O) and all had very active roll calls, with many private tours. Friends who sailed with us to Brazil on O did a Med cruise last year on Azamara and said it was the deadest roll call of any they had ever joined (the passenger demographic was about the same). I do agree that cruise port stops are rarely long enough to see any place in depth; cities like Rome and Florence, IMO, really deserve more than four or five hours.

[Paulchili]

I think it's sometimes the luck of the draw. We've done three transatlantic (one on O) and all had very active roll calls, with many private tours. Friends who sailed with us to Brazil on O did a Med cruise last year on Azamara and said it was the deadest roll call of any they had ever joined (the passenger demographic was about the same). I do agree that cruise port stops are rarely long enough to see any place in depth; cities like Rome and Florence, IMO, really deserve more than four or five hours.

 

We have a Nautica cruise in March - really not that far away - with 8 members on the roll call (and most of them posted only once and may or may not still be on the cruise)

[bitob]

Another reason for little response to private tours: we now have so many oceania friends that on our last 4 o cruises we never posted our private tours on the roll call. We had more than enough participants from people we had cruised with before

 

We are possibly on the same ta as the op. We know another couple well from past cruises and we decided to book privately for 4

 

On a separate note:

I really object to the snide comments about geriatrics. I'm sure others are thinking the same but I prefer to voice my objection. The same poster also objects to people with canes in the buffet

 

One day it could be you

 

 

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[pinotlover]

Bitbob;

 

We are all getting older and in many cases that either should or does affect what we do. Oceania has an older clientele than many other lines and that has many ramifications on various aspects of the cruise.

 

As far as canes go in the Terrace, the wait staff is normally there to assist, so not a big deal. Motorized scooters in the buffet line, especially the R ships are a problem. That aisle between the two buffet lines , with four lanes of people are not built for them. Mostly same goes with walkers.

 

As I posted once before, I hope if I'm still cruising as a geriatric, I am courteous enough to not sign up for shore tours beyond my capacity. I can also eat breakfast in the GDR so to not be clogging up the buffet lines. I also hope that if I am wearing an adult diaper, and I sign up for an all day tour, I take a change along, because for most people one wouldn't effectively last all day. All of those seem to beyond comprehension ,for some cruisers , which affects the reasoned actions of all other cruisers.

[bitob]

Bitbob;

 

 

 

We are all getting older and in many cases that either should or does affect what we do. Oceania has an older clientele than many other lines and that has many ramifications on various aspects of the cruise.

 

 

 

As far as canes go in the Terrace, the wait staff is normally there to assist, so not a big deal. Motorized scooters in the buffet line, especially the R ships are a problem. That aisle between the two buffet lines , with four lanes of people are not built for them. Mostly same goes with walkers.

 

 

 

As I posted once before, I hope if I'm still cruising as a geriatric, I am courteous enough to not sign up for shore tours beyond my capacity. I can also eat breakfast in the GDR so to not be clogging up the buffet lines. I also hope that if I am wearing an adult diaper, and I sign up for an all day tour, I take a change along, because for most people one wouldn't effectively last all day. All of those seem to beyond comprehension ,for some cruisers , which affects the reasoned actions of all other cruisers.

 

 

 

Unlike you I applaud those on walkers or scooters who take up the challenge of eating at the buffet. That option is open to everyone, regardless of mobility level. It is not easy to serve oneself with mobility issues.

 

I find your posts lacking in compassion. Perhaps oceania is not right for you. You could be soon outnumbered by the geriatrics and mobility challenged