Feedback on O excursions

[kibutzer]

Hi 

 We are doing MIA on Oceania and currently overnighting in each Cuban port. We are curious about any feedback on the following O excursions, 

Cienfuegos & Its Nature

Botanical Garden

Fort

In Santiago de Cuba 

Tropicana  Santiago

 

Or private tour experience.  TIA

[rvmike]

Did private tours in each port, more than half off of O tours .In Havana we used Blexie and the other two we used Shago Tours.

[kibutzer]

Rvmike, I assume this means your were pleased. 

 

[ebslcc]

On 2/14/2019 at 9:57 AM, kibutzer said:

Hi 

 We are doing MIA on Oceania and currently overnighting in each Cuban port. We are curious about any feedback on the following O excursions, 

Cienfuegos & Its Nature

Botanical Garden

Fort

In Santiago de Cuba 

Tropicana  Santiago

 

Or private tour experience.  TIA

Oceania uses a state owned tour company for all it's tours. 

 

Cienfuegos & it's nature is a tour to El Nicho Waterfalls. It is a small tour bus (14 to 16 passengers?). If you are interested in going with you may want to book ASAP.  I read that the roads can be rough. It is a 1 to 1 1/2 hour drive up curvy mountain road. You will have a guided walk through the waterfall trails.

 

Botanical Garden is a short drive from the port. It is in a large bus ~40 to 50 passengers. It is a guided tour. We were there with our private guide (Tony Castillo) when the O bus came around. I think we got a MUCH better guided tour since there were only 6 of us with one of the 2 English speaking botanist at the park. 

 

Fort - you mean Jagua Castle right? it is a LONG drive to and from the Castle.  We almost went on our private custom tour. We had to trim our custom tour since we arrived 3 hours late in port due to heavy wind (hard for the ship to navigate the narrow channel). The O tour is via a large tour bus. It is a 40 minutes drive each way. You will likely spend only an hour at the castle. If you want to see a nice fort you may want to consider seeing this in Santiago instead https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g147273-d207870-r120271655-Castillo_de_San_Pedro_de_la_Roca-Santiago_de_Cuba_Santiago_de_Cuba_Province_Cuba.html#REVIEWS

 

Re: Tropicana  Santiago. We didn't go. However on our way back from our very different evening musical tour with Stoycho the O bus pulled up. We talked to several people on the way back to the ship. People who went enjoyed it!!!  Many brought back the bottle or rum given at the show. 

 

You may want to check out this post here:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2635921-soo-many-great-private-tours-how-to-decide/

 

Laurence