Shore Excursions through Oceania

[barkley111]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Middleton

I would definately wait until on board. We just got back from the rome to venice cruise. We Did all excursions on our own--much cheaper and you go at your own pace. Yes, maybe we did not see everything but then again we would go out early and return when we wanted.

 

We are taking this cruise (Rome to Venice) Oct 5 and would really appreciate it if you would share some of your experiences at the different ports. Was it easy to find local venders at the port? In Taormina were you able to find a tour to Mt Etna that also gave you some time to see Taormina? Any information you could give us would be a great help. We don't like the big bus tours either.

 

Thank you,

Diane

livlifnow2@aol.com

[jpver]

First of ALL excursions are simply horrendous in price!

Now when you are on board there is in most case at the port of call a representative of the local Tourist office which give maps and full explanations.

I don't know which cruise, but in most cases you can arrange it yourself for sometimes only 10 pct of the price for 2 persons! Example: Rhodes Grand Masters Palace usd 89 per person. You leave the ship alnd walk through to the palace and it will cost EUR 6 per person!!!!

Mykonos: walking tour usd 89 per person. You walk in Mykonos free of charge.

OK you will not have a guide but tourist offices have free folders and a booklet guide cost a minimum.

[StanandJim]

First of ALL excursions are simply horrendous in price!

Now when you are on board there is in most case at the port of call a representative of the local Tourist office which give maps and full explanations.

I don't know which cruise, but in most cases you can arrange it yourself for sometimes only 10 pct of the price for 2 persons! Example: Rhodes Grand Masters Palace usd 89 per person. You leave the ship alnd walk through to the palace and it will cost EUR 6 per person!!!!

Mykonos: walking tour usd 89 per person. You walk in Mykonos free of charge.

OK you will not have a guide but tourist offices have free folders and a booklet guide cost a minimum.

 

Let's be fair, Oceania has to offer tours for those who DONT WANT to do any thinking or research about the ports. In any arena of life, if you don't want to do the footwork, you pay a surcharge.

 

Oceania also has to provide options, so that the elderly or infirm have options other than sitting on the ship. Many of their tours use busses for distances that could easily be walked by most of us, but Oceania needs to accomodate those who can or will not walk. That, naturally, makes an O excursion more expensive than doing it on your own.

 

 

Everyone is always so anxious for Oceania to go more all inclusive, but this is one area where I pray that they never do. As a person who IS willing to do their homework, I'd probably opt to do my own excursions, anyway. If Oceania excursions were included in the fare, I'd be subsidizing those who take them. And that's not FAIR!

[caribbeansun]

Which is why it's great to have the choice of doing it yourself - no?

 

The fee includes the cost of the guide, some profit to the guide company if it's not an individual, the cost of someone that came up with the route, of printing the pamphlets/maps/handouts, the entrance fee (if any), add in the cost to O for the administrative time it takes to source local providers and ensure their quality and of course give O some profit for doing that work - I have no issue with any part of that.

 

Personally, I very much enjoy doing the research ahead of time so I invest my time (which has a distinct value to me) rather than paying a company to do it for me.

 

Of course I pay my mechanic a horrendous price to fix my car because that's something I'm not prepared to do myself - it's all relative.

 

 

First of ALL excursions are simply horrendous in price!

Now when you are on board there is in most case at the port of call a representative of the local Tourist office which give maps and full explanations.

I don't know which cruise, but in most cases you can arrange it yourself for sometimes only 10 pct of the price for 2 persons! Example: Rhodes Grand Masters Palace usd 89 per person. You leave the ship alnd walk through to the palace and it will cost EUR 6 per person!!!!

Mykonos: walking tour usd 89 per person. You walk in Mykonos free of charge.

OK you will not have a guide but tourist offices have free folders and a booklet guide cost a minimum.

Edited September 14, 2009 by caribbeansun

[Paulchili]

Let's be fair, Oceania has to offer tours for those who DONT WANT to do any thinking or research about the ports. In any arena of life, if you don't want to do the footwork, you pay a surcharge.

 

Oceania also has to provide options, so that the elderly or infirm have options other than sitting on the ship. Many of their tours use busses for distances that could easily be walked by most of us, but Oceania needs to accomodate those who can or will not walk. That, naturally, makes an O excursion more expensive than doing it on your own.

quote]

 

Fair enough - but what would you consider a reasonable profit margin?

100%, 200%, 500% 1,000% ?

[StanandJim]

Fair enough - but what would you consider a reasonable profit margin

 

Paul-

 

I've never been a fan of Cruise provided shore excursions on ANY line, however, one must give the devil his due.

 

I think of it this way, the tour desk has to:

 

1. plan the logistics of the tour
   
2. organize the guides
   
3. acquire transport and drivers
   
4. pay for liability insurance
   
5. print, distribute and collect the tour tickets
   
6. supervise disembarcation
   
7. be available for passenger inquiries
   

To compare those efforts with strolling off of the ship and just walking through a local attraction alone strikes me as frighteningly disingenuous. The two situations are just not comparable.

 

Oceania is more or less forced to operate these tours, even if they run at a loss, because a certain segment of the passenger load needs/wants them.

For whatever reason, those individuals choose the path of least resistance, and I see no reason why they should not pay for convenience.

 

To use a Hondorner type analogy, I can probably buy a 2 liter bottle of Pepsi for 99 cents if I shop the sales at my local supermarket. But If I need that same bottle at 8pm on Christmas Eve, I'd be happy to spend $3 at the local 7/11. I chalk it up to paying for the convenience.

 

P.S. we have not even discussed research, quality control or any back office costs. This might also be a good point to mention that ANY service offered to the passengers of a 680 passenger ship is bound to be more expensive per capita, than those offered on a 3000 or 5000 passenger ship.

[MightyQuinn]

This might also be a good point to mention that ANY service offered to the passengers of a 680 passenger ship is bound to be more expensive per capita, than those offered on a 3000 or 5000 passenger ship.

That does make sense. We usually arrange our own independent tours but I haunt the cruiselines shorex for info. For our upcoming transAtlantic cruise, I've found that the prices of Oceania tours are actually very "competitive" relative to similar offerings on HAL. Far be it from me to take the side of ship-sponsored tours, but the prices for some Oceania shorex are actually less than quotes I have for the same tours privately. Go figure!

[Paulchili]

StanandJim,

Oceania has a Shore excursion department.

Just about all the activities you listed above fall into the "job description" of those employees. If they were not doing those activities, they would be receiving their salaries gratis.

Thus most of those activities are not "extra cost" to Oceania, rather fall under the "duties" of the Shorex team, who are already being paid.

My point is - if a travel agency is charging Oceania $100 for a specific tour (including everything in that tour), how much should Oceania charge us above the $ 100 they have to pay the agency?

I will give you a specific example:

For a Great Barrier Reef tour out of Whitsunday Island the O charge is $ 299/pp. If you book that exact tour directly with the company that provides this tour for Oceania, it would cost you less than $ 190; and for all I know, they are actually selling it to Oceania for even less than $ 190 because of the "bulk order" discount.

In any case, if only100 people take this shorex, Oceania made at least $10,000 on this single shorex alone. I suspect a lot more people will do so. I would call it a very decent profit for very little work (as they are doing this excursion annually). Multiply that by the number of excursions they offer during a cruise and you'll get an idea of the profit they are making.

I don't blame them - I am just asking if that's fair? You tell me.

Edited September 15, 2009 by Paulchili

[laurieb]

I think that ShoreX are overpriced on all lines, it is a service that is provided for those that don't want to or can't tour on their own. Maybe the profit made on these excursions helps to keep costs down/quality up in other areas on the ships.

[Paulchili]

I think that ShoreX are overpriced on all lines, it is a service that is provided for those that don't want to or can't tour on their own. Maybe the profit made on these excursions helps to keep costs down/quality up in other areas on the ships.

 

I think you are right.

Most of the time the choice is ours - take it or leave it.

[frqttrvlr09]

I weighed in on this thread earlier when the initial person who dangled the thread out there was having difficulty booking shore excursions on Oceania. I shared by experience with that and my situation with another line at that time. I have subsequentlyI have read this thread with great interest. As I stated previously, I am a first time "O" traveller and will be going on the Mediterranean Rendezvous Ocxtober 12. I am a single traveller (and am thus paying a single supplement, on a veranda room), and have not been to any of the ports on the 22 day cruise except Marseille. I am doing an independent land trip in SZpain for 12 dayhs before the cruise starts, staying extra days in Venice, and going to London for several days, at the end of the cruise. I have purchased easily $500 worth of books on the countries and port and other cities that are being visited on the cruise, as well as gone on the internet and through my myriad travel magazines and articles collected from the NYT and other travel sections over the years. So, I have done my homework. That said, it is extremely expensive to take independent tours as a single person, though I am doing so in a number of ports where it was importat to me that I maximize my time (e.g. Florence/Pisa; Amalfi Coast/Positano, and Taormino/Mt. Etna). I did put a post on roll call and on this Board and got a few offers to share shore excursions but not many. I am renting a car in one port; in some, doing a completely independent tour on my own where that is feasible; and I have also booked a number of Oceania-offered shore excursions, as they were much less expensive than a guide/driver, especially when distances, a full day, etc. were involved.

The bottom line is: sme of the writes on this Board strike me as pretty elitist in their attitudes about a lot of things related to travel, make assumptions about other cruisers, and say some pretty stupid things to and about other travellers. I have travelled extensively on my own troughout the world and have never taken a tour. did go with a guide for a week in a dug out canoe down a remote river in Papua New Guinea and have similarly rafted white water rivers and scuba dived all over the world with guides, but not because I was too lazy to do my homework. I think writers in these threads that can't dream of not being in a penthouse or having a butler should get off their high horse as well. Who needs a butler? There are stewards.

Lastly, and I mentioned this in my prior thread reply, there is no such thing as a "free lunch." I am booked as I said previously on a 65 day Regent cruise roundtrip from Fort Lauderdale to the Canal and around South America in January. Despite their ads of "free shore excursions", I can assure you, since most of them were posted today, a vast majority of the ones that are interesting (i.e. not just a 2 hour spin around e.g. Montevideo, but others like going to penguin rookeries or an estancia and the like and even the beach) cost money, ranging generally from $89 to $119, and some places (not just the obvious, like Iguazu Falls and Macchu Pichu which also cost considerably extra on Oceania). So be careful what you wish for, and also, some of you need to get your noses out of the air.

[caribbeansun]

Kinda strange logic there.

 

The Shorex team costs money, it is extra because they don't have to have a Shorex team. Adding competitiveness and other pieces into the discussion ignores the fact that there is a cost that must be covered and like good capitalists there must be profit.

 

How much profit you ask? It's entirely subjective. The market would say take as much profit as you can until the market rejects your pricing and stops taking your offerings. Putting a value judgement on the quantum of profit isn't likely to yield much in the way of meaningful input because you either believe in market economics or you don't. Personally, I don't believe that profit is evil but if you don't offer value (and isn't that really the key?) then you won't get any sales because everyone can opt to do it themselves in almost every situation.

 

StanandJim,

Oceania has a Shore excursion department.

Just about all the activities you listed above fall into the "job description" of those employees. If they were not doing those activities, they would be receiving their salaries gratis.

Thus most of those activities are not "extra cost" to Oceania, rather fall under the "duties" of the Shorex team, who are already being paid.

My point is - if a travel agency is charging Oceania $100 for a specific tour (including everything in that tour), how much should Oceania charge us above the $ 100 they have to pay the agency?

I will give you a specific example:

For a Great Barrier Reef tour out of Whitsunday Island the O charge is $ 299/pp. If you book that exact tour directly with the company that provides this tour for Oceania, it would cost you less than $ 190; and for all I know, they are actually selling it to Oceania for even less than $ 190 because of the "bulk order" discount.

In any case, if only100 people take this shorex, Oceania made at least $10,000 on this single shorex alone. I suspect a lot more people will do so. I would call it a very decent profit for very little work (as they are doing this excursion annually). Multiply that by the number of excursions they offer during a cruise and you'll get an idea of the profit they are making.

I don't blame them - I am just asking if that's fair? You tell me.

Edited September 15, 2009 by caribbeansun

[Palmetto Lady]

My husband and I are relatively well traveled. I buy a few travel books ahead of time. The main reason is to know which shore excursions to take. We only feel comfortable going off on our own if the city or town is within walking distance of the port. Especially now that we are older, walking distance is relative. Also if the sights are a fair distance away, we do not want to take a chance on literally "missing the boat" by taking a private tour. We do not travel with friends, so private tours can be very expensive.

On our trip to the Med this spring, we took the ship's 1 1/2 hour walking tour in Kotor. At cocktails that evening we told our new friends, that we enjoyed the town. They said that they didn't like it and admitted that they didn't know what they were looking at.

If we have been to a location and it is close to the port, we will go off on our own unless there is something else further away that we want to see.

All cruise companies need to make a profit. It depends where they choose to make their money. On our last trip on Princess several years ago, they charged for expresso and cappachino at dinner. We chose not to drink any. Many cruise lines charge extra for the specialty resaurants. All cruise line excursions are expensive. As someone said "You pays your money and you take your choice"

Yes, I always book ahead because we were on one cruise where almost nothing was available for people who waited to book on the ship.

[threeedogmedia]

KathyPet,

I've never heard about the "fruit and rolls" thing for non concierge cabins. That seems strange to me but as I say, I don't know about it .....but I do know about booking tours and vans via the internet prior to departure. Even though I have one of the best travel agents around, I have booked vans and tours weeks in advance of departure and didn't have any problems. I logged into my account and was able to look at each option available and picked the ones we were sure we didn't want to miss. You pay for them as you book them but that's to be expected.

 

The tours for the "grand circle of the Mediterranean in April of 2010" haven't been posted yet but I'll be checking back as the date gets closer and book those that appeal to us.

 

If you still have problems, I suggest getting assistance from your TA.

Karen

[VenturaGal]

i just returned from our first Oceania cruise.. We did no ship sponsored excursions as they are about 2 to 3 times the cost of what you can arrange on your own with CC buddies or other friends you may have cruising with you for very little effort. However what i saw of how they planned and arranged them was very very good. You prob need to realize that they 1. have to work with the Travel Agents and 2. have to see who is signing up for what excursions first before they give you the details. Once you get close you will find many nice excursions available but again you are paying for the convenience of Oceania doing the planning and leg work for you. We had nightly updates on tours you could join as soon as 2 days forward so you dont even need to decide for many ports of call what you are doing til you get on the boat if you are a bit open to possibility of some being full.

 

Also their Destination services group is very good -- every day someone from that city gets on board and has many maps and suggestions for how to do your own tour. They dont pressure you into doing a ship tour and you can hook up with folks on the cruise to do something pretty spur of the moment if you like like renting a car or a tour guide. Many ports have tour guides waiting for the ship and you can arrange your own price with them by negotiating. If you get one or more couples the price is quite reasonable.

 

From what i saw they ship excursions were very varied - about 4 or so per port or more and some from 2 hrs to 8 hrs duration and varying levels of walking involved. but again they are expensive so consider doing a few with the ship and filling in with your own with some Independent touring...Oceania reps had bus timetables, etc. and it was very accurate and easy to do on our own.

 

also every day on the TV the ship has a channel devoted just to the tours...they go over each one of the tours, tell you what is covered, how long and how strenuous. That is a wonderful way to find out what you can do.

 

I know it could seem like they may be disorganized or unresponsive but i found that you just have to be a bit open to either waiting til you are much closer to your trip time or doing it on your own...you will have a wonderful cruise no matter which avenue you choose. Oceania is really very good and have excellent customer service....just give it a little time.

 

good luck

[hauby]

Yes, I would wait until on board. Times change and if there are not enough people the tour may be canceled. Hauby

[Bowie MeMe]

We signed up for the "Discovery" package on this cruise Sept. 9-21,2009 and I was very pleased with the guides, transportation, sights, and generally how the whole shore excursion experience was handled. Yes it was fairly crowded but the buses were not "packed"(30 on 50 person bus) and the guides spoke English well enough that they could keep your attention. Looking at the traffic and the tiny little streets-- the bus driver truly takes on heroic status as he would very professionally deliver us to the best of the sights. I firmly believe that Oceania's shore excursions are good value and well run.

[umtali]

Maybe a bit late to post a reply to this öriginal thread, but here goes.

 

1 Stick with cruise line organised tours if running up against ship departure time ie PM tours. If it all turns to custard there will be someone there to sort it out for you.

2 Once you receive confirmation of your booking (cruise), use the confirmation number to access Shore excursions and book what you want. You pay for them at the time, but any cancellations will see your shipboard account credited."

3 Having said all of the above we still prefer to go ashore and get lost as long as we get back before the hamburgers and shakes have finished in Waves.

[Aunty Pat]

As a travel agent, who has compared shore excursions for my own trips, I have access to the wholesale prices from the tour operators. In some cases booking my tours independently is less expensive & sometimes it is not, even at whole sale prices. A lot depends on the currency used and the banking & tax regulations of the destination country. When comparing the independent tours rates with the ships tours, the fact that the ships tours have guaranteed rates in US dollars covering you for changes in exchange rates and they include the international transaction fee or currency conversion fee your credit card charges (2% to 3%) plus credit card fees (3% to 5%) charged by the tour operators bank for taking a credit card payment plus local or VAT taxes (as high as 28%) the cost is sometimes equal or even higher than the cruise line sponsored excursions. This is especially true if you’re traveling in a private car or van with an English speaking guide compared to a tour bus.

One other thing I’ve run into was suppliers with limited capacity (all the stables on the island on Maui) that were holding all of the time slots compatible with the time the ship was in port for the cruise line’s passengers to book through the shore excursion department.

As a rule if I’m booking for just myself the ship’s excursions are a better deal. If I’m booking for my whole family of 4, 6 or 8 booking directly with a tour operator maybe more cost effective. Sometimes it is better to do whatever strikes our fancy when we arrive in port.

Aunty Pat

 

Barefoot Windjammer - Phantom ‘81

K&D German Rhine Line ‘84

NCL - Norway ’85, Pride of America ’05, Southward ’87, Star ’97 & ‘05, Starward ’92, Sun ’02 & Windward ’93

RCC - Song of America ‘89

American Hawaiian - Independence ‘98

HAL - Volendam ’99, Noordam ’06, Oosterdam ’07 & ‘09, Statendam ’02 & ‘08, Prinsendam ’03 & ’06, & Zuiderdam ’04, ’06 & ’07, Westerdam ‘09

Carnival - Spirit ‘05

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Princess - Golden Princess ‘07

A & K - East Queen ‘07

Cunard - QM2 ’08

Pending Cruises:

Oceania – Insignia, June 17, 2010

[Bowie MeMe]

Good post Aunty Patty. I have pretty much come to the conclusion that in ports with limited excursions resources -- the acceptable ones pretty much rely on the ship's shore excursion department for business. They come week after week and the independent traveler comes once in a life.

 

Once on Bora Bora our Princess shore excursion group walked back to the "staging" area and there were 20-30 different "tour company" trunks covering their own signs with Princess signs. Several times had the major site at a port closed because a cruise ship I wasn'ton had all the spots taken.

 

The difference in cost is hard to figure because it is hard to say if you have true apple to apple or sorta apple to apple or well it wasn't apple but I liked it anyway. We now mostly use the boat's excursion and don't worry if the guide shows up, equipment is good, is English good enough, and will we make it back on time questions. If a huge ship is in town you can not avoid it's impact anyway even if you go private. Considering the large cost of cruise, airfare, etc. why risk taking an excursion with an unknown tour company to save perhaps a few bucks?

Edited October 2, 2009 by Bowie MeMe

[Ms Understood]

All very good points, however we often look for private excursions not to save a few bucks but to avoid the big bus syndrome. Especially in Europe the big busses cannot get as close to the sites as a van can, so more time is wasted walking. And I have never been on a big bus tour where we were not perpetually waiting for someone to return who was busy shopping while the rest of the punctual folks cooled our heels and lost even more of our short time in port. So everyone must decide for themselves what your priorities are and book what works for you.

[Paulchili]

The difference in cost is hard to figure because it is hard to say if you have true apple to apple or sorta apple to apple or well it wasn't apple but I liked it anyway.

 

If you want "true apple" to "true apple" comparison, here is part of my quote from earlier in this post:

 

I will give you a specific example:

For a Great Barrier Reef tour out of Whitsunday Island the O charge is $ 299/pp. If you book that exact tour directly with the company that provides this tour for Oceania, it would cost you less than $ 190;

 

I know for a fact that the tour is given by the same operator.

Everyone should choose what they are comfortable with. I certainly don't mind saving over $ 200 for the 2 of us (for an identical tour).

Other ports/situations may be different.

[Sailboaters2]

The Oceania website has a tab "manage booking" then shore excursions, that gives you the times of the excursions. This is our first cruise, so not qualified to give advise, but I have been advised (by the travel agent) if there is one or two in particular you don't want to miss, book them in advance or they might be gone. Otherwise you can do onboard. I also did not receive an answer when calling Oceania regarding the disappearance of the snorkeling option in Belize. Perhaps they prefer you work with your travel agent if that is where the booking came from. Curious to hear what you find out.

Cheers!

[Floridiana]

I will give you a specific example:

For a Great Barrier Reef tour out of Whitsunday Island the O charge is $ 299/pp. If you book that exact tour directly with the company that provides this tour for Oceania, it would cost you less than $ 190;

 

 

Interesting that you picked this example. We were on a Princess ship in Port Douglas and the Great Barrier Reef tour could only be done via the ship's excursion. No other provider, the ship had booked the one rather large boat going out to the reef within the required time frame. Lots of passengers were upset about the limited availability.

 

We didn't go and picked up a private tour to the forest on shore.

[arima22]

The Oceania website has a tab "manage booking" then shore excursions, that gives you the times of the excursions. This is our first cruise, so not qualified to give advise, but I have been advised (by the travel agent) if there is one or two in particular you don't want to miss, book them in advance or they might be gone. Otherwise you can do onboard. I also did not receive an answer when calling Oceania regarding the disappearance of the snorkeling option in Belize. Perhaps they prefer you work with your travel agent if that is where the booking came from. Curious to hear what you find out.

Cheers!

 

Why do you tag onto the end of a thread that is 6 years old instead of starting a new thread?