ABOARD THE OCEANIA SIRENA – Today, shall I go scuba diving, swim with a stingray, watch for dolphins, take a catamaran sail, ride in a glass bottom boat, do an off-road safari or hike the Three Coconuts Trail?
Of course, I could just relax on a balmy Tahitian beach or stay aboard the beautiful Oceania Sirena.
Every day is an adventure on this cruise. When I boarded, I was given a seven-page brochure with about 50 shore excursion options. Many passengers had already booked the excursions they wanted to take before they boarded the ship. I was waiting until I got to Tahiti and could talk with destination services on the ship.
I really appreciate that the shore excursion booklet has detailed information on all the choices. It has a good description of what each tour will entail along with the difficulty (easy, moderate or extensive) the length of time the tour will last, the price and whether it includes a meal or food and wine.
Some tours also are designated as an Oceania Exclusive or an Oceania Choice. To give you an idea of the thoroughness of the brochure information, look at this listing for the Huahine Jeep Safari:
Duration: 3 ½ hours. Price: $199. Difficulty: Moderate.
“Panoramic drive to Maroe Bay (15 min.) for photo stop (15 min.) Drive to Faie Village (5 min.) and visit (30 min.) Drive to Huahine Pearl Farm and Pottery (5 min) and visit (45 min.) Drive to Marae open-air stone temples (5 min) and visit (30 min.) Drive to small vanilla plantation (5 min) and visit (20 min) Drive to Fare Village (10 min) for photo stop (10 min). Return to pier (15 min).
“Please note: This tour is not wheelchair accessible. Walking is mainly at guests’ discretion during the stops; however, a high step is required to board the jeeps. As this tour involves some bumpy off-road driving, guests with limited mobility, back and/or neck problems, pregnant women or those who suffer from motion sickness are discouraged from participating. Jeeps carry up to eight guests.”
I didn’t sign up for that one, not because it sounded difficult or too fast moving, but because another one – The Cultural Highlights of Huahine Nui – better suited my needs. I try to choose shore excursions that I can write about and that I think readers might find interesting. Otherwise, I would most likely be in the water with many other passengers or spend all my time on one of those quiet Tahitian beaches.
Popular water tours
“Any water-related activities are popular,” said Nancy Schwarze, destination services team member. “People like the black pearl tours, too, because they want to how the pearls are cultivated and then buy them.”
The most expensive shore excursion during our cruise costs $349 for a six-hour “Polynesian Day” that sails to a coral garden for snorkeling, stingray encounter, reef tour and lunch. I haven’t found anyone yet who has signed up for that one.
Least expensive is $69 to “Discover the World of Pearls” for 90 minutes. “Commentary at the pearl farm will be limited,” the tour description notes. In other words, they are going shopping.
A tour that quickly booked up was called Motu Pic Nic which lasted three hours and cost $169. It involved a half-hour sail to Motu, time for swimming and beachcombing, followed by lunch and entertainment. Sounded fun but I went with the historical overview tour. I wanted to learn more about French Polynesia.
The excursion desk crew also are helpful in suggesting what might be good or not good for some passengers with possible mobility problems. One woman had sprained her right wrist before the cruise and had it wrapped in bandages. Taking a tour where she would have to climb up or down, swim or be bounced around might not be advisable, Nancy said.
Although she had signed up for a jeep safari, the passenger canceled it and opted instead to visit a vanilla plantation.
Quick pleasant tender rides
Another thing I really like about Oceania Sirena shore excursions is the ease of leaving and returning to the ship. Most of our shore stops involve being shuttled to shore in small enclosed boats. To leave, we just present our room key and either walk off the ship to shore or board a tender for a brief boat ride.
The tender boats are also the ship’s enclosed lifeboats. That is good. I went on a cruise once where the ship had to rent tenders to go back and forth. Very unreliable and slow. We wasted a lot of time waiting on that cruise. These two Sirena tenders move quickly with no crowded groups waiting on the shore in the hot sun.
Sirena also has a nice shaded area on our shore stops, along with complimentary water. Coming or going from the ship there is always a long table at the ship gangway filled with big bottles of free water. Very considerate. Many ships charge a high fee for bottled water.
On shore, the excursion team holds large signs so it is easy to see which group is for which tour. All of these courtesies seem as though they would be done on every ship but, believe me, they are not.
Thank you to Oceania Sirena for making this such a memorable cruise with wonderful shore excursions – and we have just gotten started.
Photos and video by Jackie Sheckler Finch
