We chose this cruise on Oceania (Ancient Footsteps) because of the itinerary and our prior outstanding experience on a past Oceania cruise. The facilities, room, service and cuisine were outstanding. Also, most of Oceania's shore excursions were outstanding. Especially excellent were the shore excursions at Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Ancient Lindos on Rhodes. (In addition, the weather was also outstanding, with balmy days and calm seas, except for one day of rain and mildly rough seas.)

After reviewing the Oceania excursion selections for Israel and Barcelona, we opted to do private tours. In Israel, we used "Guided Tours of Israel" (two day tour). In Barcelona, we used "Spain Day Tours" (half day tour). Both were outstanding and exceeded first-class service. We have been using private tours for years, and Guided Tours of Israel was the best private tour we have ever experienced in all of our travels.

There were two major Oceania problems (deficiencies) regarding the cruise. Read more