My husband & I chose this trip so he could take some CE and do a safari!. We booked the pre-cruise safari at Lion Sands River Lodge. While Oceania did not really do a good job with communicating our hotel info or flight info to the bush, it all worked out & the Lodge was amazing! We had 4 game drives and 1 bush walk.
Pre-Safari, we booked a night at the Residence Boutique Hotel. The Residence is a beautiful, intimate hotel that used to be the Chinese Embassy. It is in a gated compound, very safe. They arranged for their driver to pick us us from the airport, gave us a driving tour of Johannesburg the next day, and delivered us safely to 54th of Bath Hotel booked by Oceania.
54th on Bath is a very nice hotel basic. I think it is part of the Omni Group. Breakfast was included and we all had omelettes. There were 8 from the Nautica going on Safari. Flight was quick and soon we were on our way to Lion Sands. Our time there was the highlight of our trip! We wished it was longer.
Im actually not sure which PH level we were on, but all of the PH rooms are on the small side. They do not compare with the Marina PH suites. The room was kept very clean, but it was so small for such long cruise. If we were any bigger, it would not have been that fun.
We took a private tour through AfroVentures. It was great!!! We saw Lions at the private game reserve.
We booked a private tour with Trinity Tours, Brian High. It was great.