Jeff801

We are on an Oceania Black Sea Cruise (we are leaving the US on July 4) that stops in Sochi, Russia. Because of the cost of Russian Visas, this is the only place on this cruise for which we are considering taking the ship's shore excursion. But, the excursions are unusually costly and they seem less interesting than most.

If anyone has experience in Sochi or with any ship's excursions in the town, we would be most interested in your insights. At this time. it is a tossup whether we will take an excursion or just spend the day lazing on board the ship.

Thanks for your help.

spurs

"But, the excursions are unusually costly and they seem less interesting than most." Agree 100%. Unless there have been a drastic change in last 5 years, you will not lose much if you stay on board. Sochi is not like St. Petersburg. But if you stop in Yalta, the Livadia Palace is worth seeing.

doug_stallings

You can always arrange for a private excursion, which might save you a little money. You might be interested in Stalin's dacha or the Matesta Springs. But spurs is correct that Sochi is no St. Petersburg.

electrac

Jeff,

I am going on a cruise to the Black Sea in June. Did you see Sochi - What about the other ports? Which excursions were worth while?

thanks,
Electra

Jeff801

Electra,

We stayed on the ship while in Sochi. Several in our party took advantage of the lower spa prices available while the ship was in port.

We found no one who arranged private tours in Sochi. I suspect that the cost and hassle of Russian visas was prohibitive. Everyone whom I talked to who went on the ship's tours was less than enthusiastic about the expenditure.

Because I spend a lot of time taking photographs, as well as editing DW's video tapes, we thought the ship's tour to the Danube Delta (Constanta)was the best organized tour we've taken in 9 years of cruising. But, those who took the long day trip from Constanta to Bucharest were as happy as we were. For that matter, the Cruise Critic group that arranged a private tour of Constanta also liked their day. If it were up to me, I think I would have the cruise ship spend an overnight in Constanta to give passengers a greater opportunity to visit Romania.

We also enjoyed Odessa. We took a tour of the Opera House, which rivals the Palais Garnier for late Baroque opulence. We also have a great video sequence of our trying to negotiate an ice cream purchase at the Cyrilic alpahabet denominated Baskin-Robbins.

The history buffs among us negotiated historically themed private tours in Sevastopol and Yalta, in return for extended shopping days in Istanbul and Athens. Those were very interesting and a lot of fun as well. Yalta itself is more than worth a stop, but we found Sevastopol, still largely dominated by the Russian Black Sea Fleet to be less interesting.

I hope you found this helpful.

patandhank

Jeff thanks for the comments - I found it useful. This is one of the routes my husband and I are considering for a future cruise.