We loved the Oceania ship. It's a mid sized ship with only 600 passengers, as opposed to most ships that carry over 1800. The ship is elegant but not stuffy. Attire is casual, no black tie nights. There are 4 restaurants to choose from, all are fantastic.

On our 2 week cruise, we only took the ship's tour once, for the Alhambra in Grenada. For the rest of the ports we either took private pre-arranged tours (in Bordeaux we had a guide who took us to wine tastings at chateaux). In other ports, we simply walked off the ship and interviewed taxi drivers and used them and then in other cities, we chose just to use public transport and walk around ourselves. It really depends on the port. People need to do some research before they board ship.

Candice NYC