Due to itinerary changes, the above is not totally acurate. With this being our first post-Covid cruise, we were most concerned about many aspects of it. There were so many different forms to fill out for each country we would visit as well as necessary paperwork for Oceania and the airlines. Added to this is the potential for the cruise or ports being cancelled. There were some ports cancelled and replaced by others; but it turned out to be a great cruise in so many ways.
This would be my first cruise with my girlfriend, Cathy, so that was also an unknown. She would prove to be an awesome cruise partner and one that I look forward to sharing many vacations with in the future.
The cruise was originally to begin in Monte Carlo, so we planned on spending a couple nights in Nice, France before the cruise. When the embarkation port was changed to Marseilles, France, a couple hours away from Nice, we had to figure out how to get there, since we wanted to stay in Nice.
Oceania set up a free transfer from the Nice Airport for anyone who was flying into or staying in Nice or Monte Carlo. It was most appreciated. This allowed us to keep our hotel reservation at the Hotel de France www. My only concern with our flights was that our original flight was supposed to fly direct from JFK to Nice. A few months earlier, that flight was cancelled, and we would have another connection, this time through Paris.
My last experience at De Gaulle airport was one where we had to run to make our flights due to numerous trams and long security lines. This time, we had more time to make our connection, but when we got into the terminal, there were no signs to where our next flight was taking off from and no one to ask.
