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Free flights for UK passengers


Balloon Man

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Good news for those of us in the UK is that Oceania will provide free flights ex-London for passengers. And it starts immediately with those already booked able to add flights without cost. That's what I call good service: most companies would have said "tough" to those whose money it already had.

 

I was just about to book EasyJet back from our Dover to Rome cruise end of September. Now I will wait for a while until the official anouncement is made - so far only TAs have been advised according to CC News.

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Thanks Balloon Man,

 

I'm new to the Oceania boards and confirmed our booking with our TA for our first Oceania cruise just a couple of hours ago. If only I'd seen this post beforehand!

 

I'm intrigued that there may be the possibility to add flights without cost. Two questions for you if I may; is that only for passengers who booked direct with Oceania... and how did you find out about this? We had put the money aside for flights but if there is the possibility we will now get them included in the fare than that is brilliant news!

 

Best wishes

 

Thom

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I know no more than the news I have read on CC. There is no suggestion the offer is only for direct bookings. My TA is presently trying to contact O to see whether we will now qualify for free return flights from Rome with our September / October cruise on Nautica.

 

If existing bookings do qualify, which CC news suggests is the case, then wripro will be incorrect with the statement that "flights are not free. They are included" - at least in our case as they certainly were not available FOC when we first booked and our price has not risen. However as Oceania apparently say there might be a slight cost increase in respect of the policy change, and I suspect that OBCs could also be affected, then it is probably true there is no such thing as a free lunch - or flight!

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Well thank you!

 

I've discussed it with our travel agent who is following it up with Oceania for us. I'll report back what happens, it's certainly worth a try, I think. At the very least, the flights identified by Oceania may work out cheaper and simpler than our private plans.

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Oceania's usual charge for biz air is WAY overpriced. You can do better on your own.

 

They have had a special reduced biz air option for a few select itineraries, in which case it would certainly be worth it.

 

I've priced the biz air on 2-3 occasions and the cost was far more than I could do on my own.

 

How this impacts non-North American passengers, I haven't a clue.

 

Mura

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I must read things more carefully in future. Oceania are not extending their "free" air fare offer to UK customers who have already booked cruise only. It did seem too good to be true. Apparently we can add air for a small supplement. So "hello" EasyJet for our return flights in October. The upside is we will be able to fly from Rome direct to Bristol.

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Followed up with my very helpful TA.

 

Oceania tell her the cruise critic article is wrong and they have requested it be withdrawn. They are getting lots of calls about it! They aren't adding flights to existing bookings for free - but if you want to add flights to an existing booking they will do this for you. They will charge you the cost of the flights and transfers but won't charge you for the service of amending your booking (I hope that makes sense).

 

In my case they were able to give a competitive quote to add to my existing booking - it was approx £50 more than the best price I could get myself but adds in transfers, so I have gone for it. Much more relaxing than the train trips etc I had in mind! The only problem is that it is a bit of an unknown quantity. The flight details will be confirmed 75 days before departure. They confirm that I won't be flying with a low cost carrier but they won't tell me anything more than that at this stage. I can live with this because with the cruise only 87 days away, I only have to wait a fortnight to find out my flight details.

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Ah. So my eyes did not deceive me. The article in CC News has not been withdrawn but has apparently been amended to say: "A spokesperson for Oceania told Cruise Critic in an email (that) existing customers who have booked cruise only can upgrade to flight-inclusive for a small additional supplement."

 

I suspect EasyJet will cost less than the "small additional supplement"!

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You are travelling at a better (cheaper?) time than us! We were planning to fly Bristol to Rome on 22nd August then return Barcelona to Bristol. Unfortunately we return from Barcelona on Sunday 2nd September... just before the schools go back.

 

It may be worth finding out what the "small supplement" turns out to be. For us it was a favourably priced deal - fifty pounds extra over the best Easyjet quote I could get adds transfers and simplicity... and that's before I added the cost of luggage to my easyjet plan.

 

I'm encouraged by Oceania's flights pricing, based on this experience.

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Thom: good for you, but as we are planning to stay in Rome an extra day it would be unreasonable to expect Oceania to arrange transfers.

 

Don't be so quick to discard the Oceania offer. The British plan appears to correspond quite closely with that offered in the United States. This means that in return for an "air deviation fee", YOU will be able to choose your travel dates, flights and times.

Oceania Air Arrangements may or may not work out to be the least expensive option, but it ALWAYS pays to ask. ;)

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Oceania Air Arrangements may or may not work out to be the least expensive option, but it ALWAYS pays to ask. ;)

 

I'm with you on this. I had quite defiantly said to my other half that "Of course it'll be farrr more expensive to book through the cruise line..."

 

I'll be heading home from work tonight with my tail between my legs, it seems... :D

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Jim and Stan are some of the very wise men on the Oceania forum and their advice is generally sound. However I want to use a low cost airline that takes me door-to-door for UKPounds 70. I wouldn't expect Oceania to get anywhere near that figure and the story on CC News says they don't use low cost carriers, which would mean going into London Heathrow and then having to drive for two hours to get home, so I'm content.

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This today on the Cruise Critic News page re Oceania "free" air for Brits -

"Editor's Note, 10:15 a.m.: Originally, based on a press release issued by Oceania, we had reported that passengers who've already booked an Oceania cruise can also take advantage of the free flights offer. The line sent us a correction and we fixed the story."

 

Thank you Editor. As a former journalist myself it worried me that I seemed to have reported the original story incorrectly. Good to know I haven't actually lost my marbles.

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Our TA called Oceania today. We were enquiring about a cruise out of Miami next year. Oceania offered her two different prices. One cruise only, the other, cruise + economy air. The difference ? £533 dearer for the airfare to be included. Cheaper for us to find our own, or use airmiles.

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Our TA called Oceania today. We were enquiring about a cruise out of Miami next year. Oceania offered her two different prices. One cruise only, the other, cruise + economy air. The difference ? £533 dearer for the airfare to be included. Cheaper for us to find our own, or use airmiles.

 

We've always taken the credit, used miles and flown business class.:)

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