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@benel204 Spend the money. Go first class and business class airfare. Look for sales and upgrade opportunities. Lots of inventory means, prices on NCL will go down for those categories. When they do, get them quick because the go quick. Of just pay the price. I also said to my adult children; my intent is to die and after my funeral expenses, have $100.00 left. My thoughts are, I raised you, I paid for your college, I gave you a condo to live until you had a real job, I take you to fancy dinners and buy you nice presents. You gave me a half a dozen donuts for my birthday while you knew I was on a Keto Diet. Life has consequences. Cruise well and always go first class.

@Vallesan Yep, I know. Also Crystal and many NCL ships. As important it is to me, not worth the premium. No issue. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@mauibabes I am sorry, I did not do a good job in my post. I know it is nothing like a Cigar Bar that I did enjoy on the NCL Joy and a Crystal Cruise. I wish they existed on Oceania but the don't. Sorry for not being clear. As much as I like to smoke my cigars, I refuse to do so even on a beach outside because I don't want to make anyone that can smell it feel uncomfortable. Also, smoking a cigar for me is an event which includes never lighting from a match, only a wood strip. Always have a nice cocktail with it. A nice leather chair and other smoking cigars. If that experience is not available on Oceania it is just fine. I personally enjoyed my cruise on Oceania so much, not an issue. Pros/cons is everywhere in life. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

I am sailing the Vista for my next trip. I was recently on the Riviera. I do very much enjoy having a cigar and as a matter of fact, just had one on my deck at home at 29 degrees outside. That was very unusual for me. I usually like a really nice cigar lounge or my roof in the summer time. I never had a cigar on the Riviera. As mentioned, the smoking room by the Horizons said not pipe or cigar smoking. Also, and this will sound strange, the smoke in the room was a little overpowering. That from a cigar smoker. I did not smoke outside because even though I knew it was ok in a specific area, I did not want to effect anyone else's trip that hated the smell. I hade the right, and choose not to. My call 100% and no issue if anyone else wanted to smoke out there. I will try the Vista Smoking lounge but have a feeling, it will just be a place to smoke and not a traditional Cigar Lounge. For me, that is half the enjoyment. Leather Chairs, dark would, humidor, drink service. For me, cigars are like a really nice drink. Where you have it, the glass you use, the music or lack there of, the experience is as important as the item. Just my two cents and we will see. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@benel204 Good day. So nice of you to join this thread. I am the author. I recently went on a 10-Day Mediterranean Cruise that was port intensive. Although it was another brand, the stateroom I was in was very close to a Haven Suite. I also have stayed in lots of Haven Suites. From a Haven Spa Suite on the NCL Getaway to the H2 Deluxe Owners Suite on the NCL Joy. Here are my thoughts. 1) Stop making excuses for earning the right to spend a little more. I used to do that and realized, life it to short. There were a reason why we saved, invested, went without, and now have the means to provide ourselves with a little luxury. You owe no one an explanation. 2) I do not understand that you can not get a bid process due to your Travel Agent. The offer is sent directly to you by NCL if the suite are in inventory. I might have misunderstood you but that line confused me. 3) Bidding on a Haven Upgrade is the best economically however it is hit or miss. Unless the inventory on the ship is wide open for Haven. When you pay for the upgrade, you pick and choose the suite you want. 4) Your selection of Aft, as I can tell you from experience, that is the place you want to by and NOT forward. The ship is always sailing at night making the Foreword Suite difficult to enjoy the deck while sailing. The Aft decks are huge and don't get as much wind. 5) Food and Heavy Food. You will be in the seafood heaven capital of the world in the Mediterranean. Focus that for your lunch and look for great places on YouTube and Travel blogs of each port. On the ship, the Haven Breakfast is very nice for sure, the dinner is nice also but the menu rarely changes except on occasion when it is a longer cruise. As good as the Haven food is, it does not come close to the experience you will have at the ports at lunch at the ports. 6) Please do not consider room service as a alternative to going to a specialty restaurant. The food is simply never the same. My Opinion ONLY: Do I think it is worth it to double your fare for a Aft Haven Suite, YES. Why, because you only live once and our lives are at the tail end. If you can afford it, do it. The Haven provides many more relaxing places after a long day of walking that are not crowded and the service is better. Don't get me wrong, lots of place to have a drink outside of the Haven. However, I want a place to truly chill. Again, this is an affordability issue that only you can determine. I say go for it. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

I look forward to eat at Embers. Will I miss Jacques, you bet. However, even though I would prefer Jacques, that ship (Vista) has sailed. Nothing I can say or do will change that. Just like the below average experience I had in the Polo Grill on my first Oceania Cruise. The question is, "Will I choose not to sail Oceania on the Vista for all the new and wonderful changes this new ship has. Or will I ship the ship because of one specialty Restaurant?" Nothing is ever perfect on a cruise. This is in any stateroom, on any brand, on any itinerary, and on any ship. Just what cruising is all about. Thanks to the author of this thread for the positive feedback. Thanks to the other contributors for your thoughts. It gives multiple perspectives so we can all make the decision that is right for us. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

This kind of thing happen ALL the time on every single brand I have ever cruised. The situation or item differs but the situation is similar. The first time it happened, I lost my cool big time. Why, because just like the Author of this thread, I had done my due diligence, had my receipts in hand. Our issue seemed to be the third person in the room for that brand did not have the drink package. The representative said, "They don't get a drink package normally." Hogwash and should not have been said because it was not true and made the guest feel even worse. I get more angry. Finally, the rep said I will check. NOT the way to start a cruise. Why do I share this, because in 20 minutes it was fixed with little or no fanfare or apology. The next cruise something similar happened again. This time, I handled it differently. I was NOT upset, I simply smiled and said, "Stuff happens on a ship with thousand of guests. You guy do a great job. Just leave a message on my cabin phone when it is fixed." No more anger on my part because I can get really angry when I a) checked ever box, b) crossed ever "T" and c) dotted every "i". Conclusion, you get more with sugar, a smile and a positive statement then with anger and I am NOT saying the author got angry. I did get angry the first time. Learn from not only my mistake but how I had a not so great first day on a cruise. Lesson learned and it was a good one. Do your best to take all avenues to resolve your dinner reservation pre-cruise, if on the cruise do as other shared and talk to the restaurant the day of your reservation, and go to the general manager if need be. In all cases, start with a smile, provide your receipts and ask to have it corrected and when it is done, call your cabin. Then get a "Big O" martini and start enjoying your cruise. "Cruise well and enjoy every moment."

Pick the cruise that we wanted as a group of four we all agreed. We enjoyed the cruise we were on, and you that by going on the Vista we’d probably enjoy it more in the future. I have no knowledge of Past on board promotions. So to me, with this is all I know, seem to be a pretty good deal for my situation Cruise well, and enjoy every moment

Not sure the attached will be in effect buy he is what I was given in November 2023. See attached. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@AMHuntFerry Heck NO. I liked it and some of the other that also posted. My intent on this and other boards it education which includes mine. You are always both professional, understanding and kind with your remarks. That allows other including myself to learn. My intent was to give folks some differing opinion to gain a positive value proposition. I will say, I was hoping to avoid making to much of that strategy about "Asking for Discounted Commissions" from travel agencies. I failed on that. However if a guest, shops agencies to see what the best offer is and the agencies business plan is to give deep % discount, more power to them. Now my way but I respect other approach. @AMHuntFerry I have never been offended on the Oceania Board except for once. When someone new to Oceania was being over the top complaining about the situation that happened due to the Middle Easter War. That person took my position as a personal affront to their need to have their feelings justified by the masses. The called me out on that which I decided simply to let go and put them on ignore. They have not come back to the Oceania Blog since but did a similar post on another brand site. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@WildWanderers Thank you for answering my question. I educated my guest that just joined my wife and on an Oceania Cruise to review their stateroom portfolio first thing every morning. I fixed several issue. I will contact my travel agent and get my upgrade for the Prestige package later today. Thank you. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

Wow, I had no idea. This is great information and thank you. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

I was with you and we did have some GREAT weather. It made the cruise a real joy. Enjoyed meeting you and your lovely bride. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

I wrote this as I was having my coffee yesterdays. I knew there would be many differing opinions. I was hopping for that. Whether you agree or disagree with what someone else sees as a benefit matters not. Just that you get a sense of how lots of cruisers approach booking, and improving their cruise experience. Whether to book early or late; to get the drink upgrade pre or on the cruise, leveraging a cruisers status with the brand or how to leverage the SimplyMore excursions OBC. The dialog, debate and conversation will help everyone with a serious interest. I have learn some things with the comment and appreciate the honest feed back. Thank you all. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

All the information posted is so helpful. Thank you all. Keep the comments coming.

@WildWanderers Greg, so here is my question. My I or any Oceania Cruise guest, upgrade from the SimplyMore drink package to the Prestige Unlimited Drink package pre-cruise. Up to now, i thought that was not possible. Can you clarify. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@FeliciaLee Please share. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@SATaxman Great information. Keep it coming. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

I don't want to come of as the expert here because I am NOT. What I do want to do is create a forum to openly discuss having a pricing strategy for Oceania Cruises. The more you watch how a brand moves their prices, the better potential you have to gain a great value proposition. It is important you like the brand, ship and Itinerary or else the information is mute. Let's assume those that comment WANT to take another Oceania Cruise. Request: If you have an issue with Oceania; changes Oceania recently did; Oceania pricing today; please create your own topic and do not hijack this stream. Thank you in advance for your assistance. Here is my experience which usually came after reading some ones post right here in this CruiseCritic.com Brand Blog. Book As Far Out As Possible: I booked in November 2023 for a cruise in October 2025. The fare was reduced by 5%. Best Value Often Times is the Older Ships: When the Vista was launched the prices for similar itinerary to the Riviera or Marina made the Vista much higher. As the months go by, the Vista pricing on some itineraries are leveling down. Not 100% but it is noticeable. The Riviera and Marina for the same itinerary right now are the positive value proposition to the Vista still. See a Sale Online, Check with Oceania: Whether it is a sailing you have booked or one you are considering. See a sale, call your Agent or Oceania to gain accurate pricing. You can also from time to time go to a third party site to check out pricing. When doing that, make sure the check box saying "Non-Refundable Fairs" is not clicked. You want accuracy. Check Your Credit Card Perks: Some of these Perks are combinable with other sales; some are not. Worth checking it out because the rules seem to change like the wind. Book Onboard For Extra Benefits/Value: I booked my next cruise while cruising on the Riviera. I got the information on day one, booked the actual itinerary on day 5 of a 10 day cruise. The last day is super crowed at the future sales desk. My future booking was: 5% off for booking so far in advance; $250.00 of OBC on my current or future cruise; $400.00 off the fair for a Concierge Level booking; my travel agency game me free gratuities, and this cruise was booked with the SimplyMore amenities which in my case was $800.00 for excursions. This $800.00 was reduced to $600.00 on January 1, 2024. Guest Paid Discounted Upgrade: Never any guarantees however as either a sale happens or you get close to the actual cruise, call Oceania or your travel Agent and ask to be considered for a "Paid Guest Discounted Upgrade". Like chicken soup, can't hurt. Like the stateroom and pricing you have disregard this suggestion. Travel Agents Perks to You: I want to be crystal clear here, I was a commission sales professional and never cut my commission. I don't believe in asking my agent to cut hers. She offered once and I said, No your commission is your income. I will take a perk if I have brought business to her and she sales product. Consider that my commission. Yet, may agencies especially ones that do lots of luxury YouTube.com tour video's make offers to those that allow them to do your bookings. The same hold true for many of the agents that work with many of you. My agent gave me free gratuities through her agency. That one I accepted. Read Post Online and In Social Media for your Brand: Historically, I learn about sales, fare increases or decreases, program adjustments online in social media before they are ever shared in other ways. If you don't keep yourself informed, you might miss an opportunity. Private Travel Agency Sales: On this one, it usually happens with the bigger agencies. Tell your agent you want a heads up if one should show it lovely head. These kinds of sales are usually not make easily public. Airfare: See how much the fair goes down when you pull the airfare out. In my recent case it was $1,400.00 per person plus $199.00 to fly from my local airport which is not a hub. Now I keep this as part of my booking until I can actual book directly with my airline brand and itinerary of choice. Usually 330 days in advance of the return flight. If you get in early enough, you can gain a fully refundable fair at about the same price as the $1,599.00 example I gave above. Your flight amount may vary. Learn the Drink Programs/Benefits: Keep the SimplyMore only. Upgrade on the ship. Bring bottles of wine or spirits onboard all giving you the option to or not to upgrade to the Prestige Drink Package. Be an educated consumer. Learn About Percentage Discounts for Booking Lots of Excursions: This is something I don't use. I usually arrange my excursions on my own. Based on my experience and is not every ones experience. However, there are benefits to booking a certain number of excursions with Oceania. Learn the rules and you might same some money. Remember, if a excursion or port is canceled having nothing to do with you, you might lose the benefits. Again, know the rules to the game if you want to play. Please remember if you make a reservation for far in the future, if you cancel it, you will be charged a $150.00 administrative fee. This just recently happened and to me it sends a message. The message is if you book a cruise, take a stateroom out of inventory, cancel the cruise you should think twice before you book it. I get that as a business strategy. Now, please add your approach. This topic is about gaining a good value proposition by stay aware of what is available. "Cruise well and enjoy every moment."

@SATaxman My personal apologies. I should have know that. My bad. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@Jim_Iain please read post #288 from @SATaxman above. My cruise as you know now is to many of the places you are considering on the Oceania Vista Ship. I am using that as a foundation for my comments. I have been in the least expensive stateroom on another line and some of the most expensive ones. My comments will be tempered with an assumption you know the fares for all the Staterooms you mentioned and they are all acceptable to your budget. I want to support what @SATaxman said about the Oceania Suite. For many of the reasons that he said. I choose the Vista Suite because the Oceania Suite was waitlisted at the time. It would have been my first choice. The reason why is the TV Room was a nice touch, the balcony had less wind issues even when it was sailing. On the Vista ship (I will be on the Vista Ship October 2025 for 10 days to the Mediterranean again), the Exercise room in the Vista Suite has been eliminated giving the space wasted space to the guest in a better way. If you search the ship "Vista", the stateroom "Vista" or "Penthouse" or "Oceania" or even "Concierge" you will get some very nice tour videos on YouTube. If I did not want to spend the money for the upper suites, I would choose the Penthouse because I like having the butler. Now everyone does. If money was no option, I would do the Oceania Suite. Why I liked the Upper End Suite is because I am as my daughter says, "Bougie". I don't feel like I am Bougie, I feel like I worked hard all my life, I saved by not getting everything I wanted so I figure at my age, I am due. Again, me not everyone. One of the things I liked with the upper end suites was: Six Litters of Spirits: Some of which I took home and still going through them. I know this is silly but I liked it. Specialty Restaurant Extra Nights: Even with a Penthouse, you only got 1 pre-cruise Specialty reservation per specialty restaurant. With the upper end suites, you get two. One thing I left off my review because I did not what to have to explain it at the time was something my butler said. I asked if he could get our table for two to be a table for four so our best friends joining us could eat with use for the extra four dinners. He said of course and then said, "Mr. T, those in the upper end suite get special priority for reservations, changes and adjustments we just don't talk about it much openly." The Bulgari Gift Box: It is now in my Master Bathroom at my home reminding every day of a very nice cruise. The Oceania Terrycloth Bag Gift: This is a lovely Terrycloth bag with all kinds of items like towels, hats and other brand items. Separate Bedroom and Dining: So I had my Butler bring coffee from Barista's with two Danishes every morning. We would close the bedroom door, here him enter and exit knowing our coffee was waiting for us. If we were in a Penthouse, there is no separation between bedroom and dining table. On the Ship First: The upper end suites had a 11:00 AM embarkment time which I love. We were one of the first onboard and our suite was ready at 11:10 AM. Not sure if I got lucky on this one or that is the normal situation. Bathroom: The bathroom on the Penthouse only had one sink. I thought that to be strange. All the upper suites had two sinks. A little thing but I noticed. What you have to remember is for the most part, once you leave your stateroom, everyone is treated the same. Unlike the NCL Haven, Celebrity Retreat or the MSC Yacht Club. So all you are paying for is the extra space, butler, and items outlined above. I am currently booked for my 2025 cruise on the Vista in a Concierge Suite. My hope is to catch as four category upgrade sale if it happens and get the two staterooms I have booked to be Penthouses. I asked my Travel Agent to tell Oceania, if a Oceania Suite becomes available at the last minute to consider me as a potential Guest Paid Upgrade. I will see what happens. I hope this information helps you in your decision. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@FetaCheese It does tend to be very confusing and that is why when a sale does come up, that is available to one of the cruises I am booked or would like to book; I always ask my Travel Agent to get involved. This is the major lesson I learned last year. What you see is not always what is available. I also, go to a site I can't mention to look at their prices and often times the real price is there. On the Wait List Issue, that is a bit nuts but stranger things have happened. I hope you get the itinerary you are looking for. I hope my booked cruise for 2025 has a four category upgrade. FYI, the cruise I booked on the ship two months ago price just went up, the Excursion Credits went down. Thank you for your great review on Viking. Love reading it and all the comments. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@GALSews Thank you for thinking of me. My last cruise I had even better Almond Croissants but only one over a 10 day period. HOWEVER, every morning I did have Lox, Cream Cheese and a toasted bagel (Cruise Bagels are a 5 on a 10 scale). Add to that two eggs over easy and sausages links. Yummy 10 days and missing the Croissants was no issue. LOL Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@FeliciaLee Thank you for such kind words. I loved your entire post and it gives me hope my second Oceania Cruise will exceed my first one. So happy you enjoyed your cruise. Happy New Year to you and yours. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@FetaCheese As always well done review. Fair and balanced. Thank you. Viking is a brand I have always considered. You are a CruiseCritic.com member that is always so generous with your time and feedback. Thank you again and please enjoy your cruise. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.