MEFIowa

A lovely irony there: "Samuel Langhorne Clemens, born November 30, 1835, Florida, Missouri, U.S." I didn't know there was a Florida in Missouri.

I felt like an "honorary Brit" reading the Daily Telegraph, The Sun and something else British daily in the Riviera concierge lounge last Nov. (Do any of the papers still have the page 2 women?) There were enough Canadians on Riviera last Nov 2023 in the Med, the #2 nationality, that they get their own edition of the Currents. And I think there was one Canadian newspaper daily in the Concierge Lounge (the National Post?). But obviously, I love newspapers. As do Brits!

Concierge cabins also have access to the therapy pool and area forward, too. The big therapy pool on Riviera is quite nice. (Others can pay to access.)

The better cabin-upgrade sales certainly can and do reduce prices for Bs. And that ESS did for the Bs and As. I booked our 2023 Med cruise on Riviera when it first opened in early 2022. Rebooked it once during a 2022 sale and then rebooked it again in 2023 with the ESS. Got rock-bottom low prices for a B3 and an A3.

Let us know what ends up happening. A good reminder in the real world to "always be checking O sales", esp. when you've booked a cruise. Hope something good comes out of it.

I used an O sale in October 2022 to rebook a 9/2024 cruise in the Baltic on Sirena, from a G (60xx) to a C1 (one of the big ones on deck 7, 70xx). Cruise only. Had booked the G on 7 May 22 for $2499 PP and rebooked it into that C1 on 20 Oct 22 for $2849. So here I used a sale to pay a bit more for what we think is a far better room. Part of a 22-night B2B, where the first 12 days are in an F (70xx), booked under the Summer Sale of 2023. Today that C1 is $3,899 (promotional fare, no airfare, with SM).

The POINT of this is to EDUCATE actual or potential OCEANIA cruisers of what O does with its sales and sale history. I could care less about Azamara, Regent, Silversea, or Viking. They have their own groups and pages. What is sad is how many O cruisers seemingly book a cruise and then fail to monitor sales to see if their cruise could cost them less. Some claim their TA does that for them and others have encountered resistance from TAs when prices dropped significantly. I book directly thru O using the same O sales rep each time. I've rebooked nearly all my 6 cruises (so far 3 of 4 taken and 1 of 2 for the future) and I hope to rebook the 2 later this year, if they go on sale (again for the one I've already rebooked once).

Though if you look over ALL the cruises O put on sale in 2023, almost impossible to say it was the least desirable ones only. BUT one thing that seems to hold true is that the sweet spot for so many sales is the B-A cabins. The G/Fs are the floor. The cabin-upgrade sales nearly always bring prices of B-A cabins down. Rarer for PHs to be in the cabin-upgrade sales. And seemingly rarer still for suites (not sure I've ever seen them in a cabin-upgrade sale).

The POINT is that O has SALES after SALES each year, going back to 2021, when there was the COVID restart. I booked our first cruise (12/2021) off the Presidents' Day Sale in 2021. Cabin upgrade sale. That is pretty routine. Had been around Memorial Day and Labor Day, too. There were 2 cabin upgrade sales in 2023. So the KEY is to WATCH each and every SALE to see how it may apply to an already booked cruise or one you may be interested in.

High volatility in the stock. Over past year has bounced around from around $12 low to high around $23. Now about $16. Down a bit over 4% over the past year. From a few days ago: "Shares of cruise ship company Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NYSE: NCLH) dropped 11.2% in January, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence. Cruise stocks weren't exactly popular during the month, and Norwegian is viewed by some as one of the riskier publicly traded cruise companies."

No, in 2024 and 2025 there are cruises that people booked BEFORE SM. And now O may have sales for those cruises that has SM. The full reality you describe won't happen until ALL the cruises booked before SM have actually taken place. So, in Aug-Sep 2024 I've got one pre-SM and one post-SM as a B2B. I booked the one pre-SM on 7 May 2022! And I'm watching all the sales to see what may happen to their respective prices. So far, SM has not been competitive compared to the former "cruise only".

Really, saving thousands of dollars is too much "shopping"? When it takes a matter of a few minutes to scan prices when O announces each new sale. They send out the sales brochures. I can go to the web site. BUT take just the ESS from 2023, 10 nights in a B3 for just $1749 PP and 10 nights in an A4 for just $1899 PP. Both on Riviera. Mediterranean. Oct-Nov 2023. 20 nights for just $3648. When I told some people on these cruises how LITTLE I paid, they almost cried!

I think you're missing something. I book for destinations and ports and excursions, too. AND I RE-book the same cruise when a BETTER sale comes along. So I may start in a G then re-book to a C then re-book to a B or an A. So that means...STUDY each new sale carefully from the moment you book your cruise. Get it? Sales matter.

Between my wife's research and Rick Steves' guides, I was almost afraid to tell fellow passengers on Riviera (10/30-11/19, 2023) how LITTLE we paid to use local transportation in Venice, between Venice & Trieste, in Athens, and in Istanbul. We paid 15TL PP (about 54 cents) to take the #38 bus about 4 miles to the outer fortified walls of Constantinople. We then walked much of it back following a route by Steves. The metro back was another 15 TL. There was a metro station just outside the cruise port terminal. For 15 TL each ride we went all over town! We just bought the card and loaded it up and reloaded when it got low. It was about 28TL=$1.00 then. The 3-day Venice pass for the museums and unlimited water bus (vaporetto) use literally paid for itself! Starting with the public bus from Marco Polo Intl to the initial Vaporetto stop on the west end in Venice, which was just one stop from the train station and two from our BnB, which was about 100 yards from the stop. And only E15.50 PP to take the train from Venice to Treiste. We paid about $2 each way to take the light rail from the port to the Acropolis and back!

As someone who has PRICED O excursions with comparable non-O excursions, you've left out the very high mark-up of the O-provided excursions. And that isn't even taking into account "quality issues", where you pay O more or the same for "less". For example, riding a bus to some city center and then getting out to walk around yourself isn't much of an "excursion" and can be horribly priced by O. Having $1250 in your hand is cold hard cash. No such concept exists with the prices O sets in regard to excursions, excursion discounts and excursion credits. Take a $50 "excursion" (that you can hire yourself) and then have O reprice their bus version at $200. Then have O discount it 25% or give you $100 excursion credit. Even if they gave you $150, you didn't "save" a thing! When a product is marked up by a factor of 3-5, hard to get true savings off discounts to inflated prices.

If there is ONE CONSTANT with O it is...SALES. Sales after sales. All sales are not created equal. BUT both before you book and certainly after you book, pay very close attention to each and every sale. For the devil is in the details with O's various sales. One sale after another. Which can save you a fortune. Ask anyone who booked off the Extraordinary Savings Sale of 2023. This was the mother of sales for 2023. In 2024 we've got the New Year Sale that ends 29 Feb 24. Sadly, looks like NO Presidents' Day Sale, which ran, for example, in 2021 (from which I rebooked our very first cruise. I pulled out my pile of saved brochures... 2023 Sales: 1. 20th Anniversary Sale, January-February. 2. OLife Ultimate Sale, March-April. 3. Explore More (Land Programs), April-June 4. Extraordinary Savings Sale, May 5. 4 Category Upgrade Sale, June. ----------------------------------------------- 6. Summer Sale, July-August. [START OF SIMPLY MORE] 7. 4 Category Upgrade Sale, September. 8. Experience Europe 2024 Sale*, 1 October -20 November. 9. Black Friday Sale, November. 10. Holiday Sale, 6-31 December. I'm not sure I'd count either #3 or #8 as "major sales". So, I'd count at least 8 (eight) major sales in 2023. * "2 for 1 Deposits and up to $1,000 onboard cash"

The devil is in the details and most esp. with O's various sales. One sale after another. Which can save you a fortune. Ask anyone who booked off the Extraordinary Savings Sale of 2023 (pulled out my brochure I received 28 April 2023). It ran May 2023. This was the mother of sales for 2023. An A3 for 10 nights at just $1899 PP and a B3 for 10 nights for just $1749 PP. For our 2 cruises, in the Med, 10-11/2023. Cruise only. Prior to it was the OLife Ultimate Sale, which expired 30 April 23. Then along came the June 2023 4 cabin upgrade sale.

Since you only provide few details and only when pressed, it is hard to make much of your situation. I have no idea if you booked direct or thru a TA. No booking date is provided. When SM was introduced, it was introduced with the Summer Sale. I pulled out my SS brochure. It ran from 1 July - 31 Aug 2023. Two months. I booked an F on Sirena (8/28-9/9/24) on 13 Jul 23, during the SS. Directly thru O, without a TA. It had SM since SM had just been introduced. Thus, the sales brochure is titled "simply MORE plus SUMMER SALE". It provided $400 PP excursion credit for this 12-night cruise (since reduced later to just $300 PP). But it did not provide prepaid gratuities. So I can look at my booking at $2949 PP (F, 70xx) and compare it today to any current offer.Just as I can with the B2B component that I booked in 2022 and rebooked under a sale later in 2022.

SM was introduced with the 2023 Summer Sale, so it appears you rebooked under the SS. The SALE, not SM, got you the better price on your cabin. (I booked one cruise during the SS after SM was introduced. The cruise wasn't put on sale prior to that SS.) And how does one make much sense about "$2000 in excursion credits" when we don't know your cabin level, the dates of the cruise or its length. Sounds like a high-roller cabin or a lengthy cruise or both? AND SM started out with a certain level of excursion credit that has already been REDUCED since then. And one would compare the total cost of the cruise accounting for the price of similar excursions if you did them yourself. Keeping in mind that O has a huge mark-up for its excursions. So O didn't "give us a couple thousand dollars", O gave you credits for heavily marked-up excursions. Not the same thing. If O takes a $100 excursion and prices it at $300 and gives you $200 credit, you merely broke even.

Though... Having booked on board and not, the BEST deals come from the BEST sales. So study each and every O SALE carefully, esp. once you book a cruise. Never had the chance to book a great sale while on board. O ran at least 6, if not 8, major sales in 2023. The Extraordinary Savings Sale was an absolute blow out for the cruises it listed. That was the BEST of 2023 in pure money-saving terms. The current O sale has been running for Jan-Feb and another most likely will start up March 1. Looks, sadly, like NO Presidents' Sale in 2024. I used the Presidents' Day Sale in 2021 to save a fortune on an A4 cabin (it was a 4-cabin upgrade sale).

Real world data, for Stockholm to Copenhagen, Sirena 9/9-19/2024: G (60xx) booked 7 May 2022, pre-SM "cruise only": $2499 PP. G (60xx) booked TODAY, post-SM "promotional fare w/out airfare": $3399 ADDITIONAL PRICE POST-SM: $900. Rebooked C1 (70xx) 20 Oct 2022, pre-SM "cruise only": $2849 Same C1 (70xx) booked TODAY, post-SM "promotional fare w/out airfare: $3899 ADDITIONAL PRICE POST-SM: $1050. And we have $150 PP OBC.

One FIRST starts with the price of the CABIN that you pay. For so many cruises in 2024, they could be booked way back in 2022, pre-SM. So, we have PRE- and POST-SM cabin prices for identical cruises and rooms. The price of the cabins went up around $800 or so for the cruises I was following. I stuck with our pre-SM cruise and did add one SM cruise as a B2B to it, BUT that was under the Summer Sale of 2023, when SM came out. (Sadly neither cruise was in the Extraordinary Savings Sale just prior to the SS.) But PLEASE, can you document for us a single CRUISE where the pre-SM price and the post-SM price were the SAME? Where there was absolutely no price increase when compared to the "cruise only" price?

Our B2B ended in Barcelona on 11/19/23, where we spent 3 more nights. We took the port shuttle bus (E6.00) to the end of the port. The WTC is "down" and there is some construction activity impacting where the ships can dock. We then walked to the nearest metro station and took it north up Las Ramblas to our BnB, which wasn't too far from the Mansion of Discord and two other of the famous funky buildings by Gaudi.

We did a B2B on Riviera in the Med with a room change (going from an A3 on deck 9 to a B3 on deck 7) in Athens on 11/9/23. We did the change and then got off the ship to take public transportation to the Acropolis. We didn't do anything with customs nor did we have to "check out and check in", OTHER than we had to get a NEW world card since we were no longer in a concierge cabin. Our room change was a bit complicated becase the new room had people in it doing a B2B with a room change. So they let us move our alcohol and some other things into their room that AM while they waited for the other room to be vacated. Everyone just worked with the respective room stewards. And it was all done by about 9 am.

Having done 4 O cruises "cruise only" (40 nights going back to 12/2021), I certainly concur. SM was essentially a significant price increase trying to hide it as such. We have 1 10 nighter in 2024 as "cruise only" combined as part of a B2B with a 12 nighter we did thru SM. Will be interesting to see how much "value" we get. BUT...since I only book off SALES, prices vary over time and by sale. So YMMV. For the most part SM is excursion related. I don't find having a beer or glass of wine at lunch or dinner in a restaurant to be worth more than about $10 a day, and less on days we miss lunch when we're on an excursion.