Rainbow3fe

1 hour ago, LHT28 said:

I think you have to call to get the  sale prices   do not just go by  the website

We got a huge discount with the Memorial Day sale and O life, no air. Summer sale has higher prices and since we don't need Wine package we didn't want to pay more.

The other isn't on sale list and it's $400 more pp. We don't use 2 electronics. 

42 minutes ago, shepherd really said:

Mine was worth just over a 30% savings.  Even if it took all day, it would be worth it to me.

Hi,

    Wow. Glad to hear many Oceania passengers are saving money. I researched our next 2 and the cost was higher. I guess it depends on which cruise you booked and which category stateroom. 

27 minutes ago, Rabidcruiser said:

Having booked some time ago on Insignia for the Feb 2024 Sydney to Bali cruise being told that the only two remaining cabins were x and y only to find that now nearly ALL cabins are NOW suddenly available ( apart from top suites) and their replacement for O- life is being introduced AND we are alos now compelled to pay gratuities out of any onboard credits. ***** is happening Oceania? We travelled pre pandemic and got far better deals and better flexibility with you. Sadly an equivalent Azamara option is not available at the time where all the gratuities are included, a limited but acceptable free beverage package is included, often ( varying) onboard credit is included) and you do not have to pay for excursions you may or may not take. Just how is Oceania stacking up against this? (AND why are they changing the rules for prebooked passengers to try to screw yet more revenue from them for questionable benefit at best)

Is this your 1st Oceania cruise?

      They always have added gratuities to the stateroom bill. If you have used up your Shipboard credits, then it goes on your Credit Card.

     You aren't forced to get SM but can switch if you feel you'll get a better price.

34 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

He very clearly said “ on this sailing”!!!

 

Were you on THAT sailing? 
 

Most of Oceania’s cruises, especially during the school time months have few kids. However, during the summer and holidays periods, there is a marked increase in family travel. Oceania even advertises some of its summer Alaskan cruises for family and kids. Obviously you’ve never taken any of those by your comment.

That's true.  Our Oceania cruises are quiet. We land travel with our grandchildren during school holidays. We know other cruiselines have camps, watersides, video gamerooms and children's activities. 

On 7/5/2023 at 9:18 PM, Jayne E said:

 

We’ve been on Riviera….refurbished cabins are beautiful 

Great to hear. 2 Vista and 1 Regatta before our Riviera. We snagged a extended Veranda.🎉🌊❤️😎

On 7/4/2023 at 3:49 AM, Sujormik said:

No, at this point we are not looking to sail Oceania any time soon.  What I’m trying to convey (unsuccessfully it seems) is that I don’t really feel like I’m “complaining” in that I expect a response/remedy.  More I’ve been trying I guess to summarize the nature of the service we received which was so far below what we’d expected (and imo paid for). I know O isn’t Regent. But I expected just a step below that and I was disappointed.

 

As far as the manager approaching us in the GDR, which I saw you asked about and then deleted, someone above noted that after they said something their service improved considerably and people were all over to better provide.  I was surprised that we didn’t get ANY attention after that first day post-commentary from RedGinger. You know they take your room number when they seat you,  we were clearly flagged the first day but for the manager to NEVER stop at our table?  That’s just bad service and thus I can’t recommend O.

 

Also, we really enjoyed our trip. I see I’m coming across as a whiner and that’s not my feeling, I’m just conscious of things and wanted to share/track them.  We thought overall the food was quite good. Loved our PH. Enjoyed the private deck (much calmer than the pool deck with all the kids on this sailing) and especially the hot tubs, sauna and great towel service everywhere.

 

Another nitpick though, while I’m at it😉, we really craved some popcorn or pretzels a few times and there seemed to be nowhere to get that.  There was a movie one night and we nabbed some popcorn from there, but it seems like an easy thing to have around for an afternoon snack that’s not frou frou tea cakes and sandwiches! We weren’t drinking in the lounge so didn’t see they offered some nibbles in there.  
 

Had no idea room service menu was on the tv, our fault for not carefully looking at it but I don’t think we turned the tv on virtually the whole 10 days.  Not sure we would’ve eaten in our room but I’d think a paper menu or card suggesting we look at the tv wouldn’t be a bad thing.

 

I have no agenda, swear.  Wanted to love O and for now we were underwhelmed. After we try another “almost” luxury line maybe O will look great by comparison. Thanks for letting me express my thoughts, I do appreciate the forum.

What do you mean kids everywhere? I have never seen more than 2 on an Oceania cruise.

5 minutes ago, Psoque said:

I didn't think my question was particularly judgmental, unless, somehow, there is a sensitivity issue with this question.

I don't need to argue.  Think about what you said. It was NOT a real question but your personal judgment of how much wine they plan to bring aboard. 

3 minutes ago, Psoque said:

How many days are you going to be onboard?  That's a lot of wine!!

No reason to judge other people's choices. They might have many friends.😎🎉

3 hours ago, pinotlover said:

I believe there is another thread on this but here goes.

 

Privee - It is ONLY bookable aboard ship for La Reserve dinners. Reservations can be made at the Dining Reservations Desk on Deck 5.

 

The three La Reserve dinners are offered on various nights. They don’t tell you which nights in the daily Currents. You have to talk to the people at the Dining Reservations Desk, to get a schedule of when each event will be held. One’s butler may be able to get the schedule also.

 

For a dinner to actually be held there must be a minimum of eight (8) attendees sign up for the dinner on that night. Therefore , if one can put together the group of eight, or near to it, they have a better chance of the dinner occurring.

 

Individual prices for the La Reserve dinners are listed on the website.

 

Wine paired dinners for the new special private rooms in PG and Toscana are advertised in Currents, but not far in advance. Same as with Privee- Go to the Dining Reservation Deck and inquire about which nights the dinners are offered. The dinner in the PG is around $190 + 20% grata. I think Toscana was $125ish + grats. Those rooms appeared to be individually bookable on other nights , however there is minimal spending and I didn’t inquire.

 

The important thing is: Nothing can be done before boarding and best to talk early with the Dining Reservations Desk to get schedules and costs.

 

 

I really appreciate your help. 😎

     Most people guessed about Vista by telling me about the other Oceania ships. I've been on all of them and I know Vista is different. 

2 hours ago, LHT28 said:

You already asked this same question before

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2947713-please-explain-privee-on-vista/#comment-65654769

 

Ok I know but most people are guessing based on other Oceania ships. I was hoping that people who experienced Vista would give  first hand opinions.

 Hi,

       I am an Oceania lover but have never dined in one of the private dining rooms.  I don't understand the how Vista's new private dinner spaces work. 

     Please let me know about Privee and the other small dining rooms. On Vista, not on the other ships because it's different.

     Does anyone know the additional costs?  How they're booked? Any other details.

Thanks

23 hours ago, MarkWiltonM said:

 

Another thing to consider is how often Oceania cancels port calls, due to weather, the possibility of labor unrest (?!), etc. On our cruise to Bermuda in March, which was titled "Pink Sands Soiree" and was to spend 3 days in Bermuda, the entirety of the Bermuda portion of the cruise was canceled and we instead had two nights in (wait for it) -- Jacksonville, Florida!!! The third day was an extra sea day. We didn't have any Oceania excursions booked in Bermuda, but for those who did choose excursions as their O Life option, they had to settle for hastily arranged excursions in frickin' Jacksonville, Florida. I have never seen so many sad faces on a cruise in all my years of sailing.  

That sounds absurd. In January when our Oceania ship was unable to dock in 2 South African ports we received our money back for our missed tours immediately.  I don't think those passengers asked the right questions before accepting the new excursions. 

On 6/30/2023 at 2:19 PM, SATaxman said:

About 40 years ago, I was watching a commercial on TV (after Thanksgiving dinner) for a Jeep. I thought I wanted one. Arrived at the dealership on Friday. The price was incredibly reasonable. They he asked if I wanted a passenger seat, a back seat, a step, soft or hard top. When I asked for air-conditioning, was told that I would not only need the bigger engine, but also an automatic transmission. The "options" basically doubled the price; however, I loved my Jeep for many years. I think the wheels were included, perhaps choices of tires! 🙂

 

Wow. 🤪 Sounds like our one and only Princess cruise. We had to pay advance for a bottled water package. And then again for lattes. 

1 hour ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Both packages have the same cheap wines-by-the-glass. Better to bring your own wine and use prestige package for better spirits in double cocktails.

     Thanks.  I assumed that would be the case.  A case of wine sounds great. 🍷 We brought one on in Buenos Aires many years ago.😎

13 minutes ago, Croooser said:

 

I believe that there is some confusion here. O does not have the same policies as the mainstream lines with respect to alcohol brought onboard. Unless something has changed, that is still the case For the sake of those without O experience:

 

• O has always allowed passengers to bring spirits onboard to be consumed in cabin only with no fee or quantity restriction other than where consumed. We have done so as recently as February. It is not a violation of policy or T&Cs.

• The T&Cs do place a limit on wine brought onboard but it has never been reported here that any limit was enforced. Some of the regulars here will frequently board with wine by the case on longer voyages without any questions.
• O also permits wine or spirits or beer to be brought onboard from ports of call.
• It is not held by the cruise line.
• There is a corkage fee for wine brought onboard and consumed outside the cabin. We have sometimes had this fee waived at the discretion of the sommelier. YMMV

 

We are also on the Nov 3 Vista Panama Canal cruise. We plan to pick up a few bottles of wine and a bottle of spirits in San Pedro the night before we sail. Then maybe a few more bottles of wine in San Diego or other ports.

Hi Mike & Janet,

       We are on that cruise as well. Are you on the Roll Call? There's a spreadsheet.

      We are spending 4 days in  San Luis Obispo and have booked visits to wineries in Paso Robles.  They're supposed to have wonderful reds.🍷 The major reason we decided to explore that area was to buy wines for the cruise.

       Last year we picked up some Brunellos from Montalcino before boarding in Civitavecchia. 

         Looking forward to meeting you. 

Felice & Ivan 🌊😎

2 hours ago, Susagoode1 said:

Rainbow3fe

I read we can bring 3 bottles onboard per cabin. Is that correct?

6 and they are lenient. We enjoy going to wineries and buying fine or just local wines.

9 minutes ago, Woofa said:

Thank you for the clarification.

A staff member at the entrance to the ship told us that we were permitted to bring alcohol so my husband went back into the terminal and bought a bottle. We weren't "pushing the envelope " .

2 hours ago, TFree said:

 

 

@LHT28: thanks for the link to the post with the wine and beer listing.  @1985rz1: thanks for the reminder on the 20%.

@carosou: In our case, this seems to work out, so I assume it will for you, too.  Our TA went ahead and made the change for us (but said it could be switched back to OLife if we prefer).  So when I go to my account now, I see that all the excursions (including those waitlisted) are still shown as having been purchased, and then the $500 pp Simply More credit plus the $250 shareholder credit have been applied against the excursions.  By all means, ask, but I don't think this will be a problem.

@the mice and @Benita: maybe we will see you on board.  EDIT: Oh, and by the way, there is a small and relatively inactive Roll Call for our cruise: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2802489-3-november-2023-19-november-2023-panama-canal-adventure-los-angeles-to-miami/

 

 

Tom & Judy
 

     Hi,

    We are on Vista Nov 3 as well. I agree the Roll Call is kind of slow.

     We 

   Looking forward to a wonderful trip.

Felice &  Ivan 

39 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Wine/beer.Champagne  by the glass with lunch & dinner  is included under SM

 

Not sure what lounge   you mean but  yes any drinks outside of meals  are extra

A bit of sidetracking. I that I was told eating at Waves also " counts " as included lunch. 

1 hour ago, Acrusa said:

The wines offered on the SM will they be what's on the premium package or the cheaper package. Over our 14 cruises we never took a drink package alway ordered wine by the bottle at dinner 

Us as well. 

1 hour ago, Vineyard View said:

Thank you for posting this. I would want to bring wine on board based on these offerings. With the basic package I think it works like only  “one red, one white offering’ ’ per day? Of which would likely not be these? 

      I definitely agree that these selections don't make me smile.   

    We will continue to bring awesome local wines onboard.

18 hours ago, TFree said:

Here is another example of the way that the Simply More program would apply to an existing booking. We are booked on the Vista Panama Canal Cruise on November 3. We booked it with Olife without air. We chose the excursions option, so we would get four “free“ excursions each in the non-excluded categories, up to $199 each. We are not big drinkers, so that the beverage package option would never make sense for us, but we would each have a wine or beer at dinner, and possibly at lunch. 

 

The cruise is currently waitlisted in all categories, so I was not even sure if they would give us a quote on the difference, if we wanted to choose Simply More instead of our existing booking. The travel agent reported that in her original call, she was told that they could not quote this since the cruise is sold out. But after checking with some supervisor, they called her back to say that we can make the switch, and the total difference for us would be $798 (meaning, $399 per person).

 

I am going to study this in more detail , when I get a chance, but the way I am looking at it, it is probably worthwhile to us. It is not an amazing deal by any means, just probably worth it. First, we would definitely use the second Wi-Fi login, and probably would have purchased it.  This is a 16 night cruise, so the charge for an additional login would be just under $400. I don’t know if they ever or frequently discount that on board, but that is the list price of the additional login. Then, I don’t know what the going rate for a glass of wine or beer at dinner is, but I am guessing that for a glass of wine and a beer, that might be around $20 per dinner. So that would be about $320 worth of liquor, even if we never have a wine or beer at lunch (and we probably would). We currently get (in effect) an excursion credit that would be worth up to $796 person ($199 X 4), but with very few if any of the excursions eligible and right at the $199 price point that would max out the benefit and based on excursions currently booked, we would get $586 benefit per person. Instead, under Simply More, we would get $1000 worth of excursions, with no limitations as to which excursions we must choose.

 

So, all told, I can argue it either way. I could say that we might end up spending a few additional dollars with simply more, because the size of our excursion credit will be shrinking. But, on the other hand, if wine and beer are more expensive than I am guessing, or if we have more than one at dinner, and occasionally a wine or a beer at lunch, we would probably come out a little ahead with simply more. 
 

I would be curious if others have any reaction to this. Also, anybody with recent experience who can give a better ballpark estimate of the cost of a glass of wine or beer within the categories that would be included in Simply More, that would be helpful.

 

Tom & Judy

Hi,

      We have been thinking about this dilemma for a while.  We do not want to spend $800 for the alcohol package.  We do not drink wine nor beer at lunch. We enjoy fine wine at dinner and enjoy pre-dinner drinks on our Veranda. We are happy to bring our own  bottle from a local winery and pay the $25 corkage.

     We have no idea if the wines they're offering are run of the mill $10 -15 bottles. That we will wait to  find out when others have experienced SM.

       My opinion about the excursions isn't clear yet. We probably will stay with our 4 or 6 "free" at least for our next 2 cruises. We have chosen many and booked everything already. They appear to fit our needs. Some are OE & OS. With the 25% discount they were reasonably priced. We interspersed private tours when we thought it warranted.

       We are older and have traveled extensively and always independently. Now, we are happy enough to let Oceania do the legwork. 

         Looking forward to hearing more about people's opinions.

Felice &  Ivan 

16 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Traveling on land offers many advantages to any cruise, including the ability to go where you want without the constraints of a port day and getting back to the ship.  DW and I have long enjoyed just flying (or taking a cruise) to Europe where we might spend some time in a favorite city and than simply rent/lease a car for a few weeks.  A car allows us to go where we want, when we want, stay as long as we want, and not have to deal with the what we consider the horrors of bus travel.  Trains are also a good option for getting from Point A to Point B, but also are very limiting when moving around outside major cities.  

 

I might add that a car allows folks to go many places not even accessible to cruisers.  Just a year ago we were in Europe, flew to Prague, rented a car, drove through parts of the Czech Republic and Poland.  It was a fantastic trip, we ate better than on nearly any cruise, and our cost was less than a premium or luxury cruise line.  And consider that none of the areas we visited are even accessible by cruise ship (and mostly not readily visited by river cruise).  We are now thinking about a driving trip, next year, that would start in Trieste (where we debark from an O cruise) and take us south to Split, through some parts of Croatia and Slovenia, up into the Austrian Alps, and back into Italy (to drop the car and fly home).  Many of the places we want to drive are not accessible to any kind of cruise.

 

While we still love cruises, we have found that for us the perfect trip combines some cruising with a land trip.  The best of both worlds :).

 

Hank

Hi,

    Sounds like a great plan. We retired 20 years ago and even before Airbnb, we rented apartments in cities around the world. We traveled to small towns by train or bus and used our apt. as a base.  A few times we rented a car for a month and traveled around a country. We sprinkled cruises into our lives.  Many were trans Oceanic. We found Oceania and fell in love.

      We will never do a bus tour. The thought of sitting in a bus with the same complaining 40 people for even 3 days would drive us both crazy. I definitely don't want to pack and unpack daily. Nor do I want to wake up when someone decides I need to be a "breakfast ".

     We tried and were dissatisfied with both Princess and Celebrity. 

     Now that we are older, we appreciate the ease of booking some ship excursions. The OE and OS have been good. 

        We aren't sure if we'll try another cruiseline after our 4 already booked Oceania without the SM. Time will tell. 

      Good luck to everyone.  Enjoy whatever you choose to do. 

😎🎉🌻🌊

2 hours ago, sunlover12 said:

I use united.com quite a bit and haven't had trouble.  In recent months it no longer works using Safari so I use Google Chrome now.

I believe that some 777 aircraft do not have premium economy. If the flight you are looking at has it, it will be listed as an option on the page that shows fares. Some of United's 777 aircraft only offer business, economy plus, and economy. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

I would assume that Economy Plus might be  another airlines word for Premium Economy. Look at the schematics of the specific airline's airplane and check the seat measurements as well as the pitch.

29 minutes ago, Lorna Doone said:

On the 01/09/24 Oceania is not providing any discount for those that switch to SM nor before SM were they providing a discount for those that booked a certain no of tours.  This cruise is on the Vistal

      Please call Oceania to verify what you are assuming here. Too many opinions without experience since SM is new. I believe there's a 25% discount but it's under a different name.

     Also,  for our 2024 Vista cruise I see major problems in tbe website. 

     Just trying to help you figure this out. 

1 hour ago, IWantToLiveOverTheSea said:

Yes.  And with excursions, there have been times, while few, where the city we visited had absolutely no options for touring on our own -- not a taxi, not a tour, very little in the city (town?)  So I was very happy to book a ship's tour in those (few) places.  And we are hoping to start branching out again and not sticking to tours in Europe. In Southeast Asia, I'm thinking that excursions offered by a cruise ship may be more attractive to me than trying to do everything on my own, for several reasons.  So I doubt I'll be switching to another cruise line just because of "Simply More."  And I do think that Oceania has the best itineraries out there, as I like lots of ports, including lesser-known ports, so it's really easy to find a cruise I want.

 

I agree. It's interesting to see that others have similar ideas about excursions.

      In South Africa we stuck with Oceania excursions because the places we wanted to visit were 90 minute drives from the ports. Only 1 out of 7 was extremely disappointing. 

     On our upcoming trip to New Zealand we only found a few private tours that look exciting.  We booked mostly OS and OE excursions and at 25% off they're quite reasonably priced  

      Again, everyone needs to do homework and decide what to choose. 

     We are staying with Olife minus air.

😎🌊🎉