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Oceania or Viking for Med. cruise?


Kingofcool1947
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Viking has some outdoor tables for the buffet but they are in full sun. I really missed the seating behind the Terrace Grill, which has some overhang and umbrellas for shade.

 

We mostly avoided the self service Viking buffet other than the carving station. At lunch they will grill chicken, salmon and maybe steak, cannot remember. Not sure what they grill at dinner.

Their poolside grill served quality meat, tasty sandwiches.

 

We’ve never sailed NCL.

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Our search for a cruise line, and vessel, for a Greece intensive 2019 is showing a dichotomy of viewpoints.

 

We had a pleasant 2018 Azamara Pursuit sailing but are looking for other options. Oddly enough, it's their (lack of) loyalty program that's caused us to investigate other options. Three sailings in 3 years and a first time customer gets a percentage off..'tho not past customers (unless onboard, but 2019 Azamara prices were through the roof onboard, so didn't partake).

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Our search for a cruise line, and vessel, for a Greece intensive 2019 is showing a dichotomy of viewpoints.

 

We had a pleasant 2018 Azamara Pursuit sailing but are looking for other options. Oddly enough, it's their (lack of) loyalty program that's caused us to investigate other options. Three sailings in 3 years and a first time customer gets a percentage off..'tho not past customers (unless onboard, but 2019 Azamara prices were through the roof onboard, so didn't partake).

As you know different cruise lines offer different perks, but they are mostly set up to keep folks coming back. So you have to think long term when plotting out your loyalty strategy. For us we have a 5 year plan. I know that's a little extreme, but we do love cruising!

 

With Azamara and Celebrity your accumulated points sailing on either line goes into the same pot (i.e., you use the same loyalty number for both cruise lines). So if you book a Celebrity cruise, your accumulated points for that cruise will be merged with the points you earned from your previous Azamara cruises. That's a nice perk if you like a little variety.

 

With Oceania they give you credit for the booking when you board the cruise rather than after which is nice when you reach the next level. For example you get the Bronze perks when you board your 5th cruise. What's also nice is let's say you have accrued 3 club points and you book a 25 day or longer Grand Voyage (or some call it an extended voyage) which is worth 2 points, you get the Bronze perks when you board the GV cruise. You can also book two 7 day cruises as a B2B and get 2 points. However, that same combination cannot also be offered by O as a GV.

 

With HAL you get double points when you book at least a vista suite or higher plus you get a point for every $300 you spend when you either pre-book items, such as excursions or other items, as well as those purchased onboard to include all of the gratuities you pay, even if you get them in a HAL promotion.

 

These loyalty programs are the ones that have impressed us the most besides the fact we enjoy cruising on their ships. But, of course, having a good TA that will give you perks for booking with them in the form of OBC, free gratuities and/or other amenities also comes in very handy.

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Ken,

Excellent summary but wouldn’t you maximize your return if all your cruises went into the same pot?

For example, if you picked Oceania you would get to your free cruise faster by sailing on Oceania only (or mostly); true for any other line in accumulating status faster.

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Ken,

Excellent summary but wouldn’t you maximize your return if all your cruises went into the same pot?

For example, if you picked Oceania you would get to your free cruise faster by sailing on Oceania only (or mostly); true for any other line in accumulating status faster.

Good point, Paul. However, for us we would get board cruising with the same cruise line over and over again, especially since we go on 4-5 cruises a year now. We also plan on cruising for the next 20+ years, so getting that free cruise will eventually come.

 

This way we can reach the beneficial levels of 3-4 cruise lines much faster. Right now we are 4* on HAL, Elite heading towards Elite+ on Celebrity and currently Bronze on O and will be Silver on the second leg of our upcoming Med cruise after doing a B2B right before it.

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