Newbie from Celebrity

[LHT28]

I had a variation of this situation on the Riviera recently. I ordered 3 appetizers because they all looked good and I wasn't terribly hungry. I asked the waiter to serve them in any order he chose. The first two were fine, but the third one was a huge portion. When I questioned the waiter, he said that he'd doubled the order because he thought I was going to be hungry.

 

I left half over. :D

 

That is totally different situation

[MaduroJim]

Hi Susie,

 

My wife and I are on the same journey - we've sailed a great deal on Celebrity, but are trying O after our last X cruise.

 

The one thing no one else has mentioned that caught us by surprise (in a good way), is the offers from Oceania to upgrade in various ways. Since we are retired, we're a bit flexible.

 

As an example, we were booked on a 15-night cruise from Iceland to NYC. They offered to give us some cash back and sail on the cruise just before, which is 20-nights, from Miami to Iceland.

 

I've never had X do that, and we're CC Elite.

 

So, it does make for fun - when I get an email from the O "Revenue Management" department, it feels like opening a Christmas Present.

[Paulchili]

Hi Susie,

 

My wife and I are on the same journey - we've sailed a great deal on Celebrity, but are trying O after our last X cruise.

 

The one thing no one else has mentioned that caught us by surprise (in a good way), is the offers from Oceania to upgrade in various ways. Since we are retired, we're a bit flexible.

 

As an example, we were booked on a 15-night cruise from Iceland to NYC. They offered to give us some cash back and sail on the cruise just before, which is 20-nights, from Miami to Iceland.

 

I've never had X do that, and we're CC Elite.

 

So, it does make for fun - when I get an email from the O "Revenue Management" department, it feels like opening a Christmas Present.

 

True.

Sometimes these offers to move over or downgrade can be VERY lucrative.

People have occasionally received $ in four figures to down grade cabins; or upgrades to a PH from balcony on a longer cruise (on a different date/itinerary).

They are not very common and may become even less common as revenue management seems to be "adjusting" (as in fewer gty cabins, etc)

[MaduroJim]

Thanks for the info - I assumed it was more common since it's happened on the 2 cruises we first booked on O. The first was to move up to a PH with cash back to take a later Caribbean cruise, the 2nd was the story about the Iceland cruise.

 

The angels must be watching over us. ;-)

[Paulchili]

Thanks for the info - I assumed it was more common since it's happened on the 2 cruises we first booked on O. The first was to move up to a PH with cash back to take a later Caribbean cruise, the 2nd was the story about the Iceland cruise.

 

The angels must be watching over us. ;-)

 

We have 24 cruises with O and have been offered changes only twice - one upsell and one downgrade.

Maybe we need your angels' help? :D

Edited January 18, 2017 by Paulchili

[MaduroJim]

We have 24 cruises with O and have been offered changes only twice - one upsell and one downgrade.

Maybe we need your angels' help? :D

 

OK - I don't want to open a can of worms, but I will tell you I booked directly with O. I honestly don't know if that makes a difference.

 

I'll put in a good word for you with the angels... ;)

[Paulchili]

OK - I don't want to open a can of worms, but I will tell you I booked directly with O. I honestly don't know if that makes a difference.

 

I'll put in a good word for you with the angels... ;)

 

I think it's the angels :D Thanks for putting in the good word.

[LHT28]

Things could be changing since Mr Binder's return

people that were booked before that may still have offers but I think they are booking less GTY & W/L cabins now than before so the need to compensate people to move off or downsell/upsell may be less

It seems like a losing proposition (for the company) to me to over sell a cruise then pay people to move off

But what do I know ;)

[Paulchili]

Things could be changing since Mr Binder's return

people that were booked before that may still have offers but I think they are booking less GTY & W/L cabins now than before so the need to compensate people to move off or downsell/upsell may be less

It seems like a losing proposition (for the company) to me to over sell a cruise then pay people to move off

But what do I know ;)

 

I agree. It might be a better policy for the company not to oversell and offer last minute lower rates if there are unexpected cancellations.

[SusieV]

Well, much as I would LOVE some kind of move up/over offer (we can be relatively flexible except we will have to book air at some point), the cruise is more than a year away so it's not likely to be a thing for a long time if it exists, right? I would be interested in a balcony upsell if it was reasonable but otherwise it's outside the budget.

 

I'd honestly rather book a non handicapped cabin but I asked for the lowest category and that's all there is- it's $400 more to move up to a category F cabin which I assume is same thing, different location? Right now my TA has a category G cabin on hold for us. If they want to bump us out of the room I'm happy to move, I just don't want to have to pay extra for the privilege. I did ask my TA to keep an eye open if any regular cabins open up in that category.

 

I booked with my usual TA because she usually gives us good perks, and this time she offered prepaid gratuities. Since it's a relatively inexpensive booking I thought that was a good perk. It'll be too bad if we miss out on an upgrade but c'est la vie. I did tell her it's our honeymoon.

 

What is Oceania's price drop policy?

[LHT28]

Well, much as I would LOVE some kind of move up/over offer (we can be relatively flexible except we will have to book air at some point),

 

did you book cruise only fare?

I find O air to be better than what I can DIY but of course you might find n to driving to Buffalo for cheaper air more convenient

[SusieV]

did you book cruise only fare?

I find O air to be better than what I can DIY but of course you might find n to driving to Buffalo for cheaper air more convenient

 

No, but I figured we could fly Porter out of the island airport to Newark really cheaply. I've occasionally gotten RT air for $200pp. I didn't think Oceania would have it that cheaply.

[LHT28]

No, but I figured we could fly Porter out of the island airport to Newark really cheaply. I've occasionally gotten RT air for $200pp. I didn't think Oceania would have it that cheaply.

 

It is confusing as there are several options when booking O

cruise only

cruise with air & O life perks

cruise with O life perks less air credit

 

checked your cruise R/T NYC

if you can get Porter flights that cheap it is a great deal

Edited January 19, 2017 by LHT28

[ORV]

We have 24 cruises with O and have been offered changes only twice - one upsell and one downgrade.

Maybe we need your angels' help? :D

 

I'm surprised at that Paul, we get them all the time. I got more than that on the cruise I'm on. Move over,(multiple ones) extension on both ends, upsell offer.

 

I've gone on very few Oceania cruises that we don't get some type of offer.

[pete_coach]

I'm surprised at that Paul, we get them all the time. I got more than that on the cruise I'm on. Move over,(multiple ones) extension on both ends, upsell offer.

 

I've gone on very few Oceania cruises that we don't get some type of offer.

 

I am surprised at that too. Being such a long time O client and only getting 2 offers. At 25 cruises I would have thought hey would give you one for free :)

We have not even been on our first O cruise yet and am getting move over/upgrade offers weekly, sometimes 2 a week. Just got one yesterday. Never got an upsell offer yet, all were free upgrades to PH and even cash back.

[Paulchili]

I'm surprised at that Paul, we get them all the time. I got more than that on the cruise I'm on. Move over,(multiple ones) extension on both ends, upsell offer.

 

I've gone on very few Oceania cruises that we don't get some type of offer.

 

We've had offers to extend (or start earlier) a cruise that we were booked on but I don't consider that as an upsell or move over.

I had forgotten this as it was such a long time ago. On the very first cruise on Oceania (Baltic) we were put in a different cabin than what we booked at the time of boarding. At first I was very upset as we specifically picked one of the forward facing balconies. However, it turned out that we were put into a PH instead - a good way to start cruising on a new line :)

Maybe we just pick the wrong cruises or maybe I need your angels' help too - the more angels the merrier :D

Edited January 19, 2017 by Paulchili

[SusieV]

I've never had an upgrade on Celebrity. Maybe for once the "first time cruiser" possibility will work in my favour :)

 

When they suggest you start a cruise earlier or later, is that also discounted? How does that work when they are offering an actual second cruise, just out of curiosity?

[LHT28]

I've never had an upgrade on Celebrity. Maybe for once the "first time cruiser" possibility will work in my favour :)

 

When they suggest you start a cruise earlier or later, is that also discounted? How does that work when they are offering an actual second cruise, just out of curiosity?

in our experience

Sometimes it will be slightly cheaper of course you save the amount of the "Included air" as well

It just depends on how well the other cruises are selling what the offer will be

[SusieV]

Eh, I'm sure it won't happen, but fun to think about! :)

 

BTW, thanks for the suggestion to actually look at Oceania airfare and not assume it would be crazy expensive. It actually is only $200 US per person which is close enough to what I'd get that it might be worth doing.

 

Except I don't know how this deviation part works... that fee seems crazy high. Celebrity charges $30 if you're not Elite with them otherwise it's free, I think.

 

We had wanted to go a few days early and my fiance was hoping to see a Cirque show.

[pete_coach]

I've never had an upgrade on Celebrity. Maybe for once the "first time cruiser" possibility will work in my favour :)

 

When they suggest you start a cruise earlier or later, is that also discounted? How does that work when they are offering an actual second cruise, just out of curiosity?

 

In my very recent experience, we have been offered move over type offers and the incentives were upgrade to penthouse and sometimes up to $600 additional onboard credit (in addition to what we already have). Just this week we were offered to move over to a penthouse and $700 rebate.

 

We took a Celebrity Mediterranean cruise on Solstice and were upgraded (free) to a deck 12 aft corner suite. It was a real treat.

[Mura]

A bit of advice: try not to form rules or expectations based on what others report ...

 

The only "move over" offer we accepted was from an Alaska cruise on Regatta in a PH to a Med cruise on Marina in a VS. No additional fare but we received additional OBC and we already had about $1200.

 

List price for that VS was double what we'd paid for the PH.

 

But that's why we took it!

 

You just can't predict what might come your way.

 

Mura

[YoHoHo]

a bit of advice: Try not to form rules or expectations based on what others report ...mura

+1.

[SusieV]

Even if we stay in our cubbyhole I think we'll be just fine... but a girl can dream :) I love balconies but that's not in the budget right now.

 

I just honestly can't believe that this sailing is $50pp more than a comparable 10 night trip on Celebrity Summit a few weeks earlier, and that sailing has no perks because I'm comparing an inside to an inside. Going up to an oceanview to get the drink package and maybe an extra perk would actually cost $300pp more than O!

 

So maybe we'll find that X suits us better, but there can't be a better time to find out, I think :)

[LHT28]

Even if we stay in our cubbyhole I think we'll be just fine... but a girl can dream :) I love balconies but that's not in the budget right now.

 

I just honestly can't believe that this sailing is $50pp more than a comparable 10 night trip on Celebrity Summit a few weeks earlier, and that sailing has no perks because I'm comparing an inside to an inside. Going up to an oceanview to get the drink package and maybe an extra perk would actually cost $300pp more than O!

 

So maybe we'll find that X suits us better, but there can't be a better time to find out, I think :)

 

Sometimes it is not just about the $$

I am willing to pay more to sail on Oceania for many different reasons

It just suits us better than some other lines

It is a personal choice for us

 

YMMV

[azam71209]

I love the category G cabins on deck 7. Haven't been in the others. There are only 2 and they are in a very quiet hallway, shared only by expensive suites across the hall.

 

Inside cabins have noticeably less motion and you don't have to look at the horizon going up and down.

 

Mary