Question about OLife Choice

[Paulchili]

3 hours ago, LHT28 said:

I am getting too old for all this math  c**p

I told you not to throw away your abacus 😀 

[1985rz1]

5 hours ago, Rosmerta said:

Thanks for the internet information. So does that mean that the airfare is not part of the O package but is included for everyone? Am I understanding correctly that the airfare credit would be applied to the cruise-only price?

 

 Thank you for pointing out the value of the excursion credit. We usually prefer private excursions. I wish I could see a sampling of the offerings at the 199-price.

 

O Life is $1,100 more, while the OBC is $800. Our gratuities will be a bit under that unless they are raised in the meantime. So if the airfare isn’t an O Life perk, but could in fact be credited...hmmm....

 

 

Simply put, Oceania normally shows two prices besides the so-called full fare:  1. O-Life with Air and 2. Cruise only.

 

In between these two prices are 1. O-Life without Air and 2. Air without O-Life.

 

You can find the amount of credit you would get from declining air by subtracting the O-Life OBC value from the O-Life with Air.  This amount is the Air without O-Life and the  difference between this number and the Cruise Only is the Air credit you would get by declining the Air.

 

Conversely the Cruise Only price plus the O-Life OBC gives you the cost of O-Life without Air.

 

Maybe not so simply put 🤔 🤔 🤔. Oceania does try to obfuscate the pricing. 

Edited August 27, 2019 by 1985rz1

[Rosmerta]

3 hours ago, 1985rz1 said:

Simply put, Oceania normally shows two prices besides the so-called full fare:  1. O-Life with Air and 2. Cruise only.

 

In between these two prices are 1. O-Life without Air and 2. Air without O-Life.

 

You can find the amount of credit you would get from declining air by subtracting the O-Life OBC value from the O-Life with Air.  This amount is the Air without O-Life and the  difference between this number and the Cruise Only is the Air credit you would get by declining the Air.

 

Conversely the Cruise Only price plus the O-Life OBC gives you the cost of O-Life without Air.

 

Maybe not so simply put 🤔 🤔 🤔. Oceania does try to obfuscate the pricing. 

It is obfuscated, but you’ve made it very clear. Thank you. 

[Fortknox]

Sorry to hack this thread but we are Aussies looking to cruise Alaska later in 2020 & I'm trying to work out the best option for us?

 

The cruise we are looking at is 20 days offering O'life Choice choose with one of either 10 shore excursions, beverage or credit.

Or we can split into 2 back to back cruises 12 days offering O'Life Ultimate inc 6 shore excursions, beverage plus credit & then we can add the extra 8 days with O'Life Choice.

Obviously this would cost more to do the back to back but I'm not sure if this is a better option value wise?

 

I am unable to find any details on what shore tours or the Ultimate Passport Collection costs are to try & work out what the bottom line will be (we prefer to do shore tours with the cruise lines).  I know that this would not be set in stone so far out but it would be nice to have an indicator of  roughly what I am looking at as a whole package for the cruise.

 

Thanks heaps

 

 

 

[LHT28]

9 minutes ago, Fortknox said:

Sorry to hack this thread but we are Aussies looking to cruise Alaska later in 2020 & I'm trying to work out the best option for us?

 

The cruise we are looking at is 20 days offering O'life Choice choose with one of either 10 shore excursions, beverage or credit.

Or we can split into 2 back to back cruises 12 days offering O'Life Ultimate inc 6 shore excursions, beverage plus credit & then we can add the extra 8 days with O'Life Choice.

Obviously this would cost more to do the back to back but I'm not sure if this is a better option value wise?

 

I am unable to find any details on what shore tours or the Ultimate Passport Collection costs are to try & work out what the bottom line will be (we prefer to do shore tours with the cruise lines).  I know that this would not be set in stone so far out but it would be nice to have an indicator of  roughly what I am looking at as a whole package for the cruise.

 

Thanks heaps

 

 

 

I am not sure what you are saying but  I think you are getting the  Ultimate O life deal on the 1st cruise  which includes  the House select beverage package plus the included shore excursions plus  the OBC

 

The  Unlimited  Passport collection is not the same as the O life  included tours  it is  separate deal  ..

 

Unlimited Passport Collection

• Enjoy UNLIMITED shore excursions throughout your voyage
• Choose from a wide array of excursions all for one low price
• Save up to 40% per person off à la carte retail prices
• As an added bonus, receive additional savings on Oceania Select and Oceania Exclusive excursions

 

 

 

[Mura]

For starters, you can go to other earllier Alaska cruises and see what the tour options are.  They don't always change that much.

 

I have done this for other itineraries where tour options weren't yet up for our cruise, but I could see what had happened in the past.  Probably not too much in the past!

 

We did Alaska in 1990 on Princess, so it's totally different from the Oceania experience today.  But I think that in many ports we did our own thing.  We DID do a ships tour (a flight) to Tracey Arm which we enjoyed very much.  We were only 6 people, I think.  The seaplane doesn't carry many people.  (Or at least it did not back then.  They are probably still rather small.)

 

Normally I'd suggest you ask you TA but I know that Australians have extra problems!

We aren't inclined to take a drink package since DH's preferred tipple is usually orange juice no ice plus a sip of my wine at dinner whereas I will order a bottle and nurse it through a few meals.  There's no way the drink package would be worth it to us.  You have to figure out if it would really be valuable to you. 

 

The basic package gives you drinks at mealtimes period.  The "ultimate" package is 24/7.  BUT ... if you are wine drinkers it means taking glasses from a short list rather than a bottle.  When I buy my wine, I prefer to buy the bottle, which is another reason why we won't take a package.   If you are happy with the choices "by the glass", then the package could be worth it to you.

 

You also have the option to buy bottles on shore and bring them on board,then pay a $25 corkage fee to drink them in a restaurant ... but if you  want to drink them in your room, no charge.

 

I haven't looked at your two options but for US -- we'd take the 20 day cruise.  That does depend on price.  You say the B2B would be more expensive.  How much more?

 

If you go to your roll call (or roll calls) you might find other passengers who want to do private tours, which could eliminate the question about ship's tours.  Generally those are less money for fewer people.  Admittedly, since Oceania introduced the oLife tours fewer people go to roll calls to set up private tours.  But I had no trouble recruiting people for private tours I set up on our last two cruises (Nov '17 on Marina and May '18 on Riviera).

 

When we did Alaska on Princess in 1990 we were new to the process and weren't on the internet (!) so we had no idea of how to find other passengers who wanted to do private tours.  It's a different world today.

 

Good luck!  And welcome to a very beautiful part of the world.

 

Mura

 

 

 

 

 

[Fortknox]

I have two options to book this cruise

 

1)  20 day cruise only offers the choice of one as it is OL Choice

 

2) Split the cruise we would receive the OL Ultimate for 12 days & then only receive the OL Choice for the second stage of 8 days but it will costs more to do as it would be a back to back cruise.

 

 

I understand that only the base shore tours (not OS...) are offered in the OL Ultimate but that you can upgrade to Ultimate Passport (found that info on the net) but there is no cost to say how much this upgrade is or how much the shore tours are to work out if it's worth it?. 

Obviously there will be extra charges if we do any of the OS tours either with the OL Ultimate package or individually if we took say On Board credit. 

How much are the shore tours?

 

I am trying to work out how much the whole cruise will cost, hofpeully that make more sense?

 

[LHT28]

8 minutes ago, Fortknox said:

I am trying to work out how much the whole cruise will cost, hofpeully that make more sense?

 

Are you using  a TA in Australia?

You might get  better info on what  the pricing is  by asking  them

You may  or may not get a discount  for the B2B pricing 

Regional differences apply  in your case

I know it is difficult to get info  there but try to talk with the O rep  there or  a TA that know Oceania & price out each scenario

 

[Fortknox]

Thanks Mura

 

That's the issue I have, there are no costs as the season has come to it's end.

My TA is trying to get the info from Oceania  in AU & I have been in contact too.

 

I've found all the info with the beverages but it's the shore tours pricing & passport stuff which we can't source.

We would prefer just to book with the ship, I know it's more $ but as we have not cruised or visited this part of then world would be more comfortable.

 

It's darn hard trying to work out which way to go to the get the best bang for our buck & makes it very hard knowing whether to book the 20 days or split into the 2 which will be about $700au.

 

 

 

 

[Fortknox]

Thanks LHT28

Yes I have a fantastic TA who has been working in the industry forever.

And we have booth been in contact with O.

And I have googled for hours without success.

Hence my call for help :-)

Edited August 28, 2019 by Fortknox

[Paulchili]

23 minutes ago, Fortknox said:

It's darn hard trying to work out which way to go to the get the best bang for our buck & makes it very hard knowing whether to book the 20 days or split into the 2 which will be about $700au.

That’s just it - you cannot make an intelligent decision until you can do the math. To do the math you need the numbers - you need to know the value of the included packages.

The ultimate O LIfe of first segment could very well  be worth more than $700 - depending on how much you would otherwise spend on alcohol and how much OBC you would get with O Life Ultimate.

For comparison, it would not make sense for us as we do not drink and we get OBC anyway with out status - thus the Ultimate package would not be worth $700 more for us.

Also - how many cruises do you have with Oceania - in other words, does it matter to you to get credit for 2 cruises or not (are you getting close to your 20th free cruise or not?)

Edited August 28, 2019 by Paulchili

[Fortknox]

Exactly Paulchili

Sorry I should have mentioned we are first time Oceania guests.

I did hope someone may have traveled recently & had info on package values so I could do that math :-)

Thanks again everyone, I really appreciate the responses.

 

[LHT28]

9 hours ago, Fortknox said:

Exactly Paulchili

Sorry I should have mentioned we are first time Oceania guests.

I did hope someone may have traveled recently & had info on package values so I could do that math 🙂

Thanks again everyone, I really appreciate the responses.

 

It is rare for  North Americans  to get the Ultimate O Life  deal 

They offer it on some South American cruises  but  the UK & Australia  have different  deals

 

Your TA could ask for the PDF file on Alaska excursions from this  seasons sailings  that would give you an idea of pricing

[Go-Bucks!]

On 8/22/2019 at 9:57 AM, Redtravel said:

Olife is a great concept.  It works for most cruises.  Nice choices.  In many places, the including air is good. The included excursions vary. It depends on the port. Most are good.  A few were lacking.  Love the choices and being able to prebook.  On Caribbean cruises I do not tour. Either book cruise only or if Olife price is good, take a OBC.  

 

The excursions are a good option for someone booking the world cruise which has 90+ ports.

[Go-Bucks!]

On 8/22/2019 at 9:56 PM, citruscruiser said:

Traveling as a single, OLife question: not interested in the shore excursion choice.

 

If I choose Beverage package, house select, does that use up my entire OLIfe, even though if there were two in a cabin there would be two beverage packages for the same amount of OLife?

 

 

 

As a solo, you'll get the entire amount of OBC or excursions for the cabin, but I think you just get 1 beverage package. Might be better to take the OBC and buy a beverage package onboard.

[Go-Bucks!]

On 8/23/2019 at 9:19 AM, bbtondo said:

Wondering, if you are paying double anyway, have you ever invited  someone to join you?  

 

I do that now that I go solo...one of my kids or grandkids. Great way to bless someone. 

[villauk]

Would someone in the US please price for me the Oceania sailing on Sirena which leaves Dubai on 21st December 2020 (15 night cruise) in a B2 balcony cabin, without O Life and air? I can see the pricing including the perks from my US TA, but wanted an approximate price before I emailed them to enquire about the base fare (as you all have suggested in this thread). TIA

[Paulchili]

Cruise only fare for B2 is $4,499.