Vista Cruisers - What are you doing?

[pinotlover]

It has been repeatedly posted here to DIY Biz Air. That is what we always do. No argument from me on that strategy.

 

We have a cruise, and adjacent land tour, booked on the Vista for next June. Some of you have bookings aboard her as early as next April . Airfare is now purchasable for our cruise and those before us.

 

We have ff miles, but would prefer to save them for a couple Asian rim cruises booked later on. Threads are full of new ships not making delivery due to manpower and supply chain issues. Canceling and changing airfare is a pain with all the rules.

 

So the question is, what are my fellow Vista booked passengers doing? A leap of faith and buying those Biz Class tickets, or waiting and watching for more concrete news from Oceania? If the latter, how long will you wait and what will motivate the action?

 

Your thoughts are appreciated. Current Biz Class airfare isn’t cheap and we hate to move rashly.

[PirateShark]

We've still have over a year until our August/September Vista cruises.  I'll be following along to see what others are doing or contemplating.  

 

[Jancruz]

I just talked to the VP who was over seas looking at Vista last week and he said she is on time..

Jancruz1

[shepherd really]

14 minutes ago, Jancruz said:

I just talked to the VP who was over seas looking at Vista last week and he said she is on time..

Jancruz1

A lot can happen between now and April that no one can foresee.  Supply chain issue, labor issues, geopolitical issue and financial issues can all interfere with the best laid plans. Italy gets 40% of its energy from Russian imports so we shall see.

[LHT28]

Usually BIZ fares are fully refundable  but  they are some that are not   ..if you can get refundable I would book   soon

They usually do not have many BIZ seats per flight

[cruising kirby]

I'm on a Vista May 2023 cruise and trying to remain positive about the on time delivery.  However I have been booked on a three new ships (pre covid) that were not delivered on time and it was very disappointing and frustrating rearranging everything at the last minute.  Unfortunately on each occasion the cruiselines did not advise the delay until a couple of months prior, even though I was actively seeking clarity well before that.

 

To be fair, the cruiselines that didn't deliver the ships on time were not Oceania.  Hopefully things are on track, I certainly hope so!  The issues identified in other posts are certainly real and may impact.

 

I have had to consider the purchase of airfares in the past few weeks.  I've decided to book our flights as we choose business class when we fly to Europe, because waiting will only mean more expensive options.  Our fares do come with a penalty for cancellation or refund but I've decided to take that risk.  What I am doing however is running a "Plan B" that can be implemented without too much distress.  I'll have to make a decision about the Vista early in 2023 before final payment is due.

[WESTEAST]

We have a booking on the new Vista next year and hopeful that there will be no delays.  Last year when we booked this cruise, we decided to include air with O (promotion for PE $199 pp CDN inbound and Business $2499 pp CDN outbound) as we can always have it removed before final payment. Our TA priced a Business ticket through her wholesaler at the time and we were ahead using O Business by a few thousand.  We are also eligible to finalize the air now however, we will probably wait a bit as our fare amount is confirmed on this booking. Will have our TA revisit independent air to compare costs for our final decision. 

[Mrs f.]

Wow. It never occurred to me that Vista would not roll out on time.  Interesting. We have British Isles next August/September. 

[ORV]

This reminds me of another advantage of booking your air through Oceania. Another poster was asking for advantages recently in a thread that got locked. This one is obvious. 

 

I also noticed another poster recently mentioned their embarkation port being changed within a month of embarkation by about 1500 miles. If you had your flights through Oceania they would fix it. 

 

I'm not saying it's more advantageous to book through them, but it is certainly a consideration if you have concerns about these issues. 

[rbtan]

For 2023 we're on Princess for the Circle the Caribbean cruise. Celebrity used to do something similar. No real O 14 day cruises coming up. We are booked for 12 nights on the Vista in Jan. 2024. Managed to snag an A-1 Concierges at the front of the ship. These have the much larger balcony. We pulled this off before the cabins were "officially" released. Don't ask how, we just did.

[WNcruiser]

We are also on the British Isles cruise in August '23. We will be flying business either from MCO or TPA. I figure even it the ship runs 2 or 3 months behind we are still safe. We wont book our air until about October this year so hopefully any delays will be announced. 

 

Wouldn't travel insurance cover the non-refundable air in the case of a cancellation? 

[R & R Carroll]

On 7/27/2022 at 1:12 PM, Jancruz said:

I just talked to the VP who was over seas looking at Vista last week and he said she is on time..

Jancruz1

Thanks Jan!!!

 

[shepherd really]

 

On 7/27/2022 at 1:12 PM, Jancruz said:

I just talked to the VP who was over seas looking at Vista last week and he said she is on time..

Jancruz1

How is that VP doing? Still employed?

[Jancruz]

22 minutes ago, shepherd really said:

 

How is that VP doing? Still employed?

He told me yesterday..I learned a lesson things dont always go as planned..no more news from me..Sorry the world is such a iffy place today..

Jancruz1

Edited August 25, 2022 by Jancruz

[Cliff-FLL]

9 hours ago, Jancruz said:

He told me yesterday..I learned a lesson things dont always go as planned..no more news from me..Sorry the world is such a iffy place today..

Jancruz1

Hey, Jan -

You're one of the best, most up-to-date sources of info about what's going on with Oceania - frequently better than the folks on the phones in Miami.  I appreciate all of the info you provide, as do many others, but you can't bat a thousand all the time.  Please keep doing what you do!

- Ed

[mauibabes]

Ditto Jan,

Ed has it right, no one bats 1000.  What is absolutely true is CC is NOT the ultimate source for all news Oceania.  We all make decisions on what we know or what we think we know. 
Mauibabes

[Condocat]

If our June Vista cruise is cancelled, our plan B will be tour Italy by rail. We’ll head out to Verona, down to Sorrento then pick up on our post cruise trip to Sicily.  
 

Gotta made lemonade!

[pinotlover]

Not blaming Jancruz the least. She’s been great on this Board. I worked in corporate America for years. Even to people like Jancruz, they’ll lie through their teeth to maintain the Company story. The O VP knew he was lying when he talked to her, the Company just wasn’t ready to release the real facts. They’ll lie to her just like they will to any of us. Not Jancruz’s fault.

 

I realized I was taking a risk in booking flights, even with her assurances. We are flying Biz Air, plus wanted to avoid the 2-3 stop routes getting to our  destination might incure. One stop is enough. I rolled the dice and only time will tell if we came up with craps.

If we get cancelled, since we Embark in Istanbul, we may just do a Turkey land tour and see if we can just do round trip out of IST. That would make three cruises out of Istanbul for us cancelled by O. It would be time to blow them off for that part of the world.

 

Edited August 26, 2022 by pinotlover

[HiFi43]

The Vista cancellation was our second cancelation on Oceania for us in the last month  (we were on the September LA to Tokyo cruise which was cancelled for the 3rd year in a row because of Japan’s Covid fears). The day it cancelled we jumped on another September cruise on Marina. We book our own air but just had United move the money to our replacement cruise air to Europe. When the Vista Inaugural canceled we were lucky enough to jump on a September Vista cruise. Luckily, we had not booked our air for the canceled cruise yet. 
 

We just try to “roll with the punches”

[Kate-AHF]

2 hours ago, pinotlover said:

If we get cancelled, since we Embark in Istanbul, we may just do a Turkey land tour and see if we can just do round trip out of IST. That would make three cruises out of Istanbul for us cancelled by O. It would be time to blow them off for that part of the world.

 

 

I'm doing a lot of looking at Turkey cruises in 23/24 (we cancelled a Regent cruise that was perfect during covid restrictions).  Have you ever considered a Windstar cruise?  That's what is looking good to us at the moment(combined with a land segment).

[pinotlover]

32 minutes ago, Kate-AHF said:

 

I'm doing a lot of looking at Turkey cruises in 23/24 (we cancelled a Regent cruise that was perfect during covid restrictions).  Have you ever considered a Windstar cruise?  That's what is looking good to us at the moment(combined with a land segment).

Doing a lot of looking. Our problem is I performed a horrible self inflicted wound and bought Biz Class tickets for our cruise. They are cancellable , but at a sizable cost. Therefore, I’ll allow the events to play out.

 

What we certainly won’t do, for months to come, is front Oceania any other money for tours or any on board activities. NaDa!  That basket will stay empty! 🥸