New to Oceania: Take OBC or Excursions

[Flatbush Flyer]

4 minutes ago, aussietwo said:

Another question.  We also have 

Gift Orders
US$50 COMPLIMENTARY SHIPBOARD CREDIT  times two

This US$100 is not included in the total showing on our Oceania account.  Should it be included or will it be added to our account after we board.  

TA provided SBC (other than OCAPP $ for gratuities, which TAs get as a pass through from O) does not usually appear on an O invoice nor in your online O account. You should then find it on a card on your cabin desk at embarkation. And, while your TA may purchase a perk for you (and it does appear on your O invoice), most often only O directly provided SBC (O Life and O Club $) appears on your web account (and will be used to pay for anything you put in the Cart).
 

[Flatbush Flyer]

7 hours ago, mauibabes said:

@guppy99 

IF you are going to purchase/book Oceania excursions and the 💵 range is between $100-199 and you book the number of FREE Excursions, it is absolutely in your best interest to take the Free Excursions Amenity option . 
If your selected Amenity is $400 or 4 Excursions for example, you can theoretically book $795 worth of tours, so much more bang for your buck. NMHO, JUST THE FACTS. 

When you meet the YWC booked tour minimum, and combine them with the Free ones you have booked, it allows you to get 25% off the OS, etc tours so a very good value.  On a Southampton to Iceland to NYC trip Pre Covid, we took about a dozen tours.  A combination of Free and YWC and  Private tours and I think our average tour cost was only about $80.  You have to “Do the math” 👍
 

I too find the excursion booking process to be a bit challenging but we get it worked out. After I finish my booking I always call an O Rep friend and have her confirm my numbers.  I Never want to leave any 💵💵 on the table.  
Use your Oceania resources and your TA because no one knows everything, even on CC, JMHO. 

Ciao, Mauibabes 

All I would add to this is to actually use the O rep to buy the tours. Their O network will display the latest status of tour stuff, which may not have yet made it to the web. Also, the rep can send you the “prepurchased shore excursions” PDF. It shows all the math in detail and is extremely helpful once you are onboard - should there be any changes in tours resulting in refunds for cancels and new charges for replacements.

[aussietwo]

The OBC has now been adjusted.  I actually got a nice surprise.  I was not expecting to get the lower YWYW pricing on tour 4 as well as tour 5.  

[Flatbush Flyer]

16 minutes ago, aussietwo said:

The OBC has now been adjusted.  I actually got a nice surprise.  I was not expecting to get the lower YWYW pricing on tour 4 as well as tour 5.  

Do a search here for one of my extensive discussions on O Life/YWYW strategies.

And, as always, make sure you get a copy of the full math Prepurchased shore excursions PDF, which will come in handy should there be tour changes once you are onboard.

[zalusky]

1 hour ago, aussietwo said:

The OBC has now been adjusted.  I actually got a nice surprise.  I was not expecting to get the lower YWYW pricing on tour 4 as well as tour 5.  

You should get the 25% reduction on all tours once you make the count.

[LHT28]

8 hours ago, zalusky said:

You should get the 25% reduction on all tours once you make the count.

Even the "Free" O Life  ones ??

[zalusky]

2 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Even the "Free" O Life  ones ??

Those get marked with a 100% reduction.  The thing is it can vary which ones they are.  On our longer cruise we have to take 8 excursions to get the deal and 4 are free.  The decision as to which are free is the 4 top valued items under $200.  If for example you add another excursion that is $199 it may replace a lower price free excursion and be part of the free 4.  The replaced excursion goes from free to its original value and then gets the 25% reduction applied.  It’s crazy math and you can wind up with credit that does not show up in the online tools.

[LHT28]

21 minutes ago, zalusky said:

Those get marked with a 100% reduction.  The thing is it can vary which ones they are.  On our longer cruise we have to take 8 excursions to get the deal and 4 are free.  The decision as to which are free is the 4 top valued items under $200.  If for example you add another excursion that is $199 it may replace a lower price free excursion and be part of the free 4.  The replaced excursion goes from free to its original value and then gets the 25% reduction applied.  It’s crazy math and you can wind up with credit that does not show up in the online tools.

So basically  the 4 lower priced tours are the free ones

Just like in stores for the BOGO   they take the cheaper item as the free  item 😉

 

[Flatbush Flyer]

2 hours ago, zalusky said:

Those get marked with a 100% reduction.  The thing is it can vary which ones they are.  On our longer cruise we have to take 8 excursions to get the deal and 4 are free.  The decision as to which are free is the 4 top valued items under $200.  If for example you add another excursion that is $199 it may replace a lower price free excursion and be part of the free 4.  The replaced excursion goes from free to its original value and then gets the 25% reduction applied.

THIS is exactly correct! And this is why it is so important to get a copy of the PrePurchased Shore Excursions PDF. It will show you which items would be next in line to be designated one of your O Life items if an original one is cancelled and/or replaced by an O life choice of higher cost (yet still <$200 retail).

[basor]

2 hours ago, LHT28 said:

So basically  the 4 lower priced tours are the free ones

Just like in stores for the BOGO   they take the cheaper item as the free  item 😉

 

No - the 4 most expensive tours are the free ones....the example is that if make a change to your tour choices and the new tour is more expensive than one of the 4 free ones, it will replace the least expensive free one so your free tours always are the 4 most expensive 

[ORV]

53 minutes ago, basor said:

No - the 4 most expensive tours are the free ones....the example is that if make a change to your tour choices and the new tour is more expensive than one of the 4 free ones, it will replace the least expensive free one so your free tours always are the 4 most expensive 

Up to the limit for a O Life tour. Which past history shows is $199, but could be more.

[zalusky]

2 hours ago, basor said:

No - the 4 most expensive tours are the free ones....the example is that if make a change to your tour choices and the new tour is more expensive than one of the 4 free ones, it will replace the least expensive free one so your free tours always are the 4 most expensive 

Exactly.  We had a cruise booked and in our case the minimum to get the discount was 8 tours with 4 under $200 being free.   The cruise line then cancelled one of the >$200 tours and suddenly we were under 8 and everything got out of whack.  We found a cheap tour at a port we had not booked and then everything reshuffled.   As mentioned the prepurchased PDF explains what is 100% covered, what gets the 25% discount.

 

I actually made a spreadsheet for our cruise with all the days and all the tours and tried to see if I could program the shuffle game and I failed at it.

 

The worst part about it is that the online listings don't show this nor do they show your credits that hit when you make the 25% cut.   Example you book some initial tours some paid and some not paid.  You pay full price.  Then another day you book some more and pay some more.

Finally you hit the threshold - 8 in my case. Suddenly all the paid tours are 25% cheaper and you effectively have a credit but it is not explicitly spelled out.  It feels like a shell game.  There software gets it right but its very confusing.

[aussietwo]

Once My Account was updated, I could see the amount of credit I still had.  It also should my original amount of credit.  The calculation was really quite simple,  it was the original credit minus the total of the two excursions less a 25% discount. The other three tours were my 3 “free” O’Life tours.    Only the full price of the tours are listed in the excursions PDF but the YWYW price is also listed online in My Account Oceania which makes it easy to do a reconciliation. 

[zalusky]

Here is what I am talking about.  The first is the website display of my pre-purchased tours.

The second is a display from the PDF sent to my TA from Oceania.

 

You can see the first one is just weird.  It does not show the 25% discount and only one with some sort discount.  Nothing really matches up.  It does not show what I got for free with the Olife excursion.

I got the first one online by going to manage my booking and then clicking view purchases.

 

The second explains everything.  Now if there is a way to display the second screen under manage my booking please tell me how to do it

 

 

 

[1985rz1]

51 minutes ago, zalusky said:

Here is what I am talking about.  The first is the website display of my pre-purchased tours.

The second is a display from the PDF sent to my TA from Oceania.

 

You can see the first one is just weird.  It does not show the 25% discount and only one with some sort discount.  Nothing really matches up.  It does not show what I got for free with the Olife excursion.

I got the first one online by going to manage my booking and then clicking view purchases.

 

The second explains everything.  Now if there is a way to display the second screen under manage my booking please tell me how to do it

 

 

 

I never found a way to see the second listing on line.  If someone has, I'd like to know the trick, too.

[Flatbush Flyer]

4 hours ago, 1985rz1 said:

I never found a way to see the second listing on line.  If someone has, I'd like to know the trick, too.

The second display is the ONLY correct accounting of pre-purchased excursions. It is the “prepurchased shore excursions” PDF you can request be sent directly to you if you purchase the tours from an O rep on the phone (or via your TA if you have the TA do it- which I do not advise because even many “O seasoned” TAs haven’t got a clue about O Life strategies - particularly the tours).

There is no way to display that PDF in your online account.

In all honesty, the O website Cart and Account display for excursions is VERY glitchy. And the web item shown above could be mistaken for the display if you had chosen the “Passport” tours option (though the numbers are still incorrect). BTW, the PDF display above is for one person. The second person would have a similar listing on the PDF. I’m not sure if that web pic is for one or both people.

 

Bottom line: That PDF rules for prepurchased tours. And once onboard, you can also request a “screen print” of what the Destination Services folks have whenever changes are made with cancellations/refunds etc (though posting of the changes do not occur immediately.

 

[Psoque]

I wonder if there is a good reason to have a sticky (that gets updated if/when Oceania changes how they display the pricing information on their website and how much they charge for non-gateway departures and flight modifications) that shows how to do the "math" on figuring out how much one is actually going to pay for these things.

 

Here's my "math."

 

1.  Difference between "OLife with Airfare" and "Cruise Only" is the actual cost of Oceania airfare plus OLife "perks."

 

2.  The actual cost of OLIfe "perks" is the dollar amount of the OLife OBC.

 

3.  If you subtract the OLife OBC (1) from the cost of OLife "perks" (2), you get the actual cost of "free" Oceania air.

 

4.  If you want to calculate the "true cost" of the "free airfare" from Oceania, you should do the following:

a.  If you want to fly out of airports other than what's listed as "gateway" airports, add $200 to (3).

b.  If you want to arrive before embarkation day or after disembarkation day, add $175 to (3).

c.  If you want to do both, add $375 to (3).

 

 

 

[LHT28]

2 hours ago, Psoque said:

3.  If you subtract the OLife OBC (1) from the cost of OLife "perks" (2), you get the actual cost of "free" Oceania air.

 

Not always the case

I suggest the  pax have their TA or O tell them what the air credit is  for the particular sailing

[ORV]

3 hours ago, Psoque said:

I wonder if there is a good reason to have a sticky (that gets updated if/when Oceania changes how they display the pricing information on their website and how much they charge for non-gateway departures and flight modifications) that shows how to do the "math" on figuring out how much one is actually going to pay for these things.

 

Here's my "math."

 

1.  Difference between "OLife with Airfare" and "Cruise Only" is the actual cost of Oceania airfare plus OLife "perks."

 

2.  The actual cost of OLIfe "perks" is the dollar amount of the OLife OBC.

 

3.  If you subtract the OLife OBC (1) from the cost of OLife "perks" (2), you get the actual cost of "free" Oceania air.

 

4.  If you want to calculate the "true cost" of the "free airfare" from Oceania, you should do the following:

a.  If you want to fly out of airports other than what's listed as "gateway" airports, add $200 to (3).

b.  If you want to arrive before embarkation day or after disembarkation day, add $175 to (3).

c.  If you want to do both, add $375 to (3).

 

 

 

You were doing good up until #4, then it kind of went sideways. Some airports they simply won't fly you out of. They also have a list of secondary airports and if yours is not on it then it becomes a special case. You may or may not get it added, and it may or may not be $99 per person, per way. 

 

Another issue is that if you selected a PE promo, then you're going to have to get yourself to the Gateway airport. They will not add on the secondary airports with these. 

 

There is only one deviation fee, and it will cover front and back. It is $175 per person or $350 for a couple. There is one instance where it does get put on for front and back, but I can't remember exactly what. I've got free deviation for so long I don't remember all the rules, and I don't always use O air. Then there's the people that use Oceania's hotel. 

 

So, the biggest reason there shouldn't be a sticky for these things is that there is no one size fits all. There are some basic guidelines, but there are always exceptions.  That is why many of us advocate for using a TA with Oceania experience. 

[Psoque]

12 hours ago, LHT28 said:

Not always the case

I suggest the  pax have their TA or O tell them what the air credit is  for the particular sailing

As far as I have looked into this by asking Oceania directly, this is the way to calculate the cost of "free" airfare.

[Psoque]

10 hours ago, ORV said:

You were doing good up until #4, then it kind of went sideways. Some airports they simply won't fly you out of. They also have a list of secondary airports and if yours is not on it then it becomes a special case. You may or may not get it added, and it may or may not be $99 per person, per way. 

 

Another issue is that if you selected a PE promo, then you're going to have to get yourself to the Gateway airport. They will not add on the secondary airports with these. 

 

There is only one deviation fee, and it will cover front and back. It is $175 per person or $350 for a couple. There is one instance where it does get put on for front and back, but I can't remember exactly what. I've got free deviation for so long I don't remember all the rules, and I don't always use O air. Then there's the people that use Oceania's hotel. 

 

So, the biggest reason there shouldn't be a sticky for these things is that there is no one size fits all. There are some basic guidelines, but there are always exceptions.  That is why many of us advocate for using a TA with Oceania experience. 

I don't think it was that inaccurate, perhaps not as clear enough for you...

 

1.  Difference between "OLife with Airfare" and "Cruise Only" is the actual cost of Oceania airfare plus OLife "perks."

 

2.  The actual cost of OLIfe "perks" is the dollar amount of the OLife OBC.

 

3.  If you subtract subtract (2) from (1) you get the actual cost of "free" Oceania air.

 

4.  If you want to calculate the "true cost" of the "free airfare" from Oceania, you should do the following:

 

A.  If you want to fly in before embarkation day AND/OR fly out later than the disembarkation day, there is a $175 PER PERSON fee to make any changes of that kind.

 

B.  If you want to fly out of airports other than the "gateway" airports, it could be possible to pay Oceania $200 PER PERSON.  However, Oceania may not let you fly out of some airports.

 

C.  If you want to do A AND B, it would cost $375 PER PERSON COMBINED.

 

This means, your true cost of the "free airfare" could be...

 

(3) plus $175 per person

(3) plus $200 per person

(3) plus $375 per person

or higher*

 

*if you decide to drive to the "gateway" airports, the cost of doing so (and staying in a hotel near the airport) will add more to your true cost.  Oceania may charge even more for custom air.

 

And this "math" is for coach flights.

 

Oceania makes it even more harder to calculate for premium economy tickets.

 

 

[Psoque]

10 hours ago, ORV said:

You were doing good up until #4, then it kind of went sideways. Some airports they simply won't fly you out of. They also have a list of secondary airports and if yours is not on it then it becomes a special case. You may or may not get it added, and it may or may not be $99 per person, per way. 

 

Another issue is that if you selected a PE promo, then you're going to have to get yourself to the Gateway airport. They will not add on the secondary airports with these. 

 

There is only one deviation fee, and it will cover front and back. It is $175 per person or $350 for a couple. There is one instance where it does get put on for front and back, but I can't remember exactly what. I've got free deviation for so long I don't remember all the rules, and I don't always use O air. Then there's the people that use Oceania's hotel. 

 

So, the biggest reason there shouldn't be a sticky for these things is that there is no one size fits all. There are some basic guidelines, but there are always exceptions.  That is why many of us advocate for using a TA with Oceania experience. 

I agree that it is not easy to describe how Oceania charges and hides the real cost of "free" airfare.  Ideally there should not be a reason for anybody to work so hard to figure it out.  I have once had an Oceania "advisor" who could not do even the simple "math" for me.  I fired that person.  If Oceania actually makes everything simpler, we would also spend so much more time doing something else more enjoyable.  Shame on Oceania.

[ORV]

1 minute ago, Psoque said:

I agree that it is not easy to describe how Oceania charges and hides the real cost of "free" airfare.  Ideally there should not be a reason for anybody to work so hard to figure it out.  I have once had an Oceania "advisor" who could not do even the simple "math" for me.  I fired that person.  If Oceania actually makes everything simpler, we would also spend so much more time doing something else more enjoyable.  Shame on Oceania.

Have you met FF? 

 

There are some basic guidelines, then there are case by case situations. My main concern is whatever current cruise I'm looking at. I try to make the best choice for my situation. I just ask my TA whatever I need to know, like, what's the air credit? Can I do an add on from my non gateway? or whatever I need to know.  That way I don't have to think, works for me. 

[LHT28]

23 minutes ago, Psoque said:

As far as I have looked into this by asking Oceania directly, this is the way to calculate the cost of "free" airfare.

 

Have  you booked  any cruises cruises out of Miami  or other US ports?

 

 

[mauibabes]

Anytime we have flown within the US, the Air Credit has been $300-400. To Europe has been about $700, South America in January was $700 and from the West Coast to Asia, it has also been about $700. These are B4 Covid numbers. Again, JMHO and experience.
We always ask our O Rep and run our numbers and then decide how to get the most bang for our buck since we don’t have Miles nor $$ for Business or First Class. When going to Europe, Premium Economy has normally been a good Value. Never take anything at face value, what is Reagan’s line, Trust But Verify!  
 

Mauibabes