Oceania Air Experiences? ✈️

[LHT28]

4 hours ago, welshfamily said:

Another thing to consider is Control when things go wrong.

Last summer we took Oceania flights for the first time. Happily paid $175 each ( 4 of us) 

as no credit offered for cruise only, We tried 4 different online TA’s but not Oceania as because of COVID thought package was the way to go. Previously ie before Covid no issue getting cruise only price and choosing own flights as Tailor made cruise ….these are treated as package holidays in the UK.

Once things started to go wrong had to just take flights and times decided by Oceania. This resulted in long waits in airports , the longest  being nearly 8 hrs in Rome. This was very last minute so no time to make other arrangements and certainly no help from Oceania. This was not down to TA as she was ringing us almost hourly. 
Yes, Oceania’s got us there and back and it was their responsibility to do so however we had no choice on flights,times etc. Original flights were ticketed therefore we could upgrade however last minute flights were not and only Economy without seats were provided.

This was not ideal.

However please remember European flights, airports etc were in turmoil last year. 

I am not sure I understand  your post

You paid the deviation fee  but left the arrangements up to Oceania ?

Could you not chose the days & flight  you wanted?

Oceania books the initial flights but when the airlines  cancel flights  or changes times I do not believe there is much anyone can do even the airlines are no help when things go pear shaped

I know the past year or so airlines have been a hot mess  & still are in some places

[Sthrngary]

2 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

How'd you like those redemption rates for SkyPesos?  Unless you are wanting the Medallion waver by credit card spend, SkyPesos are a lousy "currency" to be collecting.  And even then, best strategy is to earn the least necessary.

@FlyerTalker Allow me to explain.  I am a lifetime Platinum with Delta.  I have traveled close to 5 mill miles in my career.  When doing so, my clients paid for all my air travel and I got to keep my points/miles.  Since I paid for the airfare with my American Express, I also got AMX points still having my clients reimburse my expenses.  

 

The points I saved was for this very specific purpose.  A Mediterranean Cruise. I booked ticket at 12:01 AM the night they became available to get the lowest point total.  I was missing about 100,000 points which I transferred from my American Express Points.  To add to this story, I rebooked the air tickets yesterday allowing me to leave from my local airport, Birmingham, AL instead of having to drive to Atlanta, GA.  

 

The number of points for this trip was slightly more then when I booked the same trip two years ago which was cancelled by covid.  I hope that helps you with your reference in your comment.  I have no Airline Credit Cards, only American Express which over the years has had the best plan. 

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

[1985rz1]

3 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

I am finding that AA is allowing FFC to be effective for purchase within one year, but that the flights can be after that date.  Whether this is official policy or not, it's been the case for me.

Thanks.  I just went through this with AA, and they were firm that the new flight must begin within 1 year of original purchase, although the return was not restricted.  I did get them to extend the FCC  date by 6 months because of a critical emergency.

[mnocket]

16 hours ago, 1985rz1 said:

The problem we find with AA is that the "year" for an FFC is from purchase date, not departure date.  So if you book early, you're screwed. 

WOW  I never knew that!  Thanks.

[welshfamily]

Sorry should have been clearer.

OP asked for experiences.
We never fly in the day of the cruise therefore when using Oceania flights which were included in the cruise fare we had to pay the deviation fee. Oceania then provides details of flights. At this stage you can negotiate which flights you will take.Flights can then be ticketed straight away and you can pay airline to book seats upgrade etc. We did not have to wait until 75 days out. However when flights get cancelled …. this happened 3 times this summer … Oceania just provide other flights. No choice of carrier, times of departure, length of lay over, etc. Oceania would not let us pay the difference for better flights. TA informed us that once we had accepted Oceania flights we lost control. This does not happen with Tailor made packages……flights are controlled by TA. In 15 years of cruising we have always booked Tailor made cruises.

TA worked really hard to rectify issues but got nowhere. We were on ship when we lost one of the legs of the  flight home and Oceania would not move on allocated flight. We even offered to pay for hotel room and take flight next day paying for any differences in cost but Oceania would not engage. We ended up having to wait in Rome airport  for just under 8 hours. Then we had under a hour in Amsterdam to catch connection. Amsterdam is a huge airport and this was extremely tight. 
There are no schedule direct flights between Europe and the UK. Hence my point about loss of control.

Hope  this clarifies the post

[FlyerTalker]

On 1/23/2023 at 3:20 PM, welshfamily said:

There are no schedule direct flights between Europe and the UK. Hence my point about loss of control.

 

Say what??

 

No flights between the UK and Europe?

 

Try again.

[sofietucker]

On 1/22/2023 at 7:24 PM, Sthrngary said:

This is a very interesting topic.  My wife and I are cruising on Oceania in Nov 2023.  The cruise leaves from Athens, Greece and ends in Barcelona, Spain.  We are going with friends.  My wife and my ticket are DIY, using Delta Airline Miles/Points for Business Class (Delta One) international and First Class domestic. Our friends are taking the Oceania Coach Flights. 

 

Both Couples are doing the "Pre-Cruise Hotel" in Athens, Greece through Oceania.  I WANT to book our friends direct with Delta however they are afraid to do so if the Cruise Gets Canceled or they have to cancel before full payment.  The competitive fares are non-cancelable or changeable.  That is my situation. 

 

My questions is when you book the Pre-Cruise Hotel and Airfare with Oceania, can I assume logically they flight comes in coordinated with the Hotel Stay?  Second question is, has anyone else done this and the flight came in so late that the hotel stay was somewhat of a waste?

 

Any assistance would be appreciated.

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

Responding to your friends' flight situation: we always take the air credit and DIY with points (very carefully researched and time-padded layovers, etc.). Then we also get fabulous everything-covered door-to-door insurance (not the cruise line's). If anything happens--cruise is canceled, for one--we are 100% reimbursed. Happened repeatedly during pandemic. Now, for our family who went to Spain with us last year, we booked them all the way with us, seats together, etc., but direct, not points, nor on our locator number. They had to bail early in the tour. Everything was covered, flights and and pro-rated remainder of trip.

(Re: your actual question: Have never done cruise hotels. Their prices are easily double what we would pay on our own--e.g., per person, not per room, no membership discounts, etc.-- and we usually don't care for their hotel choices.)

Edited January 25, 2023 by sofietucker

[chocchic]

Pur O experience was disaster.  P books tickets on group..so we were not even able to access our tickets on line.  We couldn't check our luggage all the way thru to Sydney.  Had to claim in Dallas then walk it over to International.  Could not upgrade.  We are not happy customers

[Flatbush Flyer]

7 minutes ago, chocchic said:

Pur O experience was disaster.  P books tickets on group..so we were not even able to access our tickets on line.  We couldn't check our luggage all the way thru to Sydney.  Had to claim in Dallas then walk it over to International.  Could not upgrade.  We are not happy customers

As most O regulars will tell you, take the air credit and DIY the air- particularly if you want bizclass.

[CurlerRob]

1 hour ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

As most O regulars will tell you, take the air credit and DIY the air- particularly if you want bizclass.

 

I'm unclear on why taking the air credit is a better value overall. A sample cruise had OLife with air at $11,099 pp, cruise only fare at $10,049. That difference is $1,050 pp. The OBC offer in OLife was $750 per stateroom, or $375 pp. What appears to be the air allowance calculates as $675 pp.

 

Would the air credit be more than the $675 when purchasing OLife with air? If not, I can't see the reason for not just buying cruise only or cruise with OLife (non-air) as best fits the individual.

 

I'm not sure what I'm missing in the strategy ... 🍺🥌

[AMHuntFerry]

10 minutes ago, CurlerRob said:

 

I'm unclear on why taking the air credit is a better value overall. A sample cruise had OLife with air at $11,099 pp, cruise only fare at $10,049. That difference is $1,050 pp. The OBC offer in OLife was $750 per stateroom, or $375 pp. What appears to be the air allowance calculates as $675 pp.

 

Would the air credit be more than the $675 when purchasing OLife with air? If not, I can't see the reason for not just buying cruise only or cruise with OLife (non-air) as best fits the individual.

 

I'm not sure what I'm missing in the strategy ... 🍺🥌

I think you are saying the same thing as FF. FF is saying to do your own air plans.

 

By the way, $750 per stateroom is an odd O-Life value. It's usually $400, $600, $800. I'm not saying it doesn't exist....just haven't seen it before.

[Flatbush Flyer]

6 minutes ago, CurlerRob said:

 

I'm unclear on why taking the air credit is a better value overall. A sample cruise had OLife with air at $11,099 pp, cruise only fare at $10,049. That difference is $1,050 pp. The OBC offer in OLife was $750 per stateroom, or $375 pp. What appears to be the air allowance calculates as $675 pp.

 

Would the air credit be more than the $675 when purchasing OLife with air? If not, I can't see the reason for not just buying cruise only or cruise with OLife (non-air) as best fits the individual.

 

I'm not sure what I'm missing in the strategy ... 🍺🥌

I’m smiling because we appear to have different definitions of “value.” For me, it’s not a cheaper price. Rather, it’s getting better quality at a good price.

It appears that your math may be right. So, you’d have $675 cash still in your pocket.
Now, you may not be able to find your desired routing, dates and carrier for that price. But that $675 could offset the cost of the exact tix you really want. 
Remember that, if you want O to get you pricing on your Plan A, you’re subject to a deviation fee and any ticket price difference, which can be substantial if you want a carrier that isn’t contracted with O. Want non-stop SFO to SYD? It’ll be significantly more than what O will propose for your initial tix. Want bizclass? You’ve got to pay O the “with air” price and add the bizclass quote amount they give you on top of that.

I take the credit and, sometimes along with FF points, my out-of-pocket cash cost for United Polaris SFO-SYD days before the cruise may bottom line at more (or less) than the O “with air” cost. But, when it’s higher, it’s a small price to pay for non-stop bizclass vs O’s connections (plus not getting FF points and all other shortcomings of using O air).
 

[CurlerRob]

9 minutes ago, AMHuntFerry said:

I think you are saying the same thing as FF. FF is saying to do your own air plans.

 

By the way, $750 per stateroom is an odd O-Life value. It's usually $400, $600, $800. I'm not saying it doesn't exist....just haven't seen it before.

Thx. I had interpreted “air credit” as some form of credit after booking. 
 

The $750 was a currency conversion to keep everything in CAD. It was actually $600 USD which should be more familiar. Good catch. 🍺🥌

[AMHuntFerry]

1 minute ago, CurlerRob said:

Thx. I had interpreted “air credit” as some form of credit after booking. 
 

The $750 was a currency conversion to keep everything in CAD. It was actually $600 USD which should be more familiar. Good catch. 🍺🥌

Ohhhhh. I tried to use Canadian pennies when we crossed the border for my dad's concert a few years ago and got a big laugh. 😳

[Flatbush Flyer]

4 minutes ago, CurlerRob said:

Thx. I had interpreted “air credit” as some form of credit after booking. 
 

The $750 was a currency conversion to keep everything in CAD. It was actually $600 USD which should be more familiar. Good catch. 🍺🥌

OK but do you understand what I mean about value being qualitative.

[LHT28]

31 minutes ago, CurlerRob said:

 

I'm unclear on why taking the air credit is a better value overall. A sample cruise had OLife with air at $11,099 pp, cruise only fare at $10,049. That difference is $1,050 pp. The OBC offer in OLife was $750 per stateroom, or $375 pp. What appears to be the air allowance calculates as $675 pp.

 

Would the air credit be more than the $675 when purchasing OLife with air? If not, I can't see the reason for not just buying cruise only or cruise with OLife (non-air) as best fits the individual.

 

I'm not sure what I'm missing in the strategy ... 🍺🥌

The OBC in th4e O Life perk you are paying for that

The real value is the Excursions or the Bev package if you drink

Ask O or your TA the real amount you will get if you take the O life perk but no air

It is  not as straight forward as you think LOL

JMO

 

[CurlerRob]

9 hours ago, LHT28 said:

The OBC in th4e O Life perk you are paying for that

The real value is the Excursions or the Bev package if you drink

Ask O or your TA the real amount you will get if you take the O life perk but no air

It is  not as straight forward as you think LOL

JMO

 

 

Thank you. My question was asked in order to confirm that I was properly deconstructing Oceania's OLife + air pricing into it's three components (cruise, air and OLife perk). I do understand the various issues surrounding the perks. 🍺🥌

Edited January 25, 2023 by CurlerRob
Typo

[FlyerTalker]

15 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

I’m smiling because we appear to have different definitions of “value.” For me, it’s not a cheaper price. Rather, it’s getting better quality at a good price

 

BINGO!!

 

Life is not all about "cheapest".  Especially when I see people scrounging to get the ABSOLUTE LOWEST price for air travel, then complain about the quality of the product, the inconvenience of the connection, the difficulty of the routing and more.

 

 

[PhD-iva]

On 1/23/2023 at 4:04 AM, welshfamily said:

Another thing to consider is Control when things go wrong.

Last summer we took Oceania flights for the first time. Happily paid $175 each ( 4 of us) 

as no credit offered for cruise only, We tried 4 different online TA’s but not Oceania as because of COVID thought package was the way to go. Previously ie before Covid no issue getting cruise only price and choosing own flights as Tailor made cruise ….these are treated as package holidays in the UK.

Once things started to go wrong had to just take flights and times decided by Oceania. This resulted in long waits in airports , the longest  being nearly 8 hrs in Rome. This was very last minute so no time to make other arrangements and certainly no help from Oceania. This was not down to TA as she was ringing us almost hourly. 
Yes, Oceania’s got us there and back and it was their responsibility to do so however we had no choice on flights,times etc. Original flights were ticketed therefore we could upgrade however last minute flights were not and only Economy without seats were provided.

This was not ideal.

However please remember European flights, airports etc were in turmoil last year. 

I traveled to Europe three times in the last 18 months. The cruiselines were at the mercy of the airlines, who were changing itineraries and flights repeatedly. Not optimal is an understatement. It $uck3d. But, not the cruiselines’ fault. Could they have done better?, yes. But they were/still are struggling as well.

[Jmoondance]

Thanks for all of you!

Great info. All around. 

[Sthrngary]

On 1/26/2023 at 7:05 PM, PhD-iva said:

I traveled to Europe three times in the last 18 months. The cruiselines were at the mercy of the airlines, who were changing itineraries and flights repeatedly. Not optimal is an understatement. It $uck3d. But, not the cruiselines’ fault. Could they have done better?, yes. But they were/still are struggling as well.

The question is Odds of Success.  How can a cruise guest increase the odds of success with their air travel for a cruise far away from their home base.  That is the question on the table.  Not who might be to blame or not.  That only happens when we have a bad experience.  What can we all do in todays day and age to put the odds in our favor.

 

We all know the answer to that question.  Never before in travel has it been this important to really think through the decisions we make.  Know the consequences both positive and negative. Then make a decision right for you personal needs.  It is a cruise.  Nothing every goes perfectly on a cruise.  It is the nature of the vacation.  Just make good choices based on lowering your odds of failure. 

 

I just spent a difficult few weeks looking at every brand of airfare that goes to Athens, Greece with a return from Barcelona.  I looked at dates, time, itineraries, class of service and of course cost.  Because I like other have lived through lots of cruise cancelations during covid, having a fully refundable airfare was a must if I did not use the cruise lines air option. We wrote out the pro's and con's which did not take more then 10 minutes and the result was the best odds for success.  No guarantee but best odds. We booked 11 months prior to the cruise directly with Delta Airlines with a fully refundable ticket for our friends.  The cost was $345.00 more total because we booked it so far in advance.  We are going the day before the cruise to increase our odds of success.  Again, no guarantees, just odds. 

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment.  Focus on odds and live with the results.  

[Jmoondance]

As always much wisdom on your post!

 

I read this on another cruise line board,  it's not my words that I want you to know but I agree with it whole heartily!

 

1) Planning helps the excitement and anticipation of travel start to build.

 

2) Time and Money.  If I had infinite time left in life, and infinite money,  I'd probably plan less.

 

3) For each vacation day, I like to have handy 

Option A (preferred)

Option B (next best)

Option C

 

In 2 recent trips,  ~ 50% of all days, a situation caused Option A to NOT work out.  

I saved a huge amount of time and stress by immediately simply pivoting to Option B.

 

Traveling has never felt more spontaneous, despite all the "planning" I do.

[Flatbush Flyer]

45 minutes ago, Sthrngary said:

The question is Odds of Success.  How can a cruise guest increase the odds of success with their air travel for a cruise far away from their home base.  That is the question on the table.  Not who might be to blame or not.  That only happens when we have a bad experience.  What can we all do in todays day and age to put the odds in our favor.

 

We all know the answer to that question.  Never before in travel has it been this important to really think through the decisions we make.  Know the consequences both positive and negative. Then make a decision right for you personal needs.  It is a cruise.  Nothing every goes perfectly on a cruise.  It is the nature of the vacation.  Just make good choices based on lowering your odds of failure. 

 

I just spent a difficult few weeks looking at every brand of airfare that goes to Athens, Greece with a return from Barcelona.  I looked at dates, time, itineraries, class of service and of course cost.  Because I like other have lived through lots of cruise cancelations during covid, having a fully refundable airfare was a must if I did not use the cruise lines air option. We wrote out the pro's and con's which did not take more then 10 minutes and the result was the best odds for success.  No guarantee but best odds. We booked 11 months prior to the cruise directly with Delta Airlines with a fully refundable ticket for our friends.  The cost was $345.00 more total because we booked it so far in advance.  We are going the day before the cruise to increase our odds of success.  Again, no guarantees, just odds. 

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment.  Focus on odds and live with the results.  

 Odds and probability are not the same thing. 

When it comes to delay/cancellation for any one specific flight, the number of variable is so large that it is not unreasonable to say that the “odds of success” are always 50/50. Either there’s a problem or there isn’t.

 

As for probability, if you want to somehow manage it, the key factor is “common sense.”

 

[FlyerTalker]

1 hour ago, Sthrngary said:

having a fully refundable airfare was a must if I did not use the cruise lines air option.

 

Completely disagree.

 

That opinion is only if you insist on having a complete refund of cash back to you.  Getting a flight credit rather than cash will drop your price a good bit.  And those credits are far more flexible than you might think.

 

Say you buy a ticket on Air France and get back credits for AF.  Believe it or not, you can use those credits on not just AF tickets, but all the other ones that carry an AF codeshare.  Which are probably about half the flights that DL operate here in the USA.  And those on KLM.  And other SkyTeam airlines.

 

Same if you bought a BA ticket - use them on codeshares operated by other OneWorld airlines.

 

Further...are you seeing widespread cancellation of cruises anymore?  In fact, with the vast reduction in cruises with pre-cruise and mid-cruise testing, you are finding the cruise schedules pretty solid these days.

 

Finally, if your cruise is cancelled - use the credits and just take a vacation somewhere else!!

 

 

[Sthrngary]

4 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Completely disagree.

 

That opinion is only if you insist on having a complete refund of cash back to you.  Getting a flight credit rather than cash will drop your price a good bit.  And those credits are far more flexible than you might think.

 

Say you buy a ticket on Air France and get back credits for AF.  Believe it or not, you can use those credits on not just AF tickets, but all the other ones that carry an AF codeshare.  Which are probably about half the flights that DL operate here in the USA.  And those on KLM.  And other SkyTeam airlines.

 

Same if you bought a BA ticket - use them on codeshares operated by other OneWorld airlines.

 

Further...are you seeing widespread cancellation of cruises anymore?  In fact, with the vast reduction in cruises with pre-cruise and mid-cruise testing, you are finding the cruise schedules pretty solid these days.

 

Finally, if your cruise is cancelled - use the credits and just take a vacation somewhere else!!

 

 

I completely agree with everything you said.  Completely.  Unfortunately, social media sometimes does not allow for all the details and on this it was my fault. In my case, I would do the strategy you spoke of. Let me say that differently, I have done the strategy you spoke of.  

 

My example is for my friends that don't travel much, have not traveled much.  They wanted the Oceania Airfare because they did not have to pay for it now.  They can wait for final payment.  Not because it was the right thing to do.  I could have booked them hundreds of dollars less however I booked and paid for it for them.  If they don't go, which has happened before, I wanted my full refund.  My situation is unique, I know.  My fault for not being clear.

 

If a person can leverage the airline credit and use it effectively, your strategy works great.  However sometime, it is simply best to pay a little more and have a fully refundable ticket. 

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment.