Late booking perks denied

[GarthK]

Hi all. We booked last year on an Oceania Norway fjords cruise for this summer. I just noticed that they now have a promotion for new bookings before the end of April where all 3 perks (free excursions, free liquor and an $800 shipboard credit) are included instead of just one. We asked about this and of course they said it only applies to new bookings, since the prices are higher now than when we booked. This is a bit of a cop out since prices are always going up. So much for being rewarded for booking early. Has anyone else run into this? Thx. 

[LHT28]

24 minutes ago, GarthK said:

Hi all. We booked last year on an Oceania Norway fjords cruise for this summer. I just noticed that they now have a promotion for new bookings before the end of April where all 3 perks (free excursions, free liquor and an $800 shipboard credit) are included instead of just one. We asked about this and of course they said it only applies to new bookings, since the prices are higher now than when we booked. This is a bit of a cop out since prices are always going up. So much for being rewarded for booking early. Has anyone else run into this? Thx. 

Is your booked cabin category still available ?

Did you use a TA?

 

Usually they will honor the new sales  but   you may end up paying  a bit more

There  are some that posted here on their experience with the deal

 

 Welcome to Cruise critic

 

[gdlamberth]

We had similar situation with Australian cruise booked in 2024.  New price was higher; but, all in (given our personal assessment of the value of "drink package" and shore excursions) we thought we came out ahead (only a few hundred dollars per couple) to re-book with the new promo.  TA facilitated and it was relatively seamless.  I suggest doing the math using your valuation of the excursions and the drink package.

 

Greg

[Harters]

We've just seen the other side of that coin. We'd been looking at a particular cruise in June but were not yet in a position to book. Until 2/4, O was offering Ultimate which is all three perks but, from 3/4, reverted to the more usual offer of a chice of just one perk. Annoying as we may well be in a position to book next week but I suppose the whole point of incentives is to fill up cabins and if offering Ultimate has done its job then I understand the deal getting pulled.

[Ka Honu]

2 hours ago, GarthK said:

... a promotion for new bookings before the end of April where all 3 perks ... are included instead of just one. ... only applies to new bookings, since the prices are higher now ... a bit of a cop out since prices are always going up. So much for being rewarded for booking early.

I'm not sure I understand your question. Do you expect them to give you the "extra" perks they're now using to attract a higher fare that you didn't pay?

 

Rebooking a voyage to take advantage of fare and/or perk changes is almost always an option; we use it fairly often after our original booking (if fares go down enough or included upgrades/perks make the higher fare worthwhile) but the cruise line isn't going to give you something for nothing. Nor should they.

 

Jus' sayin'...

[GarthK]

I agree, the higher fare story is a cop out. Fares are increased to offset rising costs, not to cover additional perks. They're clearly offering this to try to fill empty cabins. They want you to book early, and especially take your money sooner, but then they give extras to those who book late. That's what frustrates me. The higher fares are just a convenient excuse.

[GarthK]

Don't know and whats a TA?

[Ka Honu]

TA = Travel Agent. If you have a good one, it's LOTS easier than dealing directly with a cruise line or tour operator.

[RPen63]

31 minutes ago, GarthK said:

I agree, the higher fare story is a cop out. Fares are increased to offset rising costs, not to cover additional perks. They're clearly offering this to try to fill empty cabins. They want you to book early, and especially take your money sooner, but then they give extras to those who book late. That's what frustrates me. The higher fares are just a convenient excuse.

An old marketing trick:  make something appear to be free while charging for it.  Pricing models are very complicated but in general a cruise line will target a net price that covers their costs and generates sales.  The perks are part of the cost equation and structured to provide value to the customer with minimal impact on cashflow.  By booking early, you have paid a lower net price than that currently being offered for new bookings, which is your inducement / reward to do so.  If the cruise line gets more cash per booking from late bookings, i cannot see that you are being disadvantaged.

 

Oceania has an opaque pricing model (I’m being charitable here).  We as customers have a choice to either live with it or vote with our wallets.  This model seems to be successful for them.  Could it change?  Yes if enough customers vote with their wallets and Oceania suffers.  I would not count on it happening though.

[MEFIowa]

4 hours ago, GarthK said:

We booked last year on an Oceania Norway fjords cruise for this summer. I just noticed that they now have a promotion for new bookings before the end of April where all 3 perks (free excursions, free liquor and an $800 shipboard credit) are included instead of just one. We asked about this and of course they said it only applies to new bookings, since the prices are higher now than when we booked.... 

You seem to want to be able to consecutively apply future sales and promotions on top of an earlier sale or promotion. Doesn't work that way. When you book you pay the price then. IF you then want a future sale or promotion, you pay the cruise fare then applicable. When inflation is roaring, cruise fares (the prices) go up!

 

Booking EARLY means saving on the cruise fare. As many have found out, for example, a cabin-upgrade sale can directly save you thousands of dollars. That is real money, not the cents on the dollar that is OLife or Ultimate or whatever OBC or related perk they will claim is on "sale". O will let you rebook the cruise to get a new promotion but you pay the higher cruise fare. You can't stack previous sale on top of new promotion.

[ak1004]

1 hour ago, GarthK said:

I agree, the higher fare story is a cop out. Fares are increased to offset rising costs, not to cover additional perks. They're clearly offering this to try to fill empty cabins. They want you to book early, and especially take your money sooner, but then they give extras to those who book late. That's what frustrates me. The higher fares are just a convenient excuse.

 

I don't understand the source of frustration. You booked early and got a better price by locking a small amount of your money as a deposit. Now the price is higher but they offer more perks. There is no reason for them to add the perks on the top of the lower price you paid, but you always have an option to re-book if it makes sense to you.

 

6 minutes ago, RPen63 said:

An old marketing trick:  make something appear to be free while charging for it.  Pricing models are very complicated but in general a cruise line will target a net price that covers their costs and generates sales.  The perks are part of the cost equation and structured to provide value to the customer with minimal impact on cashflow.  By booking early, you have paid a lower net price than that currently being offered for new bookings, which is your inducement / reward to do so.  If the cruise line gets more cash per booking from late bookings, i cannot see that you are being disadvantaged.

 

Oceania has an opaque pricing model (I’m being charitable here).  We as customers have a choice to either live with it or vote with our wallets.  This model seems to be successful for them.  Could it change?  Yes if enough customers vote with their wallets and Oceania suffers.  I would not count on it happening though.

 

I'm not sure what's the issue with O pricing model. For people who don't drink or take ship excursions this is a good opportunity to pay for only what they use.

[GarthK]

My point is more like if you buy something at a store and the next day the item goes on sale, many stores, by policy or simply in good faith, will give you the sale price. Not quite apples to apples since for the cruise it's not the next day, but then again I haven't received the product either. It's principle as much as anything else. 

[LHT28]

Did you book while onboard?

 

I would call  Oceania  again  you may get a different  answer  or if you used a travel agency  get them to go to bat for you

If your Cabin category is still available  they should give you the deal but see what the extra perks will cost you  as it probably will 😉

 

[GarthK]

Also, booking early doesn't guarantee you a lower fare. This only happens if there is a price increase between booking and departure. This may be likely given the timeframe, but it's not guaranteed.

[MEFIowa]

4 minutes ago, GarthK said:

Also, booking early doesn't guarantee you a lower fare. This only happens if there is a price increase between booking and departure. This may be likely given the timeframe, but it's not guaranteed.

When inflation has been at 40-year highs since 2021, fares increase!

 

Initially booked our B2B 10-11/2023 cruise in early 2022. And then booked our 9/2024 cruise in April 2022. Since then, I did use separate cabin-upgrade sales in 2022 to rebook the cruises into higher level cabin at sale prices. BUT if I were to try to use a new promotion, I'd have to pay the now going fare associated with that promotion. NONE have come close to the thousands of dollars saved in the cabin-upgrade sales.

[GarthK]

OK, thanks to all who replied. Time to shut this one down. 

Garth

[Cruzin Terri]

My TA also called to see if we could take advantage of this promotion.  We had already paid in full.  She was told that we had to cancel (50% penalty) and then rebook at the higher fare to take advantage of the promotion.  We were willing to just pay the higher fare difference, but they would not budge.

Terri

[ORV]

2 hours ago, GarthK said:

OK, thanks to all who replied. Time to shut this one down. 

Garth

You opened the door, just because people are saying things you don't agree with doesn't mean they have to stop talking about it.  For what it's worth I don't think anything anyone says will change your mind on this situation, but they're free to try. 

[Harters]

20 hours ago, GarthK said:

many stores, by policy or simply in good faith, will give you the sale price.

Not where I am in the world. Never seen it and suspect I never will.

[Guest ldtr]

On 4/5/2023 at 10:36 AM, GarthK said:

I agree, the higher fare story is a cop out. Fares are increased to offset rising costs, not to cover additional perks. They're clearly offering this to try to fill empty cabins. They want you to book early, and especially take your money sooner, but then they give extras to those who book late. That's what frustrates me. The higher fares are just a convenient excuse.

So you now know your answer book late, of course by doing so you may not be able to get the cruise at all or in the cabin location you want, and the price might also go up.

 

It is all called dynamic pricing same as all of the other cruise lines, hotels, airlines, etc.

[Guest ldtr]

On 4/6/2023 at 8:28 AM, Harters said:

Not where I am in the world. Never seen it and suspect I never will.

Used to be common in the US 20 years or so ago.  Not so much these days, though a couple of stores still do it as part of their marketing.

[sjbj]

I have an Oceania cruise for this summer that I had OLife on, paid in full. The cruise then became Ultimate OLife and my TA got me the deal. End of story.

[SophieM]

7 hours ago, sjbj said:

I have an Oceania cruise for this summer that I had OLife on, paid in full. The cruise then became Ultimate OLife and my TA got me the deal. End of story.

We also had a similar situation but had not selected OLife to begin with. Our TA checked, and because we had no OLife to begin with, the Ultimate couldn’t be applied. We could have canceled & rebooked, but even with all three “free,” it would have been considerably more expensive. 

[SATaxman]

On 4/5/2023 at 2:11 PM, MEFIowa said:

When inflation has been at 40-year highs since 2021, fares increase!

 

Initially booked our B2B 10-11/2023 cruise in early 2022. And then booked our 9/2024 cruise in April 2022. Since then, I did use separate cabin-upgrade sales in 2022 to rebook the cruises into higher level cabin at sale prices. BUT if I were to try to use a new promotion, I'd have to pay the now going fare associated with that promotion. NONE have come close to the thousands of dollars saved in the cabin-upgrade sales.

Are you on the Marina 10/11/23?

[MEFIowa]

4 hours ago, SATaxman said:

Are you on the Marina 10/11/23?

No, Riviera 10/30-11/19, 2023.