How to book the $800 credit for excursions

[zteamtwo]

I think I figured out the way that Oceania handles the $800 excursion allowance (or any higher amount).  This is under the new "Simply More" booking procedure.  You can go ahead and book excursions well before your sailing and when you look at an excursion, it will show 2 prices.  One is the regular price and the other is a 25% discount price.  When you book, then Oceania will automatically charge you the higher price.  THEN, once you get to 4 excursions, the computer should charge you the lower price for each excursion.  The game they are playing is "let's give the *****,  $800 excursion credits and make it mandatory to select at least 4 excursions".  The hope is you will go way over $800, even with the lower price and then you will owe money!!!!

 

***** ( fill-in any word you want!!)

[1985rz1]

28 minutes ago, zteamtwo said:

I think I figured out the way that Oceania handles the $800 excursion allowance (or any higher amount).  This is under the new "Simply More" booking procedure.  You can go ahead and book excursions well before your sailing and when you look at an excursion, it will show 2 prices.  One is the regular price and the other is a 25% discount price.  When you book, then Oceania will automatically charge you the higher price.  THEN, once you get to 4 excursions, the computer should charge you the lower price for each excursion.  The game they are playing is "let's give the *****,  $800 excursion credits and make it mandatory to select at least 4 excursions".  The hope is you will go way over $800, even with the lower price and then you will owe money!!!!

 

***** ( fill-in any word you want!!)

It's no different than the original OLife excursion pricing.  You would get 4 (for example) included tours with OLife (for which you paid  $100 per excursion in the OLife fare). and once you reached a specified higher number number you would get a 25% discount. under SM, you get a fixed $ amount for excursions, but when you reach a specified number of tours you get the 25% discount.  It was called the Your World Collection under OLife and the Simply More Package under SM.

Edited August 18, 2023 by 1985rz1

[LHT28]

I think you just book the excursions you want  (any price point) click on the SM pricing  

You do not have to stick to the lower priced ones  as with O life

 

once you use up the  Excursion credit  amount  $800 pp in your case)  the balance  goes on your CC

 

Do they offer  25%  discount with SM?

 

The website  still shows  O Life   while people still have that option  maybe that is where the  25% comes into play

It will be  an interesting  2 yrs  unless they  make everyone  take the SM  at some future dye

JMO

 

 

 

[EJL2023]

6 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

I think you just book the excursions you want  (any price point) click on the SM pricing  

You do not have to stick to the lower priced ones  as with O life

 

once you use up the  Excursion credit  amount  $800 pp in your case)  the balance  goes on your CC

 

Do they offer  25%  discount with SM?

 

The website  still shows  O Life   while people still have that option  maybe that is where the  25% comes into play

It will be  an interesting  2 yrs  unless they  make everyone  take the SM  at some future dye

JMO

 

 

 

Yes, they offer the 25% discount with SM.  We’ve already booked a cruise and used the SM Shore excursion credits and received the discount after hitting our minimum requirement. 

[1985rz1]

12 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

I think you just book the excursions you want  (any price point) click on the SM pricing  

You do not have to stick to the lower priced ones  as with O life

 

once you use up the  Excursion credit  amount  $800 pp in your case)  the balance  goes on your CC

 

Do they offer  25%  discount with SM?

 

The website  still shows  O Life   while people still have that option  maybe that is where the  25% comes into play

It will be  an interesting  2 yrs  unless they  make everyone  take the SM  at some future dye

JMO

 

 

 

Yes, there is an SM Package that kicks in at a specified number of excursions, jut like the OLife YWC package.  We've taken advantage of it on an upcoming cruise for which we switched to SM because of the Summer sale.

[Banti]

Do both people have to book the minimum number of tours to get the 25% reduction?   My husband booked the minimum, but I have not, and he has not been given the reduction.

[judi666]

On my cruise, I had to do 6 SM excursions to get the lower price.  I did 6, one is in Maui, so I would think not going to happen by March.  Who knows how that will work out.

[pmatawan]

51 minutes ago, judi666 said:

On my cruise, I had to do 6 SM excursions to get the lower price.  I did 6, one is in Maui, so I would think not going to happen by March.  Who knows how that will work out.

You will get a refund to your account of the credit for the canceled excursion and you will be given the opportunity to use your credit at another port.  If your credit remains unused, it has no value.

If you get a refund to your credit card, your shore excursions will be repriced without the 25% discount and you may owe $.

Doesn't sound fair, especially if other excursions are sold out or if there are no other ports to book, but that's what O told me. If anyone knows if it's handled differently, please correct me.

[zteamtwo]

Regarding the choosing of the minimum of 4 excursions for the "Simply More" allowance, pick all of your 4 excursions at once.  We made 2 choices one day and then 2 more the next day. We were charged the wrong amount for 2 of the cruises.  Had to call Oceania. 

[PSR]

On 8/19/2023 at 1:39 PM, zteamtwo said:

Regarding the choosing of the minimum of 4 excursions for the "Simply More" allowance, pick all of your 4 excursions at once.  We made 2 choices one day and then 2 more the next day. We were charged the wrong amount for 2 of the cruises.  Had to call Oceania. 

 

You are correct. I just tried to add 3 shorex to my previous 2 already booked and they were charged as if I only had the 3, not the previous 2, so no discount (we have to have 5 booked). I was just experimenting, so I quickly deleted the 3. Our trip isn't for another year, but I wanted to test your experience. I hope they correct this soon. Don't know why they can't just add the new selections to your old ones...Guess the programming for the new SM is not quite ready for prime time!

[daydreamer62]

I'm assuming the minimum number for the simply more discount is per person not per cabin. Would I be correct? 

[zteamtwo]

I believe each person must book a minimum of 4 excursions for the new Simply More package. You have a total of $800 to spend (or whatever your amount is).

[AMHuntFerry]

48 minutes ago, zteamtwo said:

I believe each person must book a minimum of 4 excursions for the new Simply More package. You have a total of $800 to spend (or whatever your amount is).

@daydreamer62The minimum varies by cruise length, and is not always available on some (usually shorter <10 day) cruises. And yes, the minimum is per person.

Edited August 22, 2023 by AMHuntFerry

[1985rz1]

2 hours ago, zteamtwo said:

I believe each person must book a minimum of 4 excursions for the new Simply More package. You have a total of $800 to spend (or whatever your amount is).

The number of excursions needed for the SM package depend on cruise length and number of ports, so it varies. The number is per person.

[terry&mike]

14 hours ago, 1985rz1 said:

The number of excursions needed for the SM package depend on cruise length and number of ports, so it varies. The number is per person.

I wonder how many excursions would be the minimum needed for the 25% discount on a 35 night sailing with 24 days in port. Does anyone have a rough guess based on past experience? Our sailing is in 2025 and doesn't have this information yet, so I was trying to get a general idea. 

[1985rz1]

4 hours ago, terry&amp;mike said:

I wonder how many excursions would be the minimum needed for the 25% discount on a 35 night sailing with 24 days in port. Does anyone have a rough guess based on past experience? Our sailing is in 2025 and doesn't have this information yet, so I was trying to get a general idea. 

I don’t know tha algorithm.  I usually find out the number when the pdf of the excursions is emailed to us by our TA about 1 year before the sailing.

[Harters]

On 8/18/2023 at 7:05 PM, LHT28 said:

once you use up the  Excursion credit  amount  $800 pp in your case)  the balance  goes on your CC

Does this mean I need to lodge a credit card with O at the point of booking excursions?  Is there somewhere on O's website that I do this?

 

Reason for asking is I've been trying to book excursions to use up my £778 credit ($1000). I've been able to book two excursions with no problem, leaving me with a credit of £162. Tried to book a third excursion which costs more than £162 and the system won't accept it. My guess is that this must be related to the need to pay  the balance somehow. Or is it? Any advice please?

[LHT28]

25 minutes ago, Harters said:

Does this mean I need to lodge a credit card with O at the point of booking excursions?  Is there somewhere on O's website that I do this?

 

Reason for asking is I've been trying to book excursions to use up my £778 credit ($1000). I've been able to book two excursions with no problem, leaving me with a credit of £162. Tried to book a third excursion which costs more than £162 and the system won't accept it. My guess is that this must be related to the need to pay  the balance somehow. Or is it? Any advice please?

When you go to check out  of the cart  does it not give you an option for your CC Info??

 I have only booked the cooking classes  that was before you could use OBC  though

 

 I do not book excursion  so have no idea

 I would call O or if you have a TA  get them to book the  excursion for you

JMO

[Harters]

2 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

When you go to check out  of the cart  does it not give you an option for your CC Info??

It didnt display the third excursion in the cart. 

 

But, nope, no CC option. 

 

 

[EJL2023]

59 minutes ago, Harters said:

Does this mean I need to lodge a credit card with O at the point of booking excursions?  Is there somewhere on O's website that I do this?

 

Reason for asking is I've been trying to book excursions to use up my £778 credit ($1000). I've been able to book two excursions with no problem, leaving me with a credit of £162. Tried to book a third excursion which costs more than £162 and the system won't accept it. My guess is that this must be related to the need to pay  the balance somehow. Or is it? Any advice please?

Honestly, with excursions I would just decide which ones you want and then call Oceania to book them, much easier.  We messed around for about a half our for an upcoming cruise to book them online. Some would not go to the cart, and also pricing was not including the 25% discount.  Called them and all done in 5 minutes. 

[Guest ldtr]

On 8/18/2023 at 10:05 AM, LHT28 said:

I think you just book the excursions you want  (any price point) click on the SM pricing  

You do not have to stick to the lower priced ones  as with O life

 

once you use up the  Excursion credit  amount  $800 pp in your case)  the balance  goes on your CC

 

Do they offer  25%  discount with SM?

 

The website  still shows  O Life   while people still have that option  maybe that is where the  25% comes into play

It will be  an interesting  2 yrs  unless they  make everyone  take the SM  at some future dye

JMO

 

 

 

Even under the old booking terms one can get the 25% discount by booking the required number of excursions. The 25% discount gets the price more in line with other cruise lines.

[Harters]

Thanks LHT & EJL. We need to contact our TA about a couple of other things, so will ask her if she is able to book this for us. I'm guessing O has a glitch on its UK version website. 

[EJL2023]

1 minute ago, Harters said:

Thanks LHT & EJL. We need to contact our TA about a couple of other things, so will ask her if she is able to book this for us. I'm guessing O has a glitch on its UK version website. 

No problem, and I’m in the US, so the glitch is not just on the UK website. They include all of us sometimes! 😃

[Harters]

My apologies - I'd failed to take note of your location. 

[MRGACRUZR]

On 8/18/2023 at 1:27 PM, zteamtwo said:

I think I figured out the way that Oceania handles the $800 excursion allowance (or any higher amount).  This is under the new "Simply More" booking procedure.  You can go ahead and book excursions well before your sailing and when you look at an excursion, it will show 2 prices.  One is the regular price and the other is a 25% discount price.  When you book, then Oceania will automatically charge you the higher price.  THEN, once you get to 4 excursions, the computer should charge you the lower price for each excursion.  The game they are playing is "let's give the *****,  $800 excursion credits and make it mandatory to select at least 4 excursions".  The hope is you will go way over $800, even with the lower price and then you will owe money!!!!

 

***** ( fill-in any word you want!!)

AND......despite it being advertised and listed as $800 per stateroom, it can only be spent as $400 per passenger, not combinable to purchase a single priced excursion that covers multiple passengers. As a new O cruiser, I'm finding their advertising to be extremely deceptive. It took me 2 days to locate the fine print to qualify the free Champsigne, wine and beer as only available at lunch and dinner. I feel like I need to keep my hand on my wallet as I navigate our initial experience with Oceania.

Edited September 29, 2023 by MRGACRUZR