Simply more Drink policy

[edgee]

1 hour ago, basor said:

We just got off Vista after 32 days with the standard/SM drink package and never had a problem getting our drinks refilled at any dining venue....where did you observe this?  

Same experience here after disembarking 16 day Vista cruise this morning.

[PhD-iva]

2 hours ago, basor said:

We just got off Vista after 32 days with the standard/SM drink package and never had a problem getting our drinks refilled at any dining venue....where did you observe this?  

Not me…. @cruiserchuck

[Flatbush Flyer]

13 hours ago, niehauscr said:

Reading the info about Simply more, I am simply more confused.  Some places it includes cocktails and others it does not.  If anyone is now cruising on the Simply more program, would you please explain the alcohol policy of the ship.  I understand you can upgrade to a premier package but that is not what I am interested in.  TIA

 

Confused

Nowhere does any O literature say SM includes spirits (e.g., cocktails). It says things to the effect of “wine, beer and “other’” (most likely referring to sparkling wine).

[cruiserchuck]

13 hours ago, basor said:

We just got off Vista after 32 days with the standard/SM drink package and never had a problem getting our drinks refilled at any dining venue....where did you observe this?  

I observed it in the main dining room.  We did not have a package.  On some nights, the wine steward walked by our table many times, and they stopped by our table to see if we wanted alcoholic drinks, and when we said no, they took away all the wine glasses. 

 

On some nights, I never saw a wine steward nearby, and no one ever stopped by our table to ask if we wanted alcohol, and the wine glasses were never removed.

 

I suspect if I had a drink package and asked the waiter where the wine steward was, I would have seen them more.

[edgee]

15 minutes ago, cruiserchuck said:

suspect if I had a drink package and asked the waiter where the wine steward was, I would have seen them more.

From reading CC comments before my cruise, I thought finding a wine steward might be an issue. However, we dined in every restaurant except Toscana on the ship and had great prompt drink service in every venue.

[pinotlover]

9 minutes ago, edgee said:

From reading CC comments before my cruise, I thought finding a wine steward might be an issue. However, we dined in every restaurant except Toscana on the ship and had great prompt drink service in every venue.

I typically find the service to be very good. There are always glitches, but those happen anywhere. We are able to avoid many of those by not eating at prime time, particularly in the Terrace. For any reason, if the Terrace is slammed for either lunch or dinner, beverage service can become painfully slow. Never starving, We therefore wait until at least 7:15-7:30 to go to the Terrace. This gives the SLL and early crowd a chance to eat and clear out. Then services improve remarkably. 
 

Service in the Specialties is often excellent. Exception being when they sometimes overload the restaurant, for unexplained reasons , for which they are not staffed for. Fortunately, those times are the exception and not the norm. 

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, cruiserchuck said:

On some nights, I never saw a wine steward nearby, and no one ever stopped by our table to ask if we wanted alcohol, and the wine glasses were never removed.

 

I suspect if I had a drink package and asked the waiter where the wine steward was, I would have seen them more.

Did you ask the  waitstaff  to have  someone  come to get you  a drink?

 

 Sometimes  for whatever reason tables are missed  for service

I can live without the bar service  but when they miss you for  food service  then  we speak to the Maitre'd

[goletans]

7 hours ago, cruiserchuck said:

I observed it in the main dining room.  We did not have a package.  On some nights, the wine steward walked by our table many times, and they stopped by our table to see if we wanted alcoholic drinks, and when we said no, they took away all the wine glasses. 

 

On some nights, I never saw a wine steward nearby, and no one ever stopped by our table to ask if we wanted alcohol, and the wine glasses were never removed.

 

I suspect if I had a drink package and asked the waiter where the wine steward was, I would have seen them more.

We concur. We felt badly for those with the Simply package. We rarely saw more than one refill in the Grand Dining Room at lunch or dinner. That being said, we are not looking forward to the choice of wines offered on our upcoming Simply cruises. 

[EJL2023]

We had zero issues getting wine service on our Vista cruise in the GDR.  Only place it was slow at times was while at the Terrace.  But even that improved throughout the cruise. 

[MVPinBoynton]

On 11/19/2023 at 3:24 PM, AMHuntFerry said:

Here's the one from Vista in October:

https://www.thepreismans.com/vista23_menus.htm

 

We were the last cruise before the Simply More program started on Oct 1, so I didn’t have any of the info for the new program.  Sorry. 😞 

[cswhistler]

Other-- refers to beer.

[LHT28]

It is  not  any more confusing  than people want to make it

It is Wine, Champagne, beer  by the glass  during meals   what  is confusing about that 🙄

 

Simply MORE™ Included

With our newest offer, simply MORE, you’ll receive more value, greater choice and more convenience than ever before. simply MORE means enjoying more immersive adventures ashore with our FREE Shore Excursions, including more than 8,000 tours available worldwide, ranging from sommelier- and chef-led Food & Wine Trails Tours to highly customizable Executive Collection options. It means toasting to more of life’s special moments on board with our FREE House Select beverage package, which includes a wide selection of vintage Champagnes, wines and beers during lunch and dinner at our onboard restaurants.

 

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/value

[pinotlover]

9 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

It is  not  any more confusing  than people want to make it

It is Wine, Champagne, beer  by the glass  during meals   what  is confusing about that 🙄

 

Simply MORE™ Included

With our newest offer, simply MORE, you’ll receive more value, greater choice and more convenience than ever before. simply MORE means enjoying more immersive adventures ashore with our FREE Shore Excursions, including more than 8,000 tours available worldwide, ranging from sommelier- and chef-led Food & Wine Trails Tours to highly customizable Executive Collection options. It means toasting to more of life’s special moments on board with our FREE House Select beverage package, which includes a wide selection of vintage Champagnes, wines and beers during lunch and dinner at our onboard restaurants.

 

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/value

Immensely easy to understand and don’t understand the confusion.

 

Perhaps the policy should clearly state those options are from their selected beverages included on the venue by the glass menu.

 

Unless there is a bit of false advertising or a change effective 10-1/23, fwiw I have never seen a vintage champagne included on the by the glass menu. They have all been Non Vintage. For those aboard, did the change to the new champagne alter this?

[Cjohns16]

We are back on Oceania Marina for the 4th time this year. Previously enjoying  O-life flexibility,  now cruising  with Simply  More

On the alcohol,  ie. drinks, they offer Champagne,  a selection of wines and also beers. These are available for lunch and dinner. Not tried so far at breakfast,  may also be possible. The ship charges for drinks in their bars are slightly expensive. A 20% service charge will be added and unfortunately if you are in Spanish,  Brazilian,  Italian,  waters then the ship adds in the local government tax. We spent 11 days on Marina  in Brazilian waters earlier this year and they added a 23% tax. 

On day 2 the Captain greets you with a 2 hour open bar. This includes cocktails but not premium liquor such as single malts. Also as a repeat Oceania  cruiser you will  get another 2 hour open bar from the Oceania  club team, later on in your cruise.

Oceania are generous with allowing passengers to bring on board alcohol to consume in your staterooms. In total , if you like to drink, then the Oceania  Simply  More is fair and a good package.

Finally,  you can upgrade the Simply  More to access the premium  wines and Spirits but the daily rate is expensive,  I think usd 39 per day per person.

 

 

[Vallesan]

On 11/20/2023 at 8:48 PM, goletans said:

We concur. We felt badly for those with the Simply package. We rarely saw more than one refill in the Grand Dining Room at lunch or dinner. That being said, we are not looking forward to the choice of wines offered on our upcoming Simply cruises. 

If you don’t like the offered wine ask for something  you’d prefer. We don’t like  Californinan wines so usually ask for a Spanish Rioja or Chilean or Argentinian wine and it’s never been a problem.

[pinotlover]

3 hours ago, Cjohns16 said:

 

Finally,  you can upgrade the Simply  More to access the premium  wines and Spirits but the daily rate is expensive,  I think usd 39 per day per person.

 

 

This is not correct!! The wines on the “ by the glass menu “ that are available on either the basic or premium package are identical. Upgrading to the premium package does not get you “ access to premium wines “.

 

The basic package (SM) gets one champagne, wine, and beer, from the by the glass menu at lunch and dinner. It is only available in the dining venues during dining hours. 

[Cjohns16]

[ORV]

42 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

This is not correct!! The wines on the “ by the glass menu “ that are available on either the basic or premium package are identical. Upgrading to the premium package does not get you “ access to premium wines “.

 

The basic package (SM) gets one champagne, wine, and beer, from the by the glass menu at lunch and dinner. It is only available in the dining venues during dining hours. 

Make you wonder how someone can be on their 4th Oceania cruise in a year and not understand something this basic. This is how confusion and misinformation is spread. Thanks for calling it out. Social media on all platforms needs more of that. 

[EJL2023]

On 11/20/2023 at 3:48 PM, goletans said:

We concur. We felt badly for those with the Simply package. We rarely saw more than one refill in the Grand Dining Room at lunch or dinner. That being said, we are not looking forward to the choice of wines offered on our upcoming Simply cruises. 

Perhaps you didn’t see more than one refill is because most may not have more than 2 glasses of wine for every meal??

[edgee]

1 hour ago, pinotlover said:

The basic package (SM) gets one champagne, wine, and beer, from the by the glass menu at lunch and dinner.

You mention "one." We did not experience any limitations as to quantity and were poured wine refills and given second beers with no problem on SM basic package. 

[Twiga]

45 minutes ago, edgee said:

You mention "one." We did not experience any limitations as to quantity and were poured wine refills and given second beers with no problem on SM basic package. 

@pinotlover is using the word "one" to refer to an individual, same as using "you."  He didn't use "one" as  quantity.  

[zalusky]

I feel kind of left out of this.  I really don't care for wine or beer much.  Cocktails have always been my choice.  This pushes me towards Seabourn.

[AMHuntFerry]

43 minutes ago, zalusky said:

I feel kind of left out of this.  I really don't care for wine or beer much.  Cocktails have always been my choice.  This pushes me towards Seabourn.

Agreed...I'd rather have one or two cocktails in lieu of wine/beer.

[maggie.1008]

Can you still book cruise only with no Simply More? 

[2552phxcrzr]

12 minutes ago, maggie.1008 said:

Can you still book cruise only with no Simply More? 

Unfortunately, no.