Oceania policies

[Bakingnana]

We are booked on the April 8-23 cruise to Asia. Have tried waitlisting on a PH1 level. Their site has 2 cabins available but O has told my agent the cabins will not be released for 24-36/48 hours. I asked for an invoice as prices have gone down since booking months ago. O will not give us a detailed invoice unless we cancel our current cruise and rebook….haven't looked to see what O would charge for cancelling since it has been paid in full….how does O expect someone to move forward with a waitlist, or any inquiry for any cruise, if not given a detailed invoice of what that includes. I have traveled previously and enjoy their ships, excursions, etc. but not being able to give my travel agent the information is mind boggling to me. To me seems O is not worried about the customer just their bottom line. So sad! Interested to hear if anyone has had this happen to them. 
 

p.s. And O wont talk to you if you have used a travel agent. 

[Guest debbiejohncruise]

18 minutes ago, Bakingnana said:

We are booked on the April 8-23 cruise to Asia. Have tried waitlisting on a PH1 level. Their site has 2 cabins available but O has told my agent the cabins will not be released for 24-36/48 hours. I asked for an invoice as prices have gone down since booking months ago. O will not give us a detailed invoice unless we cancel our current cruise and rebook….haven't looked to see what O would charge for cancelling since it has been paid in full….how does O expect someone to move forward with a waitlist, or any inquiry for any cruise, if not given a detailed invoice of what that includes. I have traveled previously and enjoy their ships, excursions, etc. but not being able to give my travel agent the information is mind boggling to me. To me seems O is not worried about the customer just their bottom line. So sad! Interested to hear if anyone has had this happen to them. 
 

p.s. And O wont talk to you if you have used a travel agent. 

We have booked our first cruise with them for Sep. Seems like most cruise lines are operating this way now….😞

[MJfromCA]

Here is how it recently worked for me:

 

We'd been waitlisted for months on PHs on our upcoming Western Med cruise (a segment of the ATW cruise). A PH3 just showed up with status Available on the O website last week, so I called my TA, and she was able to learn what the price difference would be for me from Oceania, so we could decide if we wanted it. It is true I had to release our current cabin before I could finalize the switch to the PH3. However, I knew exactly how much extra I had to pay over what we had already paid before agreeing to the switch. We were past making full payment and into the 25% penalty phase already.

 

I think your TA should try again with a different O representative.

[Bakingnana]

Thanks for the info. I did get a price but I want to know the breakdown of how it is priced before I change. With my calculation and getting the same discounts we weren’t even close.

 

i don’t understand how they have availability on their website yet we were told the cabins would be released in 24-48 hours. When cabins are waitlisted it says that on their website for other categories. This is confusing and frustrating. 

 

Did they make you pay the penalty for cancelling your trip? 
 

Still working on this issue and hoping O considers their clients and not their bottom line. 

[MJfromCA]

No penalty because we were upgrading our cabin and staying on the cruise, not cancelling the trip. They did the cancel/switch for us. They just wanted to be sure we knew we could not go back to our old cabin after the cancel/switch.

 

Also, you only get the discounts available today for that new cabin. They may not still have all the discounts you had when you originally booked. I think I read on a different thread that you may have luck getting some grandfathered in, but I'm not sure. This is my first Oceania cruise, so I am no expert - just wanted to share my experience.  And you will have to have Simply More now - it is no longer optional, so that could affect pricing if you didn't have it before.

Edited January 31 by MJfromCA

[Bakingnana]

On 1/30/2024 at 3:44 AM, MJfromCA said:

Here is how it recently worked for me:

 

We'd been waitlisted for months on PHs on our upcoming Western Med cruise (a segment of the ATW cruise). A PH3 just showed up with status Available on the O website last week, so I called my TA, and she was able to learn what the price difference would be for me from Oceania, so we could decide if we wanted it. It is true I had to release our current cabin before I could finalize the switch to the PH3. However, I knew exactly how much extra I had to pay over what we had already paid before agreeing to the switch. We were past making full payment and into the 25% penalty phase already.

 

I think your TA should try again with a different O representative.

Thanks for the info. I did get a price but I want to know the breakdown of how it is priced before I change. With my calculation and getting the same discounts we weren’t even close.

 

i don’t understand how they have availability on their website yet we were told the cabins would be released in 24-48 hours. When cabins are waitlisted it says that on their website for other categories. This is confusing and frustrating. 

 

Did they make you pay the penalty for cancelling your trip? 
 

Still working on this issue and hoping O considers their clients and not their bottom line. 

[Bakingnana]

The situation has been resolved but not in my favor. What is frustrating is MJfromCA just had her cabin switched. We were told we could not do that. The difference in pricing came down to the past guest discount. They were giving us $900 less because it was a bonus past disc promotion originally. Giving us $300 was a past guest promo but not a bonus. Just another way for them to add to their bottom line because looking on their site for future cruises only certain cruises are given that discount and not all. They thought they were being generous. I disagree. We have sailed before, had this cruise booked for a year and is our 3rd try to get to Asia since the previous 2 were canceled due to the pandemic. I really enjoy Oceania cruises but they are simply trying to make more money than keep their clients happy. Especially when the trip has been paid in full.  What is $900 to them if they keep people happy who recommend them to others especially with social media out there where people can share their disappointments with the world. With that being said we, and our traveling companions, are looking at an alternate cruise company. That does not mean we wouldn’t travel on O again but probably without a travel agent so O can talk to us and not have an intermediary. As once the cruise is booked our travel agency will charge for getting answers for us and no satisfaction in the end. After reading Cruise Critic it seems there are no rules set in stone for how things are done. Sad

[Vallesan]

5 minutes ago, Bakingnana said:

The situation has been resolved but not in my favor. What is frustrating is MJfromCA just had her cabin switched. We were told we could not do that. The difference in pricing came down to the past guest discount. They were giving us $900 less because it was a bonus past disc promotion originally. Giving us $300 was a past guest promo but not a bonus. Just another way for them to add to their bottom line because looking on their site for future cruises only certain cruises are given that discount and not all. They thought they were being generous. I disagree. We have sailed before, had this cruise booked for a year and is our 3rd try to get to Asia since the previous 2 were canceled due to the pandemic. I really enjoy Oceania cruises but they are simply trying to make more money than keep their clients happy. Especially when the trip has been paid in full.  What is $900 to them if they keep people happy who recommend them to others especially with social media out there where people can share their disappointments with the world. With that being said we, and our traveling companions, are looking at an alternate cruise company. That does not mean we wouldn’t travel on O again but probably without a travel agent so O can talk to us and not have an intermediary. As once the cruise is booked our travel agency will charge for getting answers for us and no satisfaction in the end. After reading Cruise Critic it seems there are no rules set in stone for how things are done. Sad

Sounds like you need a new travel agent. I’ve never heard of a travel agent charging to get answers for you. After all they get paid a commission from Oceania!

[shepherd really]

7 minutes ago, Bakingnana said:

 As once the cruise is booked our travel agency will charge for getting answers for us and no satisfaction in the end.

There is no travel agency in the US that will charge you for getting answers.

 

That's nonsensical.

[pinotlover]

1 minute ago, Vallesan said:

Sounds like you need a new travel agent. I’ve never heard of a travel agent charging to get answers for you. After all they get paid a commission from Oceania!

Actually, the Travel Agency, for which the Travel Agent is employed, receives a commission from Oceania. Travel Agents are paid in multiple fashions, only one of which is by commission.

[Bakingnana]

I agree, because that is her job. Her commission can’t be too shabby. I have read of others who seem to have issues and they get satisfaction. Guess they work harder at getting the resolution the client is looking for. 

[Bakingnana]

Well happens my TA is self employed, has 1 employee and they don’t have Friday nor weekend office hours. But I must say they do reply to emails very quickly and even on the days they are supposedly off. 

[Critically Cruising]

15 minutes ago, Bakingnana said:

our travel agency will charge for getting answers for us and no satisfaction in the end

 

You don't have an agent, you have an order taker.

 

Big difference.

 

 

[pinotlover]

4 minutes ago, shepherd really said:

There is no travel agency in the US that will charge you for getting answers.

 

That's nonsensical.

Maybe, maybe not.  A group of us, doing an after tour party on Marina, shared our Travel Agency and Travel Agent names and deals/services we were provided. I was rather shocked to hear of one using a strictly online Agency that gave a rebate of 11 or 12% depending upon certain criteria. Catch was, one got billed ( actually subtracted from rebate) for for any other service provided. If you cancel a cruise, you get a bill for any past services.

[shepherd really]

19 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

Maybe, maybe not.  A group of us, doing an after tour party on Marina, shared our Travel Agency and Travel Agent names and deals/services we were provided. I was rather shocked to hear of one using a strictly online Agency that gave a rebate of 11 or 12% depending upon certain criteria. Catch was, one got billed ( actually subtracted from rebate) for for any other service provided. If you cancel a cruise, you get a bill for any past services.

The claim was for "being charged for answering questions" and she just stated this was a two-person agency, not an online booking engine.  

[Vallesan]

36 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

Actually, the Travel Agency, for which the Travel Agent is employed, receives a commission from Oceania. Travel Agents are paid in multiple fashions, only one of which is by commission.

Yes of course … but you understood what I was saying!