$1400 Excursion credit

[EmsMom]

We are booking a cruise that includes $1400 in excursion credit.  Although we have cruised with O previously, we have  never had an excursion credit nor have we ever taken any O excursions.  I've read where people have had trouble spending their cruise credits because of the lack of the excursions available.  I'm wondering if anyone has experienced this and what they do with the credit if you don't use it.

[h789ezc]

I used some for excursion in 2022and the rest toupgrade my beverage package from small to large

[EJL2023]

4 minutes ago, EmsMom said:

We are booking a cruise that includes $1400 in excursion credit.  Although we have cruised with O previously, we have  never had an excursion credit nor have we ever taken any O excursions.  I've read where people have had trouble spending their cruise credits because of the lack of the excursions available.  I'm wondering if anyone has experienced this and what they do with the credit if you don't use it.

Lose it if don’t use it. Best to book them as early as possible so you don’t get in a position of not being able to find excursions to use the credit on. If you put it off in booking them you can run the risk of missing out. 

[EJL2023]

2 minutes ago, h789ezc said:

I used some for excursion in 2022and the rest toupgrade my beverage package from small to large

You can only use the Shore Excursion credits under SM for excursions. 

[AMHuntFerry]

8 minutes ago, EmsMom said:

We are booking a cruise that includes $1400 in excursion credit.  Although we have cruised with O previously, we have  never had an excursion credit nor have we ever taken any O excursions.  I've read where people have had trouble spending their cruise credits because of the lack of the excursions available.  I'm wondering if anyone has experienced this and what they do with the credit if you don't use it.

It is a new program (October 2023) so people are just starting to find out how it works on actual cruises. So far the demand for shorex has been too great on some cruises. On others, a shorex/port has been cancelled and the "refund" then needs to be used for another shorex before the cruise is over (which may not be possible). The SM kinks are still being worked out, but booking as early as you can and choosing shorex in ports that are near the beginning of the cruise (avoiding tender ports) seems to be the current strategy.

[clo]

4 minutes ago, AMHuntFerry said:

It is a new program (October 2023) so people are just starting to find out how it works on actual cruises. So far the demand for shorex has been too great on some cruises. On others, a shorex/port has been cancelled and the "refund" then needs to be used for another shorex before the cruise is over (which may not be possible). The SM kinks are still being worked out, but booking as early as you can and choosing shorex in ports that are near the beginning of the cruise (avoiding tender ports) seems to be the current strategy.

I booked them as quickly as I could. No problem. We've never done ship-sponsored excursions so we'll see. We're not hard to please.

[daydreamer62]

I also booked mine pretty soon after paying the deposit on my cruise (8 months before sailing date) and had no problem using all the funds offered and then some. I thought the excursion descriptions were very detailed compared to other lines and I was encouraged to book more than I was going to originally. Friends who booked later than us on the same cruise managed to get all but one of the ones I had booked. I'm not sure if the demand for excursions in our cruise is lower because it's a segment nearing the end of the world cruise but there was a lot of variety in the offered excursions and only one was sold out.

[Jancruz]

31 minutes ago, h789ezc said:

I used some for excursion in 2022and the rest toupgrade my beverage package from small to large

You can no longer do that..must be used for excursions..

Jancruz1

[EmsMom]

1 hour ago, clo said:

I booked them as quickly as I could. No problem. We've never done ship-sponsored excursions so we'll see. We're not hard to please.

 

1 hour ago, EJL2023 said:

You can only use the Shore Excursion credits under SM for excursions. 

What is SM?   I looked under the excursions for our cruise and didn’t see where you could book them yet. I don’t see anything saying SM.   

[clo]

1 minute ago, EmsMom said:

 

What is SM?   I looked under the excursions for our cruise and didn’t see where you could book them yet. I don’t see anything saying SM.   

Simply More. You'll find it on their site.

[basenji56]

I wonder if O will allow broader use of this credit as they get more and more complaints. 

[shepherd really]

3 minutes ago, basenji56 said:

I wonder if O will allow broader use of this credit as they get more and more complaints. 

Nope, if they do that it cuts into their average passenger onboard spend, thus the bottom line.  

[daydreamer62]

10 minutes ago, EmsMom said:

 

What is SM?   I looked under the excursions for our cruise and didn’t see where you could book them yet. I don’t see anything saying SM.   

SM stands for Simply More. It's the promotion tht been running for SM cruises booked after July 1 2023. You get an amount of credit to be used solely for excursions as well as wine beer and champagne at lunch and dinner and a few other benefits 

[clo]

16 minutes ago, daydreamer62 said:

and a few other benefits 

round trip air if you choose it.

[Woofa]

Just to clarify, Simply More (SM) is not something you choose like the old Olife program.  It is simply O's marketing name for the current base fare.  Unlike with Olife, there is no longer an additional "catch-all" program you can purchase (or maybe get free from a TA or during a promotion) on Oceania.  Truth is, things on these boards would be much simpler if O had left this as the new base fare without naming it anything.  Since last October anyone booking now gets the base fare (SM) which includes some items (beer, wine and champagne at lunch and dinner and an excursion credit,) which previously were not included in the "cruise only" base fare.  This has angered some who were used to cruising O before these things were included.  Of course the price of cruises did go up when they removed Olife and instituted these changes.  Complicating matters is that many people are still taking cruises purchased under the old pricing structure and will be for some time.

From what I have read, the bigger issue for most is the excursion credit.  Many O regulars were used to cruising with private or no excursions and the recent implementation still has kinks to be ironed out.

For now, as has been said above, the credit for excursions is a use it or lose it proposition.

Hope I have this right and this helps.  Have a great cruise.  We took our first about a year ago and will be cruising again over Thanksgiving.  We found it to be a delightful vacation.

[clo]

6 minutes ago, Woofa said:

Since last October anyone booking now gets the base fare (SM) which includes some items (beer, wine and champagne at lunch and dinner and an excursion credit,)

And round trip air if you choose.

[daydreamer62]

39 minutes ago, clo said:

And round trip air if you choose.

Not where I live. In NZ and Australia they don't even offer any airfare options, included or not.

[clo]

3 minutes ago, daydreamer62 said:

Not where I live. In NZ and Australia they don't even offer any airfare options, included or not.

Oh sorry. I guess that makes sense...from their standpoint.

[daydreamer62]

28 minutes ago, clo said:

Oh sorry. I guess that makes sense...from their standpoint.

Yes especially as there's no cheap option from here to many places but I see Viking have been offering a $3000 airfare credit per cabin lately. They used to include air periodically before the pandemic 

[Redtravel]

1 hour ago, daydreamer62 said:

Yes especially as there's no cheap option from here to many places but I see Viking have been offering a $3000 airfare credit per cabin lately. They used to include air periodically before the pandemic 

Viking often has promos that include free air.  Just booked a cruise that included free air.  Got code from Viking cruisecritic board.  It saved us $.

[daydreamer62]

13 minutes ago, Redtravel said:

Viking often has promos that include free air.  Just booked a cruise that included free air.  Got code from Viking cruisecritic board.  It saved us $.

Less so from New Zealand which was my point. What's available in the US is not necessarily available to  customers outside the US.  Viking used to though especially with river cruises. Now it seems not so much but it may be changing. They are offering a partial credit now for some  Ocean cruises.Prices  are only just starting to come down after the pandemic. For our trip to France we had to pay more than double regards it would have cost us in 2020 had our trip to Europe not been cancelled. Our trip later this year is essentially the same price as last year but forward prices look better

[Redtravel]

2 hours ago, daydreamer62 said:

Less so from New Zealand which was my point. What's available in the US is not necessarily available to  customers outside the US.  Viking used to though especially with river cruises. Now it seems not so much but it may be changing. They are offering a partial credit now for some  Ocean cruises.Prices  are only just starting to come down after the pandemic. For our trip to France we had to pay more than double regards it would have cost us in 2020 had our trip to Europe not been cancelled. Our trip later this year is essentially the same price as last year but forward prices look better

Prices were much higher after pandemic.  We had booked Into the Midnight Sun for summer 2020. When the cruise got canceled, we took the refund instead of the 125%voucher.  When we went to rebook the same cruise for 2023, the prices were extremely high.  We waited until there was a promo.  The promo price was similar to the 2020 cruise.   After canceling cruises and offering vouchers, there were lots of people trying to cash in the vouchers within a limited time period. With a use it or lose it , those vouchers found guests booking again. Using vouchers time has passed. Now most people booking don’t have fcc or vouchers.   Cruise fares will remain high if bookings are up. If bookings are slow, prices will drop. It’s just basic economics.