Are you satisfied with Oceania's air arrangements?

After two cruises with O we are very happy with the on board product. I am less than happy with the way they handle the air arrangements, however. So much so that it's putting me off O for future cruises. So I thought I would ask what others think to see if it's just me, or are others ticked off?

Without getting into the gory details of individual experiences...

1. If you have used O's included air, are you happy with the routing, flights, schedules, and seating?

2. If you've used O's air and paid for a deviation are you happy with the result? I'm specifically asking whether you ended up getting reasonable flights, routing, seating, and are you satisfied with any up charge that was applied? Do you feel that the $175 pp fee was reasonable for the service you received?

3. If you took the credit and made your own air arrangements, are you satisfied with the amount of the credit offered?

we usually pay the deviation & choose the flights & routing we want

Oceania is usually able to provide the flights without an upcharge

If we do not like the credit ..what to do :rolleyes:

We take the air credit and are satisfied with the amount offered. The offer for this year's cruise was, however, less generous than it has been in the past.

We too take the credit and use miles for flights.

The credit is less than what it used to be but it's better than nothing. :)

If, like us, you've got any kind of reasonable frequent flyer point bank (accumulated over the years for work related flying) and/or having and using for everything a travel oriented credit card (e.g. Chase United Explorer Visa) that nets you FF points, AND you want to fly business class on the international flights, seriously consider taking the O air credit.. It will seldom equal your total cost for economy tickets. But, having the flexibility of using FF points for the upgrade or using all points for the business tix (and pocketing the air credit) is IMO the only way to go.

Example: Recently booked a 2017 Miami to Athens "grand voyage," Air credit was not great at $400/person. But, we almost always do our own pre/post cruise land add-ons and do our best to get business class tix for the international long hauls .

So, if we used. O's air, we'd have to pay the deviation fee ($175 plus any potential O up charge for our preferred flights); and we'd still only have coach tix both ways from/to SFO. Thus, O's total air cost would equal a minimum of $575 for deviated coach seats (which may be acceptable but not necessarily Plan A).

Instead, we took the $400/person air credit and bought two coach tix ($220/person) for outbound SFO to Miami on United at exactly the time/date we wanted. We then found Turkish Air coach tix for Athens to SFO for $723/person, also exact route/dates/times we preferred (one stop with 3 hr layover -always smart on international connection).. Had we taken those return Turkish Air coach tix, the total round trip would have been $943 each less $400 credit = $543 less $175 air deviation savings = maximum cost of $368/person for coach tix on Star Alliance partners that fit our desired dates/times/ etc while netting us FF miles for the flights plus double FF points for the credit card purchase amount. Note that my math assumes no O ticket "up charge" for my preferred flights (which could easily equal the aforementioned $368/person out-of-pocket expense on my purchase).

Worth it to us? YES.

However, we didn't buy the Athens to SFO tix. Instead, at the 330 days out mark, we scored United "saver awards" tix combining business seats on Lufthansa to get from Athens to Frankfurt and United global first class seats on the 11 hour long haul from Frankfurt back to SFO. Cost of those tix was 80k points per person +$114 tax per person.

Bottom line per person for air both ways, by taking the O air credit to get what is Plan A, is 80k United miles + $334 each, which is easily covered by the per person $400 air credit + $175 deviation savings (as well as any other savings associated with a possible air tix upcharge for preferred flights.

BTW, replenishing many of those 80k/per person points used is not as hard as it may appear. There's even been some CC threads on point accumulation tips.

If, like us, you've got any kind of reasonable frequent flyer point bank (accumulated over the years for work related flying) and/or having and using for everything a travel oriented credit card (e.g. Chase United Explorer Visa) that nets you FF points, AND you want to fly business class on the international flights, seriously consider taking the O air credit.. It will seldom equal your total cost for economy tickets. But, having the flexibility of using FF points for the upgrade or using all points for the business tix (and pocketing the air credit) is IMO the only way to go.

 

Example: Recently booked a 2017 Miami to Athens "grand voyage," Air credit was not great at $400/person. But, we almost always do our own pre/post cruise land add-ons and do our best to get business class tix for the international long hauls .

 

So, if we used. O's air, we'd have to pay the deviation fee ($175 plus any potential O up charge for our preferred flights); and we'd still only have coach tix both ways from/to SFO. Thus, O's total air cost would equal a minimum of $575 for deviated coach seats (which may be acceptable but not necessarily Plan A).

 

Instead, we took the $400/person air credit and bought two coach tix ($220/person) for outbound SFO to Miami on United at exactly the time/date we wanted. We then found Turkish Air coach tix for Athens to SFO for $723/person, also exact route/dates/times we preferred (one stop with 3 hr layover -always smart on international connection).. Had we taken those return Turkish Air coach tix, the total round trip would have been $943 each less $400 credit = $543 less $175 air deviation savings = maximum cost of $368/person for coach tix on Star Alliance partners that fit our desired dates/times/ etc while netting us FF miles for the flights plus double FF points for the credit card purchase amount. Note that my math assumes no O ticket "up charge" for my preferred flights (which could easily equal the aforementioned $368/person out-of-pocket expense on my purchase).

Worth it to us? YES.

 

However, we didn't buy the Athens to SFO tix. Instead, at the 330 days out mark, we scored United "saver awards" tix combining business seats on Lufthansa to get from Athens to Frankfurt and United global first class seats on the 11 hour long haul from Frankfurt back to SFO. Cost of those tix was 80k points per person +$114 tax per person.

 

Bottom line per person for air both ways, by taking the O air credit to get what is Plan A, is 80k United miles + $334 each, which is easily covered by the per person $400 air credit + $175 deviation savings (as well as any other savings associated with a possible air tix upcharge for preferred flights.

 

BTW, replenishing many of those 80k/per person points used is not as hard as it may appear. There's even been some CC threads on point accumulation tips.

While I agree completely with your post, there is one more thing that people need to consider and that is the fact that most, if not all people who purchase their own flight tickets are buying non-refundable tickets and that there is a charge for most to redeposit miles for FF tickets while using O air and cancelling prior to cancellation penalties, there is no charge for the flight cancellations.

Most of us don't worry about the non-refundable tickets or the redeposit fee but, it is something to consider in addition to your excellent suggestions.

After two cruises with O we are very happy with the on board product. I am less than happy with the way they handle the air arrangements, however. So much so that it's putting me off O for future cruises. So I thought I would ask what others think to see if it's just me, or are others ticked off?

 

Without getting into the gory details of individual experiences...

 

1. If you have used O's included air, are you happy with the routing, flights, schedules, and seating?

 

2. If you've used O's air and paid for a deviation are you happy with the result? I'm specifically asking whether you ended up getting reasonable flights, routing, seating, and are you satisfied with any up charge that was applied? Do you feel that the $175 pp fee was reasonable for the service you received?

 

3. If you took the credit and made your own air arrangements, are you satisfied with the amount of the credit offered?

We have taken 3 cruises on O and have used all 3 methods. On our first cruise we took the credit. It was Miami to Miami and with all the available flights, it was a wise choice. On our second O cruise, we paid the deviation fee. It was Lisbon to Rio and we wanted to be on the same flights with our traveling companions from another state. We did not have to pay above the $175 pp. On our cruise a few months ago which was Miami to Barcelona we took whatever O chose for us. I couldn't have chosen better. They were non-stop on United, our airline of choice. After discussing assigned air with others on the cruise, it seems the airport you depart from makes a big difference. We use Newark Airport. So when making your choice you need to consider where you are flying to, available flight options, and your home airport. What you would pay if booking yourself also needs to be considered. O pays a fraction of what we would pay booking directly. When I received my flights, I immediately priced them out. The cost pp was more than our balcony cabin pp was costing us!

Took O air for our cruise LA too Tahiti this coming January.Paid for air deviation JFK to LAX 3 days pre cruise.Originally booked on AA and added charge of $150.00 per person over the 175.00.I looked up a delta flight leaving the same time and called O to change to a Delta flight that was 300.00 less then the AA flight per person.There was no up charge.

Just paid the deviation.

I don't see how one can not be pleased with the air. Either take the credit or take a deviation of $175 and pick your own flights. Know what flights you want and book those.

Sopwith,

I notice you are from Vancouver. The O credit is USD and we pay for flights in CAD.

For my Barcelona departure I considered taking O air ($1000 credit) with their $99 ea way Premium economy upgrade and a deviation one way. That would have been $1373usd added to my total cost

I took the $1000 USD credit and booked non stop premium economy both ways for $1500 CAD so almost break even if I had taken their air with no add ons and less than O cost when you add the deviation and premium economy.

Like others have said, check the flights and cost for doing your own before you decide.

We've used their air on 3 different Oceania cruises. We've left from Miami and have been satisfied with the included air. The air schedules they have arranged for us would have been expensive if we booked on our own since they have involved mostly direct flights. Our latest cruise is Barcelona to Rome and they gave us a very tight schedule. They tell me we have enough time to make all flights. If we don't miss our flights we will be happy since our return trip is nonstop leaving early from Rome and getting back to Miami at a decent hour. Going to Barcelona from Miami

is through Atlanta and then direct flight to Barcelona without having to stop somewhere else in Europe and arriving 8:00 in the morning giving us plenty of time to make the departure of the ship.

Like others, we have used all methods: O included air; O air with deviation fees; and air credit. It all depends on the cruise departure city and the amount of credit offered.

Our most recent trip (returned last week from Lisbon), the O air credit was only $600/person. The absolute cheapest economy flights were over $1500 so paying the deviation fee and requesting our preferred flights was an easy decision. My TA requested the flights I wanted and the seat assignments were exactly what I would have done if doing it myself.

It really depends have done all 3. Most of our flights are long hauls both ways. Even with air deviation we could not get a decent flight to MIA-RIO and put us on Delta through ATL. This was the last time we have done this through O.

Credits vary -- last time $1300 MCO to HKG and ATH-MCO -- which is not much. Used FF miles instead.

This next Cruise MCO_PPT and SYD-MCO the credit was $3000. Certainly more reasonable credit -- but have yet to price flights or try FF miles as it is 2018 cruise.

I generally do try to use FF miles if possible. I have gotten very creative at using them. Trip MCO-HKG 85K miles in First on UA through Beijing to Hong Kong. Athens to MCO using paid Business to London ($350 per ticket) then Virgin 50K miles in Business Gatwick to MCO.

Athe

Didn't you bring up this subject here a year or so ago? It seems you have an ax to grind with Oceania over their air program. It appears from your past posts that you are wanting a top shelf experience for bargain basement rates.

If it really bothers you that much then perhaps the Oceania experience is not for you. I don't think they're going to change the way it works. Is there another cruise line that gives you the routings you want for no extra charge, or a larger credit when you don't take their air?

Would I like to pick my own flights at no extra expense, of course. Would I like a larger credit for doing my own air, of course. Unfortunately it doesn't work that way, so I either accept it and book it or do something else.

.

 

While I agree completely with your post, there is one more thing that people need to consider and that is the fact that most, if not all people who purchase their own flight tickets are buying non-refundable tickets and that there is a charge for most to redeposit miles for FF tickets while using O air and cancelling prior to cancellation penalties, there is no charge for the flight cancellations.

 

Most of us don't worry about the non-refundable tickets or the redeposit fee but, it is something to consider in addition to your excellent suggestions.

Yes- an important post, which then points to the importance of trip insurance selection - specifically around reading/asking about coverage for redepositing miles for covered trip/cancellation reasons. Not all policies do it.

Not to head off in a new direction but folks unclear about insurance really need to do their homework - not just buy from the cruise line or TA or even from outfits like InsureMyTrip.com, which has much valuable info but whose offerings on behalf of companies like Travelex might not exactly have the same coverage specifics of the same named policy offered by the insurer's own website.

Final point (maybe) on credit card travel insurance perks. Some of the Chase cards, like United Explorer Visa, have fairly decent trip interrupt/cancel coverage within max limits and the need to have used the card to purchase the travel. However, most of these cards deny coverage if the trip cancel/insure was due to a "pre-existing condition" and, unlike the medical travel coverage you may buy outright or as part of a combo travel/med/evac policy, I've yet to see a way to get the credit card coverage "waiver" similar to one for the policy depending on date of purchase.

BTW, if you are booking far out - like 2 years and need to buy a policy at time of deposit (for the waiver), there's slim pickings. Look at Travelex Select Traveler if you have this situation.

Yes flatbush, trip insurance is important and do have a few comments about that. Recently purchased insurance thru tripinsurancestore.com and Steve & his staff are absolutely wonderful.

Booked for a cruise about 19 months out and all companies were available, no need to choose one as all offered coverage that far out. Using a methodology developed by Steve and mentioned on these boards, we only covered a minimum amount of $500 pp costing about $100 which gives us pre-existing coverage and we only need to increase the coverage as the cancellation penalties come in and go up not paying for the full coverage until final payment.

In addition, we use the Chase Sapphire Preferred for cruising even though we also have the UAL card. Sapphire gives double points for travel, a significant amount based on actual costs and more importantly, covers I believe double what the UAL covers for trip coverage. Neither care covers illness but the bought insurance does and the $95 annually for the Sapphire card is well worth it.

Regarding your comment about buying direct vs. from the insuremytrip.com website to get a different policy, at tripinsurance.com, you actually are referred to the insurance company site and buy the policy direct from the insurance company but, buy using the link on tripinsurance, they get the commission as well help with any and all questions and will actually file the insurance claim for you.

We use the Sapphire $10K pp and only buy the difference from the insurance company. Of course we only have partial pre-existing coverage but, that is our choice.

Bottom line many ways to purchase your insurance and one methodology certainly doesn't fit all but, if you look at all the suggestions you can use the best from each of them to customize your coverage for your specific situation.

Because tight connection times make me a nervous wreck, and because we always book an early arrival (day/night before sailing) we automatically calculate the air deviation fee into our booking costs. Has worked well for us.

Sometimes we have negotiated several potential itineraries before things are finally settled for good.

When we were on the Panama Canal itinerary and high seas stalled our final docking, having O air meant that we didn't have to monkey around with rebooking. New tickets were simply delivered to our cabin the night before the end of the cruise.

To each his own, but we find the O air workable and easy to live with.

Donna

Because tight connection times make me a nervous wreck, and because we always book an early arrival (day/night before sailing) we automatically calculate the air deviation fee into our booking costs. Has worked well for us.

 

 

 

Sometimes we have negotiated several potential itineraries before things are finally settled for good.

 

 

 

When we were on the Panama Canal itinerary and high seas stalled our final docking, having O air meant that we didn't have to monkey around with rebooking. New tickets were simply delivered to our cabin the night before the end of the cruise.

 

 

 

To each his own, but we find the O air workable and easy to live with.

 

 

 

Donna

I see your point. For me, the key concern is business class bookings (when doable) and this is where O Air just doesn't work.

Yes flatbush, trip insurance is important and do have a few comments about that. Recently purchased insurance thru tripinsurancestore.com and Steve & his staff are absolutely wonderful.

 

Booked for a cruise about 19 months out and all companies were available, no need to choose one as all offered coverage that far out. Using a methodology developed by Steve and mentioned on these boards, we only covered a minimum amount of $500 pp costing about $100 which gives us pre-existing coverage and we only need to increase the coverage as the cancellation penalties come in and go up not paying for the full coverage until final payment.

 

In addition, we use the Chase Sapphire Preferred for cruising even though we also have the UAL card. Sapphire gives double points for travel, a significant amount based on actual costs and more importantly, covers I believe double what the UAL covers for trip coverage. Neither care covers illness but the bought insurance does and the $95 annually for the Sapphire card is well worth it.

 

Regarding your comment about buying direct vs. from the insuremytrip.com website to get a different policy, at tripinsurance.com, you actually are referred to the insurance company site and buy the policy direct from the insurance company but, buy using the link on tripinsurance, they get the commission as well help with any and all questions and will actually file the insurance claim for you.

 

We use the Sapphire $10K pp and only buy the difference from the insurance company. Of course we only have partial pre-existing coverage but, that is our choice.

 

Bottom line many ways to purchase your insurance and one methodology certainly doesn't fit all but, if you look at all the suggestions you can use the best from each of them to customize your coverage for your specific situation.

It wasn't until I tried to get insurance a bit more than two years out that the company choices really dwindled.

I'll check into Steve's outfit.

I've though about Chase Sapphire. But I do seem to remember reading several reviews that, when it comes to points for airfare, the "doubling" isn't quite what it seems. I'll have to go back and recheck. Nonetheless, we'll keep the United Visa since it is our preferred carrier and SFO is a hub. Each having the card pretty much covers any baggage or club charges in a normal leisure travel year.

It wasn't until I tried to get insurance a bit more than two years out that the company choices really dwindled.

 

I'll check into Steve's outfit.

 

I've though about Chase Sapphire. But I do seem to remember reading several reviews that, when it comes to points for airfare, the "doubling" isn't quite what it seems. I'll have to go back and recheck. Nonetheless, we'll keep the United Visa since it is our preferred carrier and SFO is a hub. Each having the card pretty much covers any baggage or club charges in a normal leisure travel year.

Glad you are going to check. We too are suck with UAL, Continental was 500% better but, they were and UAL is about 80% of our big airport. Use our UAL card for the airline but, really nothing else. Sapphire gives a true doubling of points for all travel including your cruise cost, hotels and all types of transportation and restaurants. Best part of the Chase points is they can be transferred to United and several other airlines plus several hotel chains so we use the Sapphire for almost all of our spend as the UAL card points only go to UAL. And, don't forget the higher travel insurance coverage.

We leverage our cards based on points per dollar, where we can transfer the points plus any other benefits. We follow several of the blogs and have learned how to get the best bang for our spend especially now that retired and not as many places to spend our money and earn points.

Sapphire gives a true doubling of points for all travel including your cruise cost, hotels and all types of transportation and restaurants. Best part of the Chase points is they can be transferred to United and several other airlines plus several hotel chains so we use the Sapphire for almost all of our spend as the UAL card points only go to UAL. And, don't forget the higher travel insurance coverage.

 

We leverage our cards based on points per dollar, where we can transfer the points plus any other benefits. We follow several of the blogs and have learned how to get the best bang for our spend especially now that retired and not as many places to spend our money and earn points.

+1 - agree with all above.

However, recently I switched a lot of our travel spending to Citi Thank you card as it gives 3X the points/$ spent for travel/gas.

It can be converted into SQ miles (among others) and in view of very sparse availability & rising miles required by both UA & AA, flights to Asia, and especially Australia, are easily booked at good rates with SQ where none (or very few) are available with UA/AA. SQ is not very good for travel to Europe so we keep some UA/AA miles as well.

It helps that SQ is the best airline in the world. :)

Didn't you bring up this subject here a year or so ago? It seems you have an ax to grind with Oceania over their air program. It appears from your past posts that you are wanting a top shelf experience for bargain basement rates.

 

If it really bothers you that much then perhaps the Oceania experience is not for you. I don't think they're going to change the way it works. Is there another cruise line that gives you the routings you want for no extra charge, or a larger credit when you don't take their air?

Yes, I have posted on this topic before. In the current case I tried to be objective and pose some questions in a neutral tone, so as not to be provocative. I honestly wanted to hear other people's perspectives without putting my rant out first. Thanks to those that have responded.

It's not a matter of grinding axes, but you may call it what you will. For me, it's all about fairness and integrity from those with whom I choose to do business. As I said, I am very happy with O's on board experience, so it is a good fit for us. That's why I posed the question: I want to cruise with O, and I want to feel the experience lives up to the standard they pitch, but from beginning to end, not just after we reach the ship. I expect that we will sail with O again when the stars align properly.

It's also not about getting top shelf experience for bargain basement prices. I routinely pay premium rates for cruises and airline flights. The point is that when I pay premium prices I expect value for my money. I especially do not react well when I know I have been manipulated into paying for something I didn't get. It is clear to me that O has set up their air program to allow them to take advantage of the customers. Others may not see it that way, but I do.

In both of my experiences we have paid the deviation fee and received the flights we requested. In one case we were hit with an upcharge on a route that is highly competitive, which I wasn't able to reconcile. However, in both cases I felt I received substandard service for the US$350 fee. Case in point: they won't make any effort to book seats or arrange upgrades. This is important to me, but I was told I would have to do it directly with the airline. In one case the airline wouldn't do it either, which for me is a non-starter on a long haul redeye flight. It turned out not to be a huge deal, but it was distasteful, which one does not expect from a supposedly premium cruise line.

The matter of the amount of the credit also deserves scrutiny. Obviously O is in a position to negotiate discounted fares from their preferred airlines, and perhaps deeply discounted in some cases. But it's a safe bet that they're not getting the seats for free, either. They carry some amount in their pricing for the air ticket which includes the base fare, taxes, surcharges, security fees, and everything else the airlines pile on. The credits I have been offered in both cases were barely enough to cover the taxes and fees, which means that O is pocketing whatever they had intended to pay for the base fare. Again, to me this is distasteful. I see that a number of posters above shrug this off, which is part of what I was hoping to learn: either they don't know or they don't mind. Fair enough. But to me it is a disingenuous way of doing business.

So the message here seems to be fairly clear: I'm an outlier when it comes to these things, and perhaps I should just shrug it off and enjoy the cruise. As I said, when the stars align correctly and I think I'm getting as good or better value that the competition, we'll sail with O again.

One other data point, FWIW: one of my golfing partners has done over 30 cruises on O. His take is that they are very satisfied with the on board product, which is why they keep returning, but he says the service they get from the Miami office is consistently substandard.

One other question for those who have used O's air, either with or without the deviation: what has been your experience with seat selection? Have you ever run into a case where the airline would not allow advance seat selection, even when you were willing to pay the fee?

As a first time O cruiser, departing in 10 days, the following was my experience using O air. Because I've never traveled on Oceania before, my experience has been through a fresh set of eyes.

For our cruise, we are flying into London and out of Copenhagen. The cruise air credit is $1050 per person. However, to book our own air would have been $1,800+ per person and this was with the absolute lowest price (believe me, I did my research). Maybe because we are traveling from a western US mid size airport, O's air worked in our advantage. For us personally, saving $800 per person was worth it to forego control of our air itinerary and the ability to secure seat assignments early.

Seven months prior to our cruise, we decided to pay the $175 per person air deviation fee to fly into London two days early. We were able to get our desired airline and itinerary without an upcharge. Even with the deviation fee, we were still saving money. Once we confirmed the air itinerary with O (2-3 days after putting in our request) we were able to select our seats by using the airline reservation code that was listed on our approved itinerary document. Being a "do-it-yourself" kind of person, selecting my own seats on the United website was super easy and I like being able to view the seat map for myself. Granted, some airlines require that the itinerary is ticketed (which in our case was 45 days prior to departure) before seats can be assigned -- so, we lucked out.

I fully realize our situation was pretty cut and dry, But I see it as we had 3 options. 1) pay $1,050/person with no control, 2) pay $1,225/person to get the air itinerary of our choice (yes we lucked out with no upcharge) and we could deviate our dates, or 3) pay $1,800 and have complete control.

Thanks...

For the record, I will acknowledge that in many, if not most cases, if O were to discontinue the included air program and make you book your own it would end up costing more money when you add it all up, probably significantly more in many cases. So there is merit in the program. My question would be if they made the air program optional, as other cruise lines do, would they be able to offer the same aggregate prices for cruise + air?

As a first time O cruiser, departing in 10 days, the following was my experience using O air. Because I've never traveled on Oceania before, my experience has been through a fresh set of eyes.

 

For our cruise, we are flying into London and out of Copenhagen. The cruise air credit is $1050 per person. However, to book our own air would have been $1,800+ per person and this was with the absolute lowest price (believe me, I did my research). Maybe because we are traveling from a western US mid size airport, O's air worked in our advantage. For us personally, saving $800 per person was worth it to forego control of our air itinerary and the ability to secure seat assignments early.

 

Seven months prior to our cruise, we decided to pay the $175 per person air deviation fee to fly into London two days early. We were able to get our desired airline and itinerary without an upcharge. Even with the deviation fee, we were still saving money. Once we confirmed the air itinerary with O (2-3 days after putting in our request) we were able to select our seats by using the airline reservation code that was listed on our approved itinerary document. Being a "do-it-yourself" kind of person, selecting my own seats on the United website was super easy and I like being able to view the seat map for myself. Granted, some airlines require that the itinerary is ticketed (which in our case was 45 days prior to departure) before seats can be assigned -- so, we lucked out.

 

I fully realize our situation was pretty cut and dry, But I see it as we had 3 options. 1) pay $1,050/person with no control, 2) pay $1,225/person to get the air itinerary of our choice (yes we lucked out with no upcharge) and we could deviate our dates, or 3) pay $1,800 and have complete control.

Again, the O air deviation value works in many cases with the main catch always being the possible up-charge for specific routing. It's when you want business/first class that you're better off doing it yourself.