Is it typical for Oceania ships to..........

have a large amount of stateroom availability when a cruise is anywhere from 2-3 months out?

We are on the February 1st, Marina 7 night Caribbean cruise. Our TA sends offers from Oceania periodically to extend our cruise to either the previous, or the cruise after ours. Both are 10 night cruises.

Out of curiousity, I looked at the availability of not only these "move over" cruises, but for our own cruise. I cannot believe the amount of unsold cabins with just a couple of months to go! I am seeing multiples of cabin categories available on my cruise, alone. :confused: Although the Inside and Ocean View cabins do tend to be booked.

For comparison, I checked some of the other cruiselines going out of Miami at the same time - both shorter and longer cruises - and those seem to be selling well.

If typical to have so much availability closer to a cruise, what does Oceania do to market the cruises to sell? Are residents of Florida waiting for a "deal" to hop onboard an Oceania cruise a few weeks before embarkation?

I know on our February Oceania cruise last year, the ship appeared to be full. There were a few reunion groups onboard, as well. I have not been able to find any groups booked on our upcoming cruise. Just curious! ;)

The Caribbean is glutted with ships. We are regular o cruisers and we take a top suite on celebrity for the Caribbean. There are deals every season for Caribbean o cruises. Ports are the same for almost every line

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We have also been offered to move to another cruise...upgrade to suites or upgrade to longer cruise for no additional cost. None with the same itinerary though.

Thing is, Oceania has only a few ships and a few itineraries. The popular itineraries are booked and the less popular have space.

Also, the ship are much smaller, 600 or 1200 vs Celebrity of upwards to 3000 passengers and RCI with upwards to 5000.

- the recent mess with Russia, as well as the violence in Turkey caused many Lines to pull their ships from the Black Sea and Eastern Med, and those vessels had to go somewhere.

Most are biding their time in the Caribbean.

Don't worry about Oceania, though, their marketing dept is tenacious to say the least....;)

The Caribbean is glutted with ships. We are regular o cruisers and we take a top suite on celebrity for the Caribbean. There are deals every season for Caribbean o cruises. Ports are the same for almost every line

 

 

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+1

Just a guess on my part - most frequent Oceania cruisers look for more interesting or exotic destinations than the Carib. Hence those cruises are not as popular with Oceania cruisers and tend to be undersold.

I suspect they will continue to offer some incentives to fill the ships.

+1

 

Just a guess on my part - most frequent Oceania cruisers look for more interesting or exotic destinations than the Carib. Hence those cruises are not as popular with Oceania cruisers and tend to be undersold.

 

I suspect they will continue to offer some incentives to fill the ships.

Agree. We only started doing a regular January Caribbean cruise two years ago. We never considered Oceania. For other more interesting cruises we are doing Oceania, Seabourn and Crystal. I think Oceania isn't worth the money in the Caribbean since they are not taking us anywhere special

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Indeed. It really depends on the itinerary. Some are oversold, others are not.

We took our first MARINA cruise in 2011 when our booked Alaska cruise was seriously overbooked and we were offered to switch to a Med cruise in a Vista (we'd been in a PH) for no increase in price and additional OBC. For us, that was a no-brainer since MARINA was new and we'd been wanting to try her out.

Taking a penalty in switching our already booked airfare was worth it. (At least we were able to amend it, not just cancel!)

But OFTEN that can be a breaking point.

When we were on a B2B Auckland-Sydney-Bangkok cruise in January '08 the ship was desperate to get space on the second leg. But since many people booked couldn't change flights from Bangkok back to the States to a flight from Sydney to the States. They had a very hard time, no matter how much money they were offering.

Mura

On last winters Caribbean cruise, we were given a similar offer (PH from a B3, OBC) to move to the following cruise...and receive a $3500 refund.:eek: So our Caribbean sailing WAS full, plus more! Sadly, DH was still working and could not change his schedule. Perhaps our sailing would have been better than the mess we ended up with. :rolleyes:

We are ready and available this year should an offer come, but doesn't look like the ship will fill up this time.

Agree. We only started doing a regular January Caribbean cruise two years ago. We never considered Oceania. For other more interesting cruises we are doing Oceania, Seabourn and Crystal. I think Oceania isn't worth the money in the Caribbean since they are not taking us anywhere special

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We agree there! We booked last years Caribbean as a tester for Oceania. Only giving it another chance because of our credit and did not want to try anything over a 7 night. Last years was a 10 night turned 8 night.

We are regular o cruisers and we take a top suite on Celebrity for the Caribbean.

Yes, taking a Suite on Celebrity cost about the same as a standard veranda on Oceania. ;)

Yes, taking a Suite on Celebrity cost about the same as a standard veranda on Oceania. ;)

It's more than that

We booked during fabulous promotion while on board last year

All drinks included

Gratuities and internet included

Huge obc from cruise line as well as our ta

Private restaurant for suite guests

Private lounge for suite guests

The best place for lattes and cappuccinos at sea

And we are elite with tons of perks

Good entertainment too

Oceania has no advantage for us in the Caribbean

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We do not book the top Suite, but do enjoy all the other perks. We are Elite Plus.

As I said, we only booked upcoming Oceania because of the credit given us. Frankly, it's the cheapest Caribbean cruise we have ever taken. We may be the only passengers, out of a few, that are onboard. LOL

And I will give the upper hand to Oceania for their food over Celebrity. At least that's the way we felt last year. Looking forward to the same food experience this February. :)

+1

 

Just a guess on my part - most frequent Oceania cruisers look for more interesting or exotic destinations than the Carib. Hence those cruises are not as popular with Oceania cruisers and tend to be undersold.

 

I suspect they will continue to offer some incentives to fill the ships.

Plus 1.

I just started thinking about a last minute booking on a cruise for February in the Caribbean. My first stop in looking is always Oceania.

I could see that the Marina departures in February seem, surprisingly, wide open. I was leaning to one of the two seven day cruises (damn work) departing either February 1st or February 18th. My TA (known to many on this Board) has suggested I consider the ten day cruise departing February 8th -- much better deals available.

Not sure if I can jump on the ten day "deal," but it is very tempting.

Plus 1.

+2 from us 2

I just started thinking about a last minute booking on a cruise for February in the Caribbean. My first stop in looking is always Oceania.

 

I could see that the Marina departures in February seem, surprisingly, wide open. I was leaning to one of the two seven day cruises (damn work) departing either February 1st or February 18th. My TA (known to many on this Board) has suggested I consider the ten day cruise departing February 8th -- much better deals available.

 

Not sure if I can jump on the ten day "deal," but it is very tempting.

We probably use the same TA. The February 8th sailing is the latest deal that we received. It does have good pricing for a 10 night! If you are flying all the way from AZ, 10 nights makes more since.

Just a guess on my part - most frequent Oceania cruisers look for more interesting or exotic destinations than the Carib. Hence those cruises are not as popular with Oceania cruisers and tend to be undersold.

We try to avoid the Caribbean party cruises when taking a winter getaway and why we chose Oceania for the first time for last February. Nice and quiet (except for the gastro problems) The ship was full of retirees, so no problem with over partiers! Nothing wrong with that. We will be officially retired when we sail this coming February.:D

Now, for the longer "exotic destinations", we choose larger Celebrity ships. There is a fun diverse age group of nice passengers. There is something for everyone when it comes to entertainment, and plenty to do on sea days. :)

As you can see from my signature. We have 2 more of those type cruises coming up in May.

To us, it was not Celebrity vs Oceania, it was pure itinerary. We have been Celebrity cruisers and have been tot he islands n their itinerary and we had heard of Oceania and chose a Feb cruise. It is considerably more expensive than equivalent Celebrity but we had heard and read good things about Oceania.

The upgrade offers I have received were for different itineraries and/or for the Fall (hurricane season) and they did not interest us. At this point, itinerary is the most important factor.

So, having said that, the itineraries may be the issue here too.The ones being offered (to me) are all in the Western Caribbean and very much in the same areas (if not the exact location) as other cruise lines. Perhaps Oceania needs to find different spots to dock (or tender)?

As an example of crowded ports, we tendered at Georgetown, Grand Cayman on a Celebrity cruise...there were 6 ships there at the same time. Got to shore, walked out to the street, saw the 15,000 people walking the streets, and it took us 1/2 hour just to get back to our tender from the street to get back to the ship :)

The ones being offered (to me) are all in the Western Caribbean and very much in the same areas (if not the exact location) as other cruise lines. Perhaps Oceania needs to find different spots to dock (or tender)?

I am sure they would welcome suggestions on where they could dock that no other ships go :rolleyes:

Maybe people are waiting for the discounts for those sailings

Most people have done the Caribbean several times some like to just get away so will do it more often

Even if other lines are cheaper we would still do O because it is not full of party people, loads of kids

we like the quiet life on O

but not everyone will feel the same way

YMMV

Pick a cruise line or itinerary that works for YOU

Agree that waiting for deep discounts is a good strategy for Caribbean cruises on Oceania

We find in a top suite on celebrity we can have a fairly quiet and relaxed cruise. Luminae makes meals almost private and Michaels club does the same. We don't drink so we don't go to bars so we don't go where others congregate. Celebrity in our experience is not full of party people and if there are kids their program makes the kids disappear lol.

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I am sure they would welcome suggestions on where they could dock that no other ships go :rolleyes:

There are (according to Google) about 7000 islands in the Caribbean. My point with the Grand Cayman example is that there are other places that are not so crowded or that are unusual or off the beaten path.

As I tried to say, we choose a cruise for the itinerary and if Oceania is a bit different, maybe the ships would gather more passengers.

What islands., I am not sure as I am not an expert in the Caribbean but I am quite sure Oceania has some.

My suggestion was just that, a suggestion and part of this discussion.Your need to make comment on my post and roll your eyes indicates you have something better to say? Well, lets hear it.

I am sure they would welcome suggestions on where they could dock that no other ships go :rolleyes:

I wonder if there would be enough interest if they kept one of the European ships in Spain to go to the Canaries through at least December and then send it back a bit earlier? It would take a bit of capacity off the Caribbean and give the O European cruisers a cheap flight/warm weather cruise option.

Southern Spain is not extremely cold in December and the towns in the region have nice Christmas markets starting in mid November. Going back earlier might dovetail with all the Santa Semana festivals.

We are also Elite Plus on X. The reason we have changed to O is that for suite and AQ prices we can now go on O and not be with 2800 of our new friends.

After going to Europe for the last 13 years we are now burned out on overseas travel. DH was an airline pilot and is over flying 12 hour flights.

We will be looking for cruises that RT in the US or Canada.

The 2 O class ships seem to be plying the Caribbean in the winter

The other 4 ships are doing other itineraries

Now if you only cruise on the O class ships this could be a problem

but I see plenty of other itineraries to choose if you are not interested in the Carib cruises

JMO

There are (according to Google) about 7000 islands in the Caribbean. My point with the Grand Cayman example is that there are other places that are not so crowded or that are unusual or off the beaten path.

As I tried to say, we choose a cruise for the itinerary and if Oceania is a bit different, maybe the ships would gather more passengers.

What islands., I am not sure as I am not an expert in the Caribbean but I am quite sure Oceania has some.

My suggestion was just that, a suggestion and part of this discussion.Your need to make comment on my post and roll your eyes indicates you have something better to say? Well, lets hear it.

The point being unusual or "Off the beaten path" may not have the infrastructure to support cruise ships or hundreds of passengers

Then you have people complaining "why did the ship stop there it was a waste of time "

I would think if there are places ships can go that are suitable for docking then Oceania would explore the possibility

Seabourn has some different stops I believe. They have some really different itineraries in general with Many ports oceania never visits

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Interesting discussion - my two cents:

It is my deeply held suspicion that, over two years ago - when O was arranging the winter '17 season - there was an expectation that Cuba would be completely open to the U. S. and that the market for circle Cuba cruises would be very strong. Thus the positioning of both the large O ships in the Caribbean this winter. Obviously didn't work out that way.

This winter, I'm booked on a getaway from the cold, itinerary of little interest since we've been to most all of the islands, cruise - 10 days on Riviera - leaving Miami on February 2nd. Two years ago I went on a 10 day out of Miami leaving on February 3. In '15 we paid over $3,750.00 pp for a B4 cabin , no promos, no airfare, OBC from our agent. Our invoice this year is slightly over $2,700 pp for a B3 extended balcony cabin, no promos, no airfare, nice OBC from our agent.

As pointed out above, there seems to be an excessive inventory on both Riviera and Marina at this point (since we are in the after final invoice period). Taken from an on-line agency:

Marina - 7 days:

B3 cabins - Guarantee

B2 cabins - 34 available

B1 cabins - 61 available

A4 cabins - 2 available

A3 cabins - 39 available

A2 cabins - 16 available

Riviera - 10 days:

B3 cabins - 22 available

B2 cabins - 43 available

B1 cabins - 47 available

A4 cabins - Guarantee

A3 cabins - 19 available

A2 cabins - 16 available

A1 cabins - 1 available

I can't imagine that O can fill both boats for early February sailings, but it's interesting to watch.