Flatbush Flyer

It’s called a “custom” cruise and, though the fare base discount of an “extended journey” (published multi-segment) will often be better than a “custom” cruise’s approx. 5% discount, the extra O Club perks may make it the better deal.

A common occurrence! With the understanding that O’s mantra is “no double dipping,” the technically correct answer is that your multisegment fare cannot be disaggregated for the purpose of a sale on one segment. It’s one of the perceived downsides of booking a published multi-segment cruise. Of course, you could rebook under the right circumstances. But, that would be at the current prices and perks (as well as loss of the base discount you had on the multi-segment cruise you had originally booked). But, that’s seldom a better deal than the cost of an original booking done 1 year +\- prior. All that said, there are other options worth pursuing. One that has worked for me on occasion (depending in part on your TA’s “O connectivity” (e.g., O elite level of the connoisseurs club)) is to ask for all/part of the sale savings as non-refundable SBC (so that no cash changes hands).

Depending on your O Club level (particularly if you’re Platinum or above), how you book those multi-segments (even when booked onboard), affects their discount amount and the O Club perks as well as cruise credits. (And it can affect Roll Over in certain cases). That said the math has to be done by the OCA or by you to figure out which of the available ways is most efficacious. Hopefully you’re considering that in your choices. FWIW, we pretty much only do multi-segment cruises (soon will pass the 500 nights on O mark).

Again, there is no “back to back” phrase in O bookings. They’re either individual segments or multi-segments and the devil is in the detail of what you get (or not) depending on how you book the adjacent segments. Thus, if you have booked separate published adjacent cruises - each with it’s own booking number, your perks/reservations/etc are per segment. Once onboard, you could certainly try to have Roll Over of unrestricted SBC. But, there’s no guarantee until you see it in print.

The more important question is why did you book them separately (even with a multiple segment discount - usually about 5%). If they were advertised as an “extended journey,” the fare discount would be significantly more. The only $ benefit to individual adjacent bookings is multiples of O Club perks (which usually requires that you are at least platinum to see substantial extra SBC).

There really is no such thing as a “back-to-back” cruise in Oceania’s booking language (which does all its bookings by “segment(s).” There are individual cruises (each with it’s own booking number) that may be adjacent to another segment OR their may be multi-segment cruises of different types (with the distinctions being VERY important- particularly when it comes to Oceania supplied perks. Though Simply More may ultimately play out differently than O Life when it comes to carry-over SBC (of whatever type), you will probably want to get your best fare price(s) when initially booking adjacent segments. And, in almost all cases, that means booking them as an “extended or grand journey” (multiple segments marketed as a single cruise with a single booking number) or as a “custom cruise” where you join two segments - still with an individual booking number. Note however, that the O perks with each of these options can vary significantly from the size of the fare discount to what you get from the O Club. All that said, whether allotted O Life tours (or SM tour SBC) or even initial specialty restaurant reservations, they’re all doled out per segment. Now, if this was O Life and you had a single booking number multisegment cruise, regular SBC would carry over to the next segment. But SM tour SBC may be an unknown (though someone here may be able to report a recent experience). What is a good bet, however, is that separate individual booking numbers will be treated as totally separate entities. But, for me, it’s still just a bet.

Interesting that you don’t care for Marseilles. Years ago, I had the opportunity to spend some time there at the École Nationale Supérieure Maritime. There’s much culture, history, art (about two dozen museums) (and, of course, bouillabaisse) to be enjoyed in one of France’s most visited cities. But, like so many cruise ports, it may take longer than a half or full day every few years to have that experience “special” to you.

With the understanding that the USD, of course, remains the “coin of the realm” on Oceania ships (including for added gratuities), there certainly are occasions when augmenting $$$ with appropriate local currency makes sense for all concerned. This is especially true for crew mid-contract on a series of reverse segments where they’ll often do internal money exchanges that save them the time and expense of finding exchange outlets in port and paying some exorbitant fee. Savvy cruisers chat with service crew they encounter on a daily basis and can quickly determine when a mix of currencies might be useful/welcomed.

In a premiere American food city like San Francisco, being a waiter/waitress in a restaurant that is popular with both locals and tourists alike (e.g., Scoma’s, The Slanted Door, Perbacco…) and is always packed with patrons makes for a very good living!

Nautica does tend to do sonewhat “longer” cruises Two of those four are 25 days each. What I find interesting is that she disembarks in Mauritius.

Actually, it appears that YOU wanted the last word.😉

ROTFL. What happened to “cultural sensitivity” being a two way street? Twenty percent is not “ridiculous” to most cosmopolitan city residents in the US. And we’ll pay it to foreign wait staff if that’s what we want to do. BTW, our minimum wage in California for even just a fast food worker is $20 USD/hour (about $35 NZD). And regular restaurant workers get at least $16 USD/hour (about $27 NZD) plus any locally mandated health et al. benefits coverage. And, finally, if anything is “ridiculous,” it’s the suggestion that a savvy NZ waiter would have ANY sort of “issue” with an apparently “generous” 17.5%+ tip.

😳

So, a fairly US standard 20% tip on a single $400 NZD meal (>$200 USD for that meal alone) would be $80 NZD, which at a local exchange bureau might conservatively translate to at least $40 USD. I’m pretty sure most wait staff (worldwide - not just NZ) with a bunch of those US $20 bills in hand would find the time and energy to go to the exchange bureau every once in awhile. $$$ 😎 Just checked Travelex. Those two $20 USD bills would net someone “only” $70 NZD (17.5% tip on that $400 NZD tab). Case closed!

You may want to reread your post: “Anyway, the whole experience left us less than happy to return to the US. Not sure we would ever get used to the rudeness in general and the ‘tipping’ culture in particular.”

If you ever decide to do one of Oceania’s “R” ships, where some “larger” folks find many of the cabin showers to be “too small,” here’s a proven strategy for enjoying the shower: 1. Only shower when the ship is underway in rough sea conditions. 2. Get wet and lather up completely with soap. 3. Under running overhead shower, spin around against the shower walls allowing ship motion to agitate you (just like a washing machine). 4. Rinse off thoroughly. 5. Towel dry. BTW: if the seas are extremely rough, you won’t even need to go to the spa for that massage!

So, of all places, you pick Miami, Florida by which to judge an entire country?

Response #23.

no soup for you.

Not true. Even our local bank branch carries them (and the manager says many folks order them in large denomination packs for future travel.

“Seems to be” (Americans) is your unsubstantiated claim and nothing more. In any case, the fact remains that all money is money and, personally, I’ve never seen any service person refuse a gratuity consisting of US $. In fact, I remember one experience many years ago in Athens, Greece where I asked a cab driver how he preferred to be paid during a time when the Greek economy was having a difficult time. His answer? “US $ if you’ve got them.”

See response #23. All over the world, service personnel (particularly on cruise ships) gratefully accept all sorts of money and exchange it amongst themselves or at banks/exchange bureaus. As for me: As a young man, I worked in the ski industry and I can tell you that I always preferred even foreign currency to yet another knitted cap. 😎

And therein lies the difference (though the insult you imagine may only be in your head). If a European diner has only Euros in their pocket and chose to leave them as a tip in an American port city restaurant, the server would be appreciative of the kind/generous gesture and, along with all the other foreign currency s/he regularly receives (just like on a cruise ship), take it to the bank for conversion on their next visit. As for your “cultural imperialism” comment, call it whatever you want. I couldn’t care less about anyone who, when a service person has “gone above and beyond,” refuses to recognize that effort with something tangible like money (whatever color it is).

We often spend from 75-100 nights annually on O ships and, as sloop sailors, see zero need for any cabin larger than B (veranda) or A (concierge). The significant price difference to move up to a PH - basically for unnecessary space and an equally unnecessary butler would only serve to test our budget’s ability to stay the course of having O serve as our regular vacation home.

If a service provider has done an extraordinary job, I still tip in the UK et al. supposed “no tip” locations (which, ironically, often tack a “service charge” on the bill anyway). BUT, very often a use $USD (so they’ll remember US folks are the nice ones). 😉😎