Flatbush Flyer

“Ship within a ship?” Unappealing for all of the obvious reasons.

As everyone else is posting: the airfare was never “free.” If I remember correctly: When O first started out, the airfare was included in the sole fare price - no option for “cruise only.” Eventually, that morphed into with/without air pricing.

When shopping for a cruise, don’t make the rookie mistake of comparing only cabin prices. Use the “net daily rate” calculation which includes all required and optionally expected costs divided by the days in your trip.

You may be in luck! Everything you’ve done with purchases, $ adjustments pre-cruise will transfer to your onboard account. So, all payments by credit card are then considered credit to your onboard account regardless of what they were originally used for. (You’ll see them as credits on your account and they are “refundable” dollars). All charges like gratuities, booze purchases, spa stuff, will be seen as debits to your onboard account. So will non-refundable SBC like the non-refundable SBC you were given as a price adjustment. The onboard accounting system recalculates the credits/debits not prioritized on the type of purchase. Rather it calculates it with prioritization based on the type of $$$ in the mix! At least, that’s the way it has worked for as long as I can remember (and we’ve done a ton of O cruises). So, what should happen is the following: All your charges for extras (even pre-cruise) will first tap your non-refundable SBC balance (note that SM shore excursion credit will be first to be used for tours). Once that’s exhausted, your balance due will tap your refundable SBC (e.g., gifts from TAs). If you still “owe” $$$, the last money to be tapped will be any cash you had put into the deal (even if before the cruise and no matter what you originally used it for). But, just to be sure: once you’re onboard, doublecheck with Guest Relations that this priority is still in effect. You can even call O before hand (or have your TA do it) and see if the adjustment can be done now). This has happened to us before with a big refund provided as non-refundable SBC. And our onboard account adjusted just as I have described it. So, we went home with a nice “chunk of change.”

Depending on the airline, their SeaTac lounge may be less expensive than an hotel day room and still have included food, drinks, showers, etc.

One other important item. Don’t make the common mistake of only comparing cabin costs! Look at the bottom line of “net daily rate” which is all required and optionally desired cruise services and amenities. That premium/luxury cruise line’s fare may include airfare or air credit, all beverages, unlimited internet, specialty dining, excursions, etc.

Like HAL, Cunard was a contender many many years ago. Now, it’s at/near the top of the mass market heap with lines like HAL, Celebrity and Viking.

GDR can do 10 with advanced notice (since officer invited dinners often use the space). On Riviera and Marina, there’s Priveé, which you can rent for a fee. You can get ten in there. The specialty restaurants really aren’t set up to accommodate 10 at a table.

You’ll get a few more included amenities on Oceania’s sister line Regent. But, the fare will be $ thousands more. Even if you add the extra items as purchases on O, Regent will still be much more expensive (for very much the same bottom line experience. IMO, Gauguin and Viking are not in the same ballpark as any of the other lines you mentioned- perhaps they’re more upper end of the mass market.

If your “free” grats were OCAPP (pass through funds from O via TA) they may not be combinable with other perks originating from O (though called something else.

Useless since the list changes regularly (and the included SM wine are the same across all onboard restaurants.

Which is why I posted “WAS one.” (Hope all is well on your end.)

Not true. with O Life, the basic booze perk was one of three possible choices for your included perk.

Well, O has never really marketed itself as “luxury” although, years ago (as more lines self-proclaimed themselves as “premium” (a term first used by O)), O started claiming to be “ultra-premium.”

osandomir: “We probably won’t ever get to that level of loyalty if it actually exists….” ??? It certainly does exist!

I see your point in that someone whose president’s level should know what they’re talking about😳. nonetheless, there’s no way the head butler was seeking out a silver level O Club member and whisking him/her through the tour waiting line.

I still think you are misunderstanding something. The VIP “tour check in” that supposedly starts at Silver (or any other level for that matter) was a failed experiment of a few years ago. O would set up a marked off lane with a sign in the lounge. It was supposed to be limited access. The only problem was both the general line and the VIP line were going to the same table and the differentiation quickly disappeared when the crowd surged forward. The VIP deal lasted less than a year and I’ve not seen it again on six cruises over the past 24 months. What “Butler escort” deal he was talking about is something different for the top tier O Club folks.

Perhaps you misunderstood. s/he said “president’s circle.” It’s the highest O Club level.

In nil sapiendo vita iucundissima est.

Your supposition is incorrect. The “bread and butter” of those cruise lines requiring passports includes regularly scheduled “closed loop” itineraries. Perhaps the informed decision-making that keeps them afloat trumps the “reading” and limited experience of some occasional passengers who erroneously believe that legitimacy is more important than common sense. One only needs to peruse the daily news to see the fallacy of that belief.

And yet, with very few exceptions, the bulk of two entire cruise industry segments (premium and luxury) steadfastly refuse to accept a passenger (on any itinerary) without a passport even though your “reading” says there’s “no problemo.”

And, yet, there are plenty of cruise lines that actually “would never allow the birth certificate as a valid document” (for all of the obvious reasons). It appears that you are the one who may be “exaggerating” with a baseless claim. in any case, International cruise travel without a passport, travel/medical insurance and adequate credit card limits remains a recipe for disappointment and inconvenience to self and others.

It appears that you seem to think that folks without a passport will get an automatic (and immediate) OK to their request to CBP et al. to fly home to the US without a passport. Not as easy as you may think. There can be significant time and associated expense to the unprepared passenger in making that “pass” happen (if it happens at all). Add to that the reality that there’s not a US embassy/consulate readily available in every port city. Worse still, the rest of us may experience delay of the ship because of one person’s bad travel choice (e.g., no or inappropriate passport for someone wanting/needing to leave the ship, fly home, etc.). And, yes, requiring all passengers on all itineraries to bring a valid passport actually does save ship’s personnel normally unnecessary support efforts to accommodate the ill-prepared passengers. And it’s that “worse still” scenario that is one of the main reasons why premium/luxury lines require them. It avoids the creation of potentially negative delay consequences for all the other rules-abiding passengers as well as for their staff. On the other hand, the practice of/incentive to those (mostly mass market) cruise lines that don’t require passports of all passengers on all itineraries is obvious. They don’t want to lose the revenues created by every last passenger - particularly those struggling to afford their product. And their concern for the burden it may place on their staff may not be all that important to the line’s management (after all, just look at their unfavorable crew:passenger ratios for evidence of that reality).

When it comes to unexpected problems while traveling abroad, a better observation might be “pay now or pay later.” (hopefully not followed by that other observation: “we told you so.”😳) Seriously: Have you ever given any thought to the reason why most (if not all) premium/luxury cruise lines require ALL passengers on ALL itineraries to have a valid passport? Could it be because their travel abroad knowledge/experience demonstrates that doing so eliminates all sorts of related and potentially significant problems for their passengers?

+1 😎