Doubt It

OK, check this out. I have a cruise booked in August, paid in full. Have booked the shore excursions and paid additional $ for the extra excursions over the 8 "free". Here is what my TA was given by Oceania: Do we want a non-refundable shipboard credit applied to the reservation for $5,940 total Or I can ask for a non-refundable future cruise credit, they’ll have 1 yr to book, 1 yr to sail. Same amount $5,940 total. ________________ Good God, I can not use $5,940 of anything on the current cruise - we do not drink much, do not do spa nor buy stuff, only the gratuities. Put I have a cruise booked in February, deposit down. Could I use the future cruise credit to pay down the total costs of this upcoming cruise? We have to pay in Cdn $, so anything is helpful. Would appreciate your analysis of best value to me. Kindest Regards From A Newbie!

Hi DC, I agree based on the price consumers are willing to pay for suites with ever decreasing product quality. Many more posts about the decline in Luminae food for example. But I believe that it is a Mass Psychosis purchasing situation that has occurred across North America in the past decade, with the increase in mass consumption of media. Obedient consumers can be easily spotted at Costco for example where the sheeple go to buy vast quantities of goods that may take them quite a while to use. This is the core of Marketing and all corporations rely totally on Obedient Consumers.

Obedient consumers are the greatest gift to a business; the business can change key variables to benefit them but they know their beloved obedient consumers will still purchase. Consumers need to be not obedient and focus only on what is good for them, many do not, get in a loop of repetitive purchasing and thinking points are important. Always look at all options and undertake a value for money analysis; financial and non financial considerations. The price of X suites is ridiculous when you compare to Oceania, Azamara etc where the entire ship is a suite with far better food.

A suggestion is the ABC's, the most southern of the island chain that is frequented by cruise lines. They take a while to get to, so often the cruises end up being a bit longer. And the Panama Canal is amazing. Generally though the mass cruise lines do the same Caribbean islands over and over.

My are we not defensive, hummm. FYI, I can patronize whatever boards I wish and will continue to do so. My information is available to be used by anyone and many long time cruisers of Celebrity post and analyze the variances from the past as occurs on all the boards. You will simply have to cope.

You both look 100% class which is rare these days in society. Compliments. Connie is our favorite and then the Solstice, the M and S class they both have the Forward lounge and the Promenade. The vistas we have seen from the Forward lounge going around the world....gone from the newer ships. We have cruised since 1987, have seen much. The mass lines are essentially all inclusive resorts with minimal reference to the sea. They are in competition with the land based resorts. We have moved on to the Premium lines where there is a more classy atmosphere, better food and all about the Itineraries. We cruise for Itineraries.

OP - your important point about ship design is a major reason we have cancelled Celebrity. The lack of open space, the elimination of the forward viewing lounge (ie just how do you watch going through the Panama Canal for example). This is all a deliberate decision by cruise lines to create revenue. We now only cruise the Premium lines with small ships, 360 outside views, linkage to the sea, guest speakers who talk about the ocean, the upcoming ports. We totally reject the main cruise lines. We also reject the main cruise lines due to their class Apartheid decision, not participating. In the end, to each their own.

I have been saying this for years. It was the CEO Avison of Carnival way back in the early 1980's who called Cunard, the French line etc evil because of their class system. I have scrap books with articles on this and pictures of when the SS France was converted to a "cruise" ship. The cruise lines were disgusting in their hatred for Cunard etc. The early cruise lines tooted that everyone was equal which was the case until the mid 2010's when class Apartheid commenced, mostly with Celebrity. And now the cruise lines are just as class Apartheid as the French line was. Hence why I have Cancelled the mass cruise lines and only cruise premium and above so that I can access the entire ship with only a few small exceptions. Further, the premium and up lines ensure all passengers can have forward views etc, unlike Celebrities new ships. I cancelled Celebrity in 2016 and will not return. The dear Connie remains my favorite ship of all time. You made a great post and thank you for the photograph - I have a water color of the Titanic signed by 3 survivors which I got at a Titanic Historical Society event near Boston just after Titanic was found.

I agree, did a "cruise" across many lines and noted the sales and gradious words....I suspect that the cost of living is catching up with everyone and cruises are not a necessity. I have one booked for August and that's it.

Thanks so much. I will do so right now.

Thank you Flatbush Flyer for the heads up. We are newbies to Oceania. Does this apply to cruises after final payment? I have the Reykjavik to New York booked and it is listed in the Extraordinary Savings. What I see for the A1 I have booked is +2,000 Cdn above what I paid. Should I bother to call Oceania?

Doubt It here. I thank you all so much, hugs, for your information and support. I am just off the phone with Oceania and everything is booked and it became very clear how the included and OS worked. We got what we wanted, when we wanted it, so very pleased. Your knowledge and assistance to newbies like me is so very helpful. May everyone have a most wonderful Easter time with lots of chocolate. Blessings to all. Doubt It

Hello everyone. I found this link, helpful. I would appreciate your guidance on how to address the incredible complexity of Oceania's shore excursions. You all are SO knowledgeable, I defer to your wisdom. We find the Oceania excursion pricing to be beyond complicated. We are on an August cruise on Insignia from Iceland. We paid for O'Life and have 8 included shore excursions, confirmed by Oceania. We have 4 included excursions ready to book per person, finishing off the O'Life total of 8. We have 3 ports where we prefer the OS excursion and 3 ports where we are doing no excursions; walking ourselves as we have been there before. _______________________________ Question #1 - There seems to be no benefit to Using the Your World option which is shown as Cdn $1,635 pp on the web site, see analysis below. Are we correct?????? Question #2 - If we book the OS excursions on our own, ie outside of the Your World, if Oceania cancels the port - do we get our $ back? Question #3 - If we book the OS without Your World, how do we make sure the Oceania agent on the telephone understands we do not want the Your World, ie does it become automatic? _________________________________ I did a mock booking as a previous poster kindly recommended. 1) The 8 O'Life included excursions are in - after that, it is additional costs to us........ 2) The direct costs to us of booking the 3 OS excursions: a) (withOut the Your World) is Cdn $1,122 pp b) (the Your World cost) is Cdn $835 pp c) the Your World cost is a "savings" of Cdn $287 pp Analysis................ What we can not figure out is this - is the quoted "Your World" of Cdn $1,635 pp something we have to pay over top of the O'Life to each buy into the "Your World" package? Because the savings of $287 pp does not cover the costs of "Your World", if this is the case. We are very confused right now, so your assistance would be greatly appreciated. Kindest Regards Happy Easter

Greetings everyone! Happy Halloween! Question - Given the declining Cdn $ - does anyone know if Oceania has any incentives in their pricing for Canadians? The Cdn $ is hindering me and numerous of my friends and acquaintances from booking cruises and other travel. Are there any strategies you experts could recommend? Thank you kindly.

All part of the cruise lines product downgrading which started about 2017. The degradation of food is one of the main reasons cited by former Celebrity patrons who moved to the premium cruise lines, myself included. Celebrity used to be the Oceania of yesteryear, I was a regular patron from 1989 to 2017 when I moved upwards. But now I have 0 cruises booked and no plans to do so. I monitor CC to see what the cruise lines are up to. Expect more cheap, mass market frozen everything.