AMHuntFerry

I received the 2024-2025 "Tropics and Exotics" brochure (which had South Pacific sailings through July 2025) in fall/winter 2022 (guessing Sept/Oct 2022 from fare expiration date). That is apparently not this year's schedule though (maybe due to Allura schedules being released in September 2023).

Do not trust the online booking...ever (well, maybe sometime in the future). Call O and get the pre-purchased shorex statement from them after confirming any bookings and waitlists. It is itemized and every detail you need is in this statement. Your TA can also send this doc if you want to check it, then call if any changes are needed.

I have rarely experienced any of the behavior you are worried about. Have I seen lounge saving? Probably, but I rarely use the lounges, and when I do I can find always find one...finding two together can get tricky if there is high demand. All-about-me passengers have been too subtle for me to notice (or were not memorable), although I distinctly remember eaves-dropping on a look-at-me name-dropper, but that was entertaining rather than annoying due to its novelty. There are rarely lines for anything, and when there are, people are well-behaved. A June Alaska cruise was the least enjoyable due to (maybe?) a younger, American-centric, 90% 1st time on O, multiple alumni groups crowd; least enjoyable but still enjoyable if that makes sense.

Constants (also checked against Vista on Preisman blog): Appetizers: Soups: Salads: Entrees: Dessert: Constants are seasonal fresh fruit plate, souffle' of the day (flavor varies), vanilla & chocolate ice cream (other ice creams and sorbet vary in flavor); 4 varying desserts (1 "healthy"); cheese plate (flavors vary)

Which cruise line? I may be able to take it off of the don't-bother-list.

I'm not sure, but you may need to send the original. I'm not sure how much of a stickler they are about the fine print but if you don't get the discount it may be because they want the original. Your TAs should be able to get the current rules from their O-rep and it will all work out in the end.

Does "Gave all the info to my TA" mean that they sent your certificate to O for you? The original certificate had to be sent via snail mail in January 2022 and the instructions were the same on my September 2023 cert. My original invoice was dated January 26th and the updated one was May 26th...those dates are just when it was created though, not when the discount was applied, so not very enlightening regarding how long it took...sorry

Question for those who have used their $200 certificate: I assumed the $200 was per cabin (so $100 per person) and was surprised when there was a $200 discount for each of us ($400 total) on our revised invoice. Is this others' experience or did I get a bonus typo?

Brief rules from an unused certificate: Category D or higher on R-ships C or higher on O-ships B5 or higher on Vista (no mention of Allura but cruises were just released when I got this cert.) Must book within 45 of return from previous voyage (I take this to mean new bookings only) May not combine with special offers (or onboard booking savings) One time transfer allowed if within 30 days of cancellation There is other fine print but these are the ones I think will matter to most.

We have received them when we did not book onboard or when we bought a FCC. We did not receive one when we booked on board.

Short answer: There is only one 25% discount that kicks in when the minimum number of excursions is booked (although if using the glitchy online version, a call to O may be needed). I think you're missing a key fact though...everyone who booked after September 1st has SM and the Tour Price is what you pay if buying less than the minimum (for 25% off). (Just FYI - those with OLife have essentially the same deal of Tour Price or 25% off with minimum (plus also the Ultimate Pkg). There is a cancellation policy on the last page of your shorex pdf. If you don't have it, your TA should send it to you. It gets updated sometimes, so ask for it as often as you like if you're interested in updates. The Packages are described on the first page.

Watch once before boarding and once in your cabin. It's a few minutes total...no big deal. At least we don't have to pass a quiz (although maybe we should...the ship would be half empty).

I can get a little philosophical when it comes to money, so please feel free to skip this post (or wish you had) 🙂 Here's the SM drama as I see it so far: Fall 2023: SM is implemented and prices go up the same amount as the SM shorex credit ("SXC" 'cuz who doesn't love TLAs). However, some wine/beer and another internet account are also included. If you use all of the perks (emphasis on "use", as in, it's actually available), you have gotten simply more (as advertised), a "win". If the SM perks are worthless to you, there was a significant price increase to your cruise-only fare, a "loss". Fall/Winter 23: O should have heeded "be careful what you wish for". It was speculated that one reason for the SXC was to increase the number of passengers using O excursions. It appears to have succeeded beyond O's expectations, and now there are angry customers who did not get the shorex that they were promised. Something needed to be done to either increase the availability of shorex, or to decrease demand (yay, Econ 101 to the rescue!). We know that shorex resources in some locations are limited while in others there are more than enough; it appears O chose to try decreasing demand since in 2024 the SXC was reduced (or maybe a combo). January 2024: The reduced SXC is implemented for new bookings and some people are angry about the reduction, while others recognize that the reduced SXC may have been balanced to some extent by lower (or zero) price increases (i.e., a "win" for the cruise only crowd). O may also increase the number of shorex in locations where it is possible, but it will be a challenge/impossible on some itineraries. Will whatever O does change result in better results booking shorex? Will O change their policy regarding cancelled shorex to better match what they used to do when an O-Life shorex cancellations (i.e. rebook or full/partial refund), or possibly some version of FCC? Will O change the first date for booking shorex until after final payment (or after the $500 penalty starts)? These are all questions I have wondered about while watching the changes. For me it is moot since I am in the cruise only crowd, and it just comes down to "am I willing to pay that price for a cruise only experience (i.e., no shorex, no booze, no internet)? And if I get to go whale watching for no additional charge? Sign me up!

I used one of those post-cruise $200 certificates in January 2022. The process when using a TA was (may be different if booked directly with O): First, you have to book the cruise within the (45-day, I think mine was shorter) timeframe on the certificate. After you have a booking with deposit (not a hold), you send in the completed certificate (hint: scan/copy the completed certificate in case it goes astray). After a while (can't remember), a line item called "Bonus Savings" showed up beneath the "Air Credit" on the revised invoice that my TA sent to me.

Here's the room service menu from June (any cabin-category, higher also get GDR):

The drink menus are much easier to decipher now than before they restructured them in January or February 2023. Here is a page from a sample drink menu: If this was your menu in, say, the GDR, then everything under "Wine by the Glass" and "Beer" would be included with your lunch/dinner under SM. The items under "Specialty Coffee" and "Cognac & Armagnac" are not included. You are fairly safe in the GDR, Terrace and Waves, but the Specialties may have by-the-glass items (e.g., sake) that are wine, but are not included. The safest is to ask when ordering as has been advised earlier. Here is an example (from Ember) of when you need to ask: There are wines by the glass listed, but it's probably a safe bet that they are not included...ask anyway. The regular wines by the glass menu should also be available.

I don't think there is any one special evening in the GDR as other people might consider the Global Cuisine menu featuring Thailand as their can't-miss dinner. The only dinners that I recall being "advertised" as anything special were the ones mentioned earlier in Terrace (also the wine pairing dinners if applicable). There has been a "Chef's Special" dinner in Terrace for two consecutive nights (so no one misses out?) that features dishes from the region where the cruise is visiting. The "advertising" is in Currents, and there is even a sign near the GDR posted menu.

Unsourced lobster: and the bisque appears every night:

At least 1 (of 14-ish) GDR menus has Maine Lobster, but it may not be offered on any particular cruise: Found another!

Here is the wording from my Future Cruise Certificate (FCC). I think everything (perks, conditions) is pretty much the same as if we had booked a cruise onboard, except for the OBC which was higher ($250?). Note that the deposit paid with a FCC is fully refundable until expiration, while a booked cruise has the new $150 penalty; at least that was the case when I was choosing FCC vs. booking in September (the $150 penalty had just started being applicable a few days earlier). Sorry for the annoying cut-paste formatting! FCC: You’ll receive our best available offer at the time of your voyage selection. The earlier you book, the better choices you will have for accomodations and amenities, and the lower the price will be. Once you select your cruise the applicable savings noted below will be applied to your reservation. ONBOARD SAVINGS BY CATEGORY Savings shown are per stateroom SAILING LENGTH OS - OC PH A - B C - E 7-9 days $500 $300 $250 $200 10-19 days $800 $600 $400 $300 20-35 days $1,500 $1,000 $800 $500 Terms & Conditions: Certificate is redeemable for up to one year from date of purchase towards deposit of future voyage. Selected voyage may commence outside of one year. Certificate cancellations are fully refundable up until expiration. If US$100 Shipboard Credit was given at the time this Certificate was purchased, this amount will be withheld from the refund. After expiration date, the full value of the Certificate will be forfeited. If you need to cancel after a voyage is selected, the standard booking terms and conditions will apply. Onboard Booking Savings varies based on sailing date and stateroom/suite category selected, and is combinable with current savings offers at time of voyage selection. Onboard Savings is applicable to Ocean View and higher categories. Please note that not all promotions are combinable with Onboard Savings. Guests are encouraged to select their preferred future sailing as early as possible to secure preferred pricing and stateroom availability. Oceania/Vista/Owner’s Suites, Grand Voyages, combination (multiple segment) cruises, and guests from Germany/Austria/Switzerland/Lichtenstein may require additional deposit, which will be due at the time your voyage is selected. Certificate is exclusively available for purchase by onboard guests only and is non-transferable. One Certificate maximum may be applied to a reservation. Once applied to a voyage, guests may utilize their one-time change-of-sailing prior to the cancellation penalty period of the voyage selected. Program is applicable to new bookings only and is not applicable to reservations booked prior to Future Cruise Deposit certificate purchase. Oceania Cruises reserves the right to correct errors or omissions and to change any and all fares, fees, promotions and surcharges at any time. Ships' Registry: Marshall Islands.

If I recall, those itineraries were just released (a few days ago?); however when I looked at the online availability there are a few categories either that are Guarantee or Waitlist already. My perspective: When I was debating booking a cruise for last June (looking in December/January), I kept track of availability by seeing how many cabins were still available in my chosen categories. When inventory dwindled below my comfort level, I booked; in my case the price was unlikely to go lower since sale-prices are typically only applicable to cabins with high availability. If you have the time, track the availability and, if possible (based on your desires), wait until the 30-day pre-cruise window (but before Feb 29th) to get any applicable onboard booking perks (as mentioned by others) along with the NY-sale. Even if onboard perks are minimal, you'll get the price guarantee which can be valuable later. Note also that this cruise is an O-Club 10% sale ("expires" March 31st); I doubt it would be the better deal, but with combinability allowances/restrictions it never hurts to ask (especially if you have additional perks like TA, Amex, etc.).

The refit was in 2022. I don't recall the fitness/spa area being part of the "re-imagining". In their releases, O specified that the cabins, dining, and bars would be refurbished. That said, hopefully any maintenance issues are quickly dealt with; a short comment in the mid-cruise review (or earlier directly to management) might get some action.

If you haven't found it yet: https://www.oceaniacruises.com/ships/vista/culinary-experiences scroll down to the second row and click the Aquamar Kitchen box. This is Vista's menu since Marina doesn't have it yet, but I would expect the menus to be similar if not the same. Question for @edgee: Are the "bowls" (usually one selection) and composed salads (usually ~3-4, not including the lettuce based ones) still available in Terrace? The bowls are my spouse's default lunch choice and the salads are mine, so it will be more convenient if they are in Terrace too.

I hope my "disagree" type comments didn't come across as critical of your opinions/choices. Maybe a better phrase would have been "Differnet opinion/perspective/choice given different preferences" (but it gets a little wordy 😉 ). It's so hard not to offend anyone these days, so I often stay silent. I like that you are open to discourse! Not everyone can handle a differing opinion as graciously as you can.

What's better than a @Sthrngary post? A Sthrngary post with related comments! Here we go (please excuse the weird cut-and-paste formatting): Hi Gary, I’ll give a slightly different perspective. Here we are in a nutshell: We tend not to book far in advance (half a year is stretching our commitment level) so we’ll be booking around or after full payment. We want value for our money but won’t make ourselves miserable saving every penny in sight. We tried using a ship as a floating hotel/transport and hated it for that purpose (we'll stick to DIY land-based travelling). However, we were shocked to find out we actually loved kicking back and relaxing on the ship...similar to going to a mountain lodge. Book As Far Out As Possible: I booked in November 2023 for a cruise in October 2025. The fare was reduced by 5%. Book as late as possible. We like to travel September-December, sometimes May. Booking a September cruise before March does not work for us, and even March is earlier than I like. Best Value Often Times is the Older Ships: When the Vista was launched the prices for similar itinerary to the Riviera or Marina made the Vista much higher. As the months go by, the Vista pricing on some itineraries are leveling down. Not 100% but it is noticeable. The Riviera and Marina for the same itinerary right now are the positive value proposition to the Vista still. Agree. If memory serves, Vista was originally about $100 more per day per person than comparable itineraries on O- and R-ships the first year (but then there were some sales); I think Allura was similar or more but I didn’t look very hard. Also, the new ships have done away with inside and ocean view, so if sorting by price, Vista and Allura will appear more expensive (since you’re comparing a French Balcony to an Inside) unless you can also sort by cabin type. See a Sale Online, Check with Oceania: Whether it is a sailing you have booked or one you are considering. See a sale, call your Agent or Oceania to gain accurate pricing. You can also from time to time go to a third party site to check out pricing. When doing that, make sure the check box saying "Non-Refundable Fairs" is not clicked. You want accuracy. Mostly agree. Without a TA you will miss the occasional-sale (silent or early release) and/or TA perks (with O that usually means prepaid gratuities or OBC). Some people even have more than one TA in order to shop around (not me…see below). Check Your Credit Card Perks: Some of these Perks are combinable with other sales; some are not. Worth checking it out because the rules seem to change like the wind. No comment since I just use the CC trip insurance which is pretty limited. Book Onboard For Extra Benefits/Value: I booked my next cruise while cruising on the Riviera. I got the information on day one, booked the actual itinerary on day 5 of a 10 day cruise. The last day is super crowed at the future sales desk. My future booking was: 5% off for booking so far in advance; $250.00 of OBC on my current or future cruise; $400.00 off the fair for a Concierge Level booking; my travel agency game me free gratuities, and this cruise was booked with the SimplyMore amenities which in my case was $800.00 for excursions. This $800.00 was reduced to $600.00 on January 1, 2024. Undecided. As a last-minute booker, the benefits of booking onboard can be limited to the extra OBC which still has me wondering if it’s worth the headache (there are things more important than money). Some (maybe all?) sales will not be combinable with the discount (which isn’t massive for the ~10 day steerage fares anyway). With the change in due date, I’ll now be booking near or after final payment, so the low deposit isn’t useful (and I’m loaning O the $500). The price guarantee isn’t useful for similar reasons. Guest Paid Discounted Upgrade: Never any guarantees however as either a sale happens or you get close to the actual cruise, call Oceania or your travel Agent and ask to be considered for a "Paid Guest Discounted Upgrade". Like chicken soup, can't hurt. Like the stateroom and pricing you have disregard this suggestion. Agreed. The upgrade sales are my favorite (except for the deep discount unicorns), although I’ll probably choose money savings over a higher room since the perks don’t hold much value to us. Travel Agents Perks to You: I want to be crystal clear here, I was a commission sales professional and never cut my commission. I don't believe in asking my agent to cut hers. She offered once and I said, No your commission is your income. I will take a perk if I have brought business to her and she sales product. Consider that my commission. Yet, may agencies especially ones that do lots of luxury YouTube.com tour video's make offers to those that allow them to do your bookings. The same hold true for many of the agents that work with many of you. My agent gave me free gratuities through her agency. That one I accepted. Agreed. I am an avid “buy local” consumer, so my TA is someone with a desk and a guest chair within a short drive from my house (I used to be able to walk but they moved!). She also has my back if something crazy happens. I won’t get as many deals as a well connected TA, but I’m OK with that. She offers consortium-related PPG/OBC on some cruises, and had access to the Extraordinary Sale weeks before it was public (I tried to tell people here, but I’m not sure I was believed…the discounts were “too good to be true”. I was selfish enough to book my own cruise first though 😉 ). Read Post Online and In Social Media for your Brand: Historically, I learn about sales, fare increases or decreases, program adjustments online in social media before they are ever shared in other ways. If you don't keep yourself informed, you might miss an opportunity. Agreed. But don’t let it become a chore that you stress over. I can overdo travel planning, as in, spend more time planning than travelling. Sometimes saving that $20 (or even $200 is just not worth it. Private Travel Agency Sales: On this one, it usually happens with the bigger agencies. Tell your agent you want a heads up if one should show it lovely head. These kinds of sales are usually not make easily public. Not sure this is completely true but I have no data. My TA’s agency is a small, family run agency in podunk Idaho. I had access to the sale to end all sales in advance. Would one of the higher producers have more sales? Probably. The super-informed will be needed to settle this question. Airfare: See how much the fair goes down when you pull the airfare out. In my recent case it was $1,400.00 per person plus $199.00 to fly from my local airport which is not a hub. Now I keep this as part of my booking until I can actual book directly with my airline brand and itinerary of choice. Usually 330 days in advance of the return flight. If you get in early enough, you can gain a fully refundable fair at about the same price as the $1,599.00 example I gave above. Your flight amount may vary. Sort of Agree. I don’t even bother with the O-air option any more. I’m not sure I’d ever let O handle my air for any price. Many years ago, when we were first out of grad school and we had international travel (spouse more than me), it took a while to get out of the student-save-every-penny mentality. We no longer have that mentality. Minimizing stops, avoiding cities we find problematic, and having departures/arrivals/layovers that we like are worth paying for. We also tried out United’s premium seats to/from Europe last fall…they are now on our probably-worth-paying-for list (or we’ll take the QM2 eastbound 😊 ). Also, we buy directly from the airline to get the flexibility that offers. Learn the Drink Programs/Benefits: Keep the SimplyMore only. Upgrade on the ship. Bring bottles of wine or spirits onboard all giving you the option to or not to upgrade to the Prestige Drink Package. Be an educated consumer. Agree. This varies so much by individual. Our typical day has us drinking 2 cocktails at happy hour (some days more, some days less but always cocktails). I think we spent a little more than $500 on drinks for both of us (bar grats included) on a 13 night cruise. No package needed. Learn About Percentage Discounts for Booking Lots of Excursions: This is something I don't use. I usually arrange my excursions on my own. Based on my experience and is not every ones experience. However, there are benefits to booking a certain number of excursions with Oceania. Learn the rules and you might same some money. Remember, if a excursion or port is canceled having nothing to do with you, you might lose the benefits. Again, know the rules to the game if you want to play. Agree. I have used the 25% discount, but it was on the old O-Life plan. I narrow down the excursions that I am considering, then note the full price and discount price. There are occasions where booking enough to get the discount will actually cost less than booking 1 less than the minimum (or 2 or __ if you have a long cruise). How that compares to independent tour operators or DIY is another column in the spreadsheet. One benefit of the old program was that if O cancelled a tour that was an O-Life tour, you received either another O-Life tour or a $100 refund (which was the cost out-of-pocket for an O-Life tour). From what we’ve seen on CC, SM has a different policy…use it or lose it; I’m still waiting to see how this plays out.