ShopperfiendTO

While I am not familiar with a specific thread that explains free airfare, I that it is fairly straightforward. If you have a TA that regularly books customers on Oceania, that would help. Basically, Oceania will select flights for you - using their contracted carriers approximately three (or four?) months prior to the sail date. These flights may or may not be what you would have chosen for yourself. Oceania gives you another option:

Not sure when they select the flights but if you opt for the included air and no deviation, they tell you what they are about 75 days prior to sailing.

I did a back to back cruise on an O class ship that went around the Black Sea on the second segment. Due to the low level of service and food that didn't live up to the hype or at times even TGI McFunsters standards I would look for a different line.

OP is coming from Azamara. I've certainly had my share of food quality that didn't live up to the hype on O, even on the large ships, but I would choose O over Az if food was my main concern (unless I planned on eating at Aqualina every night).

We've experienced this twice on O, both on an R-ship. I think the numbers were between 75 and 200, so at most they represented less than a third of the ship's passengers.

To be honest, the groups were a slight nuisance and avoiding them was definitely unavoidable, including not being able to access certain venues at certain times due to their private events.

So we didn't enjoy these cruises as much than on our other O cruises where there weren't any alumni groups. but it didn't ruin our cruise.

It will be a more lively atmosphere on the cruise (i.e., in the GDR during dinner) to be sure.

FYI in fall 2013, our room attendant told me that Coke Zero is considered a special order. She asked if Diet Coke would be OK.

So it seems Diet Coke is standard (no need to special request well before cruise) but Coke Zero isn't.

They have small pepper mills on the tables at Jacques.

It was weird... the server asked if we wanted fresh pepper, and when we said yes, he went and got the foot-plus tall one.

For the next course, the other waiter just grabbed the mill on our table and ground it (we didn't notice it until then).

Anyway, they seemed to be only at Jacques.

thank you for your comments...

 

air canada partners with TAP and TAM airlines....a very low budget airline with very old planes...TAP airlines rate number 6 on the accident rating scale....

 

what airlines did you use when you say aircanada?

We booked with Air Canada and the flights were on a code share with TAM on a TAM plane and crew for the Rio to Sao Paolo segment and then Sao Paolo non-stop to Toronto on Air Canada plane and crew.

There was nothing remarkable about the TAM flight (good or bad) so I don't think it should be too much of a concern. Also, it wasn't that long a flight anyway so if it's bad you won't have to endure it for too long.

Because you're on Marina (and not an R-class ship), flying for arrival day of is going to be very tight in terms of supply, if one assumes 1/2 to 2/3rds of the other cruisers will be doing that, because Lisbon isn't a major gateway with plenty of flight options available like London, Barcelona, Rome or Istanbul. This means that O will need flights for 600-800+ passengers, most from North America, so a charter might be a possibility. However, the only O charter I've read about is from LA to Papeete. Would YYZ be the natural springboard to Lisbon like LAX is to Papeete?

Honestly, if flying and itinerary is a real concern I would recommend that you pay the ransom (because you won't be able to find a similar fare yourself than if you took the air credit and the deviation saving) so that you don't have to keep on worrying about it (unless those flights get affected which can happen, like they did for us on a recent flight :mad: - but we were able to work it out OK). And if you do, you might as well arrive early and depart later so that you actually have time to enjoy the start and end ports (I know you have an overnight in Rio but you probably need more than that to really appreciate it or to do something special, like a side trip to Iguassu Falls and fly to Sao Paolo from there or something like that).

We did Rio (GIG) to YYZ home from an O cruise a couple of years back and we did the flights on our own because I was nervous of what the included air itinerary would be. It really is a crapshoot what you will be assigned, even if your gateway airport is a primary gateway like YYZ is - learned this with our most recent included air assignment on a Europe cruise.

In retrospect, I think that your chances of getting a decent itinerary may increase depending on how far out of the way you are from other passengers on the cruise, and this seems to work in your favour for this routing because Rio is south of YYZ and most of the other cruisers with included air will also be south of YYZ (I am guessing this). Because of this dynamic, it is unlikely that O will assign flights to other non-YYZ passengers that stop in YYZ just to go back south, southwest (e.g., cruisers from Arizona) or southeast (cruisers from Florida) so it's probably going to be an OK itinerary given the likely demand.

As for the airport itself, we flew Air Canada and AC flights stopover in Sao Paolo (GRU). Rio airport was fine (our flight left mid-afternoon so we could do a half-day tour) but the connection in GRU was a horrible experience. You basically land and re-check in again, including with your luggage, as if GRU was your starting airport, including another security check-in and passport/customs check. Hopefully it has become more efficient since then.

Honestly, at $750 air credit only, unless there is an unprecedented sale you're not going to find a better fare. So price-wise, your options are just accepting the assignment (which as hypothesized above may not be ideal but should be acceptable especially since North America -bound flights are usually later in the day so no having to wake up at 3:00 a.m. to catch a 7:00 a.m. flight like is often the case for Europe return flights) or forking over the deviation fees for your peace of mind.

Beyond the obvious reason that they want you to book their own ship tours, why doesn't Oceania do more to facilitate the "independent traveler"? It would seem that O. could very easily obtain information about the port shuttles (times, terminus location in the city, connecting bus and train schedules, etc.) and provide it at the start of a cruise rather than wait until the ship is at each port to do so. I realize that the local port reps provide this info, but that can be a hectic experience and valuable touring time is wasted waiting your turn in line and then planning your course of action. It seems to me that just a little effort on O.'s part could make for a much better experience for those of us who like to go out on our own.

It's also that the port may not come to be (dangerous/impossible to dock), so providing it before is unnecessary and may just add salt to the wound on the missed port (the huge book of excursions for the port can be considered a marketing expense).

Great summary. Given the deadline dates, I would go further and just state this:

 

 

The 25% discount for pre-booking Land Discoveries excursions will only apply to cruises that embark in 2014, and even then, only if the excursions are booked by January 3, 2014, 11:59 PM EST, except for the following cruises:

1. Quest, departing Jan. 5, 2014: for this cruise, you must book the excursions by December 31, 2013, 11:59 PM EST.
   
2. Journey, departing Jan. 6, 2014: for this cruise,you must book the excursions by January 01, 2014, 11:59 PM EST.
   

I realized that I forgot about 2013 cruises, so:

For cruises that embark in 2013, the 25% discount for pre-booking Land Discoveries excursions will apply only if the excursions are booked least 4 days before the embarkation date.

For cruises that embark in 2014, the 25% discount for pre-booking Land Discoveries excursions will apply only if the excursions are booked by January 3, 2014, 11:59 PM EST, except for the following cruises:

1. Quest, departing Jan. 5, 2014: for this cruise, you must book the excursions by December 31, 2013, 11:59 PM EST.
   
2. Journey, departing Jan. 6, 2014: for this cruise, you must book the excursions by January 01, 2014, 11:59 PM EST.
   

The 25% discount for pre-booking does not apply to cruises that embark in 2015.

Bill,

 

Message understood, but made unnecessarily difficult. They could have just stated that land tour discount will be unavailable in 2015 and will only be available in 2014, if it is booked before Jan 4 AND at least 4 days prior to cruising . No guest would reserve a land tour without already being booked on a cruise.

Great summary. Given the deadline dates, I would go further and just state this:

The 25% discount for pre-booking Land Discoveries excursions will only apply to cruises that embark in 2014, and even then, only if the excursions are booked by January 3, 2014, 11:59 PM EST, except for the following cruises:

1. Quest, departing Jan. 5, 2014: for this cruise, you must book the excursions by December 31, 2013, 11:59 PM EST.
   
2. Journey, departing Jan. 6, 2014: for this cruise,you must book the excursions by January 01, 2014, 11:59 PM EST.
   

LOL, it may be, or it may not be, but it has long been my experience, since long before Oceania even existed, that the best way to ruin a vacation is to worry about other peoples airline arrangements.

 

Airline rules are quixotic, fares and schedules change with the wind, half of what you think that you know is conjecture anyway; there literally isn't ANY upside to doing it.

The OP was wondering if the air schedules would be reasonable or from hell.

You indicated because he/she is from a free gateway, the flights assigned would be more favorable ("you are slightly ahead of the game on that score").

I was simply advising the OP not to get his/her hopes up because the OP is not guaranteed a more favorable flight assignment just because he/she departs from an airport that is a free gateway.

I don't know what your "airline rules are quixotic..." diatribe refers to because unless the cruiser pays the deviation, the assignments are all done at the same time, so at that time everything would be the same for everyone, and some get dealt the short stick of flight assignments, even if they are from a free gateway.

The flight assignments are a gamble. If one is particular (not just wanting to get there early or leave later), better to pay for the deviation.

The Oceania Air Arrangements are fairly reasonable, keeping in mind that they are trying to keep their costs down and that their primary goal is to get you to the embarkation port in plenty of time to catch the ship. You may find yourself flying through an odd city, but Oceania does try to avoid long layovers or obnoxiously early departure times.

 

Boston is one of their Free Air gateways, so you are slightly ahead of the game on that score.

 

If all of that is still not enough to make you feel secure, you may choose to customize your air arrangements. yet remain under the Oceania umbrella, by paying a "Deviation Fee" of $150 per person.

 

This gives the Passenger the ability to determine their own Itinerary, with the caveat that if the flights which are chosen are more expensive than those which Oceania would have used, the differential is the responsibility of the passenger.

 

The true beauty of this system is that the Deviation Fee, which is non refundable, does not kick in until the Passenger and Oceania have come to a meeting of the minds regarding the Itinerary. There are never ANY surprises.

Being a free airport only saves you the $199 or whatever the supplement is. In my most recent experience on a North America-Europe itinerary, having a free gateway airport has not translated to better flights than those departing from a secondary airport.

So the flights will be fairly reasonable but you're not going to be ahead of the game just because it's a free gateway you're leaving from.

It may very well be that the best flight for you, perhaps a non-stop from Boston to the embarkation airport, will be allocated to another cruiser leaving from a secondary airport connecting to Boston for that non-stop flight, while you get assigned a flight that connects somewhere in Europe to that embarkation airport (e.g., Frankfurt or Heathrow), so that both of you have connections even though you could have had a non-stop and that other cruiser had to connect one way or another anyway.

I am starting to see the lessening of loyalty perks. Now they even deny some perks if you do not book Veranda or above. On board booking is not as attractive as it used to be. Slow decline but decline IMHO.

If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears, did it really fall?

Some past passengers with a few cruises under their belt from the mid-2000s haven't gotten birthday cards, let alone the $50pp OBC.

So better to have been loved and spurned than not to have been loved at all?

Thanks for your review!

We've only been on R ships and were on Az one, on Journey two years ago. We felt very much same the way you do, except can comment on the specialty restaurants as we went to both and thought that Aqualina was better than Toscana and Polo was much better than Prime C.

For GDR dining, we also felt that there is a slight difference in food quality overall - on Az, the food was great the first couple of days (better than or equal to O) but as the cruise progressed (it was a 10-night cruise), it regressed to being just "good" to us (never as good as O). So fast start but slowly slipped behind overall.

I don't think O's laundry set-up is viewed as a profit centre or even potentially as one for O, just a balance to deter free-for-alls where people may do small loads every day. I like O's laundry set-up and hope that it remains in place.

The beds on Az were terrible and old, worse than Europe 3-star hotels. We complained to our cabin attendant and got replacement mattresses in good time, but they were only marginally better and since they were the best that they had, we didn't pursue it any further (other than in the comment card which wasn't followed up on). I see that they got new beds, so perhaps this has improved.

The Mosaic cafe is great and open just about all day. This is a definite advantage to Az on this point. I think on our cruise the string quartet played there around dinner time and the bustle in the cafe counter wasn't obtrusive. Certainly the pianist played there while people enjoyed the music and snacked/drank coffee/tea.

Also, there is definitely more officer interaction as well. This is really a preference whether you want that much attention/interaction on a cruise/vacation so it can be a positive or a negative depending on how you view your cruise.

We liked our Az cruise but O is still our preferred line. Thanks again for your review!

Just guessing here, but I'm interpreting this new policy as follows: if your T/A provides prepaid and there is an Oceania ppg due to club level or offer, you will get full value on each. However, if you get ppg because of your Oceania club status and there's a ppg special offer from Oceania on a new cruise booking, that is where the $250 sbc is substituted. Maybe. :confused:

If you were a Silver member or higher as of 12/31/2012

above is true..

Jancruz1

I am with Lyn. Your answer isn't very clear Jancruz1. Could you please clarify?

The new policy described by loum140 seems like it should apply to everyone who's reached silver status period. By stating that it is true only if the silver status was achieved before December 31, 2013, you imply that those that the new policy does not apply to those who reach silver status after December 31, 2013.

So what then do these post-2012 silver members get, because both the above situations apply to them as well (PPGs from their TA (still full value?) and PPGs as part of Oceania promotion (nothing?))?

ShopperfiendTO,

I hear you , but...

If you do not "grandfather" those that have already earned the Silver before the changes took place, you are taking away benefits that you promised they would get if the were loyal - not good PR.

OTOH, if you announce the "new policy" now, before others have earned the Silver, they will know what they will get once they reach it and can thus choose to go for it or not.

Just a different point of view :)

Hi Paulchili,

The comment below is not directed at you, but at the different point of view. :)

So there are two classes of silver members then. And the new silver class members will pay the same cruise fare and get reduced benefits even though they have been on the same (or possibly even more) number of cruises as the "grandfathered" silver members.

Effectively, new members are paying higher fares to pay out the benefits of grandfathered members which they will themselves never receive. Doesn't seem right, although assuming that it is only effective for that level only, the effective subsidizing will eventually end (when they graduate to the next level with the new reduced benefits for that level, since they can choose to go for it or not).

I think the larger problem is that the change seems to have come into effect at the start of the year but few knew about it until now. To avoid charges of misrepresentation, this change should be sent to every current member (so they can decide if the loyalty for getting to the next level is worth it), not just to those who are affected, as well as updating the website.

Oceania is well within their rights to change their policy, but we as customers also reserve the right to go elsewhere if we feel that a business in being unfair. A two way street.

This is really what it comes to in the end.

Very unfair, but this new policy could come back to bite them also. I for one has been on 7 cruises, so what do we do? Should we try to make 10 so we can get the perks that come with it or worry they will not be there when we get to that level? Oceania needs to have a policy that their guests can rely on. There are other cruise lines of the same class as O that have cruises with ports just as good, so it could be time to look at them. Oceania is still our number one choice but they must show that they will treat us fairly. :confused: :mad:

I am less offended by the change in the policy than I am in the possibility that benefits may be grandfathered for those that have reached a certain level by a certain time for all of their future cruises at that level.

O does reserve the right to change its policy at any time, per this statement on its Oceania Club website: https://www.oceaniacruises.com/oceaniaclublogin.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2foceaniaclub%2fbenefits.aspx

"Oceania Cruises reserves the right to change the program rules, benefits, conditions of qualifications, special offers or cruise level requirements at its sole discretion."

However, IMO any change should be equally applied to all cruisers regardless of when the level was reached. For example, take two cruisers taking a cruise next year. One cruiser reached silver status in 2010 and hasn't taken another cruise until this one. Another cruiser reached silver status on the cruise that she just came back from last week. These two silver level cruisers should have the same silver level cruiser benefits on that cruise next year. In this case, both may be worse off (Oceania's prerogative to change its policy, hopefully giving reasonable notice), but at least they are, pardon the pun, in the same boat, which should be the case.*

However, what seems to be suggested in Jancruz's post (and I may be and hope I am wrong) is that the cruiser who reached silver status in 2010 will have better benefits than the cruiser who reached silver level status in 2013 for all of their cruises taken while at silver level even though they are both silver level status cruisers on the same cruise(s)?

Fairness is subjective. Equality is easier to determine.

*A wrinkle may be when the cruise was booked by the cruiser relative to when the policy change occurred. For example, in the example above, if the cruiser who reached silver level status in 2013 booked that cruise in 2012 (i.e., before the policy change seems to have came into effect) and the cruiser who reached silver level status in 2010 booked the cruise after the policy change came into effect, then it would seem to be reasonable that they may have different silver level benefits (the cruiser who reached silver level in 2010 actually having the newer reduced benefits in this example), but only for this particular cruise and not any future cruise (for future booked cruises, they should both have the same new reduced benefits).

That is, it makes sense to grandfather the benefits at a level, but only for the cruises booked before the change in the policy (and not simply based on what the level was at the time of the change in policy), not for all future cruises at that level.

The Istanbul Museum Pass (to purchase online) appears to be only for Turkish citizens.

Yes, that seems to be the case, I wasn't aware of that.

The OP asked about the usefulness of advance tickets generally and I gave my experience that it could be very busy with long line-ups and that we bought the museum pass while we were there which allows the holder to by-pass the line-ups (but one has to get the pass first) and this perk didn't really benefit us in the end.

But one can still get advance tickets regardless of residency (note that the Harem is an additional entrance fee to the Topkapi Palace entrance fee itself but both are included in the Museum Pass): https://www.muze.gov.tr/buy_e_ticket

Information about the museum pass can be found here: http://www.muze.gov.tr/museum_pass

Also, if you buy the Museum Pass, I'd suggest paying by credit card and remembering to keep the receipt handy as it provides a time stamp to indicate approximately when the 72 hours was activated. We heard from a couple who were short-changed 24 hours (they bought Monday morning but it expired on Wednesday morning) and the people manning the entrance booth at the museum they went to on Wednesday weren't sympathetic to their plea nor did the administrators seem to care on an e-mail follow-up. The entrance booth couldn't or didn't want to check to see when the passes were first swiped, which would have been the easiest verification method. Luckily the big museums were done the prior two days so it wasn't a huge loss, but it was still irritating.

Yes, the House Select Package does include everything that you ask about. The Major difference between the packages (as wines are concerned) is that the Select Package only covers service in a Restaurant, or in the Stateroom, DURING MEALTIMES.

Thanks for the confirmation!:)

Hi,

Can anyone confirm:

1. If the House Selects package include everything on page 1 of the bar menu (e.g.: http://www.oceaniacruises.com/documents/wine-lists/Bar-Menu.pdf ), i.e., it includes champagne/sparkling as well as dessert and port wine?
   

It seems to be the case but I just want to make sure. Thanks!

Whether you should buy in advance depends on when you think you'll be there and what the extra cost is for the advance ticket.

When we were there, we went to the Hagia Sofia at around 10:00ish and the lineups were very very long. We passed and did other things. Then we went to the Archeological Museums and decided to buy the Istanbul Museum Pass, which allowed us to fast track the lines, and included Topkap and Hagia Sofia, so we went there after.

Topkapi line up was there but not too long. The Harem was longish but not as bad as the Hagia Sofia. Please note that Topkapi is really a compound with many sites, and each site within the compound may have a line. For example, the Harem and the Treasury rooms. After that, we went back to the Hagia Sofia in the afternoon, around 3:00 p.m., and there was barely a line-up, so we didn't really get to use the fast-track benefit of the pass in the end. Oh well.

So it depends on the luck of the draw I guess, but we went during shoulder season (April). If you're going in peak season, then I'd highly recommend advance tickets.

I just contact the Flam railroad about if I purchased tickets through Rail Europe would they be honored hear is their response. It is crap shoot how lucky do you feel? Either buy through the cruise line that charges you an arm and a leg or take your chances. Since we are visiting Geiranger and Olden before Flam can't find out if there is a train station in either one of those area to buy ticket at before we get to Flam.

Yes, we do honor tickets bought through Rail Europe. However, they do not guarantee that you will get on the train. We keep account of the numbers of tickets sold at the Flåm railway station, and only these will guarantee you to get on the train.

Glad I check it out before I bought the tickets.

I know there are no train stations at Geiranger or Olden (at least nearby).

From the cut-and-paste, it looks like with Rail Europe you're basically pre-paying for a ticket for pick-up, not actually reserving a seat on the train, so there's really not much benefit to pre-buying here.

What ship (szie) are you on, and how many other ships (and what are their sizes) will be in port when you're there?

If it's small and manageable, I would suggest pretending to book the railroad excursion on your ship to see when the excursion leaves to see if you might be able to catch the train before them.

On our excursion to Flam, we were the first on the railway, and the train we took was the second or third one from Flam that morning and we knew of fellow passengers who took the earlier train (lining up and buying right at Flam) without much trouble. They actually took it round trip so had views going both ways.

It's a very scenic ride (but not that long).

We did an Az cruise last August and an O cruise (R ship) in March so have recent experience on this.

I am not an O kool-aider, but do not think that the disparaging comments against O are entirely fair or warranted.

It depends on what you are looking for in a cruise.

Az definitely has a distinct advantage that it has the complimentary (reduced-price) wines, the Mosaic cafe, and the later departure itineraries, but overall the cuisine is better on O.

On Az, the first two nights at the MDR/GDR were great but after that the quality just seemed to sink. To us, the only dining on Az that is comparable to O's equivalent is Aqualina, and we feel Aqualina is better than O's Toscana. Prime C was mediocre.

The bedding is far superior on O than on Az.

We did find that the captain rarely is present on O as well, but we don't really cruise to chum with the captain (for us, it's the ports, the food, and the beds) so this doesn't matter to us.

Although they are comparable enough to say that the choice should be based on itinerary, all things being equal we would choose O even if it were slightly more expensive.

A regular metered taxi from the cabs waiting in the cruise terminal lot is the best option to get to GIG. If the cabs waiting in the terminal lot refuse to work on the meter (not likely, but possible), then simply walk 30 meters outside the terminal front entrance and catch a metered street cab (of which there are many). By and large taxis in Rio are safe and honest. The fare to GIG from the cruise terminal should be about R$ 30. Even on weekdays the ride should last less than 30 minutes.

With respect to a taxi mafia, you may be confusing BS As and Rio. The cabs at the cruise terminal in Bs As work off the meter and are way overpriced. Bs As taxis and their Rio counterparts are required by law to use the meter within city limits. The Bs As airport is outside city limits so airport taxis in EZE may lawfully set a fixed fair. I don't believe the Bs As port is outside city limits though technically it may be thereby allowing cabs to work off the meter, but in any case the fares charged by cabs at the Bs As pier are absurdly high relative to meter cost.

As previously advised above , you will need time to check luggage at GIG or be subject to serious overweight penalties on the domestic leg to Iguazu.

Thank you pmacher61, Fattony and Menininha82 for your replies.

I think I did confuse Bs As on some of the parts.:o

So it seems the best option (price, safety and convenience) is to take a metered taxi at the cruise terminal or just outside of it. Is it safe to assume that there will always be metered taxis there (especially in the morning) when ships are in port?