ak1004

You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time. - Abraham Lincoln I guess he was wrong in this case..

We feel the same way. We did pay in full for couple of cruise (Uniworld and SS) a year in advance, but got a nice discount in return (10-15%). Giving someone an interest free loan for 12-24 months is not my cup of tea.. Not to mention that their prices now are higher than SB..

Celebrity is in the same category as Princess and HAL. Very comparable in terms of service and food. Oceania is a HUGE step up. SS is another step up, but much smaller in my opinion. O is much closer to SS than to Celebrity. I would not even put O and C in the same sentence when comparing lines. A different galaxy.

Cannot find it. How are the prices compared to Vista?

I know. But still much better than the current Silver Air, at least you are in control. We were able actually to book very good flights online with Celebrity.

When we sailed with Celebrity, we had an option to book our own flights through their website. Very convenient, you are in full control, and he prices were actually pretty good. This was before Covid, not sure if this is still the case, but it would be a big improvement.

Exactly the same for us. Business from Toronto to Europe is $5-6k CAD, there is no way I will pay for a flight more than I pay for a cruise.. so looking for award tickets 355 days in advance. They usually go fast, and it's becoming a big issue. SS doesn't have any admin fees if you book D2D, and sometimes they have flights at very good fares. Those cancellation fees won't work for us. We will need to book 12 months in advance when we know we can get good flights. And if by then prices are up or no available cabins, then we will find another cruise line for this period. or book SS 2 years in advance.

So you believe it's related to post Covid new conditions? What's your explanation? This ports cancelation in Portugal was questionable to say the least.

I don't think it's a matter of loving Oceania, but you have to agree that "missed 4 ports on the 9 cruises" is really not enough information. Were 9 cruises 10 night each? 20 nights? 30 nights? I'm sure you would agree that it makes a big difference in terms of percentage of missed ports. As a side note, missed ports is a big concern to us, but I would still prefer to miss ports on O than sail Celebrity or Princess and not miss a single port. A different galaxy.

Yes, this is what we are doing. Getting a refund of the deposit less SBC. Thank you for your help.

Book by Sep.10 2023. It expires on Sep.10. We don't have anything to book from what's available, and we don't want to book something knowing that we will need to change it anyway. If they refuse to extend it, so be it.

Okay, this is different from our case. We booked last September and had to use it till Sep.10 2023. I still have a hard time understanding why they wouldn't extend it, but I guess it is what it is. No matter what we say, O (and any cruise line) will do what they consider the best for them. Same with the new pricing, new cancellation policy etc. And the customers will do what they consider the best for them.

Well, if we had a specific cruise in mind, we would book it and wouldn't need an extension. We were waiting for 2025 itineraries since we are fully booked till end of 2024. But they are out somewhere in September and our certificate is valid till September 10, and we are travelling first half of September. Unless I misunderstood what you were saying.

Looks like Crystal has similar issues - Port changes without notice.

We still like the O product very much, but as someone mentioned, O constantly finds new ways to lose customers. The new pricing model forces us to pay for something that we don't use. The new cancellation policy really makes it hard to book in advance. We cruise to see the world, have no interest to spend time on the ship, so the cancelled ports and shortened port stays are a big concern. Now they refused to extend our future cruise certificate, basically giving up a guaranteed booking. With the pricing now pretty close to SB and SS, there is a good chance that this booking will go to another line. Still case by case basis, no loyalty to any line, but it's likely that going forward, less of our business will go to O. Yes, I know, we are just a rounding error, but if there are thousands of rounding errors, maybe it will have some impact.

Well, tomorrow is now.. so far no Allura itineraries.

Maybe. This was an example of O cruise that we booked and replaced with SS cruise, mostly because of longer port stays and better itinerary. But I compared a few more. On every single one I compared, SS had longer port stays. Might be anecdotal comparison, but the fact remains. You can rarely find any 10-12 days O itinerary with more than 1-2 port stays after 7pm. SS? Almost every sailing has 3-4 ports with stays till 10-11pm.

I provided one example of SS vs O. There are a lot more. And those are the original hours from May 2022 booking of May 2024 sailing, I'm sure those hours will be shortened based on what we see on other O sailings.

We did 4 O cruises. Food is as good as ever. Service as good as ever. Excursions not so good on our last sailing. Cancelled ports and shortened times in ports are a big concern to us. Overall, still excellent experience and excellent value for money, even considering we don't drink. BUT - they are not the only game in town. If SS or SB offers a better itinerary at comparable or slightly higher price, we always would consider it. Not loyal to any line. They all have to compete for my business. And yes, the showers on R ships are tiny. and PH is way too expensive. This is why we prefer the O class. Larger cabins, more dining options, more spacious ships.

If people believe that O cancels ports on purpose, then my question is: what is the benefit for them to do it? They lose tens of thousands in revenues of canceled excursions, not to mention hundreds of angry guests. What do they benefit? Now, shortened times in ports is a different issue. Here they have clear savings. If the carbon footprint is the real reason, then why it's only O? Is O the only one caring for the environment? We compared two similar itinerates, one SS and one O, both 10 nights. Dubrovnik: SS 9-22 (13 hours) O 7-17 (10 hours). Corfu SS 9-23 (14 hours) O 8-19 (11 hours) On this specific itinerary, O was till 9pm only in one port, the rest 6-7pm. SS - four ports after 10pm. To me, this is huge, and it's pretty typical. At this point, "more time in ports" is just a slogan. We don't pay thousands of dollars to stay on the ship and to have more sea day. No line is perfect. We love O, but ports hours becoming a real issue.

An update: My TA contacted O and they won't extend it. Getting a refund. Sometimes I have a hard time understanding some of those decisions. They are basically giving up a guaranteed future booking, and now I might book with another cruise line instead of O.

I have never seen bathing suit and flip flops on SS on dinners. On Oceania and Azamara either. Not sure why people keep mentioning those ridiculous scenarios.

Not a good analogy at all. If someone talks loud, you have no choice but to hear him. If someone doesn't wear a jacket, you have a choice not to look at him. And the dinner still tastes the same. What a complete waste of time and energy.. Do people really have that much spare time to discuss if others are wearing a jacket or not?

I wouldn't pay too much attention to the reviews. Some of them are just ridiculous. Just book whatever itinerary works the best for you. They are both wonderful cruise lines. Celebrity is in a different galaxy.

You mentioned more passengers, so my comment was that you probably won't even feel it. No more no less. To some people the ship is the destination, so to them the Nova is a game changer. This was also mentioned by some professional experts. But obviously if someone didn't like SS before, the new ship is not going to change it.