YoHoHo

1 hour ago, Daniel A said:

Ha Ha Ha!!!  We're better than you are - it's 82 here right now so obviously where you are, the climate isn't being properly managed.  😁 

Some levity on this forum at last - thanks, Daniel!

1 hour ago, Daniel A said:

d 1 hour ago

  7 hours ago, Shawnino said:

As to the people who think that Canada's federal government gives a rat's about Keystone XL, well, that's just cute.

According to the BBC:

"Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has called the cancellation an "insult" and a "gut punch" and has urged Mr Trudeau to consider retaliation. Mr Kenney's provincial government invested some $1.5bn in the project last year."

 

So, just add the BBC to the list of conspiracy theorists ...

Your source is good but your understanding is wrong.

Yes, to Kenny it is a gut punch. As noted his government invested $1.5 bn last year (alone.) That is about 2.5% of the total provincial budget so not trivial to them, even in sad CA$. He hitched his political wagon to that pipeline so I imagine he is felling a little off-put.

BUT that is the Premier of a Province (like your governor) and absolutely not the Federal government. The federal government did invest in (bought) a different pipeline (also out of Alberta. You're welcome) but that is within Canada and struggling with all that that entails but it is not subject to USA rules and approvals. 

Naturally the federal government will press the USA to approve (a modified)  Keystone XL (who have seemed to clean up a lot of its act and objections) but not a gut punch to the Feds (there are other gut punches such as dumping on Canada with arresting Meng Wanzhou, Huawei CFO (and daughter)) and not backing Canada but I digress). Feds will use more diplomacy than Kenny. I.e. the Feds are calling it "a disappointment". $2.5 bn of goods cross the border every day; Feds will not let a Kenny tantrum destroy that with a tit-for-tat (such as another poster ridiculously suggested the US shutting down the the Lawrence Seaway in retaliation to Canada not allowing cruise ships in its (sovereign) waters.)  Alberta is landlocked and couldn't care less about cruise ships.

Sounds more heavy-handed than it is in practice. Canada's cruise season is brief not like out of Florida that is year round.

There was only a glimmer of hope for early Alaska sailings and the cruise lines would not want to spend big bucks getting ship prepped to have the seasons sliced and diced a month or two at a time until there was no hope. Tear off the bandage. Tougher on New England / Canada cruises that had a possibility of sailing. But how can one buy flights (and the airlines resisting refunds in Canada) if unsure the cruise will sail. 

That said, I had a cruise scheduled for 2021 fall out of Vancouver that the C/L cancelled in November. I think they wanted to redeploy elsewhere and not prep the ship for that sailing with not a lot of hope for earlier sailings so they used a CDC ruling to cancel early. I'm not unhappy though disappointed of course but I know my plans.

The article does offer that the order could be rescinded as conditions change but with the lack of vaccines I think it is unlikely to be done in time for a cruise to be scheduled.

Have to get this virus under control so business and travel can resume. Until the world is safe we will continue to suffer its effects on society, and each of us.

Insurance is complex and legal contract that can vary by jurisdiction, provider, policy. With the pandemic, it might be to your advantage to roll over a policy or it could be to take a refund. But what your insurance company will do is not necessarily the same as a different provider. Or maybe even what they will do now vs. how they handled things pre-Covid. And maybe one policy from the same provider has different refund/roll-over options than a different policy.

The agent that you bought the policy from can help you or maybe you can phone the insurance provider directly - they will know your policy and what your choices are, if any, and how to consider options. 

1 hour ago, Psoque said:

Thanks for your helpful information.  As a follow-up to your information, what happens if your OLife excursions get cancelled (skipped ports, bad weather, cruise not happening, etc.)?   Also, what is the Oceania policy about refunds on prepaid (non-OLife) excursions...it appear they can be cancelled up to embarkation day.

If O cancels an excursion while you are on the cruise you get a credit back to your on-board account if you paid for it by credit card or OBC. If the OBC used to purchase the excusrion was then so is the credit. 

If the excursion was from the O-Life amenity, none of which have a refundable in cash value,  then they credit $100 back to your account - not the price of the excursion you booked and not unfortunately as a credit for a different excursion.  I'd expect that credit to be not refundable. So basically it becomes the same as choosing OBC as your amenity for that one $100 purchase.

26 minutes ago, Tedferg said:

Why does it say from $39.95. When would it not be $39.95 ? Also assume gratuity is added to this amount ?

No idea why the word "from". Sort of standard marketing boiler plate but as it implies there is more than one price within that package can add to confusion. 

No, the tip (18%) is included so that makes the packages an even better deal, IMHO especially the additional $20 for the upgrade to the "not restricted to meal times and includes a great range of spirits" Prestige package for $20 more (so about $17 pre tip additional)

If they are making their web site unavailable for maintenance they should put up a notice saying that. Simple enough, respectful of their customers and stops just the kind of confusion experienced by the OP.

Playtennis, if you still cannot get in the issue might be with your browser, I appreciate you tried two so less likely, but clearing the browser's cache can help. If there is some sort of message such as "unrecognized username or password" then consider trying the link to reset your password. If you do get past the login but the page is blank then it could be a cache issue (which tries to restore a previously auto saved paged). Or maybe the user accounts were unavailable for maintenance as Flatbush Flyer advised, or something was broken.

I think your post looking for feedback from other users if very reasonable .

I know no one here is complaining. Just need to discuss.

Cancellations and refunds been a real struggle for the cruise lines. Their systems were never designed for refunds. And some of the accounting systems are quite complicated: deposits different than final payment, port fees and taxes a different department, pre paid excursion and La Reserve is separated, etc, etc, And then there is air fare they have to cancel..

Each amount had to be deduced, confirmed and accounted separately and manually, then refunds made for each of those back to the original form of payment. I had a on-board booking deposit. I had forgotten that was made on a different card than when I paid made final payment, or the yet again different card I used for La Reserve. And another for the custom air and deviation fee. So it took some time for them to finalize mine. I was not looking at the credit card I used for that on-board cruise certificate as I rarely use that card and do not get paper statement. O had refunded it but I thought I was still short as I was looking in the wrong place. In any case, it is these things that slow everyone's down, even if yours is simple my mess could be ahead of yours (sorry).

More recently I have a simple deposit to be converted to FCC for a cruise that the C/L (not O) cancelled in November.  They had "automated" the process in that the FCC is issued automatically if not responded to by Dec 31. From that is sounded like once the great computer updated all deposits not refunded, the FCCs will be added to one's account. An overnight computer run. A month later still no FCC for me. So I over anticipated their progress in getting these systems into place. They are still struggling.

For my O cruise I was credited back for the on-board deposit I purchase and have lost the benefit of that (i.e. best price guarantee). maybe not technically correct but not something I would bring up.

They have enough to do trying to keep the line alive and well (and manage their crew and life on board and putting ships in cold storage and taking them out and coming up with new season itineraries, ...) and with fewer staff to do the all this extra work. Meanwhile working out new protocols, dealing with changing regulations, restrictions, etc.  And the frustration of "bad press". A top of my hat to them all.

Stepping off my podium now

8 hours ago, Croooser said:

Hi Dale,

 

We are Elite on Celebrity and have been on Riviera twice and Sirena once. We are also booked on the Riviera TA for March 2022. We see the comparison this way, based on our experience:

 

 

<SNIP>

 

 

All of the above are our opinions and some would differ in their opinions (see our sig line). We would like to experience the Edge class and also Viking Sea but both are currently priced much higher on an adjusted basis.

 

For now, Oceania has become our goto. 

 

HTH

This is a great comparison, Croooser. I often do not read or respond to them as they are usually not balanced and get over the top either way. Yours is clear, to the point and while of course a personal opinion, explains what is important to you and your "why". 

O is our preferred line too but options are always good. And sometimes helps one to appreciate what they are missing when they "stray" to a different line.

4 minutes ago, Psoque said:

Hi.  I apologize in advance if this topic has been discussed elsewhere.

 

We haven't done an Oceania cruise yet, but are looking at an itinerary for 2022.  Looking at the Oceania Cruises website, it is quoting three different prices:

-brochure price (which I understand is really a "reference" price to impress customers on how much they are "saving.")

-OLife with airfare pricing

-cruise only pricing

 

My understanding is that OLife package includes internet plus a choice of either beverage package, 4 shore excursion tickets, or $400 on board credit for this particular itinerary.  Also, it appears that we can buy this OLife add-on without buying airfare through Oceania.

 

However, the website does not show pricing for cruise plus OLife (and NO airfare) option.  Is this typical?

 

It is impossible for me to know the cost of the OLife add on without this number.

 

I contacted Oceania and had one of their "concierge" person call me, but he could not answer this question, or at least he pretended like he didn't.  He was more interested in telling me that Oceania is the best and the only cruise line we should consider.  That was not very useful.

 

I guess what I want to know is if the additional cost of OLife is actually saving me money, or is this more of a "convenience charge" so that I don't have to pay for these separately???

 

Thanks.

 

 

 

From other posts on the forum it seems the cost of O-Life will be equal to the dollar amount of the OBC choice. So $400 OBC offer means the cruise w/o O-Life will be $400 less. Thee are posts advising taking the OBC is a bad choice because it in essence converts the $400 into non-refundable OBC so better to just keep the cash in your pocket and spend on board as you prefer.

4 minutes ago, Psoque said:

My understanding is that OLife package includes internet plus a choice of either beverage package, 4 shore excursion tickets, or $400 on board credit for this particular itinerary.  Also, it appears that we can buy this OLife add-on without buying airfare through Oceania.

 

This O-Life/ air fare issue comes up often and is confusing. You can purchase the basic beverage package (beer/wine only & only with a meal) that is one of the O-Life choices separately.  And upgrade it to the the include-spirits-at-anytime package if one or both of you want.

The confusion I think comes from O only showing pricing for cruise only and cruise plus air plus O-life (ignoring the ridiculous "brochure rate" that other industries have not gotten  away with advertising.), You can purchase cruise only,   cruise plus air plus O-life, or remove cruise from that all-in price so cruise plus O-Life. The amount of credit that O uses to reduce the price if you remove air varies by cruise and apparently (anecdotally) by how close to sail date for request the air credit. The closer to sailing the less the credit. A good TA familiar with O can help you navigate this. Or you can price out a cruise on O's website selecting/deselecting  air on the first page when getting pricing. If air is selected later on near the end of the procing pages you will be prompted to choose the airports and be offered pricing for the air upgrades, if any.

Hope that helps but maybe I have mangled that too much. Corrections / additions by others to follow.

Thanks HilsTas for explaining how it works with O - that makes sense. Pre-cruise O charges in AUD, same as they do for CAD, so OBC is in the "foreign" currency . But on board ship O charges everything in USD so back to the original US$200.

I was not sure how they handled it for AUD as I know some lines charge differently for those in Australia (i.e. gratuities are not additional.) I know that some C/Ls who have the initial same selling method that the country of origin determines the currency of the original purchase, as soon as any OBC is used pre-cruise the rate is "locked in" and the OBC is converted to USD at their current rate. So after that point all purchases, pre-cruise too are in USD. Seems it is not that way on O. Only makes a difference is there is a big swing in the C/L exchange rate but on a typical amount of OBC would not make much of a difference either way. O's CAD exchange rate seems to be not very beneficial to the pax right now and does raise the price even higher.

Win some / lose some but going on a cruise is winning all around. We don't have an O cruise booked right now and it is killing me. 

2 hours ago, pinotlover said:

Enough already. If KW residents doesn’t want the jobs and revenue associated with the cruise ship sailing industry, give them what they want. The good, bad, and ugly.

 

Personally, I cancelled a late February stay there because of their anti tourist positions. Perhaps it will draw others in.

 

Let the locals decide, they obviously don’t care about those 1250 losing their jobs. I hope those folks don’t stay around and facilitate those voted to eliminate their livelihood, but move out to search for more other locations more welcoming to all tourists.

It took a while but you've got it now. Hopefully you will be happier having cancelled than if you went.

Seems like the former Holland America Line president Orlando Ashford has been advising Sycamore for a few months now. He is now named Azamara's incoming executive chairman. 

Some vocal long time HAL loyalist been unhappy with changes over the years (who really does like cut backs) but who knows where that direction was coming from (i.e. executive, bean counters, shareholders). It will be interesting to see how this plays out. 

I was preparing to duplicate an early 2020 European cruise/land trip that was cancelled. Same sailing on O is up >30% (lots of availability still). Though O is my preferred line I will be taking a look at what Az has now that speculation of its (immediate) future has passed. I am leery of how the new owners will manage the on-board product but might place a booking to hold a spot and then watch the Az board for posts of the new cruises while I can still back out. For the increase O is wanting we likely will do all land instead if Az (or another line in mind) does not work out.

And now there will be four

Sycamore Partners Announces Plans to Add Fourth Ship to Azamara® Fleet (yahoo.com)

I wonder how they will pay for the refurbishment. With new eager investors breathing life into this brand it will be interesting to see the direction it takes

12 hours ago, ABoatNerd said:

Greetings YoHoHo:

You misunderstood my post. I said that Canada had contracted the majority of our vaccine from CanSino in China. The deal fell through due to their ineptitude and the fact the Chinese government refused to release samples to be sent to Canada for testing.

 

Hence Canada had to scramble to get "some" vaccine from reputable companies. It is a well known fact that the Canadian feds are hostile to big pharma but they do like China. Since Canada has no vaccine manufacturing facilities, this country is totally reliant on other countries.

 

Below is information related to Canada's epic failure of vaccine procurement.

https://www.kamloopsthisweek.com/pm-put-all-vaccine-eggs-in-one-china-basket-didn-t-consider-other-options-o-toole-1.24247415

 

That is why sitting in Ottawa with + 1 million people there has been no vaccine for weeks and no one knows when the next doses arrive, the public health booking line is down.

 

 

Yes, I did misunderstand that so thanks for expanding / clarifying. I see Canada is now working on building vaccine manufacturing facilities. Closing the barn door after the fact but at least learn from ones mistakes. OTH back in the Spring I read an article discussing while it was great that so many are working on many approaches to produce a vaccine there are limited manufacturing facilities world-wide and explained reasons such as low profit [to produce, patent holders control the money) and high risk with rapid fire litigation at the ready. Hopefully it will be ready for the next round.

16 hours ago, LHT28 said:

listed under  ULTIMATE VALUE tab

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/value

Thanks. Good to know

3 hours ago, bluesplayer said:

 I like wine and wonder if I am able to upgrade the to a premium beverage package is the wine selection expanded to nicer wines?

Others already have given you good information on the packages and O's position on drinks. Just to be clear in regards to this specific question, the basic and the premium packages both offer the same selection of wines so no difference if you upgrade your package.

That said, if you buy the package and feel like something better on occasion they do give a 20%(?) discount if I recall correctly, on bottles (or they did do this). If you decide to not take a drinks package and instead buy better wines by the bottle they offer packages and sometimes "bin-end" sales. Others have more experience on this - it been a while since I have done that and a more limited experience on wine selections.

3 hours ago, bluesplayer said:

select the "beverage package" as your free perk you are served beer and wine at lunch and dinner?    Can you upgrade this package to include cocktails?  If so how much per day?  I could not find this info on their website.

Yes, the upgrade is $20 per person per day. Once started must be purchased for the rest of that voyage.

Can I upgrade my OLIFE House Select Beverage package? – Oceania Cruises (zendesk.com)

3 hours ago, bluesplayer said:

Can you choose one of the other perks and purchase a premium beverage package on board?

Yes, the premium package is US$60 pp/pd including tip. Or it was. Looks like they have pulled the page. Their faqs were always hard to find info and now seems to be shortened further. Searched for Prestige only finds the $20 upgrade price. 

I also assume they have not changed the upgrade purchase so that while both in a cabin must choose the same perk, both do not have to buy the upgrade. A nice option if one is a light drinker and happy with wines only with a meal and the other prefers a cocktail. if one is happy with the wines by the glass and only ordering in a dining venue *with their meal* (emphasis added as one cannot just order a glass of wine by itself unless with a meal on that package even in a dining room) , the other person could purchase the upgrade and in addition to ordering cocktails, they can order cocktails or wines by the glass anytime a bar is open.

O's drinks are small and expensive if you are not on the premium package. They had a couple of 2/1 happy hours most days but the very popular 5 pm is too crowded for me. Consequently, if I choose the drinks perk then I automatically buy the premium upgrade - I prefer a cocktail before dinner and a seat. Or I take no perk at all. One nice consideration of the premium drinks package is the "included" aspect and not even thinking about signing a chit or thinking of the cost of this glass or that drink and just enjoying what one feels like at the time. Makes me feel like I am on a cruise vacation 🙂

2 hours ago, ABoatNerd said:

Given the slow inventory of vaccine supply everywhere (basically none in Canada due to a failed federal level "deal" with China (yes China) for the majority of vaccines for Canada), I do not anticipate cruising to start for quite a while. On many cruises, Canadians can be up to 1/3 or more of the passengers. With the national debacle of vaccine supply in Canada, best of luck having Canadians vaccinated any time soon. 

 

I would keep the northern border closed for quite a while until Canada gets its act together. 

 

Where did you get that Canada is using vaccine from China? Source please.

Canada DOES have contracts to supply vaccine from MANY sources and China might well be one of them. Canada contracted for many times expected to be needed, allowing for some production failures, or reported changes of efficacy as it is rolled out, etc. and then release / redeploy what they do not use. No one foresaw a production gap so early on. 

But currently we are only administering two that I know of. If you know of any reputable source that we are administering a vaccine sourced from China I appreciate you sharing it.

. 

And as for the shortage search news sources to the broader world and you'll see that BioNtech/Pfizer production stoppage in Europe is affecting more than Canada. Italy says it will sue Pfizer over delays in vaccine delivery, Germany will be out any day, etc. 

From Science Unscripted. It is a podcast w/o pictures so might try some's patience.
'German vaccine' shortage — are Germans OK with that?
Of all the places in the world for there to a shortage of the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine, it seems odd for it to be happening in the country of its creation. And, though the selfless, European motivations that led to this conundrum are admirable, are those motivations actually shared by Germans? (spoiler alert: yes they are)

The BioNtech facilities are right there and they could have mopped it all up until all of Germany was vaccinated then released it but they did not do that. (hurray or Canada would have none so far). They did not do a "Germany First" but adopted an EU posture and are sharing.

In any event, until we are all vaccinated the world economy will not return, and travel will not return unless you want to repeat a loop from FLL like Groundhog Day. We are in this together.

15 minutes ago, zoncom said:

I have O Life minus air; told transfers included.

Suggest you have another chat with your agent

To answer the question of the promotion of included transfer from/to which airport:

Promotion Terms & Conditions | Oceania Cruises

 "Roundtrip Airport Transfer included only from the above gateways"

and 

"Airfare” includes ground transfers, and offer applies to coach, roundtrip flights only from the following airports: ATL, BOS, CLT, DCA, DEN, DFW, DTW, EWR, IAH, IAD, JFK, LAX, LGA, MCO, MDW, MIA, ORD, PHL, PHX, SAN, SAV, SEA, SFO, TPA, YOW, YUL, YVR, YYZ. 

but see this:

"Free Roundtrip Airport Transfer offer is only available when OLife Choice Airfare is purchased through Oceania Cruises"

6 hours ago, KatieBelle said:

We are looking forward to Allura details.  Here's a few of our questions:

 

-

As others have posted might be too soon and O is focused on other things  (and suffering staff / marketing shortages like everyone in drastic cut backs) so news might be slow to come out but I like this thread  - gives us some positive things to think about. So thanks for starting it.

I will be eager to sail the ship when new but no maiden voyage for me. Made that mistake already (though was still a fun cruise.) But ready to book...

4 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Google is your friend...

Allura press releases, videos et al. will answer most of your queries. Just type “Oceania Allura.”

 

As for the name: Like “Regatta” being both the name of the class and the name of the first acquisition (NO - R ship does not stand for “Renaissance”), you can expect that “Allura” number 1 will be named “Allura.”

I had tried some internet searches but did not get anything new. If you have the magic touch and got more please pass on some news / links. Bear in mind google (annoyingly) returns results that in its wisdom believes is most relevant to the searcher (and their location) and so your result set could very well be much better than mine.

As for the name, based on history I don't assume that Allura (ship name) will be first in Allura class. Marina was their first Oceania class ship (and not Marina class). Hopefully you are correct as Allura is great name for an Oceania quality cruise ship.

56 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

And, Princess had already sold Ocean Princess to Oceania about 5+ years ago. Of course, Oceania had to put $40 million into repairing, updating and redecorating the neglected vessel into what would then become Oceania’s fourth Regatta Class ship - Sirena - which has become the exemplar of what a contemporary “small” (<700 passengers) cruise ship should be.

Yes, O purchased an old run down ship, fixed it up beautifully and added it to their fleet seamlessly. It is a vessel they know so very well and can operate and market perfectly. 

But "*had* to put $40 million" is stretching it a bit. $40M is not a lot. And it is not like O was surprised with what they purchased and *had* to spend $40m; they chose to. They would have discounted the purchase price by that $40M as an estimate and tacked on another, what? $20m? Buying a house as a fixer upper goes for less than a move-in-ready even with the repair work estimate. It was likely a cheap buy for O, compared with a new build, and building a replacement for an R-ship would be a lot of money, but also something they could incorporate into the fleet quickly. 

And yes, by reports I have read it was in bad shape. But the folks running Princess have been running a C/L for a lot of years so maintenance on that ship would not have just slipped their mind. I suspect it was a purposeful run it until the wheels come off, extracting as much revenue as possible while minimizing cost and dump it while there is some value left. Captain Stubing and crew seemed to keep all the pax smiling and their romance issues resolved as I recall.

O did not buy a pig in a poke and knew what they were doing. Princess I believe had a plan too. O won by adding lovely Sirena to the fleet, Princess got rid of a ship they no longer wanted to operate. Everybody wins except perhaps those sailing Ocean Princess expecting what they see in the brochures (and so should have used the service and advice of a TA). But some fervent loyal cruisers sometimes cannot see. Those pax were the losers in the deal and maybe punished Princess with loss of further purchases.

3 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

FWIW: We are UCSF patients (University of California San Francisco, which is a huge medical operation criss-crossing the Bay Area) waiting for notification of where/when to go. Imagine our dismay when we heard on the local TV news that UCSF has only received 8,000 doses so far.

Imagine our dismay when we heard Pfizer-BioNtech would not be shipping any vaccine to Canada for a week. And we were out as of last week. Original claim was shutting down production to improve systems to be more efficient. 

I am annoyed at this announcement, and whomever wrote our contracts and our sluggish roll-out. However, on a personal level I'm not in the camp struggling to get on a list. I did not anticipate having a working vaccine this soon (hurray to the scientists!) and acknowledge, even though I am in a vulnerable group there are a ton of folks ahead of me that should be given the dose first. And they are getting done here with what we have received. Our plan is good but execution not so much. In the meantime I stay as as safe as practical - it is not like we don't know what to do.

Reading post here and elsewhere it is interesting, but not unexpected if we recall the Great Toilet Paper Hoarding  of 2019, the change from wishy-washy on a vaccine to travelling to other states, even countries (shame) to get a shot. 

I hope all those that need to get vaccinated are able to at least get on a list for an appointment soon. I suspect there is some comfort knowing there is one with your name on it even if you must wait.

“Be kind, be calm and be safe” 

5 hours ago, susiesan said:

I would like to see Princess buy them. They used to have 2. Princess is my go to mass market line when not on Oceania or Windstar.

Princess isn't going to be buying them. In fact, they just announced they have sold Pacific Princess in an effort to remove less efficient (though in this case with an R ship, a well loved) vessels.