gdlamberth

There's may be other issues related THE TIMING to file for this benefit. According to my TA O requires the date on the account statement to be within 6 months of sail date. You may also file after final payment; but, since that's usually within the 6-month window not sure this comes into play often. So, in my case I have two O cruises booked in Feb 2024, and can file for both at the same time (assuming I wait for 6 months from the second cruise's sailing). I also have an O cruise in August of 2024. That cruise will require a second request for Shareholders OBC with an updated account statement. Just FYI

For those of us who spent our formative years hanging out in bars, tequila and rum can be replaced with white wines in several cocktails for people that want to lower alcohol content in their drink or don't like to Sharp Taste of the distilled spirit. When I was in college ( in the last century) these drinks were favored by underaged Co-Eds. They've been sold in bottles and grocery stores for years to circumvent laws in some states that allows grocery stores to only sell wine and fermented beverages as opposed to distilled spirits. A Sangria is another example where the distilled spirit component can be omitted. Yes substituting distilled Spirits with a wine in a mixed drink was exactly what I was asking about.

Since you can have wine with lunch and dinner, has anyone had any experience with wine based cocktails? In addition to "Coolers" and "Spritzers" I'm thinking about a white wine margarita or similar. Experiences and suggestions appreciated. Thanks, Greg

Taxi to bus Station? Station looks close to port area. Thanks, Greg

We are on a Sydney to Auckland cruise next February. Currently, Oceania does NOT have any excursions ending at the airport (or otherwise) listed for our day of arrival. My question is, "Does Oceania Often/Sometimes/Never offer excursions when they turn the ship in Auckland??" Thanks in advance, Greg

I don't mean to be nosey; but, we'll be disembarking from Oceania in Southampton next year and I was wondering what your O xfer cost. Greg

I guess I need to clarify: our cruises are in early 2024, a little over 6 months out. Sorry for the confusion. Greg

Once to Australia (did a circumnavigation followed by a 12 day land trip that included Adelaide and Wilpena Pound in South Australia, Uluru, Alice Springs, and Cairns) and 3 times to New Zealand; but 2 times were cruises out of Auckland that stopped in Bay of Islands, once was a 12 day DIY pre-cruise land trip to South Island.

Nope. 8-24 Feb and 24 Feb -10 March.

Just to finish up. First off, we did consider various pricing alternatives including Summer Sale and the All 3 promo was best for us. I do appreciate the "be sure you look at" comments though. Now for the actual booking excursions during this overlap/confusing period. We booked a total of 7 excursions. 4 were priced at $199 or less and these were comped as part of All 3 promo. HOWEVER, of the remaining 3 bookings, one came through with the YWYW 25% discount and the other 2 did not. I called O and after a 20 minute hold spoke with an agent who was able to correct these 2 bookings to YWYW giving me my 25% discount. Posted to account in a matter of minutes. Greg

I went ahead and booked two excursions just to see what it would look like and I did in fact get our Olife promotion credit for those excursions. They were confirmed with zero cost zero balance Etc. So I now believe my description above is correct.

There's no intent to hijack this thread; but, we have a bit of a different issue. We have a booked cruise for February 2024, on Regatta. The "Promotion" we booked was the "all three" Olife package ($400OBC, 4 Excursions and House beverage package). My understanding was that we would be able to choose between our current booking and Simply More. Clearly (IMHO) our current booking is better than Simply More. HOWEVER, when I go on line to book my 4 included tours, there is only two prices shown: the "Tour Price" and the "Simply More (25% discount with 6 or more pricing. Here's how I read this: We can book our "4 included" using the old "less than $199" rule of thumb and then (assuming we book 6 or more total excursions) the "Simply More" price kicks in. Am I reading this correctly in the collective wisdom of this group? Thanks, Greg

Is it safe to assume that all your cost information is in AUD? Are all/almost all vendors you list part of Australia's "tap 'N' go" culture? Thanks, Greg

Thanks, that's what I thought I had remembered; but I couldn't find it explicitly stated on O's web page.

What about cancelling MORE than 180 days out???

+1 Our favorite cabins are on Deck 4 close to Reception. No noise but close to everything else.

I'll bite, what was THE answer? I might need to do same thing.

The Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel seems to be in a good location and rooms are between $140-$160USD which seems attractive. No one here has mentioned it. Is it a place we should avoid? Any insights would be greatly appreciated! Greg

The Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel seems to be in a good location and rooms are between $140-$160USD which seems attractive. No one here has mentioned it. Is it a place we should avoid? Any insights would be greatly appreciated! Greg

Oceania's Regatta

8 February thru 10 March. There are roll calls for both cruises now; but, are pretty inactive. I guess its still early days. We do already have Tours by Locals excursions set up in Burnie (since we already have something on, Burnie not on my list of ports). We are in Christchurch twice and have an excursion up to Arthur's Pass already set up. Greg

Four of us will be taking two 15 day B2B cruise Sydney. We are all in the 63-73 range, physically active and really like culture, nature, and historical adventures. We are looking for suggested activities in the following ports; any suggestions are greatly appreciated: Melbourne for an overnight (dock 0800 depart 1700 next day) Dunedin (0900-1900) Christchurch (0800-1800) Picton (0900-1900) Wellington (0700-1700) Gisbourne (1000-1800) Rotorua (Tauranga)(0900-1800) Whangarei (0800-1900) Napier (1000-1800) Bluff (0800-1700) A 2nd Overnight in Melbourne (1000-0400) Geelong (0800-1800) Anchor If it matters Melbourne and Picton are the only stops on a weekend.Thanks, Greg

Four of us will be taking two 15 day B2B cruise Sydney. We are all in the 63-73 range, physically active and really like culture, nature, and historical adventures. We are looking for suggested activities in the following ports; any suggestions are greatly appreciated: Melbourne for an overnight (dock 0800 depart 1700 next day) Dunedin (0900-1900) Christchurch (0800-1800) Picton (0900-1900) Wellington (0700-1700) Gisbourne (1000-1800) Rotorua (Tauranga)(0900-1800) Whangarei (0800-1900) Napier (1000-1800) Bluff (0800-1700) A 2nd Overnight in Melbourne (1000-0400) Geelong (0800-1800) Anchor If it matters Melbourne and Picton are the only stops on a weekend.Thanks, Greg

You could try looking at Toursbylocals.com We've used them all over the world and have been generally very very pleased. We've specifically used amount of Hilo in the past and we're very pleased. Most of them will do more than just Volcano National Park and if you look on there pre-plan tours find one that works for you in size and cost and then you can negotiate to Taylor the tour to see exactly what you'd like to see. Another alternative that you might like if you could rent a car either through an agency or by Turo.com and drive yourself. Those are my two recommendations. Whatever you decide to do I hope you have a wonderful visit Volcano National Park is a truly special place.

We had similar situation with Australian cruise booked in 2024. New price was higher; but, all in (given our personal assessment of the value of "drink package" and shore excursions) we thought we came out ahead (only a few hundred dollars per couple) to re-book with the new promo. TA facilitated and it was relatively seamless. I suggest doing the math using your valuation of the excursions and the drink package. Greg