AMTDGT

Take the credit and DIY biz class with combo of $ and FF points

 

 

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Yah.....looked at that. We have more than enough points but there only is mixed seating - 10.5hrs to IAH economy, Business 4.5 hrs to YYC in a crappy plane, 1 hr to YVR economy. Also a 22:30 departure from GIG. Tried looking at leaving GIG on 12th. Can get business to IAH on the 22:30, but economy the rest of the way.

The concern is we don't know what United economy seats on international flights are like (or what ever O uses - we assume an American airline.) Are they like the tiny domestic seats or are they bigger?

We have found some reasonable Business seats but one is an over night change of about 11 hours in Lax or 8 hours in SFO. We have been through both LAX & SFO before, but can't fathom what we would do there for 11 hours over night.:loudcry::loudcry:

WE are trying to decide whether to take the include economy air home or buy tickets ourselves.

Does anyone know what kind of seats O gives you on this run. They do not have a premium economy upgrade and their business up grade is a bit expensive, especially as it is only for half the journey for us

We took the train years ago, no problems other than hauling luggage.

We are big fans of Rome Cabs, you cannot go wrong with their service. They also give tours, years ago we had the pleasure of touring with Stefano, the owner. I’ve sung his praises ever since.

We as well have used Stefano a number of times, the last time in October 2017. We have arranged both transfers and private tours in both Rome and Firenza through him. He and his staff are always wonderful and accommodating. He was recommended by friends years ago and we always recommend his company to friends since the first time we used him.

Glenn

A change of itinerary is always annoying specially for those of us who book a cruise based on the itinerary. On Celebrity we get a refund if we do not visit a port. The refund is in the amount of the port fee for that particular port. I do not know how Oceania handles this.

Ivi

We are elite plus on Celebrity and are still waiting for 2 or 3 port charge rebates over the years. We (and others) brought it up once and the customer service desk just laughed.

I did the same on out cruise to Buenos Aires people on the ship had watches and shoes ripped from them as they sat in down town..... slums everywhere, the cemetery full of homeless and garbage Stepping over bums sleeping on the sidewalk...everywhere...... Watched up scale residents casually throwing their garbage on the street as they walked........ Lots of con men and petty crime...... got better when you went 100 miles out.

Santiago fair lots so much smog you could not see mountains 10 miles away...Valpariso a sea side slum ...Ushuea.. nice....Montevideo more crime and passengers robbed, Lima scary port and anywhere out of the main down town/

Rio armed guards on tour buss would not let passengers get off because of danger.... I am glad you love it and can ignore the more than obvious down side...

Me I guess I am too objective...never ever go there when there are so many other beautiful options.

..

Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

Valpariso (2011) we very much enjoyed, especially the old town. Lima (2011) although maybe not on our favourite ports list, no problems in the port or the city. I agree Ushuea (2016) in nice, especially touring the water ways by boat. Montevideo (2016) we very much enjoyed, especially the food near the port. I guess we will find out about BA in about 53 weeks. We are looking forward to that one.

As both parties that saw price drops are from Canada, are you sure your device just didn't switch to showing US prices when you thought you were looking at Canadian?

We saw it in BC and our TA in Ontario saw it as well. It was the Canadian Price and noted as such. The TA tried to book the link but it came up with the old price. They then called O direct who said it was a computer glitch and they were working on fixing it

Some cruise lines, and probably all in future, are requiring non-refundable deposits to keep customers from booking cruises they don't intend on going.

 

 

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We also noticed the online O price drop today (it would have saved us more than $5000 cdn micro dollars). Our TA confirmed a computer glitch after she talked to O. She confirmed she saw the pricing as well, so it wasn't just us

X has recently introduced a discount?????? to book a cruise with a non refundable deposit. I suspect the non refundable price is actually the old price and the refundable one is a price increase, but still the intent is there. Our river cruise in April required a hefty non refundable deposit as well.

Sorry to disagree with you, Orv, but I find the Celebrity Beverage Packages, with their price level cut offs to be tacky in the extreme.

 

I almost feel that I need an abacus at the bar to keep track

We are X elite plus and have just booked our first Oceania cruise, for 4 reasons. We normally travel with X in Suites or Aqua class.

1. Our last X cruise (B2B) in October/November, generally speaking (there were some exceptions) had the weakest customer facing crew we have experience on X.

2. Our group all had drink packages and almost always had to supplement the package by a couple of dollars for meal time wine.

3. Even in Blu, the food quality/selection seemed a bit weak and over salty

4. The other passengers, (could have been the route), were frequently pushy and rude,

5 Not withstanding Celebrities marketing department, we have burnt out their interesting (to us) ports, and the new ones they add (if they really do) are a rehash of the old ones.

After discussions with friends, we booked Oceania, albeit at a lower cabin class, because:

1. They do many ports we want to do and can't get there on X (Africa, Amazon etc).

2. We understand the crews are very customer focused and competent at their jobs

3. We understand the drink packages have a bigger scope than X

4. We understand the food is generally very good and the selection and venues varied.

It remains to be seen if Oceania meets our expectations.

Thx for all your comments

Glenn

We have booked our first cruise on Oceania and are trying to figure the best bang for our Canadian micro dollar with our OLife "Bonus Savings". I am looking at the costs etc associated with Oceania shore excursions. I do understand that many folks believe Oceania Shore Excursions are expensive and do private excursions instead. We usually do a mix of cruise line/private tours (we are Celebrity Elite. plus).

I have a list of Oceania shore excursions (from a previous cruise, ours is still 13 months out and so they are not loaded yet) and costs for tours in the ports we are going to. The piece I don't quite understand are the Shore Excursion Collections.

Unlimited: They appear to be the most expensive tours (even when discounted) and don't appear to be for every port. Do you pay a subscription fee for the unlimited option? It appears that Oceania builds the shore ex package for you, potentially restricting you from changing your mind on your choice.

Your World: The prices are better than adhoc (not as good as unlimited where unlimited is offered) It appears that you don't pay a subscription fee, but have to guarantee using Oceania for a minimum number of shore excursions on the cruise.

It also appears that the shore excursions and these packages can be booked 240 days out which is earlier than our final pay which is 180 days out. Does this apply to all cabin classes or is there a "pecking" order like there is for specialty restaurant reservations.

Thx Glenn

Thank you for the information. Makes my cost spread sheet look much better

Glenn

We have booked our first cruise on Oceania and are trying to figure the best bang for our Canadian micro dollar with our OLife "Bonus Savings". I am trying to calculate the cost of taking the OLife meal drink package and then upgrading it to the Prestige level drink package on board. I am informed that is $20 usd per day per pax.

My mind is thinking the Celebrity way (we are Elite Plus) on this so it begs the question. On board, is the package upgrade a straight $20 usd per person per day or is it $20 usd plus 18% gratutites ($23.60 usd) per day?

Thx

Glenn

Also have enjoyed your post on the Silversea board. Welcome to O. Nautica is our favorite.

 

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Dubai is a great place to visit. ..... I prefer old Dubai the creek, gold Souk, spice market etc.

As did we. We hired a cab on the pier. We haggled for the price and took the cheapest. Also, if you are their over night, the bedouin night desert safari dinner was fantastic.

Bobbie;

 

People purposely misread the information. The flu shot is always recommended, especially for those over 65.

 

We’ve had the same discussion on these boards, and this thread even, with the yellow fever shot. The CDC advises everyone going to specific locations to get the yellow fever vaccine. Then we have posters crying they’ To frail to get the vaccine, but not to frail to be bitten by mosquitoes!

 

Some of the anti vaccine group will always argue against getting vaccines.

We always get our flu shot, and so far we have not got the flue since we started getting the shots, whether through luck, our constitutions or. the vaccine.

We heve been told by a couple of doctors, that the vaccine we get every year is an educated guess by the experts, as to which strain of the flu virus will be dominant in North America in any given year. The result is, there are potential issues. Firstly the if experts guess wrong and secondly the dominant strain here, in North America, may be different from Asia or the Middle East. As a result, people like us and many others on this forum, who travel all over the world, may bring back a "foreign" flu virus, infecting some folks here at home, who have got their flu shot against the local variant.

The last time I had the flu, before I began getting the shot, was a very memorable experience that I will do what I can to avoid repeating. Therefore, we get the shot, even if it may only be partially effective.

It's a business. They will charge what the market will pay. This should not shock or surprise anyone

 

Their business is NOT to provide an "affordable " cruise.

 

 

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Yes it's called dynamic pricing.

We just booked 13 months out for our first Oceania cruise because of destination, While the price is a bit expensive, we will live with it. We just came off an X B2B and although we are elite plus, we have pretty much used up all the destinations they offer on our bucket list, so sometimes you have to pay for what you want,

The X B2B, in Canada, swung back and forth more than $4,500 per pax (no change in perks), in the 11 months we had the booking.

What was the experience if you ordered a beer or two? Would they open them? I like to have a fridge full of beer, but I'm not paying extra for buckets if I bought a package. I figured I'd bring a couple back each time I head back to the room.

One bottle per card per visit to the bar.

Your choice opened or not, although be very clear on the bar tender that you want the cap on. Their natural reaction is to open it even after you have said cap on.

Yes we did build up a small supply in the frig ( 3 or 4 bottles)

Just returned from 2 weeks with a Premium Package which we bought in advance:

1. Saved about what we expected (about $5.00 a day each) but drank less booze and more Cova Cafe coffee

2. Loved not signing and the 3 bar waiters we used most regularly had our numbers and names and didn't ask for cards after 3 days, even when they were working in other bars.

3. No problem getting room drinks - 1 person 2 cards to the bar, alternating who's turn it was to make the trek.

4. In the MDR, wine glasses were never empty with no advanced tip to the sommelier.

5. Only 1 waiter became noticeable less pursuant of our business after being given the card, probably because the tips are from a card pool and are less to the waiter.

6. Couldn't get doubles from a strange waiter, although I am pretty sure we could of from our regular waiters, we just didn't try.

7. One waiter didn't know what the card code meant and had to check.

8. They had a carafe of wine my DW was drinking at a discount to a price within the package. Although she could by the wine by the glass, she couldn't by the carafe, even though she could buy 2 successive glasses of wine that total in cost more than the carafe. In the end, the result was a higher charge although zero balance to the package than if she had been allowed the carafe Must be either a weird accounting or maybe marketing rule.

9. Only real thing that could be better, is the ability to get your butler or room service to get your drinks on the card....but nothings ever perfect.

When all is said & done we will get the package again next time we are on X

I just paid $55.78 CAD per night when I prebooked, including the 15% service charge. Amazing rate, IMO

As did I (although I rounded up to $55.79 CAD) It was actually .48 CAD a day less than the bank exchange rate at the time I bought the package. (I was going to get USD at the bank and pay cash to beat Visa & X's exchange rip offs - now I have AC points...)

So lets have a beer (H'Ex or Canadian, or Kokannee - where every you live) on each other on our cruises....eh

Does anyone have the per day cost in USD of the Classic Alcohol, Premium Alcohol and the non Alcohol packages. We can only see it in CDN$ and we are trying to decide if it is cheaper to get them on board or in advance.

Thx

It's added to the price of the package when you purchase it, not when you use it.

Thankyou

We will be getting premium packages for the next cruise. I understand there is a 15% service charge added. We have no problem with that, but in managing our OBCs, is the 15% added to the price of the package which we will buy next week or is it charged when we use the card 3 weeks from now. (i.e. the 15% ends up on your on board account.)