blackbr

NCL said they would reduce our balance due by $1,448 if we booked our flights ourselves. We took them up on that to take advantage of these awesome flights I found. I did check with them first. 

We are cruising from Rome to Barcelona next April for our 15th anniversary. The airfare promotion was part of the deal.  We used NCL for our flights once for a Caribbean cruise and the flights they booked were excellent, would have cost us a lot to book ourselves.

That said I did a business class flight search on Kayak (direct book on American) and I’m finding awesome deals.  I’m wondering if we get a cruise fare reduction if we book all of our own flights.  Gotta wait for NCL to open but I’m surprised that question isn’t answered on this thread.  

Don’t remember the cost but while waiting for taxis to take us to train station, we banded with other passengers and hired a taxi to take our group to Florence, Lucca, and Pisa. Awesome day, good price. If doing again I’d only go to Lucca.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Booked ourselves in 2019 and want one of these cabins (7108 and higher). Reading the forums and looking at pics I can’t ascertain which of these cabins might be more private than others—I really prefer that the majority of my balcony can’t be looked down upon from the cabins above.

Recommendations for cabins that I should and should not book are greatly appreciated, thanks! I’m currently in 7112 and have read that might be one to avoid.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Typically, one can make about any changes they want right up to the final payment due date around 180 days out, unless your TA/group has negotiated a different deal. One can ask for an air deviation starting at 270 days out, so that should give most reasonable people about 90 days to "work" the system and determine what's best for them.

We are on a 10-day cruise and the final payment is due 90 days prior to sailing. With that in mind, what is my "look" period to work the system?

This is of interest to me as well. My wife and I are booked on a July 2018 cruise with a round trip to Athens. I asked for the air credit ($1,100 per person).

Athens is a pretty expensive place to fly to, and the $99 premium economy upgrade is a very good deal. If I can't find airfares lower than $1,100, I may change our booking to put the airfare back on but am wondering how long I can wait to do that. At that point we'll need to do the deviation because there we would want to tour Athens for a couple of days prior to the cruise.

We used TJ Travel for our private tours on a similar itinerary (Tallinn, Riga, and St. Petersburg).

St. Petersburg was the city I was least looking forward to on this cruise. When I think back about the cruise, though, I think about the three days we had in this city. We had a private tour for our group of five. Our guide got us into all of the major sites and we bypassed all of the very long lines (I almost felt guilty about that. Almost). Our van driver was amazing. There is no place to park in St. Petersburg but when we emerged from our tourist site somehow he magically appeared with our van. He expertly threaded that van through all the heavy traffic too. The excursion wasn't cheap but it was unforgettable. In retrospect I don't know that I would have used them in the other cities but in St. Petersburg I would DEFINITELY book with TJ Travel or another reputable company.

Very very subjective.

Red Ginger is consistently my favorite, love the miso glazed sea bass.

The short answer is that with Oceania the air is included, therefore the NORM is flying in on sailing day with the majority.

 

Should you wish to make other arrangements, then you are deviating from the norm, which is why they call it a Deviation; and those changes incur additional backoffice costs and extra manpower....hence the fee.

 

Life is simple when you examine the circumstances with an open mind :D

Unless Oceania has an automated system that books everyone's airfares electronically, I don't understand the extra manpower or costs involved of simply changing dates of travel.

Maybe that's the case, I don't know!!

If I was allowing Oceania to book my airfare, we would never do so without incurring the cost of the deviation. We would never allow Oceania to book us on a flight that arrives the same day as the cruise departs. Besides, we usually want to spend an extra day or two in either the departure / arrival port city, or both.

I can't understand if you give Oceania these dates ahead of time, why it is necessary to incur the deviation charge. What are there extra costs incurred of booking flights on different days. If the airfare was higher, I could understand that.... but they charge you for higher airfare anyway!

As such, we have asked for the air credit every time we have sailed Oceania, and have done the same for our 2018 cruise.

Have been on a bunch of Oceania cruises and do not know what the class system is if there is one at all. WE all eat in the same places and sit in the same chairs at the pool and have to wait for a table in the terrace. I am not sure the majority of us come on this forum to reek havoc. We all have opinions and smetimes they are different from others but I do not think they are just trying to cause trouble. Just my opinion. :):):)

That's the reason I LOVE Oceania. I'm an inside dweller and have never felt felt "outclassed." Unlike other cruise lines I don't have to stare at the specialty restaurant diners with envy because I'm too cheap to pay the upcharges.

Back to the original topic, I don't like email spam either, and somehow I don't get any from Oceania (sailed with them twice, booked for a third). We DO, however, get a lot of brochures, seemingly DAILY! While I can't help thinking they have an excessive marketing budget, inevitably, I DO look at all of them.... :)

Appreciate the replies, everyone! Sounds like I made the right call. In the past my wife and I booked tours arranged through our travel agent. These have been spectacular (I'll never forget St. Petersburg), albeit pricey!

We just booked our third O cruise in July of 2018. It includes three days in Jerusalem.

We booked through a TA and felt that the three free shore excursions (each) would be a greater value than the $300pp shipboard credit.

Did we do the right thing?

Note that for our first two O cruises we booked our (superb) shore excursions through our travel agent, so we have no feel for the quality of Oceania's. My wife and I are in our early 50's, very active.

Advice appreciated!

Thank you everyone! Both cruises are out of Vancouver, round trip. My wife chose this cruise for her 50th birthday and she really wants to see whales. At icy Strait Point there are smaller boat excursions that virtually guarantee whale sightings. We have never been to Alaska and for all I know, the other dock ports may offer the same thing!

I'm kind of the travel/ship snob but my wife is mostly interested in the best itinerary!

Hi everyone! We are looking at booking one of these two cruises in September of 2016.

HAL is $220 per passenger more. It's a newer ship with "stops" in Glacier Bay and Tracy Arm Fjord.

Celebrity has stops at Hubbard Glacier and Icy Strait Point (interesting excursions).

We have my wife and I (early 50's), our parents, and 22 year old son.

Which to do? I posted this in the HAL forum since it's a bit pricier.

Our last two cruises were on Oceania and we loved them but we wanted a lower price this time, and we weren't crazy about their Alaska itineraries.