Pre-cruise or post-cruise private travel - any restrictions on flight timing?

[Tansy Mews]

I was considering a cruise which would lend itself well to an extended stay or tour after the cruise. I am prepared to pay the air deviation fee and any fare difference that is necessary. My concern is the flights.

 

Is there a limitation on how many days I could add after a cruise before I fly home - 5 or 6 days? More? To be clear, I don't want to use Oceania's hotels or tours.

 

Anyone with personal experience? Thanks for your help!

[LHT28]

Our friends have done this & I think the maximum was 14 days pre or post cruise

Not sure if it is 2 wks either end of the cruise

 

Your TA should be able to get the correct information for you

[KirkNC]

Or you could just book the air yourself and then there are no restrictions.

[Bashful3]

we used frequent flier miles for business class independent travel. Because we did not use the Oceania 'air included'

travel, we negotiated a $1,000 discount off our cruise fare.

We were more than satisfied, and we were able to fly into Barcelona one day early, and book 4 days post cruise in Istanbul.

[LHT28]

we used frequent flier miles for business class independent travel. Because we did not use the Oceania 'air included'

travel, we negotiated a $1,000 discount off our cruise fare.

What did they offer before your negotiations???

[Tansy Mews]

What did they offer before your negotiations???

Guess the amount depends on the routes you must take. We took the money for our Baltic cruise and booked flights ourselves for that price.

[LHT28]

Guess the amount depends on the routes you must take. We took the money for our Baltic cruise and booked flights ourselves for that price.

Yes the amount varies by cruise & location

I have never negotiated a discount though so just wondered if they got a better deal ;)

 

Lyn

[Earl Rosebery]

Yes the amount varies by cruise & location

I have never negotiated a discount though so just wondered if they got a better deal ;)

 

Lyn

 

It's not really a discount. If you arrange your own flights, you will get a credit. About $1000 pp for an overseas flight.

[LHT28]

It's not really a discount. If you arrange your own flights, you will get a credit. About $1000 pp for an overseas flight.

I was curious as to how BASHFUL negotiated the credit

 

It the past we have taken the air credit on some cruises but never negotiated it ..that was my question

 

I have never heard that you could negotiate with Oceania for the credit

...I just take the credit they offer for not taking their air

 

In some cases the "FREE" air works better for us

Yes I know it is not really FREE

[RDMOREU]

The only thing I can add is IF you take Oceania's insurance - it will cover a total of 4 days pre and/or post your cruise and it doesn't matter what hotel you stay at. This was told to us via phone with the Oceania rep we originally worked with.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Dolores

[Jancruz]

I was curious as to how BASHFUL negotiated the credit

 

It the past we have taken the air credit on some cruises but never negotiated it ..that was my question

 

I have never heard that you could negotiate with Oceania for the credit

...I just take the credit they offer for not taking their air

 

In some cases the "FREE" air works better for us

Yes I know it is not really FREE

 

Lyn, There is no negotiation on the air fare.."it is what it is!!"

Jancruz1

[Jancruz]

The only thing I can add is IF you take Oceania's insurance - it will cover a total of 4 days pre and/or post your cruise and it doesn't matter what hotel you stay at. This was told to us via phone with the Oceania rep we originally worked with.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Dolores

 

My suggestion is take third party insurance..there are a lot of good ones out there with pre-existing condition provisions..

Jancruz1

[Tansy Mews]

Very helpful.

[LHT28]

Lyn, There is no negotiation on the air fare.."it is what it is!!"

Jancruz1

Exactly my point ;)

[Bashful3]

To answer your question as to how we negotiated the $1,000 discount:

It was easy. There was a published rate, that had other discounts, but

said 'air included'. Because we wanted to use frequent flier miles, I asked

our travel agent to negotiate a discount for us, given that we would not

be using Oceania's air arrangements at all. She was glad to, and told

me the suggested discount was $1,000 per person. Which was fine.

 

It turned out that our travel agent belonged to an association that made

it possible for her to offer us an additional discount of $405 to cover all

gratuities. We did not negotiate that; our travel agent made that

available to us without our even asking.

 

About the insurance, again, we simply asked our travel agent to suggest

an insurance carrier to us. Her price was lower than the Oceania price,

but it also included coverage for our independent air arrangements, which

the Oceania travel insurance would not have.

 

A brief summary is that I did not do the negotiating; I asked our travel

agent to do it for us. It was easy for her as well: no problem.

But, we weren't really given anything; since we did not use the coach

air arrangements. However, if we had not asked for it, I'm not sure we

would have been given anything.

 

It never hurts to ask.

[LHT28]

To answer your question as to how we negotiated the $1,000 discount:

It was easy. There was a published rate, that had other discounts, but

said 'air included'. Because we wanted to use frequent flier miles, I asked

our travel agent to negotiate a discount for us, given that we would not

be using Oceania's air arrangements at all. She was glad to, and told

me the suggested discount was $1,000 per person. Which was fine.

 

It never hurts to ask.

You nor you agent needs to NEGOTIATE any air credit

 

All you have to do is decline Oceania's air & you are given the cruise only rate

So your TA did nothing special ...everyone that declines the air program gets the credit

You can even check the price difference online by booking with & without air on Oceania's website so you know in advance what the price difference will be

 

Lyn

[JimandStan]

You nor you agent needs to NEGOTIATE any air credit

 

All you have to do is decline Oceania's air & you are given the cruise only rate

So your TA did nothing special ...everyone that declines the air program gets the credit

You can even check the price difference online by booking with & without air on Oceania's website so you know in advance what the price difference will be

 

Lyn

 

Lyn is 100% correct, but I'd like to add a small caution if I may...:D

 

It has been my experience that Travel Agents who allow their clients to believe that "normal course of business" transactions are the result of "negotiations" are to be avoided.