Another first timer

[Cruisertommyboy]

Ive been lurking on the Oceania page for a while now and you all are a wealth of valuable information. So I am looking for a few thoughts from the Oceania knowledgeable.

I wont be going on Oceania until 2015 so everything up til now has been based on 2014. As it stands my wife and I want to do the Baltics for 11 days, something similar to the Stockholm to London that will be available.

We hope to get the Oceania suite and if it is the O class ship that does this trip, it should be available as soon as the cruise is announced.

Enough of this dribble and on to the questions. I contacted Oceania and we now have a Personal Vacation Consultant. He has been more than responsive and has been great with customer service (DW's hot button). What would be the advantages of using a TA familiar with Oceania vs the contact at Prestige group.

Secondly, if we book a pre and post cruise hotel through Oceania, will the included airfare schedule us taking that into consideration or will we have to pay the deviation fee?

Thirdly, does anyone have experience with "Unlimited Passport Collection" or the "Your World Collection" of excursion packages? We want to do a private tour in St. Petersburg but not sure if it would be worth it for the other ports.

Finally, there will be a 3rd person travelling with us. If my wife and I get the Prestige beverage package, will our 3rd person have to get it as well.

Sorry to be so long winded, but I couldnt think of a better place to get answers than from the group that regularily post on here. Thanks in advance

Tom

[sitraveler]

wadr, why don't you ask these questions to your personal cruise consultant?

[wripro]

You "personal cruise consultant" works for Oceania. A TA works for you. If there's a problem who so you think the Oceania employee will side with?

[Mura]

One reason not to ask the first question of the cruise consultant could be that he or she wouldn't be likely to recommend a travel agent ...

 

There are several top-notch TAs who specialize in Oceania and personally I would recommend one of them although I cannot do so HERE because of Board rules.

 

I also prefer tours we book on our own (joined by other passengers that we find on the specific roll call) to ship's tours. Yes, a private guide in St. P. is better than a ship's tour. It does depend on the places you visit elsewhere as to whether you would need a guide or could go around on your own. (Our first Baltic cruise was with Renaissance which had a slightly different itinerary from the usual Oceania itinerary.)

 

For example, back then we did a ship's tour in Helsinki but discovered we could have done exactly the same things via the Hop On/Hop Off bus.

 

I'm no help with the question about paying the deviation fee since we don't use O for booking our hotels. I know the issue has been discussed here -- you might try doing a search to see what you can find out.

 

Mura

[JimandStan]

We hope to get the Oceania suite and if it is the O class ship that does this trip, it should be available as soon as the cruise is announced.

Yes, the Oceania Suites book very quickly, try to get in on the day that they open your Itinerary to bookings.

What would be the advantages of using a TA familiar with Oceania vs the contact at Prestige group?

Oceania distributes a large percentage of Promotional Swag (On-Board Credits, included Gratuities etc.) through the Agents that do a large volume of business with them. The Agent that you have been referred to may or may not be one of those Agents.

If we book a pre and post cruise hotel through Oceania, will the included airfare schedule us taking that into consideration or will we have to pay the deviation fee?

If you use Oceania Hotel arrangements, the deviation fee is waived, but that is a fairly expensive way of avoiding a smallish fee.

There will be a 3rd person travelling with us. If my wife and I get the Prestige beverage package, will our 3rd person have to get it as well.

The Third person does not need to buy the Package, Oceania will trust you to "do the right thing", and not share.

 

Speaking of sharing, if you have been lurking here for any amount of time, you will already know that I LOVE the Oceania Suites. That said, as big as they are, they are not intended for three people.

Yes, Oceania will bring in a trundle bed, and if your Suite is on deck 12 then the third person would have their own full bath, but there is literally ZERO storage space allocated for that third person. They would have to share your walk in Closet which is off the master bedroom.

Unless this third person is a warm close personal friend of both of yours, I'd suggest adjoining Staterooms.