OLife Excursions

[RJB]

if you like big bus tours :D

It has been awhile since we have been on the big bus tours so we will see if we like them or not. Years ago that is all we did and they were fine. Then we started booking our own guides and liked that better. The O life tours are included so we will try those and find out. Either way I am sure we will have a great time. :):):)

[PaulMCO]

Lyn,

You are right about that :D - time will tell.

 

It will come back as "O Life - Last Chance" good thru Sept 30, 2016...

 

Then "O Life - Final Offer" good thru 31 December 2016.

 

Then they will rename it "It's Better on O" :D

[Hawaiidan]

"According to the future cruise consultant on the current cruise, the O life promo will end at the end of December this year."

 

Paul,

 

I wonder how the consultant can be correct. I'm looking at an O brochure that lists Med cruises with dates as late as Nov 2016 and clearly states that one can have "O Life Advantage: which includes free shore excursions, internet & PPG".

 

O Life is listed for every cruise.

 

I have cruises booked from October 2016 to April 2017 and they all are O life...

to tell you the truth with internet, gratuities and shore ex all included and with reasonable fares plus healthy OBC's on top....I cant see any real complaint from me....

[Paulchili]

I have cruises booked from October 2016 to April 2017 and they all are O life...

to tell you the truth with internet, gratuities and shore ex all included and with reasonable fares plus healthy OBC's on top....I cant see any real complaint from me....

 

Perhaps I did not express myself correctly.

It's not so much that O Life itself will end on all cruises after 12/31/15 but the offer to have O life included in one's cruise will end at that date - i.e. people booking future cruises after that date will not have the opportunity to have O Life included on their cruise.

At least that is the way I understand it. However, I could be totally wrong. We'll see what happens after the New Year :)

[Hawaiidan]

Perhaps I did not express myself correctly.

It's not so much that O Life itself will end on all cruises after 12/31/15 but the offer to have O life included in one's cruise will end at that date - i.e. people booking future cruises after that date will not have the opportunity to have O Life included on their cruise.

At least that is the way I understand it. However, I could be totally wrong. We'll see what happens after the New Year :)

 

 

I have 5 cruises ,1-16, 9-16 1-17 3-17 4-17 all with O life included. To tellyou the truth I think its going to be a standard operating feature The 12/31/15 is just an imposed sales tool.. to make folks book.....as time sensitive and like the "sales" a never ending cavalcade of opportunities from now until the fix the Bay bridge !!!

[RJB]

I have 5 cruises ,1-16, 9-16 1-17 3-17 4-17 all with O life included. To tellyou the truth I think its going to be a standard operating feature The 12/31/15 is just an imposed sales tool.. to make folks book.....as time sensitive and like the "sales" a never ending cavalcade of opportunities from now until the fix the Bay bridge !!!

 

I guess time will tell. Until we do our July we will not really know if they are for us or not. Hope they are as good as they seem.

[Hawaiidan]

even If you only took a few tours and did the rest private, it still represents a whole load of value.

Hey ,I never pay for or do internet at sea... so that for me is nothing...not borkering a midneast peace deal in Palestine and its been ages since the pope called for advice....

 

Even if you skip half the freebees ( I know they aren't really free) it's still , to me a good deal. I have no cost options I can take or not, just like restaurants I can skip some of my guaranteed reservations and still be happy.

Just gives me more choices

[RJB]

even If you only took a few tours and did the rest private, it still represents a whole load of value.

Hey ,I never pay for or do internet at sea... so that for me is nothing...not borkering a midneast peace deal in Palestine and its been ages since the pope called for advice....

 

Even if you skip half the freebees ( I know they aren't really free) it's still , to me a good deal. I have no cost options I can take or not, just like restaurants I can skip some of my guaranteed reservations and still be happy.

Just gives me more choices

 

We have booked all 7 that we get for "free" and will try them. If the first few are not very good than we will re think the rest. Still can change on the fly. Problem is that if we do not book what we want now then we may not get them later. Expect the worst, hope for the best. We have to get together on a cruise as we seem to be responding to each others posts a lot.

[Mura]

We are assuming these oLife tours are exactly the same as the usual ship's tour. That means more people than we like and less control of the itinerary than we like, but that being said the vast majority of ship's tours we've taken have been just fine. (We usually take one or two ship's tours on a cruise, the rest being private tours or just walking around on our own.)

 

I'm also assuming that it is true that you have to book your cruise by the end of 2015 to qualify for oLife BUT I also won't argue with Dan when he says he expects this will become the norm. My feeling all along has been that O is trying to see how this flies. I would not be surprised to see them keep this promo if enough passengers want it.

 

We're using 3 out of the 5 tours we are eligible for on our BCN-NYC cruise in October '16. I may just go and check now to see if anything is up for our April '17 cruise, although to date nothing has been. I don't feel like perusing other cruises to see what has been available in the past so if nothing is there yet, I'll just wait.

 

Mura

[biotech]

Prior to the OLife promotion I booked a transatlantic cruise for April 2016. At that time wewere given $100 pp OBC. Recently we decided to take advantage of OLife package and now our TA has been told by OCeania that the original OBC would have to be removed as Oceania can not give 2 "gifts" for the same cruise.

 

So we are paying $300 pp for the OLife upsell and losing the $100 OBC per person. Since we are paying extra for OLife I hardly think of it as a "gift" and see no valid reason for removing the $100 OBC. In effect, we are now paying $400 pp for OLife.

 

I am beginning to rethink this as there are only A few port stops to use the 4 ship's excursions that we are allowed.

 

Has anyone else experienced this situation?

[RJB]

Prior to the OLife promotion I booked a transatlantic cruise for April 2016. At that time wewere given $100 pp OBC. Recently we decided to take advantage of OLife package and now our TA has been told by OCeania that the original OBC would have to be removed as Oceania can not give 2 "gifts" for the same cruise.

 

So we are paying $300 pp for the OLife upsell and losing the $100 OBC per person. Since we are paying extra for OLife I hardly think of it as a "gift" and see no valid reason for removing the $100 OBC. In effect, we are now paying $400 pp for OLife.

 

I am beginning to rethink this as there are only A few port stops to use the 4 ship's excursions that we are allowed.

 

Has anyone else experienced this situation?

I guess I missed something when we booked our cruise for next July. Did not see an option to remove the O Life tours. Can we?

[Flatbush Flyer]

Prior to the OLife promotion I booked a transatlantic cruise for April 2016. At that time wewere given $100 pp OBC. Recently we decided to take advantage of OLife package and now our TA has been told by OCeania that the original OBC would have to be removed as Oceania can not give 2 "gifts" for the same cruise.

 

 

 

So we are paying $300 pp for the OLife upsell and losing the $100 OBC per person. Since we are paying extra for OLife I hardly think of it as a "gift" and see no valid reason for removing the $100 OBC. In effect, we are now paying $400 pp for OLife.

 

 

 

I am beginning to rethink this as there are only A few port stops to use the 4 ship's excursions that we are allowed.

 

 

 

Has anyone else experienced this situation?

 

 

The value of O Life tips and internet on your 14 day cruise works out to be about $400/person (tips are per person while internet is per cabin). Add 4 excursions at a conservative $100 each and your O Life can be valued at about $800/person.

 

I can understand how you may see O Life as an "upsell." But, the cruise prices would've changed anyway on or about the date when O Life was first advertised (July 1, 2015) for summer 2016 cruises. So, even without O Life, fares would've gone up.

 

So, the simple way to look at this is that you are considering canceling the original deal (at the old cabin price) and rebooking (at the new cabin price, which usually would've increased with or without the additional of O Life as the cruise dates neared.

 

Also, it's fairly obvious that O Life is designed to dump O's use of OBC (where you control how it's spent) in favor of fixed items, which give O better (and more predictable) budget/profit controls. And if O Life continues, we may see it as a paid option starting with cruises purchased after 12/31/15. Even if "free" O Life continues (like "free" airfare), cabin prices will see their historical upward adjustment as the calendar (and the cost-of- living) progresses.

 

What concerns me the most about your post is that there's no mention of the TA's OBC contribution. Whatever your O deal was, one would expect a good TA to provide some perk or OBC or credit or refund valued, at least, at 5% or more of the cabin cost. Are you getting anything contributed by the TA and how would that be affected by the trade of deals?

 

So, back to your original item. It looks like it's a $400 "wash" with free tips/internet vs price increase/no O OBC. The key is whether you use the additional $400+ value of the O Life excursions.

Edited December 5, 2015 by Flatbush Flyer

[LHT28]

Prior to the OLife promotion I booked a transatlantic cruise for April 2016. At that time wewere given $100 pp OBC. Recently we decided to take advantage of OLife package and now our TA has been told by OCeania that the original OBC would have to be removed as Oceania can not give 2 "gifts" for the same cruise.

 

So we are paying $300 pp for the OLife upsell and losing the $100 OBC per person. Since we are paying extra for OLife I hardly think of it as a "gift" and see no valid reason for removing the $100 OBC. In effect, we are now paying $400 pp for OLife.

 

I am beginning to rethink this as there are only A few port stops to use the 4 ship's excursions that we are allowed.

 

Has anyone else experienced this situation?

 

On the first deal were you getting gratuities in the deal?

[LHT28]

I guess I missed something when we booked our cruise for next July. Did not see an option to remove the O Life tours. Can we?

If you booked the cruise before they added the O Life to the cruise you had an option

If booked after the O Life promo ..... no option

[Paulchili]

I guess I missed something when we booked our cruise for next July. Did not see an option to remove the O Life tours. Can we?

 

No.

You can only add O Life IF you had booked a cruise some time ago without O Life (before it was available) and now you can add O life (if you wish)

[biotech]

Thank you for replies. My TA's company gives me Aeroplan ,miles as a bonus but there was no OBC offered by the company unfortunately. I have a feeling I may have received more perks had this been booked through a different travel agency.

 

I think we may get our value by booking the 4 ship's excursion and the gratuities and some use of the Internet. I would still have liked to keep the original OBC given to us by Oceania.

 

I was not getting free gratuities in the original deal. The cruise was priced $300 less and a $100 OBC was part of the deal.

[ORV]

Just do the math, even without the excursions it appears you're coming out ahead.

[RJB]

No.

You can only add O Life IF you had booked a cruise some time ago without O Life (before it was available) and now you can add O life (if you wish)

When we booked the only way available was O Life. Still looks pretty good if we like the tours. We usually book our own but will try theirs.

[Hawaiidan]

We have to get together on a cruise as we seem to be responding to each others posts a lot.

 

Well pilgrim....1-13 Miami on Rivera 9-12 Malta onInsignia 1-7Regatta, 3-16 Rivera (17) Be fun

[RJB]

Well pilgrim....1-13 Miami on Rivera 9-12 Malta onInsignia 1-7Regatta, 3-16 Rivera (17) Be fun

We can keep trying. 2/12 Miami, Riviera and 7/3 Barcelona, Riviera. extended 17 days. Nothing for 17 yet. Might look for an on board booking in Feb.