Are you satisfied with Oceania's air arrangements?

[Sopwith]

Greetings

 

I can't say I am pleased with O's flight selections. We are on the upcoming Rome to Valletta cruise in 3 weeks. When it was time to learn of flight details our TA called and said O was having problems getting us a decent return flight. She wanted to know if we were willing to spend an extra night (at our expense) in Valletta and leave the next day. I agreed that an extra day would be ok. When our flights were revealed O had us booked from Valletta to Abu Dhabi then on to NY then finally Miami. Now get our your globes (or use google maps) and notice where Abu Dhabi is with respect to Valletta. Yes, it is totally in the wrong direction. In fact over 7 hours in the wrong direction. The trip home was going to take over 32 hours. This was a "decent" flight after agreeing to spend the night in Valletta?

 

We have ended up staying a night in Valletta, flying from Valletta to Rome then staying a night in Rome all on our nickel. O then booked us from Rome to Miami.

 

So needless to say, O's air arrangements have left a bad taste in my mouth. Hopefully the great food aboard will take the bad taste away.

 

Good Sailing

Tom

 

BINGO! This is exactly why I would be VERY wary of accepting the included air without a deviation.

[Sopwith]

One thing we didn't tell you is that the cruise line only gets a limited number of seats at their contract price, by the time you get to 75 days, it is likely you will pay extra for a non-contract seat.

 

This just jogged my memory. On one of the cruises I had this discussion with one of the future cruise sales people. She said that O contracts for a minimum number of seats on their flights. If you opt out of the included air at a time when they think they won't sell all of the seats they've contracted for, the credit they offer you will be quite low.

[Paulchili]

This just jogged my memory. On one of the cruises I had this discussion with one of the future cruise sales people. She said that O contracts for a minimum number of seats on their flights. If you opt out of the included air at a time when they think they won't sell all of the seats they've contracted for, the credit they offer you will be quite low.

 

I could be wrong but I don't think the the air credit is fluctuating with time.

I believe it is what it is from the beginning. Then again, we always take the credit when we first book the cruise and thus do not follow it later.

Has someone been offered different air credits on the same cruise at different times?

[NIX70]

I'm using Oceania for the first time next month and thought I would take advantage of the 'free flights' offered. Going out, this made perfect sense. Direct flight, good time. Coming back, they wanted to put me on a flight from Barcelona to London - via Paris! Considering the number of scheduled airlines that fly between the two cities, trying to put me onto an indirect flight was just crazy. As they were not prepared to offer me another flight, I took the credit. So, a 50/50 experience so far.

[tunaman2011]

BINGO! This is exactly why I would be VERY wary of accepting the included air without a deviation.

 

Greetings

 

Unfortunately I was a newbie at the flying to cruise game. We have many cruises under our belt but we just drive to Miami or Port Everglades. I did not realize how bad the cruise flights could be. Now I am better informed, but it is too late for this cruise. Glad there are "experts" here to help guide the way.

 

Good Sailing

Tom

[silkman]

I could be wrong but I don't think the the air credit is fluctuating with time.

I believe it is what it is from the beginning. Then again, we always take the credit when we first book the cruise and thus do not follow it later.

Has someone been offered different air credits on the same cruise at different times?

 

Yes, the air credit can go down ( or maybe up, but I doubt it) over time. I took the air credit as soon as i booked. Later, my TA told me that I was fortunate to have opted for it early as the amount of air credit offered had gone down.

[Paulchili]

Yes, the air credit can go down ( or maybe up, but I doubt it) over time. I took the air credit as soon as i booked. Later, my TA told me that I was fortunate to have opted for it early as the amount of air credit offered had gone down.

 

Interesting. You learn something new every day (thank you, Dottie :D)

Thanks for posting this info. I guess it pays to claim the credit early on if one wants to claim it?

[silkman]

Interesting. You learn something new every day (thank you, Dottie :D)

Thanks for posting this info. I guess it pays to claim the credit early on if one wants to claim it?

 

Yes,

probably

[Rumpymuffin]

All this is giving me a headache. I think I will go wine for awhile! :-)

Sylvia

 

Many thanks to StanandJim and rallydave for elucidating the mysteries of the air deviation. Who knew there was so much to know? Would one of you good guys consider drafting a permanent sticky describing the ins and outs of O flight arrangements, including the timeline? I can't believe I'm the only one who didn't know all this stuff!

 

I do have one more question. If you've "had the talk" with O on the air deviation and failed to come to an agreement, can you revert back to the included flights? Or have you forfeited the right to included air and have to take the credit instead? I don't want to close off any options before I've had a chance to explore them all.

 

Again, many thanks to all you cool cruisers for being willing to share your knowledge. You're the best!

 

Karen

[rallydave]

Many thanks to StanandJim and rallydave for elucidating the mysteries of the air deviation. Who knew there was so much to know? Would one of you good guys consider drafting a permanent sticky describing the ins and outs of O flight arrangements, including the timeline? I can't believe I'm the only one who didn't know all this stuff!

 

I do have one more question. If you've "had the talk" with O on the air deviation and failed to come to an agreement, can you revert back to the included flights? Or have you forfeited the right to included air and have to take the credit instead? I don't want to close off any options before I've had a chance to explore them all.

 

Again, many thanks to all you cool cruisers for being willing to share your knowledge. You're the best!

 

Karen

 

While you or your TA is discussing the various deviation possibilities and until you reach agreement your included air fare remains valid and only is superseded by your agreed to new itinerary once agreement is reached and you have paid the deviation fee. So, no worries as should you not reach agreement you still have the included flights that you will be advised of about at the 75 day mark.

 

One other possible help is that you can do a deviation and only change one way and leave the other way with Oceania determining your flight and you can take a credit for one way and use the Oceania flights for the other way. You then would get a portion of the full flight credit that is determined by which way you are getting the credit.

 

For instance doing a TA or cruise where your departure port differs from your arrival port and you might be able to get a good flight one way or the other and have Oceania provide the other port to your home. Many ways to split the flights depending on your preferences.

[Cruise-y]

After two cruises with O we are very happy with the on board product. I am less than happy with the way they handle the air arrangements, however. So much so that it's putting me off O for future cruises. So I thought I would ask what others think to see if it's just me, or are others ticked off?

 

Without getting into the gory details of individual experiences...

 

1. If you have used O's included air, are you happy with the routing, flights, schedules, and seating?

 

2. If you've used O's air and paid for a deviation are you happy with the result? I'm specifically asking whether you ended up getting reasonable flights, routing, seating, and are you satisfied with any up charge that was applied? Do you feel that the $175 pp fee was reasonable for the service you received?

 

3. If you took the credit and made your own air arrangements, are you satisfied with the amount of the credit offered?

 

Sopwith -

 

IMO, the difference is International vs Domestic. I always want to fly business class internationally (because of the longer/usually overnight flight) and I always want to fly in a few days ahead to enjoy the city. I also want to make my own arrangements so I can leave and arrive at my discretion. (I'm not a fan of 6 am flights). I use FF miles, so the credit is what it is and I just take it. I don't worry about it. I realize not everyone has FF miles to use, but it really comes down to what price you put on comfort and convenience.

 

For a shorter domestic flight, I might be more inclined to put up with the hassle of having a flight dictated to me. You probably can't buy a coach seat for the credit they give.

 

Many, many years ago I took a cruise with air included (different cruise line) and we were not given seat assignments - but I was assured it was no big deal. The cruises get discounted group fares so you are at the bottom of the pecking order. The flight was overbooked and we would not have been able to board except that the airline kept announcing requests for people to give up their seats (for more and more incentives as time went on) and finally a couple took pity on us. Otherwise, we would have missed our cruise. We had taken a week off of work (which at that time was precious) and had a young child who would have been crushed. I'll never forget how panicked we were.

 

I swore I'd never book a flight on the same day as a cruise again. In fact, I usually avoid cruise lines that include air for that reason.

[Queen of DaNile]

Yes, the air credit can go down ( or maybe up, but I doubt it) over time. I took the air credit as soon as i booked. Later, my TA told me that I was fortunate to have opted for it early as the amount of air credit offered had gone down.

Thanks for sharing this info. I was on the fence about taking, what I think, is a very generous air credit for a 2017 O cruise. Knowing that we would do a deviation and now having read about your experience, I'm taking the credit:) In the past we had used O's air and been satisfied but its time for a change.

[silkman]

Thanks for sharing this info. I was on the fence about taking, what I think, is a very generous air credit for a 2017 O cruise. Knowing that we would do a deviation and now having read about your experience, I'm taking the credit:) In the past we had used O's air and been satisfied but its time for a change.

 

Just to expand on the info, for a July 2016 cruise, we declined O's air in Sept. of 2015, and received an air credit of $1050 pp. In Feb 2016 the air credit offered was $900 pp.

[kentish belle]

We have just returned from our third Oceania cruise, we flew out of a London Airport to Venice, the ship was staying overnight in Venice. Oceania's air had us on a 6.30am flight from London Heathrow to Amsterdam then another flight onto Venice. We had to pay £190 equal to about $250 each deviation fee to get a direct flight from London to Venice. We are not happy with Oceania's air programme & we are reluctant to book another Cruise with Oceania if they think it is acceptable to have a non direct flight on what should be only a two hour flight.

[LHT28]

kentish belle

Can you opt out of the included air ?

[kentish belle]

kentish belle

Can you opt out of the included air ?

 

Yes, we can have cruise only. That is the way we will have to go in the future, we liked the included air because if there is a problem with the air arrangements it is down to Oceania to solve the problem.

[LHT28]

Yes, we can have cruise only. That is the way we will have to go in the future, we liked the included air because if there is a problem with the air arrangements it is down to Oceania to solve the problem.

The other option is to pay the deviation & choose the exact flights you want early in the process

This has been discussed over & over again

Edited June 8, 2016 by LHT28

[PhD-iva]

Yes, we can have cruise only. That is the way we will have to go in the future, we liked the included air because if there is a problem with the air arrangements it is down to Oceania to solve the problem.

 

 

My husband and I are using the included air arrangements on a return flight after the June 24 Viking Tales cruise from Copenhagen to Stockholm. We are a little concerned about the short layover in Chicago during which we need to collect our baggage, get through customsand then re-check our bags and find our gate all within 90 minutes. This is scheduled during the late evening, and we're afraid if we miss our connecting flight to Austin that we might have difficulty rebooking the flight because Oceana booked us on two different airlines. To clarify, we are flying from Stockholm to Chicago on Scandinavia air, and then from Chicago to Austin on American Airlines. When we spoke over the phone to someone from Scandinavia air, they were not confident that we would be able to receive a printed boarding pass for our AA domestic flight before we board in Stockholm. We are a bit nervous about having to navigate all the difficulties that might arise in Chicago to get a boarding pass, or to rebook our connecting flight if it is missed.

Any thoughts or suggestions? We are really looking forward to our first Oceania cruise, we are sure it will be fabulous. [emoji41]

 

 

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[rallydave]

My husband and I are using the included air arrangements on a return flight after the June 24 Viking Tales cruise from Copenhagen to Stockholm. We are a little concerned about the short layover in Chicago during which we need to collect our baggage, get through customsand then re-check our bags and find our gate all within 90 minutes. This is scheduled during the late evening, and we're afraid if we miss our connecting flight to Austin that we might have difficulty rebooking the flight because Oceana booked us on two different airlines. To clarify, we are flying from Stockholm to Chicago on Scandinavia air, and then from Chicago to Austin on American Airlines. When we spoke over the phone to someone from Scandinavia air, they were not confident that we would be able to receive a printed boarding pass for our AA domestic flight before we board in Stockholm. We are a bit nervous about having to navigate all the difficulties that might arise in Chicago to get a boarding pass, or to rebook our connecting flight if it is missed.

Any thoughts or suggestions? We are really looking forward to our first Oceania cruise, we are sure it will be fabulous. [emoji41]

 

 

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And, you are forgetting immigration which is separate from customs and unless you have Global Entry will take longer than customs. And, you will be coming into Terminal 5 from which you will need to leave the secure area then take a train to american in terminal 3 which is about a mile away. If you don't have a boarding pass for your American flight, you will need to get a boarding pass from american hopefully at a kiosk, then get thru security and out to your gate.

 

This will be daunting to get to your flight in 90 minutes if your flight is on time and if not virtually impossible. Only thought if you can't get your boarding pass from SAS is to on line check in for your American flight before going to the airport in Stockholm or at the airport at American which I don't believe is in Stockholm so get your boarding pass before heading to the airport. Hope you are staying at a hotel before flying home as you can't print a boarding pass until 24 hours before the flight and that will be the morning you disembark the ship.

 

Can't find minimum connection times but, if you are on oceania air, highly recomment your TA contact Oceania and get your flights changed as too iffy.

[maggie.1008]

I have been on 50 cruises and always book my own air. I just booked Oceania Rome to Venice and will upgrade $99. for premium economy out of LAX. I would like to fly from LAX to Heathrow on New Zealand air as they have a nice premium economy. I am willing to pay a deviation fee. Does O have an agreement with New Zealand air ?

[rallydave]

I have been on 50 cruises and always book my own air. I just booked Oceania Rome to Venice and will upgrade $99. for premium economy out of LAX. I would like to fly from LAX to Heathrow on New Zealand air as they have a nice premium economy. I am willing to pay a deviation fee. Does O have an agreement with New Zealand air ?

 

From history and others posting, many of the airline Contracts are on an annual basis and change from year to year so depending on when your cruise is, there may or may not be contracts in place yet. Also, contracts are for a limited number on flights and it depends also on your itinerary.

 

Checking out flights to deviate doesn't cost you anything until you accept the new flights and you can't get any information until 270 days prior to departure. Just looked and you are doing Rome to Venice so Heathrow is only a change of plane point and never can tell if they will route you thru there or not and depending on your connecting flight, it is generally less expensive to use the same airline or one in the same Alliance so not sure if Air New Zealand will be possible without a surcharge over the deviation fee. Only the air department can answer that so get your TA to phone them and ask about current contracts and who is available for your cruise and see what they say.

 

Good luck,

[maggie.1008]

Thanks Dave.

[maggie.1008]

We now have air. Air New Zealand was not an option. Going on BA from LAX/London to Rome. Had to pay $750.RT for 2 people to get the flights we wanted. Also bought $99. Premium Economy upgrade. It is worth the extra money to not make more unwanted stops. $200. of the fees were from British Air. If you go on another carrier it would be less. They offered $700.pp to take the air credit. That would not even get us one way to London. We picked the seats we wanted without a charge. BA charges for picking seats in advance. I knew in advance that I would have to pay more for the flights I wanted. Plan on this going in. I am happy with flights and seats assigned.

[Animalgirl27]

We are very happy with our assignment.

 

Departing

Washington, DC 03:45P-Philadelphia, PA 04:54P

Philadelphia, PA 06:40P-Venice, Italy 09:10A

 

Returning

Barcelona, Spain 11:45A-Ontario, Canada 02:40P

Ontario, Canada 04:35P-Washington, DC 06:00P

 

We are flying Air Canada and American Airlines.

[jimmcs16]

I hope this has not been covered before, but is there an air deviation fee for both directions?