Any problems booking excursions onboard?

[Caitlin's Mom]

Traveling on the Marina in March and wanted to know if there's any problem in waiting to book excursions onboard the ship. Do they sell out early? If we book the first day will we likely get everything we want? We have quite a bit of OBC and want to use it on excursions.

 

Thanks!

Caitlin's Mom

[Mura]

It depends on the tour. If it's something like going to the Alhambra it could be difficult. That's because a place like the Alhambra only sells 250 tickets a day, so it's understandable why booking a tour there as early as possible can be essential. But our experience on board has been that in general it's not a problem.

 

Bear in mind that prior to the oLife offerings, we rarely did ship's tours. Maybe one a cruise if that. These days we've been using oLife to the extent that they are offered.

 

If might help if you let us know your ports to answer you better.

 

Mura

[azam71209]

We chose OBC from the OLIfe options in Alaska. No problem getting the tours we wanted. It just depends. If you choose OBC, you have to wait until you are onboard but you can choose to spend your OBC on any level of ship tour.

 

If you choose OLife excursions, as I'm finding out for our Rome-Venice cruise, you don't know for sure what will be available at the allowed category until long after you could have booked a private excursion. Also you have to decide two weeks in advance of departure-but you will get priority in choices over the people who are going to use OBC onboard. You will not be able to use OLife for the more exclusive categories of tours.

 

Mary

[Paulchili]

We chose OBC from the OLIfe options in Alaska. No problem getting the tours we wanted. It just depends. If you choose OBC, you have to wait until you are onboard but you can choose to spend your OBC on any level of ship tour.

 

If you choose OLife excursions, as I'm finding out for our Rome-Venice cruise, you don't know for sure what will be available at the allowed category until long after you could have booked a private excursion. Also you have to decide two weeks in advance of departure-but you will get priority in choices over the people who are going to use OBC onboard. You will not be able to use OLife for the more exclusive categories of tours.

 

Mary

 

OTOH, if you are looking for savings, don't forget that O Life offers a better value than OBC if OBC is to be used for excursions.

You get $100 OBC per excursion i.e. 4 excursions give you $400 OBC.

In reality most excursions are over $100 - up to $199 for O Life.

Thus if you choose 4 O Life excursions at an average of $150/excursion then you are getting $600 value (or more) with O Life excursions vs $400 OBC (fixed)

[LHT28]

Usually the Caribbean cruises you can book onboard unless it is one that is going to the ruins or might require a flight to get there then you may want to book in advance

[rhohea]

Usually the Caribbean cruises you can book onboard unless it is one that is going to the ruins or might require a flight to get there then you may want to book in advance

 

If it is one of the cruises going to Cuba....I would not rely on still finding vacancies when I get onboard if it was me.:D

[LHT28]

If it is one of the cruises going to Cuba....I would not rely on still finding vacancies when I get onboard if it was me.:D

 

That is true for Cuba but maybe the other ports will be OK but then again all those taking the included "free" excursions could load up the tours

[Caitlin's Mom]

Thank you all for being so helpful!

 

Yes it is one of the Cuba cruises, however, it's for a single only so the OBC credit is actually better than the shorex offered as most of the excursions that would be of interest are excluded. I was thinking of perhaps booking the cuba and maybe ruins ahead of time, then the others onboard. Perhaps this would be the safest route?

 

I believe I read elsewhere that they will look at total combined excursions for discounts, so if I go this route, then I could still get the Your World discount on all if I book at least five in total (2 before and 3+ on ship)? Is it 25% discount even if onboard and even apply to those already purchased? That seems to be a point of confusion.

 

Thanks so much for your help. I am booking last minute as I just found out it is going to Cuba and will likely not arrange tours independently.

 

Thank you so much!!

 

Caitlin's Mom

[Paulchili]

It is my understanding that to get the 25% discount the tours have to be pre-booked 2 weeks before. Booking onboard gives only 15% discount.

[Flatbush Flyer]

OTOH, if you are looking for savings, don't forget that O Life offers a better value than OBC if OBC is to be used for excursions.

 

You get $100 OBC per excursion i.e. 4 excursions give you $400 OBC.

 

In reality most excursions are over $100 - up to $199 for O Life.

 

Thus if you choose 4 O Life excursions at an average of $150/excursion then you are getting $600 value (or more) with O Life excursions vs $400 OBC (fixed)

 

 

As long as all you do is the included O Life number of excursions for your cruise, you are correct that it is generally a better deal than the OBC at a $100 value per tour. However, if you take the OBC and apply it to the total cost of enough better (non-O Life covered), more expensive tours to qualify for the "Your World" 25% discount, you could come out ahead, particularly since I don't think the "free" O Life tours are counted in the required minimum for the 25% deal. And even if they are, there's still some combinations of cheap and expensive tours (use several <$130 tours to help make your minimum number in a Your World deal) where the <$130 end up less than your $100 OBC after discount and the $300 tours (you couldn't pick for O Life) then only cost $225 each.

Bottom line is, it all depends on how many, which type and what price tours you're after.

 

 

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[Caitlin's Mom]

Just to clarify for others who are thinking of traveling solo on Oceania, the way the shore excursions promotion is worded and confirmed with TA and Oceania directly, on this cruise it's 4 shorex per person based on double occupancy. So if you're a single you only get four shorex and all of the OC are excluded. However, if you take the OBC you get $800 as it's $800 per cabin. That's why doing OBC makes more sense in this case.

 

My main concern is does anyone who has done similar itineraries on Oceania know of particular excursions that are very popular and sell out, so if interested in those I book ahead?

[ORV]

As long as all you do is the included O Life number of excursions for your cruise, you are correct that it is generally a better deal than the OBC at a $100 value per tour. However, if you take the OBC and apply it to the total cost of enough better (non-O Life covered), more expensive tours to qualify for the "Your World" 25% discount, you could come out ahead, particularly since I don't think the "free" O Life tours are counted in the required minimum for the 25% deal. And even if they are, there's still some combinations of cheap and expensive tours (use several <$130 tours to help make your minimum number in a Your World deal) where the <$130 end up less than your $100 OBC after discount and the $300 tours (you couldn't pick for O Life) then only cost $225 each.

Bottom line is, it all depends on how many, which type and what price tours you're after.

 

 

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I can guarantee you from very recent experience that the included Olife excursions count toward the required number to get the Your World Discount.

 

What I would question in your calculations is that to use the OBC you must wait until you are on board to book the tour, and then the discount is only 15%. You also run the risk of the tour being sold out as many of them are since the advent of the included tours.

[Queen of DaNile]

Just to clarify for others who are thinking of traveling solo on Oceania' date=' the way the shore excursions promotion is worded and confirmed with TA and Oceania directly, on this cruise it's 4 shorex per person based on double occupancy. So if you're a single you only get four shorex and all of the OC are excluded. However, if you take the OBC you get $800 as it's $800 per cabin. That's why doing OBC makes more sense in this case.

 

My main concern is does anyone who has done similar itineraries on Oceania know of particular excursions that are very popular and sell out, so if interested in those I book ahead?[/quote']

I think it's really hard to say as your cruise will be one of the first to include Cuba and Harvest Caye is another new port. We normally do private excursions but for this particular cruise we choose the option for the 4 to do some O excursions in Havana. You may want to join the roll call for your cruise to get a better sense as to how your fellow passengers are handling their excursion. JMHO

[Paulchili]

I can guarantee you from very recent experience that the included Olife excursions count toward the required number to get the Your World Discount.

 

What I would question in your calculations is that to use the OBC you must wait until you are on board to book the tour, and then the discount is only 15%. You also run the risk of the tour being sold out as many of them are since the advent of the included tours.

 

Agree with your assessment. While we prefer private tours most of the time, since O Life inception we always take it, book included excursions and add some others with OBC or private ones.

Works well for us.

[Caitlin's Mom]

Just wanted to post what happened in case anyone else has the same question. Ended up booking 5 shore excursions prior to departure and got 25% discount. Havana fort trip, most of the good Costa Rica excursions, the domed train Panama Canal, cayman island cultural/city highlights and cartegna rosario island excursions were all sold out a few weeks before the cruise. So, you may want to consider booking those ahead of time if it's something you really want. Booked a few more excursions onboard to use up some obc and was able to get 25% discount on those as well since had previously booked 5 to qualify for discount.