Benefits of booking onboard

[barbels]

We will be on the Nautica for our first Oceania cruise in May.  I am strongly considering booking a Marina cruise for Fen 2020.  I am wondering what the on board booking benefits are.

Barbara

[LHT28]

it varies

They  will give you  a discount

you get $100 OBC for the current cruise

you will get  flyers in the cabin  with specials  plus you can always  go talk to them  & see what else they offer  for the specific sailing you want

[Paulchili]

The best feature of booking onboard is the “best price guarantee” till sailing - in other words, if the price goes down they will match it even after final payment. In that case it will come in the form of OBC.

Caviat - if you had special offers with original booking, you may lose those.

[LHT28]

Just now, Paulchili said:

The best feature of booking onboard is the “best price guarantee” till sailing - in other words, if the price goes down they will match it even after final payment. In that case it will come in the form of OBC.

Caviat - if you had special offers with original booking, you may lose those.

Does  the cabin cat you booked  have to still have availability for the GTY??

I just gave up looking for any price drops LOL

[Paulchili]

3 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Does  the cabin cat you booked  have to still have availability for the GTY??

Yes Lyn, you are correct.

Thanks for pointing this out - another important caveat.

[LHT28]

 

Just now, Paulchili said:

Yes Lyn, you are correct.

Thanks for pointing this out - another important caveat.

when I was reading the fine print  it seemed so many things  had to align in order to get the BPG  it was not worth the paper it was printed on in the end

I am sure there are some people that may  be able to take advantage of the  deal 😉

 

[Paulchili]

Lyn - you may be right. We only had a chance to put it to a test only once and it wasn’t automatic or smooth. We got it in the end but it took some doing from our TA 🙂

That said, each case may be different.

[LHT28]

Just now, Paulchili said:

Lyn - you may be right. We only had a chance to put it to a test only once and it wasn’t automatic or smooth. We got it in the end but it took some doing from our TA 🙂

That said, each case may be different.

I remember  your hassle  as well as some others  

so far  I have not seen a price change  for ur cruise  so nothing to complain about  LOL

[barbels]

Thanks for your replies.

So on Celebrity if you book on board you get much lower downpayment ($200 vs $900) plus obc of $250 and all the current offers.  $100 isnt much of an incentive.

[LHT28]

Just now, barbels said:

Thanks for your replies.

So on Celebrity if you book on board you get much lower downpayment ($200 vs $900) plus obc of $250 and all the current offers.  $100 isnt much of an incentive.

forgot  you do have a lower down payment  on O

But  you still need to pay the full amount of the cruise so to me it is not  a big deal

I have only booked onboard once  & that was last July   usually our cruises are booked well  in advance  18 mths  but lately  it is 4-9 mths  out

[HilsTas]

On 2/23/2019 at 8:57 AM, Paulchili said:

The best feature of booking onboard is the “best price guarantee” till sailing - in other words, if the price goes down they will match it even after final payment. In that case it will come in the form of OBC.

Caviat - if you had special offers with original booking, you may lose those.

 

On 2/23/2019 at 9:10 AM, LHT28 said:

Does  the cabin cat you booked  have to still have availability for the GTY??

I just gave up looking for any price drops LOL

 

We booked a cruise on board with the Best Price Guarantee.  The price has now dropped more than $2000 AUD pp plus now offers O-Life Ultimate - so a substantial discount.

 

This is after final payment so the Guarantee states the difference will be given in the form of a shipboards credit, suite upgrade or future cruise credit.

 

Our TA sent a screenshot of the new rate with "guaranteed" availability in our category asking to invoke the Best Price Guarantee.  Oceania (Miami) in it's wisdom  has declined our application because the availability showing was a "Guaranteed Basis". 

 

It appears to me that Oceania uses two different and inconsistent meanings of the word guarantee.   'Best Price Guarantee' means - believe us, and 'Guaranteed cabin'  means NOT available.

 

Our TA has written again, we live in hope. 

[Paulchili]

15 minutes ago, HilsTas said:

Our TA has written again, we live in hope. 

I would have your TA insist that a GTY cabin IS bookable and thus your category IS available.

The savings are substantial in any way you should get them (OBC, upgrade or FCC) + O Life Ultimate package.

Good luck and please let us know what happens.

[LHT28]

Just now, HilsTas said:

 

 

We booked a cruise on board with the Best Price Guarantee.  The price has now dropped more than $2000 AUD pp plus now offers O-Life Ultimate - so a substantial discount.

 

This is after final payment so the Guarantee states the difference will be given in the form of a shipboards credit, suite upgrade or future cruise credit.

 

Our TA sent a screenshot of the new rate with "guaranteed" availability in our category asking to invoke the Best Price Guarantee.  Oceania (Miami) in it's wisdom  has declined our application because the availability showing was a "Guaranteed Basis". 

 

It appears to me that Oceania uses two different and inconsistent meanings of the word guarantee.   'Best Price Guarantee' means - believe us, and 'Guaranteed cabin'  means NOT available.

 

Our TA has written again, we live in hope. 

 

I wish you luck

It used to be  the same cabin Cat  had to be "available" to get the new pricing

I would think the new Best price Gty" is the same  but as Paul said  try to get your TA to push for the new deal

[HilsTas]

2 hours ago, Paulchili said:

I would have your TA insist that a GTY cabin IS bookable and thus your category IS available.

The savings are substantial in any way you should get them (OBC, upgrade or FCC) + O Life Ultimate package.

Good luck and please let us know what happens.

 

Thanks Paulchili and LHT28 - I'll let you know. 

 

That was basically our argument, our words were "A guaranteed cabin in the relevant category is in my mind obviously available - what else could it be??  It is guaranteed to be available"

 

I actually offered (as a good-will gesture) to take either the price difference or the O-Life Ultimate - maybe I was a bit hasty doing that.

[Paulchili]

I guess technically speaking a guaranteed category cabin is a cabin in that category OR higher if the guaranteed category is not available.

That said, when you book a guaranty cabin you pay that category price even if you get upgraded (i.e. the price you paid).

[HilsTas]

We have just received the second knock-back so I'm feeling a bit annoyed.  This is the second response:

 

"Hello TA,

 As my colleague - Jacky mentioned below, A3 was available under "Guaranteed", we can guarantee availability, but not stateroom number. It will be assigned only at time of embarkation. 

 XXX has booked A3 under "Confirmed", they were able to select a stateroom number right away. 

 Having said that, terms & conditions for these 2 situations are obviously different. Therefore, we are not able to match the price or provide them with any further offers.

 I apologise for the inconvenience caused.

 Kind regards,  "

 

The moral of the story I suppose is to take the "Best Price Guarantee" with a liberal pinch of salt.

[Missymo]

 

On 2/22/2019 at 11:50 AM, barbels said:

We will be on the Nautica for our first Oceania cruise in May.  I am strongly considering booking a Marina cruise for Fen 2020.  I am wondering what the on board booking benefits are.

Barbara

And Oceania has you as a customer for life.  It has bee 5 years since we cruised Oceania, and every day, really every day, we get these gorgeous brochures in the mail. Must cost Oceania a pretty penny.  Have tried to get them to stop to no avail. 

[HilsTas]

On 3/3/2019 at 8:07 AM, HilsTas said:

 

 

We booked a cruise on board with the Best Price Guarantee.  The price has now dropped more than $2000 AUD pp plus now offers O-Life Ultimate - so a substantial discount.

 

This is after final payment so the Guarantee states the difference will be given in the form of a shipboards credit, suite upgrade or future cruise credit.

 

Our TA sent a screenshot of the new rate with "guaranteed" availability in our category asking to invoke the Best Price Guarantee.  Oceania (Miami) in it's wisdom  has declined our application because the availability showing was a "Guaranteed Basis". 

 

It appears to me that Oceania uses two different and inconsistent meanings of the word guarantee.   'Best Price Guarantee' means - believe us, and 'Guaranteed cabin'  means NOT available.

 

Our TA has written again, we live in hope. 

 

Well, after three rejection letters from Oceania AU which apparently came from Miami - our TA has received a "late response" via Oceania AU offering a FCC for use on our next cruise.

 

No reason for the change of heart, but we are thrilled because we did feel that the application was justified - and it  allows us to continue cruising with Oceania and feeling as though it is a reciprocal caring relationship again between us.

 

So thank you, Oceania, we are happy.

[Paulchili]

HilsTas,

Glad to hear that you received some satisfaction from Oceania.

May I ask - is the amount of the FCC the same as price drop?

TIA.

[HilsTas]

29 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

HilsTas,

Glad to hear that you received some satisfaction from Oceania.

May I ask - is the amount of the FCC the same as price drop?

TIA.

Basically the same - they subtracted the new reduced low price from the bottom line price / 'Total' 

 

(the on-board booking discount and B2B saving were not included  - that may be the norm, and we are quite OK about that)

[Paulchili]

1 hour ago, HilsTas said:

Basically the same - they subtracted the new reduced low price from the bottom line price / 'Total' 

 

(the on-board booking discount and B2B saving were not included  - that may be the norm, and we are quite OK about that)

Are you satisfied with the result?

If so, I am glad it worked out.

[HilsTas]

46 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

Are you satisfied with the result?

If so, I am glad it worked out.

Thanks Paulchilli

Quite satisfied and happy - we didn't quite receive what I thought we were entitled to, but I am happy that they finally listened and we received over $1,000 AUD pp which is great.

As someone with over 10 Oceania cruises I felt that they finally both saw and valued us.  That was the most important thing in the end.

[Paulchili]

All’s well that ends well 🙂

[LHT28]

Just now, HilsTas said:

As someone with over 10 Oceania cruises I felt that they finally both saw and valued us.  That was the most important thing in the end.

It should  not matter how many cruises you have on O  if you booked with  "the best price GTY"  deal

they should  honour it  no questions asked if you meet the fine print rules

JMO

[HilsTas]

4 hours ago, LHT28 said:

It should  not matter how many cruises you have on O  if you booked with  "the best price GTY"  deal

they should  honour it  no questions asked if you meet the fine print rules

JMO

Sure, I agree. 

But there was disagreement between us about the meaning of the fine print as the cabin category was showing "guaranteed" rather than available. 

I don't know why the decision was reversed - Oceania did not state to my TA the reason that they changed.  I would hope that it was because they now accept that guarantee necessarily equals available.  Their wording to her was:

 

"Hello TA,

We have gotten a late response from our Head Office:

---

In regards to the new promotion we are able to offer a Future Cruise Credit" . then details etc

 

Anyway, I am appreciative.