Best way to book an Oceania cruise

[Hawaiidan]

47 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Yes, the absent web bookings were a several hour block last night when there was web maintenance. Fortunately, all was normal when I went to do my restaurants for an upcoming Southampton-Reykjavik-NYC cruise.

 

I agree with you on always trying to score gratuities in the TA deal since it's worth an added $250 in O Club  loyalty SBC "in lieu" of the O Club gratuities.

We generally book B2 aft cabins on R ships and B3 aft extended balconies on O ships. Creatures of habit!

Habit indeed.....  To me, for my wants and my wifes,..  nothing beats the F on 8  for access to everything she loves is right there.as good or better than most of the PH !!! in that respect.

[Mrs f.]

On 7/13/2019 at 10:48 AM, Nymich said:

Recently booked directly with Oceania during their Memorial Day Sale after checking with my Travel agent who could not do as well.

 

We booked from the memorial day sale and our TA threw in some extra onboard credit.

[Nymich]

34 minutes ago, Mrs f. said:

We booked from the memorial day sale and our TA threw in some extra onboard credit.

With that 4 cat upgrade you did well

  Congrats

[Hawaiidan]

On 7/14/2019 at 10:05 AM, Nymich said:

With that 4 cat upgrade you did well

  Congrats

Was it an UPGRADE  or  UP-Sell    You don't see many comp up grades on O...   Sell's    yes

[pinotlover]

Dan;

 

It was a marketing gimmick for some hard to sell cruises. It was “up to” 4 category upgrades. The cruise one looked at may be only 1 or 2 category upgrade. 

 

It would get one from a B cat to an A for instance. Might get one into a PH if any were left. Great marketing by O. Besides the cost of a bottle of champagne, the cost to O of putting one in an A to a B is nothing. Means on a hard to sell cruise they didn’t cut prices and allowed people to see a higher cabin class they may want to book in the future.

[Nymich]

1 hour ago, Hawaiidan said:

Was it an UPGRADE  or  UP-Sell    You don't see many comp up grades on O...   Sell's    yes

upgrade……..of course I chose a more expensive cabin until the four slot move up got me where I wanted to get.

[Nymich]

19 hours ago, pinotlover said:

Dan;

 

It was a marketing gimmick for some hard to sell cruises. It was “up to” 4 category upgrades. The cruise one looked at may be only 1 or 2 category upgrade. 

 

It would get one from a B cat to an A for instance. Might get one into a PH if any were left. Great marketing by O. Besides the cost of a bottle of champagne, the cost to O of putting one in an A to a B is nothing. Means on a hard to sell cruise they didn’t cut prices and allowed people to see a higher cabin class they may want to book in the future.

yes it is a basically worthless "gimmick" that WE fell for according to this.  I guess it means nothing that it fits OUR work schedule and goes places where WE want to go and that WE are happy about the 4 cat upgrade.   

 

Edited July 16, 2019 by Nymich

[pinotlover]

Nymich;

 

Nothing “ worthless” about it at all. Highly successful, I’d say. You got a very nice upgrade in cabin. Oceania sold a cruise.

 

Also, of note, many cruisers after enjoying the perks of a PH or Concierge choose to never go back down in category. This upgrade may provide that future benefit for Oceania from You!

 

Well thought out strategy and a win win, no worthless portion on either side.

[LHT28]

not exactly worthless   you pay for a lower cat but enjoy  the perks of an upgrade

A cabin to PH  for example

YMMV

[pinotlover]

Excellent strategy on O’s part and a very good price discount for the cruisers.

 

Technically there was never an upgrade at all. One did not buy ( for example) an A-3 and then upgraded to a different cabin such as a PH-2. One always only bought and was assigned the PH2 at a significantly reduced price. It’s always better to tell a customer he’s getting an upgrade than telling the customers you’re slashing prices.

 

Why does this marketing ploy ( I shouldn’t have used gimmick) matter in this case? Because technically the price of that PH2 never changed. Therefore, anyone that has a best price guarantee isn’t affected! No price alterations for those folks, even though technically Oceania was selling similar cabins at significantly lower prices.

 

Always love sales! Unfortunately the cruises I was interested in wasn’t offering that marketing deal.

 

Enjoy the cruise at your wonderful discounted rate! 👍

[Hawaiidan]

On 7/16/2019 at 8:19 AM, pinotlover said:

Excellent strategy on O’s part and a very good price discount for the cruisers.

 

Technically there was never an upgrade at all. One did not buy ( for example) an A-3 and then upgraded to a different cabin such as a PH-2. One always only bought and was assigned the PH2 at a significantly reduced price. It’s always better to tell a customer he’s getting an upgrade than telling the customers you’re slashing prices.

 

Why does this marketing ploy ( I shouldn’t have used gimmick) matter in this case? Because technically the price of that PH2 never changed. Therefore, anyone that has a best price guarantee isn’t affected! No price alterations for those folks, even though technically Oceania was selling similar cabins at significantly lower prices.

 

Always love sales! Unfortunately the cruises I was interested in wasn’t offering that marketing deal.

 

Enjoy the cruise at your wonderful discounted rate! 👍

Ah...... and by moving one up  it freed cheaper cabins that might sell better than higher price ones..  Good revenue protection for O to make more $$ and benefit for the passengers getting moved up so   Very strategic thinking.    Once fares start getting cut people slow their buying  waiting  for a bottom.   Raising prices thus stimulates sales...  buy now before the next increase.