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Oceania arranged flight experience


Hawaiidan
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5 minutes ago, clo said:

Does anyone know if that's the standard - to arrive the same day and that close to boarding.?  We didn't take the air because we had a specific route we want AND we're waitlisted for business.  Our O rep flat out said that if want Business O's deal wouldn't be as good.

If you just take the  included air  you will arrive the  departure day  & fly out  on disembarkation day

Routes & times will vary  depending on where you fly to.from & the contract O have with the airlines

 

That is why it is worth it to us to pay the deviation fee  & fly  in early & choose the flights  or just book our own flights

YMMV

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5 minutes ago, clo said:

Does anyone know if that's the standard - to arrive the same day and that close to boarding.?

Close to boarding is not bad if all goes well - less time to hang around before boarding with luggage in tow..

If the ship doesn’t leave till, say, 6 PM that night then it is not so close as far as not missing the ship.

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2 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

If you just take the  included air  you will arrive the  departure day  & fly out  on disembarkation day

Routes & times will vary  depending on where you fly to.from & the contract O have with the airlines

 

That is why it is worth it to us to pay the deviation fee  & fly  in early & choose the flights  or just book our own flights

YMMV

No, my mileage doesn't vary 🙂  I would never fly in the same day.  @Paulchili even with a 6PM departure I wouldn't do it.  All it takes is a flight to get cancelled and you've missed your ship. Plus the cruises that we've done and I imagine will continue do, ports at each end will be of interest and we'd spend a few days there.

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4 minutes ago, clo said:

I would never fly in the same day.  @Paulchili even with a 6PM departure I wouldn't do it.  All it takes is a flight to get cancelled and you've missed your ship. Plus the cruises that we've done and I imagine will continue do, ports at each end will be of interest and we'd spend a few days there.

I agree with you on both counts - we fly in early and usually spend time on both ends.

That said, many are comfortable arriving the same day and those taking O air w/o deviation don’t have any say about it (by their own choice 😊)

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1 hour ago, clo said:

Does anyone know if that's the standard - to arrive the same day and that close to boarding.?  We didn't take the air because we had a specific route we want AND we're waitlisted for business.  Our O rep flat out said that if want Business O's deal wouldn't be as good.

 

That's pretty funny. Our O rep said it would be difficult to find business class flights for less than what O was charging.  We tried and he was right. We are choosing to go a day early so we don't have to worry about getting there late. 

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We had originally taken Oceania's air without deviation, but after a disastrous trip this summer that literally took me 5 days (a very long story) to get from Houston to Bangor, Maine, I asked our TA to change our arrival a day earlier. I did not want out cruise to start out with any stress!

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42 minutes ago, schmerl said:

 

That's pretty funny. Our O rep said it would be difficult to find business class flights for less than what O was charging.  We tried and he was right. We are choosing to go a day early so we don't have to worry about getting there late. 

You can test that theory 

Take the  price O wants for BC  then add the air credit (amount you would get if you did not take the  air )  then add the deviations fee

Then go to  http://matrix.itasoftware.com/

Find flights  for the days & routing you want  ..you can confirm on the airline website

 

For my R/T   Toronto to AMS last  year  I saved $500  by doing my own nonstop  BUS  air 

Neither option was cheap  

 

You have to do the math & weigh your options 

 

 

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From our experience that is absolutely nuts.  We did use O's air with premium economy a few years ago which was fine.  We were traveling from JFK to Copenhagen with a return from LRH.  But whenever we have compared business on our own to what Oceania offered, we were far better off doing our own.

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On 8/15/2019 at 1:52 PM, Hawaiidan said:

To all who have taken the " included air"  with and without  using the premium economy option,    What was your experience if you were flying from the west coast  SFO/SAN/LAX?  without custom routing fees.

To Europe   ROME, Venice, Barcelona, Amsterdam.   :    Departure time,   Carrier,  #connections, layover time, Arrival .        Also the same for  Miami, NY, Montreal    domestic

Curious as to what the offer or have had  in the past  if any can remember flight details      

 

 Thanks 

Dan,  have used O air 3 times so far, and have 1 booked this fall.  All have been non-stop (major east coast gateway to MIA)  Very good timing, major airline.  Even though from our city to MIA, as opposed from West Coast or Canada, the air credit is about the same as we could buy flights ourselves, but like fact that you have O on your side if something goes wrong.  (we always buy ins). We have always gone same day, not wanting to pay the deviation fee (too high), and take our chances to get to ship on time.  (no problems).  

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Your chances are very good if you are only flying from an east coast gateway to MIA.  Sure, weather problems can happen -- but they are less likely than if you are coming from further away.  So the one time we used O's air to get from JFK to MIA it was fine for us.  Even though I had to apply for a passport in MIA!  Mine had disappeared -- I discovered this on the Saturday morning before a Monday flight -- and the Passport Bureau wouldn't give me an appointment until 3 days after the ship left.  So we just arrived in Mia, went to the passport bureau and applied.  I had all the documents filled out already.  Fortunately we were on a very early morning flight.  I hadn't liked that flight time when we got the flight information but in the end it was a blessing.

 

Still ... when we did the Panama Canal cruise in February 2004 some people on the east coast lost out.  There was bad weather in Boston and flights were delayed.  The ship had to leave on time so as not to lose its slot for the Canal.  So some passengers had to catch up later and missed the Canal.

 

There is always that risk.

 

So your choice is as you have said:  fly on the day and hope it works out.  It usually does when you have a 3 hour flight, but not always.  You can book your own air and avoid the deviation fee ... but you don't have the security of the ship waiting for you if your flight is delayed.

 

We almost always book our own air and go in a few days ahead of time.  That's our choice, clearly not yours!

 

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37 minutes ago, Mura said:

So your choice is as you have said:  fly on the day and hope it works out.  It usually does when you have a 3 hour flight, but not always.  You can book your own air and avoid the deviation fee ... but you don't have the security of the ship waiting for you if your flight is delayed.

 

You don't have that security if the cruiseline books your flight.  I will repeat my standing wager -- show me, in black and white terms and conditions, where it says that the ship will wait for you.  Not in weasel-words marketing hype, but in the actual T&C.

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30 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

You don't have that security if the cruiseline books your flight.  I will repeat my standing wager -- show me, in black and white terms and conditions, where it says that the ship will wait for you.  Not in weasel-words marketing hype, but in the actual T&C.

What you're intimating makes sense.  If O books your air and due to whatever your flight is delayed 24 hours I can't imagine that they're going to hold the ship.  Perhaps you get a refund but I can't imagine otherwise.

 

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It's true that the guarantee is not absolute, any more than that if you are on a ship's tour is delayed, therefore they will wait for you. Most of the time they will under both scenarios.  But there can be -- and have been -- exceptions.

 

We were on a Buenos Aires to Santiago cruise in 2002 on NCL.  We were in a very small town in the southern end of Chile.  We took a ship's tour.  (We had booked a month before departure and even if in those days we'd been "into" private tours, we wouldn't have known how to go about it.)

 

The last official stop was at a little inn where the hosts provided us with drinks and snacks but the bus had broken down.  I guess we were lucky to have gotten to that little inn!  A replacement bus was called for and was supposed to get there in about half an hour, but in fact it took an hour beyond that half hour.  By the time the second bus arrived and we got back to the port, it was long after the ship was supposed to have left.

 

But it didn't.

 

In another place and time, it might not have.  Although ... we were in a place where it would have been very difficult to catch the ship (a two day sail away), especially without our travel documents ...

 

So we were lucky.

 

But these guarantees, I agree, are NOT absolute.  As they were not for the Boston travelers I referenced above who were delayed by a snowstorm on the day the ship left Miami.

 

Mura

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1 hour ago, Mura said:

But these guarantees, I agree, are NOT absolute.  As they were not for the Boston travelers I referenced above who were delayed by a snowstorm on the day the ship left Miami.

 

So why did you suggest that booking on your own wouldn't give you any "security", but booking with the cruiseline would?  Which is exactly what that sentence was suggesting.  Here it is for reference:

 

"You can book your own air and avoid the deviation fee ... but you don't have the security of the ship waiting for you if your flight is delayed.

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Hi all

let me throw something else into the mix!  We are flying MAN/LHR/ LA for our Christmas cruise on Sirena ,given the vagaries of the British weather  and BA pilot strikes , we are flying a day early and keeping our fingers crossed!

For 2020 we have taken O air to Tokyo via Dubai ( the pits) they've booked us on Emirates (not the best airline) out and Air Canada via Toronto return from San Francisco . Trying to give up my control freakery! and just go with the flow, but not before I email my TA and ask if they have a plan B if indeed there is a BA pilots strike.

Jxx

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9 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

So why did you suggest that booking on your own wouldn't give you any "security", but booking with the cruiseline would?  Which is exactly what that sentence was suggesting.  Here it is for reference:

 

"You can book your own air and avoid the deviation fee ... but you don't have the security of the ship waiting for you if your flight is delayed.

True enough.  What I wrote is not what I meant!  Sorry about that.

 

While usually it is true that the ship will wait, often times -- as when I quoted our experience with people not being able to get to the Panama Canal cruise on time -- the ship just cannot wait.  And, of course, there have been times when flights were so badly delayed that it takes the passenger a few days to catch up.  That happened to a high school acquaintance of mine who happened to be on a cruise with us back in July 2006.

 

But you have more security of making the ship when you are using the ship's air.  Again, it isn't 100%.

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1 hour ago, Mura said:

But you have more security of making the ship when you are using the ship's air.  Again, it isn't 100%.

+1 Another fair point here is that if local conditions (weather and political unrest) might require rebooking of flights, using Cruise Line Air is the ONLY WAY TO GO.

We have seen more than one disgruntled person here on CC who has been stuck with self purchased "cheap" Airline tickets to a port which they don't want to fly to anymore.  

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2 hours ago, StanandJim said:

+1 Another fair point here is that if local conditions (weather and political unrest) might require rebooking of flights, using Cruise Line Air is the ONLY WAY TO GO.

 

If you say so.

 

2 hours ago, StanandJim said:

We have seen more than one disgruntled person here on CC who has been stuck with self purchased "cheap" Airline tickets to a port which they don't want to fly to anymore.  

 

And that is usually because that person has bought a consolidator/contracted fare ticket which has SEVERE restrictions on its applicability towards a reroute.  Such as you find when you buy from a source other than the airline directly.  And coincidentally, most cruiseline provided tickets are....drumroll please.... those same kind of consolidator/contracted/bulk tickets.

 

But then, what do I know.

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First time going on an Oceania cruise, a transatlantic. The O'life flights that we have been assigned are pretty bad; flying Air Canada Rouge from Orlando to Toronto to Barcelona (seems very roundabout, since we are starting in Orlando, FL.; and Rio to Sao Paulo, Brazil to Miami to Orlando on return; the last on an Airline I have never even heard of, Latam.  There is one 5 hour layover at Toronto, and another 3 hr in Miami.  Then there is no transportation provided from airport, or ship to airport. We were advised that the shuttle from Barcelona would cost us an extra $ 80 pp to get from the airport to the ship and we had to find one on our own.

 

In my opinion I can not believe this is the best they can do but perhaps they would like to reset us up with better flights for an additional $175 pp. We have cruised with Viking on the last 5 cruises and while their flight arrangements could be better also, they do provide shuttles to the ship from the airport.  Their  extra help for a flight(s) is only $100pp.

 

While we chose Oceania over Viking  this time, we chose Oceania to see the difference in cruising as well as the destinations. While we always enjoy cruising, given all the extra charges, Oceania will not be our future choice.

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10 minutes ago, impala1ss said:

First time going on an Oceania cruise, a transatlantic. The O'life flights that we have been assigned are pretty bad; flying Air Canada Rouge from Orlando to Toronto to Barcelona (seems very roundabout, since we are starting in Orlando, FL.; and Rio to Sao Paulo, Brazil to Miami to Orlando on return; the last on an Airline I have never even heard of, Latam.  There is one 5 hour layover at Toronto, and another 3 hr in Miami.  Then there is no transportation provided from airport, or ship to airport. We were advised that the shuttle from Barcelona would cost us an extra $ 80 pp to get from the airport to the ship and we had to find one on our own.

 

In my opinion I can not believe this is the best they can do but perhaps they would like to reset us up with better flights for an additional $175 pp. We have cruised with Viking on the last 5 cruises and while their flight arrangements could be better also, they do provide shuttles to the ship from the airport.  Their  extra help for a flight(s) is only $100pp.

 

While we chose Oceania over Viking  this time, we chose Oceania to see the difference in cruising as well as the destinations. While we always enjoy cruising, given all the extra charges, Oceania will not be our future choice.

This is why people say to  pay the deviation fee  & fly in a day or so early

You can choose the flights you want  & see if any upcharge  before you decide

Taxis from BCN to the port are a lot less than O transfers

You can check routing  at http://matrix.itasoftware.com 

 

You could opt out of the air & do your own flights also

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In addition to Lyn’s post above:

1  O Life and flights are separate items - there is no such thing as. “O Life flights”.

You can keep O Life and do your own air in which case you get a credit for airfare.

2. If you want to use Oceania air, consider doing a deviation where you have more control in choosing your flights

3 LATAM is the largest airline company in South America with airlines like LAN Chile and others:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/LATAM_Airlines_Group

 

I believe you are judging Oceania unfairly if you are doing so before even sailing with them and based only on incomplete information about flights and transfers.

Edited by Paulchili
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21 minutes ago, impala1ss said:

First time going on an Oceania cruise, a transatlantic. The O'life flights that we have been assigned are pretty bad; flying Air Canada Rouge from Orlando to Toronto to Barcelona (seems very roundabout, since we are starting in Orlando, FL.;

 

Not "very roundabout".  The distance you will fly will only be about 400 miles more than what a hypothetical nonstop from MCO to BCN would be.

 

You can see great circle distances by using the Great Circle Mapper.

 

http://www.gcmap.com

 

So, just what kind of "non-roundabout" routing had you thought wouldn't be "pretty bad"?

 

 

Edited by FlyerTalker
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I do not see any non stops from MCO  to BCN   so you will have a connection someplace

If you want to fly from MIA   then you may have a couple of options for non stop flights 

but then you have to get to MIA 😉

 

 

 

 

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18 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

So, just what kind of "non-roundabout" routing had you thought wouldn't be "pretty bad"?

Well - as Lyn mentioned, AA flies to BCN both via MIA and CLT and DL via ATL - all of these look more attractive to me than AC.

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46 minutes ago, impala1ss said:

While we chose Oceania over Viking  this time, we chose Oceania to see the difference in cruising as well as the destinations. While we always enjoy cruising, given all the extra charges, Oceania will not be our future choice.

I think you have set yourself up for failure    by NOT doing your research

 

 I wonder  what flight Viking would have given you for the same ports??

JMO

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