O’s Creative (Questionable) Bookkeeping

[kitty9]

We booked a B2B, not a Grand Voyage, cruise for this coming Feb.  The first cruise commences in late Feb and the second one in mid March.  We have two, separate, booking numbers that does indicate TWO cruises. Today, my TA calls and says the final payment is due now, 150 days before the first cruise departs.  I asked how can they demand payment so early instead of the usual 90 days?  I was told that O took it upon themselves to put in a new, internal booking number, which combines the 2 cruises into one, so therefore since the two cruises together add up to 24 days, it meets their requirement for final payment being due 150 days in advance.  Now, we did a similar booking, b2b, for cruises in the Med this past May.  They didn’t have this internal booking number then, and both cruises remained separate, and just like these cruises, they added up to above their supposed number threshold for earlier final payment.  As a matter of fact, our TA called and asked if we wanted to pay for the first cruise on one date and the second cruise 14 days later.  He said since it was a B2B, we had the option of doing that, and that’s what we did.  I just don’t get what kind of game O is pulling with this.  Anyone experience anything similar?

 

Oh, I forgot to add that O said we could cancel these cruises and rebook to get the two cruises, but they claim we are in the 20% penalty phase and that would be a pain..  I just don’t get why they’re saying cancel and rebook to get two separate cruises when they’re already TWO SEPARATE cruises. 

[Flatbush Flyer]

30 minutes ago, kitty9 said:

We booked a B2B, not a Grand Voyage, cruise for this coming Feb.  The first cruise commences in late Feb and the second one in mid March.  We have two, separate, booking numbers that does indicate TWO cruises. Today, my TA calls and says the final payment is due now, 150 days before the first cruise departs.  I asked how can they demand payment so early instead of the usual 90 days?  I was told that O took it upon themselves to put in a new, internal booking number, which combines the 2 cruises into one, so therefore since the two cruises together add up to 24 days, it meets their requirement for final payment being due 150 days in advance.  Now, we did a similar booking, b2b, for cruises in the Med this past May.  They didn’t have this internal booking number then, and both cruises remained separate, and just like these cruises, they added up to above their supposed number threshold for earlier final payment.  As a matter of fact, our TA called and asked if we wanted to pay for the first cruise on one date and the second cruise 14 days later.  He said since it was a B2B, we had the option of doing that, and that’s what we did.  I just don’t get what kind of game O is pulling with this.  Anyone experience anything similar?

 

Oh, I forgot to add that O said we could cancel these cruises and rebook to get the two cruises, but they claim we are in the 20% penalty phase and that would be a pain..  I just don’t get why they’re saying cancel and rebook to get two separate cruises when they’re already TWO SEPARATE cruises. 

While it would be helpful to know "who" at Oceania said what to you (or your TA?), I'm thinking your TA is not well versed in Oceania's  current policies and procedures (and the same may be true if it was some low level O phone rep in Nebraska). 

Within the last 18-24 months, Oceania began classifying any B2B cruises you want to purchase (i.e., multiple segments), that are not already being marketed as an "extended journey" (i.e., two or more adjoining segments with a single booking number sold at a discounted price vs the total of the separate cruises), as "custom" cruises. Like the "extended journeys," they too are issued a single booking number though the "bottom line" deal is actually a bit better than the "extended journey" savings (different discussion).

Now, your TA could certainly (and erroneously) sell you two adjoining cruises with two distinct numbers (the no longer existent B2B concept). BUT, Oceania's accounting department will catch the error (which it did) and reissue a single booking number with the corrected "custom" fare, payment dates etc on their own invoice, which is then sent to your TA. Hopefully, your TA provides you with O's updated invoices along with their own invoices (not all TAs forward O's invoices to you which, IMO, is one of the first signs to look for a different TA).

 

I can't explain what you heard directly from an O phone rep (or was "repeated" to you by the same TA who made the initial error). Sounds like something was lost in translation somewhere.

 

 But, the bottom line is that O's recent adoption of a simplified mechanism (I.e, single cruise, extended journey, "custom" cruise) gets you less hassle and confusion as well as discounts for booking multiple segments. 

 

[kitty9]

I booked these cruises while on board our Med cruise and not via our TA. The Ambassador booked these cruises as two separate cruises with two different booking numbers, so it’s not something my TA did wrong.  Our TA got the bookings directly from O a few days after we booked and paid the down payment. The email my TA received was from an A. Berryman at O’s office in Miami.  There is absolutely NO custom fare as we paid the going rate minus the on board savings, so I have no idea what this “custom fare” business is. 

[Mura]

On our May 2018 Monte Carlo-Rome-Venice cruise we were technically a B2B but we had one booking number.  We were in an OC so we would have been required to make final payment earlier than if we were in a lower cabin (or cabins).

 

But we received the room perks for each cruise -- in our case that was the 6 bottle liquor set-up for each 7 day cruise, and also the extra gifts of vizors and beach cover-ups.

 

Not sure what we got in terms of ship credits ... we've never paid attention to that and didn't start with this cruise.

 

We DID have a problem booking specialty restaurant reservations online for the second leg of our cruise ... so our TA booked them for us.

 

Admittedly, this was a year and a half ago but I thought it was worth mentioning.

 

If I were the OP I'd be unhappy as well.

 

Mura

 

[Paulchili]

On 9/26/2019 at 12:02 AM, kitty9 said:

I booked these cruises while on board our Med cruise and not via our TA. The Ambassador booked these cruises as two separate cruises with two different booking numbers, so it’s not something my TA did wrong.  Our TA got the bookings directly from O a few days after we booked and paid the down payment. The email my TA received was from an A. Berryman at O’s office in Miami.  There is absolutely NO custom fare as we paid the going rate minus the on board savings, so I have no idea what this “custom fare” business is. 

I agree with you.

The booking system for Oceania’s extended/grand voyages, etc may have changed but that should be applied to new bookings that are made after that change took effect.

For cruises that were booked before these changes and were booked as B2B and given 2 separate booking numbers, they should remained as booked.

Changing rules after the booking could be considered bait and switch practice as in this case OP would have received 2 cruise credits as originally booked and now would only receive 1 credit.

Edited September 27, 2019 by Paulchili