Oceania Special Offer Options - Advice Please

[Beagle5]

37 minutes ago, the_travel_locks said:

 

 I must ask Oceania that tomorrow in my next call. If it is per person,  that does make it seem OK value,  as if we each purchased a basic beverage package at $52 AUD per person ($104  AUD) per day over  a 20 day cruise that would cost us in total $2080

 

Having just checked the Oceania website, yes it clearly states the basic package is A$52 per person, per day - so your reasoning is correct (and the prestige package is A$78 per guest per day).

 

[the_travel_locks]

1 minute ago, Beagle5 said:

Having just checked the Oceania website, yes it clearly states the basic package is A$52 per person, per day - so your reasoning is correct (and the prestige package is A$78 per guest per day).

 

Thanks so much Beagle 5 - I guess the only thing that I'm still unclear about (until I ask Oceania in my next call)  , is if the offer is only one beverage package per stateroom,  or do both of us get a beverage package? The T & C's seem unclear . 

[Beagle5]

Just now, the_travel_locks said:

Thanks so much Beagle 5 - I guess the only thing that I'm still unclear about (until I ask Oceania in my next call)  , is if the offer is only one beverage package per stateroom,  or do both of us get a beverage package? The T & C's seem unclear . 

Pretty sure you both get the beverage package if you select it as your choice.

[the_travel_locks]

14 minutes ago, Beagle5 said:

Pretty sure you both get the beverage package if you select it as your choice.

Thanks Beagle5 - I just followed your earlier lead and started  a dummy booking on a cruise that is currently bookable,  and yes,  adding the beverage package did show as applicable to each person not just to the stateroom. So all good. Cheers  

[Hawaiidan]

19 hours ago, Best Cat Mom said:

Sorry to maybe go off topic here...

 

You're lucky to get 2 glasses per meal? When we dine, we expect to have cocktails while we peruse the menu and then a new glass with each course. Is that going to be difficult? Is that because the servers are not very attentive? Sometimes we want different wines with each course and ordering a bottle does not make as much sense as separate glasses (especially if we order items at each course where we each want different grapes).

From my experience, yes..    It will be difficult.    If you want a cocktail before sitting at the table it is best to bring it from the bar.  There are not enough wine people to give you that attention.   My experience is the  servers are focused on food  not wine.. not their job.     Many times I have had to pour  my own wines I brought.     If you like different wines with each course I would bring  several to the table and have them available and just request an extra glass..

[Hawaiidan]

15 hours ago, Beagle5 said:

Having just checked the Oceania website, yes it clearly states the basic package is A$52 per person, per day - so your reasoning is correct (and the prestige package is A$78 per guest per day).

 

Wow.... thats  almost a $20 increase from a year ago.....   almost $80 a day  !!   Thats a lot of booze to break even...... maybe on a sea day intensive schedule like trans pacific or Atlantic or Polynesia  it might work......   WOW 

[LHT28]

$52  AUD = $34 USD approx

$78 AUD = $52 USD approx

You could wait & purchase the package onboard in USD 

$60 USD Prestige

$40 USD House select

 

Do the math  & see what works for you

It is always more when you have to exchange Currencies  to USD  for some of us

[Redtravel]

Book cruise only.  Add O life later if you want to take tours or like to drink. You can book O life without air.  Buy your own airfare.  Unless you can save money, it is better to have control of your air.  

[the_travel_locks]

31 minutes ago, Redtravel said:

Book cruise only.  Add O life later if you want to take tours or like to drink. You can book O life without air.  Buy your own airfare.  Unless you can save money, it is better to have control of your air.  

Thank you 🙂  - not sure if you saw earlier responses though  - it has been confirmed that when booking from Australia we cannot book a 'cruise only' fare. And we have also learned that O life in Australia is always without air and is always not removable from the fare - (it is always built in to the cruise fare for us). So... since we have to have it,  we have chosen the beverage package, since it is a 20 day cruise (we would generally have a wine  or two each with dinner and sometimes one at lunch, so  this would offer most value for us). Agree that having control over your own air is a really good thing,  so it suits us that it is not offered by Oceania to us  as part of any cruise fares here down under. 

 

This whole thread had been very helpful to us as newbies to Oceania as we have learned a lot about the differences between booking options for US versus non US cruisers. 

 

Cheers

[ORV]

 

On 2/24/2020 at 9:23 PM, samiam0403 said:

The total invoice question? Sorry, just caught that once you pointed it out. My total invoice number is $3173 what with early booking discount, bonus discount, onboard booking savings, air credit, and a casino credit. Anomaly, indeed! Thanks for your patience with this Oceania newbie - on most of the other boards, I'd have been insulted and called a liar about 50 times by now. 😀

 

On 2/24/2020 at 9:28 PM, ORV said:

Well that's a heck of a deal, you're saving $2200 off of what it would cost if you booked it on the website today. Does this include your deposit? 

 

I've never heard of a casino discount on Oceania. Is that due to your previous play?

 

Does that $3173 include your $2199 solo supplement?

Hey Sam where did you go? I just wanted to get back to this as the math keeps bugging me. So you're saying ALL IN you are paying $3173 and your single supplement was only $2199? The way I figure that is your regular fare is only $974. I do believe something is missing here. 

 

I'll try this again; What is the total amount you're paying to Oceania for this cruise? 

[samiam0403]

1 hour ago, ORV said:

 

 

Hey Sam where did you go? I just wanted to get back to this as the math keeps bugging me. So you're saying ALL IN you are paying $3173 and your single supplement was only $2199? The way I figure that is your regular fare is only $974. I do believe something is missing here. 

 

I'll try this again; What is the total amount you're paying to Oceania for this cruise? 

 

Hi again - sorry, been offline a bit. So yes, I'm paying $3173 all in. And the casino discount is due to previous play on NCL - once you get to a certain level in their casino program, you get discounts on Oceania and Regent. To make things easier, I'm going to try to attach a pic of my invoice. Let's see if this works! 

 

[LHT28]

41 minutes ago, samiam0403 said:

 

Hi again - sorry, been offline a bit. So yes, I'm paying $3173 all in. And the casino discount is due to previous play on NCL - once you get to a certain level in their casino program, you get discounts on Oceania and Regent. To make things easier, I'm going to try to attach a pic of my invoice. Let's see if this works! 

 

Looks like  Cruise only fare  (no included air) but you have the extra discount for the casino  perk

So are you using Oceania air  or not?  It was unclear in your previous posts

 

[samiam0403]

30 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Looks like  Cruise only fare  (no included air) but you have the extra discount for the casino  perk

So are you using Oceania air  or not?  It was unclear in your previous posts

 

 

OLife with no airfare. I generally use my airline miles instead. 

[ORV]

1 hour ago, samiam0403 said:

 

OLife with no airfare. I generally use my airline miles instead. 

Thanks Sam, obviously yours is a special case, as you can imagine most people would not be getting the Casino discount. You also have an Onboard Booking Discount of $175, which anyone can get if they book on board, but for the subject at hand, which was that OBC is usually not the best choice, it wouldn't apply. I see another discount of $625 which is the same as your Casino discount. Did they tell you what that's for? I would imagine it is matching the Casino credit for the non existent roommate you're paying for. So let's add all that up and we get $1425. This is an amount most people wouldn't be getting off if they were just booking the cruise straight up. Add that to the $3173 and you get $4598. Add back in the $200 discount you got on the single supplement and you get $4798. There is still $600 I can't account for, but as I said yours is a special case. (it's not the air credit as it's already deducted in these figures.) It could be that your SS is figured on the price of a solo having the whole air credit applied to them, then the SS calculated from there. 

 

This is why in each situation you have to do the math and figure what works best for you. As you can see a couple with no discounts would just be moving money from one hand to the other by taking OBC, and then it becomes non refundable. If they're not taking air they're paying $5398. The air credit is $600. The cruise only fare is $4998. The difference between $5398 and $4998 is $400, the exact amount of the OBC they'd get on this cruise. 

 

Yours worked out great for you. My head hurts. 

[Paulchili]

ORV - you are either a Math PhD or an accountant.

Your calculations are way beyond my capabilities 😀

[Issyalex]

To get a reduction in price In the U.K. we can only remove the ‘free’ flights and port transfers from O life.

 

we always take the OBC as we very rarely do ships tours and don't think the drinks package is worth it.  

[Paulchili]

3 hours ago, Issyalex said:

To get a reduction in price In the U.K. we can only remove the ‘free’ flights and port transfers from O life.

 

we always take the OBC as we very rarely do ships tours and don't think the drinks package is worth it.  

Under those circumstances it makes sense.

[ORV]

17 hours ago, Paulchili said:

ORV - you are either a Math PhD or an accountant.

Your calculations are way beyond my capabilities 😀

Nah, just too much time on my hands. 

[samiam0403]

On 2/27/2020 at 3:10 PM, ORV said:

Yours worked out great for you. My head hurts. 

 

As does mine! 😀 And the additional $625 discount is also a casino discount. Should have just been a flat $1250, but NCL/Oceania changed the casino program January 1 to a lesser amount - fortunately, I was grandfathered in for this year, and she just manually input that part of the discount. Thanks for the assist on the math! I know I'm an odd duck with my rates, but I'm ok with it. The discounts were enough to get me onboard Oceania, and I fell in love with the line. Which was kind of the point, I would imagine.

[GICNJC]

Remember OLIFE also includes the flights in North America

[LHT28]

3 hours ago, GICNJC said:

Remember OLIFE also includes the flights in North America

not true

in N.A.

You can get flights without  O Life perks

You can get O life perks with air

 the free internet is for all  even those that just do cruise only fares

[ORV]

4 hours ago, GICNJC said:

Remember OLIFE also includes the flights in North America

Oceania marketing strikes again, where's Pinto to explain this to them. 

[GICNJC]

OLife includes flights or you can take US$175 credit per person per flight 

[KS&JW]

14 minutes ago, GICNJC said:

OLife includes flights or you can take US$175 credit per person per flight 

 

Olife is separate from flights.  You can do one or the other or both or neither.  And if you choose to not take Oceania's air the credit  is not $175.  It varies by port, time of year etc.  Just like regular flights.  I just booked a S. America cruise and my air credit is $1,400/pp 

[LHT28]

25 minutes ago, GICNJC said:

OLife includes flights or you can take US$175 credit per person per flight 

my goodness you are  confused

 

If you want  to deviate  you pay $175 USD pp to choose your flights  from O

 

The air credit  for most sailings is more than $175

If you look at the Fare with O Life   then Minus  the  Cruise Only  fare   then less the  O Life OBC  amount  ...you will come close to the  air credit amount