Oceania vs Holland or Celebrity

[ORV]

7 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

I know with Celebrity when you make Elite, you get 1 bag of laundry per leg (up to 30 items) and when you make Elite+ you get 2 bags per leg. So if your traveling partner and yourself are both Elite, you basically get 2 bags of laundry per leg (or 4 bags if you both are Elite+) which pretty much works out to free laundry.

Not what I meant. I was referring to a self serve laundry room at no charge. Actually being Elite I knew that. 

[Ken the cruiser]

3 minutes ago, ORV said:

Not what I meant. I was referring to a self serve laundry room at no charge. Actually being Elite I knew that. 

Crystal offers free self serve laundry on their ships.

[Georgia_Peaches]

We also get the Elite free laundry perk on Celebrity but I've never taken advantage of it because I like to do my own laundry.  I guess it would come in handy on longer cruises but with the free laundry on Oceania I'm guessing you have a little more control over things like water temp. if you do it yourself.  In that case, maybe I'd consider it (doing my laundry on a cruise, that is).

[Ken the cruiser]

1 minute ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

We also get the Elite free laundry perk on Celebrity but I've never taken advantage of it because I like to do my own laundry.  I guess it would come in handy on longer cruises but with the free laundry on Oceania I'm guessing you have a little more control over things like water temp. if you do it yourself.  In that case, maybe I'd consider it (doing my laundry on a cruise, that is).

I don't think you'll be doing any laundry on a Celebrity ship as they have no self serve laundromats unless you do it in your sink and hang it up on the close line in the shower.

[LHT28]

deleted

[Georgia_Peaches]

5 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

I don't think you'll be doing any laundry on a Celebrity ship as they have no self serve laundromats unless you do it in your sink and hang it up on the close line in the shower.

Right.  I wasn't suggesting that Celebrity has self-serve laundry.  I was suggesting that I don't use the free bag of  laundry perk that is included with the Elite level on Celebrity.  However, I may consider it on Oceania since it is available if I can control things like water temperature.

Edited June 5, 2020 by Georgia_Peaches

[LHT28]

2 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Right.  I wasn't suggesting that Celebrity has self-serve laundry.  I was suggesting that I don't use the free bag of  laundry perk that is included with the Elite level on Celebrity.  However, I may consider it on Oceania since it is available if I can control things like water temperature.

Yes  you can control the water temp & the dryer temp

soap is included also

[1985rz1]

1 hour ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Guess I was/am confused by the comment made by @LHT28 and wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something since Oceania is new to me.  Yes, the OBC is btwn me and my TA, wifi is included for every stateroom and the drinks package was one of the "free" perks we opted for in the offer.  LHT28 said that if you take the cruise only fare, you don't get O life perks.  I'm trying to figure out what perks I'm missing by taking cruise only as we don't need air fare.

Yes, the way Oceania markets OLife is confusing.  LHT28 gave a excellent summary of the 3 cruise option.

 

If you don't take OLife, the only perk you are missing: one of the 3 OLife options. Nothing else.  You need to do your own calculation whether the OLife is worth it to you.  

 

If you take the OBC option, you pay $XXX for $XXX OBC, so there's no net gain, unless you want the comfort of having the OBC when you board, rather than paying for any items at the end.  The OBC you get is non-refundable, so it's use it or lose it.

 

If you take the Beverage package, you should look on line what's included:  wine and beer only (their selection) with lunch and dinner only.  Nothing is included outside of those meals.  But since you are paying the $XXX for the beverage package, how does the cost compare to what you would buy without the package.  If you upgrade, you get cocktails all day at any bar, along with beer and wine.  But is the cost per day something you would spend if you buy at the bars? Ther are often receptions that include free drinks...at least before COVID, and the is a daily happy hour from 5 to 6 pm where cocktails, wine and beer ate 2 for 1.

 

If you take the Shorex option, it's priced as if you were paying $100 per excursion.  You lose if you choose options that are less that $100 because the option states the number of excursions, no carry-over credit..  If you choose higher priced excursions, up to $199, you win, because you are paying only $100 per excursion.  Not included are the excursions that are OE, OC or any other special labeled excursion.  You get no discount on them for any Olife excursions...i.e. you pay full price regardless whether you have the excursion OLife option or not.

 

Hope this hasn't totally confused you.

 

 

Edited June 5, 2020 by 1985rz1

[Georgia_Peaches]

2 minutes ago, 1985rz1 said:

Yes, the way Oceania markets OLife is confusing.  LHT28 gave a excellent summary of the 3 cruise option.

 

If you don't take OLife, the only perk you are missing: one of the 3 OLife options. Nothing else.  You need to do your own calculation whether the OLife is worth it to you.  

 

If you take the OBC option, you pay $XXX for $XXX OBC, so there's no net gain, unless you want to comfort of having the OBC when you board, rather than paying for any items at the end.  The OBC you get is non-refundable, so it's use it or lose it.

 

If you take the Beverage package, you should look on line what's included:  wine and beer only (their selection) with lunch and dinner only.  Nothing is included outside of those meals.  But since you are paying the $XXX for the beverage package, how does the cost compare to what you would buy without the package.  If you upgrade, you get cocktails all day at any bar, along with beer and wine.  But is the cost per day something you would spend if you buy at the bars? Ther are often receptions that include free drinks...at least before COVID, and the is a daily happy hour from 5 to 6 pm where cocktails, wine and beer ate 2 for 1.

 

If you take the Shorex option, it's priced as if you were paying $100 per excursion.  You lose if you choose options that are less that $100 because the option states the number of excursions, no carry-over credit..  If you choose higher priced excursions, up to $199, you win, because you are paying only $100 per excursion.  Not included are the excursions that are OE, OC or any other special labeled excursion.  You get no discount on them for any Olife excursions...i.e. you pay full price regardless whether you have the excursion OLife option or not.

 

Hope this hasn't totally confused you.

 

 

Not confusing at all.  I am so glad I stumbled on this thread.  Between your summary and @LHT28 I have a good idea about what's going on.  The drink package is limiting for sure, but by taking it as the perk, we will only pay $20 pp/pd to upgrade, which is cheaper than buying the Premium package outright.  That's most likely what we will do.  

The excursion credit would be in our favor if we hadn't been to the ports in the Caribbean so many times already.  If we like Oceania, we will consider her again for a European itinerary and take the excursion credit for that.

Again, many thanks!!

[1985rz1]

1 minute ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Not confusing at all.  I am so glad I stumbled on this thread.  Between your summary and @LHT28 I have a good idea about what's going on.  The drink package is limiting for sure, but by taking it as the perk, we will only pay $20 pp/pd to upgrade, which is cheaper than buying the Premium package outright.  That's most likely what we will do.  

The excursion credit would be in our favor if we hadn't been to the ports in the Caribbean so many times already.  If we like Oceania, we will consider her again for a European itinerary and take the excursion credit for that.

Again, many thanks!!

Just make sure that the cost of the premium package bought outright, or the cost of the OLife perk +$20 per day is not more than you would spend without either.  For our drinking habits...two double evening martinis each at happy hour at the cost of two singles, usually, and an occasional bottle of wine with dinner or a beer or two at some of the lunches...our cost never reached the level of the package outlays.  But we're cheap drunks🍸

[Paulchili]

1 hour ago, LHT28 said:

1)Cruise with air included & O Life perk

2)Cruise only ..no air no O Life Perk

3)Cruise with no air  but the O life perk

For other "newbies" - there is one more way

4)cruise with air but no O Life

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, Paulchili said:

For other "newbies" - there is one more way

4)cruise with air but no O Life

sometimes if you take the air  the perk does work out free/included

 That is why people need to do the math

 

Last year I took the air for the TA  & the price was the same with or without the O Life   so I took the OBC 😉  It helped with DH medical bill  in the end

 

 Who knows what it will be like with the new Oceania though

[clo]

On 6/4/2020 at 10:39 AM, KatieBelle said:

You may take your unopened bottle of wine to any dining venue and pay a one-time corkage fee.  If you do not finish the bottle, it will be stored at the appropriate temp and you may call for it in any other restaurant.

I wonder if that will change with COVID, either or both bringing a bottle to the dining room or having them store it.

[KirkNC]

1 hour ago, LHT28 said:

sometimes if you take the air  the perk does work out free/included

 That is why people need to do the math

 

Last year I took the air for the TA  & the price was the same with or without the O Life   so I took the OBC 😉  It helped with DH medical bill  in the end

 

 Who knows what it will be like with the new Oceania though

Your right, I have gotten ridiculously reduced air fare via cruise lines sometimes in the past.  In 2019 we flew from NC to Tokyo for less then $400/pp through HAL.

[Mura]

1 hour ago, clo said:

I wonder if that will change with COVID, either or both bringing a bottle to the dining room or having them store it.

An interesting question.  Personally, I don't see why it should.  But if they need to be super careful, I can see where there might be problems. I cannot myself see why they should be necessary.  All they are doing is holding a bottle.  Or opening it.

 

Along those lines, how about butlers serving meals inside cabins?  It seems to me that doing so could be more of a problem -- depending on what the new rules will be.  Will the butler show up with a mask, gloves and a breathing tube?

 

I guess cruising will never be the same ... at least NOT until Covid is gone.  After all, the Spanish Flu did disappear ... but didn't that take about 3 years?

 

Mura

 

 

[clo]

1 minute ago, Mura said:

Will the butler show up with a mask, gloves

We've done inside dining once so far and the server had on gloves that she changed every time she went to a different table and she had on a mask. I've honestly gotten to the point that I really don't even notice masks. But NON-masks get my attention - and in a really bad way.

[Mura]

Since our last cruise was in the spring of 2018 we did not see any of this.  NOT EVEN when we had Noro on an earlier cruise (2015).

 

But when you say you were having "inside dining" but the server changed gloves whenever she went to a different table, that makes me question if you had service inside your cabin ... When we were served in our cabin there weren't any other tables!

 

Are we talking apples and oranges?  Just asking!

 

Mura

[clo]

2 minutes ago, Mura said:

Are we talking apples and oranges?

LOL. Yep. I was talking about in a restaurant in Reno recently.

[Mura]

That may be more like watermelons and oranges!  😀

[clo]

4 minutes ago, Mura said:

That may be more like watermelons and oranges!  😀

Having some grilled strawberries with our caviar tonight 🙂

 

[jagoffee]

On Celebrity there are two types of OBC.  One is non refundable OBC (usually from Celebrity) and another is refundable OBC (usually from a TA or purchased).  What about Oceania’s OBC?  Is OBC that comes from a TA usually refundable?  By refundable I mean do you get a credit back to your Charge Card if you do not use it?  Or can you get cash on the ship?

Thank you.

Edited June 6, 2020 by jagoffee

[LHT28]

49 minutes ago, jagoffee said:

On Celebrity there are two types of OBC.  One is non refundable OBC (usually from Celebrity) and another is refundable OBC (usually from a TA or purchased).  What about Oceania’s OBC?  Is OBC that comes from a TA usually refundable?  By refundable I mean do you get a credit back to your Charge Card if you do not use it?  Or can you get cash on the ship?

Thank you.

If you get an OBC  from Oceania   it is Non refundable  use it or lose it

 If your TA gives you an OBC check with them if it is refundable or Non refundable

If refundable you will get cash on the last day of the cruise  for any of the  credit you have left

 

Some OBC from the TA can also come from Oceania  as part of their incentive  

so to check with the TA

[jagoffee]

9 hours ago, LHT28 said:

If you get an OBC  from Oceania   it is Non refundable  use it or lose it

 If your TA gives you an OBC check with them if it is refundable or Non refundable

If refundable you will get cash on the last day of the cruise  for any of the  credit you have left

 

Some OBC from the TA can also come from Oceania  as part of their incentive  

so to check with the TA

Thank you for your quick response.  Looks to be similar to Celebrity's policy.

[Moby Jones]

On 4/15/2020 at 11:45 PM, larry_s_taco said:

We are looking ahead to fall 2021 for a European cruise. For those of you who have been on the various lines, how would you compare them? We are both fans of Celebrity and Holland, but have not yet tried Oceania. 

Thanks

 

I think when considering Celebrity you really need to bear in mind that these days it is very much a two tier line. Suite class and none suite class. We've done both and my personal opinion is that non suite class on Celebrity is very similar to any other mainstream line. They have some nice touches but there's not really anything to set it apart from similar lines. 

Celebrity suite class is a genuine step up in terms of dining and service. The suite restaurant Luminae and the specialty restaurants that top end suites have access too will provide a much better experience to HAL. All IMHO of course. 

Obviously, room choice, itinerary, price and the actual ship will all affect your enjoyment ultimately though. 

[larry_s_taco]

38 minutes ago, Moby Jones said:

 

I think when considering Celebrity you really need to bear in mind that these days it is very much a two tier line. Suite class and none suite class. We've done both and my personal opinion is that non suite class on Celebrity is very similar to any other mainstream line. They have some nice touches but there's not really anything to set it apart from similar lines. 

Celebrity suite class is a genuine step up in terms of dining and service. The suite restaurant Luminae and the specialty restaurants that top end suites have access too will provide a much better experience to HAL. All IMHO of course. 

Obviously, room choice, itinerary, price and the actual ship will all affect your enjoyment ultimately though. 

Thanks. I see that you are from the UK. What was your favorite Med. itinerary?