No Premium Economy Upgrades

[YoHoHo]

Finally decided to make the leap and place a booking for a cruise. Wanted a TA followed by a couple of weeks touring and flight home. A significant part of O's value equation for us is the included air with PE upgrade on trans-Atlantics. It is far too long of a flight back to the west coast to fly in economy. 

 

However, the PE upgrade offers have all been removed. I suspect O is struggling with the airline unknowns but this stopped us from booking today.  

 

Airlines still price International one-way air the stupid-scale; I refuse to pay as much or more than a return ticket or play the "throw away the 2nd half of the ticket" game. 

 

We looked at a return via another cruise line but I think only Cunard runs TAs to NA in the spring and their schedule either departs a day before disembarkation or 6 weeks after which is too long a gap for us. I looked at Cunard's spring 2021 schedule as it would be more complete than 2022 hoping that a suitable 2021 date might later be offered for 2022 but no joy. There might be another cruise line with a TA to Europe that the timing with a return on Cunard would work. Will look into that - not an Oceania cruise but maybe time to try something new to me.

 

O has Insignia coming back to NA in the Spring 2021 but I suspect that is an anomaly with the Covid redeployment scheduling and not likely in 2022.

 

Disappointed our attempt to book a cruise on O has been foiled after so much waiting and handwringing.

 

I enjoy a cruise with O and wanted to support them so will check back in a few months as this pandemic continues to evolve. Maybe we'll end up skipping the cruise and just do an extended land trip, that is DW preference anyway and the "locals" would be happy to have some bookings too. I'll just have to continue to be patient and keep an eye out for O to add the promotion again.

 

Anyway just want to post a heads-up that PE upgrade is no longer on offer.

[LHT28]

maybe they are waiting to see when they will get to sail  again before  offering PE  seats

Any cruises in the next 6 mths are still iffy  especially if  Countries overseas are not allowing Americans by then

At the rate the USA  is dealing with the Covid  pandemic   I can see  Europe still locking out  Americans  until next summer

Would  O be able  to find enough non Americans to make the TA viable

JMO

 

[RJB]

7 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

maybe they are waiting to see when they will get to sail  again before  offering PE  seats

Any cruises in the next 6 mths are still iffy  especially if  Countries overseas are not allowing Americans by then

At the rate the USA  is dealing with the Covid  pandemic   I can see  Europe still locking out  Americans  until next summer

Would  O be able  to find enough non Americans to make the TA viable

JMO

 

I am sure not. O has a good history of what they are doing.  Wait another year and things should be back to normal.

[LHT28]

32 minutes ago, RJB said:

I am sure not. O has a good history of what they are doing.  Wait another year and things should be back to normal.

But  maybe the second wave  will  hit the USA  before  cruises start up  then it will be a different  story

😉

 

[clo]

1 hour ago, LHT28 said:

But  maybe the second wave  will  hit the USA  before  cruises start up  then it will be a different  story

😉

 

I guess that everyone saw that Hurtigruten (Norway) had two crew members test positive and they're currently hospitalized

[orchestrapal]

12 hours ago, clo said:

I guess that everyone saw that Hurtigruten (Norway) had two crew members test positive and they're currently hospitalized

Sadly up to 33 positive crew members testing positive.

[ORV]

15 hours ago, clo said:

I guess that everyone saw that Hurtigruten (Norway) had two crew members test positive and they're currently hospitalized

I guess I didn't see that. Where were we supposed to see it? 

[JRIH]

I just booked a cruise for next June and they were offering business class flight upgrades.

[LHT28]

Just now, JRIH said:

I just booked a cruise for next June and they were offering business class flight upgrades.

Oceania ?

Or your TA?

You do not say what Country you are in

regional differences may apply

[JRIH]

Sorry, I just assumed you knew Oceania, oh well.  We booked it through Oceania.  I am in the United States.

[clo]

3 hours ago, orchestrapal said:

Sadly up to 33 positive crew members testing positive.

Yeah.

 

https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/travel/2020/07/hurtigruten-cancels-svalbard-cruise-crew-members-have-been-diagnosed-covid-19

 

I don't remember where I first saw it. Maybe here on the Hurtigruten board.

 

This could have really serious consequence(s).

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, JRIH said:

Sorry, I just assumed you knew Oceania, oh well.  We booked it through Oceania.  I am in the United States.

I have learned  never to assume  here  😉

 

Thanks

Must be  a secret  deal 😉

[ORV]

36 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

I have learned  never to assume  here  😉

 

Thanks

Must be  a secret  deal 😉

I think you've always been able to book Business air with Oceania. Whether it's a deal or not is another story. 

[luvsmickey]

Just booked a TA leaving April 9th. On Marina. Premium Economy upgrade was offered and we booked that. Not sure it will be able to sail, but 🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, ORV said:

I think you've always been able to book Business air with Oceania. Whether it's a deal or not is another story. 

That is true  but usually I found cheaper to book it myself  for Bus class

 

[blacksmith]

If you are paying out of pocket for business class upgrade, you may want to consider Regent. They include BC for international flights as well as a few other costs. Sometimes the per diem cost is not that much more.


Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Paulchili]

1 hour ago, blacksmith said:

If you are paying out of pocket for business class upgrade,

Is that not only for certain cat cabins and above (not the "cheap ones")

[Ladys Mom]

Regent offers BC for all cabin classes, for all intercontinental flights.  If you work with them, sometimes you can even stay on BC or go to FC on domestic flights, if they originated out of North America.  This was one of the reasons we switched from Oceania to Regent.  The other reason was that it is virtually all-inclusive.  We have taken cruises where we did not pay an additional penny the entire cruise, after paying the fare on the front end.  This all-inclusive situation may work for some people while others say they don't drink or they want to find their own shore excursions, etc.  We have attempted to book an additional Oceania cruise recently, which we have since cancelled, because the price was so low that even after adding BC airfare, drink package, and private shore excursions we were still ahead.  Because we took the FCC, we will find another Oceania cruise that hopefully will not cost more than a comparable Regent cruise.

[LHT28]

14 minutes ago, Ladys Mom said:

The other reason was that it is virtually all-inclusive.  We have taken cruises where we did not pay an additional penny the entire cruise, after paying the fare on the front end.  This all-inclusive situation may work for some people while others say they don't drink or they want to find their own shore excursions, etc.  We have attempted to book an additional Oceania cruise recently, which we have since cancelled, because the price was so low that even after adding BC airfare, drink package, and private shore excursions we were still ahead.  Because we took the FCC, we will find another Oceania cruise that hopefully will not cost more than a comparable Regent cruise.

There is no one size fits all cruise line

 We took an more inclusive "Luxury" line  last year  because it was cheaper than O & wanted to see the difference

 

Sometimes the grass in not always greener 😉

 

People need to  pick the line that works best for them

Glad you found yours

[blacksmith]

Is that not only for certain cat cabins and above (not the "cheap ones")

I think Lady Mom answered your question.
I didn’t intend to open another discussion comparing the two lines (that’s been done). But when you add BC to Oceania the cost jumps quite a bit.


Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[ORV]

On 7/31/2020 at 2:15 PM, YoHoHo said:

 

 

Anyway just want to post a heads-up that PE upgrade is no longer on offer.

 

22 hours ago, luvsmickey said:

Just booked a TA leaving April 9th. On Marina. Premium Economy upgrade was offered and we booked that. Not sure it will be able to sail, but 🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼

Well, someone is getting bad information. 

 

Keep in mind that PE has always been only on certain cruises. There are a lot of variables, much of whether or not it's offered from the departure airports. 

 

When it's available I always get it. It's worth every penny of the $199 or $249 pp per way. 

[LHT28]

On 8/1/2020 at 3:38 PM, luvsmickey said:

Just booked a TA leaving April 9th. On Marina. Premium Economy upgrade was offered and we booked that. Not sure it will be able to sail, but 🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼

 

What was the cost to upgrade to PE? 

 

[YoHoHo]

3 hours ago, ORV said:

Keep in mind that PE has always been only on certain cruises. There are a lot of variables, much of whether or not it's offered from the departure airports. 

 

When it's available I always get it. It's worth every penny of the $199 or $249 pp per way. 

"Well, someone is getting bad information. "

I assume you mean me, as luvsmickey has booked and paid for PE it is not likely them who has it wrong.

 

That said, PE is not currently offered on any O cruises, currently; at least not for Canadians. Unfortunately O, unlike some other cruise lines, now forces us to see offerings priced in CDN $. Other lets us choose. 

 

Or their search engine is broken.

 

I did see PE offered on an itinerary a couple of weeks back so was surprised to see them all gone now that I went to book. Can't tell of course when "just booked" was for luvsmickey, maybe "just today" or maybe "just recently" and perhaps that was when I was looking a couple of weeks back. Maybe this is O's regional thing and they are available for USA customers but not for me. I don't expect that though being as we have similar air offerings from the airlines.

 

Does not really matter. Zero available now for me.

 

Argh. As proof I included a screen shot of  O "specials" and on the PE page showing "0 matches" but CC is not adding it to the post. it does show it as an uploaded image as I edit but not when submitted.

Edited August 2, 2020 by YoHoHo
comment on missing image in post

[luvsmickey]

1 hour ago, LHT28 said:

 

What was the cost to upgrade to PE? 

 

It was $199 pp for the return from Rome

[LHT28]

 

26 minutes ago, YoHoHo said:

That said, PE is not currently offered on any O cruises, currently; at least not for Canadians. Unfortunately O, unlike some other cruise lines, now forces us to see offerings priced in CDN $. Other lets us choose. 

 

 

 Yes annoying  that O's site   gives us CAD pricing  

in the past though if the PE deal was there  we could see it  just at the CAD price of $249 PP usually