Cost vs. Benefit of OLife Add-on

[Laszlo]

1 minute ago, LHT28 said:

I guess your TA is confused

Ask them to through in the other perks LOL

 

With OLife Choice*, our limited-time inclusive package, enjoy Roundtrip Airfare* and Free Internet plus choose one:

FREE - 6 Shore Excursions
FREE - Beverage Package
FREE - $600 Shipboard Credit
Amenities are per stateroom

Yea, waiting for them to respond. We are not taking the Air..... maybe that is why he wrote in all three perks?

[LHT28]

1 minute ago, Laszlo said:

Yea, waiting for them to respond. We are not taking the Air..... maybe that is why he wrote in all three perks?

Air & Internet is not  really part of O Life

 

 

[Laszlo]

14 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Air & Internet is not  really part of O Life

 

Quote

Bummer, we get one..... 

 

Edited June 14, 2021 by Laszlo

[ORV]

This is a perfect example of why so many of us recommend using a TA that is an Oceania specialist. 

[Laszlo]

34 minutes ago, ORV said:

This is a perfect example of why so many of us recommend using a TA that is an Oceania specialist. 

The TA is actually. More my fault than the TA. He did spell it out in a previous email, I missed it. My wife knew we were picking one, I failed to realize it was like that. 

[ak1004]

Sorry if it was covered somewhere, but till when can we use oLife if we booked cruise only?

 

The reason I'm asking is that for our December 18 nights cruise, final payment is on July 3 (unless they change it) and ideally, we want to pay as little as possible in case something goes wrong. So we would prefer to add the oLife (no air) later, when things become more clear.

[Paulchili]

29 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

Sorry if it was covered somewhere, but till when can we use oLife if we booked cruise only?

 

The reason I'm asking is that for our December 18 nights cruise, final payment is on July 3 (unless they change it) and ideally, we want to pay as little as possible in case something goes wrong. So we would prefer to add the oLife (no air) later, when things become more clear.

You can add/change O Life up to 14 days prior to cruising.

No need to decide now.

[JuneauGal]

On 1/30/2021 at 2:21 PM, YoHoHo said:

From other posts on the forum it seems the cost of O-Life will be equal to the dollar amount of the OBC choice. So $400 OBC offer means the cruise w/o O-Life will be $400 less. Thee are posts advising taking the OBC is a bad choice because it in essence converts the $400 into non-refundable OBC so better to just keep the cash in your pocket and spend on board as you prefer.

 

This O-Life/ air fare issue comes up often and is confusing. You can purchase the basic beverage package (beer/wine only & only with a meal) that is one of the O-Life choices separately.  And upgrade it to the the include-spirits-at-anytime package if one or both of you want.

 

The confusion I think comes from O only showing pricing for cruise only and cruise plus air plus O-life (ignoring the ridiculous "brochure rate" that other industries have not gotten  away with advertising.), You can purchase cruise only,   cruise plus air plus O-life, or remove cruise from that all-in price so cruise plus O-Life. The amount of credit that O uses to reduce the price if you remove air varies by cruise and apparently (anecdotally) by how close to sail date for request the air credit. The closer to sailing the less the credit. A good TA familiar with O can help you navigate this. Or you can price out a cruise on O's website selecting/deselecting  air on the first page when getting pricing. If air is selected later on near the end of the procing pages you will be prompted to choose the airports and be offered pricing for the air upgrades, if any.

 

Hope that helps but maybe I have mangled that too much. Corrections / additions by others to follow.

 

Hello: I have not done an Oceania cruise yet, but I'm looking into one for 2022. Are you saying (above) that we can pay for cruise only and also buy OLife without the air cost? I didn't know that was possible. I might be misunderstanding what you said! Thank you!

[ORV]

16 minutes ago, JuneauGal said:

Hello: I have not done an Oceania cruise yet, but I'm looking into one for 2022. Are you saying (above) that we can pay for cruise only and also buy OLife without the air cost? I didn't know that was possible. I might be misunderstanding what you said! Thank you!

Yes, that is correct. 

[1985rz1]

39 minutes ago, JuneauGal said:

Hello: I have not done an Oceania cruise yet, but I'm looking into one for 2022. Are you saying (above) that we can pay for cruise only and also buy OLife without the air cost? I didn't know that was possible. I might be misunderstanding what you said! Thank you!

As ORV said, yes, that is an option. 

 

You ask for an air credit, then you can decide whether you want cruise only or cruise with O-Life.  You should search the IO boards to see the relative value of the different options of O-life.

 

You also get WiFi (one account per stateroom) whether you take O-life or not.

 

I suggest you work with a TA who is Oceania specialist to walk you through the options. The TA can also provide you with benefits you don't get by dealing with the Oceania reps.

 

 

[Woofa]

Allow me to take this opportunity toask a question as well.  We recently booked a b3 10 day roundtrip from/to Miami in January 23 and decided to go cruise fare only. 

First, it is my understanding that we can add olife back in anytime up to 14 days prior to the cruise.  I do not know if we can choose to add back in the air in the future or not and for how long (we do not think we will do this). The cruise only fair is $2849 and the cruise, olife and air is $3699.  A difference of $850 pp or $1700 total. For a 10 day cruise the olife option is $600 in OBC/6 excursions/drink package.  The way I understood it the olife price is $600 so the air cost is $1100. (We did not get detail with our TA on this as We are planning on coming into Miami a day early and leaving a day after cruise so at the least we would have to pay the additional $175 deviation fee.)  As we have friends in Miami (Aventura) and relatively easy and cheap flights into either Miami or Ft. Lauderdale we felt this best met our needs.  In addition, we are not big drinkers and plan to arrange our own excursions so olife did not make sense at this time for us.

Is it correct that you can figure out the cost of air that way?  I think I had read it somewhere.  Or is every cruise different and Oceania/your TA the only way to find out?

Edited June 19, 2021 by Woofa

[1985rz1]

1 hour ago, Woofa said:

Allow me to take this opportunity toask a question as well.  We recently booked a b3 10 day roundtrip from/to Miami in January 23 and decided to go cruise fare only. 

First, it is my understanding that we can add olife back in anytime up to 14 days prior to the cruise.  I do not know if we can choose to add back in the air in the future or not and for how long (we do not think we will do this). The cruise only fair is $2849 and the cruise, olife and air is $3699.  A difference of $850 pp or $1700 total. For a 10 day cruise the olife option is $600 in OBC/6 excursions/drink package.  The way I understood it the olife price is $600 so the air cost is $1100. (We did not get detail with our TA on this as We are planning on coming into Miami a day early and leaving a day after cruise so at the least we would have to pay the additional $175 deviation fee.)  As we have friends in Miami (Aventura) and relatively easy and cheap flights into either Miami or Ft. Lauderdale we felt this best met our needs.  In addition, we are not big drinkers and plan to arrange our own excursions so olife did not make sense at this time for us.

Is it correct that you can figure out the cost of air that way?  I think I had read it somewhere.  Or is every cruise different and Oceania/your TA the only way to find out?

Yes, that's a way to figure out the air credit for all the cruises, as long as you recognize that the credit you deduce for 2...i.e. $1100 means $550 per person.  

[ORV]

3 hours ago, Woofa said:

Allow me to take this opportunity toask a question as well.  We recently booked a b3 10 day roundtrip from/to Miami in January 23 and decided to go cruise fare only. 

First, it is my understanding that we can add olife back in anytime up to 14 days prior to the cruise.  I do not know if we can choose to add back in the air in the future or not and for how long (we do not think we will do this). The cruise only fair is $2849 and the cruise, olife and air is $3699.  A difference of $850 pp or $1700 total. For a 10 day cruise the olife option is $600 in OBC/6 excursions/drink package.  The way I understood it the olife price is $600 so the air cost is $1100. (We did not get detail with our TA on this as We are planning on coming into Miami a day early and leaving a day after cruise so at the least we would have to pay the additional $175 deviation fee.)  As we have friends in Miami (Aventura) and relatively easy and cheap flights into either Miami or Ft. Lauderdale we felt this best met our needs.  In addition, we are not big drinkers and plan to arrange our own excursions so olife did not make sense at this time for us.

Is it correct that you can figure out the cost of air that way?  I think I had read it somewhere.  Or is every cruise different and Oceania/your TA the only way to find out?

$550 per person seems high for a flight in NA to MIA. Historically it's been around $350-$450. What that would mean is that if you can get flights to MIA from your home airport for $725 pp or less you're ahead of the game. That should be easily done. 

[ORV]

Another way to do it is to do a dummy booking and just tell them you don't need air when that prompt comes up. That option will give you Olife but no air price. 

 

The cost for that cruise with Olife but no air is $3149. So that gives you the $550 also. 

 

If you don't have one of the extended balcony B3's I'd call your TA and change to one of them. They are the ones at the rear starting with 7108 port and 7111 starboard. I see there are still some available. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

I think I was told (here – and please correct me if I'm wrong!) that you can book with Air and delete it later, as long as they haven't issued air tickets?  So it might be wise to do that as it lets you search for air bargains, or procrastinate in case the cruise might get cancelled.

[LHT28]

Usually the air credit  to MIA from a Canadian or US gateway  is approx $400  as ORV  posted

 

I am sure you could find air  from DFW to FLL or MIA  cheaper 

 

It does not always work by subtracting the cruise only from the  Air/Olife price

 best to call your TA or Oceania for the correct amount of the credit

 

The closer  to sailing  you add the air back in the more $$ it will be   same as the credit the closer to sailing you remove the air the credit  gets smaller  😉

 

[Woofa]

3 hours ago, ORV said:

Another way to do it is to do a dummy booking and just tell them you don't need air when that prompt comes up. That option will give you Olife but no air price. 

 

The cost for that cruise with Olife but no air is $3149. So that gives you the $550 also. 

 

If you don't have one of the extended balcony B3's I'd call your TA and change to one of them. They are the ones at the rear starting with 7108 port and 7111 starboard. I see there are still some available. 

Thank you, we do have an extended balcony.  As this is our first cruise ever, we are very excited.  We feel clear that we can do better than $550 pp for air from Dallas, especially as we can fly into Miami or ft Lauderdale equally and we have no airline preference.

[mauibabes]

Woofa

By taking the Air credit, or cruise only fare, you can easily come out $$ ahead and if you are flying in early, you will save the $175 pp Air Deviation Fee if you were using the Oceania Free Air feature.  

You are doing great job with this Cruise Critic, Oceania Cruises 101 class for Newbies.  Lots of beneficial knowledge is being shared by Oceania veterans and O, “How To’s” to get the best bang for the buck.   
Ciao, Gerry

[Robjame]

Probably been covered but I cannot find explicit answer:

 

Can you take air credit for precruise and Oceania air for post cruise? So for a TA  Example - back out air to Miami for start of cruise but take Oceania air for Venice - YYZ?

 

Thank you in advance for all your expert information.

[LHT28]

2 minutes ago, Robjame said:

Probably been covered but I cannot find explicit answer:

 

Can you take air credit for precruise and Oceania air for post cruise? So for a TA  Example - back out air to Miami for start of cruise but take Oceania air for Venice - YYZ?

 

Thank you in advance for all your expert information.

Yes  but why would you ?

air fare to MIA is pricey from YYZ

[Robjame]

11 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Yes  but why would you ?

air fare to MIA is pricey from YYZ

We want to arrive the day before which would trigger the air deviation @ $225 pp but leave the same day for the return.

As well we have enough air miles to pay for the yyz - Mia tickets and we would like to use them up.

[LHT28]

2 hours ago, Robjame said:

We want to arrive the day before which would trigger the air deviation @ $225 pp but leave the same day for the return.

As well we have enough air miles to pay for the yyz - Mia tickets and we would like to use them up.

Compare the cost of the air credit  VS other options  before you make your choice

JMO

 

[Robjame]

 

Compare the cost of the air credit  VS other options  before you make your choice

Thanks for the advice - I will!
 

[ORV]

3 hours ago, Robjame said:

We want to arrive the day before which would trigger the air deviation @ $225 pp but leave the same day for the return.

As well we have enough air miles to pay for the yyz - Mia tickets and we would like to use them up.

Did the deviation go up recently? It's been $175 pp for a long time. 

[LHT28]

15 minutes ago, ORV said:

Did the deviation go up recently? It's been $175 pp for a long time. 

That is  CAD  price  I believe