Cost vs. Benefit of OLife Add-on

[LGW59]

39 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

That is  CAD  price  I believe

As an O newbie, ALL of the experienced cruisers here have been so very helpful.  Greatly appreciated as I know I will have many more questions.  🥳

[jwindham]

My friend I travel with lives in the Florida Keys so often on a TA she ops only for the air to or from Europe. You do get some off if not using the Miami portion. Julia

[Robjame]

 

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

 

The price in Canadian dollars.😣

[LHT28]

19 minutes ago, jwindham said:

My friend I travel with lives in the Florida Keys so often on a TA she ops only for the air to or from Europe. You do get some off if not using the Miami portion. Julia

The big question is how much ?

 I seem to recall going from the USA to Europe for  a TA  the credit was not much  

I do not have any of my old invoices  to compare

[jwindham]

About a third or so. But she just does not need it so it helps her. Julia

[Benita]

On 6/20/2021 at 1:57 PM, jwindham said:

My friend I travel with lives in the Florida Keys so often on a TA she ops only for the air to or from Europe. You do get some off if not using the Miami portion. Julia

We live near Miami and I just booked a transatlantic on the Marina for 2022. I opted for Olife and received $300 off for forgoing a flight home from Miami. 

[Robjame]

On 6/20/2021 at 2:18 PM, LHT28 said:

The big question is how much ?

 I seem to recall going from the USA to Europe for  a TA  the credit was not much  

I do not have any of my old invoices  to compare

 
‘Thanks for the advice to do the math for all these parts. We were able to roll out the YYZ - MIA portion of the air for a credit of $400 pp (CAD). 
We were able to book a fully flexible (refund or air credit or reschedule) business class ticket with AA, which was on their website for less than the equivalent economy ticket.

We want to arrive the day before the cruise. When we factor in  that we no longer have to pay the Oceania air deviation fee of $225 pp (CAD), it was a no brainer. A total plus of $1250 CAD which will more than pay for the business air tickets and our hotel.

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, Robjame said:

 
‘Thanks for the advice to do the math for all these parts. We were able to roll out the YYZ - MIA portion of the air for a credit of $400 pp (CAD). 
We were able to book a fully flexible (refund or air credit or reschedule) business class ticket with AA, which was on their website for less than the equivalent economy ticket.

We want to arrive the day before the cruise. When we factor in  that we no longer have to pay the Oceania air deviation fee of $225 pp (CAD), it was a no brainer. A total plus of $1250 CAD which will more than pay for the business air tickets and our hotel.

Good  deal

As much as I dislike  AC Rouge   I prefer it over  AA for Business class

Maybe you have  better perks with AA   but at least with Rouge you get to use the AC lounge  

nothing with AA  for us 😉

The other problem was I chose the AA  midday flight  & they changed it  so we did not arrive until 10 pm  ...GRRR

 

Enjoy

 

 

[TFree]

On 6/8/2021 at 11:15 AM, LHT28 said:

Yes  ... well  ahead

The one way from SOU to YYZ  was much more than Oceania air  plus still had to get to NYC on the front end 🙂

 

That is why I always say  do the math & do what works best for YOU

 We did not need to pay the deviation fee so that was a bonus  for us

 

On a one way fare (e.g., for a transatlantic) the cruise line, if it has contracts with the airlines, is almost always going to be better because they presumably eliminate the one way surcharge that otherwise still persists for international fares.  So one way is sort of a special case.

 

Tom & Judy

[TFree]

On 6/10/2021 at 6:58 PM, riandei said:

So if we choose cruise only, we would still have access to free internet on some level?  (Keep in touch elderly parents / family via email) ??

We are brand new to Oceania, with our first Oceania cruise booked for October (we elected an OLife rate without airfare after discussing this with our travel agent).  Can someone clarify the internet situation for me?  If there is one free login per cabin, I assume that means it can be shared between husband and wife, but just that it can't be used simultaneously by both of us.  Is that right?  So for example I could log out on my phone or laptop, and my wife could then log on on her phone or laptop?  Just want to understand how it works in practice.

 

Tom & Judy

[LHT28]

5 minutes ago, TFree said:

On a one way fare (e.g., for a transatlantic) the cruise line, if it has contracts with the airlines, is almost always going to be better because they presumably eliminate the one way surcharge that otherwise still persists for international fares.  So one way is sort of a special case.

 

Tom & Judy

Exactly

 

[LHT28]

4 minutes ago, TFree said:

We are brand new to Oceania, with our first Oceania cruise booked for October (we elected an OLife rate without airfare after discussing this with our travel agent).  Can someone clarify the internet situation for me?  If there is one free login per cabin, I assume that means it can be shared between husband and wife, but just that it can't be used simultaneously by both of us.  Is that right?  So for example I could log out on my phone or laptop, and my wife could then log on on her phone or laptop?  Just want to understand how it works in practice.

 

Tom & Judy

Exactly

 One login per cabin one device at a time 

 

Unless in a top suite (OS OC or VS) then you get 2 accounts 

 

[1985rz1]

4 hours ago, TFree said:

We are brand new to Oceania, with our first Oceania cruise booked for October (we elected an OLife rate without airfare after discussing this with our travel agent).  Can someone clarify the internet situation for me?  If there is one free login per cabin, I assume that means it can be shared between husband and wife, but just that it can't be used simultaneously by both of us.  Is that right?  So for example I could log out on my phone or laptop, and my wife could then log on on her phone or laptop?  Just want to understand how it works in practice.

 

Tom & Judy

Just to clarify that you could each log in at different time on different devices but with the same account credentials to access the same account. 

[TFree]

OK, as mentioned we are brand new to Oceania, and have an October 16, 2021 cruise booked on Marina (Venice to Barcelona).  We booked with OLife without airfare and booked the airfare separately.

 

I have reread this thread twice, and just have a couple of clarifying questions.  I get that using OLife for OBC makes no sense, so for us it is either excursions or drink package.  We are not big drinkers, on average we might have 3 drinks (wine and beer) between the two of us on a given day.  So I think despite the higher sticker price for the drinks package, we would actually benefit more from using OLife for the excursions and just paying for drinks out of pocket.

Someone said, back on the first page, that the OLife "free" excursions have to be $199 or less, and cannot be OS or OE (Oceania Select or Oceania Exclusive).  In our case, on our 10 night cruise, all OS and OE excursions, with one exception, are above $199.  For future reference, could we book that $199 OS excursion if we wanted to, or is the entire category of OS and OE excursions excluded, even if $199 or less?

 

And then, on this sailing we need 5 excursions each to qualify for the YWC 25% off discount.  Am I understanding correctly that the 3 "free" excursions we each sign up for count towards the 5?  So if we each book 3 free excursions under $199, if we each book 2 more excursions, then excursions nos. 4 and 5 would be discounted by 25%?

 

Finally, I am assuming that a "free" excursion has to have a price tag of $199 or less, or else it just doesn't qualify under the OLife "free" excursion benefit.  But just to test this - could we book a $269 excursion and pay the $70 difference?  I assume not but wanted to ask more experienced O cruisers for their understanding before raising this with our TA and/or with Oceania.

 

Tom & Judy

[ORV]

8 hours ago, TFree said:

OK, as mentioned we are brand new to Oceania, and have an October 16, 2021 cruise booked on Marina (Venice to Barcelona).  We booked with OLife without airfare and booked the airfare separately.

 

I have reread this thread twice, and just have a couple of clarifying questions.  I get that using OLife for OBC makes no sense, so for us it is either excursions or drink package.  We are not big drinkers, on average we might have 3 drinks (wine and beer) between the two of us on a given day.  So I think despite the higher sticker price for the drinks package, we would actually benefit more from using OLife for the excursions and just paying for drinks out of pocket.

Someone said, back on the first page, that the OLife "free" excursions have to be $199 or less, and cannot be OS or OE (Oceania Select or Oceania Exclusive).  In our case, on our 10 night cruise, all OS and OE excursions, with one exception, are above $199.  For future reference, could we book that $199 OS excursion if we wanted to, or is the entire category of OS and OE excursions excluded, even if $199 or less?

 

And then, on this sailing we need 5 excursions each to qualify for the YWC 25% off discount.  Am I understanding correctly that the 3 "free" excursions we each sign up for count towards the 5?  So if we each book 3 free excursions under $199, if we each book 2 more excursions, then excursions nos. 4 and 5 would be discounted by 25%?

 

Finally, I am assuming that a "free" excursion has to have a price tag of $199 or less, or else it just doesn't qualify under the OLife "free" excursion benefit.  But just to test this - could we book a $269 excursion and pay the $70 difference?  I assume not but wanted to ask more experienced O cruisers for their understanding before raising this with our TA and/or with Oceania.

 

Tom & Judy

The OE & OS are always excluded regardless of price. The $199 is a price that many of us have determined through experience. Nowhere is it stated by oceania that I’m aware of.  I don’t think you can pay the difference. But if you book enough to qualify for the YWYW discount then you can get the discount off of the more expensive ones. The free or included excursions do count toward your five to get the discount. 

[ak1004]

Regarding the Internet: on our cruise in 2018, the "free" internet was almost useless. No streaming and the speed was very slow. We upgraded to the next level (I think it was around $10/day) and it improved significantly.

 

Is this still the case today?

[TFree]

This thread was so helpful to us when we first booked our October 16 cruise on Marina, in  understanding OLife.  I am putting up this post for the benefit of other newbies who are having a hard time following the way the OLife credit and 25% discount work on excursions.

 

Our final payment date is Tuesday.  We plan to pay on Monday.  I went into the booking today to book Oceania excursions in each port, because of my understanding that (1) we get 3 qualifying excursions each for "free" (having purchased the OLife without airfare and having selected the excursion credit as making the most sense for us); and (2) that if we purchase at least 5 (including the "free" ones) then the paid ones will be 25% off under the YWC plan; and (3) there is not really any risk since we could still cancel excursions pre-cruise and get a refund (for example if we join or set up a private excursion in a particular port).

 

When I selected all excursions and went to the cart to check out, doing the math, I could see that the Oceania system had correctly selected the three most expensive excursions for each of us that were $199 or less and not OE or OS excursions.  (The system selected excursions at $199, $199 and $169.)  But again, doing the math, I could see that we had not been given the 25% discount on the other excursions.  I was initially tempted to wait until Monday and call Oceania for help.  But then I stumbled on the fact that what I needed to do was to check the box for each of us for the Your World Collection in order to get the benefit of the discount.  Which seemed weird to me, since the system was perfectly capable of calculating which excursions should be treated as "free," it is undoubtedly sophisticated enough to automatically apply the 25% discount to the others.  But it won't; you need to check the YWC boxes yourself.

 

Tom & Judy

[patty1955]

On 6/29/2021 at 7:31 AM, ORV said:

The OE & OS are always excluded regardless of price. The $199 is a price that many of us have determined through experience. Nowhere is it stated by oceania that I’m aware of.  I don’t think you can pay the difference. But if you book enough to qualify for the YWYW discount then you can get the discount off of the more expensive ones. The free or included excursions do count toward your five to get the discount. 

I went with the Olife excursion. One of mine that is included cost $209 so I don't think the $199 is always true.

[ORV]

13 hours ago, patty1955 said:

I went with the Olife excursion. One of mine that is included cost $209 so I don't think the $199 is always true.

For years it's been the norm, I would say it's more a matter of an across the board increase in excursion prices, which pushes up max price for the ones eligible for Olife. Just another we'll have to wait and see what happens thing in post covid cruising. I think someone else other than you also reported booking one above 199. 

[csolyn]

Great thread. I'm a seasoned O cruiser and I still get confused! I am including a screenshot of one of my cruise breakdowns so how costs can be added or subtracted is more obvious. This is an early booking cruise Venice->Rome.

 

We very rarely pay for O-Life now that internet is included on all cruises. It has nothing to do with O-life anymore. FYI our last two cruises self serve laundry was included too. Internet rules:
"Free Internet is one login per suite or stateroom and does not include streaming.  You can pay an added fee to stream or have a family plan with more internet per room. Good use of OBC for some!"

 

The only time we add on O-Life is if the shipboard credit is MORE than the price we are paying for it. So you'll see here it's $300 per person. The O-Life is giving $800 shipboard credit. Just and FYI you can use that shipboard credit to buy excursions just like cash. You used to not be able to use it before you got on the boat making it less valuable since lots of the tours were already booked up, but my last cruise I had it in my O account online and booked tours online with it.

 

Choosing the O-Life excursions. Here's the link to rules: https://www.oceaniacruises.com/legal/promotion-terms/

"OLife Choice free shore excursions vary by voyage and exclude Oceania Select, Oceania Exclusive, Executive Collection, Food & Wine Trails, Wellness Discovery Tours by Aquamar, Go Local and Culinary Discovery Tours."

It's important to note that not all tours can be booked with your O-Life. I know we book lots of tours that don't count because all the longer, more active, and exotic tours fall into the excluded categories.

 

Same goes with YWYW. That package only lets you do some tours and not all. The 25% discount does work on most.

 

Important to note that not in the airfare terms and conditions that the airfare rules are intense and IMO annoying and controlling. I always book without airfare since I like to arrive early and leave late. O tries to charter their own planes when they can which will, quite often, arrive just a few hours before the cruise. Also, I think the deviation fee is ridiculous! I use miles or shop a good flight. If I was going somewhere really remote or I didn't want to spend extra time in a location I might use O air...but so far 10 years in and I haven't.

 

Once again, appreciate everyone who posted to this. Very useful and powerful thread of knowledge on Oceania amenities. 

[csolyn]

On 6/29/2021 at 11:21 AM, ak1004 said:

Regarding the Internet: on our cruise in 2018, the "free" internet was almost useless. No streaming and the speed was very slow. We upgraded to the next level (I think it was around $10/day) and it improved significantly.

 

Is this still the case today?

 

I wouldn't say it's useless but it's slooooow like dial up and yes no streaming. Also one login per room at a time.

[AMHuntFerry]

2 hours ago, csolyn said:

Same goes with YWYW. That package only lets you do some tours and not all. The 25% discount does work on most.

I think you meant "Unlimited Passport Collection" instead of "YWYW". The Your World Collection allows for 25% off all available excursions. The UPC allows unlimited excursions from a limited list (seems roughly correlated to those available via O-Life) and a 40% discount on the rest. Once a cruise is booked, it's easy to see the prices for each choice (and make a spreadsheet 🙂 ). Here are the terms in my shore excursion packet for my December cruise for exact wording:

"Unlimited Passport Collection Package
For just $XYZ per person, the Unlimited Passport Collection affords you the ultimate indulgence - the opportunity to fully experience all that a destination has to offer with UNLIMITED a la carte shore excursions throughout the voyage. You may choose from an array of excursions all for one low price at a savings of up to 40% off a la carte prices. As an added bonus, Unlimited Passport Collection guests will also receive significant discounts off Oceania Select and Oceania Exclusive excursions.

Your World Collection Package
Your World Collection provides the flexibility for you to custom design a personalized, value-packed collection of excursions by allowing you to select the exact number of tours you want to take from the entire portfolio. Best of all, you will save 25% off a la carte prices when you reserve a minimum of #_ shore excursions."

[Robjame]

19 hours ago, csolyn said:

if the shipboard credit is MORE than the price we are paying for it. So you'll see here it's $300 per person. The O-Life is giving $800 shipboard credit.

Are you sure because I have seen ads that lead you to believe the OBC is $800 but that is actually an "up to $800" which applies to longer voyages? I have never seen where the OLife OBC exceeds the amount charged.

Of course in your example it is 2 x $300 = $600 vs your reported $800 which is a stateroom total amount

 

We are drinkers rather than people who take Oceania excursions so for us the decision is simple.

On a future 22 day cruise the OLife OBC is $1200 (per stateroom)

The House Select Beverage package would cost us 22x$40= $800x 2 people = $1600.

As we would purchase the beverage package anyway, we are up $400.

(Yes I know we still must upgrade to Select Beverage Package which is another  $20x22=$440 x 2 people = $880). This covers our drinks for 22 days + gratuity.

(I said we are drinkers)

🤪

 

[PhD-iva]

38 minutes ago, Robjame said:

(I said we are drinkers)

🤪

 

If mask wearing is required when not eating or drinking, outside of the dining rooms, we might all become drinkers!

[LGW59]

On 9/16/2021 at 10:29 AM, Robjame said:

Are you sure because I have seen ads that lead you to believe the OBC is $800 but that is actually an "up to $800" which applies to longer voyages? I have never seen where the OLife OBC exceeds the amount charged.

Of course in your example it is 2 x $300 = $600 vs your reported $800 which is a stateroom total amount

 

We are drinkers rather than people who take Oceania excursions so for us the decision is simple.

On a future 22 day cruise the OLife OBC is $1200 (per stateroom)

The House Select Beverage package would cost us 22x$40= $800x 2 people = $1600.

As we would purchase the beverage package anyway, we are up $400.

(Yes I know we still must upgrade to Select Beverage Package which is another  $20x22=$440 x 2 people = $880). This covers our drinks for 22 days + gratuity.

(I said we are drinkers)

🤪

 

For our 16 day TA we got $800 as well