Cost vs. Benefit of OLife Add-on

[DenGNNJ]

2 hours ago, ORV said:

I guess I don't really understand what this is proving. I've never been a fan of Excel files. Where is it showing me one choice is better than another? 

The following is for the example I provided above...

 

The cost to upgrade to OLife from the cruise only fare = $1100 (cell B16)

The portion of that $1100 which is allocated to airfare = $700 (cell B18)

The remaining portion... the portion allocated to an onboard perk = $400 (cell B17)

 

AIRFARE - If a flight you can book on your own is more than $700, then you would save an amount of money equal to the difference between Oceania's flight and your flight.  If however you can get the same flights on your own, cheaper than $700, then don't pay the full $1100 upgrade, consider paying only $400 for the additional perk only.

 

OBC - OBC is a bad deal no matter which way you look at it because you're paying $400 extra per person and getting $400 per person in onboard credit back, saving you nothing.  What you're doing if you choose OBC is basically providing Oceania with a guarantee that you'll spend at least $400 on board... probably more if you're scrambling at the end of your cruise to use it up.  There is no savings taking this option, and if you disembark leaving any OBC on account when you do, you've just lost money.

 

BEVERAGE PACKAGE - The Beverage package option is a good one one to choose.  If you were book the cruise only fare and purchased this separately, you'd spend $719.10 (cell F13) per person to get it.  The OLife perk on the other hand costs $400 per person.  Therefore, you would save $319.10 per person by choosing OLife and choosing this as your perk.

 

EXCURSIONS - The Excursion option might be a good one to pick, provided you pick more than $400 worth of excursions per person, for 4 excursions.  Every dollar OVER $400 per person on four excursions = a dollar saved.  For example, say you pick 4 excursions, and they're on average $150 per excursion.  In total you got $600 worth of excursions per person, and only spent $400 per person for them, saving you $200 per person.  If the upper limit = $200 per excursion, one could potentially book a maximum of $800 per person for four excursions per person and theoretically net $400 savings.

 

Edited September 21, 2021 by DenGNNJ

[ORV]

32 minutes ago, DenGNNJ said:

The following is for the example I provided above...

 

The cost to upgrade to OLife from the cruise only fare = $1100 (cell B16)

The portion of that $1100 which is allocated to airfare = $700 (cell B18)

The remaining portion... the portion allocated to an onboard perk = $400 (cell B17)

 

AIRFARE - If a flight you can book on your own is more than $700, then you would save an amount of money equal to the difference between Oceania's flight and your flight.  If however you can get the same flights on your own, cheaper than $700, then don't pay the full $1100 upgrade, consider paying only $400 for the additional perk only.

 

OBC - OBC is a bad deal no matter which way you look at it because you're paying $400 extra per person and getting $400 per person in onboard credit back, saving you nothing.  What you're doing if you choose OBC is basically providing Oceania with a guarantee that you'll spend at least $400 on board... probably more if you're scrambling at the end of your cruise to use it up.  There is no savings taking this option, and if you disembark leaving any OBC on account when you do, you've just lost money.

 

BEVERAGE PACKAGE - The Beverage package option is a good one one to choose.  If you were book the cruise only fare and purchased this separately, you'd spend $719.10 (cell F13) per person to get it.  The OLife perk on the other hand costs $400 per person.  Therefore, you would save $319.10 per person by choosing OLife and choosing this as your perk.

 

EXCURSIONS - The Excursion option might be a good one to pick, provided you pick more than $400 worth of excursions per person, for 4 excursions.  Every dollar OVER $400 per person on four excursions = a dollar saved.  For example, say you pick 4 excursions, and they're on average $150 per excursion.  In total you got $600 worth of excursions per person, and only spent $400 per person for them, saving you $200 per person.  If the upper limit = $200 per excursion, one could potentially book a maximum of $800 per person for four excursions per person and theoretically net $400 savings.

 

Thanks for explaining all that. I actually know those things, and have been recommending basically what you said for a few years, I just didn't understand how the EXcel sheet proved it. I guess more than anything it's just a place to put your figures. I'm old school so just use a notepad and calculator(and past experience). For me, using the Excel would cause more work than it saves, but I guess it's whatever you're used to. 

[AMHuntFerry]

Some other nitpicky things to consider when comparing the shorex option:
Comparing Cost:
The number of O-Life excursions seems to be typically the same as the number of excursions needed to qualify for "Your World Package" which gives a 25% discount on a la carte (full) prices. So, comparing the O-Life excursion price to 75% of the full price of the same number of excursions; actually it gets complicated since O-Life excludes some excursions (OE, OS, etc.) while Your World does not. However, if you are interested in fewer excursions than provided by O-Life, then compare to the a la carte full price. I made a spreadsheet with the tours I was actually interested in taking and compared the prices. In my case the YWP came out way ahead, but that was because the O-Life qualifying tours were not as appealing to me as others, and the ones that were appealing were well below the $133 full price ($100 75% full price) threshold.
And then there is comparing to non-O tours which adds a few columns to the spreadsheet 🙂
 

Cancellations:
A la carte excursions can be canceled with a full refund up to 36 hours before the excursion. Your World Packages can be cancelled before embarkation day for a full refund. I do not know when O-Life can be canceled without penalty.
 

Priority:
In addition to the priority given to concierge-level and above, there is some other sort of priority: "If you purchase either the
Your World Collection or Unlimited Passport Collections you also receive priority confirmation of your selections." Can someone with experience with the O-Life shorex package comment on whether this statement is included for O-Life too (along with the cancellation time frame)?

[DenGNNJ]

33 minutes ago, ORV said:

Thanks for explaining all that. I actually know those things, and have been recommending basically what you said for a few years, I just didn't understand how the EXcel sheet proved it. I guess more than anything it's just a place to put your figures. I'm old school so just use a notepad and calculator(and past experience). For me, using the Excel would cause more work than it saves, but I guess it's whatever you're used to. 

I gathered that you knew what you were talking about from reading the entire thread.  I went into detail because this is an open forum and other folks will be reading.

 

Gotta admit... I was always confused about these OLife fares until I did the math.  I absolutely had no idea the OBC was an option that saves $0, and that's probably what I would have picked because that's what we ALWAYS pick.

 

Oceania is definitely on our radar regarding future cruising and because of the thread I can now decide easily which OLife perk to pick (if any). 

 

Not for nothing though... OLife and OBC is a pretty shady thing for Oceania to do.  It would be MUCH better if they said, "hey, the OLife perk will cost you $400, but we'll save you some $$$ by giving you an extra 25% in OBC.  That's $500 in OBC for spending $400 out of pocket.  That extra $100 in OBC would STILL probably be the LEAST amount one would save out of the three available choices, and Oceania would reap some good will from doing it.

Edited September 21, 2021 by DenGNNJ

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, DenGNNJ said:

The following is for the example I provided above...

 

The cost to upgrade to OLife from the cruise only fare = $1100 (cell B16)

The portion of that $1100 which is allocated to airfare = $700 (cell B18)

The remaining portion... the portion allocated to an onboard perk = $400 (cell B17)

 

 

Is that the actual air credit  for your cruise  or are you guessing  by subtracting the OBC amount from the total / the cruise only fare?

 

[DenGNNJ]

25 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Is that the actual air credit  for your cruise  or are you guessing  by subtracting the OBC amount from the total / the cruise only fare?

 

You're in Canada so I'm not sure what's happening with the Canadian version of Oceania's website, but for us in the US... in US dollars...

 

The air portion can be calculated as follows (for two people in the same cabin):

 

The OLife fare minus  the cruise only fare minus half of the advertised OBC = The portion allocated to airfare.  Using my example: 

 

OLife fare = $8299

Cruise only fare = $7199

Half of the advertised OBC = $800/2 

$8299-$7199-$400 = $700 

 

I tried this formula on five different mock cruise reservations on Oceania's website and five times it calculated properly.

 

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, DenGNNJ said:

You're in Canada so I'm not sure what's happening with the Canadian version of Oceania's website, but for us in the US... in US dollars...

 

The air portion can be calculated as follows (for two people in the same cabin):

 

The OLife fare minus  the cruise only fare minus half of the advertised OBC = The portion allocated to airfare.  Using my example: 

 

sometimes doing the calculation via your method does not always pan out

 I would ask your TA or O what the AIR CREDIT  is exactly 😉

 

Just saying

[DenGNNJ]

16 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

sometimes doing the calculation via your method does not always pan out

 I would ask your TA or O what the AIR CREDIT  is exactly 😉

 

Just saying

Based on what everyone is saying about the OBC, this doesn't make much sense.  If the advertised cabin OBC divided by 2 is a wash (cost vs savings = $0), then whatever is leftover must be the airfare portion.

 

Please provide an example of a cruise on Oceania's website where it doesn't work, and I'll check.  THANKS!!!

Edited September 21, 2021 by DenGNNJ

[Homerody]

I love how the discussion has evolved to include a spreadsheet.

 

Spreadsheets, tables and Google maps are integral to any trip I take so I find this turn in conversation quite interesting.

 

I don't feel bad for being a nerdy traveller.😣

[DenGNNJ]

36 minutes ago, Homerody said:

I love how the discussion has evolved to include a spreadsheet.

 

Spreadsheets, tables and Google maps are integral to any trip I take so I find this turn in conversation quite interesting.

 

I don't feel bad for being a nerdy traveller.😣

Are you kidding? ... I turned my nerdy side into a very nice career for myself and my nerdiness most certainly isn't exclusive to my job 🙂.

 

Attached, please find my most recently updated spreadsheet (unprotect it so you can see the sexy nested IF statement formulas ROFLMFAO).  I moved around some info to make it more understandable, and added a summary section (with a few more data entry points) to clarify where someone can get the best bang for their buck.

 

If folks want to use it, fine ... if not, that's cool too.

 

You're welcome everyone!!!

 

Oceania OLife Cruise Calculation Sheet.xlsx

Edited September 21, 2021 by DenGNNJ

[Jockocruiser]

As I asked if you’d share, Thank you, thank you!  That is perfect.

I once woke up from surgery realizing I was dreaming of spreadsheets, so this is right up my alley!

 

Once you have the cells and formulas, it makes it very simple to edit and compare.

Works fine in “Numbers” for you Apple fans as well.

 

Air Allowance is detailed on the Agency Statement. Your agent can advise. Add non-gateway “Additional Items Air Arrangements” if applicable to get total air credit to plug in the file. 

 

Thanks again, very cool.

Edited September 22, 2021 by Jockocruiser

[PhD-iva]

3 hours ago, Homerody said:

I love how the discussion has evolved to include a spreadsheet.

 

Spreadsheets, tables and Google maps are integral to any trip I take so I find this turn in conversation quite interesting.

 

I don't feel bad for being a nerdy traveller.😣

+1!

[TakingFlight]

Oceania newbie here with a question about the "Your World Collection Package". Is there a charge for this package as there is for the Unlimited Passport Collection? Or is the 25% discount automatically calculated when I purchase 6 qualifying shore excursions? (6 is the minimum number of shore excursions required for my cruise for the World Collection.)

[LHT28]

7 minutes ago, TakingFlight said:

Oceania newbie here with a question about the "Your World Collection Package". Is there a charge for this package as there is for the Unlimited Passport Collection? Or is the 25% discount automatically calculated when I purchase 6 qualifying shore excursions? (6 is the minimum number of shore excursions required for my cruise for the World Collection.)

from O site

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/value

Scroll down to excursion packages

Your World Collection

• Flexibility to custom design your own collection
• Select desired number of excursions from our entire portfolio
• Save 25% per person off à la carte retail prices, subject to a minimum number of excursions required to be reserved depending on voyage length
•  

our World Collection must be reserved prior to sailing. In order to receive maximum pre-cruise savings, you may purchase shore excursions as early as 240 days and up until 8 days prior to your sail date. Our website safely and securely accepts credit card payments; you will automatically receive confirmation of your online purchase by email. Oceania Cruises strongly recommends that your shore excursions be purchased prior to boarding the ship to take advantage of pre-sailing discounts and to ensure availability.

[TakingFlight]

I have read everything on the website and my booking documents and was still confused. I think the answer to my question is "No". I will need to select Your World when I book my 6 shore excursions and I will be charged the discounted price. There will be no additional charge for the Your World package. That's what's not clear on the website. Also, the different areas in the website show different dates when the shore excursions open for booking. Verified by two Oceania reps they have changed their policy and all shore excursions for all cruises can be booked 365 days out.

[WESTEAST]

42 minutes ago, TakingFlight said:

I have read everything on the website and my booking documents and was still confused. I think the answer to my question is "No". I will need to select Your World when I book my 6 shore excursions and I will be charged the discounted price. There will be no additional charge for the Your World package. That's what's not clear on the website. Also, the different areas in the website show different dates when the shore excursions open for booking. Verified by two Oceania reps they have changed their policy and all shore excursions for all cruises can be booked 365 days out.

Correct re shore excursions, they now can be booked 365 days out.  Just confirmed by checking our 2022 October cruise.

[WESTEAST]

1 hour ago, WESTEAST said:

Correct re shore excursions, they now can be booked 365 days out.  Just confirmed by checking our 2022 October cruise.

Once you have a confirmed Booking with O, check online, under Manage Booking, Shore Excursions. Recall that once you select the defined # (in your case 6), the 25% off is automatically calculated - there is no charge to select this package. A benefit is that if you select more than your allotment, the additional excursions can be purchased at the 25% reduced rate. 

[mauibabes]

The Your World Package discount is most often the best Value for excursions. You can add in the Free excursions and even OS and OE tours at a discount so work through the booking cart and look at the total cost. On a 30 day cruise with lots of Oceania excursions, our average excursion cost was only $75. If you have any trouble working through your excursions and want to be sure you are getting the best bang for your buck. Just call the Oceania Reservation line and the Cruise Specialist will confirm your pricing and even do a comparison with the Passport Collection to make sure you are getting the Best Value.  

Ciao, Mauibabes 

[gina8231]

Wondering if someone can help with activating the YWC package.  We have more than enough excursions to qualify for this pricing but can't get the website to calculate it correctly.  The 25% discount is applied to some excursions but not all, and one OS excursion is being discounted 75%.  And when I view the cart it says Your World Price but the price displayed is the Tour Price.  Also, the cart total cost is higher than the excursion total but there's nothing else in the cart.

 

Our Olife Choice is shipboard credit.  

 

Thanks in advance.

 

[LHT28]

5 minutes ago, gina8231 said:

Wondering if someone can help with activating the YWC package.  We have more than enough excursions to qualify for this pricing but can't get the website to calculate it correctly.  The 25% discount is applied to some excursions but not all, and one OS excursion is being discounted 75%.  And when I view the cart it says Your World Price but the price displayed is the Tour Price.  Also, the cart total cost is higher than the excursion total but there's nothing else in the cart.

 

Our Olife Choice is shipboard credit.  

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Did you complete the transaction?

 Sometimes once you complete the sale with CC or OBC it will give the discounted price

Best to call O tomorrow & get them to do the calculation for you

[Redtravel]

On 1/31/2021 at 6:14 PM, Paulchili said:

It is generally considered  to be the worst option of O Life options. You are essentially prepaying your OBC ahead of the cruise and then you must spend it as it is non refundable.

O values excursions at $100 each. If you pick wisely and excursions that would go for $150 and higher (up to $199) then you are getting more value. Ditto if you choose the drinks provided you drink enough.

As pointed out above by Lyn, O Life and air are entirely separate items to choose - you can take O Life w/o the air and air w/o O Life.

This assumes that you find few others to share your excursions. If it's a private tour for just the 2 of you, chances are that it will be more expensive than O's price for that tour.

  Taking OBC is usually a bad choice. However, we just booked a cruise using fcc. The fcc was larger than the cruise costs.  We booked the best cabin available.  We chose taking OBC.  It is a way to get fcc that would expire.  We also were shocked that we couldn’t use fcc for the taxes on the cruise.  

[Host Jazzbeau]

2 hours ago, Redtravel said:

  Taking OBC is usually a bad choice. However, we just booked a cruise using fcc. The fcc was larger than the cruise costs.  We booked the best cabin available.  We chose taking OBC.  It is a way to get fcc that would expire.  We also were shocked that we couldn’t use fcc for the taxes on the cruise.  

Oceania does seem to have a lot of rules.  And because of the way the three NCLH lines are kept separate, they can't blame 'Miami' the way Azamara used to when they were under RCG! 

 

My cruise is this coming Friday Jan. 14; I wanted to cancel La Reserve reservations and shore excursions over the weekend – couldn't do it on the website because of new rule freezing shorex 7 days out and an old rule that La Reserve can be made online but only cancelled by phone (and of course the offices are closed over the weekend).

 

But as @Flatbush Flyer is always telling us, the only thing bigger than Oceania rules is Oceania flexibility.  I called first thing this morning (Monday) and the phone rep was able to get everything I wanted cancelled – and also saved me from another Oceania rule 'gotcha' when DW's cancellations would have taken her below the YWYW package minimum.  It seems that even the phone rep's supervisor [who was needed to cancel La Reserve] can't ADD a shore excursion within 7 days of the cruise, so dropping DW to 5 would have cost us the 25% discount.  Luckily I realized what the rep was saying just before he confirmed the cancellations and he was able to redo it leaving the least expensive unwanted one on DW's account – even if she doesn't show up for it, it makes all 6 cheaper than the 5 would have been! 

 

[Is this a screwy way to run a cruise line?  There must be a level in Dante's Inferno for the person who thought it up...]

[Jancruz]

1 minute ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Oceania does seem to have a lot of rules.  And because of the way the three NCLH lines are kept separate, they can't blame 'Miami' the way Azamara used to when they were under RCG! 

 

My cruise is this coming Friday Jan. 14; I wanted to cancel La Reserve reservations and shore excursions over the weekend – couldn't do it on the website because of new rule freezing shorex 7 days out and an old rule that La Reserve can be made online but only cancelled by phone (and of course the offices are closed over the weekend).

 

But as @Flatbush Flyer is always telling us, the only thing bigger than Oceania rules is Oceania flexibility.  I called first thing this morning (Monday) and the phone rep was able to get everything I wanted cancelled – and also saved me from another Oceania rule 'gotcha' when DW's cancellations would have taken her below the YWYW package minimum.  It seems that even the phone rep's supervisor [who was needed to cancel La Reserve] can't ADD a shore excursion within 7 days of the cruise, so dropping DW to 5 would have cost us the 25% discount.  Luckily I realized what the rep was saying just before he confirmed the cancellations and he was able to redo it leaving the least expensive unwanted one on DW's account – even if she doesn't show up for it, it makes all 6 cheaper than the 5 would have been! 

 

[Is this a screwy way to run a cruise line?  There must be a level in Dante's Inferno for the person who thought it up...]

One question why did you do this yourself???

Jacruz1

[Host Jazzbeau]

Just now, Jancruz said:

One question why did you do this yourself???

Jacruz1

Bringing my TA in would have been the backup plan, but the TA who booked this cruise just retired and I'm just getting to know her replacement so I didn't want to start our relationship as a 'squeaky wheel.'  I know somebody on CC who believes that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, but having been in a customer-service position I'm also aware that some squeaky wheels get left at the side of the road...

[nancynana9950]

Hello all. This has been an interesting read. We are considering a September Canada/New England/Bermuda cruise on Oceania. It would be our first. No flights involved. Only one of us is a light drinker. Nearly all ports we can do on our own. I think we will have to compare the final cost for cruise only to OLife shipboard credit to pay gratuities and the one shoreex and a few drinks? Make sense?