Newbie Oceania Questions and feedback request

[Homerody]

Considering my first O cruise - moving over from VO.  (As I get older, I get lazier - even typing VO vs O is too much.  😮)

 

I've read lots of good posts related to all things O here - and thanks to the great info many of my questions were previously "asked and answered." (Objection! Your honor.   Sustained.  Move along counsel).

 

So  here we go:

1.  Olife  w/airfare vs Cruise only basically (and over simplifying) comes down to the amount of fare difference and if one wants to fly economy.  If independent flights (or upgrades to business) are desired, generally it is best to book cruise only.  So it really an economic analysis - if the cruise fare difference for 2 is a total $3600 the OBC credit is $800 or 8  excursions (say at $200 each) - even taking the Excursions - it is better to take cruise only if independent air fare is less than 2000 for 2 (or desiring an upgrade).  Am I missing something?  (Besides the convenience of one stop shopping with O?)

 

2.  Are upgrades tp Premium Economy are only available from/to Europe?

 

3.  Wait listing can be without deposit, but paying deposit and wait listing place you ahead in the queue.  Do I have that correctly?

 

4.  And an opinion/feed back question - what are your opinions on Veranda vs Concierge Veranda categories?  I know this is a subjective question, and really comes down to are the extras "worth" the incremental cost.  But I would value other's input on what they thought of the extras such as was the concierge lounge a frequent spot to drop by during the day?  Is the Room Service menu from the Grand dining room  a "thing" to pine for?  Etc...

 

Thanks so much for your input and feed back.

 

[Kate-AHF]

You don't seem to address O-Life without air.  Which is what we book every time.  I'm not even sure you get internet with cruise only.

 

If I'm located on the floor with the Concierge lounge, and the cruise is port-intensive, then to me and DH the concierge cabin is worth it.  There is a whole to to be said for coming back to the ship after 10 hours of walking/touring and being able to have in-room dining from the MDR (while having wet hair from the shower and fuzzy socks on your feet).

[Homerody]

21 minutes ago, Kate-AHF said:

You don't seem to address O-Life without air.  Which is what we book every time.  I'm not even sure you get internet with cruise only.

 

 

Thanks for your feed back and input on concierge cabins.

 

As to O-Life without air - are you saying taking O-life with Air and not using air?  I only see three columns on O website:

Brochure Fare

Olife W/Airfare
Cruise Only Fare

 

And isn't internet with Olife only for one log-in?

Edited March 9, 2021 by Homerody

[jondfk]

We're also new to O (in fact, we have several bookings but no actual sailings yet).  The whole O-Life thing is complicated for a newbie mainly because, as you note there is a forth price option which is never mentioned in marketing literature (at least none that I've seen) and that option is:  OLife perks only, no airfare. 

 

O bookings are slightly strange.  From a cost standpoint they are built up including all options:  Cruise fare + OLife Perks + OLife Air.  In the actual booking you'll see credits (separately) for Perks (if you decline) and Air (again, if you decline).  This makes it fairly easy to decide for yourself whether the air appears a bargain or not and likewise whether you imagine using the perks to the extent of their stated value.

 

This was all made very clear when I made my first booking directly with an O representative by phone.  He further stated that both OLife packages can be added (or deleted) anytime before final payment, with the costs of those packages locked in at the time of booking.  We've passed on OLife air on all of our cruises, mainly because we're starting from or ending in a port driving distance from our home meaning we'd either need oneway air or no air whatsoever.  

 

Anyway, I've already run on too long, and doubtless experienced O cruisers may correct any errors I've made.  The smartest thing I ever did was talk to a knowledgable O rep directly for clarification and then read my booking and fare details very carefully.  I hope my experience is of some benefit to you.

[LHT28]

The  1 account per cabin of free  internet is for all no matter what cat you book

if you book a top suite you get 2 accounts

 

We sometimes take the air depending on what we can get ourselves

sometime O air works out better  sometimes not

 you need to do the math

if you want  Bus class book your own

If they are offering  PE  it is usually a good deal  for overseas flights  they do not offer it for domestic flights AFAIK

 

4)the cabins are the same only the amenities are different

if you like  a hot breakfast  & like to eat in the cabin off the GDR  menu not just the room service menu it will be good deal

the Concierge lounge (only on the larger ships)  we rarely use  if I want coffee Barristas is  the place we  go

I do not use the  bags of laundry deal ....so no  deal for me

I can iron if I need something pressed .....no deal for me

Not big drinkers so the bottle of bubbly  is OK    ...no deal for me

we do not eat in the cabin  ...so no deal for me

booking specialties  earlier ...we usually get early seating even in lower cabin cat  ..so no deal for me

 

It is about what is important for you  that matters

JMO

[LHT28]

25 minutes ago, Homerody said:

Thanks for your feed back and input on concierge cabins.

 

As to O-Life without air - are you saying taking O-life with Air and not using air?  I only see three columns on O website:

Brochure Fare

Olife W/Airfare
Cruise Only Fare

 

And isn't internet with Olife only for one log-in?

OLife  is only the perks like excursion/beverage package/OBC

 You can do it with or without the air

You will get  a credit if you do not take the airfare

You need to speak to a rep or a knowledgeable  TA that is familiar with O

This has been discussed many times

 you need to do the math when choosing O LIfe  without  the air ..most times you are paying for the non refundable OBC yourself

The best perk to choose is the Excursions  as you can choose  one  up to about $200 

The  excursions  & OBC  are PER CABIN  not per person

 

We usually do cruise only   we do not do ship's tours 

The drink package is wine by the glass /beer with lunch & dinner only 

you can upgrade for $20 pp pd to the Prestige package once onboard  if you like to drink cocktails  etc..at anytime

 You will get many opinions  but do the math

JMO

 

 

[Flatbush Flyer]

3 hours ago, Homerody said:

Considering my first O cruise - moving over from VO.  (As I get older, I get lazier - even typing VO vs O is too much.  😮)

 

I've read lots of good posts related to all things O here - and thanks to the great info many of my questions were previously "asked and answered." (Objection! Your honor.   Sustained.  Move along counsel).

 

So  here we go:

1.  Olife  w/airfare vs Cruise only basically (and over simplifying) comes down to the amount of fare difference and if one wants to fly economy.  If independent flights (or upgrades to business) are desired, generally it is best to book cruise only.  So it really an economic analysis - if the cruise fare difference for 2 is a total $3600 the OBC credit is $800 or 8  excursions (say at $200 each) - even taking the Excursions - it is better to take cruise only if independent air fare is less than 2000 for 2 (or desiring an upgrade).  Am I missing something?  (Besides the convenience of one stop shopping with O?)

 

2.  Are upgrades tp Premium Economy are only available from/to Europe?

 

3.  Wait listing can be without deposit, but paying deposit and wait listing place you ahead in the queue.  Do I have that correctly?

 

4.  And an opinion/feed back question - what are your opinions on Veranda vs Concierge Veranda categories?  I know this is a subjective question, and really comes down to are the extras "worth" the incremental cost.  But I would value other's input on what they thought of the extras such as was the concierge lounge a frequent spot to drop by during the day?  Is the Room Service menu from the Grand dining room  a "thing" to pine for?  Etc...

 

Thanks so much for your input and feed back.

 

You can have O Life with air credit thus making the excursion version of O Life valuable if you select the most expensive allowable tours. Ergo, the 8 tours at $200 each ($1600)  vs $800 in SBC would save you $800. And for some, the booze option (upgraded to Prestige package at $20/person/day) can add value depending on your consumption.

[Flatbush Flyer]

1 hour ago, Homerody said:

Thanks for your feed back and input on concierge cabins.

 

As to O-Life without air - are you saying taking O-life with Air and not using air?  I only see three columns on O website:

Brochure Fare

Olife W/Airfare
Cruise Only Fare

 

And isn't internet with Olife only for one log-in?

On the next web page after looking at the O Life prices on first page of a particular itinerary, there is a choice to check off: “will you need airfare?” If you check “no” the cruise will reprice as you continue to move through the screens. The difference in price from the O Life with air is the amount of the air credit you receive.

FWIW, never use O’s air if you fly bizclass. While they may be able to get a somewhat better bizclass ticket price for you, you must select the initial “with air” pricing for that service. In essence then, you end up paying both the economy AND the bizclass fares!!!

Even the O air department will tell you it’s a bad deal.

Edited March 9, 2021 by Flatbush Flyer

[Kate-AHF]

I think you meant to say.... Will you need airfare?  Check "no" and the program will reprice the cruise cabin category you chose.  The difference between the OLife advertised price and the re-priced cruise is the air credit difference.

[Flatbush Flyer]

9 minutes ago, Kate-AHF said:

I think you meant to say.... Will you need airfare?  Check "no" and the program will reprice the cruise cabin category you chose.  The difference between the OLife advertised price and the re-priced cruise is the air credit difference.

You are correct. I edited it just now to say “check ‘NO’”

Edited March 9, 2021 by Flatbush Flyer

[Ski Mom 2]

We just booked our first O cruise...Patagonia and Ice for January 2023. We booked without air since we will be flying in early and staying afterwards plus, I hope to fly business class with those overnight flights. At this point, we took the OBC. Any OBC we've ever received went towards either our liquor or excursions bill. 🍷 It seems to me I have read on this board somewhere that folks don't recommend the OBC over the excursions credit. May I ask why? I don't think I can see any excursions this far out so I have no idea what we might want to do and what the cost might be. Thank you!

[KS&JW]

5 minutes ago, Ski Mom 2 said:

We just booked our first O cruise...Patagonia and Ice for January 2023. We booked without air since we will be flying in early and staying afterwards plus, I hope to fly business class with those overnight flights. At this point, we took the OBC. Any OBC we've ever received went towards either our liquor or excursions bill. 🍷 It seems to me I have read on this board somewhere that folks don't recommend the OBC over the excursions credit. May I ask why? I don't think I can see any excursions this far out so I have no idea what we might want to do and what the cost might be. Thank you!

You pay $400 for Olife to get $400 worth of OBC.  There is no benefit. 

Edited March 9, 2021 by KS&JW

[Ski Mom 2]

22 minutes ago, KS&JW said:

You pay $400 for Olife to get $400 worth of OBC.  There is no benefit. 

I'm not sure I understand. When I look at my invoice it shows the cost of the cruise, the credit for the airfare not taken, and the $400 OBC. Am I missing something? Do you recommend the excursion credit instead? Why or why not?

[LHT28]

7 minutes ago, Ski Mom 2 said:

I'm not sure I understand. When I look at my invoice it shows the cost of the cruise, the credit for the airfare not taken, and the $400 OBC. Am I missing something? Do you recommend the excursion credit instead? Why or why not?

The OBC option   you are basically paying  the non refundable  credit out of pocket

Ok if you will use it up but if not you  will be out  the balance

not the best option  IMO

Check the price of the cruise only fare & what you are paying  PP

 You have to do the math & see what works best for you

[1985rz1]

31 minutes ago, Ski Mom 2 said:

I'm not sure I understand. When I look at my invoice it shows the cost of the cruise, the credit for the airfare not taken, and the $400 OBC. Am I missing something? Do you recommend the excursion credit instead? Why or why not?

You are paying $400 for O-Life ($200 pp).  If you take that as OBC, you get $400 in your on-board account for the cabin.  That's a wash, financially, assuming you use it.  There are no refunds for any of the unused OBC.

 

If you choose the excursions as your O-Life perk, each pax gets 2 excursions included, from those equal to or less than $199.  Special excursions like OE or OS are also excluded, but they tend to be way above the $199 limit.

 

If there are excursions you like that cost more than $100, but are equal to or less than $199, you get a value that is more than you paid. You can in principle get $398 pp for the $200 pp cost of the O-Life.  Realistically the gain is less than that, but there is usually a gain.

Edited March 9, 2021 by 1985rz1

[sitraveler]

Every thing I’ve read is on pointe. There is also a 1 way air option which can be useful.  Arriving early or leaving late involves a deviation fee unless you are gold or above. 

[Flatbush Flyer]

1 minute ago, 1985rz1 said:

You are paying $400 for O-Life ($200 pp).  If you take that as OBC, you get $400 in your on-board account for the cabin.  That's a wash, financially.

 

If you choose the excursions as your O-Life perk, each pax gets 2 excursions included, from those equal to or less than $199.  Special excursions like OE or OS are also excluded, but they tend to be way above the $199 limit.

 

If there are excursions you like that cost more than $100, but are equal to or less than $199, you get a value that is more than you paid. You can in principle get $398 pp for the $200 pp cost of the O-Life.  Realistically the gain is less than that, but there is usually a gain.

As for the OE/OS tours, there’s still an O Life benefit: The O Life allowable excursions will count toward the minimum number of tours required (on your itinerary) to qualify for the 25% YWYW discount on non-O Life paid tours.

 

So, if you add a OE/OS $600 helicopter ride to the mix, the YWYW price would be $450. On a long cruise, this could mean substantial savings - particularly in some small exotic ports where O has cornered the market on the best tour operators.

 

And, FWIW, the O “cart” for purchases is extremely intuitive when assigning which tour choices to assign O Life freebie status (it picks the most expensive of the allowable ones).

[Ski Mom 2]

OK let me see if I understand this now...

 

Olife costs me $200 pp (although I don't see that cost on my invoice)

OBC taken results in $200 pp (we would have no trouble using that up) so that's a wash so to speak.

Excursion credit would be 2 excursions @$100-$199 each or up to $398 pp

Hence if you take the excursion credit you could potentially "gain" up to $198 pp if you take the more expensive excursions.

 

Yes?...

[jonthomas]

1 hour ago, Ski Mom 2 said:

We just booked our first O cruise...Patagonia and Ice for January 2023. We booked without air since we will be flying in early and staying afterwards plus, I hope to fly business class with those overnight flights. At this point, we took the OBC. Any OBC we've ever received went towards either our liquor or excursions bill. 🍷 It seems to me I have read on this board somewhere that folks don't recommend the OBC over the excursions credit. May I ask why? I don't think I can see any excursions this far out so I have no idea what we might want to do and what the cost might be. Thank you!

 

come on over to the roll call, it has been started, Jan 18, 2023 Patagonia/Glaciers. 

 

We have moved over to O, after many cruises with Celeb and a few Viking Ocean. Still have one Viking and one Celebrity, but they will probably be cancelled. 

 

Come on over to the roll call and we can chat. 

[1985rz1]

10 minutes ago, Ski Mom 2 said:

OK let me see if I understand this now...

 

Olife costs me $200 pp (although I don't see that cost on my invoice)

OBC taken results in $200 pp (we would have no trouble using that up) so that's a wash so to speak.

Excursion credit would be 2 excursions @$100-$199 each or up to $398 pp

Hence if you take the excursion credit you could potentially "gain" up to $198 pp if you take the more expensive excursions.

 

Yes?...

Yes.

 

You don't see the O-Life cost listed out separately on your invoice.  It's built into the cruise price.  If you decline the O-Life, your cruise price would be adjusted accordingly.

[Ski Mom 2]

1 minute ago, 1985rz1 said:

Yes.

 

You don't see the O-Life cost listed out separately on your invoice.  It's built into the cruise price.  If you decline the O-Life, your cruise price would be adjusted accordingly.

Thank you so much! We have been sailing Windstar and love them but they don't have anything like this cruise. We are looking forward to sailing on O!

 

[1985rz1]

1 minute ago, Ski Mom 2 said:

Thank you so much! We have been sailing Windstar and love them but they don't have anything like this cruise. We are looking forward to sailing on O!

 

I think you'll enjoy Oceania, although their marketing does not make it easy the unravel the subtleties of their pricing.

[patty1955]

1 hour ago, sitraveler said:

Every thing I’ve read is on pointe. There is also a 1 way air option which can be useful.  Arriving early or leaving late involves a deviation fee unless you are gold or above. 

We're first-timers too and we decided to get OLife without air because of the deviation fee. Unless you want to fly in the day of the cruise and fly out on the day you disembark, you pay $175 per person, per flight. 

[sitraveler]

12 minutes ago, patty1955 said:

We're first-timers too and we decided to get OLife without air because of the deviation fee. Unless you want to fly in the day of the cruise and fly out on the day you disembark, you pay $175 per person, per flight. 

Not per flight.   Per cruise.    it is per person.

[patty1955]

8 minutes ago, sitraveler said:

Not per flight.   Per cruise.    it is per person.

Really? I may have to rethink the airfare