New to Oceania: Take OBC or Excursions

[MEFIowa]

3 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

... Our normal practice is to consider a mix of ship and private tours - particularly on long cruises which may have 30+\- port days with a fair number of unusual small ports (e.g., Rapa Nui, Vanuatu et al.) ... AND, again, if your next cruise has 24+\- port days and/or you’re doing 3+\- similar long cruises each year, the efficacy of total DIY will require that “bigger picture” consideration.

Too funny, the "if money is essentially no object because you're cruising for nearly a month or more and you'll be spending tens of thousands of dollars anyway response" to the actual scenario of "On a 12 night cruise" where "we're definitely going to do 3+ excursions!" Wonder if there are 3 or 4 sea days on the cruise?

[Flatbush Flyer]

28 minutes ago, MEFIowa said:

Too funny, the "if money is essentially no object because you're cruising for nearly a month or more and you'll be spending tens of thousands of dollars anyway response" to the actual scenario of "On a 12 night cruise" where "we're definitely going to do 3+ excursions!" Wonder if there are 3 or 4 sea days on the cruise?

Perhaps you’re missing the point of my post, which is meant to inform others (new to O) who may be reading the thread. My reaction to the last line of your post (“So, for us it is Cruise Only Fare (no airfare, excursions, drink packages, OBC, etc.), with wording that could easily be misinterpreted by a newbie, suggests that  “only DIY” is an example of erroneous “one size fits all” thinking.

 

BTW: where do you get the idea that I’ve ever said “money is no object.” There are those of us on CC who cruise a lot (perhaps 100+\- nights - pre-pandemic) who have figured out that long cruises on a premium line (with added land travel at each end) is, for our travel preferences, far more efficacious than mortgage payments for a second home in Tahoe or the North Coast and/or varied land only travel -each usually with its own associated air travel (plus ground transport plus meals plus activities - Blah blah blah).

 

One of the things I like most about O is it’s clientele, the demographic of which includes many many people who have worked very hard for their money and, beyond wise saving/investment and/or excellent benefits, knew/know how to best save and plan for retirement.

Does any of that description fit you (now or in the future)? I’m betting at least some of it does.

[MEFIowa]

I chose my words very carefully and ensured they fit the actual plans of the individual. So, my primary advice up front was DO THE RESEARCH/STUDY and find what works for you. Only at the end did I say what has worked for US. Not sure how that is "easily misinterpreted" or "one size fits all".

 

But when someone asks about a 12-day cruise with 3+ excursions, this isn't relevant: "particularly on long cruises which may have 30+\- port days with a fair number of unusual small ports (e.g., Rapa Nui, Vanuatu et al.) ... AND, again, if your next cruise has 24+\- port days and/or you’re doing 3+\- similar long cruises each year".

 

And if you're trying to impress us with long cruises or 2nd homes or varied land travel, this is 2022. YMMV. To each their own. But if a drowning man asks for a hand, don't first regale him with discussions of your helicopter which will be here in 5 minutes!

[roberts2005]

DIY in the Caribbean is easy with little or no worry about getting back to the port on time. Same in Europe where the ships docks in the city you want to tour.  No reason to list as I think we all know which ones they are.

 

the difficult choice is when you need to travel a long distance and return.

 

Our worse nightmare was renting a car in Rostock and driving to Berlin.  Got lost on the way back and no one could tell us where the ship was docked.  This was in 1995 and not like it is today.

 

Anyway we backtracked and made it back on time. For the 4 of us we saved a lot of money and had a great time.

 

‘’But there is always the edge

[Flatbush Flyer]

5 hours ago, MEFIowa said:

And if you're trying to impress us with long cruises or 2nd homes or varied land travel, this is 2022. YMMV. To each their own. But if a drowning man asks for a hand, don't first regale him with discussions of your helicopter which will be here in 5 minutes.

I really don’t care about what may impress you (and BTW, the person who asked the question was hardly “drowning”).

I use the opportunity of overgeneralized and/or unclear posts to provide a vast array of readers with expanded information that may help them (or others who read the thread) with their decision making. 

What you may not comprehend is that many questions here are catalysts for expanded discussions. But, at the same time, I understand that concrete thinking may not grasp that concept and/or not see it’s value.

Bottom line: If my posts don’t help YOU, you can always choose not to read them.

Edited September 6, 2022 by Flatbush Flyer

[aussietwo]

On 9/2/2022 at 3:45 AM, Flatbush Flyer said:

The O Life SBC is a “wash.” You paid the equivalent in your fare.

The tours, base valued at $100 each, can be used for allowable tours up to $199, thus doubling the perks value. Likewise, those O Life tour choices count toward the minimum number of tours required on your itinerary for the YWYW discount which saves you 25% off on any additionally purchased tours. Overall, the O Life tours option is the best “deal” for most folks.

Hi Flatbush Flyer

I love cc for all the useful advice that folk put on here.   We have a cruise with 3 “free” O’Life excursions.  Maximum required to get the 25% discount is 4.  I chose the 3 “free” excursions and booked them.  I then searched for another tour that sounded reasonable at a lower price.  Booked it.  Then for my 5th excursion booked a more expensive OS tour.  I did not receive the discount.  Any advice on how to get it?  Thanks in advance.  If you want to contact me off the board that is fine.  
Cheers Ros🙂.   rosmerleg at hotmail dot com. (Usual format) - subject ship excursions

[LHT28]

5 minutes ago, aussietwo said:

  We have a cruise with 3 “free” O’Life excursions.  Maximum required to get the 25% discount is 4.  I chose the 3 “free” excursions and booked them.  I then searched for another tour that sounded reasonable at a lower price.  Booked it.  Then for my 5th excursion booked a more expensive OS tour.  I did not receive the discount.  Any advice on how to get it? 

Did you check out  & pay  for the extra excursions via OBC or credit card?

 If so maybe call Oceania  & get them to see why you did not get the discount

[aussietwo]

4 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Did you check out  & pay  for the extra excursions via OBC or credit card?

 If so maybe call Oceania  & get them to see why you did not get the discount

 

4 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

OBC   Have you ever received this discount?  

Edited October 21, 2022 by aussietwo

[Flatbush Flyer]

10 minutes ago, aussietwo said:

Hi Flatbush Flyer

I love cc for all the useful advice that folk put on here.   We have a cruise with 3 “free” O’Life excursions.  Maximum required to get the 25% discount is 4.  I chose the 3 “free” excursions and booked them.  I then searched for another tour that sounded reasonable at a lower price.  Booked it.  Then for my 5th excursion booked a more expensive OS tour.  I did not receive the discount.  Any advice on how to get it?  Thanks in advance.  If you want to contact me off the board that is fine.  
Cheers Ros🙂.   rosmerleg at hotmail dot com. (Usual format) - subject ship excursions

Not enough info. 
Most importantly, since you said “we,” I assume you’re talking about double occupancy. Here’s my understanding:

 

How did you “book” them? Online or by calling O or by having your TA do it? (Always do your own math and then call O to compare numbers and book). 

Also, “3 free excursions?” They are normally provided “per cabin” in even numbers (based on double occupancy) but are meant to be split evenly. So, was your perk actually 6 per cabin (ergo, 3 per person)? 
That said, the minimum tours required for YWYW is also per person. So, if the YWYW minimum was 4 tours, and “you” (the cabin) have 6 O Life tours, “you” the cabin would need to book TWO additional tours. However, that would have to be done as ONE PER PERSON in addition to the 3 per person from O Life. You EACH need to have four tours to qualify. One person cannot have 5 tours while the other only has three. And from your post, it looks like you added a fourth and fifth for yourself while your shipmate added nothing.

Whether that’s the case or not, you’ll need to call O for any changes involving dropping something already booked. 

 
 

[Flatbush Flyer]

26 minutes ago, aussietwo said:

 

OBC   Have you ever received this discount?  

We use the combo of O Life excursions plus YWYW on pretty much every O cruise. We’re using it right now as I write this on two Marina segments from BCN-FCO-MIA.

[LHT28]

38 minutes ago, aussietwo said:

 

OBC   Have you ever received this discount?  

I usually get OBC from the Oceania Club program & my TA  but  never book ships tours

But I understand  & the experts will correct me if wrong  that you can use the OBC/SBC to pay for tours in advance

I believe you have to check out of the shopping cart  in order to get the discounted  rate ???

[Flatbush Flyer]

6 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

I usually get OBC from the Oceania Club program & my TA  but  never book ships tours

But I understand  & the experts will correct me if wrong  that you can use the OBC/SBC to pay for tours in advance

I believe you have to check out of the shopping cart  in order to get the discounted  rate ???

SBC provided by O in your account will be used to pay for tours unless you opt to pay by CC.

The YWYW cost is figured in the background (if you check the YWYW Box for each person) and the bottom line total is where the 25% discount is displayed. (You don’t see the discounted price for each tour in the cart summary (very annoying glitch). This is why it is best to call O And book tours direct along with getting a copy of the “prepurchased excursions” PDF math spreadsheet. That doc is important should you want to understand cost difference changes needed on the ship. 

[aussietwo]

Thanks for your responses thus far.  Yes there are two of us and yes we each booked all excursions.  i.e. Now have 5 each 10 in total.  The Tour Price was $328 and the YWC price was $246 which was the price I expected to pay.  If I had paid that amount we each would have $141 remaining shipboard credit.  
 

where will I find the YWYW cost.  My confirmation for each shows

EXCURSION RETAIL VALUE SAVINGS PAYMENTS OS-WHITE PASS RAILWAY, KLONDIKE HWY & GO AU$328 AU$328 AU$0 SUB TOTAL AU$328 AU$328  AU$0

ONBOARD OPTIONS

ITEM RETAIL VALUE SAVINGS PAYMENTS SUB TOTAL AU$0 AU$0 AU$0

TOTAL AMOUNT AU$328 AU$328 AU$0

SHIPBOARD CREDITS USED AU$328 SHIPBOARD CREDITS REMAINING AU$59 TOTAL PAYMENTS (AU$328)

Edited October 21, 2022 by aussietwo

[arima22]

What was the minimum number of excursions you had to purchase to qualify for the 25% discount?

[aussietwo]

35 minutes ago, arima22 said:

What was the minimum number of excursions you had to purchase to qualify for the 25% discount?

4 each 

[aussietwo]

Through trial and error may now have it figured.  I can bring up a discounted price on a regular tour but when I try it with an OS tour it doesn’t show a discount.  My question now is does the discount apply to tours marked OS?
 

 

[arima22]

Once you reach your minimum number of tours the discount should apply to all categories.

[Guppy99]

On 9/1/2022 at 12:28 PM, pokyjones said:

Looking for advice as we've never sailed on Oceania (RC & Celebrity for most past).  $600 OBC or the six 'free' excursions, but limited to the OLIfe ones.  It's pretty confusing how Oceania does excursions, but looking through the menu I think I understand (certain excursions excluded from OLife).  On a 12 night cruise we're definitely going to do 3+ excursions so that's not an issue.  We also have no worries about booking excursions on our own.  So is it a better 'value' to take the excursions or OBC?  $100+ per excursion these days is not unreasonable to expect so I tend to think the excursion OLife "deal" is best value.  We're not big drinkers so that option isn't being considered.

 

Thanks for any advice to an Oceania newbie!

You can always use your OBC to book any excursion with greater flexibility.  I wouldn't think twice and would take the OBC.

[LHT28]

9 minutes ago, Guppy99 said:

You can always use your OBC to book any excursion with greater flexibility.  I wouldn't think twice and would take the OBC.

The OBC perk is  YOUR $  that will be non refundable  should you not use it all

If you know you will spend  the OBC anyway   then it will be fine

Think carefully  before taking that option

JMO

[Redtravel]

If you plan on taking excursions, pick excursions.  Listed excursions cost under $200 are yours to select. Do it early. They do sell out.

[zalusky]

My experience on this.  First I had to get them to mark my booking with a YWC.  It did not seem to automatically give me the discount.  Second when I looked at my purchased cruise detail is a bunch of gibberish when it comes to excursion pricing.  Their computer figures it out properly but they don't show it properly online.  My TA did get an itemized list and it did show full price, discounted price, and payments properly but the online was off.

 

There is a lot of weird stuff that goes on with this kind of promotion.

 

It kind of works like this:

1) First look at all the excursions $199 and take the highest 3/4/what ever free amount you have.

2) Second look at the remainder and lower them by 25%

 

So if you subsequently purchase a new excursion the rankings can change because its possible the new excursion will fit into the free ranking but more expensive than one of the ones in the free count.

This will then push that down into the paid category.  Once its in the pay for category its price is adjusted 25% and changes completely your whole bill.

 

It would be nice for the online system to show this all in a spreadsheet as you try out different scenarios before committing.

 

So far Oceania's IT seems to be the worse part of my experience.

[mauibabes]

@guppy99 

IF you are going to purchase/book Oceania excursions and the 💵 range is between $100-199 and you book the number of FREE Excursions, it is absolutely in your best interest to take the Free Excursions Amenity option . 
If your selected Amenity is $400 or 4 Excursions for example, you can theoretically book $795 worth of tours, so much more bang for your buck. NMHO, JUST THE FACTS. 

When you meet the YWC booked tour minimum, and combine them with the Free ones you have booked, it allows you to get 25% off the OS, etc tours so a very good value.  On a Southampton to Iceland to NYC trip Pre Covid, we took about a dozen tours.  A combination of Free and YWC and  Private tours and I think our average tour cost was only about $80.  You have to “Do the math” 👍
 

I too find the excursion booking process to be a bit challenging but we get it worked out. After I finish my booking I always call an O Rep friend and have her confirm my numbers.  I Never want to leave any 💵💵 on the table.  
Use your Oceania resources and your TA because no one knows everything, even on CC, JMHO. 

Ciao, Mauibabes 

[Flatbush Flyer]

On 10/22/2022 at 5:06 AM, Guppy99 said:

You can always use your OBC to book any excursion with greater flexibility.  I wouldn't think twice and would take the OBC.

Sorry but “so wrong.” There is no added value to O Life SBC. The $ amount equals what you pause extra in the fare.

Take the excursions and pick those closest to $199 that interest you. Add enough pay ones for 25% YWYW discount on those. That’s flexibility.

[aussietwo]

Thanks everyone.  I have responded to Specialty Services via their confirmation email requesting the discount.  It is a.com email address so I am assuming it has gone to Oceania in America.  If I don’t have any response from them, I will try Oceania in Australia and lastly my TA who does not know much about Oceania.  I stick with him because he has looked after us well over the years.  We are platinum Oceania Club Members.  Cheers Ros🙂

[aussietwo]

Another question.  We also have 

Gift Orders
US$50 COMPLIMENTARY SHIPBOARD CREDIT  times two

This US$100 is not included in the total showing on our Oceania account.  Should it be included or will it be added to our account after we board.