O Life Shore Excursions.

[SellaVee]

Does anyone know how often the "free" shore excursions sell out?  What happens in that case if someone hasn't yet booked any.

[LHT28]

depends on the shorex  if  a popular  one it may sell fast

sometimes they will wait list you  or add another bus

[AMHuntFerry]

In the US we can remove OLife from our booking and pay less (= the OLife OBC)...not sure that's an option in the UK though. If it is an option and there are not enough OLife-qualifying-shorex still available, just drop OLife. If you still want to take O shorex, there are other packages available (YWC or UPC) and ala carte.

[SellaVee]

Thank you both.  We can't drop O life, but I've been told by a TA, I can swop the excursions for the onboard credit if they aren't available.

[LHT28]

3 hours ago, SellaVee said:

Thank you both.  We can't drop O life, but I've been told by a TA, I can swop the excursions for the onboard credit if they aren't available.

When is your cruise?

 Have you selected the excursions  you want yet?

[azbirdmom]

12 hours ago, AMHuntFerry said:

If you still want to take O shorex, there are other packages available (YWC or UPC) and ala carte.

 

Question about UPC.  I'm new to Oceania and was wondering if all excursions are available under UPC or just select ones.  I cannot tell from the website and have tried searching for answers there to no avail.

[LHT28]

25 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

 

Question about UPC.  I'm new to Oceania and was wondering if all excursions are available under UPC or just select ones.  I cannot tell from the website and have tried searching for answers there to no avail.

Did you get the Shore excursion PDF with your booking?

 It may be worth calling Oceania  to get the details  for your sailing  & what the package  entails

JMO

[sunlover12]

1 hour ago, azbirdmom said:

Edited May 6, 2023 by sunlover12
Delete

[AMHuntFerry]

1 hour ago, azbirdmom said:

 

Question about UPC.  I'm new to Oceania and was wondering if all excursions are available under UPC or just select ones.  I cannot tell from the website and have tried searching for answers there to no avail.

As LHT28 says, get the shore excursions pdf for your cruise. It has package info as well as other critical info such as cancellation (by you or O) policies.

I have never seen a shorex where UPC did not apply, but I suppose it is possible. You can tell the price of the excursion by looking in the UPC column on the website. If it says "N/A" then it is included for no additional cash. If it says something like "$69", then your additional cost is $69. UPC usually costs about $110/day. If there are OLife-qualifying shorex that you like, OLife combined with YWC may be the better choice. If you are mostly interested in the above-$200 shorex, then either YWC or UPC may be the better fiscal choice but it highly depends on which shorex you choose. If you narrow down your shorex choices to the ones of interest, you can either make a spreadsheet to compare or call an O-rep (or your TA if they are VERY O-shorex experienced) and they will help you figure out the best package. I like to do it myself, but you don't have to. Note that it is rarely possible to do more than one shorex per day.

Edited May 6, 2023 by AMHuntFerry

[azbirdmom]

1 hour ago, LHT28 said:

Did you get the Shore excursion PDF with your booking?

 It may be worth calling Oceania  to get the details  for your sailing  & what the package  entails

JMO

 

49 minutes ago, AMHuntFerry said:

As LHT28 says, get the shore excursions pdf for your cruise. It has package info as well as other critical info such as cancellation (by you or O) policies.

I have never seen a shorex where UPC did not apply, but I suppose it is possible. You can tell the price of the excursion by looking in the UPC column on the website. If it says "N/A" then it is included for no additional cash. If it says something like "$69", then your additional cost is $69. UPC usually costs about $110/day. If there are OLife-qualifying shorex that you like, OLife combined with YWC may be the better choice. If you are mostly interested in the above-$200 shorex, then either YWC or UPC may be the better fiscal choice but it highly depends on which shorex you choose. If you narrow down your shorex choices to the ones of interest, you can either make a spreadsheet to compare or call an O-rep (or your TA if they are VERY O-shorex experienced) and they will help you figure out the best package. I like to do it myself, but you don't have to. Note that it is rarely possible to do more than one shorex per day.

 

Thank you both for pointing me in the right direction!  We booked this cruise quite a while ago and I didn't notice that there was a shore excursions attachment along with all of the booking documents our TA sent.  It definitely answered the questions that the website didn't (excerpt from the pdf below).  Thanks again!

 

[AMHuntFerry]

4 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

 

 

Thank you both for pointing me in the right direction!  We booked this cruise quite a while ago and I didn't notice that there was a shore excursions attachment along with all of the booking documents our TA sent.  It definitely answered the questions that the website didn't (excerpt from the pdf below).  Thanks again!

 

If it's been awhile, ask for the latest version. Sometimes shorex get added/deleted and there may be price changes. Also, keep an eye on times in port and shorex times (even after you book). These have been in flux lately. On my fall cruise there are shorex that don't line up with the port times (e.g., shorex ends after the ship is supposed to leave), or my 7:30 am kayaking that is now 12:30 pm (thankfully!) with no heads-up from O.

[azbirdmom]

Just now, AMHuntFerry said:

If it's been awhile, ask for the latest version. Sometimes shorex get added/deleted and there may be price changes. Also, keep an eye on times in port and shorex times (even after you book). These have been in flux lately. On my fall cruise there are shorex that don't line up with the port times (e.g., shorex ends after the ship is supposed to leave), or my 7:30 am kayaking that is now 12:30 pm (thankfully!) with no heads-up from O.

 

Yes, I did notice that the attachment didn't have all of the excursions that were shown on the website.  And excursions for all ports aren't listed yet (cruise in February).  I think I'll wait to see what they are offering in a couple of the other ports before I buy the UPC but right now it is looking like a good deal.

[Snaefell3]

1 hour ago, AMHuntFerry said:

As LHT28 says, get the shore excursions pdf for your cruise. It has package info as well as other critical info such as cancellation (by you or O) policies.

⋮

Do not expect the shore excursion PDF to be the last word, however:

 

Our booking-time PDF showed "Solvang on Your Own" on 17 May to leave at 8:30am or 11:15am.  Today, O's website shows changed to noon or 2:15pm

[AMHuntFerry]

1 minute ago, Snaefell3 said:

Do not expect the shore excursion PDF to be the last word, however:

 

Our booking-time PDF showed "Solvang on Your Own" on 17 May to leave at 8:30am or 11:15am.  Today, O's website shows changed to noon or 2:15pm

Yes, the pdf usually changes between booking and sailing if you book more than a few months out. Sometimes the times change after sailing; nothing is in stone.

[SellaVee]

On 5/6/2023 at 2:56 PM, LHT28 said:

When is your cruise?

 Have you selected the excursions  you want yet?

Apologies for the delay in replying.  My cruise is soon.  I can't see, without a booking number, whether the excursions I’ve chosen are available or not, but since I posted word on the roll call is that most of the O Life excursions are sold out, so I've gone with the on board credit.  We usually book our own excursions anyway.