Booking shore excursions on line

[tampadee]

I have onboard credit for a cruise I have booked but when I select a cruise I am prompted to use a credit card to pay for the cruise.  How do I reserve a shore excursion with my onboard credit and not a credit card?

[Flatbush Flyer]

3 hours ago, tampadee said:

I have onboard credit for a cruise I have booked but when I select a cruise I am prompted to use a credit card to pay for the cruise.  How do I reserve a shore excursion with my onboard credit and not a credit card?

What “onboard credit?” If it’s from your TA, it won’t work. Only SBC directly from O (as O Club or O Life perk) will show in your account and automatically be used to offset the cost of prebooked tours.

In any case, as I always state here, NEVER buy the tours online. Call O directly and buy from an O Rep who knows that it is OK to send you the full math accounting PDF called “prepurchased shore excursions” 

[AMHuntFerry]

50 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

What “onboard credit?” If it’s from your TA, it won’t work. Only SBC directly from O (as O Club or O Life perk) will show in your account and automatically be used to offset the cost of prebooked tours.

In any case, as I always state here, NEVER buy the tours online. Call O directly and buy from an O Rep who knows that it is OK to send you the full math accounting PDF called “prepurchased shore excursions” 

I was trying to word how OCAPP OBC from a TA (really from O and is available for prepurchases) is different than Other OBC from a TA but my brain is failing me. I know you can explain it since you are who I learned it from.

[Flatbush Flyer]

10 minutes ago, AMHuntFerry said:

I was trying to word how OCAPP OBC from a TA (really from O and is available for prepurchases) is different than Other OBC from a TA but my brain is failing me. I know you can explain it since you are who I learned it from.

OCAPP is O money given to TAs on select cruises to be passed through to passengers who need their gratuities covered (i.e., they don’t qualify for O Club gratuities coverage). In one sense, it is SBC. But, it is already earmarked for gratuities only.

Now, if you get O Club gratuities and are offered O CAPP $ by the TA, you can take it and O will give you $250 “in lieu” of the usual O Club grats. “In lieu” $250 will show on your account and is usable to prepurchase tours because it’s direct to you (not via or from a TA).

[AMHuntFerry]

3 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

OCAPP is O money given to TAs on select cruises to be passed through to passengers who need their gratuities covered (i.e., they don’t qualify for O Club gratuities coverage). In one sense, it is SBC. But, it is already earmarked for gratuities only.

Now, if you get O Club gratuities and are offered O CAPP $ by the TA, you can take it and O will give you $250 “in lieu” of the usual O Club grats. “In lieu” $250 will show on your account and is usable to prepurchase tours because it’s direct to you (not via or from a TA).

I would have definitely messed up the explanation! I also have some OBC from my TA that is available to use for pre-cruise purchases; I thought it was OCAPP, but it is not (did I mention fuzzy brain?). This OBC is a consortium perk...some cruises they give PPG and others they give OBC (seems to be linked to "hosted" cruises).

[LHT28]

33 minutes ago, AMHuntFerry said:

I was trying to word how OCAPP OBC from a TA (really from O and is available for prepurchases) is different than Other OBC from a TA but my brain is failing me. I know you can explain it since you are who I learned it from.

I think you can only apply the amount in your online account as Credits

Which may or may not be different than on your invoice

We get  PPG from O Club  but it is not shown in our Credit in our online account

[Flatbush Flyer]

12 minutes ago, AMHuntFerry said:

I would have definitely messed up the explanation! I also have some OBC from my TA that is available to use for pre-cruise purchases; I thought it was OCAPP, but it is not (did I mention fuzzy brain?). This OBC is a consortium perk...some cruises they give PPG and others they give OBC (seems to be linked to "hosted" cruises).

if it’s not on your O invoice, you will not see it in your online account and, therefore it can not be debited in online precruise purchases. BTW, I have only seen “OCAPP” on O invoices cited as “gratuities” coverage and, on the right multi-segment cruise, you might see Segment 1 OCAPP from a TA and segment 2 OCAPP from the TA’s consortium.

I have seen other promotional discounts/SBC provided by O to both TAs and TA consortia ,as well as directly to passengers, on an O invoice. But, it’s always been identified for a specific reason (e.g., new O passenger perk, BoB bonus, etc) and these items may not appear in your online account (another important reason to have copies of any email/document stating the perk, it’s amount and it’s source).

Now, someone here on CC may come along and say “I don’t do that because I have a great TA… blah blah blah.” That’s all well and good except that, once you are onboard, communication that involves more than just you and Guest Relations (or Destination Services or the Exec. Concierge or GM) can quickly get complicated. It is far easier to provide your documented proof of “whatever” and let O work it out with the TA if needed. But, in order to do that efficaciously, you really need to know what both the issue is and the solution should be. And you need that paper trail (I even bring an extra copy of essential docs or a digital/printable version) for the O staff handling the problem. 

[Psoque]

19 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

What “onboard credit?” If it’s from your TA, it won’t work. Only SBC directly from O (as O Club or O Life perk) will show in your account and automatically be used to offset the cost of prebooked tours.

In any case, as I always state here, NEVER buy the tours online. Call O directly and buy from an O Rep who knows that it is OK to send you the full math accounting PDF called “prepurchased shore excursions” 

Our upcoming cruise would be our first one with Oceania, so I’ve never booked a shore excursion with Oceania.  So, could you explain to me what does/can go wrong when we book the excursions online?

[Flatbush Flyer]

1 minute ago, Psoque said:

Our upcoming cruise would be our first one with Oceania, so I’ve never booked a shore excursion with Oceania.  So, could you explain to me what does/can go wrong when we book the excursions online?

The Cart sometimes has issues including displaying retail prices (or even $0) rather than the YWYW price you’ve selected (though the bottom line costs are usually correct). Because  different O folks appear to handle different aspects of the O excursions reality, the tours website sometimes lists tours that have already been cancelled or doesn’t list some tours that have been added. It also will almost always not let you book two tours in a day - even if they meet O’s requirement of an approx. 90 minute “layover” between them.  
in addition, there is no mechanism to cancel a booked tour online. 
And, perhaps most importantly, when you book online, you do not receive the all-important “prepurchased shore excursions” PDF which shows you all the math of O Life and YWYW (or Passport) package purchases. That is the essential document necessary to manage tour changes once onboard.

[tampadee]

On 4/25/2023 at 6:12 PM, itsnotjustme said:

Vertical motion (bouncing) will be most pronounced at the front AND back of the ship.  Since the ship does not bend (appreciably), picture a rod going horizontally through the middle of the ship near the water line and the ship rotating about the rod - when the bow goes up, the stern goes down.  While forward facing balconies are forward, they are less forward than many of the lower deck interior or ocean view cabins.

 

Side-to-side motion (rocking) will be most pronounced on upper decks.  This would be rotation about a rod from bow to stern.  The upper decks move much further than lower decks.

 

Forward facing can have a lot of wind, particularly while underway.

 

Will you be cruising in an area more subject to rough seas, like the North Atlantic, or are you inside the Mediterranean where high seas are less common? 

 

[AMHuntFerry]

I still use the online cart which the O-rep can see. I don't do well on the phone (I'm very visual, verbal/audio is my worst communication method), so it saves having to tell the rep which shorex I want. Also, if a shorex is full/waitlisted, I can prepare rather than thinking on the fly. As FF taught me, not all shorex show up online sometimes, so calling O (or TA) may be a necessity to book them.

I did my fall cruise shorex online, but all I had were OLife ones. After completing the online "purchase", I had my TA send the pdf FF mentions.

[Flatbush Flyer]

15 minutes ago, AMHuntFerry said:

I still use the online cart which the O-rep can see. I don't do well on the phone (I'm very visual, verbal/audio is my worst communication method), so it saves having to tell the rep which shorex I want. Also, if a shorex is full/waitlisted, I can prepare rather than thinking on the fly. As FF taught me, not all shorex show up online sometimes, so calling O (or TA) may be a necessity to book them.

I did my fall cruise shorex online, but all I had were OLife ones. After completing the online "purchase", I had my TA send the pdf FF mentions.

The O rep does not see the same web/cart display as do you. Different system. And you are correct, the web site offerings and the actual booking system (as well as the excursions list PDF you receive with invoices or upon request) often don’t “jive” completely.

[AMHuntFerry]

11 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

The O rep does not see the same web/cart display as do you. Different system. And you are correct, the web site offerings and the actual booking system (as well as the excursions list PDF you receive with invoices or upon request) often don’t “jive” completely.

I only have the single experience interacting with the O-rep in December 2021...the O-rep could see what I had put in my cart. Maybe he had to enter it in a different system?

[Flatbush Flyer]

1 minute ago, AMHuntFerry said:

I only have the single experience interacting with the O-rep in December 2021...the O-rep could see what I had put in my cart. Maybe he had to enter it in a different system?

Yes he can see what you’ve booked but the web display (including some of the cart “glitchiness”) is not on his display. 

[Cruzin Terri]

For the last five days I have tried to no avail to book some shore excursions on line.  Knowing that O usually does maintenance on the weekend and that yesterday was a holiday, I decided to wait until this morning to try and book my excursions.  I still was not able to book them.  After selecting my excursions and “proceeding to cart” I then had a screen that showed “loading cart” that just remained there forever.  Finally I had to call to book the excursions.  The Rep said there was no problem.   Is it my two computers?  I Pad and Desktop?  Two different browsers?

Don’t know what I was doing wrong.

Terri

[vlthom]

39 minutes ago, Cruzin Terri said:

For the last five days I have tried to no avail to book some shore excursions on line.  Knowing that O usually does maintenance on the weekend and that yesterday was a holiday, I decided to wait until this morning to try and book my excursions.  I still was not able to book them.  After selecting my excursions and “proceeding to cart” I then had a screen that showed “loading cart” that just remained there forever.  Finally I had to call to book the excursions.  The Rep said there was no problem.   Is it my two computers?  I Pad and Desktop?  Two different browsers?

Don’t know what I was doing wrong.

Terri

 I had the same issue when attempting to book shore excursions online last week.  After multiple failed attempts over the course of the full week, like you, I resorted to calling O and having a rep do the booking for me.  My guess is that there was a system problem of some sort but the O rep had no difficulty making the bookings for me.

[nparmelee]

I have mixed luck with online, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Once it worked for one, tried another one and that didn't work. Now I just call.

Good luck!

[Cruzin Terri]

9 minutes ago, vlthom said:

 I had the same issue when attempting to book shore excursions online last week.  After multiple failed attempts over the course of the full week, like you, I resorted to calling O and having a rep do the booking for me.  My guess is that there was a system problem of some sort but the O rep had no difficulty making the bookings for me.

O Rep said he was not aware of any problems with booking on line.

Terri

[Flatbush Flyer]

40 minutes ago, Cruzin Terri said:

For the last five days I have tried to no avail to book some shore excursions on line.  Knowing that O usually does maintenance on the weekend and that yesterday was a holiday, I decided to wait until this morning to try and book my excursions.  I still was not able to book them.  After selecting my excursions and “proceeding to cart” I then had a screen that showed “loading cart” that just remained there forever.  Finally I had to call to book the excursions.  The Rep said there was no problem.   Is it my two computers?  I Pad and Desktop?  Two different browsers?

Don’t know what I was doing wrong.

Terri

While it might be interesting to get to the root of your IT issue (try dumping your Oceania cookies), the fact remains that booking tours online is never a good idea.

The “cart” remains very glitchy (search CC for my numerous previous posts on the specifics).

Instead, call O direct - even if it takes several attempts to find a knowledgeable/agreeable phone rep (whose attitude/direct contact info will be useful in the future). Alternatively, you could go through your TA but, only if that TA truly knows how to navigate the maze that is the combo of O Life & YWYW.

In any case, the right O rep can quickly help you work out the best value approach to your desired tours AND send you the very important “prepurchased shore excursions” PDF which has all of the math that will prove helpful if/when O cancels tours onboard and you need to decide on replacements/refunds/etc.

[Cruzin Terri]

Just now, Flatbush Flyer said:

While it might be interesting to get to the root of your IT issue (try dumping your Oceania cookies), the fact remains that booking tours online is never a good idea.

The “cart” remains very glitchy (search CC for my numerous previous posts on the specifics).

Instead, call O direct - even if it takes several attempts to find a knowledgeable/agreeable phone rep (whose attitude/direct contact info will be useful in the future). Alternatively, you could go through your TA but, only if that TA truly knows how to navigate the maze that is the combo of O Life & YWYW.

In any case, the right O rep can quickly help you work out the best value approach to your desired tours AND send you the very important “prepurchased shore excursions” PDF which has all of the math that will prove helpful if/when O cancels tours onboard and you need to decide on replacements/refunds/etc.

Did dump the cookies.

Terri