Simply more's impact on current bookings?

[AMHuntFerry]

1 hour ago, babydrum said:

I'm trying to determine whether to switch to SM. I almost always do shore excursions on my own but with the SM package, I'd get $1800 in shore excursion credit so I would feel obligated to use it.  When I look at the list of available shore excursions, there is a Tour Price, Simply More Shore Excursion Package, and an Unlimited option.  The prices for each are different.  My question is, do I get the Simply More Excursion Price if I take the SM package regardless of the # of tours I take?  Also, there is a 3rd passenger who I'd have to pay for.  I assume I'd have to pay the higher tour price for his excursions.  Does anyone know or have a feel for this?

 

Here is an one of the tours I'd consider under the SM.  Will I pay the $269 from my shore credit for my husband and the $359 for my son?  Will I get the 25% off for my son if I purchase 5 shore excursions from the cruise line or is that a thing of the past?  Any assistance would be appreciated.  

 

Ask your TA or O rep for the current shorex pdf. It will have a description of the three categories near the beginning of the document (before the shorex descriptions). There is also very important info at the end of the document (e.g., cancellations).

[Rainbow3fe]

2 hours ago, Susagoode1 said:

Rainbow3fe

I read we can bring 3 bottles onboard per cabin. Is that correct?

6 and they are lenient. We enjoy going to wineries and buying fine or just local wines.

[Susagoode1]

2 minutes ago, Rainbow3fe said:

6 and they are lenient. We enjoy going to wineries and buying fine or just local wines.

That is so interesting. On other cruises, HAL and Celebrity, we could bring aboard the wine but any alcohol purchased in port they would keep till debarkation. 
Thank you all. 

[Croooser]

2 hours ago, grifdoglover said:

@Woofaactually you are only allowed to bring six bottles and it is supposed to be wine.  If you drink outside your cabin there is a $25. Corkage fee.  If you bring alcohol from ports the cruise is supposed to hold it for you.  Yes people go around these policies but it’s good to know the real deal which is in the contract.

 

24 minutes ago, Susagoode1 said:

That is so interesting. On other cruises, HAL and Celebrity, we could bring aboard the wine but any alcohol purchased in port they would keep till debarkation. 
Thank you all. 

I believe that there is some confusion here. O does not have the same policies as the mainstream lines with respect to alcohol brought onboard. Unless something has changed, that is still the case For the sake of those without O experience:

 

• O has always allowed passengers to bring spirits onboard to be consumed in cabin only with no fee or quantity restriction other than where consumed. We have done so as recently as February. It is not a violation of policy or T&Cs.

• The T&Cs do place a limit on wine brought onboard but it has never been reported here that any limit was enforced. Some of the regulars here will frequently board with wine by the case on longer voyages without any questions.
• O also permits wine or spirits or beer to be brought onboard from ports of call.
• It is not held by the cruise line.
• There is a corkage fee for wine brought onboard and consumed outside the cabin. We have sometimes had this fee waived at the discretion of the sommelier. YMMV

 

We are also on the Nov 3 Vista Panama Canal cruise. We plan to pick up a few bottles of wine and a bottle of spirits in San Pedro the night before we sail. Then maybe a few more bottles of wine in San Diego or other ports.

Edited July 4, 2023 by Croooser

[Rainbow3fe]

13 minutes ago, Croooser said:

 

I believe that there is some confusion here. O does not have the same policies as the mainstream lines with respect to alcohol brought onboard. Unless something has changed, that is still the case For the sake of those without O experience:

 

• O has always allowed passengers to bring spirits onboard to be consumed in cabin only with no fee or quantity restriction other than where consumed. We have done so as recently as February. It is not a violation of policy or T&Cs.

• The T&Cs do place a limit on wine brought onboard but it has never been reported here that any limit was enforced. Some of the regulars here will frequently board with wine by the case on longer voyages without any questions.
• O also permits wine or spirits or beer to be brought onboard from ports of call.
• It is not held by the cruise line.
• There is a corkage fee for wine brought onboard and consumed outside the cabin. We have sometimes had this fee waived at the discretion of the sommelier. YMMV

 

We are also on the Nov 3 Vista Panama Canal cruise. We plan to pick up a few bottles of wine and a bottle of spirits in San Pedro the night before we sail. Then maybe a few more bottles of wine in San Diego or other ports.

Hi Mike & Janet,

       We are on that cruise as well. Are you on the Roll Call? There's a spreadsheet.

      We are spending 4 days in  San Luis Obispo and have booked visits to wineries in Paso Robles.  They're supposed to have wonderful reds.🍷 The major reason we decided to explore that area was to buy wines for the cruise.

       Last year we picked up some Brunellos from Montalcino before boarding in Civitavecchia. 

         Looking forward to meeting you. 

Felice & Ivan 🌊😎

      

[1985rz1]

2 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

Are they letting you choose any excursion in any category to use the OBC for? 

Yes.

Edited July 4, 2023 by 1985rz1

[Flatbush Flyer]

3 hours ago, grifdoglover said:

@Woofaactually you are only allowed to bring six bottles and it is supposed to be wine.  If you drink outside your cabin there is a $25. Corkage fee.  If you bring alcohol from ports the cruise is supposed to hold it for you.  Yes people go around these policies but it’s good to know the real deal which is in the contract.

The CYA statement says only 6. But the reality is you can bring as much as you can carry on segment cruises. Depending on where we embark, we may bring a case to start and replenish enroute depending on the itinerary. We leave next week from home in SF and will start with a case.

[PinonNoir]

3 hours ago, LHT28 said:

so far I have not heard of anyone having their bottles of whatever confiscated

 I suppose  if they were  unruly or drinking in the line to board the ship  it may happen

 The contract  is there  as a CYA   but they do not seem to enforce  it

 

 

I'm boarding the Riviera this Sunday with 12 bottles of wine, and plan to go to Majestic Wine (10 minutes from the dock in Southampton) after checking in and picking up another 12 bottles of wine.  I'll let you know what happens.

[Flatbush Flyer]

5 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

So on the basic, not prestige package,  you have multiple wine options that are included daily with your meals to choose from?  

Both packages have the same cheap wines-by-the-glass. Better to bring your own wine and use prestige package for better spirits in double cocktails.

[Flatbush Flyer]

3 hours ago, Acrusa said:

So why the difference in price between packages 

Prestige has spirits too and it’s all day.

[tennis]

We drink wine and have never done the drink package because they don’t have the wine we drink included.  On Crystal having the drinks included was OK because they served great wines.  Oceania is going to have to improve the wines available by glass if they expect anyone to continue to cruise and pay for drinks they won’t drink.  We have 2 cruises scheduled with Oceania in the 4th quarter and have done the analysis and have no interest in changing to the new program.  Maybe they should have collected data from their long term customers.

[MEFIowa]

30 minutes ago, PinonNoir said:

I'm boarding the Riviera this Sunday with 12 bottles of wine, and plan to go to Majestic Wine (10 minutes from the dock in Southampton) after checking in and picking up another 12 bottles of wine.  I'll let you know what happens.

I brought 6 bottles of wine and a 12-pack of beer onto Sirena (11/2022). And then bought lots of beer and rum at the various ports during the 10-night cruise. NO issues. No confiscations. Only drink my beer, hard liquor and wine in my cabin.

[pinotlover]

Surprisingly, on the Vista, we had some decent offerings on the by the glass menu.

 

On the Chardonnay side was a quite quaffable Macon Village that went fine with several of the dishes. When the dish would take a bit of oak and butter, the Raymond Chardonnay was acceptable. The Raymond had been listed on both our previous cruises but was always out of stock. It was available, perhaps as a treat, on Vista.

 

The Chianti did fine with the pizza and the valo was OK. The Riesling selection is typically good.
 

The surprising treats, from off the list, were a decent Sauternes and two different tawny ports as dessert wines. I carried a nice port from dinner directly to the Lounge and show on a couple occasions! 😜

 

Wines vary significantly by cruise. Catch as catch can. Only the Germain sucks consistently.

 

 

[PinonNoir]

38 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

The surprising treats, from off the list, were a decent Sauternes and two different tawny ports as dessert wines.

Do you remember which Sauternes it was?  Trying to determine if I should bring one or not.

[Rainbow3fe]

1 hour ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Both packages have the same cheap wines-by-the-glass. Better to bring your own wine and use prestige package for better spirits in double cocktails.

     Thanks.  I assumed that would be the case.  A case of wine sounds great. 🍷 We brought one on in Buenos Aires many years ago.😎

[TFree]

4 hours ago, Rainbow3fe said:

We are spending 4 days in  San Luis Obispo and have booked visits to wineries in Paso Robles.  They're supposed to have wonderful reds.🍷 The major reason we decided to explore that area was to buy wines for the cruise.

Felice and Ivan: we live half an hour south of SLO. If you want to say hello prior to the cruise, we could come up and visit you, or meet somewhere.

 

Tom & Judy

[PinonNoir]

19 hours ago, Rainbow3fe said:

      We are spending 4 days in  San Luis Obispo and have booked visits to wineries in Paso Robles.  They're supposed to have wonderful reds.🍷 The major reason we decided to explore that area was to buy wines for the cruise.

      

I highly suggest you visit Nicora, Torrin and Denner.  Denner in particular has a beautiful tasting area.

[AweighToSea]

Trying to pick which if the "Simply More" threads would be most appropriate for my question and I think this is it based on the original subject.

 

Would anyone who had booked through a TA and has a cabin that is waitlist been offered Simply more let me know please? 

 

I have read of waitlisted bookings that have received SM but those might have been from the pax reaching out to O proactively (directly or through TA)

 

I am wanting to determine if O are offering SM to waitlisted bookings on their own initiative and, if yes, if my TA has dropped the ball (again).

[basor]

1 minute ago, AweighToSea said:

Trying to pick which if the "Simply More" threads would be most appropriate for my question and I think this is it based on the original subject.

 

Would anyone who had booked through a TA and has a cabin that is waitlist been offered Simply more let me know please? 

 

I have read of waitlisted bookings that have received SM but those might have been from the pax reaching out to O proactively (directly or through TA)

 

I am wanting to determine if O are offering SM to waitlisted bookings on their own initiative and, if yes, if my TA has dropped the ball (again).

As far as I know, O is not proactively contacting anyone (waitlisted or not) to switch to SM.   It is up to the passenger or their TA to check with O on the cost to switch to SM and make the determination if they want to switch.   

[1985rz1]

7 minutes ago, AweighToSea said:

Trying to pick which if the "Simply More" threads would be most appropriate for my question and I think this is it based on the original subject.

 

Would anyone who had booked through a TA and has a cabin that is waitlist been offered Simply more let me know please? 

 

I have read of waitlisted bookings that have received SM but those might have been from the pax reaching out to O proactively (directly or through TA)

 

I am wanting to determine if O are offering SM to waitlisted bookings on their own initiative and, if yes, if my TA has dropped the ball (again).

I think @ArtistsWife had her waitlisted cruise repriced, but I think it was directly with an O Agent.  I hope she chimes in and confirms or corrects me.

 

But in any case, the ball is in the pax court as O is not reaching out proactively as @basor posted.

Edited July 8, 2023 by 1985rz1

[EJL2023]

29 minutes ago, AweighToSea said:

Trying to pick which if the "Simply More" threads would be most appropriate for my question and I think this is it based on the original subject.

 

Would anyone who had booked through a TA and has a cabin that is waitlist been offered Simply more let me know please? 

 

I have read of waitlisted bookings that have received SM but those might have been from the pax reaching out to O proactively (directly or through TA)

 

I am wanting to determine if O are offering SM to waitlisted bookings on their own initiative and, if yes, if my TA has dropped the ball (again).

In this thread, refer to posts 568, 584 and 609.  Appears can be done with some supervisors intervention.  

[maggie.1008]

So sorry for anyone that was booked on Explora Journey Inaugural cruise. 
I am hoping things will improve as I hope to cruise next April. 

[AweighToSea]

Thank-you for that clarificat@basor and @1985rz1 . I (mistakenly) thought I had seen O was reaching out to those affected. Must have been just me assuming they would want to move as many as possible over to SM and the usual "we are happy to let you know you are eleigible ..." type of thing.

I think some TA would not look forward to the additional work and fielding many questions even with an increase in revenue if O sends them an email the obligation to advise the client vs knowing the program change and keeping quiet (not unlike not offereing to re-fare a booking if eleigble for a sale or such)

I need to approach my TA about a different issue and wanted to get an understanding of this first

 

And thanks @EJL2023 for looking up those posts.  Reading them I am thinking TFree and MnDAL reached out to their TA . BTW, I just discovered by (on a PC) right-clicking the post's time stamp the link address can be copied and clicking the pasted link will go direct to the comment. i.e. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2944622-simply-mores-impact-on-current-bookings/?do=findComment&comment=65691071

 

 

[basor]

4 minutes ago, AweighToSea said:

Thank-you for that clarificat@basor and @1985rz1 . I (mistakenly) thought I had seen O was reaching out to those affected. Must have been just me assuming they would want to move as many as possible over to SM and the usual "we are happy to let you know you are eleigible ..." type of thing.

I think some TA would not look forward to the additional work and fielding many questions even with an increase in revenue if O sends them an email the obligation to advise the client vs knowing the program change and keeping quiet (not unlike not offereing to re-fare a booking if eleigble for a sale or such)

I need to approach my TA about a different issue and wanted to get an understanding of this first

 

And thanks @EJL2023 for looking up those posts.  Reading them I am thinking TFree and MnDAL reached out to their TA . BTW, I just discovered by (on a PC) right-clicking the post's time stamp the link address can be copied and clicking the pasted link will go direct to the comment. i.e. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2944622-simply-mores-impact-on-current-bookings/?do=findComment&comment=65691071

 

 

a good TA will provide the service - ours contacted us with the numbers and asked if we were interested in switching on any of our booked cruises.  It is not just about the extra work on this cruise but building the relationship for future travel bookings.  

[AweighToSea]

6 minutes ago, basor said:

a good TA will provide the service - ours contacted us with the numbers and asked if we were interested in switching on any of our booked cruises.  It is not just about the extra work on this cruise but building the relationship for future travel bookings.  

Agree a good TA would do that. As I implied, the new to us agency and TA I have recently used does not fit into that category unfortunately. Previous agents have retired.  The quest continues.