Unable to book shore excursions

[LHT28]

29 minutes ago, SATaxman said:

I booked our Excursions months ago. I just noticed one that looks better to me than the one I booked. It is sold out. Are there waitlists anywhere? I know I can check when I am on the ship; however, this stop is the first day, probably too late to cancel then even if the other one becomes available. First time sailing on Oceania, not sure about the policies for this situation. Thanks

Call Oceania  & ask  about the one you want   & see if they have a waitlist 

 

[SATaxman]

23 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Call Oceania  & ask  about the one you want   & see if they have a waitlist 

 

Thank you. I was planning on calling tomorrow.

[Stella Maris]

Excursions on the O website are an adventure.  Got a very good reduction on our November cruise through the Summer Sale, as well as a $1200 excursion credit.  At the same time, the pricing has gone up, through elimination of the cheapest category.  What's difficult is getting a clear idea of what you're paying (e.g., a total that said $3292 before credits, then said $3556 directly below it).  I spent an hour on the phone with O the other night, very nice man who finally showed me his spreadsheet, and helped me back into the figure.  At the same time, when he offered to book the tours for me, his final $ figure was $60 higher than mine (and he didn't know why), so I ended up doing it myself.  I don't know if they're trying to keep this mysterious, but it's going to generate a lot of questions.

[Vineyard View]

Still unable to book excursions nor see the prices under my booking. TA cannot get them either. Oceania is saying this is because it is the first sailing out of dry dock and as such they are having system issues. I am not sure that I follow that reasoning, but so far that is the explanation. 

[Redtravel]

So it isn't me. We are booked on May 18 th cruise and cannot find prices for excursions

 Nor any info how to use the SM credit.   Also, being the first cruise after refit has me worried.  For that reason, we booked cruise with air. Not thrilled using O air. However, if cruise is changed, it's on O. 

 We used O air in June. It was our first time using O air.  The price was good. The routing was bizarre.  

 

 

 

  

 

[basor]

2 minutes ago, Redtravel said:

So it isn't me. We are booked on May 18 th cruise and cannot find prices for excursions

 Nor any info how to use the SM credit.   Also, being the first cruise after refit has me worried.  For that reason, we booked cruise with air. Not thrilled using O air. However, if cruise is changed, it's on O. 

 We used O air in June. It was our first time using O air.  The price was good. The routing was bizarre.  

 

 

 

  

 

From other post on booking shore excursions with SM, you choose your excursions and the SM excursion is subtracted from the amount due.  If your excursions are more than your SM credit, you pay the difference.  Simple....

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, Vineyard View said:

Still unable to book excursions nor see the prices under my booking. TA cannot get them either. Oceania is saying this is because it is the first sailing out of dry dock and as such they are having system issues. I am not sure that I follow that reasoning, but so far that is the explanation. 

As mentioned before  look at ports  the  same as yours but  for 2023   on the main page NOT  in your account

It shows the excursions with prices

 It is  a long slog  but  you will at least see the excursions  available

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/mediterranean-cruises   scroll down the page to see the ports

 

 Choose the ones you want  then CALL  Oceania  & book the ones you want

 

Ask on your roll call if anyone has the PDF file from when the cruise was first booked   it will probably  have the same excursions if there was one

 

Or just wait  a few months  & keep checking your  sailing

 You could also keep calling Oceania  requesting the  excursion lit with prices ..eventually they will figure it out

JMO

[Vineyard View]

Thank you. That is a long slog. I do appreciate your coming back to me on this. It might make sense to do that on a couple of ports that I have more interest in using this credit at. 

[garyjnowak]

You should be OK to book now. Just booked 3 wineries tour in Santorini and Paella Farmhouse in Valencia. Good luck and see you on board!

[Redtravel]

Once we paid the deposit, we could see the excursions. 

[Vineyard View]

Thanks!  Just walking in and this is a change from this morning. I was able to see excursions since Saturday but could not book them.  I called Oceania Saturday  and was told to give it up to 7 days. I tried just now on the Tunisia port and it’s in my cart!  Yay! Will keep looking at the rest. 

[Vineyard View]

3 hours ago, garyjnowak said:

You should be OK to book now. Just booked 3 wineries tour in Santorini and Paella Farmhouse in Valencia. Good luck and see you on board!

Thanks again. Have you been to Santorini previously?  We have not but there are 4 other ships in port that day so not really sure what makes most sense. 

[Vineyard View]

When you are given a total number of excursions you need to make for the discount, is that the total, or is it per person? 

[garyjnowak]

It’s why we booked JTR-006 the 3 wineries in Santorini. The other excursions end at the top of the donkey trail. I’m hoping this tour starts and ends at the new port and avoid Fira altogether. I’m double checking with my TA also on the six excursions for 25%.

[Vineyard View]

I figured that was the reason. We haven’t been and with all the ships, the yacht sailing might be the ticket. I really would like to experience Oia and have read that there are boats that take you one way with a bust ticket to return. We really aren’t typically excursions people, but there are a couple of ports that make sense such as Tunisia and maybe Argostoli…..also new ports for us. 
 

Edited July 26, 2023 by Vineyard View

[Redtravel]

Sharing my experience booking shore excursions online. 

Today we booked shore excursions using Simply More credit and Oceania club credits.  It started like previous trips until we looked at the cart.  The cart listed all of our excursions with crazy prices.  Some were $0. Some were full price.  Some just made no sense. The total matched the full price for all excursions. It said that we owed full prices even though we booked more than the number to get a 25% discount.  Time to call O.  First time on hold got disconnected after 5 min.  Next, left a call back number.  Call back rep said that you have to check the "simply more" box to get the discounts. asked if she could book our excursions. She hung up. Checked the "simply more" and the cart looked different.  Now there were full prices listed next to each excursion.  Some showed a discount.  Some showed no discount.  The final amount with discounts applied less credits was correct.  I paid the difference online.  Got an email confirming transaction.  Email amount paid reflected the full prices. 

 

[EJL2023]

14 minutes ago, Redtravel said:

Sharing my experience booking shore excursions online. 

Today we booked shore excursions using Simply More credit and Oceania club credits.  It started like previous trips until we looked at the cart.  The cart listed all of our excursions with crazy prices.  Some were $0. Some were full price.  Some just made no sense. The total matched the full price for all excursions. It said that we owed full prices even though we booked more than the number to get a 25% discount.  Time to call O.  First time on hold got disconnected after 5 min.  Next, left a call back number.  Call back rep said that you have to check the "simply more" box to get the discounts. asked if she could book our excursions. She hung up. Checked the "simply more" and the cart looked different.  Now there were full prices listed next to each excursion.  Some showed a discount.  Some showed no discount.  The final amount with discounts applied less credits was correct.  I paid the difference online.  Got an email confirming transaction.  Email amount paid reflected the full prices. 

 

We had the same experience on Saturday. Would book excursions and it would say added to cart and then when go to cart not all would be there and pricing made no sense at all. Tried a couple of times and same issue again and again. Finally just called them and the Oceania rep did it all in 5 minutes or less and the pricing was then exactly as we thought it would be. Then received the detailed excursion doc which outlined pricing to the t.  Now the excursion pricing showing in our account online still looks wonky but the other matches what we expected and what we paid after our call.  

[pinotlover]

On the rare occasions I book an Oceania shore excursion, I always have my TA do it. This is especially the case when booking 3 or more!! Unlike those above that obviously enjoy spending an hour or more on the phone with dial a Clerk, I refuse to do so. 
 

She always comes back with the correct pricing and the numbers correct. I never begrudge her commissions either.

 

There are options to all this frustration. 

[EJL2023]

5 minutes on phone with Oceania rep is not an hour or more. 

[Redtravel]

The thing that made it work was checking the simply more box in the cart.  
Since Simple more has just begun, there were bound to be some quirks.  
Now that everyone has excursion credits, it pays to book early.  On past cruises, when we booked late, many excursions were sold out. On our last cruise in June, we booked late.  We took Olife mainly to get air. It included 3 excursions pp.  The only excursions with availability were not really what I would choose if I had booked earlier.  We enjoyed 2 of the 3 excursions.  Enjoyed visiting new places.

[Gracie115]

I have tried to book an excursion on our Dec 11 Vista cruise.  I put the desired one in my cart and then when I go to the cart it states "Cart is Empty"  I have tried this repeatedly the last few days.  Does anyone know why this would happen?

[tigerfan75]

2 hours ago, Gracie115 said:

I have tried to book an excursion on our Dec 11 Vista cruise.  I put the desired one in my cart and then when I go to the cart it states "Cart is Empty"  I have tried this repeatedly the last few days.  Does anyone know why this would happen?

I have found the online excursions booking engine wonky.  I now will only book O excursions by calling O directly.  My TA does not mind, and equally, it is one of the few things that O will allow a customer to do direct with them when you employ a TA.

[Gracie115]

9 minutes ago, tigerfan75 said:

I have found the online excursions booking engine wonky.  I now will only book O excursions by calling O directly.  My TA does not mind, and equally, it is one of the few things that O will allow a customer to do direct with them when you employ a TA.

 

Thank you, I was wondering if I could do this since our reservation is through a TA.

[ORV]

Oddly enough I was able to book some excursions online this weekend, I had enough for the 25% discount and contrary to popular belief I was able to get it to properly apply the discount as well as give me a printout with the break down.
You‘ve just got to push the right buttons and do things in the right order. I’ve had other times I’ve had to get my TA to straighten it out.  

[pmatawan]

6 hours ago, Gracie115 said:

I have tried to book an excursion on our Dec 11 Vista cruise.  I put the desired one in my cart and then when I go to the cart it states "Cart is Empty"  I have tried this repeatedly the last few days.  Does anyone know why this would happen?

There are several days on my cruise where nothing goes into cart. I reported this issue months ago, but apparently O does not care to fix it.