Watching Deals and Sales On Oceania Cruises for Sport

[WildWanderers]

21 minutes ago, cluso said:

Relooking at the Terms, it appears all the promotions have that "NBOnly" phrase.  So, how do people move up cabins or decrease original fare multiple times?

Hi @cluso,

 

I think the rule is (and may be wrong) that you can make the change if there is another room available in your same category.  In other words, why would they prohibit you from an upgrade if you could cancel your current booking and rebook a different room in same room category, at a lesser price.

 

I ignore the new bookings only caveat and hope for the best.  Ignorance can be bliss.

 

We had an experience where we had two discounts applied to a cruise that was fully paid, leading to large refunds in nonrefundable onboard credits.  We could have bought hundreds of Oceania baseball caps but opted for wine tastings and spa services.

 

Cheers,

Greg from the WildWanderers

[PelicanLvr]

On 5/23/2024 at 8:47 AM, FetaCheese said:

Oceania Flash Sale now thru 29 May. 18 cruises.

Feta - Thanks for posting this.  How did you learn about this Flash Sale?  

 

We get loads of O emails and the mailed brochures are endless....but nothing about this sale.  What's your secret?

[FetaCheese]

Just now, PelicanLvr said:

Feta - Thanks for posting this.  How did you learn about this Flash Sale?  

 

We get loads of O emails and the mailed brochures are endless....but nothing about this sale.  What's your secret?

No secret.  It is on the O website.  O has reduced the quantity of mailings, as was said in a previous earnings call.  One can learn much from those calls.

[Daniel A]

1 hour ago, cluso said:

I saw the dreaded words in Terms "New bookings only", so I guess I can't upgrade to PH.  I thought I had read that some people have done that.  I have not paid final yet.  It's our first Oceania cruise and I booked directly with O.

Before you cancel and rebook, look before you leap.  I booked my next (and first O sailing) last August.  I just got to final payment and before making the final payment, I checked the current prices for the same booking.  It was more expensive and the benefits of "Simply More" turned out to be simply less.  Now, there's no prepaid gratuities and the shore excursion OBC was reduced by $200 for the cabin.

[FetaCheese]

1 hour ago, PelicanLvr said:

Feta - Thanks for posting this.  How did you learn about this Flash Sale?  

 

We get loads of O emails and the mailed brochures are endless....but nothing about this sale.  What's your secret?

Forgot to say, another CC member @jonthomas gave me a heads up on the flash sale.  Thanks JT.

[MEFIowa]

Since we cruise for ports & excursions, lots of "junk" cruises for us. Take that 21 days Rio to Buenos Aires. Starts with overnight in Rio and ends with an overnight in Buenos Aires. NO overnight in Montevideo. Just there from 0700-1700. And 8 sea days! Some pretty mediocre ports.

 

As for pricing, looked at the 10-night Athens to Istanbul on Vista. No sea days, which is great, but the price doesn't compare to the Extraordinary Saving Sale of 2023. We did 10-night A3 Trieste to Athens for $1899 PP and 10-night B3 Athens to Barcelona for $1749 PP. As B2B on Riviera, cruise only (pre-SM). This sale has a B5 at $3,080 and a B4 Veranda at $3,460. The A4 at $3,570. Not even close in price.

[cluso]

1 hour ago, Daniel A said:

Before you cancel and rebook, look before you leap.  I booked my next (and first O sailing) last August.  

I looked at prices and cabins available.  We have aft cabin 6090, which is supposed to be a good location, so we will keep it. I booked it last June.  We have cruised Alaska before, so I thought the aft would be good for pictures, etc.

[Europe and beyond]

3 hours ago, PelicanLvr said:

Feta - Thanks for posting this.  How did you learn about this Flash Sale?  

 

We get loads of O emails and the mailed brochures are endless....but nothing about this sale.  What's your secret?

I no longer get Oceania brochures rather being deluged with them in earlier years. 

[Tranquility Base]

2 hours ago, MEFIowa said:

but the price doesn't compare to the Extraordinary Saving Sale of 2023.

Many of us booked or refared using the ESS in 2023.

 

The cruise I just booked is for 2025.

If I used past deals as a yardstick I would probably often just find myself staying at home.

So I book based on what I consider is good value for 2024/2025 conditions.

 

Same with airfares.

I am wide eyed  at some of the prices compared to previous deals over the years.

However, when it comes to travel, for me, it is what it is.

 

[MEFIowa]

3 minutes ago, Tranquility Base said:

Many of us booked or refared using the ESS in 2023. The cruise I just booked is for 2025.

If I used past deals as a yardstick I would probably often just find myself staying at home.

So I book based on what I consider is good value for 2024/2025 conditions....

The ESS was only 12 months ago. So a RECENT sale. Hardly far in the past. So it just reminds us that there are SALES and then there are sales. This latest one is a mere "sale". Unimpressed with the prices or the itineraries. Of course, we'll be looking at O's ongoing sales. Which they do year after year. Some a lot better than others and some mainly little to do about not much.

[mauibabes]

I saw the CC posting but then I open the Oceania website daily and there was the Flash Sale, big as life. We noticed a Marina TA so put it on Hold to make up our minds. We are coming off Riviera a day earlier in Barcelona and will hop to Lisbon for the Marina TA. This will let us experience her refurb and compare it to Riviera’s refurb.

When we deposit next week we’ll have to see if we get it as a B2B to save another $150 pp or if we keep it booked as two separate cruises for the two cruise credits toward our next O Club goal. DW says two credits is best 🤪, she is on a mission to reach next level. 
Enjoy those Sales,

Mauibabes

[ORV]

1 hour ago, mauibabes said:

I saw the CC posting but then I open the Oceania website daily and there was the Flash Sale, big as life. We noticed a Marina TA so put it on Hold to make up our minds. We are coming off Riviera a day earlier in Barcelona and will hop to Lisbon for the Marina TA. This will let us experience her refurb and compare it to Riviera’s refurb.

When we deposit next week we’ll have to see if we get it as a B2B to save another $150 pp or if we keep it booked as two separate cruises for the two cruise credits toward our next O Club goal. DW says two credits is best 🤪, she is on a mission to reach next level. 
Enjoy those Sales,

Mauibabes

Wouldn't it be two separate ships? I don't see how that could be a B2B, unless I'm missing something. 

[mauibabes]

ORV,

Yes, Riviera and Marina but I have had friends do this and their trip was considered a B2B somehow. I want the 2 credits because that is worth a lot more to me than a $150 cruise discount. Learning new things every day 🤪 so we shall see what next week brings. Once we make decisions and Deposit, I’ll report back. 
Ciao and have a great holiday weekend. 
Mauibabes

[bbqoug]

Our Regatta cruise in September is part of the Flash Sale. Our cabin category (A1) is still available and $908 cheaper than what we had paid.

Our TA contacted Oceania today and they have applied $908 OBC to our account since we were past final payment. I am very pleased with the outcome.

 

[Vallesan]

10 hours ago, mauibabes said:

……. We are coming off Riviera a day earlier in Barcelona and will hop to Lisbon for the Marina TA. This will let us experience her refurb and compare it to Riviera’s refurb.

Marina PH  have been refurbished but below that are the original with old dark wood panelling and  a small shower. Actually as I walk around the ship it seems that quite a lot of the pubic areas have been renewed/refreshed. It will be interesting to see the differences you see as we have not been on the Riviera since her refit.

Enjoy!

[cluso]

16 hours ago, bbqoug said:

Our Regatta cruise in September is part of the Flash Sale. Our cabin category (A1) is still available and $908 cheaper than what we had paid.

Our TA contacted Oceania today and they have applied $908 OBC to our account since we were past final payment. I am very pleased with the outcome.

 

 

I think I am figuring out these sales.  I am on the same cruise in an A2.  Earlier, I elected not to upgrade, but today I figured out I could possibly reduce our fare.  I called O and she said she changed it.  I won't get the new invoice until Tuesday after a manager comes back to review it.  Saving $818.  Thank you to everyone!

[Huib]

On 5/24/2024 at 4:37 AM, WildWanderers said:

Hi All,

 

We had booked a cruise (Icons of Brazil and Iberia on the Marina departing on April 5, 2025) that could have been booked as two cruises.  When the two component cruises showed up in the 4-level upgrade options, we asked our Oceania rep to break the cruise into its two component parts and charge us the lower fares for the same room.  In addition to the 4-level savings, we then got the 5% back-to-back savings.

 

The first of the two cruises appeared in the up-to-30% discount flash sale this week, so we asked for repricing (again), and although we lost the 4-level upgrade and the back-to-back savings on this component (some things are not combinable), the cost of this first cruise still went from 14,347 down to 12,419 CAD.

 

I joked with our Oceania rep that if they keep discounting our fares, they will owe us money.

 

In case this helps,

Greg of the WildWanderers.

We were always looking at this cruise. We jumped on the first part yesterday as this was a huge deal. We will book the latter part later. The saving in booking it as two back-to-back cruises is huge in stead of booking it in one go. 

Our TA told us that the pre-cruise hotel was not included in this deal. However, it does say on the website. Is it included with your cruise? I emailed the TA but he did not get back to me probably because it is weekend. 
 

Very excited as it will be our second Oceania cruise. 

[jonthomas]

We are on the Alaska, Sept 14...

 

After final pay there was a sale, 400 pp less, O gave us 200pp obc.

 

O still can't fill the ship, so now it is 100 pp less, flash sale.

On Monday I will attempt to get more, although the TA had a tough time even getting us 200 pp. So much for best price guarantee. After final pay, it's not easy.BBQ  you did well.

The flash sale ends in a couple more days.

[WildWanderers]

1 hour ago, Huib said:

We were always looking at this cruise. We jumped on the first part yesterday as this was a huge deal. We will book the latter part later. The saving in booking it as two back-to-back cruises is huge in stead of booking it in one go. 

Our TA told us that the pre-cruise hotel was not included in this deal. However, it does say on the website. Is it included with your cruise? I emailed the TA but he did not get back to me probably because it is weekend. 
 

Very excited as it will be our second Oceania cruise. 

 

Hi @Huib, 

 

The short answer is ... no we did not opt for the free hotel night.  

 

When we split our Rio de Janeiro to Lisbon trip into two component parts, I did enquire about the complimentary hotel that was promised on some promotion, but not as yet visible on the website, and our Oceania rep mentioned that it might be necessary to reprice the trip when the hotel was (finally) listed on the website.  

 

We will be in Rio for several nights, so found a cost-effective hotel in Leblon not far from  the Metro station:  the Leblon Ritz...which we will book when they are open for bookings.

 

In the Fall of 2005 we stayed for a while in Leblon, and for a while in Copacabana.  Copacabana was full of aggressive scammers, and Leblon was safe and comfortable.  At a restaurant in Copacabana we insisted on the advertised special, and the waiter insisted on just let me bring you food, you won't be disappointed.  We agreed to stay only if we had the special.  We could not tell if the food he brought was the special or not, and the bill certainly was not.  We insisted on paying the price of the special, which he said is not what we ate.  We said that he could either accept the price of the special, or we would involve the police who were standing not far away.  We left the price of the special on the table and left.  Not comfortable.  On another night at a restaurant, we were hustled, unsuccessfully, we think for sexual favours.  Naïve us.  Not comfortable.

 

Leblon is not at all as touristy.  Very trendy though.  Interesting shops and restaurants.  Everything is walking distance to the beach.

 

I am not sure how you plan to fly to Rio, but we are flying to Sao Paolo, then getting our luggage, going through security again, and taking a local flight, to avoid a huge layover that we would otherwise have on the Air Canada offerings.

 

Hopefully this is useful.

 

Cheers,

Greg from the WildWanderers.

 

[Huib]

2 minutes ago, WildWanderers said:

 

Hi @Huib, 

 

The short answer is ... no we did not opt for the free hotel night.  

 

When we split our Rio de Janeiro to Lisbon trip into two component parts, I did enquire about the complimentary hotel that was promised on some promotion, but not as yet visible on the website, and our Oceania rep mentioned that it might be necessary to reprice the trip when the hotel was (finally) listed on the website.  

 

We will be in Rio for several nights, so found a cost-effective hotel in Leblon not far from  the Metro station:  the Leblon Ritz...which we will book when they are open for bookings.

 

In the Fall of 2005 we stayed for a while in Leblon, and for a while in Copacabana.  Copacabana was full of aggressive scammers, and Leblon was safe and comfortable.  At a restaurant in Copacabana we insisted on the advertised special, and the waiter insisted on just let me bring you food, you won't be disappointed.  We agreed to stay only if we had the special.  We could not tell if the food he brought was the special or not, and the bill certainly was not.  We insisted on paying the price of the special, which he said is not what we ate.  We said that he could either accept the price of the special, or we would involve the police who were standing not far away.  We left the price of the special on the table and left.  Not comfortable.  On another night at a restaurant, we were hustled, unsuccessfully, we think for sexual favours.  Naïve us.  Not comfortable.

 

Leblon is not at all as touristy.  Very trendy though.  Interesting shops and restaurants.  Everything is walking distance to the beach.

 

I am not sure how you plan to fly to Rio, but we are flying to Sao Paolo, then getting our luggage, going through security again, and taking a local flight, to avoid a huge layover that we would otherwise have on the Air Canada offerings.

 

Hopefully this is useful.

 

Cheers,

Greg from the WildWanderers.

 

Oh wow, thanks for the information I was just looking at the fine print and saw that not all promotions are combinable. I think we will look at your suggestion.
 

On our first cruise we let Oceania do all the flights, it was horrible. We still have a promo code for Air Canada so we can use that one. We briefly looked at the site of Air Canada and saw flights going through Montreal. We even might check-in a hotel there as we fly from Vancouver. With the promo code we can fly with a premium economy for less than the credit Oceania is giving us for doing the flights ourselves. 

[bbqoug]

1 hour ago, jonthomas said:

We are on the Alaska, Sept 14...

 

After final pay there was a sale, 400 pp less, O gave us 200pp obc.

 

O still can't fill the ship, so now it is 100 pp less, flash sale.

On Monday I will attempt to get more, although the TA had a tough time even getting us 200 pp. So much for best price guarantee. After final pay, it's not easy.BBQ  you did well.

The flash sale ends in a couple more days.

@jonthomas

It may help if you tell your TA that someone else on your cruise was able to get the difference in OBC and that you should be able to as well. Our TA said the Oceania Rep got approval from a supervisor to apply the OBC.

Monday is the Memorial Day holiday, so you might not get through until Tuesday.

Edited May 25 by bbqoug

[WildWanderers]

24 minutes ago, Huib said:

Oh wow, thanks for the information I was just looking at the fine print and saw that not all promotions are combinable. I think we will look at your suggestion.
 

On our first cruise we let Oceania do all the flights, it was horrible. We still have a promo code for Air Canada so we can use that one. We briefly looked at the site of Air Canada and saw flights going through Montreal. We even might check-in a hotel there as we fly from Vancouver. With the promo code we can fly with a premium economy for less than the credit Oceania is giving us for doing the flights ourselves. 

 

Hi again @Huib, 

 

We fly out of Ottawa, then like you, via Montreal.  We land in Sao Paolo at its GRU airport at 8:30 a.m., then take a LATAM flight (booked separately on their website) from GRU at 12:25 p.m. to SDU, the Rio de Janeiro domestic airport that is closest to the downtown.  Flights that went all the way to Rio would have had us in Sao Paolo for an ugly amount of time.  We looked into staying a bit in Sao Paolo but got scared off at the online warnings about areas of the city that were too dangerous to walk around in, let alone stay in.

 

In 2005, we were surprised at how it took as long to get back on track after the long flight, as it would have had we been on a transatlantic flight, which has the jet-lag to boot.

 

We have never left it to Oceania to book our flights.

 

In Montreal, if you go all the way downtown for your hotel (there are hotels near the hotel in Dorval, however), a place to consider staying is the Auberge du Carré St Louis, with dinner at one of Café Cherrier (a Montreal institution with French and French Canadian offerings - one small block north of the ITHQ), or the ITHQ Restaurant (ITHQ is a well-known hotel and culinary training institute - kitty corner to the hotel) or the Rendez-Vous Bistro (nontraditional Indian food - across the street from the hotel).  There is a taxi stand in front of the ITHQ. 

 

Accommodation and food for thought.

 

Cheers,

Greg from the WildWanderers

[Huib]

1 hour ago, WildWanderers said:

 

Hi again @Huib, 

 

We fly out of Ottawa, then like you, via Montreal.  We land in Sao Paolo at its GRU airport at 8:30 a.m., then take a LATAM flight (booked separately on their website) from GRU at 12:25 p.m. to SDU, the Rio de Janeiro domestic airport that is closest to the downtown.  Flights that went all the way to Rio would have had us in Sao Paolo for an ugly amount of time.  We looked into staying a bit in Sao Paolo but got scared off at the online warnings about areas of the city that were too dangerous to walk around in, let alone stay in.

 

In 2005, we were surprised at how it took as long to get back on track after the long flight, as it would have had we been on a transatlantic flight, which has the jet-lag to boot.

 

We have never left it to Oceania to book our flights.

 

In Montreal, if you go all the way downtown for your hotel (there are hotels near the hotel in Dorval, however), a place to consider staying is the Auberge du Carré St Louis, with dinner at one of Café Cherrier (a Montreal institution with French and French Canadian offerings - one small block north of the ITHQ), or the ITHQ Restaurant (ITHQ is a well-known hotel and culinary training institute - kitty corner to the hotel) or the Rendez-Vous Bistro (nontraditional Indian food - across the street from the hotel).  There is a taxi stand in front of the ITHQ. 

 

Accommodation and food for thought.

 

Cheers,

Greg from the WildWanderers

That is some great information! Thanks a lot. We’ve never been in Montreal. Might as well take advantage of this opportunity. 
 

We are very excited. Despite a horrid flight experience we had a great time on the cruise. We are very excited. Pity it takes a while still. Great to have you around with these valuable tips. Thanks again!

[jonthomas]

2 hours ago, bbqoug said:

@jonthomas

It may help if you tell your TA that someone else on your cruise was able to get the difference in OBC and that you should be able to as well. Our TA said the Oceania Rep got approval from a supervisor to apply the OBC.

Monday is the Memorial Day holiday, so you might not get through until Tuesday.

Thank you...yes it may have to wait till Tuesday. 

[Huib]

2 hours ago, WildWanderers said:

 

Hi again @Huib, 

 

We fly out of Ottawa, then like you, via Montreal.  We land in Sao Paolo at its GRU airport at 8:30 a.m., then take a LATAM flight (booked separately on their website) from GRU at 12:25 p.m. to SDU, the Rio de Janeiro domestic airport that is closest to the downtown.  Flights that went all the way to Rio would have had us in Sao Paolo for an ugly amount of time.  We looked into staying a bit in Sao Paolo but got scared off at the online warnings about areas of the city that were too dangerous to walk around in, let alone stay in.

 

In 2005, we were surprised at how it took as long to get back on track after the long flight, as it would have had we been on a transatlantic flight, which has the jet-lag to boot.

 

We have never left it to Oceania to book our flights.

 

In Montreal, if you go all the way downtown for your hotel (there are hotels near the hotel in Dorval, however), a place to consider staying is the Auberge du Carré St Louis, with dinner at one of Café Cherrier (a Montreal institution with French and French Canadian offerings - one small block north of the ITHQ), or the ITHQ Restaurant (ITHQ is a well-known hotel and culinary training institute - kitty corner to the hotel) or the Rendez-Vous Bistro (nontraditional Indian food - across the street from the hotel).  There is a taxi stand in front of the ITHQ. 

 

Accommodation and food for thought.

 

Cheers,

Greg from the WildWanderers

 

Hello again @WildWanderers

 

I looked at the website of Air Canada about the huge layover. I saw that if you type in Montreal to Rio de Janeiro all airports you only have to wait three hours and they get you on the same Latam flight to the other airport next to the Sugar Loaf. See scrrenshot