Silversea now offers Essential Fares

[Vineyard View]

SB offers alcohol, and honestly quite good offerings, at any time. Not just at lunch/dinner wine/beer. Attractive to some, not to others. Oceania offers excursion credits that are attractive to some, not to others. In the States, I would think included gratuities included with Oceania would be attractive to all, but I would imagine the UK pricing might have them ‘baked in’. If they don’t that is a real bonus. 

[ak1004]

3 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

SB offers alcohol, and honestly quite good offerings, at any time. Not just at lunch/dinner wine/beer. Attractive to some, not to others. Oceania offers excursion credits that are attractive to some, not to others. In the States, I would think included gratuities included with Oceania would be attractive to all, but I would imagine the UK pricing might have them ‘baked in’. If they don’t that is a real bonus. 

 

I would say that "average" guest is interested in alcohol and at least few ship excursions. So "on average" the excursions credit offsets what you have to pay for an upgraded drinks package, which leaves only gratuities as the main difference in inclusions between O and SB. $18/day is not really material when you pay $500+/day for a cruise. 

[Techno123]

@Vineyard View it's difficult to know as we only get to see the UK prices.

in fairness, we haven't sailed O for 10 years 😱 but there is a cruise with some Med stops we haven't done - cost for 10 nights (without flights) is the same as SB for 7 but in fairness, I do think all of the 4 lines we have sailed have their positives and negatives. Our first ever cruise was on Seabourn Odyssey and we thought it was truly amazing at the time. Still love Seabourn but happy to experiment 😁

[Vallesan]

2 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

SB offers alcohol, and honestly quite good offerings, at any time. Not just at lunch/dinner wine/beer. Attractive to some, not to others. Oceania offers excursion credits that are attractive to some, not to others. In the States, I would think included gratuities included with Oceania would be attractive to all, but I would imagine the UK pricing might have them ‘baked in’. If they don’t that is a real bonus. 

Yes they started to include gratuities in the UK pricing several months ago. I have a feeling it coincided with the up to 50% (now 40%) sale. It was probably done that way so nobody would spot the price increase!

 

As you say, some things are attractive to some people but not to others. One of our pleasures on Seabourn is a chilled

glass of champagne by the pool just before lunch! There are many others too!

[Redtravel]

Essential cruising would be the answer to my winter Caribbean cruising.  While I enjoy shore excursions in many ports, I prefer not to take them in the Caribbean. After many years of doing excursions on Caribbean cruises, I have done the ones that are of interest to me. Now, I prefer just relaxing.  I also don’t care about alcoholic drinks at meals.  Give me a glass of water or Coke Zero.  It would be very attractive if Oceania followed Silverseas by offering a cruise only option.  Usually we rebook a Caribbean cruise onboard from one year to the next. This year, we did not book.  We are exploring lots of good options on land and sea for winter 2025.  I will give Silverseas a look.

[Hlitner]

6 hours ago, ak1004 said:

 

SS says they are all inclusive - and yet charge for 2 out of 8 restaurants, premium internet, laundry etc.

 

No line is truly all inclusive. What matters is are the things that important to YOU included? Personally I couldn't care less about adult beverages since we don't drink. But I do care about specialty coffee and tea. I do care about specialty restaurants etc. 

 

So I don't care that O is called premium and SS is called luxury - to me they are in the same category.

When you compare cabins on the R ships to luxury line cabins, there is a big difference.  There are also space ratios, crew to passenger ratios, etc.  We cruise mass market and luxury lines and there are many differences.  Both have their place

 

Hank

[ak1004]

15 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

When you compare cabins on the R ships to luxury line cabins, there is a big difference.  There are also space ratios, crew to passenger ratios, etc.  We cruise mass market and luxury lines and there are many differences.  Both have their place

 

Hank

 

I agree, R ships to me are less appealing. To me, ships like Vista and Riviera are much closer to luxury lines than to mass market.

 

That said, cabins are only one parameter. Crystal cabins are smaller than O newer ships, does it make Crystal less luxurious?

[Redtravel]

8 hours ago, ak1004 said:

 

I would say that "average" guest is interested in alcohol and at least few ship excursions. So "on average" the excursions credit offsets what you have to pay for an upgraded drinks package, which leaves only gratuities as the main difference in inclusions between O and SB. $18/day is not really material when you pay $500+/day for a cruise. 

I always knew that I wasn’t “average.”  Don’t assume that what you like is what everyone likes.  I am not interested in alcoholic drinks. I may or may not select excursions.  In new ports, I always often excursions . In Caribbean, I just relax.  Some ports, I may go shopping. Some, I may not get off the ship. Find a local cafe and enjoy  tasting the local cuisine. Group excursions aren’t my thing.  I am not happy playing follow the leader. They seldom go at my pace. 

[ak1004]

19 minutes ago, Redtravel said:

I always knew that I wasn’t “average.”  Don’t assume that what you like is what everyone likes.  I am not interested in alcoholic drinks. I may or may not select excursions.  In new ports, I always often excursions . In Caribbean, I just relax.  Some ports, I may go shopping. Some, I may not get off the ship. Find a local cafe and enjoy  tasting the local cuisine. Group excursions aren’t my thing.  I am not happy playing follow the leader. They seldom go at my pace. 

Personally I agree with you 100%. We don’t drink alcohol and we prefer to book private tours. But based on the discussions with many guests, and number of Oceania buses in every port, most people are not like us. Most people do drink alcohol and do at least some ship tours. This is why I said “average”.

 

And even while we prefer private tours, on most sailings there are at least 2-3 ports where we take ship tours, for various reasons (safety, security, lack of reliable local tours companies etc). So while we are not happy with SM, we will find use for the ship excursions credit. Which means that for us, O is almost as all inclusive as SB.

[SbbquilterUT]

Interesting conversation - we have sailed plenty (RCCI with kids and Celebrity for DH and me) so our first foray into this size ship is August on the Insignia.  We did book prior to SM with a cruise only fare (our drink needs are minimal and tend to mostly explore on our own).  At our "time in life" we will not sail enough on any one line to achieve status so that does not matter at this time.  I am a bit sad that if we love this sailing with Oceania we will be hesitant to book again at the prices with SM.  But for now looking forward to this sailing - we are sailing NYC to Iceland then flying to London (doing a short overnight at Windsor) then boarding this sailing back to the US and staying on for Bermuda leg.