O-Life convert to Simply More

[kahuna21]

Has anyone been able to convert from an existing O-Life booking to Simply More, without paying an additional amount to equal the newer Simply More price?

[sitraveler]

No

[basor]

Yes - on one of our cruises it was less expensive....

[osandomir]

Pay attention to the sales. We converted one of our cruises. With the sale discount plus the wine included in the price it was definitely less than what we paid when we first booked that cruise.

[1985rz1]

2 hours ago, kahuna21 said:

Has anyone been able to convert from an existing O-Life booking to Simply More, without paying an additional amount to equal the newer Simply More price?

You convert to the existing price of the cruise.  If there is a major sale, you can win, if not you can lose.  Have your TA price out the difference.

[kahuna21]

Thanks all for the responses.  It’s over a year away, so I’ll watch for sales and convert only if it saves. 

[Flatbush Flyer]

5 hours ago, kahuna21 said:

Has anyone been able to convert from an existing O-Life booking to Simply More, without paying an additional amount to equal the newer Simply More price?

O Lifers can convert existing bookings to SM. But, whether the resultant deal saves or costs you bottom line $ varies significantly since there appear to be no algorithm yet in play (nor will there be once all the O Life applicable cruises have occurred).

FWIW: we had two recent cruises where we could switch. Only one would’ve gotten a “better” deal but the limited value wasn’t worth the hassle.

[EJL2023]

I would think the further out you get from purchasing a cruise that was under Olife the less likely it will be a better deal lessens. Since they typically increase prices a bit here and there every quarter and combine that with the new lower SBC being offered it would make it difficult.  Unless of course you are able to find some amazing sale on your cruise and when booked it was not discounted.  

[MEFIowa]

3 hours ago, EJL2023 said:

... Unless of course you are able to find some amazing sale on your cruise and when booked it was not discounted.  

You have to monitor each and every O sale. The "cabin-upgrade" sales can be amazing for C-B-A cabins, and rarer for the PHs. In 2023 around Apr-May there was the absolutely rock-bottom low price Extraordinary Savings Sale. All depends on knowing the sales and being flexible to cruise on one that is offered.

[pinotlover]

Remember with OLife, if a shorex gets cancelled you get a $100 credit to your ship account that can be used for anything aboard ship. If that SM tour gets cancelled and you can’t find a replacement, you get zippo! Read carefully all those recent and current passengers getting zippo. Does this play into your calculations? If not, why not?

[Sebbiesgrammy]

10 hours ago, pinotlover said:

Remember with OLife, if a shorex gets cancelled you get a $100 credit to your ship account that can be used for anything aboard ship. If that SM tour gets cancelled and you can’t find a replacement, you get zippo! Read carefully all those recent and current passengers getting zippo. Does this play into your calculations? If not, why not?

One possible solution to avoid this problem is to book all your SM credits for excursions in the early days of the cruise and use your cash to pay for the later ones. If an excursion that was paid for with SM gets canceled, the credit gets applied immediately to a cash paid for tour and your on board account is credited as a refundable credit. We're on a 51 day cruise now and this method has worked for us after 2 excursion cancellations by O.  I agree with the posters who recommend using your SM shore credits very early in your planning process to avoid sold out tours.  Example: there are about 1200 of us in Marina now in Brazil. The very popular Boi Bomba show in Paratins is coming up in a day or so and has been sold out for ages. The show only gave O 500 tickets so you can imagine there are a lot of disappointed folks who are calling SM a bait and switch, but that is not the case here.

[pinotlover]

5 hours ago, Sebbiesgrammy said:

One possible solution to avoid this problem is to book all your SM credits for excursions in the early days of the cruise and use your cash to pay for the later ones. If an excursion that was paid for with SM gets canceled, the credit gets applied immediately to a cash paid for tour and your on board account is credited as a refundable credit. We're on a 51 day cruise now and this method has worked for us after 2 excursion cancellations by O.  I agree with the posters who recommend using your SM shore credits very early in your planning process to avoid sold out tours.  Example: there are about 1200 of us in Marina now in Brazil. The very popular Boi Bomba show in Paratins is coming up in a day or so and has been sold out for ages. The show only gave O 500 tickets so you can imagine there are a lot of disappointed folks who are calling SM a bait and switch, but that is not the case here.

Two points:

 

1. Some of us aren’t as enamored with O shorex as you apparently are, so we’ll only book up to our credit amount if that.

 

2. That cancellation may be late in the cruise and no replacement is possible.

[Sebbiesgrammy]

5 hours ago, pinotlover said:

Two points:

 

1. Some of us aren’t as enamored with O shorex as you apparently are, so we’ll only book up to our credit amount if that.

 

2. That cancellation may be late in the cruise and no replacement is possible.

Why the hate?  Using my suggestion, the later cancellation would be refundable in green dollars.  And as far as being "enamored" with O's excursions, not many people would book SM and leave $ on the table. The $100 credit for Olife would still be applied to another excursion. You don't get refund and you might have lost a $199 excursion only to get $100 toward a replacement.

 

Geez, I thought you knew this stuff...

[pinotlover]

3 hours ago, Sebbiesgrammy said:

Why the hate?  Using my suggestion, the later cancellation would be refundable in green dollars.  And as far as being "enamored" with O's excursions, not many people would book SM and leave $ on the table. The $100 credit for Olife would still be applied to another excursion. You don't get refund and you might have lost a $199 excursion only to get $100 toward a replacement.

 

Geez, I thought you knew this stuff...

No hate at all. Selected O life tours have no specific value. You get X free tours up to typically $199, sometimes a bit more. If one of those tours is cancelled, you can select another tour up to that amount. If no tour is available, you get a $100 onboard non refundable credit. You don’t lose the $99, since you never had it. You had a tour credit only. Some people chose to select 3 hour $90 tours, while others chose $199 tours. It was all the same, one used a tour credit.With SM, it $ credits that can only be used for yours. Have a tour cancelled, good luck.

[Hlitner]

We did it with a very tiny increase during a sale

[jwitt2]

Can you book excursions with the SM credit before you board or do you have to wait until you are on the ship? We have been to all of the places on the cruise we want to book so don't need to book many tours, only want to use up the non-refundable credit.

[osandomir]

22 minutes ago, jwitt2 said:

Can you book excursions with the SM credit before you board or do you have to wait until you are on the ship? We have been to all of the places on the cruise we want to book so don't need to book many tours, only want to use up the non-refundable credit.

You definitely can book your excursions with the SM credit and beyond it before you board your cruise. I’d advise to do it as soon as possible because many people are booking their tours using the credit and there’s a possibility of the most popular tours being sold out.

[ronrick1943]

Can't you use your SM credit for a private car tour?  It's considered a tour expense and listed in tours.

[Vallesan]

3 hours ago, ronrick1943 said:

Can't you use your SM credit for a private car tour?  It's considered a tour expense and listed in tours.

Yes you can but they don’t seem to be available in all of the Meditteranean ports I’ve looked at. Sometimes they are listed at the very end of the excursions and not in the individual port listings. So read through your documents to the end.

[ronrick1943]

6 hours ago, Vallesan said:

Yes you can but they don’t seem to be available in all of the Meditteranean ports I’ve looked at. Sometimes they are listed at the very end of the excursions and not in the individual port listings. So read through your documents to the end.

Thank you.....