Simply Less but Vista is Beautiful

[MEFIowa]

19 hours ago, iowananny said:

... But if there is anything about a cruise that bugs me is sitting down next to a person who rambles on and on about how little they paid for the cruise and what a great deal they got....

And sitting next to a person...

 

- droning on about their premium drinks package (drink in hand, day drinking to near drunkeness)

 

or

 

- those who yap and yap about their high-level cabin with their butler and executive lounge

 

or

 

- those saying, "Too bad you didn't spend the extra $400 for the special meal we had last night in La Reserve" or "That $200 for the wine & cheese pairing" (or whatever it is, including premium spirit tasting).

 

Gotta dislike all that money flaunting?

[Vineyard View]

2 minutes ago, MEFIowa said:

And sitting next to a person...

 

- droning on about their premium drinks package (drink in hand, day drinking to near drunkeness)

 

or

 

- those who yap and yap about their high-level cabin with their butler and executive lounge

 

or

 

- those saying, "Too bad you didn't spend the extra $400 for the special meal we had last night in La Reserve" or "That $200 for the wine & cheese pairing" (or whatever it is, including premium spirit tasting).

 

Gotta dislike all that money flaunting?

Gotta get up and walk away!  I could care less - nor will I waste my vacation time with that. 

[EJL2023]

22 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

As stockholders we love folks that have little interest in price or deals.  As frequent cruisers we prefer good deals :).  
 

Hank

I don’t think most  are saying  they don’t like a good deal or are never checking  prices on an ongoing basis. I think many of us do but we don’t all have an obsession and feel the need to have posted probably 200 times about a great deal we received at some point. 

[MEFIowa]

1 minute ago, EJL2023 said:

... but we don’t all have an obsession and feel the need to have posted probably 200 times about a great deal we received at some point. 

You must be upset that O had 6 major and 2 minor sales across all 12 months of 2023. AND as O is obsessed with sales and a need to publicize them. One just ended (Mar 31). That had started after the one before it had just ended (Feb 29). How much easier it would be for everyone if there just wasn't that O obsession with sales? But then some just choose not to play that sales game and just book and forget?

[EJL2023]

11 minutes ago, MEFIowa said:

You must be upset that O had 6 major and 2 minor sales across all 12 months of 2023. AND as O is obsessed with sales and a need to publicize them. One just ended (Mar 31). That had started after the one before it had just ended (Feb 29). How much easier it would be for everyone if there just wasn't that O obsession with sales? But then some just choose not to play that sales game and just book and forget?

Not upset at all. I actually was in on the Extraordinary Sales event. I just have not felt the need to post about it all the time. And btw….I never mentioned you in my post, but good you at least realize you have posted 200 or more times about it. Carry on…..

[PhD-iva]

24 minutes ago, EJL2023 said:

Not upset at all. I actually was in on the Extraordinary Sales event. I just have not felt the need to post about it all the time. And btw….I never mentioned you in my post, but good you at least realize you have posted 200 or more times about it. Carry on…..

+1!!!!!!

[Vallesan]

30 minutes ago, EJL2023 said:

Not upset at all. I actually was in on the Extraordinary Sales event. I just have not felt the need to post about it all the time. And btw….I never mentioned you in my post, but good you at least realize you have posted 200 or more times about it. Carry on…..

++++2!

[Vallesan]

I do think  that the ‘sales’ we saw in 2023 were probably ‘extraordinary’ for a number of reasons.
 

Firstly, I think that pre 2023, lots of ‘cruisers’ were still not sure about cruising and being in ‘close’ contact with others. We sailed August 22 and there were very few people using lifts and quite a number still using masks.

 

In 2023 people seemed to be generally more relaxed but there were still those who chose to ‘distance’ and/or use masks.

 

The confidence in cruising is still not back to 100% but I do think it’s improved from 2023. So, in my opinion, as ‘appetite’ improves we won’t see the ‘sales’ we saw last year. I think the principal of  ‘supply and demand’ will come into force and we won’t see the sales of 2023.

 

Time will tell!

[shepherd really]

22 minutes ago, Vallesan said:

++++2!

++++200, at least 😁

[shepherd really]

3 minutes ago, Vallesan said:

I do think  that the ‘sales’ we saw in 2023 were probably ‘extraordinary’ for a number of reasons.
 

Firstly, I think that pre 2023, lots of ‘cruisers’ were still not sure about cruising and being in ‘close’ contact with others. We sailed August 22 and there were very few people using lifts and quite a number still using masks.

 

In 2023 people seemed to be generally more relaxed but there were still those who chose to ‘distance’ and/or use masks.

 

The confidence in cruising is still not back to 100% but I do think it’s improved from 2023. So, in my opinion, as ‘appetite’ improves we won’t see the ‘sales’ we saw last year. I think the principal of  ‘supply and demand’ will come into force and we won’t see the sales of 2023.

 

Time will tell!

Don't forget that many people had credits that expired by the end of 2022, so there were lots of folks riding on FCC's from cruises cancelled when covid shut the industry down.

[EJL2023]

3 minutes ago, shepherd really said:

++++200, at least 😁

Oh……I see what you did there!!!! Bad, bad, bad. 😁

[Vallesan]

1 minute ago, shepherd really said:

Don't forget that many people had credits that expired by the end of 2022, so there were lots of folks riding on FCC's from cruises cancelled when covid shut the industry down.

Even more reason not to reduce prices! 
 

[osandomir]

3 hours ago, MEFIowa said:

And sitting next to a person...

 

- droning on about their premium drinks package (drink in hand, day drinking to near drunkeness)

 

or

 

- those who yap and yap about their high-level cabin with their butler and executive lounge

 

or

 

- those saying, "Too bad you didn't spend the extra $400 for the special meal we had last night in La Reserve" or "That $200 for the wine & cheese pairing" (or whatever it is, including premium spirit tasting).

 

Gotta dislike all that money flaunting?

Maybe we got lucky but we have never met that person on the Oceania ship. Though I wouldn’t be upset with the way how others spend their money.

[AMHuntFerry]

2 minutes ago, osandomir said:

Maybe we got lucky but we have never met that person on the Oceania ship. Though I wouldn’t be upset with the way how others spend their money.

Me neither...I heard a name dropper once which was amusing since I was just eavesdropping (hard not to when you're 3 feet away and the speaker is, ahem, a bit loud).

[Kay S]

3 hours ago, MEFIowa said:

And sitting next to a person...

 

 

 

- those who yap and yap about their high-level cabin with their butler and executive lounge

 

 

 

Gotta dislike all that money flaunting?

I think I would be tempted to invite him down to steerage to see the system we have worked out for sharing the same roll of toilet paper.  😝

[Snaefell3]

7 hours ago, Kay S said:

I think I would be tempted to invite him down to steerage to see the system we have worked out for sharing the same roll of toilet paper.  😝

I once heard a war story about passengers who were unknowingly doing that --  the TP storage got flooded on an Antarctic voyage (so no chance of resupply) and the stewards were quietly ...load-balancing the TP in the cabins.

[jonthomas]

back to simply more, means simply less....

 

there were a number of people on our recent Vista cruise that lost their simply more credits when several ports were cancelled...

 

because all else was booked, they could not apply the credit to another tour and could not use the credit towards anything else....

 

many see this as a fraudulent practice by O....

 

we booked another cruise while on the ship and the future cruise consultant took down all comments regarding the simply more policy...she said that O wants to hear from everyone that has had issues with it...

 

I have now booked on line, the tours needed to fill my credit for the SM tours, for this February cruise, one was already waitlisted, yes that far ahead it is no longer available....I stand to lose this credit, if I dont chose a less desirable tour...

 

if this happens I will not stand in line at destination services and file my complaint, I will go and see the GM directly...

 

I encourage everyone else that finds themselves losing the SM credit to do the same...

 

If anyone has already done that, could you please share with us your result...

 

This is our first experience with SM, as all our  other cruises were booked a couple of years ago....

 

As more and more people end the O life and are forced onto SM, we may see more issues and perhaps the policy will change.

 

 

[Vineyard View]

I read this happening quite a bit johnthomas. I would think that corporate, even in this short amount of time, has had the opportunity to recognize the input regarding the excursion piece by now.  It is not sounding as it is uncommon with SM. 

[jonthomas]

Yes I also wonder why Corporate has not already acted to modify this policy.

[IDL]

23 minutes ago, jonthomas said:

Yes I also wonder why Corporate has not already acted to modify this policy.

A logical accommodation would be if the credit can not be applied due to an action of the cruise line and not an action of the passenger than that specific credit amount should be made available to be used against any fee or service above and beyond the basic cruise fare: i.e. gratuities, drink package, casino, etc.  For instance Celebrity allowed me to use a shipboard credit in the gift shops. 

[Vallesan]

6 minutes ago, jonthomas said:

Yes I also wonder why Corporate has not already acted to modify this policy.

I think one of the biggest problems is that for those cruisers who live in the US and were used to ‘Cruise Only’ the new SM has proved to be really far more difficult to accept.

 

In the UK, for example, we never had ‘Cruise Only’ we just had O’Life so the difference is not quite so sharp. However, as I’ve said before, if a cruise line offers a ‘ product or perk’ then they should be able to provide it for all passengers.

 

Can you imagine if Silversea or Seabourn suddenly  said ‘sorry no caviar available anywhere’ or no ‘vodka, scotch or gin’ available in your stateroom bar! There would probably be a mutiny!

 

At the end of the day if a ‘company’ sells a ‘product’ they should deliver the ‘goods’. If the ‘goods promised ‘ aren’t delivered then that really is an issue. If it doesn’t live up to your ‘expectations’ that’s a whole different issue.

Oceania need to listen to their passengers comments and not just assume ‘everyone will get used to the new system’ and not complain.

 

At the end of the day we all know we can complain with our ‘feet’! 

Many more lines out there!

 

[Snaefell3]

1 hour ago, jonthomas said:

Yes I also wonder why Corporate has not already acted to modify this policy.

Mayhaps the $6,000,000,000 (with a 'B') extra debt NCLH racked up during the shutdown?  🙄

[Snaefell3]

36 minutes ago, Vallesan said:

At the end of the day we all know we can complain with our ‘feet’! 

Many more lines out there!

Let me know when you find one that isn't squeezing each penny nowadays.  😞 

[Hlitner]

4 hours ago, Snaefell3 said:

Let me know when you find one that isn't squeezing each penny nowadays.  😞 

We have taken several Seabourn cruises, since the post COVID restart, and never noticed penny pinching.  The only change was lots of new staff. And there is certainly no penny pinching on the new Explora Journey 1.

 

Hank

[Vallesan]

44 minutes ago, Snaefell3 said:

Let me know when you find one that isn't squeezing each penny nowadays.  😞 

No you’re absolutely right every line is ‘squeezing’ just some are more obvious than others.

 

I guess individually we have to work out which ‘product’ is worth the price for ‘us’ and  book accordingly. My ‘worth’ and yours may be worlds apart. 
 

Just wishing everyone ‘happy cruising’ whichever line you choose but … please let your ‘expectations’ be ‘real’. Price doesn’t always reflect the ‘reality’ of a cruise line!