Rare 1985rz1 Posted July 24 #76 Share Posted July 24 22 minutes ago, Cruising Maryland said: As long as you keep it in the cabin. I don't think you can take a bottle in public spaces. Correct. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thought2go Posted July 24 #77 Share Posted July 24 50 minutes ago, 1985rz1 said: Correct. Thank you ALL for this confirmation. It’s elevating my excitement for Oceania. I like the freedom to know I can enjoy my late night coffee and balcony as I see fit. Sitting in my PJs-feet propped up-smelling that salt air- being thankful for a beautiful life. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Techno123 Posted July 25 #78 Share Posted July 25 On 7/24/2024 at 4:30 AM, Cruising Maryland said: As long as you keep it in the cabin. I don't think you can take a bottle in public spaces. Not even if you keep it in a brown paper bag 😜😜😂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEFIowa Posted July 25 #79 Share Posted July 25 On 7/23/2024 at 10:30 PM, Cruising Maryland said: As long as you keep it in the cabin. I don't think you can take a bottle in public spaces. Though you can take your bottle of wine to their restaurants and pay the corkage fee to drink it there. (Your own beer and hard liquor only allowed to be consumed in your cabin.) 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
santrah Posted July 27 #80 Share Posted July 27 I recently booked our first Oceania cruise on SM basis, when I login to my account the Excursion Credit us showing however, when I click on the drinks package tab it is offering to pay for the House Select upgrade along with the Prestige Select when I have the House Select included in our fare. How do I upgrade to Prestige prior to departure ? If upgraded onboard is there a Greece tax (Athens embarkation) and a gratuity to pay? Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare terrydtx Posted July 27 #81 Share Posted July 27 (edited) 2 hours ago, santrah said: I recently booked our first Oceania cruise on SM basis, when I login to my account the Excursion Credit us showing however, when I click on the drinks package tab it is offering to pay for the House Select upgrade along with the Prestige Select when I have the House Select included in our fare. How do I upgrade to Prestige prior to departure ? If upgraded onboard is there a Greece tax (Athens embarkation) and a gratuity to pay? Thank you. To upgrade to the Prestige Select you will have to contact Oceania or your travel agent and have them upgrade you, cannot be done online. The cost is $30 USD pp per day if your have the Simply More bev package. No discount for doing it ahead of time and can be done anytime after you board. I just added it to our Marina cruise next March and had my TA do it for me this last week. I looked at the current bar pricing for drinks on the Marina and most of the brands and drinks we prefer are in the $14-$16 range so 2 drinks a day, other than wine, pays for the drink package. My understanding is the $30pp includes gratuities in the price, but does not include and locally imposed port taxes. The Marina cruise next year is our first Oceania cruise too and I have learned a lot from CC about the cruise line. Edited July 27 by terrydtx 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thought2go Posted July 27 #82 Share Posted July 27 2 hours ago, terrydtx said: $30pp includes gratuities in the price, but does not include and locally imposed port taxes. Yes- this really shocked me since you are being served aboard. Even if you are buying an individual drink. Best to get it all prepaid. SM has taken half the unnecessary country taxes off our backs. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare terrydtx Posted July 27 #83 Share Posted July 27 15 minutes ago, Thought2go said: Yes- this really shocked me since you are being served aboard. Even if you are buying an individual drink. Best to get it all prepaid. SM has taken half the unnecessary country taxes off our backs. More and more countries are imposing local taxes on drinks and even ship stores while a cruise ship is in port or even territorial waters. We ran into this last year in Spain and this year in Australia and NZ. Last year I bought a shirt in the ships store while cruising off of Spain and I had to pay the VAT tax on the shirt. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare ORV Posted July 27 #84 Share Posted July 27 5 hours ago, terrydtx said: To upgrade to the Prestige Select you will have to contact Oceania or your travel agent and have them upgrade you, cannot be done online. The cost is $30 USD pp per day if your have the Simply More bev package. No discount for doing it ahead of time and can be done anytime after you board. I just added it to our Marina cruise next March and had my TA do it for me this last week. I looked at the current bar pricing for drinks on the Marina and most of the brands and drinks we prefer are in the $14-$16 range so 2 drinks a day, other than wine, pays for the drink package. My understanding is the $30pp includes gratuities in the price, but does not include and locally imposed port taxes. The Marina cruise next year is our first Oceania cruise too and I have learned a lot from CC about the cruise line. Ok, 3 points. 1.There used to be a 10% discount for Oceania Club members at a certain level if you upgraded or purchased the package in advance. I'm not sure of the status of this anymore since SM has started. I know this doesn't apply to those that are new to Oceania, but historically there has been a discount for some when upgrading in advance. 2. With a package there are NO additional taxes or vats charged. Those are only charged when you're buying by the drink. 3. My experience and those of others that like to have a few is to wait a couple of days in to the cruise to purchase it. Don't forget that most of the time day 2 of a cruise has the Captain's Welcome with free drinks for about 3 hours. This is not watered down juice drinks and cheap wine, (although they do offer those to you on a tray) but usually most drinks within reason at multiple bar locations on the ship. Does not include restaurants or Waves Bar. On day one you have the beer & wine in the restaurants, then we have one in the room while unpacking and then maybe a 2-4-1 at Happy Hour. No way we spend $60 between the two of us on day one, but of course a person could. There is something to be said for having the full drink package from the get-go and just not worrying about it though. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thought2go Posted July 27 #85 Share Posted July 27 (edited) 40 minutes ago, ORV said: There is something to be said for having the full drink package from the get-go and just not worrying about it though. I guess I’m one of those. I put a lot into planning and execution for all in my party. When I get on board I just want to leave all that behind and experience the now without worrying about sticker shock at the end of the cruise because someone did something at port that charges the most tax. Upgrading the $30 per day pp on a 10 day cruise in a port (or territorial waters) that charges a high tax plus Vat. Ouch!! 😊 Edited July 27 by Thought2go 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare terrydtx Posted July 27 #86 Share Posted July 27 10 minutes ago, Thought2go said: I guess I’m one of those. I put a lot into planning and execution for all in my party. When I get on board I just want to leave all that behind and experience the now without worrying about sticker shock at the end of the cruise because someone did something at port that charges the most tax. Upgrading the $30 per day pp on a 10 day cruise in a port (or territorial waters) that charges a high tax plus Vat. Ouch!! 😊 I am with you on not having to worry about a $1000 or more liquor bill at the end of the cruise. Our Marina Cruise next year is 18 days with a lot of sea days and coastal cruising in Chile, Argentina and Uruguay which I believe all charge taxes for drinks purchased in their territorial waters. If the Prestige drink package includes all tips and local taxes that is another nice savings. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEFIowa Posted July 27 #87 Share Posted July 27 There's always the simple beauty of just buying your own alcohol and bringing it on board. And you might take some back home with you, too. I brought back a 1L bottle Turkish Yeni Raki and some Mt Etna Sospiro dell'Etna last year. Lots of overproof rum in 2022. Delicious inexpensive rums in the Caribbean. Wonderful wines in France and Italy. I loved the brandy in Serbia and Spain. Grappa in Italy. Three bottles of wine in Naples, mix and match, was E5.00 in Nov 2023. Can't imagine wasting a cruise day drinking or trying to "get my drinks package's worth daily" or spending $300 or $700 on alcohol for 10 nights. Some people seem to spend way too much time, money, effort and worry about drinking O's alcohol on board. When you can drink your own. But then so many seem to be under the impression that you can only properly "socialize" if you're drinking O's alcohol in some public venue on board. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
santrah Posted July 27 #88 Share Posted July 27 6 hours ago, Thought2go said: RE Upgrading drinks package onboard. So can anyone confirm that if upgrading during the cruise is the local VAT/ tax excluded or will it be added on to the package?! Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondietoo Posted July 27 #89 Share Posted July 27 we booked before Simpy More so no beverage package included. Anyone know anything about bottles of wine packages to have at dinner?? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EJL2023 Posted July 27 #90 Share Posted July 27 17 minutes ago, blondietoo said: we booked before Simpy More so no beverage package included. Anyone know anything about bottles of wine packages to have at dinner?? It is my understanding they no longer have the Wine by Bottle package. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruising Maryland Posted July 28 #91 Share Posted July 28 (edited) 42 minutes ago, blondietoo said: we booked before Simpy More so no beverage package included. Anyone know anything about bottles of wine packages to have at dinner?? They serve wine by the glass with simply more and beer at lunch amd dinner Edited July 28 by Cruising Maryland Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare terrydtx Posted July 28 #92 Share Posted July 28 2 hours ago, blondietoo said: we booked before Simpy More so no beverage package included. Anyone know anything about bottles of wine packages to have at dinner?? We booked our Marina cruise for next March before SM with the house beverage package as our O'Life bonus. After they came out with SM out TA rebooked our cruise with SM for $100pp more and we added the $400pp excursion credit with the SM House Beverage package. So our net gain was $600 more in excursions credit for $200 more total cost. Now that we have the House BP, we can upgrade to the Prestige package for $30pp per day. Did you investigate rebooking with the SM? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basor Posted July 28 #93 Share Posted July 28 14 minutes ago, terrydtx said: We booked our Marina cruise for next March before SM with the house beverage package as our O'Life bonus. After they came out with SM out TA rebooked our cruise with SM for $100pp more and we added the $400pp excursion credit with the SM House Beverage package. So our net gain was $600 more in excursions credit for $200 more total cost. Now that we have the House BP, we can upgrade to the Prestige package for $30pp per day. Did you investigate rebooking with the SM? Yes - you can upgrade to Prestige package by either you or your TA calling O and requesting the upgrade...Also you can wait to upgrade once onboard either upon embarkation or you can wait a few days to see if it makes cost sense... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thought2go Posted July 28 #94 Share Posted July 28 7 hours ago, santrah said: @santrah -it appears this question has been answered throughout the follow up comments. Since you have a question on how it would affect you in Athens- and yes according to people who have commented here, tax and vat would be added on- you might want to get hold your TA or O and make sure you pre pay and it’s recorded. If you are located in a country that charges all this anyway, I’m not sure how you would get around it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thought2go Posted July 28 #95 Share Posted July 28 9 hours ago, MEFIowa said: But then so many seem to be under the impression that you can only properly "socialize" if you're drinking O's alcohol in some public venue on board. Just had to do this MEFlowa..😊😎😊 so do you and your DW hold nightly cocktail parties in your stateroom?? Is it announced on the Currant?? 🤣😂Sorry -but I just had too.. please laugh with me!!🤣😂🤣 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rainbow3fe Posted July 28 #96 Share Posted July 28 Following 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rainbow3fe Posted July 28 #97 Share Posted July 28 (edited) On 7/27/2024 at 4:44 AM, santrah said: I recently booked our first Oceania cruise on SM basis, when I login to my account the Excursion Credit us showing however, when I click on the drinks package tab it is offering to pay for the House Select upgrade along with the Prestige Select when I have the House Select included in our fare. How do I upgrade to Prestige prior to departure ? If upgraded onboard is there a Greece tax (Athens embarkation) and a gratuity to pay? Thank you. Hi, I wouldn't upgrade until you're onboard. Check out the offered selections, they're not bad, and then decide. As someone mentioned, you'll go to 2 parties and there will be 2 for 1 Happy Hours daily. We usually don't drink during the day so it's our wine with appetizers on our Veranda before dinner and then wine with dinner. Enjoy 😎 Edited July 28 by Rainbow3fe 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare terrydtx Posted July 28 #98 Share Posted July 28 (edited) 17 minutes ago, Rainbow3fe said: Hi, I wouldn't upgrade until you're onboard. Check out the offered selections, they're not bad, and then decide. As someone mentioned, you'll go to 2 parties and there will be 2 for 1 Happy Hours daily. We usually don't drink during the day so it's our wine with appetizers on our Veranda before dinner and then wine with dinner. Enjoy 😎 Sounds like good advice. Our Marina cruise next March will have us mostly cruising in Chile, Argentina and Uruguay waters. I read in a recent review of this cruise done this year that passengers were charged local taxes on almost all drinks ordered onboard without the drinks package. My wife likes a good martini before dinner and I like a good 12 year old scotch. After dinner we like a drink to take to the shows as well. We are fine with the wines by the glass for dinner. Since other here have said with the Prestige Drinks package all gratuities and local imposed taxes are included, the package makes even more sense for us. Edited July 28 by terrydtx 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare 1985rz1 Posted July 28 #99 Share Posted July 28 We leave in a week for a Norway cruise that begins on August 10 out of Oslo with SM. We have been planning to upgrade the beverage package onboard after few days, but we're wondering if we will be hit by Norwegian VAT as it's port intensive up the coast to North Cape. We can't determine if we will be international waters anywhere along the way to avoid any tax on the package is Norway levies it. Has anyone had experience with Norway's taxes and should we buy in advance to avoid them? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sailnsurf Posted July 29 #100 Share Posted July 29 Does 2 for 1 during Happy Hour apply to all drinks or only cocktails? What time is Happy Hour? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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