No more Simply More

[jonthomas]

10 hours ago, Jancruz said:

Jon you need some new friends..LOL

Jancruz1

Jan you are SO right....

[jonthomas]

44 minutes ago, terry&mike said:

We travel like this as well. I always start with some booking, cruise or land, and then keep adding to it. We take it up to 69 days, as our annual travel insurance policy covers for trips up to 70 days. We usually do this 2x a year. I look at it like a puzzle, seeing what is in the general area of the world or an easy flight, and start building an itinerary. 

 

A simple example is adding Bali before sailing out of Singapore. But some other favorites: 

 

Scenic Mekong Cambodia and Vietnam, added a stay in Hua Hin Thailand (beach relax), then a land tour around Thailand, and a couple extra weeks in Vietnam on our own to spend some time in Hoi An, Hanoi, and HaLong Bay area.

 

Azamara 8 day Spain Intensive sailing, paired with 10 days traveling around Portugal by trains and bus.

 

Azamara Amalfi & Dalmatian Voyage, before hand we spent time in Milan and Bellagio DIY, then met up in Rome with friends. Afterwards, we did a tour in the Puglia region. Then flew over to Hamburg for a couple of days, and sailed the Queen Mary 2 back to the US. 

 

In April 2024, we sailed a Bike and Barge cruise in the Netherlands during tulip time with a group of friends. We had also booked Gorilla Trekking in Uganda in late February with 2 other friends. In a move to reduce our flying time, we ended up combining the trips by filling in the middle dates. We ended up spending a few days in Rwanda, then traveling across Uganda with a local operator, a safari tour in Kenya and Tanzania, a few days in Zanzibar to relax. 3 weeks across Poland by train, and then Berlin. Met our friends in Amsterdam for the barge trip, and home.  

 

In October, we have a river cruise in Provence France, and a transatlantic cruise back to the US from Barcelona. We'll spend 2.5 weeks in Airbnb's in Malaga and Valencia Spain. 

 

I'm currently putting a more complex puzzle together for fall 2025, but I like the challenge. We have a Greek Islands cruise booked with a group of friends in early September, and a transatlantic cruise back to the US booked for early November. We'll visit Cappadoccia Turkey beforehand, then afterwards Azerbaijan for a Formula 1 race, followed by Georgia and Armenia. Then 10 days in Albania where I will use a local tour operator for a 6 day tour. Then Airbnb's for a week in Ljubliana and a week in Trieste. And then the sail home. I had a stay in Sofia Bulgaria in there, as we've been wanting to return, but I pulled it out to spend more time in other places.

 

My husband gets exhausted just thinking about our plans, so I keep him on an as needed basis for planning and details. I love the planning! 

Amazing, just amazing!

[ak1004]

5 hours ago, Vallesan said:

Can I turn your analysis on its head?

 

SM may not have been beneficial to those who don’t drink or who prefer private tours BUT SM was not beneficial to Oceania because people were taking the tours and drinking! 
 

The bottom line is pretty simple: SM was costing Oceania too much!

 

I think you are correct, but it doesn't matter to me. I accepted the fact that corporations first priority is their shareholders and the bottom line, the customers come second (maybe..). So it doesn't matter to me WHY they introduced SM and why they are removing it now.. What matters to me is MY interest. What matter to me is NOW, not the history.

 

When they introduced SM, it was not beneficial to us because we don’t drink and prefer private tours. And yet we booked 2 cruises with O for 2025 because those were still the itineraries we liked at reasonable price. We don't care that we will be paying for things we don't use. We don't care why O did what they did. All we care is to find the best deal for us.

 

2026 is the new game. We are planning 4 cruises, how many will be with O? Maybe 4, maybe zero. We will have at least 5 lines competing for our business. Loyalty is dead.

[terrydtx]

39 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

 

I think you are correct, but it doesn't matter to me. I accepted the fact that corporations first priority is their shareholders and the bottom line, the customers come second (maybe..). So it doesn't matter to me WHY they introduced SM and why they are removing it now.. What matters to me is MY interest. What matter to me is NOW, not the history.

 

When they introduced SM, it was not beneficial to us because we don’t drink and prefer private tours. And yet we booked 2 cruises with O for 2025 because those were still the itineraries we liked at reasonable price. We don't care that we will be paying for things we don't use. We don't care why O did what they did. All we care is to find the best deal for us.

 

2026 is the new game. We are planning 4 cruises, how many will be with O? Maybe 4, maybe zero. We will have at least 5 lines competing for our business. Loyalty is dead.

We are just the opposite, we do like wine and beer with meals and a drink or two before dinner. The SM paltry amount of excursion credit doesn't go far but we can still book a majority of our ports with private tours. So, SM WAS beneficial for us. We just booked while onboard the Volendam a HAL 2026 cruise of the British Isles in a suite. We booked with a $100pp refundable deposit, their early booking "Have It all promo" that includes premium drinks, premium Wi-Fi, pre-paid crew gratuities, $200pp excursion credit and 2 free specialty restaurants plus $300pp OBC. We booked this knowing we could cancel without penalty after Oceania releases their 2026 summer Uk cruise schedule to compare what we could get. Now, knowing that SM is going away I do not see Oceania offering much to compare with the HAL cruise. Oceania may be losing us as a potential long-term customer. I could care less about Corporate profits, we look at what is best for us and that is how we book our vacations, loyalty had gone out the door a long time ago.

Edited September 9 by terrydtx

[Sthrngary]

8 hours ago, clo said:

Wow! Why????? I could LIVE in Barcelona! I'm sorry it was just "OK" for you.

@clo We are at the end of our vacation.  We were all really tired.  I was the organizer for our entire trip and it was over the top great until this point.  We had strategy and rules which we all followed.  We had a plan we followed loosely for each port that worked out very well for all.  The moment we got off the ship on the last day, my wife and guests thought following all the work done to make our trip great was not important anymore.  They were simply wanting to go home and the day in Barcelona was just holding them back.  This will NEVER happen again.  I will be much more forceful and I hold myself accountable for allowing some bad decisions to happen. 

 

One rule I had was when at a port or country, NEVER ever eat by the attraction we would be going too.  Have a plan for meals to enjoy what makes that country great.  I knew I was in trouble when my wife said, I want to get to the La Familia Sagrada Church way before our allotted time.  I said, sure, it is lunch time, here is the area we need to go to for lunch.  I was out voted and we ate across the street from the church and it was Horrible.  Same thing happened for dinner where my group veto's the reservation I had and the next day's lunch and dinner.  We were also in Barcelona on Sunday where the markets were closed. Every place we went to was worse then the last.  

 

I know you should not rate a place on simply making bad decisions.  I know I am not being fair to Barcelona.  We just did not handle it right and no matter how much I tried to stay on our loosely outlined plan that was working, I was out voted due to everyone being so tired.  My fault, my reason and really the way I felt at the time. Lessons were learned and in the future, I will fight back since with all due respect to everyone in my party, they did none of the planning, research and reservations.  I failed them and my self.  

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

[terry&mike]

1 hour ago, jonthomas said:

Amazing, just amazing!

And I completely forgot a stop on the Rwanda/Uganda to Netherlands trip - we stayed in an Airbnb in Antalya, Turkey for 12 days, taking an overnight side trip to Pamukkale by local bus. Mostly because it worked out well after Zanzibar and before Poland for flight reasons, but also because we enjoy Turkey. 

Edited September 9 by terry&mike
copy change

[ak1004]

24 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

We are just the opposite, we do like wine and beer with meals and a drink or two before dinner. The SM paltry amount of excursion credit doesn't go far but we can still book a majority of our ports with private tours. So, SM WAS beneficial for us. We just booked while onboard the Volendam a HAL 2026 cruise of the British Isles in a suite. We booked with a $100pp refundable deposit, their early booking "Have It all promo" that includes premium drinks, premium Wi-Fi, pre-paid crew gratuities, $200pp excursion credit and 2 free specialty restaurants plus $300pp OBC. We booked this knowing we could cancel without penalty after Oceania releases their 2026 summer Uk cruise schedule to compare what we could get. Now, knowing that SM is going away I do not see Oceania offering much to compare with the HAL cruise. Oceania may be losing us as a potential long-term customer. I could care less about Corporate profits, we look at what is best for us and that is how we book our vacations, loyalty had gone out the door a long time ago.

 

And this is why it's good to have choices.

 

To me O and HAL are not in the same category, so I don't compare their prices and perks. I know that O will always be more expensive because it offers a different product. Someone who is driving a Mercedes will not switch to Honda just because it's cheaper. We all are looking for different things in cruising, this is why so many cruise lines exist.

 

Nothing wrong with HAL, or Celebrity, or Princess. We sailed on all of them and enjoyed them. But they cannot be compared to O (in my opinion).

[terrydtx]

14 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

 

And this is why it's good to have choices.

 

To me O and HAL are not in the same category, so I don't compare their prices and perks. I know that O will always be more expensive because it offers a different product. Someone who is driving a Mercedes will not switch to Honda just because it's cheaper. We all are looking for different things in cruising, this is why so many cruise lines exist.

 

Nothing wrong with HAL, or Celebrity, or Princess. We sailed on all of them and enjoyed them. But they cannot be compared to O (in my opinion).

When booking on HAL or Celebrity we book in suites and when prices are compared to Oceania, in the past, Oceania has been competitive with them on comparable itineraries. IMO doing away with SM now makes Oceania much less competitive. We book first for itinerary then look at what cruise line has the best deal for us. Our preferred cruise lines have been Celebrity, HAL, Oceania and Viking Ocean, in no particular order. Over the past 2 years Celebrity has become so unrealistic in their pricing and for the most part no longer considered by us.  As I said earlier, our booking on the Marina in South America was much less on a cost per day than what Celebrity was offering, which is why we booked with Oceania. Going from a suite on HAL or Celebrity to a Concierge Class cabin on Oceania for me, is more like going from a Mercedes to a Lexus, not at all like going from a Honda to a Mercedes.

[HaveDogWillTravel]

19 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

Nothing wrong with HAL, or Celebrity, or Princess. We sailed on all of them and enjoyed them. But they cannot be compared to O (in my opinion).

Very true. But I found that Princess, HAL or Celebrity will occasionally have an excellent itinerary that beats out (or at least matches) the itinerary on O, WS, Cunard and other lines doing the same thing at the same time. 
If its a very port intensive sailing then choosing a nice cabin on Princess for half the price or less is something I will absolutely do.  I have a great cabin on a 2026 Northern Europe sailing for $143 pp/pday on the Sapphire. We are off the ship every single day so I’m okay with using this as a floating hotel and cheap transportation.  This trip will have a month on land in the UK and 6 weeks on land in Northern Europe.  We have a budget for the year and mixing it up like this really stretches it.  

[Vineyard View]

1 hour ago, terrydtx said:

We are just the opposite, we do like wine and beer with meals and a drink or two before dinner. The SM paltry amount of excursion credit doesn't go far but we can still book a majority of our ports with private tours. So, SM WAS beneficial for us. We just booked while onboard the Volendam a HAL 2026 cruise of the British Isles in a suite. We booked with a $100pp refundable deposit, their early booking "Have It all promo" that includes premium drinks, premium Wi-Fi, pre-paid crew gratuities, $200pp excursion credit and 2 free specialty restaurants plus $300pp OBC. We booked this knowing we could cancel without penalty after Oceania releases their 2026 summer Uk cruise schedule to compare what we could get. Now, knowing that SM is going away I do not see Oceania offering much to compare with the HAL cruise. Oceania may be losing us as a potential long-term customer. I could care less about Corporate profits, we look at what is best for us and that is how we book our vacations, loyalty had gone out the door a long time ago.

We are right there with you in our preferences. We haven’t sailed HAL since the old Ryndham, which was lovely. I know that Volendam is one of their two (I think) smaller ships. I looked at HAL for next year with the have it all promo, but backed away due to some concerns. One was the ‘nickel and dimming’ that I read about on different boards (ie: charge for water, charge for room service, charge for specialty restaurants) that truly add up. That and the food. 
That said, British Isles is on our bucket list, so you peaked my interest, particularly if they are sailing Volendam in that area. Thank you for posting this. 

[terrydtx]

58 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

We are right there with you in our preferences. We haven’t sailed HAL since the old Ryndham, which was lovely. I know that Volendam is one of their two (I think) smaller ships. I looked at HAL for next year with the have it all promo, but backed away due to some concerns. One was the ‘nickel and dimming’ that I read about on different boards (ie: charge for water, charge for room service, charge for specialty restaurants) that truly add up. That and the food. 
That said, British Isles is on our bucket list, so you peaked my interest, particularly if they are sailing Volendam in that area. Thank you for posting this. 

We just got off the Volendam after 11 days in Canada. Other than a piece of Jewlery my wife bought and a Tommy Bahama shirt I bought on board, there was no nickel and diming on our bill. With the Premium early booking HIA promo, our drinks up to $15, premium Wi-Fi, $400 in shore excursion credit, 2 specialty restaurants and the crew gratuities were all included. The drinks package covered all bottled water, specialty coffees and sodas. There is no fee or charges for room service, yet, on HAL. Loved the Volendam and the size, even though the cruise was 100% occupied it was never crowded. For 2026 we booked the new Nieuw Statendam with the HAL Club Orange which has several nice benefits including a private Club Orange dining room for dinner and breakfast for CO guests. Only the 3 new Pinnacle class ships have a private CO dining room. We did a short 7day cruise on the Koningsdam last November and loved the CO dining room and service which far exceeded the MDR. The new ships are larger than Oceania ships but at about 2660 passengers they still have the smaller ship feel. HAL has not gone the way of other lines and built huge Mega ships

 

I do not believe that the Volendam will be in the British Isles in 2026, it has been very successful in doing the NE/Canada cruises and is the only HAL ship that can cruise under the bridges on the St Lawrence between Quebec City and Montreal.

 

Edited September 9 by terrydtx

[ak1004]

2 hours ago, terrydtx said:

When booking on HAL or Celebrity we book in suites and when prices are compared to Oceania, in the past, Oceania has been competitive with them on comparable itineraries. IMO doing away with SM now makes Oceania much less competitive. We book first for itinerary then look at what cruise line has the best deal for us. Our preferred cruise lines have been Celebrity, HAL, Oceania and Viking Ocean, in no particular order. Over the past 2 years Celebrity has become so unrealistic in their pricing and for the most part no longer considered by us.  As I said earlier, our booking on the Marina in South America was much less on a cost per day than what Celebrity was offering, which is why we booked with Oceania. Going from a suite on HAL or Celebrity to a Concierge Class cabin on Oceania for me, is more like going from a Mercedes to a Lexus, not at all like going from a Honda to a Mercedes.

 

Celebrity pricing just doesn't make sense to me, especially new ships.

 

If you book a suite on HAL, does it give you "special treatment", like ship within ship (separate restaurant/pool, etc)? or it's just more inclusions and more space?

 

2 hours ago, HaveDogWillTravel said:

Very true. But I found that Princess, HAL or Celebrity will occasionally have an excellent itinerary that beats out (or at least matches) the itinerary on O, WS, Cunard and other lines doing the same thing at the same time. 
If its a very port intensive sailing then choosing a nice cabin on Princess for half the price or less is something I will absolutely do.  I have a great cabin on a 2026 Northern Europe sailing for $143 pp/pday on the Sapphire. We are off the ship every single day so I’m okay with using this as a floating hotel and cheap transportation.  This trip will have a month on land in the UK and 6 weeks on land in Northern Europe.  We have a budget for the year and mixing it up like this really stretches it.  

 

Agree with you 100%. While small ships are definitely our preference, itinerary is always the most important factor for us.

[jonthomas]

3 hours ago, Sthrngary said:

@clo We are at the end of our vacation.  We were all really tired.  I was the organizer for our entire trip and it was over the top great until this point.  We had strategy and rules which we all followed.  We had a plan we followed loosely for each port that worked out very well for all.  The moment we got off the ship on the last day, my wife and guests thought following all the work done to make our trip great was not important anymore.  They were simply wanting to go home and the day in Barcelona was just holding them back.  This will NEVER happen again.  I will be much more forceful and I hold myself accountable for allowing some bad decisions to happen. 

 

One rule I had was when at a port or country, NEVER ever eat by the attraction we would be going too.  Have a plan for meals to enjoy what makes that country great.  I knew I was in trouble when my wife said, I want to get to the La Familia Sagrada Church way before our allotted time.  I said, sure, it is lunch time, here is the area we need to go to for lunch.  I was out voted and we ate across the street from the church and it was Horrible.  Same thing happened for dinner where my group veto's the reservation I had and the next day's lunch and dinner.  We were also in Barcelona on Sunday where the markets were closed. Every place we went to was worse then the last.  

 

I know you should not rate a place on simply making bad decisions.  I know I am not being fair to Barcelona.  We just did not handle it right and no matter how much I tried to stay on our loosely outlined plan that was working, I was out voted due to everyone being so tired.  My fault, my reason and really the way I felt at the time. Lessons were learned and in the future, I will fight back since with all due respect to everyone in my party, they did none of the planning, research and reservations.  I failed them and my self.  

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

Very interesting to read.

Just Pre covid, I also organized many adventures.

Reminds me of Switzerland,  after a cruise, 5 days, trains, boats, busses, and mountain rails, all kinds of lodging...very fun adventure, without a hitch, but not too much thanks from the participants. Huge amount of research and work for me.

Hope your group was more grateful.

 

[Vallesan]

4 hours ago, ak1004 said:

 

I think you are correct, but it doesn't matter to me. I accepted the fact that corporations first priority is their shareholders and the bottom line, the customers come second (maybe..). So it doesn't matter to me WHY they introduced SM and why they are removing it now.. What matters to me is MY interest. What matter to me is NOW, not the history.

 

When they introduced SM, it was not beneficial to us because we don’t drink and prefer private tours. And yet we booked 2 cruises with O for 2025 because those were still the itineraries we liked at reasonable price. We don't care that we will be paying for things we don't use. We don't care why O did what they did. All we care is to find the best deal for us.

 

2026 is the new game. We are planning 4 cruises, how many will be with O? Maybe 4, maybe zero. We will have at least 5 lines competing for our business. Loyalty is dead.

Absolutely! It doesn't to matter to me  either. Yesterday is gone we only have the NOW! Tomorrow… well who knows??

[SATaxman]

If someone books a cruise after October 1, 2024 for a sailing before January 1, 2025................what do they receive if SM ends September 30th?

[terrydtx]

5 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

Celebrity pricing just doesn't make sense to me, especially new ships.

 

If you book a suite on HAL, does it give you "special treatment", like ship within ship (separate restaurant/pool, etc)? or it's just more inclusions and more space?

A Neptune Suite on the Pinnacle class ships will include all the benefits of Club Orange and meals in the private CO dining room. There is no private pool but the price per day is considerably less than a Sky Suite on Celebrity.

[Sthrngary]

5 minutes ago, jonthomas said:

Very interesting to read.

Just Pre covid, I also organized many adventures.

Reminds me of Switzerland,  after a cruise, 5 days, trains, boats, busses, and mountain rails, all kinds of lodging...very fun adventure, without a hitch, but not too much thanks from the participants. Huge amount of research and work for me.

Hope your group was more grateful.

 

@jonthomas They were all grateful and it was my pleasure.  I am a different type of person.  If something goes well, everyone gets credit.  If something not so good, I blame myself.  Not forcing the issue that we all agreed to, simply was my fault.  That will not happen again.

 

Thanks for the comment.

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

[ak1004]

14 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

A Neptune Suite on the Pinnacle class ships will include all the benefits of Club Orange and meals in the private CO dining room. There is no private pool but the price per day is considerably less than a Sky Suite on Celebrity.

 

But you can also add CO to a regular cabin?

[terrydtx]

8 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

 

But you can also add CO to a regular cabin?

Yes but the number of CO memberships are limited on all ships for non-Neptune and Pinnacle Suites passengers, and they sell out quickly.  It cost $25pp per day for cruises under 14 days and $15pp per day for ones 14 days and more in length. For us CO is great and we have purchased it for our last 3 HAL non suite cruises. We had it for our Vista Suite on the Volendam last month and enjoyed the amenities.

Edited September 9 by terrydtx

[cruiserchuck]

27 minutes ago, SATaxman said:

If someone books a cruise after October 1, 2024 for a sailing before January 1, 2025................what do they receive if SM ends September 30th?

 

Unless there is a new promotion, I believe they will receive all of the perks mentioned in Os recent press release (free speciality dining, wifi, soda, coffee, tea, juices, etc.) but will not receive included gratuities.  So basically what I received on my cruise last year under O Life, since I opted out of the O Life promo in exchange for a fare reduction.

[SATaxman]

1 minute ago, cruiserchuck said:

 

Unless there is a new promotion, I believe they will receive all of the perks mentioned in Os recent press release (free speciality dining, wifi, soda, coffee, tea, juices, etc.) but will not receive included gratuities.  So basically what I received on my cruise last year under O Life, since I opted out of the O Life promo in exchange for a fare reduction.

We are looking at possibly adding B2B on an existing December 2024 cruise. I will ask my TA. Just thought maybe someone had already found out. Thanks

[Syd58]

This is the third time Oceania has changed their pricing policy in a relatively short period of time. From a business perspective, I don’t understand. Do they think their previous policies aren’t working? It’s confusing to their customers. We have 3 Oceania cruises booked and after this, we’ll stick with all-inclusive Silversea and Regent.

[IDL]

5 minutes ago, Syd58 said:

This is the third time Oceania has changed their pricing policy in a relatively short period of time. From a business perspective, I don’t understand. Do they think their previous policies aren’t working? It’s confusing to their customers. We have 3 Oceania cruises booked and after this, we’ll stick with all-inclusive Silversea and Regent.

They decided on a new tag line: the most complexing pricing on sea.  

[clo]

6 hours ago, Sthrngary said:

The moment we got off the ship on the last day, my wife and guests thought following all the work done to make our trip great was not important anymore.  They were simply wanting to go home and the day in Barcelona was just holding them back. 

OT so I'll keep this short. Maybe the 'gang' was sick of the rules and just wanted to do their own thing. Couldn't the 'rule have been "have a safe flight home and enjoy today"? If I were cruising with others we'd do our own thing and hopefully meet for dinner. I'm assuming we're not talking about young kids or faltering seniors 🙂

[Jancruz]

6 hours ago, Sthrngary said:

@clo We are at the end of our vacation.  We were all really tired.  I was the organizer for our entire trip and it was over the top great until this point.  We had strategy and rules which we all followed.  We had a plan we followed loosely for each port that worked out very well for all.  The moment we got off the ship on the last day, my wife and guests thought following all the work done to make our trip great was not important anymore.  They were simply wanting to go home and the day in Barcelona was just holding them back.  This will NEVER happen again.  I will be much more forceful and I hold myself accountable for allowing some bad decisions to happen. 

 

One rule I had was when at a port or country, NEVER ever eat by the attraction we would be going too.  Have a plan for meals to enjoy what makes that country great.  I knew I was in trouble when my wife said, I want to get to the La Familia Sagrada Church way before our allotted time.  I said, sure, it is lunch time, here is the area we need to go to for lunch.  I was out voted and we ate across the street from the church and it was Horrible.  Same thing happened for dinner where my group veto's the reservation I had and the next day's lunch and dinner.  We were also in Barcelona on Sunday where the markets were closed. Every place we went to was worse then the last.  

 

I know you should not rate a place on simply making bad decisions.  I know I am not being fair to Barcelona.  We just did not handle it right and no matter how much I tried to stay on our loosely outlined plan that was working, I was out voted due to everyone being so tired.  My fault, my reason and really the way I felt at the time. Lessons were learned and in the future, I will fight back since with all due respect to everyone in my party, they did none of the planning, research and reservations.  I failed them and my self.  

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

When I take a group I make it very clear this is not a democracy and there are no votes we follow the itinerary or you leave the group

Jancruz1