No more Simply More

[clo]

8 hours ago, hubofhockey said:

 After booking (and paying), now kind of wish we just spent 10 days in Portugal instead (we’ll do five).  I do think cruisers are a different breed. I envy people who enjoy ship activities and make the most of it.

That's us. Pre-covid we cruised from Rio to Buenos Aires. Afterwards we agreed that we should have just flown into Rio, spent a week, then flown into BA for another week and then home. Those interim ports were pretty ho-hum to us. 

[Vineyard View]

7 hours ago, clo said:

That's us. Pre-covid we cruised from Rio to Buenos Aires. Afterwards we agreed that we should have just flown into Rio, spent a week, then flown into BA for another week and then home. Those interim ports were pretty ho-hum to us. 

We haven’t taken a SA cruise. We’ve looked at them, and not ruled them out, but for now it isn’t a focus. Interesting your perspective. I would look at more nature based itineraries with the fjords. I am not sure if you experienced that. Granted, like Alaska, that is a very different mindset from the choices we have been making the last number of years. 
We also set sail in Lisbon next year. We’ve been before on a port day, and are hoping to extend our time there as we were able to in Nice post cruise. We also gravitate towards using miles, which we did once again And so far nothing has opened up to get into Lisbon earlier than we have booked. But I keep hoping - and looking! Have our dog sitter being flexible for a couple more days prior just in case. 

[Syd58]

Perhaps, Oceania found that a number of guests were electing to not leave gratuities or not enough.  The thing you have to remember is almost all ‘for profit’ companies are going to do what they feel is in their best interest.

[IDL]

15 minutes ago, Syd58 said:

Perhaps, Oceania found that a number of guests were electing to not leave gratuities or not enough.  The thing you have to remember is almost all ‘for profit’ companies are going to do what they feel is in their best interest.

Oceana, like every cruise line I am aware of, automatically charges your gratuities to your account so someone would have to take an action to change that amount.  Additionally I highly doubt the seasoned cruiser that is Oceana’s typical customer is trying to pay the staff less in gratuities and that would be the reason for Oceana to change their pricing structure.  I agree that it is a for profit business and they made a business decision on pricing and time will tell is it works out. 

[Lady Meer]

On 9/11/2024 at 6:19 PM, Aloha 1 said:

We've done 6 Regent cruises and they've all been wonderful. Only negative is the lack of an evening casual dining area like The Terrace. But that is being remedied on their new ships coming 

Edited September 13 by Lady Meer

[ORV]

On 9/11/2024 at 9:05 PM, clo said:

Oh, of course. But if I say and do nothing then at the very least I can feel guilty. And I've 'inspired' a few others to do the same.

Have you considered digging a bunker and staying there, with no internet?

[clo]

7 minutes ago, ORV said:

Have you considered digging a bunker and staying there, with no internet?

Nope. You're so cute 🙂

[Harters]

8 hours ago, ORV said:

Have you considered digging a bunker and staying there, with no internet?

There's much to recommend that. It's got hermit appeal. I go some way towards it. For example, I don't carry a mobile phone. And I don't use the internet at all when I'm away on holiday. 

[Oceangoer2]

On 9/12/2024 at 11:28 AM, ak1004 said:

If I start playing principles, I will stay home in an empty house naked and hungry.

😄 Can't visualize as I don't know you, but imagination is taking over....😉

[PhD-iva]

Deadline to book under SM is 30 September. Today I made my 1 (free) transfer of a book-on-board reservation to a different itinerary that doesn’t travel through the Suez Canal/Red Sea. 
Next O cruise is coming up soon, later this month. Gettin’ ‘cited! 😃

[Tranquility Base]

22 minutes ago, PhD-iva said:

 Today I made my 1 (free) transfer of a book-on-board reservation to a different itinerary that doesn’t travel through the Suez Canal/Red Sea. 

What was the original itinerary which you changed from ?

[PhD-iva]

5 minutes ago, Tranquility Base said:

What was the original itinerary which you changed from ?

Three days before the Hamas attack, I used a future cruise credit to book a Nov 2025 Istanbul to Dubai itinerary. Due to the seriousness of the issues in the Middle East, I wasn’t going to mention the itinerary.
But since you asked…….

[as3369]

Getting ready to book our Jan 2026 Marina for 24 days in South America... guess we will under the SM.

[Alimars]

3 hours ago, PhD-iva said:

Three days before the Hamas attack, I used a future cruise credit to book a Nov 2025 Istanbul to Dubai itinerary. Due to the seriousness of the issues in the Middle East, I wasn’t going to mention the itinerary.
But since you asked…….

 

[Alimars]

Our cruise Nov 2024 was canceled middle eastern mosaic

we rebooked onto grandeur of the ancient Nov 2025-dec 2025

Istanbul to Dubai 

 

did u just cancel that one 

I’m wondering what will happen since our one time transfer had been already used on there cancellation 

we have 3 other cruises booked not including middle east 

 

i dont want to cancel this and loose all our early booking credits

 

wondering what Oceania is going to do about this cruise?

have u heard anything?

 

 

[PhD-iva]

23 minutes ago, Alimars said:

Our cruise Nov 2024 was canceled middle eastern mosaic

we rebooked onto grandeur of the ancient Nov 2025-dec 2025

Istanbul to Dubai 

 

did u just cancel that one 

I’m wondering what will happen since our one time transfer had been already used on there cancellation 

we have 3 other cruises booked not including middle east 

 

i dont want to cancel this and loose all our early booking credits

 

wondering what Oceania is going to do about this cruise?

have u heard anything?

 

 

Alimar, if you’d like my real opinion, pls email me. See my signature, thx!

[Alimars]

23 minutes ago, PhD-iva said:

Alimar, if you’d like my real opinion, pls email me. See my signature, thx!

 

[Dchullfd]

Hi All

Long time loyal cruisers on O.

It is just a "simply more" of a complete take-away from Oceania loyals.

Simple.

Thanks Frank!

[jagoffee]

14 hours ago, Dchullfd said:

Hi All

Long time loyal cruisers on O.

It is just a "simply more" of a complete take-away from Oceania loyals.

Simple.

Thanks Frank!

Not if the price was adjusted accordingly.  Some cruises do not appreciating paying for a House Select and Shore  excursions that they do not value.

[Vineyard View]

28 minutes ago, jagoffee said:

Not if the price was adjusted accordingly.  Some cruises do not appreciating paying for a House Select and Shore  excursions that they do not value.

Totally agree. Word is though, price isn’t adjusting differently when these are discontinued. Therein is the rub. 

[terrydtx]

7 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

Totally agree. Word is though, price isn’t adjusting differently when these are discontinued. Therein is the rub. 

It was changes like this that forced us to leave Celebrity. Celebrity took more and more away from the Suites amenities and then raised pricing on cruises. First to go were butlers for lower-level suites, then the generous OBC and pre-paid gratuities were taken away from booking suites. After a lot of unhappy customer complaints, the butlers were brought back in April, too late for our 22 day cruise in January. Before the takeaways a 10 day cruise in a suite would include $800 ($400pp) in OBC that could be used to book shore excursions and on board the ship for specialty restaurants or in the ship shops. The prepaid gratuities were worth $230pp. So, on a 10-day cruise they took away $630pp in suites amenities. Speculation on CC was that when the OBC and gratuities were taken away for suite bookings the prices would lower to compensate, which proved to not be the case, as I saw prices go up 30-40% for entry level Sky Suites. That was when we decided to leave Celebrity and book our first Oceania cruise, our Marina cruise next March.

Edited 10 hours ago by terrydtx

[as3369]

6 hours ago, terrydtx said:

It was changes like this that forced us to leave Celebrity. Celebrity took more and more away from the Suites amenities and then raised pricing on cruises. First to go were butlers for lower-level suites, then the generous OBC and pre-paid gratuities were taken away from booking suites. After a lot of unhappy customer complaints, the butlers were brought back in April, too late for our 22 day cruise in January. Before the takeaways a 10 day cruise in a suite would include $800 ($400pp) in OBC that could be used to book shore excursions and on board the ship for specialty restaurants or in the ship shops. The prepaid gratuities were worth $230pp. So, on a 10-day cruise they took away $630pp in suites amenities. Speculation on CC was that when the OBC and gratuities were taken away for suite bookings the prices would lower to compensate, which proved to not be the case, as I saw prices go up 30-40% for entry level Sky Suites. That was when we decided to leave Celebrity and book our first Oceania cruise, our Marina cruise next March.

Celebrity shipboard experience does not equal their pricing models!  I love Regent but have to space those out financially.  I would highly recommend trying them on one of their Explorer class ships... Explorer, Splendor and Grandeur.  Wonderful all-inclusive experience, including excursions and as much laundry as you want!  Celebrity can't compare, even if they want to charge you these ridiculous suite rates!

[Thought2go]

This wording is new and just arrived from my TA on an email about upcoming luxury cruises.

 

”Travel advisors may charge an additional planning fee depending on the complexity of the trip.”

 

Are we going to see reduced perks from our TA’s along with them charging for their costs?? I’m not seeing paid gratuities on any of their offerings as I did before. I’m seeing Nothing more than what the Cruise lines are offering directly. Are the cruise lines squeezing TAs too?? Are these “planning fees” to make up the difference?

[pinotlover]

Primarily for the Lookie Loos. Those that boook multiple cruises, put their TA through the grill and then cancel. That leaves the TA with multiple hours invested with no pay check. 
 

Remember the industry 3 cruises booked for every cruise taken rule.  Our upcoming January O cruise had multiple categories waitlisted right up to Final Payment. Then the LLs walked and cabins opened across the ship. Lookie Loos will start paying for the games they play. They are now right up there with Helicopter Parents as most despised by their respective institutions. You’re soon going to be paying more than O for all those cancellations.

[Thought2go]

1 hour ago, pinotlover said:

Primarily for the Lookie Loos. Those that boook multiple cruises, put their TA through the grill and then cancel. That leaves the TA with multiple hours invested with no pay check.

Well while it doesn’t apply to me specifically, I find it a very “open to interpretation” statement which is off putting to me. I would think they could have other ways of handling troubling clients rather than lumping us all together with unknown charges.

Besides as I stated, none of their offerings have any of the usual TA perks. Why I think there may be more afoot.