No more Simply More

[MEFIowa]

34 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

Doing the same with our 18 day Marina cruise next March. We booked this in early 2023....

Though you might see if you booked it during a sale. I went thru every 2023 O sale in a post some time back. IIRC, O had a sale every month in 2023. The big ESS was May-June. Then came the SM sale. But there were sales in Jan-Apri, tool. 2023 was a year of sales.

[terrydtx]

17 minutes ago, MEFIowa said:

Though you might see if you booked it during a sale. I went thru every 2023 O sale in a post some time back. IIRC, O had a sale every month in 2023. The big ESS was May-June. Then came the SM sale. But there were sales in Jan-Apri, tool. 2023 was a year of sales.

We booked the cruise on Jan 3, 2023, I do not recall if this was a sale or not.

[MEFIowa]

The math is made such a mess because of sales and SM. And what "value" you place on things.

 

Compared our 10/2022 cruise only C1 price on Sirena 10-night Baltic in 9/2024 to a similar 10-night similar region SM cruise on her in 9/2025 today:

 

$2849 vs $3949 which is +$1100

 

We did ours as a B2B with a SM cruise. Found I had 4 bottles of Newcastle Brown Ale total daily at both lunch and dinner with SM. Missed one lunch due to an excursion in Berlin. So 38 bottles of beer in total. I drank the 2 bottles even in the specialty restaurants. (Thinking I can buy six 6 packs for less than $75.) And we did do the 5 excursions on the SM cruise to get the 25% discount. Found two excursions all but worthless (one I could've paid about E6.00 for round-trip ferry and gotten out of it what I did) and two had some value, though with one easily could've saved by doing our own, with one being mediocre in the middle.

[Dwtlion]

Posted on Facebook this morning by a TA:

 

Starting on Thursday, September 26, 2024, Oceania is introducing Oceania Cruises Your World Upgrade Advantage — an exclusive cruise upgrade bidding program for select Oceania Cruises guests. Eligible booked guests will receive an email invitation with a personalized link to the bidding platform, where you can place bids to upgrade your suite.

The new Oceania Cruises Your World Upgrade Advantage program will begin with the October 30, 2024 sailing on Vista, and will continue to roll out on a continuing basis. The program typically begins from 110 days prior to sailing and closes at one day prior to sailing for booked guests who are paid-in-full.

[MEFIowa]

22 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

We booked the cruise on Jan 3, 2023, I do not recall if this was a sale or not.

Went thru my massive pile of old O brochures that someday I'll recycle...

 

January 2023 was the O 20th Anniversary Sale. Continued into February. O Life Ultimate sale started March.

[Jayne E]

2 minutes ago, Dwtlion said:

Posted on Facebook this morning by a TA:

 

Starting on Thursday, September 26, 2024, Oceania is introducing Oceania Cruises Your World Upgrade Advantage — an exclusive cruise upgrade bidding program for select Oceania Cruises guests. Eligible booked guests will receive an email invitation with a personalized link to the bidding platform, where you can place bids to upgrade your suite.

The new Oceania Cruises Your World Upgrade Advantage program will begin with the October 30, 2024 sailing on Vista, and will continue to roll out on a continuing basis. The program typically begins from 110 days prior to sailing and closes at one day prior to sailing for booked guests who are paid-in-full.

Oh no! Something else to follow!! Obviously some high end cabins are not selling out. 

[Vallesan]

2 minutes ago, Dwtlion said:

Posted on Facebook this morning by a TA:

 

Starting on Thursday, September 26, 2024, Oceania is introducing Oceania Cruises Your World Upgrade Advantage — an exclusive cruise upgrade bidding program for select Oceania Cruises guests. Eligible booked guests will receive an email invitation with a personalized link to the bidding platform, where you can place bids to upgrade your suite.

The new Oceania Cruises Your World Upgrade Advantage program will begin with the October 30, 2024 sailing on Vista, and will continue to roll out on a continuing basis. The program typically begins from 110 days prior to sailing and closes at one day prior to sailing for booked guests who are paid-in-full.

Very interesting!

[ORV]

12 minutes ago, Jayne E said:

Oh no! Something else to follow!! Obviously some high end cabins are not selling out. 

Maybe they're trying to get the B1- the Concierge level sold with move ups from the OV's and insides. 

 

Typically pretty much every cruise I look at those are the categories that are wide open. It would seem to me that they need to figure out how to make the Concierge category more desirable. 

 

Historically the top and bottom are the first to be Waitlisted or N/A. 

[terrydtx]

12 minutes ago, ORV said:

Maybe they're trying to get the B1- the Concierge level sold with move ups from the OV's and insides. 

 

Typically pretty much every cruise I look at those are the categories that are wide open. It would seem to me that they need to figure out how to make the Concierge category more desirable. 

 

Historically the top and bottom are the first to be Waitlisted or N/A. 

On our Marina cruise in March, all of the B and A verandah cabins show as available while all of the Ph and above ones show as Wait Listed.

[Redtravel]

Wondering what will become of Oceania that I learned to love.  They had a great product with the choice of Olife or cruise only.  I wasn’t thrilled with having to book Simply More for all cruises. It was good for some destinations and bad for others.  When I first heard about Simply More going away, I thought that Oceania had reevaluated and ditched Simply More. Now bidding for upgrades sounds like a cheap gimmick.  

[QuestionEverything]

2 hours ago, ak1004 said:

 

But 2022 was right after Covid. They needed those sales to fill ships. Now the situation is different. So comparing the current prices on sailings that sell well to sale prices in 2022 is also not exactly apples to apples.

 

Anyway, this was just an exercise to give a small example by how much prices increased. What is really important is to compare to what other lines charge.

 

In the same way, if I could fly business class with Air Canada from Toronto to Europe for $2,500-3,000 CAD and now the average price is around $5,000, does it mean I will stop flying? No, but I will constantly compare prices and fly with whoever gives me the best deal.

I am in Ottawa, and I avoid that AC piece of garbage.

My travel is getting less and less. I must be blunt.

Charge what you want, I, I repeat I, will decide.

 

[ak1004]

15 minutes ago, QuestionEverything said:

I am in Ottawa, and I avoid that AC piece of garbage.

My travel is getting less and less. I must be blunt.

Charge what you want, I, I repeat I, will decide.

 

 

I'm trying to avoid AC too, but sometimes you don't have a choice if you want to travel.

[mnocket]

18 hours ago, ak1004 said:

Some people say that great perks and great service cannot co exist.. some TAs will tell you the same.. don't believe them

I accept that they exist - it's just that they are unicorns and almost impossible to find... or in my case, impossible.  And yes, I've gotten recommendations from people who love their TAs and the perks they offer.  It's just when I contact their TA, the result is quite different than what was described.  As a result, If I'm familiar with the cruise line, know exactly what I want, and don't require hand-holding - I'll go with a discount (great perks/mediocre customer service) TA.  Big box store TAs fit this category for me. 

[Tranquility Base]

3 hours ago, Redtravel said:

Now bidding for upgrades sounds like a cheap gimmick.  

I quite like the idea.

 

Have used it a few times on an airline with reasonable success.

Have used it on two different cruise lines, with success one time.

The main factor for me is the amount the minimum bid is set at by the company.

Sometimes the minimum bid  is too high for me.

The other downside is that cabin location is a gamble.

Hence I don’t often bid.

 

It provides another option regarding cabin category, sometimes of interest, many times not.

 

The choice is one’s own as to whether to participate.

[Redtravel]

Strangely I have received mailings this week from Oceania with Simply More prices.  Could the new offer include a choice of simply more or not?   That would work for me.  Let potential bookings select which type of booking is best.  
I have also received emails from my favorite online agencies that state that Simply More is going away. The tone seems to suggest that it is better to book with Simply More.  Whatever happens, it will be what it will be.  Nobody has to book a cruise. It is a non essential purchase. There are many options.  Supply and demand will determine future bookings.  

[ak1004]

19 minutes ago, Redtravel said:

Nobody has to book a cruise. It is a non essential purchase. There are many options.  Supply and demand will determine future bookings.  

 

Please speak for yourself! 🙂 

 

We just returned from a cruise 2 days ago and I already have PTSD (Post-travel stress disorder).

 

Luckily I have another one coming in November..

[redshine]

Azamara used to use the bidding upgrade.

 

I don’t know if they still do but they used to do that all the time

[SophieM]

Re: the bidding for upgrades—I received an email today from AMA River cruises touting their exciting new offer to bid on upgrades. Must be the new thing. 

[Redtravel]

2 hours ago, redshine said:

Azamara used to use the bidding upgrade.

 

I don’t know if they still do but they used to do that all the time

Azamara was part of Royal Caribbean. Royal Caribbean uses bidding for upgrades. They own Celebrity and Silver Seas.  Bidding is a gimmick to increase revenue.   Azamara was sold to Sycamore.  On Oceania, I have received an occasional offer to upgrade for a set amount.  I never take it. 

[mauibabes]

@Redtravel

i hate the competitive bidding because you never know where you stand. We have been offered an upgrade for a fixed amount and when it has been in our best interest, we did purchase the upgrade. Sometimes we have traveled with family and friends and been offered Owners Suites and Oceania Suites. They were great places to host friends and we paid a lot less than “full boat”. Best time ever was the Owners Suite in Alaska. What a wonderful way to see the glaciers, duck in for some Hot Toddies or Cocoa, and then back out on our huge veranda. 
Yep, got to find more ways to add a buck to the P&L Sheets.

 

Mauibabes