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Choosing Cruise Fare only vs. O-Life


maccrate
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On our upcoming trip on Riviera in December, we chose Cruise Fare vs. O-Life so that we could book our own flights. The flights to Miami are not the best times when you are coming from the Pacific time zone, and we want to go a day early, and stay a day later after disembarkation.

 

Do we lose our option for OBC by choosing the Cruise Fare, or do we simply get the airfare credit, and still get OBC?

 

I can't tell for sure when booking through the Oceania website.

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I'll assume the OBC you are referring to is from an O-life promotion.

 

Cruise only is just that; no extras, no air. (no OBC from O-life)

 

You can also choose with an O-life package and just request no air. You will then get a credit/discount for the untaken air fare.

 

So three pricing tiers:

1. cruise, air & O-life promo

2. cruise, no air & O-life promo

3. cruise only, no air & no promo packages

1 & 3 prices are now usually displayed on their itinerary pages

2 can be priced by starting a booking, selecting w/o and the price is displayed

The amount if credit varies with destination and apparently time to departure. Less lead time results in smaller credit.

 

Your TA can quote all three ways

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We just booked a cruise today, a true "cruise only". My TA seemed reluctant to book that fare, and gave me a sales pitch to do do O life.. For a 10 day cruise it didn't make sense for us. The O Life fare without air is $300 pp more. The only thing you get with the OLife is the free internet. The TA dropped his agency OBC by $50, when we made that choice. But, we saved $300 pp, and have the flexibility of not having nonrefundable OBC.

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We just booked a cruise today, a true "cruise only". My TA seemed reluctant to book that fare, and gave me a sales pitch to do do O life.. For a 10 day cruise it didn't make sense for us. The O Life fare without air is $300 pp more. The only thing you get with the OLife is the free internet. The TA dropped his agency OBC by $50, when we made that choice. But, we saved $300 pp, and have the flexibility of not having nonrefundable OBC.

 

That is not entirely correct. With O Life you get free internet for 10 days (at $28/day it is valued at $280 for 10 day cruise) plus 4 or 6 excursions or $400 or $600 OBC (not sure how many excursions/OBC your cruise includes).

Thus O Life has a minimum value of $680 (if you get $400 OBC + internet) and possibly more if you choose 4 excursions averaging $150/ excursion. That would be $600 worth of excursions (4) and $280 internet for a total of $880.

Depends on what you value more.

PS You also could choose the drinks package in place of OBC or excursions.

Edited by Paulchili
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I'll assume the OBC you are referring to is from an O-life promotion.

 

Cruise only is just that; no extras, no air. (no OBC from O-life)

 

You can also choose with an O-life package and just request no air. You will then get a credit/discount for the untaken air fare.

 

So three pricing tiers:

1. cruise, air & O-life promo

2. cruise, no air & O-life promo

3. cruise only, no air & no promo packages

1 & 3 prices are now usually displayed on their itinerary pages

2 can be priced by starting a booking, selecting w/o and the price is displayed

The amount if credit varies with destination and apparently time to departure. Less lead time results in smaller credit.

 

Your TA can quote all three ways

 

Another option is booking O air for one way, taking the credit for the other and booking your own flight.

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Another option is booking O air for one way, taking the credit for the other and booking your own flight.

I'm not understanding this strategy?

OP stated they wanted to fly in a day early so wouldn't they have to pay air deviation?

Flying from PHX (I'm assuming) to Mia shouldn't be all that much money, though haven't looked it up.

Just trying to understand the advantage of letting O book a one-way

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We just booked a cruise today, a true "cruise only". My TA seemed reluctant to book that fare, and gave me a sales pitch to do do O life.. For a 10 day cruise it didn't make sense for us. The O Life fare without air is $300 pp more. The only thing you get with the OLife is the free internet. The TA dropped his agency OBC by $50, when we made that choice. But, we saved $300 pp, and have the flexibility of not having nonrefundable OBC.

 

We booked "cruise only fare" for our next cruise

 

We get the PPG & OBC from Oceania club perks we do not drink much or take ships tours so worked out for us

 

did not really need more OBC for a 10 day cruise

 

I had booked our air so did not need O air

 

Everyone has to weight the options & choose the one that suits their needs

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We took oLife for our two 2016 cruises and found the tours a good value. (We chose carefully!)

 

For our November 2017 cruise (Rome-Barcelona) we opted out of oLife because in Haifa we will meet DH's cousin (who took us through Israel in 2016 and she is a licensed tour guide), and in Palma we will meet up again with an internet friend. There weren't enough ports where we want to use ship's tours to make it worth paying the extra for oLife. Plus we have a lot of OBC that will pay for ship's tours if we decide to take them and the gold status we will have in November gives us other perks.

 

We MAY take oLife on our May 2018 B2B, Monte Carlo to Venice cruise however.

 

We tend to do our own air, but on occasion (for the right offer) we HAVE used O's air. We have always had good flight schedules through O, but we do live in NYC ... people who need to have a flight to a gateway city have problems that we do not.

 

Just some comments for you to think about ...

 

Mura

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  • 1 month later...

I'm trying to evaluate alternative fares as well.

 

It seems if you are booking a concierge veranda, the value of OLife is diminished since you get unlimited internet on that cabin class. As we don't need airfare, the price difference between OLife and cruise only is $300/pp which is the amount of the OBC being offered ($600 per stateroom.)

 

Am I missing something? :confused:

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  • 2 weeks later...
What does the OLife drink package include ? if you don't pick OLife, can you purchase drink packages on board ? Are they explained and price on O's website ?
A little of topic but yes, you can purchase either package or upgrade once you are on board; in fact cannot be purchased in advance. Yes, they are explained their website though not obvious. At the top menu bar drop down the menu under "Value"

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/value/beverage-wine-packages/

 

Summary to your question:

"Packages & Rates

  • Prestige Select
    Unlimited premium spirits, Champagne, wine and beer wherever and whenever you wish
    from $59.95 per guest, per day
  • House Select
    Unlimited Champagne, wine and beer with lunch and dinner
    from $39.95 per guest, per day

  • Wine by the Bottle+
    All bottles are priced at $47.50 (Gratuity Included)
    7 bottles of wine are required for each package"

As for the unasked questions, "is it worth it", etc I suggest a search on this board for that discussion or start a new thread if you can't find something suitable. Then the next person wondering about the packages can find the discussion in the relevant thread titles.

 

For me the Select package is good value, not for DW unless there are a lot of (calm) sea days.

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What does the OLife drink package include ? if you don't pick OLife, can you purchase drink packages on board ? Are they explained and price on O's website ?

The O Life beverage package is the House Select

 

which is wine/champagne by the glass & beer available at lunch & dinner only

 

Both parties in the cabin must choose the same O Life perk

 

You can upgrade to the Prestige package once onboard for $20 pp pd

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The O Life beverage package is the House Select

 

which is wine/champagne by the glass & beer available at lunch & dinner only

 

Both parties in the cabin must choose the same O Life perk

 

You can upgrade to the Prestige package once onboard for $20 pp pd

Just to add-on, while the O-Life package is by the cabin, so as this states both must choose the same perq, the upgrade for the Prestige package can be purchased by just one party if desired

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A little of topic but yes, you can purchase either package or upgrade once you are on board; in fact cannot be purchased in advance. Yes, they are explained their website though not obvious. At the top menu bar drop down the menu under "Value"

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/value/beverage-wine-packages/

 

Summary to your question:

"Packages & Rates

  • Prestige Select
    Unlimited premium spirits, Champagne, wine and beer wherever and whenever you wish
    from $59.95 per guest, per day
  • House Select
    Unlimited Champagne, wine and beer with lunch and dinner
    from $39.95 per guest, per day

  • Wine by the Bottle+
    All bottles are priced at $47.50 (Gratuity Included)
    7 bottles of wine are required for each package"

As for the unasked questions, "is it worth it", etc I suggest a search on this board for that discussion or start a new thread if you can't find something suitable. Then the next person wondering about the packages can find the discussion in the relevant thread titles.

 

For me the Select package is good value, not for DW unless there are a lot of (calm) sea days.

 

Are you sure your TA can't book it in advance for you? I've had it numerous times but get it onboard, as I either use obc to get it or upgrade from the Olife Select. I'm aware you can't book it on line in advance, but I thought for sure your TA could.

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Everyone must decide on their own based upon each trip and location. Some here don't drink, no need for that option. Most locals, private or DIY tours are far better than ship tours, no need for that option. If you're getting PPG and OBC already from the ship and/or TA, that option isn't valuable.

 

Unless you're an internet junky, or feel you absolutely can't wait to get home to upload pictures to the cloud, one can typically find free internet hotspots in the towns to check email while traveling.

 

If a deviation is required (always for us) then we can often beat O's airfare.

 

Where you are traveling to, the number of sea days, and lifestyle are all considerations in the decisions. They can change from cruise to cruise.

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Are you sure your TA can't book it in advance for you? I've had it numerous times but get it onboard, as I either use obc to get it or upgrade from the Olife Select. I'm aware you can't book it on line in advance, but I thought for sure your TA could.

For me, yes, had to purchase on board.

 

A cruise in April we had the beverage package as our O-life choice. I was speaking with a representative from O on another issue and during that call I asked about how I can purchase the upgrade in advance. I was told that I cannot and that can only be done on board.

 

Not a big deal but at that time would've preferred to a been able to purchase it and get it out of the way not wanting to spend time in a lineup on day one (or two).

 

However, once on board the concern was unwarranted because O handled the first day requests in a very well-organized manner. There were five of us at Reception and they had four staff handling the requests plus a senior person standing back overseeing the operations. There was no long wait, and though we did end up taking more time than I wanted due to a booking glitch that ironically would have been uncovered had we in fact been able to purchase in advance, all was good and that problem was immediately resolved upon our return thanks to Guest Relations.

 

So from my experience this Spring the only way I could purchase the upgrade was on board.

 

It's not like sales are limited and they're going to run out anyway :)

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We do not live in a gateway city and bought our cruise with the O Life package including air. We've paid the air deviation fee and Oceania ticketed us through to our home city for less than we'd pay on our own for the extra flight. There is an advantage to being ticketed through as you don't have to collect your baggage and recheck it. At least from Canada, if you are doing a transAtlantic, the one way airfares are expensive. Bottom line is that I could not have purchased airfare on my own for the difference between cruise only and the O Life package even including the deviation fee. But the economics would be different for flights in North America only, so I'd have to look at it to decide.

 

DH and I have wine with dinner every night and sometimes on sea days with lunch as well. We'll probably buy the 7 bottle packages once we're on board. There is no way we'd drink enough to make a beverage package worthwhile. But beverage packages seem to be a big draw for some people. Our first experience with one was on a HAL ship. Their policy is to serve wine by the glass one glass at a time. You have to finish the first glass before you get another one. This is a more labour intensive wine and beverage service and can mean poorer service for those who are buying by the bottle or a la carte glasses of wine.

 

We don't do many shore excursions so we opted for the shipboard credit which will more than pay for our wine with dinner.

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For me, yes, had to purchase on board.

 

A cruise in April we had the beverage package as our O-life choice. I was speaking with a representative from O on another issue and during that call I asked about how I can purchase the upgrade in advance. I was told that I cannot and that can only be done on board.

 

Not a big deal but at that time would've preferred to a been able to purchase it and get it out of the way not wanting to spend time in a lineup on day one (or two).

 

However, once on board the concern was unwarranted because O handled the first day requests in a very well-organized manner. There were five of us at Reception and they had four staff handling the requests plus a senior person standing back overseeing the operations. There was no long wait, and though we did end up taking more time than I wanted due to a booking glitch that ironically would have been uncovered had we in fact been able to purchase in advance, all was good and that problem was immediately resolved upon our return thanks to Guest Relations.

 

So from my experience this Spring the only way I could purchase the upgrade was on board.

 

It's not like sales are limited and they're going to run out anyway :)

 

I was actually referring to buying the whole package, not just upgrading. I agree with you that the upgrade can only be done on board.

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We just booked a cruise today, a true "cruise only". My TA seemed reluctant to book that fare, and gave me a sales pitch to do do O life.. For a 10 day cruise it didn't make sense for us. The O Life fare without air is $300 pp more. The only thing you get with the OLife is the free internet. The TA dropped his agency OBC by $50, when we made that choice. But, we saved $300 pp, and have the flexibility of not having nonrefundable OBC.

 

I thought that the OLife fare without air included some tours as well??

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I thought that the OLife fare without air included some tours as well??
Maybe yes, maybe no.

 

It can be confusing but think of O-life perqs and air have nothing to do with each other . You can book with or w/o air as you please. You can also chose to book with or w/o an O-life amenity.

 

So you can book O-life, w/o air and choose the O-life amenity such as a basic beverage package, a certain number of excursions, or a certain amount of OBC; these amounts vary on the itinerary. Whichever amenity is selected it applies to the stateroom (i.e. both pax)

 

Does that help?

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