Sthrngary

@WildWanderers Greg, so here is my question. My I or any Oceania Cruise guest, upgrade from the SimplyMore drink package to the Prestige Unlimited Drink package pre-cruise. Up to now, i thought that was not possible. Can you clarify. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@FeliciaLee Please share. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@SATaxman Great information. Keep it coming. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

I don't want to come of as the expert here because I am NOT. What I do want to do is create a forum to openly discuss having a pricing strategy for Oceania Cruises. The more you watch how a brand moves their prices, the better potential you have to gain a great value proposition. It is important you like the brand, ship and Itinerary or else the information is mute. Let's assume those that comment WANT to take another Oceania Cruise. Request: If you have an issue with Oceania; changes Oceania recently did; Oceania pricing today; please create your own topic and do not hijack this stream. Thank you in advance for your assistance. Here is my experience which usually came after reading some ones post right here in this CruiseCritic.com Brand Blog. Book As Far Out As Possible: I booked in November 2023 for a cruise in October 2025. The fare was reduced by 5%. Best Value Often Times is the Older Ships: When the Vista was launched the prices for similar itinerary to the Riviera or Marina made the Vista much higher. As the months go by, the Vista pricing on some itineraries are leveling down. Not 100% but it is noticeable. The Riviera and Marina for the same itinerary right now are the positive value proposition to the Vista still. See a Sale Online, Check with Oceania: Whether it is a sailing you have booked or one you are considering. See a sale, call your Agent or Oceania to gain accurate pricing. You can also from time to time go to a third party site to check out pricing. When doing that, make sure the check box saying "Non-Refundable Fairs" is not clicked. You want accuracy. Check Your Credit Card Perks: Some of these Perks are combinable with other sales; some are not. Worth checking it out because the rules seem to change like the wind. Book Onboard For Extra Benefits/Value: I booked my next cruise while cruising on the Riviera. I got the information on day one, booked the actual itinerary on day 5 of a 10 day cruise. The last day is super crowed at the future sales desk. My future booking was: 5% off for booking so far in advance; $250.00 of OBC on my current or future cruise; $400.00 off the fair for a Concierge Level booking; my travel agency game me free gratuities, and this cruise was booked with the SimplyMore amenities which in my case was $800.00 for excursions. This $800.00 was reduced to $600.00 on January 1, 2024. Guest Paid Discounted Upgrade: Never any guarantees however as either a sale happens or you get close to the actual cruise, call Oceania or your travel Agent and ask to be considered for a "Paid Guest Discounted Upgrade". Like chicken soup, can't hurt. Like the stateroom and pricing you have disregard this suggestion. Travel Agents Perks to You: I want to be crystal clear here, I was a commission sales professional and never cut my commission. I don't believe in asking my agent to cut hers. She offered once and I said, No your commission is your income. I will take a perk if I have brought business to her and she sales product. Consider that my commission. Yet, may agencies especially ones that do lots of luxury YouTube.com tour video's make offers to those that allow them to do your bookings. The same hold true for many of the agents that work with many of you. My agent gave me free gratuities through her agency. That one I accepted. Read Post Online and In Social Media for your Brand: Historically, I learn about sales, fare increases or decreases, program adjustments online in social media before they are ever shared in other ways. If you don't keep yourself informed, you might miss an opportunity. Private Travel Agency Sales: On this one, it usually happens with the bigger agencies. Tell your agent you want a heads up if one should show it lovely head. These kinds of sales are usually not make easily public. Airfare: See how much the fair goes down when you pull the airfare out. In my recent case it was $1,400.00 per person plus $199.00 to fly from my local airport which is not a hub. Now I keep this as part of my booking until I can actual book directly with my airline brand and itinerary of choice. Usually 330 days in advance of the return flight. If you get in early enough, you can gain a fully refundable fair at about the same price as the $1,599.00 example I gave above. Your flight amount may vary. Learn the Drink Programs/Benefits: Keep the SimplyMore only. Upgrade on the ship. Bring bottles of wine or spirits onboard all giving you the option to or not to upgrade to the Prestige Drink Package. Be an educated consumer. Learn About Percentage Discounts for Booking Lots of Excursions: This is something I don't use. I usually arrange my excursions on my own. Based on my experience and is not every ones experience. However, there are benefits to booking a certain number of excursions with Oceania. Learn the rules and you might same some money. Remember, if a excursion or port is canceled having nothing to do with you, you might lose the benefits. Again, know the rules to the game if you want to play. Please remember if you make a reservation for far in the future, if you cancel it, you will be charged a $150.00 administrative fee. This just recently happened and to me it sends a message. The message is if you book a cruise, take a stateroom out of inventory, cancel the cruise you should think twice before you book it. I get that as a business strategy. Now, please add your approach. This topic is about gaining a good value proposition by stay aware of what is available. "Cruise well and enjoy every moment."

@SATaxman My personal apologies. I should have know that. My bad. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@Jim_Iain please read post #288 from @SATaxman above. My cruise as you know now is to many of the places you are considering on the Oceania Vista Ship. I am using that as a foundation for my comments. I have been in the least expensive stateroom on another line and some of the most expensive ones. My comments will be tempered with an assumption you know the fares for all the Staterooms you mentioned and they are all acceptable to your budget. I want to support what @SATaxman said about the Oceania Suite. For many of the reasons that he said. I choose the Vista Suite because the Oceania Suite was waitlisted at the time. It would have been my first choice. The reason why is the TV Room was a nice touch, the balcony had less wind issues even when it was sailing. On the Vista ship (I will be on the Vista Ship October 2025 for 10 days to the Mediterranean again), the Exercise room in the Vista Suite has been eliminated giving the space wasted space to the guest in a better way. If you search the ship "Vista", the stateroom "Vista" or "Penthouse" or "Oceania" or even "Concierge" you will get some very nice tour videos on YouTube. If I did not want to spend the money for the upper suites, I would choose the Penthouse because I like having the butler. Now everyone does. If money was no option, I would do the Oceania Suite. Why I liked the Upper End Suite is because I am as my daughter says, "Bougie". I don't feel like I am Bougie, I feel like I worked hard all my life, I saved by not getting everything I wanted so I figure at my age, I am due. Again, me not everyone. One of the things I liked with the upper end suites was: Six Litters of Spirits: Some of which I took home and still going through them. I know this is silly but I liked it. Specialty Restaurant Extra Nights: Even with a Penthouse, you only got 1 pre-cruise Specialty reservation per specialty restaurant. With the upper end suites, you get two. One thing I left off my review because I did not what to have to explain it at the time was something my butler said. I asked if he could get our table for two to be a table for four so our best friends joining us could eat with use for the extra four dinners. He said of course and then said, "Mr. T, those in the upper end suite get special priority for reservations, changes and adjustments we just don't talk about it much openly." The Bulgari Gift Box: It is now in my Master Bathroom at my home reminding every day of a very nice cruise. The Oceania Terrycloth Bag Gift: This is a lovely Terrycloth bag with all kinds of items like towels, hats and other brand items. Separate Bedroom and Dining: So I had my Butler bring coffee from Barista's with two Danishes every morning. We would close the bedroom door, here him enter and exit knowing our coffee was waiting for us. If we were in a Penthouse, there is no separation between bedroom and dining table. On the Ship First: The upper end suites had a 11:00 AM embarkment time which I love. We were one of the first onboard and our suite was ready at 11:10 AM. Not sure if I got lucky on this one or that is the normal situation. Bathroom: The bathroom on the Penthouse only had one sink. I thought that to be strange. All the upper suites had two sinks. A little thing but I noticed. What you have to remember is for the most part, once you leave your stateroom, everyone is treated the same. Unlike the NCL Haven, Celebrity Retreat or the MSC Yacht Club. So all you are paying for is the extra space, butler, and items outlined above. I am currently booked for my 2025 cruise on the Vista in a Concierge Suite. My hope is to catch as four category upgrade sale if it happens and get the two staterooms I have booked to be Penthouses. I asked my Travel Agent to tell Oceania, if a Oceania Suite becomes available at the last minute to consider me as a potential Guest Paid Upgrade. I will see what happens. I hope this information helps you in your decision. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@FetaCheese It does tend to be very confusing and that is why when a sale does come up, that is available to one of the cruises I am booked or would like to book; I always ask my Travel Agent to get involved. This is the major lesson I learned last year. What you see is not always what is available. I also, go to a site I can't mention to look at their prices and often times the real price is there. On the Wait List Issue, that is a bit nuts but stranger things have happened. I hope you get the itinerary you are looking for. I hope my booked cruise for 2025 has a four category upgrade. FYI, the cruise I booked on the ship two months ago price just went up, the Excursion Credits went down. Thank you for your great review on Viking. Love reading it and all the comments. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@GALSews Thank you for thinking of me. My last cruise I had even better Almond Croissants but only one over a 10 day period. HOWEVER, every morning I did have Lox, Cream Cheese and a toasted bagel (Cruise Bagels are a 5 on a 10 scale). Add to that two eggs over easy and sausages links. Yummy 10 days and missing the Croissants was no issue. LOL Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@FeliciaLee Thank you for such kind words. I loved your entire post and it gives me hope my second Oceania Cruise will exceed my first one. So happy you enjoyed your cruise. Happy New Year to you and yours. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@FetaCheese As always well done review. Fair and balanced. Thank you. Viking is a brand I have always considered. You are a CruiseCritic.com member that is always so generous with your time and feedback. Thank you again and please enjoy your cruise. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@SATaxman Thank you for your kind words. You have always been great with your questions, comments and responses. 1) Did I get $200.00 of OBC. No. When you book onboard, you are making a specific commitment to a specific cruise. You get $250 of OBC that you can use on that current cruise or in the future. We used it for the future. If you wait and do it after you get off, it is $200 as I understand it. I did get a $200.00 certificate in the mail, asked if it could apply and was told, "NO" it was not combinable. 2) I also got money off the fare. The amount went up for every fare category. I booked (A4) and got off $400.00. 3) I booked a cruise for 2025 and got another 5% off the fair for booking so long in advance. Your question of where it shows or if it shows is a little confusing so allow me to do my best from my on-line account. The $250.00 of OBC shows and you can see in when you go to the "Manage Your Booking". In the same area was the $800.00 for excursions which ONLY can be used for excursions. Let's debate that for another two years, LOL. The Agency I used pays for the Gratuities regardless of the stateroom I choose. So if I eventual upgrade to a PH, they will pay for that. However this took my AMX perks off the table because the better value if you only took one was the gratuities. In your situation, since your agency is not giving you gratuities and instead I would assume it is OBC, you can get your AMX perks also. I would ask if I were you. I think I answered all your question, let me know if it helped. Cruise well and look for every discount you can fine. Make it sport and share your findings.

@ak1004 I went on the Silversea Website to check it out and consider it. Your two paragraph explanation is so point on accurate. To @Psoque point, it did take a bit of study to understand Oceania Cruises as well. In both cases and other brands as well, they seem to change up on things to differentiate themselves. As a consumer, I wish all cruise brand marketing departments would do a much better job of communicating. For now, that is just a wish. All we can all do is find a cruise brand that suits us today. My experience is our taste evolve over time and we look for different things for me as I get older. Every consumer should be educated before they commit their funds. We should all have our respective head examined to even consider cruises on any brand after reading the contract. Really want to get confused, that will do it. But speaking only for myself, I kind of like cruising. I really and truly don't think any cruise brand is trying to be deceptive. I do think they are not giving all the details. Knowing that, we as consumer need to help each other with actual experience. For that, this board is really good for me personally if I want to cruise Oceania. Cruise well and always remember to ask great question.

@MEFIowa Hello friend. I loved our discussions on our last cruise. Just to clarify. I have used the four category upgrade to get to the PH level. Worked great. Hope it happens again. Cruise well and keep sharing the best place to buy wine at ports. That was great fun.

@seasoon Celebrity was always sold to me as an improvement over Royal and NCL. The Celebrity Retreat was at the least the same as the NCL Haven. With the exception of the really nice Retreats Suites Restaurant which was great, I found the rest of my voyage lacking in personalized service. I found Oceania excelled in dining and personalized service. I also found the investment in Oceania a much better value proposition than either NCL Haven or Celebrity Retreat with far less nickel and dining along the way. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

The last port of my October 2025 cruise on Oceania Vista is Trieste. It actually says, "Venice (Trieste), Italy". When I booked the cruise, I immediately checked the distance between Trieste and Venice. It 99 miles, One Hour and 38 minutes with light traffic driving. This was followed by how to get from Trieste to Venice. Several options available with the only issue being the number of pieces of luggage my group will have. I then looked at the flight situation which in my case since I am booking direct with Delta Airlines, can't be actually done until 330 days before the return flight. Just Delta's rules. It became clear, the flight would have to be into the Marco Polo Venice Airport (VCE). Since when we go to Europe, we usually spend a night or two in a nice hotel before and after the cruise. The question which is still not answered yet is, do we visit Venice, Trieste or both. I am working on that. All odds are that you will be using the VCE airport in Venice. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@laudergayle Thank you for the shout out. Funny story were the Haven Lite came from. I had just gotten off the NCL Joy with entire family for my Wedding Anniversary belated. That cruise was after four cancelations due to covid. We had the H2 Haven Deluxe Owners Suite with Large Balcony for that family trip. I was browsing the NCL site when I found the SAME itinerary, in a Club Suite for a single fare for a solo. I had never taken a solo cruise before and thought it would be a good experience. I would do the Hangout Music Festival and Bonnaroo solo all the time. So why not a cruise. The Club Suite total fare was $810.00. I attempted to gain an upgrade bid for the Haven but a ship the week we were sailing got cancelled due to damage. So all the Haven Guest from that ship, took up all the Haven Suites. So time to do Haven Lite and it was great. 1) Vibe Beach Club; 2) Extra Specialty restaurants; 3) Premium Plus Beverage Package. So Haven Lite for me happened by accident. I loved it but did not like cruising alone. So the next cruise was for my wife who won the Slot Tournament on the Joy earlier. We did Haven Lite and she said, I will never go on a NCL cruise again without the Vibe Beach Club. Bingo. Hope that all made sense. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@Funbobby68 I was just on the Riviera. Sister ship to Marina. My wife uses a Dyson Hairdryer. The dryer on the ship was ok, but if my wife did not have her Dyson, it would have been a tough trip for me emotionally. Just saying. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@Treasure Hunter What a wonderful way to look at cruising. I love your strategy. I also liked the Retreat. Different but so many positive things. I also see when the prices get to being INSANE, which some of them are, looking for a reasonable alternative is smart. Love how you leverage the Casino. Basically, you make a decision on the kind of experience you want for that cruise, and book accordingly. Always keeping like, needs and want balanced with a value proposition. Smart. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@Vineyard View This is my opinion only so other opinions may differ. The best way to look at comments and reviews on this and other social media boards is taking out the extremes then looking for trends and patterns. Please forgive me, I assisted in analysis on reviews for companies in my previous life and look at it differently then most consumers. Allow me to explain. Take out the Extremes: That means if someone thinks everything was perfect, or someone thinks everything was awful. That is about 10% on top and 10% below. No cruise is that extreme. Look towards the 80% in the middle. Trends and Patterns: This is when there is an abundance of the same comment over lots of different guests whether good or bad. The most important part of this is the comments are from the guest actual experience vs. their opinion of what other say. Oceania Cookies are tasteless which some might say but until you tried one, you could not say for sure. I had several, I kind of liked them but they had less sweet in them then other cookies. Leveraging the Information: The best way to describe this is with examples. Prior to my first cruise on Oceania, I heard the Red Ginger had a great Fish dish. Universally loved. We ate in Red Ginger twice and many in my group got it. They did enjoy it so that was good information. On the other side, I had read that the lobster grilled to order was not very good for lots of reasons. One member of my group ordered it even after I gave them the information and we can confirm it was not good. So knowing food is relative the concept is sound. When you read negative comments some like you referred to, you now can avoid those experiences. If you avoid the experience you don't have a negative experience. That is what I meant be leverage the information. For me and most of my guest, it was a great strategy. My first experience on Oceania Cruise led to booking another cruise while onboard so that says something. The experience was different then some of what I thought it would be both positive and negative. As stated, no cruise is perfect. However, at this stage in my life, it suited my wife and me. Please don't let the extreme comments stop you from any brand, ship or experience. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@ORV Please do share who the paid poster is. I want some of that payment. After my last cruise, I could use some cash to pay off my American Express. Seriously, if there is a way to be paid, I would LOVE to know. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@Cruzin64647 I wish you would not have asked me that question, I truly do. I am a very transparent person and on this topic, I held back. However, you asked what I consider to be a very valid question. So Here Goes. For those that are not used to the books I write to make a case, get ready for a long complete response of what some call "Word Salad". Enjoy. Let's start this with saying, "I love the NCL Haven Concept". When I booked my cruise prior to September 2022, I did a comparison of lots of cruise brands, ships, staterooms and very hard to truly find out amenities. The brands were NCL (Suite and Haven Suite), Celebrity (Balcony and Retreat), Regent Seven Seas Cruise (Non-Penthouse so no butler); Viking; Seaborne; Silver Seas; Ritz-Carlton Yacht Club and Oceania (Concierge and Penthouse). Each ship was leaving about the same time, with about the same itinerary. The NCL ship was 9 days not 10 days. Everyone else was 10 days. The hardest part was showing amenities for one brand that you had to pay for, vs the other brand that it came with the fare. Example, Regent Seven Seas Cruise provide in their fare Business Class Airfare for the long haul flight and coach to get to the departing Airport. So I showed, coach, coach comfort, premium coach and business class just to show apples to apples. I wanted to come as close to Apples to Apples and I assure you this little project was NOT easy. But I do love to do that kind of stuff. It makes me feel better about my decision once I make it. The Oceania Cruise was not only the best value, the best value proposition, it ended up being one of the lowest prices. That was in the Penthouse, with a butler I might add. Other than the least expensive balcony on NCL and Celebrity but not by much. When you add in the extra amenities, every other staterooms was more expensive. The Haven and the Retreat were insanely more the most expensive was Regent by in some cases triple. This got me to thinking. On a port intensive cruise, do I care about go-carts, Lasor tag, Virtual reality, water slides, Broadway shows, or do I want personalized service for everyone, smaller ship to get into more ports, cooking class/art classes, elevated dining and access to all the spa amenities without having to buy a very expensive treatments. Notice very clearly this is always give and take; pros/cons. My only suggestion is do the due diligence and then make your purchase decision. The value proposition was so good on Oceania, it was the obvious choice. Before doing my comparison, I would have never thought the results would be what they were. Not in a million years. Then out of the blue, Oceania had a sale and reduce the fare even more which I was thrilled to leverage. That should answer your question. Now lets add another fact. my next cruise which I booked on the ship while I was cruising is another 10 day Mediterranean itinerary for October 2025 on their new ship the Vista. The per day, per guest daily rate with coach airfare is $555.00. If you want to reduce your daily cost you can take the airfare out which is many of the other brands I mentioned. That would have given me a daily cost per guest of $415.00. Let's do the math. On a 7 day cruise, no air to the Caribbean or Mexico that would be $2,905.00. Now price out a Haven or Retreat room for 7 days for the cheapest room available. Add add on Oceania the Barista Coffee is included, the bottled water is included, day one in your stateroom is Champagne, you are given three bags of laundry and four items pressed, you have access to the outdoor spa area (Thermal Spa, Sundeck like Vibe Beach Club) in this price range, all the amenities of the spa and the list goes on. That is the very long answer to your question. Now we are on a Haven Thread that I wrote twice. Would I go on a cruise in the Haven again, you bet and I can't wait. However, I will always look at the Pros/Cons, amenities, personalized service, specialty restaurants, and other things that make a cruise right for me. Sorry for the book folks but when I make a decision to spend my money, I do Lots and Lots of due diligence. For me it is sport. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@Treasure Hunter I caught your question by accident, please put @Sthrngary in your question so it alerts me you are directly asking me something. On to your question. I liked it very much but it is not the brand for everyone. We went on a 10 day Mediterranean cruise with LOTS of ports. The ship was a smaller ship that held 1200 passengers so no tenders. That was very nice. Food was better then NCL even in the Haven but food is relative. No charge for Specialty Restaurants but you are only guarantied one reservation per specialty restaurant. My ship had four so I had four guaranteed reservations. Each day you can ask for a Waitlist Reservation but might have to share a table or be turned down. The entertainment on NCL is much better across the board. Bigger ship, more budget, better entertainment. Some of the shows on Oceania were good, never great. The piano player in the bar was good and for me my kind of entertainment with a drink. The personalized service was across the board great on Oceania. Consider the personalized service in the Haven, but for the entire ship. The bars and bartenders were excellent on Oceania. Similar to the Haven Bar when not crowded. I don't do excursions with cruise brand so I am not the guy for that. Getting on the ship and off the ship was seamless and if you let the first wave do their thing, it makes it that much more pleasant. My butler was much better than any butler I have ever had on a NCL Ship. However my butler on Crystal Cruise is still the best ever. My mini-fridge was stocked, replenished daily and I could choose what to have in it as long as it was not alcoholic. I had an upper end suite and part of the perks were: Six Bottles of Wine or Spirits. The Spirits were litter bottles. When I would the NCL Joy Owners Suite, we got three bottles that were 5ths. The gifts that came with the upper end suite were very nice and generous. A beach bag with lots of stuff and a gift box with lots of Bath items. My deck was the same kind of deck as you get with a Haven Owners Suite. The difference was Oceania locked down the furniture every night making the deck worthless or uncomfortable. NCL never did that. So I can go on but I think you get the idea. If you want nightlife, lost of entertainment the NCL Haven is the ticket. If you want chill, relaxation and lots of ports; Oceania is the ticket. Hope that helps. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

Well lets see. We now yet again have folks saying, "Because of SM I will not book Oceania again!", other saying "this SM forcing us to take the SM Excursions Credit when we would prefer to do excursions ourselves and save the money." Yet others say, "I will not book Oceania again because all I want is Cruise Only!" Let's not forget, "Oceania's advertising is a Scam!" Everyone's point of view is important and valuable. I remember when I got on this board the complaints back then. One of which was, why does Oceania give you the choice of one of three perks. They should give you ALL the perks. Why does Oceania only give you one internet device except in upper suites, we want two. Why doesn't every one get a drink package. Back then, it made a lot of folks mad and they said some of the same things being said now about never cruising with Oceania again. If a brand makes a change in there fee structure, some folks will hate it, some will like it. Can't please everyone, every time. If everyone hated it, the brand would stop selling cabins. If that happens, which is doubtful, the brand to stay alive would change their fares yet again. OR the brand would have a huge blowout sale, which is always welcomed. If you don't like the current state of any brand, go to another brand. Write the brand a letter and explain why they disappointed you. Make your feelings known with your pocketbook by booking somewhere else. Cruise well, choose a brand that suits you, tell others why you choose the brand. Help cruise enthusiast find great brands that offer great value.

@RocketMan275 Kind of my point. Then book somewhere else. Know the game before you play the game. If you don't like the rules, find another game to play. If you don't do due diligence, than accept accountability for a bad decision. Simple as that. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@9tee2Sea I am the author of this thread. Yes, it is 141 pages long. Would it surprise your to know this is the second version of this topic updated in 2022. The first version was even longer. No stream should be this long but when it is, it says something about the content. The search feature of CruiseCritic.com is not great but with a few words, your question regardless of what it is on this topic of the Haven will be answered. That said, never hesitate to ask as you did. I love the Haven approach to cruising but truly wish the Nickle and Diming would be eliminated at the Haven Prices. I just cruised last month on the NCL sister brand, Oceania and the stocked Mini-Fridge included soda, soft drinks, requested juices and water. Acholic beverages were brought to the stateroom either by your butler or your room service person based on the drink package you purchased. For me, and from your comment for you, that was a refreshing change. The question is, will these two difference make the difference in my future bookings. NO, I just want to know the facts to make a non-pressured decision to proceed. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.