AMHuntFerry

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4 hours ago, IWantToLiveOverTheSea said:

 I'm curious what kind of food is offered for lunch and breakfast.

Given O's IT reputation for being slow, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the website's Marina section has Aquamar listed. If you go there, they have sample menus (click on "Aquamar Kitchen to see the menus and photos):

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/ships/marina/culinary-experiences

2 hours ago, tigerfan75 said:

My understanding is that any unused SM excursion credit cannot be applied to any other activity; it is for excursions only.  However, if the "cooking class" is part of a Marketplace Excursion, then it would certainly be usable.

I dug up a reliable source (or as reliable as CC gets 🤪 😞

(we

1 hour ago, tigerfan75 said:

My understanding is that any unused SM excursion credit cannot be applied to any other activity; it is for excursions only.  However, if the "cooking class" is part of a Marketplace Excursion, then it would certainly be usable.

There have been people able to book the onboard (no shorex) cooking class with their SM. I am not one of them though so hopefully they will see this and chime in. It gets argued every few weeks.

34 minutes ago, Tranquility Base said:

It may well be a typo, but not necessarily.

 

For many passengers who book & pay for the cruise in a currency other than USD, their SBC & excursion prices are displayed pre-cruise online converted into their local currency.

Obviously this is not the case once onboard, but pre-cruise it shows that way. 

Good point. I assumed the "$" was USD since that is O's currency.

39 minutes ago, Redtravel said:

We have been cruising on Oceania for many years.  There have always been some tours that are suitable for guests with mobility challenges.  Just put the walker or wheelchair into the luggage hold, sit down, and enjoy the tour. Today we did a Valencia tour that suitable for the mobility challenged.  It was mostly on the bus with one stop.  

The accessible tours are new and have a little wheelchair icon. They are specifically for those with scooters and the like. They are more accessible than the ones that have existed in the past.

The accessible tours are very new (as in they just started being available on a limited number of 2024 cruises as far as I can tell), so I don't think there has been much experience with them yet. I am very happy they have been added since some people have had no viable shorex options in the past.

7 hours ago, roger b said:

 I Have $1470 credit for shore excursions on my next cruise, I have not paid in full yet.

As I am not interested in doing any of the tours offered do I just lose my credit ?

 

$1470 is an odd number for SM shorex credit. Is that a typo (I'm guessing it's $1400)?

If you do DIY or hire driver/guides, look for the "Executive Car/Van" shorex (basically a vehicle with an English speaking guide). The price is for the entire car/van (not per person), and even though the cost is typically high, it's a good way to burn through the SM credit that would otherwise go unused. You'll need to book two of these...one purchased by each guest since the cost can't be split between guests. For example, Guest1 books a $600 car at one port and Guest2 books an $800 car at a different port. Guest1's SMshorex credit will cover the full cost (with $100 left over for an $89 cooking class if on a larger ship). Guest2 will owe $100 which can be paid with other pre-embarkation OBC or with a credit card.

Make sure you have an updated Guest Statement (and other docs) from your TA. It will show your OBC and how it's allocated (usually split evenly between guests). It's generally recommended that you have a (print and/or electronic) copy of all relevant docs (SBC, shorex rez, dining rez) in case there are any discrepancies during your cruise.

Also, anything you paid out-of-pocket will show up as a refundable credit in your onboard account and is "used up" after all of your OBC has been used (or the OOP is refunded if not used up).

For those reading this thread gleaning info, please review O's FAQs. Some of the older FAQs (especially pre-pandemic) should be viewed with skepticism, but the dining rez FAQ is correct:

https://oceaniacruises.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360005477653-How-many-dining-reservations-am-I-allowed-in-each-specialty-restaurant

Haha, I meant tomorrow or Monday. Usually Sunday is OK (until it isn't 😉 )

1. I play it safe and log on ahead or time, remind myself what buttons to push to get to the reservations, then log off. I prep by entering my name and PW and then wait until 12:01 ET to hit the button.

2. Going from memory...first you choose whether you want a private table, share with a friend (need their booking number), or share with others. Then you pick a restaurant and a calendar will show up with available dates; when you click on each date it will show the times that are available. If there is one you like, you click the time (and maybe some more clicks) to save that reservation. Then you go on to the next restaurant.

You'll get an email with the rez and it will show in your account.

If you want to check times later, you can change your rez in a similar manner.

Saturday is website maintenance day, so avoid it. Even if you can access your account, things may not work correctly.

Don't worry, everything will be back to normal either tomorrow or Sunday. The weekend is a stupid day to do maintenance, but ???

16 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

Oceania has our information. When I am researching, looking at a ‘pretend booking’ to see cabin availability, I always ‘continue as a guest” at the bottom. It doesn’t trigger a call or email. 
I made the mistake of saving one last week. Sure enough, the same agent, whom I spoken with in the past, and knows we have an agent, reached out to us. Since I saved it as a guest, he only had my email apparently as I didn’t get a call. 
I think screenshots work better moving forward. 
And yes, Oceania, Viking, HAL top the list of mailings, followed by SB, SS, Atlas…….etc 

Use one of the websites that Hlitner did not mention and you will be able to see cabin availability for entire decks as opposed to O's 5 or six random cabins at a time (and without giving identifying info other than state/country...just skip the email entry since it's not required on the sites I use). Some sites have the new upgrade that has little glowing dots over available cabins so I don't even need to make my own chart now...so easy!

3 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Interesting experience, just yesterday, with the ITA Matrix.  Those of us who do a lot of independent travel consider the ITA Matrix, one of the best (if not the best) ways to look at all the various airline options.  Yesterday we decided to look into booking a one-way fare to Tokyo (for a cruise).  When using the ITA Matrix we quickly realized that Turkish Air had an amazing Business Class deal.  We than thought, a few day stopover in Istanbul, might be fun so put in that option.  Turkish Air again came up with a terrific Business Class price of about $3400.  After deciding that we wanted to do this, I went to the Turkish Air site (it is often wise to book on an airline's own web site) only to discover that the same flights we had found on the ITA Matrix were over $500 cheaper on the Turkish Air site.  We quickly booked, but this was the first time we have ever seen an airline have a lower cost fare then what shows on the ITA Matrix.

 

By the way, for those who may not be aware, Turkish Air has some of the best Business Class in the world.

 

This brings us to the ongoing debate of booking air through a cruise line vs DIY.  Until COVID, we would often find amazing international air deals (especially for Business and First Class) through several cruise lines (CCL and RCI companies).  Post Covid, many of the offerings (on the cruise line sites) are either about the same or more costly than one can get by booking direct with various airlines.  We continue to suggest that when folks are looking at air for their cruise, they should spend some time looking at many options (through both the cruise line and on your own) and also check-out pricing on various airports.  Sometimes, just driving an extra an extra few hours to another airport can yield huge savings.  We also think that its worth a longer drive (to airports) if that can get you a non-stop flight!  Many of the worst airline problems (missed connections, lost luggage, etc) increase as the number of connections increases.  

 

Hank

I have had something similar happen when pricing Premium Economy and have not figured out if I have bad entries (I tried many permutations) or if it is something else. The price (especially on United) is often significantly less on the airline's website. I use ITAMatrix to see who has relevant flights, then check their websites directly for actual prices.

There are many benefits to booking air directly with the airline. One of my favorites is to book a less-than-optimal arrival/departure time or duration due to significant price difference, then change to a better one (of my choice) at no cost when the airline changes/cancels the originally booked flight(s). No change fees and price guarantees (on the airlines I have used) has also been handy.

1 hour ago, pinotlover said:

A question, to which I’ve never contemplated or inquired, are the ships likewise carbonating and producing their own sparkling water? In the dining venues , I often see sparkling water poured from a jar similar to the still water. Other times it comes from a commercial retail bottle. I always assumed it was done by guests requests or possibly the shortage of ship generated sparkling. The two tastes very differently. Anyone know for sure?

A year of so ago I was interested in the behind the scenes process and managed to find some interesting info about not only the Vero water but other processes.

The 2019 O PR for the new Vero water:

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/media/2019/OCEANIA+CRUISES+TO+ELIMINATE+PLASTIC+WATER+BOTTLES+IN+PIONEERING+GREEN+INITIATIVE+-+Partnership+With+Vero+Water+Will+Save+More+Than+Three+Million+Plastic+Bottles+Per+Year/

Edit: forgot the Vero Water link: verowater.com

Go to the following page, then click on the link to open a pdf with environmental info. Water info is on p. 24-25 of the pdf.

https://www.nclhltd.com/sustainability/environmental

Without reading all of the details, I am not clear as to what the source of water for the Vero system is. I don't have a problem with treated water, but hey, I drank out of streams in the pre-giardia days.

I like the sparkling Vero water and have never had it flat in the restaurants. If it sits in our room for a day it loses is sparkle though. The still water attempted refills are annoying, but typically (not always), the waiter or other water server learns quickly...I'll keep putting this issue on surveys in order to affect change.

3 hours ago, Sdancer said:

BWY, I was told that Oceania has the highest markup in the cruise industry for excursions.

When I cruised with Oceania to Alaska, Oceania had monopoly to some of  the excursions that we wanted to book. Tour operators in Alaska would not book us directly because their contract with Oceania restricted them to book only with Oceania. Oceania Alaska excursions were good but extremely expensive. If we would be able to book with the same operator, we would pay a fraction of the cost (I do not want to post the numbers, but I know them).

It is difficult for me to take your comments as generally true since I am also familiar with how things are when traveling via ferry. Days when cruise ships are in are expensive even if you aren't on a cruise. Most (all?) tour operators who do business with the cruise lines will not do business with individual cruise passengers (whether O or Princess or anyone else). Also, the shorex prices I have compared in Alaska sans-cruise have actually been comparable or lower (when the 25% discount applies) than the O prices (again, when cruise ships are in port). If you want to save money, take the ferry.

1 minute ago, Vineyard View said:

Well, I was curious…and yep…poof. I  went onto google and nope, nada under the search. 

If it is consortium, it seems like one could google it. 

Try putting quotes around "Connoisseurs Club" or use "Oceania Cruise Connoisseurs Club".

1 hour ago, roothy123 said:

OK, one or two more little questions:  I use a travel agent.  Once I determine what excursions I want, can I call Oceania myself and ask them to book the excursions, or must my travel agent do that?  

 

And I read (perhaps mentioned by Flatbush Flyer in another thread) that if O misses a port, and you paid for an excursion (in part, with SM excursion credit), you get refundable OBC rather than $$ back for the part you paid after using up your excursion credit. If you don't want to use the refundable credit, do you then ask for a $$ credit or how does that work?

can I call Oceania myself and ask them to book the excursions, or must my travel agent do that?  

You can call directly (easier for everyome)

If you don't want to use the refundable credit, do you then ask for a $$ credit or how does that work?

I'll give an example that fits your question since it gets messy. Say you have $300 per person of SM shorex credit and you book three $110 shorex for a total of $330. $30 gets charged to your credit card (or other OBC). Case 1: One of the shorex is cancelled by O before embarkation; typically (as in last month) I've received a credit to my CC (for $30 in this case, $330-300) and I'd have $80 ($300-220) in SM shorex credit to use on something else. Case 2: One of the shorex is cancelled during the cruise; you should get $80 in non-refundable SM shorex credit to use on other shorex if possible; the $30 you paid with you CC shows up as a credit on your account (or at least it has in the past but maybe it's changed?) so that should be usable on anything or refundable.

7 hours ago, thebsinmiss said:

If all the cruise critic folks thing O is "big brother" (posts on sales calls from O after going on site) then wait until the figure out what info Goggle has on them !

 

 

Yet some people are chomping at the bit for an app 🥸

3 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

Thank you both. So basically, all is the same in terms of numbers of reservations in specialty restaurants PH and below.   However, your butler (which we have never had…we never felt we would see the added value for the cost on some lines, tbh) can be helpful. 

This thread has given me a lot to think about…..
 

There are cruises (>=18days) where PH get more reservations than A-cat and below on the larger ships. On the smaller ships PH and A-cat get the same, but more than B-cat and below >=8 day cruises. It sounds like those don't describe the cruise you're interested in, but I just want to make it clear to other readers.

From September 2023:

We booked the O-Miami tour, but it was cancelled due to lack of interest, so have a back up plan.

5 hours ago, jondfk said:

I wonder if a change is coming for Regatta too.  As ORV stated, when we were on Regatta two weeks back Germain was the norm, HOWEVER, on two occasions I asked about champagne and was offered Monopole.  One hopes the stock of Germain runs down before we rejoin in August as it was not the worst I’ve ever had it was in no way special.

 

I'm on Regatta in a few weeks. We're not really champagne drinkers, but I may have one at some point and will try to spy the label on any bottles in my vicinity to report status in June.

11 minutes ago, caribdvr said:

Thank you. 
 

I believe you have answered the mystery for me. A1 is $8.3k, A1 $8.8, PH3 $9.5 but PH 2 is $11.7. I could not figure out why there was such a big jump. I guess the sale is doing that. All of the PH3 are “guaranteed” and perhaps that makes a difference.  

There is no discount on O for guaranteed vs. chosen cabin. "Worst" case is you get upgraded again 🙂 Book it! If you have buyer's remorse before the sale ends you can get the A1 (or 2 or 3 or B4, etc.)