AMHuntFerry

Here is the wording from my Future Cruise Certificate (FCC). I think everything (perks, conditions) is pretty much the same as if we had booked a cruise onboard, except for the OBC which was higher ($250?). Note that the deposit paid with a FCC is fully refundable until expiration, while a booked cruise has the new $150 penalty; at least that was the case when I was choosing FCC vs. booking in September (the $150 penalty had just started being applicable a few days earlier). Sorry for the annoying cut-paste formatting! FCC: You’ll receive our best available offer at the time of your voyage selection. The earlier you book, the better choices you will have for accomodations and amenities, and the lower the price will be. Once you select your cruise the applicable savings noted below will be applied to your reservation. ONBOARD SAVINGS BY CATEGORY Savings shown are per stateroom SAILING LENGTH OS - OC PH A - B C - E 7-9 days $500 $300 $250 $200 10-19 days $800 $600 $400 $300 20-35 days $1,500 $1,000 $800 $500 Terms & Conditions: Certificate is redeemable for up to one year from date of purchase towards deposit of future voyage. Selected voyage may commence outside of one year. Certificate cancellations are fully refundable up until expiration. If US$100 Shipboard Credit was given at the time this Certificate was purchased, this amount will be withheld from the refund. After expiration date, the full value of the Certificate will be forfeited. If you need to cancel after a voyage is selected, the standard booking terms and conditions will apply. Onboard Booking Savings varies based on sailing date and stateroom/suite category selected, and is combinable with current savings offers at time of voyage selection. Onboard Savings is applicable to Ocean View and higher categories. Please note that not all promotions are combinable with Onboard Savings. Guests are encouraged to select their preferred future sailing as early as possible to secure preferred pricing and stateroom availability. Oceania/Vista/Owner’s Suites, Grand Voyages, combination (multiple segment) cruises, and guests from Germany/Austria/Switzerland/Lichtenstein may require additional deposit, which will be due at the time your voyage is selected. Certificate is exclusively available for purchase by onboard guests only and is non-transferable. One Certificate maximum may be applied to a reservation. Once applied to a voyage, guests may utilize their one-time change-of-sailing prior to the cancellation penalty period of the voyage selected. Program is applicable to new bookings only and is not applicable to reservations booked prior to Future Cruise Deposit certificate purchase. Oceania Cruises reserves the right to correct errors or omissions and to change any and all fares, fees, promotions and surcharges at any time. Ships' Registry: Marshall Islands.

If I recall, those itineraries were just released (a few days ago?); however when I looked at the online availability there are a few categories either that are Guarantee or Waitlist already. My perspective: When I was debating booking a cruise for last June (looking in December/January), I kept track of availability by seeing how many cabins were still available in my chosen categories. When inventory dwindled below my comfort level, I booked; in my case the price was unlikely to go lower since sale-prices are typically only applicable to cabins with high availability. If you have the time, track the availability and, if possible (based on your desires), wait until the 30-day pre-cruise window (but before Feb 29th) to get any applicable onboard booking perks (as mentioned by others) along with the NY-sale. Even if onboard perks are minimal, you'll get the price guarantee which can be valuable later. Note also that this cruise is an O-Club 10% sale ("expires" March 31st); I doubt it would be the better deal, but with combinability allowances/restrictions it never hurts to ask (especially if you have additional perks like TA, Amex, etc.).

The refit was in 2022. I don't recall the fitness/spa area being part of the "re-imagining". In their releases, O specified that the cabins, dining, and bars would be refurbished. That said, hopefully any maintenance issues are quickly dealt with; a short comment in the mid-cruise review (or earlier directly to management) might get some action.

If you haven't found it yet: https://www.oceaniacruises.com/ships/vista/culinary-experiences scroll down to the second row and click the Aquamar Kitchen box. This is Vista's menu since Marina doesn't have it yet, but I would expect the menus to be similar if not the same. Question for @edgee: Are the "bowls" (usually one selection) and composed salads (usually ~3-4, not including the lettuce based ones) still available in Terrace? The bowls are my spouse's default lunch choice and the salads are mine, so it will be more convenient if they are in Terrace too.

I hope my "disagree" type comments didn't come across as critical of your opinions/choices. Maybe a better phrase would have been "Differnet opinion/perspective/choice given different preferences" (but it gets a little wordy 😉 ). It's so hard not to offend anyone these days, so I often stay silent. I like that you are open to discourse! Not everyone can handle a differing opinion as graciously as you can.

What's better than a @Sthrngary post? A Sthrngary post with related comments! Here we go (please excuse the weird cut-and-paste formatting): Hi Gary, I’ll give a slightly different perspective. Here we are in a nutshell: We tend not to book far in advance (half a year is stretching our commitment level) so we’ll be booking around or after full payment. We want value for our money but won’t make ourselves miserable saving every penny in sight. We tried using a ship as a floating hotel/transport and hated it for that purpose (we'll stick to DIY land-based travelling). However, we were shocked to find out we actually loved kicking back and relaxing on the ship...similar to going to a mountain lodge. Book As Far Out As Possible: I booked in November 2023 for a cruise in October 2025. The fare was reduced by 5%. Book as late as possible. We like to travel September-December, sometimes May. Booking a September cruise before March does not work for us, and even March is earlier than I like. 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. Agree. If memory serves, Vista was originally about $100 more per day per person than comparable itineraries on O- and R-ships the first year (but then there were some sales); I think Allura was similar or more but I didn’t look very hard. Also, the new ships have done away with inside and ocean view, so if sorting by price, Vista and Allura will appear more expensive (since you’re comparing a French Balcony to an Inside) unless you can also sort by cabin type. 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. Mostly agree. Without a TA you will miss the occasional-sale (silent or early release) and/or TA perks (with O that usually means prepaid gratuities or OBC). Some people even have more than one TA in order to shop around (not me…see below). 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. No comment since I just use the CC trip insurance which is pretty limited. 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. Undecided. As a last-minute booker, the benefits of booking onboard can be limited to the extra OBC which still has me wondering if it’s worth the headache (there are things more important than money). Some (maybe all?) sales will not be combinable with the discount (which isn’t massive for the ~10 day steerage fares anyway). With the change in due date, I’ll now be booking near or after final payment, so the low deposit isn’t useful (and I’m loaning O the $500). The price guarantee isn’t useful for similar reasons. 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. Agreed. The upgrade sales are my favorite (except for the deep discount unicorns), although I’ll probably choose money savings over a higher room since the perks don’t hold much value to us. 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. Agreed. I am an avid “buy local” consumer, so my TA is someone with a desk and a guest chair within a short drive from my house (I used to be able to walk but they moved!). She also has my back if something crazy happens. I won’t get as many deals as a well connected TA, but I’m OK with that. She offers consortium-related PPG/OBC on some cruises, and had access to the Extraordinary Sale weeks before it was public (I tried to tell people here, but I’m not sure I was believed…the discounts were “too good to be true”. I was selfish enough to book my own cruise first though 😉 ). 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. Agreed. But don’t let it become a chore that you stress over. I can overdo travel planning, as in, spend more time planning than travelling. Sometimes saving that $20 (or even $200 is just not worth it. 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. Not sure this is completely true but I have no data. My TA’s agency is a small, family run agency in podunk Idaho. I had access to the sale to end all sales in advance. Would one of the higher producers have more sales? Probably. The super-informed will be needed to settle this question. 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. Sort of Agree. I don’t even bother with the O-air option any more. I’m not sure I’d ever let O handle my air for any price. Many years ago, when we were first out of grad school and we had international travel (spouse more than me), it took a while to get out of the student-save-every-penny mentality. We no longer have that mentality. Minimizing stops, avoiding cities we find problematic, and having departures/arrivals/layovers that we like are worth paying for. We also tried out United’s premium seats to/from Europe last fall…they are now on our probably-worth-paying-for list (or we’ll take the QM2 eastbound 😊 ). Also, we buy directly from the airline to get the flexibility that offers. 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. Agree. This varies so much by individual. Our typical day has us drinking 2 cocktails at happy hour (some days more, some days less but always cocktails). I think we spent a little more than $500 on drinks for both of us (bar grats included) on a 13 night cruise. No package needed. 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. Agree. I have used the 25% discount, but it was on the old O-Life plan. I narrow down the excursions that I am considering, then note the full price and discount price. There are occasions where booking enough to get the discount will actually cost less than booking 1 less than the minimum (or 2 or __ if you have a long cruise). How that compares to independent tour operators or DIY is another column in the spreadsheet. One benefit of the old program was that if O cancelled a tour that was an O-Life tour, you received either another O-Life tour or a $100 refund (which was the cost out-of-pocket for an O-Life tour). From what we’ve seen on CC, SM has a different policy…use it or lose it; I’m still waiting to see how this plays out.

Is that the spring 2024 cruise that transits the Suez Canal? I'm guessing there have been a few cancellations.

The sales will typically appeal to people who are flexible with schedule and itinerary. The Extraordinary and Summer sales were an exception...so many amazing options at deep discounts. I am guessing O will try to avoid having such a sale again but who knows. As mentioned earlier, if you see something you like that is within your price range, book it. Keep an eye out for savings, but don't let it spoil your fun.

Yep, that was the one. I can't wait for Riviera to take over the Alaska runs since we like to use the ship as our floating mountain cabin 🏔️🛳️🌲

And Waves has easier to access ice cream/sorbet! But those caneles get me every time...my kryptonite. Oh, and I want a version of the crema with just cream, no sugar. The sugar version is just too sweet for me (I know, crazy!).

We cruise steerage and check in early; if we want to explore a port, we've already done it and I want my Baristas canele! Our recent embarkation experiences has been exceptions to the early check-in equals long lines rule. Between September 2022 and September 2023, there were no/minimal lines between 11 and noon in LA (San Pedro - minimal line of a few cabins), Seattle (zero line!), and Vancouver (almost zero line - no wait).

August was the Summer Sale (an extension of the Extraordinary Sale) which was comparable to a clearance sale (too much inventory in stock that needed to move), while the current sale is more like buying something at a regular Macy's sale.

Our first experience with this was our first ever cruise on Riviera in December 2021; I think this was before the facial recognition software was installed (don't know if it's at GDR entry anyway). As we walked toward the entry, we were greeted by name while still walking, and then asked to confirm our cabin number (she even knew that!)....amazing!

Basically, if the price is less than the initial fare (not the "Brochure Fare" which is like MSRP), then it is "on sale".

I think it is ~ 1 pm PH, ~2 pm A-category, and ~3 pm B-G category. A lady next to me at Baristas was having a fit last June because her PH was ready 15 minutes later than the expected time...not someone I would choose to hang out with. Did she want it clean or did she want it fast? Those are the options (well, not really since O will choose clean).

Ask your TA to send the "combinability" rules (and any other rules) for each of the promos you want to know about. They are usually clear about whether they can be combined with other sales or perks like OBC/PPG. If your TA won't send them, consider switching TAs.

The 25% is off the "regular price"; what you downloaded (16,618 AUD) was the Holiday Sale price not the regular price. The 2023 regular price can be found in the post #11 link, but it may have increased on January 1st.

Alaska = younger with (gasp) children during the summer but no kids in September.

Download the 2025 e-catalog (or the Allura one) to compare. I think the prices listed include the 5-10% early booking discount. https://www.oceaniacruises.com/request-brochure

or when you get a really good one, they call you by name then confirm your cabin number. People with that type of memory always amaze me.

That one is definitely bargain basement. My uncle would have been all over it for multiple reasons...me, probably not. I wonder if there is also a BYOW discount?

Here are some of the 2024 cruises I'm looking at (there are more, but these are my A-list): 10 and 11-day: no change in sale price, no change in SM credit ($600 per cabin); so these are a wash. 12-day: Sale price down $200 C-G and $300 A-B, SM credit down $800 to $600 per cabin; so this one is a cheaper. 7-day: no longer on sale (so price same as 2024 catalog), SM credit down $600 to $400; so this one is more expensive.

You are correct on holidays being at a premium (I'd also add summer to the list). However, Vista prices no longer have the new-ship prices (that's Allura's domain now). The cruises I've compared in late-2024 and 2025 (same region, same length) have the French balcony and the C-cabins priced about the same (same for higher levels too).

We seem to agree on this. Although I have a DP bottle that I keep thinking "I should bring this on a cruise", but when it comes down to actually bringing it, it's too much effort (I know, pretty sad). Luckily O has upped their gin game, so I'm happy.

Until the wave season sales hits and we can recoup our "losses" 🙂