AMHuntFerry

Yes. OV starts at $2099, Veranda $2399, Suite $3499. Probably similar cruises to the Extraordinary sale. I'll spot check and see if there are any easy to find cruises in 2024 (Ext. sale only went to Dec 2023 I think).

Just relaying what someone else did. The initial answers (3 times) were "No, because it's waitlisted", but finally got a "yes" but it had to go through a supervisor and be OK'd.

On our first cruise in Dec. 2021, we didn't even realize Waves has a decent cold breakfast option; I could have eaten there every day (although I really do like berries with my yogurt). We also didn't realize until part way through that they had things (salads, etc.) other than what is on the Waves menu (burgers and fries type items). We've been on a couple of full R-ship cruises, and yes, they don't seem full (except maybe the pool loungers in hot weather) even when they are.

Good news! It was my $200 off coupon since we didn't book on our June cruise. We also got our blue book which is way earlier than all of our previous cruises...so fun! (hijack over)

If the O rep comes back with a "no", ask to speak to a supervisor; they may still say "no" but it can't hurt to ask someone higher up (O reps don't always get things right).

Oops!! I just realized it was Marina 13-day, not Sirena 15-day. I'm goiing to blame not having any food or caffeine yet for my goof. Will go check actual savings. OK, the actual cruise is the MARINA 13 day TA. Listed for $2599 on O's site, and $1699 on Cruise Critic and my TA's sites. Sorry for the mix-up...really need a fact checker today (eating and drinking as I type).

Just checked CruiseCritic's search and they have it for $2299

I just checked my TAs website and found one cruise that may be included in a current silent sale (i.e., not on O's website). It is the Sirena TA in Nov. 2023. Lowest price on O site is $3099, on my TA's site is $1699. I have no info about the limitations associated with the sale fare; I'd need to get that from my TA and I don't want to waste her time. So, if you have a TA and want to find out about the sale, you may have to contact them to find out (and they may not have access to the sale). That said, there is mail coming from O today regarding "special OClub" something or other, so maybe that will have sale info.

In the past, they were ~September, ~February during Wave-season (2023 was missing), and ~May if I recall. What is the investing/stock market phrase..."past results are no indicators of future..." sales.

I think the effect of SM may be dwarfed by the new (Aug-Oct) itinerary prices and the next price-change opportunity after October 31st. Inflation has hit everything so it makes fiscal sense for O to have higher prices to compensate. However, they will still have sales, but the type of sales-type may evolve with the new management (and will give us new forum topics!).

Related: Since you have the background to know, what's your opinion on the cost (to O) of a glass of wine vs other drink options (e.g., bottle of Perrier or a glass of juice)? I'm guessing that it is not a huge amount.

"Can one still get the promo fare with amenities without air" Yes "or is the new promo fare no air and no amenities? " No - you always get SM amenities "Some people don’t want all the amenities nor the air….is that still an option?" No - the cruise only option that had no OLife (now SM) and no air does not exist at the present time; many have hope it will return eventually. Time will tell. Sidenote, have you clicked on the "Legal" link at the bottom of the page? The T&C are in two places...the regular T&Cs and the Promo T&Cs.

This glitch happens once in a while. Try a different browser (or clearing cookies might work).

Ask your TA or O rep for the current shorex pdf. It will have a description of the three categories near the beginning of the document (before the shorex descriptions). There is also very important info at the end of the document (e.g., cancellations).

I do math really well, but I've been known to make an arithmetical error here and there (and the 4 on my ten-key is finicky...grrr!)...glad to know there are others who occassionally have a brain blip 😉 When it's important I always have at least one person check my work (yay for your TA!).

Someone in another topic has used the shopping cart to compare SM vs OLife. The min. still applied but it was a higher min (in their case one more).

We will probably have to wait until someone receives a shorex pdf for a SM booking; this pdf is where the discount info is located. Until then we can guess that it is similar to the old a la carte, YWC, and UPC packages. Old system (briefly): UPC - pay ~$110 per port and get certain shorex for no additional charge, other shorex have an additional fee. (Can the SM-OBC be used to purchase the UPC pkg? We shall see). YWC - purchase a minimum number of shorex (# varied by cruise length) and get 25% off a la carte price (exceptions included exec. car shorex). (Do we get this automatically now with SM, or does the minimum still apply?) A la carte - Pay full price for shorex if fewer than the YWC minimum are purchased. (Will anyone pay a la carte with SM, or will this be similar to the "brochure fare" that no one pays?)

Yep, there are still a bunch in our acceptable price range. Maybe I can raise our max. price by working more. 🤣 (not gonna happen!)

Website is still being updated, or your cruise is too far out for prices.

He is probably just suspicious...notice that the words "cruise only" does not appear in the cabin price tables. Also, the T&Cs for SM are in the Promo T&Cs, not the regular T&Cs. I hope you are correct though!

Did you book with a sale fare? Every cruise I've checked only went up in price the difference between what the OLife (no air) OBC was and the SM (no air) OBC (e.g., if OLife OBC was $1200, SM OBC is $1400, then the total price went up $200/cabin). This does not apply if you are comparing to a sale fare; so yes, it probably makes no sense for people with sale fares to switch to SM. People who booked OLife with a regular fare may find SM attractive.

You can if you have data for multiple years. There are certain cruises that never go up in price from when they are released until they sail (I rarely say "never" but in this case I do); they are often part of the super-duper sales. So, if you have the multi-year info for those cruises you can see how SM affected them. If the other cruises that you don't have multi-year data for have the same pattern, then bingo, you know SM's effect. I posted it elsewhere if you are interested. In short, SM without air raised the cruise only fare (no OLife and no air) by whatever the SM shorex-OBC is worth. The SM with air prices went up $100 for the shorter cruises and more for longer cruises (e.g., a 19-day in my data set went up $200) which is the quarterly increase that I think you are referring to. So yes, there were quarterly increases as well as SM increases.

Re Windstar: They have an all-inclusive-package for something like $90 (can't remember) per day, so they have it as a "freebie" on some sailings...similar to O's Ultimate OLife promo. Re: added wine/beer costs for non-drinkers. Let's remember that we are talking about cheap wine and beer. I've seen (from people more savvy than me) that most of the wine offerings RETAIL at about $10 per bottle. The wholesale cost will be significantly less. I'd be surprised if the wine costs O more per serving than the sodas or Vero water we all have access to.

I'm going to claim that this was the best summary 😉

Ask for the most recent shorex pdf from your TA or O rep. It will have the info that specifically applies to you and your booking.