ak1004

We always book cruise only, no air, no excursions (before SM), and still get the rebates. And we book the cheapest cabins (OV or FV on Vista). We also booked SS 3 times with the same TA, no air, got ~12-13% rebate. Of course they don't work for free. Who said they do? If they get 15% commission from the cruise line, they pass 10% to the customers. Sorry, but I'm done with this too.

I believe you are correct. They have an "all inclusive" package for $89/day which includes internet, gratuities and drinks, and sometimes they have a promotion that all inclusive price is the same as cruise only.

Thank you Hank, all excellent points! Comparisons are never easy. Inclusions are useful only if you use them (we don't drink, so included drinks are not important to us). Also, larger cabin size is definitely a plus, but standard cabin on Vista, Marina or Riviera is more than sufficient for us. That said, $400 is a steal for SB. It would be difficult to find those rates now.

You are missing the point. O sales are great. But if you used a TA, you would still get all the perks that TA offers ON TOP of O sales.

We consider them too. Their larger ships (Star) have very nice cabins, around 280 sqft, and are fully renovated. But in many cases they are more expensive than O with less inclusions.

You can laugh, but Toga night on our Costa cruise was one of the most memorable and special events in all our cruising history. It was almost 20 years ago, our first cruise ever, still remember it as very special. I'm pretty sure I would see things differently today, but maybe O should introduce some of those special events. Could be chocolate extravaganza, a special event like White night, etc. Crystal still does white nights I believe?

I don’t really understand your comment. In all our years of cruising we were never delayed to arrive on the last port. The cruise lines themselves say that booking anytime after noon is safe.

I agree. But that’s not me. I still enjoy cruising very much, on different lines.

Doesn’t really matter how you call it. But if this decline or devolution exists in all cruise lines, where would you go? Don't compare to what it was 10 years go. Compare to what other lines offer now.

Well, maybe both? Non stop is better obviously but direct still good enough for many people. But if you change last minute as many people will have to, you might not be able to get either of them. This is not just bad optics. This was a really stupid decision.

I disagree. Booking a noon or 1pm flight is completely normal. Plenty of time. And for those who fly to Europe there might be only one direct flight. And with 11am arrival, they have to rebook it.

And Silversea is not the same under RCI, and Seabourn not the same under Carnival. Those are very common statements on different boards and social media. But do they reflect the reality? We sailed on O in 2018, and then 3 times post Covid. Didn't notice much difference. RCI brought back the unlimited black caviar to Silversea. Most cruise lines are under the umbrella of the big 3. If you believe that they are destroying the luxury lines, not too many places to go.. Look at the recent Silver Nova fiasco and see that there are not many places to hide from the cruise lines corporate stupidity.

Oceania on its worst day is still better Celebrity on its best day. It’s like comparing Lexus to Fiat.

Going back to the topic of "decline" - there appears to be a contest for stupid and for abusive behavior towards passengers on many lines. Looks at this topic:

Well, I provided one source that says it's $16-25. You dismissed it without providing any other source. I also provided few examples of Azamara cruises that mention port fees that are in a similar range. You provided no data. I'm really not sure what you are trying to prove, but at this point I don't really see any point to continue arguing. We can just agree to disagree.

Speaking of delays/changes - just saw this: SS delayed arrival to FLL by 4 hours for a photo op..

so the range of $16-25 quoted in the article is not completely far fetched? In fact, it seems pretty accurate. And this is exactly why they provided a range and not a number. In any case, saving on those fees doesn’t sounds like a huge incentive for a cruise line to cancel ports..

So based on your knowledge and experience, what are the port fees, for example in the Med? This is a genuine question.

Haha.. I didn’t even notice your handle and definitely had no intention to insult you. I meant we should end the argument. Piece?

Well, you said it, not me. ”So you've confirmed that NCLH's strategy is working. They're going increase their revenue by having Oceania customers move to Regent, where they'll pay more than they would have on O for a comparable cabin and itinerary.” A direct quote from few posts ago. btw, when you consider all the inclusions, costs, and the size of the cabin, Regent customers will not necessarily pay more, and NCLH will not necessarily make more per customer. But you are right, time to put this horse out of its misery..

What's your point? Are you saying that port fees are higher than $15-20 per person? Do you have a more reliable source that proves otherwise? Or you just like to argue for the sake of argument?

So you continue insisting that their plan is making O a worse product on purpose and hope that some of O guests will switch to Regent?

I won’t argue because I don’t know. But Celebrity, Princess etc show similar amounts. I’m not sure why the actual fees would be different. Take a look at this: https://cruise.blog/2023/09/what-are-port-fees-cruise-and-how-much-are-they “Port fees are fees charged by the ports of call to the cruise line (ships don't get to dock for free!). In turn, they pass these fees on to the passengers. This extra charge can be anywhere from $16-$25 per person, per day.”

I'm well aware of what O and R include. I did not say that SM moves O close to R, I said "closer". I don't need to have experience in the travel business to know that people who are dissatisfied with O have an equal chance to move to ANY other line, and it would be foolish for NCLH to expect that they will necessarily move to Regent. In fact, some might even say that O became too expensive for them and they move back to Celebrity/Princess etc. My point is that there is zero evidence to suggest that NCLH would intentionally cause a decline in O to move O customers to Regent. To me, I have concerns about O cancelling ports and reducing times, but I have zero concerns about their on board product. I see absolutely no decline.

Well, you were the one who mentioned "NCLH's strategy is working". This assumes that they intentionally hurt the O experience to "move up" their guests to Regent.. this was based on one anecdotical evidence of one TA who moved half of their customers from O to Regent.. The truth is that by introducing SM, they actually moved O closer to Regent and further from the mass market - O is now more expensive, but also has more inclusions. If anything, they risked to cannibalize Regent.