1985rz1

Yes, if you want it to be booked. Just sitting in the cart won't hold them for you.

No, but the excursion cart is problematic, especially if you don't book them all at once. Your friend should have their TA or an O rep book them to make sure the discount is properly applied.

Yes, I failed to make that distinction in my post.

Just so folks aren't confused, it's $25 per day for a second account for OLife bookings sailing prior to Oct 1, but for sailings after after Oct 1, two connections per stateroom are included in the cruise fare for Simply More, and possibly for grandfathered OLife bookings.

So with the exception of Windstar, mostly mass market lines. That's the issue I have, in that I prefer the sizes of O's (and Azamara's) ships and am willing to go with Simply More as the cost of that decision. While the Azamara excursion credit is less than O's, we have found that many (certainly not all) of O's excursion are good to excellent, so we don't have a problem with that aspect. Azamara's excursion were cheaper than O's but since the transition, Azamara's prices have increased, some substantially. But, this is our preference; yours is different. We also don't have a problem with the new penalty phase, but actually prefer it since it will reduce the number of people who book multiple placeholders.

If you won't book future O cruises because of its beverage/excursion policy, what lines that avoid inclusions would you book?

O has disabled all these inputs on theTVs, along with the setup menu.

Yep!!!!

Viking Expedition ships sail from Toronto to New York and from Toronto to Ft Lauderdale (or reverse), and some sailings stop at Charlottetown, PEI, and Quebec. They are expensive. We did the Toronto to NYC and loved it.

If you do the extra booking online, before sailing, the cart may not give you the 25% discount, automatically. It's better to have your TA (or your O rep) do it for you to avoid the hassle of get nit corrected.

I don’t know tha algorithm. I usually find out the number when the pdf of the excursions is emailed to us by our TA about 1 year before the sailing.

Seems several of recent posters say they like Ember.

The number of excursions needed for the SM package depend on cruise length and number of ports, so it varies. The number is per person.

Yes, that is true. We have Allianz annual, also.

Yes, there is an SM Package that kicks in at a specified number of excursions, jut like the OLife YWC package. We've taken advantage of it on an upcoming cruise for which we switched to SM because of the Summer sale.

It's no different than the original OLife excursion pricing. You would get 4 (for example) included tours with OLife (for which you paid $100 per excursion in the OLife fare). and once you reached a specified higher number number you would get a 25% discount. under SM, you get a fixed $ amount for excursions, but when you reach a specified number of tours you get the 25% discount. It was called the Your World Collection under OLife and the Simply More Package under SM.

Oceania also permits only one person upgrades.

As you say, some Medicare Supplement plans do cover foreign travel. Ours has a $250 deductible per year and pays 80% of costs to a lifetime maximum of $50,000. Of course not every plan is available in every state.

We asked our TA and she said that the rest of the 2025 cruises are currently expected to be announced in mid-October, and that the Allura schedule will precede it in mid-September. But also cautioned that it could change.

Yes, mine Android does. also. At home I select WiFi preferred, but sometimes the phone selects celluar anyway, so I wouldn't risk it in a cruise. But just my cautiousness.

On our Android, WiFi calling can be used in either situation, cellular on or airplane mode on. In the case of cellular on, the phone decides which is better, WiFi or cellular. If you leave it on, the phone can chose the cellar connection over the WiFi calling, and you'll be connected to Cellular at Sea. This happen at home, when the cellular signal is better that the WiFi connection. With airplane mode turned on and the WiFi activated, the phone is always using WiFi calling.

Only if you are connected to WiFi or use your phone's data which will be billed at the cellular at sea rate for roaming on a ship. From support apple.com: To send a message as iMessage or MMS, you need a cellular data or Wi-Fi connection. this is why were glad to see 2 logins per stateroom after October 1.

If you are connected to the ship's WiFi on your account and are using WiFi calling and your husband is connected to the ship's WiFi and using WiFi calling he would received a text from you. You both need to be connected to the ship's WiFi each on your own account to text each other. You need to make sure your phone is in airplane mode but with WiFi turned on, or your texts will be charged at the cellular at sea rate that your phone company uses. Messaging apps use data, so you will both have to be connected to WiFi and use WiFi data to avoid charges.

My very thoughts.

I also wish folks would stop comparing sale prices under OLife with non-sale prices under SM, as it's an apple and oranges comparison. The will be future sales with SM, such as the recent ones and savings will be had. We saved $7,500 by switching from a non-sale OLife to a sale SM so it's important to compare like situations. Yes, prices will increase overall, just like on other lines, because of inflation and financial pressures. I've also looked for cruises on similar ships that have similar experiences and similar itineraries with cruise only options, and like you found there's not much out there that doesn't include alcohol and excursions that interests me.