1985rz1

He said Premium Economy was in his original fare in post #99: "No kidding strange bookkeeping. We booked air in our original booking. No business class was mentioned. Premium economy in our original booking."

The one at bedtime could be problematic, since the basic wine package is only with meals in a restaurant. But if you consume 3 or more glasses at meals, the package at $40 pp would be the better deal. I don’t have a link handy, but wine menus are posted in several threads on this board. The per drink prices in the menus do not include the 20% gratuity. The package includes the gratuities.

Or capitalists...

Nah, an optimist believes things will be better for the future, the pessimist believes everyone is out to take advantage of us, especially CEOs. 😉

I think he's quoting prices for two, and he indicated it was premium economy.

Since TA OBC is not included in the fare and is not part of SimplyMore, I would assume that it will be the usual OBC to use as you please onboard. All will be revealed on July 1 🙄.

Under the current OLife program you could OBC for the spa, gratuities and the shops...anything that could be charged to your onboard account, except for the casino. The new SimplyMore program suggest that the OBC can only be used for excursions and that has been confirmed by TA's attending the pre-rollout webinar. However, for cruises that are already booked for sailings after October 1, you can choose to keep the old OLife program or "upgrade" to the new SimplyMore program at the prevailing pricing at the time of "upgrade."

I guess I don't see the basis for you complaint against Oceania. They are upfront pretty clear about deviation fees and differential airfare. If you request a deviation, there is a fee to book the new flight. If you specify flights and the flights you want are not covered by their contracts, you have to pay the difference that the airline charges over the contract amount. If you don't like and don't accept the new flights, you don't have to pay either the deviation fee and the differential cost, and you can get the air credit for the original flight if you don't take O's air. It sound like you got fully refunded for the included flight and didn't have to pay the deviation fee or the differential airfare. Am I missing something?

Yes. We have our TA do it for us once we decided on our choices. You can do it online, but the excursion cart is wonky and you might have to call O to straighten out the pricing.

I think the supplemental fee applies to the Unlimited package, not the basic OLife package.

Under OLife, I think you paid the full price for an excursion that was not part of the included ones (typically exceeding $199) with no credit towards the higher priced excursion.

This is a very disappointing menu.

So far TAs and other sites are unanimous that you will not be able to get the credit for excursions if you don't want them. And the OBC is specifically for excursions, not any other pre-board or onboard expense. Your choices will be SimplyMore with air or SimplyMore without air.

According to several TAs, although there is no cruise only, you will be able to get an air credit if you want want to do your own flights.

Great comparison. Thanks. Here are the specs I found for Oceania and Viking statetooms: The Oceania O-ship Concierge midship stateroom is 234 sq ft interior with a 48 sq ft balcony (numbers vary slightly depending on source). The Oceania O-ship Penthouse midship stateroom is 348 sq ft with a 72 sq ft balcony. The Viking Ocean Veranda is 224 sq ft with a 46 sq ft balcony. The Viking Ocean Penthouse is 280 sq ft with a 60 sq ft balcony. This might impact the comparisons.

I may be in the minority (again 🙄) , but I rather like the new policy. The current common advice for popular cruises that are totally wait listed is to wait until the final payment is due, when there will be lots of cancellations...many by folks who reserved staterooms as placeholders or were just toying with the possibility. The penalty for using this approach may level the playing field for those who are serious about the cruise, while for those with a legitimate medical (or any other covered) reason the penalty can be covered if they have even a modest amount of trip insurance. Of course, this is JMO.

Not exactly. The $250 penalty period kicks in at 180 days/6 months out. It is a deterrent to place-holding until the cancelation policy begins...which is sort of like putting your pool towel on the pool lounger while you go to the spa 🤔.

"Tour Price" is the "list price. "Your World" is a 25% discount when you meet the minimum number of excursions required, which depend on cruise length. "Unlimited" is you can take as many as you want for a fixed priced, but many have an upcharge, as only certain basic tours are totally included. You really need to cost out whether unlimited option is really worth it. It is often not the best deal. If you take the OLife excursions, the cost of which is $100 per excursion that is included in the OLife fare. But you can select excursions up to $199, so you can get a real value there. And the OLife excursions count toward re minimum number for Your World.

I don't think "dangerous" is an appropriate description. What is appropriate is for everyone to make sure they know what their coverage is. We've claimed on both Chase and Allianz annual and have have good experiences.

Just checked mine, and the insurance benefits I stated are still listed. Do you have any link which would suggest otherwise? Could be dependent on one's state of residence regulations. I do know that my Hilton-branded AMEX card dropped cancellation/interruption insurance some years ago.

Our Chase Sapphire Preferred Visa covers what you charge on it up to $10K per person per trip, $20K total per trip, $40K maximum per year of amount charged. One does not have to pay for the entire trip. No pre-existing condition waiver. Annual fee $95.

My view is you had a substandard butler. Your experience has not been our experience. We've had good to excellent (Churchill) butlers.

Here's another comparison to add to the list: Silversea Cruise beginning April 19, 2023 Penalty period began immediately upon booking April 12, 2021: $200 pp or $400 total (deposit was $5,975) Cancellation schedule began on December 20, 2022 at 15% (4 months/120 days in advance) Final payment due on December 20, 2022 (4 months/120 days in advance) (We had to cancel this one)

It appears it's $250 or 10% of the cruise, which ever is larger. See @mauibabes's post 48, above.

I agree. That's why I quoted from my ticket contracts.