osandomir

Sometimes people just choose to eat what they like and aren’t trying to squeeze the last bit of everything that’s available for the money they have spent.

It’s hard for me to understand how any human being who is fortunate to be able to cruise in the middle of the sea would prefer those PEOPLE to be left behind so they wouldn’t affect the enjoyment of someone’s vacation.

@Vineyard View I have also seen these ridiculous prices a lot lately. But in my experience if I'm persistent and have some patience and luck it’s still possible to find BIZ saver awards using major airlines currencies. And if one is willing to pay high taxes some airlines release more reasonable award spaces to Europe which is still much better deal than revenue tickets. I just noticed that airlines not necessarily open these awards when the schedule is opened but more likely within several coming weeks or even months.

No assumptions here. But we need to keep in mind that just because their air program didn’t work for you or myself it was acceptable for many other people who for different reasons didn’t want to make their own flights arrangements. That’s why many will be very interested in the new program and in the improvements it may bring.

Also, probably there are more newcomers on this board than “regulars” who are interested in all different details on the O website and here on CC before making their reservations.

That’s true, the airfare is much less predictable now than it used to be. Both for revenue and award tickets reservations. But anyway I don’t think that Oceania base their airfare on the prices available for the general public. Rather they base it in relation to the contracts with several particular airlines they use in their air program.

I agree with you that it looks very confusing at this point. I just don’t think one can find the best international air prices when airlines open their schedules if looking for the revenue air tickets, especially in BizClass. In our experience the best fares can be found somewhere between 8 to 6 months prior to flying. That’s more aligned with the Oceania custom air reservation window. That said, we’re yet to see how their new air program will play out.

…and you just did that comparison yourself in your post #73. But by the way your calculations are quite correct.

I don’t think it’s much of a secret to many of FF points users. There are also some other loyalty programs that require less amount of miles for the comparable flights. The only consideration is if you need to cancel a redeposit fee will apply in most of the cases and your points will stay within the airline you choose to transfer your points to. So one needs to have a reasonable confidence that their miles will be useful for the future flights with the particular airline. In any case that greatly reduce the flexibility of the points.

Yes, you can definitely transfer your points and miles at a rate 1:1 between many credit cards, hotels and airlines. But it’s nowhere in US the cost of one point is $1 so you can use one point against one dollar of the cost of your air ticket or hotel room. And this is how per Tranquility Base it works with Air New Zealand loyalty program.

Thank you. I wasn’t familiar with the details of the Air New Zealand loyalty program. It looks similar how our credit card travel portal works except our points worth 50% more when booking through the CC portal. At the end it all depends on the way how you acquire those points and miles.

No I didn’t mean that but sometimes a win for one person means a loss by many others.

As I stated your cruises are an example of the “exceptions” and probably the ships were full because of the endless Oceania sales that you like to take an advantage of.

Well, it could be some exceptions but on an average… there’s a reason why cruises so late in the season cost less and not selling very well either. If it’s your first cruise in the area and on Oceania ships it might be a path to disappointment.

I’m curious what airline equals 1 point to 1 dollar? The FF points that we use worth 2 cents on an average. Sometimes more but we need to work very hard to get that.

Oceania current air program is far from optimal. It definitely doesn’t work for many people and possibly doesn’t generate enough revenue for Oceania too. We ourselves almost never book the air through the line. Hopefully, they will figure out how to make it work better whether with the dynamic pricing or not. If there’re any changes I’d like to think it’ll be a positive improvement both for the company and for the customers as well.

I believe Oceania used to price their air based on their contracts with the airlines. From this statement, depending on the Oceania contracts, I can see that the air may (or may not?) be more expensive when booking closer to the sailing date compared to booking far out.

I believe it’s quite easy to arrange with Oceania while you’re already on board. But it also was possible to include Oceania transfers in your reservation when you book your cruise.

Thank you for posting this information. It will make me assume that Oceania contracts with the airlines are extended that far. This is way before any published flight prices are available. In this case there won’t be any dynamic pricing involved. Still it’s very interesting to see how it all plays out.

This looks like an interesting development. I’m looking forward to seeing how it will affect the prices of the business/premium air booked through Oceania. Though, don’t have much hopes for the bargains there. Also, with dynamic pricing I can’t see how the air price will be determined when booking cruise two years in advance.

The price for Uber heavily depends on the date and time. In any case we were willing to pay because we didn’t want to jump all the ropes in getting from our London hotel to the train or bus station and then to the cruise terminal in Southampton. I understand that some people think differently but when compared to the price of the cruise or any other travel expenses I wouldn’t be on a mission for saving some dollars in exchange of the convenience.

In a very rare case we recently booked PE flight from LHR to LAX through Oceania. They had the best priced one way direct flight that I could find. Also the price for O transfer to the airport was zero dollars. Much better deal than £200+ we had paid for Uber on the way to that cruise from London to Southampton terminal. The same O transfer was available for purchase to the people who booked their own flights. Still a better deal than any private transfer for those who like us don’t want to take any public transportation option.

We checked Blacklane and some others. They all were more on the day we were there.

Oceania never stated that extra tipping was discouraged. As far as I remember it always been common among those people who were willing to share a little bit extra for the good service from the staff. Doesn’t mean that they received anything at the other’s expense. Obviously, there’re some who prefer it to be the other way.

Oceania sell transfers to airports but not into London. I don’t remember the prices. We used Uber from central London hotel to Southampton cruise terminal and the price varied between £140 and £220 depending on the day and time in April. On Monday morning it was on the high end of this range.