mjobtx
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Posts posted by mjobtx
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6 minutes ago, njhorseman said:
Not to be cynical (Me? Cynical? Never ! 🤣 ) but full might mean booked to 60% capacity if a statement made by pinotlover on another thread that Oceania is maxing out its bookings at that level is accurate.
Only a portion of the cabins are available for the ATW. The rest are held for the segment. It is still astounding that the ATW cabins were sold out so quickly.
Michael & Patricia
Plano, TX
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Yes. It was on prnewswire.com yesterday. According to Bob Binder more than one-third of those bookings came from new to brand customers and 20% of the total bookings opted for the full-meal-deal 218 day version of the cruise.
What I don't know is what percentage of the cabins are blocked for the ATW. They always leave availability for segment cruisers. Anecdotally, I have heard that as much as half of the cabins have been filled by ATW cruisers on past cruises.
Michael & Patricia
Plano, TX
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1 minute ago, ORV said:
Congratulations to all those going, although I am amazed on such an expensive trip that so many people would book directly through Oceania and obviously leave a big savings on the table by not going through a TA. Not to beat a dead horse but there are so many things aside from OBC that a TA could help you with on such a major trip.
I frequently book directly with the cruise line but always transfer to my TA thereby getting the additional perks available. I leave nothing on the table. When I book directly, I have immediate access to the cabins available and quickly find out what the air deduction is should I choose to use it. No waiting for the TA to check and get back to me and then back to the cruise line. Minutes count when booking high demand cruises like the ATW. It typically sells out within two days of release to the general public. Most of it is already sold out before the release to the general public. Before I book directly however, I do get a quote from my TA and know the perks. The best of both worlds.
Michael & Patricia
Plano, TX
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38 minutes ago, Cruise Wonderland said:
Below is the information for 180-night AYW full voyage in 2022.
Excursion package of 2023 AYW is not yet available.
Unlimited Passport Collection Package
For just $14,169.00 per person, the Unlimited Passport Collection affords you the ultimate indulgence - the opportunity to fully experience all that a destination has to offer with UNLIMITED a la carte shore excursions throughout the voyage. You may choose from an array of excursions all for one low price at a savings of up to 40% off a la carte prices. As an added bonus, Unlimited Passport Collection guests will also receive significant discounts off Oceania Select and Oceania Exclusive excursions.
Your World Collection Package
Your World Collection provides the flexibility for you to custom design a personalized, value-packed collection of excursions by allowing you to select the exact number of tours you want to take from the entire portfolio. Best of all, you will save 25% off a la carte prices when you reserve a minimum of 40 shore excursions.If you take the shore excursion choice of amenities, those shore excursions count towards the 40 per person required for the YWC discount. On the 180 day ATW, the shore excursion choice includes 32 per person so you only need 8 more per person to qualify for the discount. The number of required to qualify is the same for the 196 day ATW but the cost of the Unlimited Passport Collection Package is increased to $15,339 per person. With the number of shore excursions already included by selecting the shore excursion amenity, there is no way I can see that we would ever reach the threshold for the Unlimited package.
Michael & Patricia
Plano, TX
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42 minutes ago, chery4lbooks said:
The 2023 ATW cruise is offering 64 Free Shore Excursions. For those "seasoned" cruisers, are these excursions just the most basic options? Example is your choice the basic Tour the City - 2 hr excursion Or can you choose a helicopter ride, or long extended excursions etc. TIA
The "free" ones are any that have a retail cost of $199 or less so no helicopter rides or excursions in the various "collections" like OE and OS. The 32 per person benefit also counts towards the YWC (Your World Collection) required number to get a 25% discount on all shore excursions. If you don't know how many excursions are required to get the YWC discount, Oceania or your TA can answer the question. Oceania or your TA can confirm the maximum $199 price of a shore excursion to qualify. I doubt that it has changed but always good to verify.
In your case on the 180 day ATW, if you were to max out ($199) every shore excursion, the value of the amenity would be $12,736 versus the $6,400 shipboard credit option. It isn't likely that you can max out all of them but it doesn't take long for the value of the free excursions to exceed the value of the shipboard credit. To break even, you would have to average only $100 per shore excursion.
Michael & Patricia
Plano, TX
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29 minutes ago, Rob the Cruiser said:
@BCHappyGal- Buy annual travel insurance. It's much less expensive. We use Allianz.
For those of us that are on the world cruise versions that are longer than 180 days, Allianz does not offer a policy. The maximum single trip on their annual policy is 180 days and on their one-trip policies it is 90 days. Once you are 75 or over and your trip is >180 days, the choices are few and expensive. But we travel just the same 😊
Michael & Patricia
Plano, TX
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8 minutes ago, BCHappyGal said:
Thank you for your replies... I saw that on the world cruise... what does the free medical cover??
I would think I would still need to buy Travel medical insurance which for us would be very costly for 6 months for the world cruise...
Copied from the "Terms & Conditions" for the ATW. "Free Medical Care restrictions apply. Medical Services included in the Exclusive Prestige Package: Any visits and admissions to the onboard Medical Center, any medical services typically provided by our onboard medical staff for which we normally charge a fee, any medical tests administered onboard (i.e. x-rays, ECG, labs, etc.) and any medications from our onboard pharmacy prescribed by the onboard doctor. Medical Services that are not included: Refills on any prescription drugs not prescribed by the onboard doctor, any and all costs associated with transferring a guest to land based facility for treatment, emergency medical evacuations charges (i.e. medical escort, transport, etc.) and any other costs incurred off the ship or by an outside provider (i.e. consults with Cleveland Clinic, shoreside referral, etc.).
Michael & Patricia
Plano, TX
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10 hours ago, BCHappyGal said:
Looking at it... very interesting itinerary... but like many said lots of repeat ports for us.... however do like all the overnights
Also like leaving and returning to San Francisco...
Have never sailed Oceania as to date our preferred line has been Celebrity...
Can anybody give me a comparaison between being in a Celebrity suite and being on Oceania in a Concierge Cabin>???
Does a World Voyage mean the guest gets complimentary laundry service and if yes how much?
All of your laundry services are complimentary for the duration of the world cruise. It is not free for those booked on the segments of the world cruise. Prepaid gratuities and free onboard medical care if needed are also important amenities for us.
Michael & Patricia
Plano, TX
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On 1/9/2021 at 2:21 PM, Busy Mum said:
What an incredible cruise that would be! I’m a little confused though, how is it a World Cruise when she does not sail to Australia & NZ? It just got me thinking! 🤔🤔🚢🚢
The 2021 (196)/2022 (180) ATW covers AU and NZ extensively. Every year, the focus of the ATW changes.
Michael & Patricia
Plano, TX
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Too many repeat ports for us on this cruise. Of the 96 ports, 75 would be repeats some more than once. There are other places to see in the world and at my age, I don't have time to repeat many.
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I would not be surprised is some cruise lines start to add free laundry to the booking. I received an email from Regent a few months ago saying they added it to our booking which was only an 11 day cruise.
Michael & Patricia
Plano, TX
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And it is convenient since the laundries get a lot of use. You can quickly check if equipment is available. At times, we have been a long way from the laundry and had to hike to it only to find it was busy. Return to the cabin and try again later.
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4 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:
We flew out of Rome eight days after disembarking in Barcelona after our Transatlantic last year. Of course we had to pay the deviation fee. It is my understanding that 30 days is the max period pre or post cruise that they allow.
However both our inbound and outbamd flights were from the same place RDU. Maybe that is the issue?
We had a “free” air promo on our cruise leaving this Friday 😊🤞🏻😊 from Beijing. We had hoped that Viking would pay for our air from Japan to Beijing and then back to US after the cruise. Alas, they said they would pay to get us to Beijing but only from their US gateways. Maybe you need to look at the cost impact of either flying to the cruise from Toronto (with a purchased DFW/YYZ Ticket) or see if they will fly you to/from Buffalo or some US city near Toronto?
After spending an hour on the telephone with the Viking Air representative, he gave up and so did I. As it turned out, our flight DFW/ANC and return YYZ/DFW cost the same as the Viking Air. I did have to pay for YVR/YYZ but that was expected. Now we are free to go to ANC whenever we wish and return to DFW on our schedule. In this particular case, Viking air was no bargain but that isn't always the case. I always compare the cruise line air to the market. On several occasions, buying air independently was less expensive especially is it was business class. You do lose transfers though but that has never been a big deal.
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We just ran into a surprise when speaking with the Viking Air Plus agent. We are booked on an Alaskan cruise, flying DFW/ANC. Viking buses arrivals at Anchorage to Seward (126 miles) which is the embarkation port for our cruise. We planned on going a day or two early. We also aren't returning directly to DFW. We are going on to Toronto to visit friends before returning.
We learned that Viking Air Plus could not handle our air. We expected that they could handle DFW/ANC and YYZ/DFW. We knew they could not handle YVR/YYZ. That would be up to us. As it turns out, they cannot handle our air for some unclear reason. The best I can guess is that they can only handle air if we fly to the embarkation airport and return from the disembarkation city.
We were also told that if we arranged our own air, we would have to find our own transfers to Seward from Anchorage. They will not sell transfers.
I know our situation is not the norm but it was a surprise to us.
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The news story I saw posted https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/norway-airlifting-1300-passengers-off-sos-cruise-ship/ar-BBV8HS7?li=BBnb7Kz is not completely accurate because it says that 1300 passengers are being airlifed off of the ship. The ship holds 950 passengers when at capacity so the rest of the 1300 must include most of the crew.
No information on Viking's website yet.
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I did contact the email provided and they did take care of it. I would have preferred that it be taken care of more promptly on a routine basis rather than asking someone to intervene but the matter is now closed and my refunds have been processed.
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Thank you teamflames. I did check again today and got the same old 21 business day story. It is a choice the Viking is making because they have the demand. I won't know for another few days if they comply with their own policy.
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I find myself in a similar position. I am waiting for Viking to process two refunds. One for $800, the other for $1,000. Viking arbitrarily decides that it will take 21 business days to process a refund. That is a business decision and nothing else. Viking gets to hold your money longer. By comparison, Regent issued a refund that showed up on my credit card within 3 business days.
Viking has the advantage of having high demand and could care less about the customer. They demand full payment months earlier than other cruise lines and now apparently wait weeks longer to process refunds simply because they can. Since I am still a few days away from their self-imposed 21 business day requirement, I don't yet know if I will receive the refund. In the meantime, my credit card bill will have come due and I have a feeling that the credit card company won't like the excuse that I am waiting on a refund for the amount so I am not going to pay.
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We stayed at the Intercontinental on Middle Rd last April for three nights. The rate was reasonable compared to other hotels. We opted for a rate that included breakfast. Breakfast was quite good by the way. The location was convenient for us too.
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My apologies for sharing our experience. I had no idea that ships stopped at only one or two ports in India. My mistake.
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We had four ports in India on our cruise this past April/May. We cruised on Oceania. We were explicitly told that e-Visas would not be acceptable and that we would be required to obtain a regular visa. Typically the regular visa is for 120 months. Several of us learned that the expiration date was merely a suggestion. The consular employee issuing the visa decided the term of the visa. Several of us wound up with 12 month visas. The cost was the same.
Michael
Plano, TX USA
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The lists are all that they had available to send. They are by no means complete and they are subject to change. However, from my experience they do not change much. We have had a really nice Rose’ wines on board from Provence and from the Tavel AOC. Like Jean states, we have also had at least one Zinfandel but I do not remember which one. I typically carry on wine and fill in from the list if I run low or if the Cellar Master has something interesting available that is not on the list because of limited quantities.
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Another couple with no problems on Oceania. Have had great conversations with the staff and I always have great service from the Cellar Master too.
2023 Insignia World Cruise
in Oceania Cruises
Posted
Pinotlover must have a great inside source. I haven't been able to get anyone at Oceania to commit to a capacity number. I suspect it is fluid. I also expect that the capacity limitations for the 2023 ATW will be much lower and the ATW cabins sold out in a day after opening to the general public. If things are not a lot better by then we are all doomed.