DCGuy64

True, although that's a pretty big "if," in my opinion.

You know, on the one hand, I wholeheartedly agree that because ports can and do change, it's unwise to book a cruise solely on that basis. But on the other hand, what's the point of booking any cruise at all if the itinerary is subject to change? I think if I paid to fly to Paris and they dropped me in Frankfurt, I'd be pretty p***ed off. And I don't think demanding people book a land based vacation is realistic, either. Having done both, I prefer cruising because I like to go places (plural, as in placeS, not one place). It is possible both to be aware of the potential for port changes AND be sympathetic to those who were disappointed by them. I don't really think it's a binary choice.

Right? Foie gras = blech! 🤮 Same with Scotch, that stuff is NASTY. However, to each his own, and I'd agree that charging folks more and getting less is not cool. At some point, people need to vote with their feet. One annoying trend I'm starting to see is some grocery items being sold at the same price as before, but with less content. Also not cool! NCL's pricing is still reasonable enough for us that we'll keep going. We paid less than $900 pp for a Club balcony suite. Heck, the beverage package alone would have been $99 pppd + gratuity, so for 9 days, it would have been over $1,000. That's still a heck of deal, in my opinion.

As much as it's sad hearing about the P+ package declining, it cements my decision never to buy it. I was perfectly happy with the drinks that were part of the FAS package last month, and only splurged a couple of times, which saved me a ton of cash (which I promptly spent in the spa, LOL). NCL's gonna get me one way or another.... 😆

Following, for the laughs....

Ah, I didn't know that. I could have sworn it applied to our sailing in December, but I could be wrong.

Not for us. We got 0 from them in terms of water last month. The fact that I couldn't sleep once because of the ship rocking and ended up paying $8 for the S Pellegrino in our fridge didn't help, either.

Thanks for the information, I'm also keen to know whether Oceania continues to allow upgrading on an individual basis (i.e. a couple traveling together don't BOTH have to upgrade, but each can decide on his own).

Maybe I'm not getting it. If I choose House Select for O Life and want to upgrade beforehand, they're going to charge me $59.95 less the $29.95 that represents the "value" of the House Select package, correct? But if I choose to upgrade onboard, they'll charge me $69.95 less $39.95, right? In each case, I'll be paying $30 extra (unless they value House Select at $29.95 and when I get onboard, they charge me $69.95 which means $40 per day extra, not $30). Maybe I'm overthinking it (wouldn't be the first time, LOL). I guess what I'm getting at is, is there a financial advantage to my upgrading beforehand or not? I would prefer to wait a bit and see how much I drink on the ship, especially because we have a very port-intensive itinerary. But on the other hand, if waiting means forking over $10 extra per day, I might decide to just upgrade and stop thinking about it. BTW I can't seem to get the upgraded price on the website, putting it in my cart forces me to pay the full amount of $599.95 (10 day cruise @ $59.95/day). I assume I'd need to have the travel agency do that for me.

Part of the confusion over this is the different ways Oceania describes the cost of the upgrade, and whether it can be done before sailing or not. Both of these links are from their site, but they say two different things. https://www.oceaniacruises.com/value#value-packages -This says it can be purchased before getting on board. But this one says "once on board only": https://oceaniacruises.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360022271214-Can-I-upgrade-my-OLIFE-House-Select-Beverage-package- One says $59.95, the other $69.95. Not sure which is true.

Great post, @Flatbush Flyer, you obviously took a while to write something this thorough and detailed. I really appreciate that (perhaps a tired and overused phrase, but I mean it seriously). I think you are 100% right about having something written in hand. I do plan to have docs at the ready just in case, as you say, it "becomes a problem." Thank you very much!

Thank you for confirming that.

We have an excellent TA, too. However, this cruise was not booked by him, I received a brochure in the mail last year from my university's alumni association and it was booked through the travel agency they used. This is our first time doing a "co-branded" event featuring the alumni association. I got the impression this kind of thing is popular. All of our other cruises have been booked and managed by our excellent TA, just not this one. The travel agency has been great with responding to my emails, but I (apparently naively, in retrospect) thought calling the cruise line directly about this would be better. Lesson learned!

Thank you. Of course, as you say, "as of this morning..." 😆 Forgive the sarcasm (it's not aimed towards you), but when a TA who presumably doesn't work for the cruise line is more trustworthy than the employees who do, that's sad. I don't doubt that we'll have a super cruise, I see tons of great reviews of Oceania so I'm not worried, but I am disappointed not to be able to get a straight answer from them. And by no means is inconsistency confined to Oceania, however this is a LOT more expensive than we usually pay, so I was hoping for better customer service, and that's a (minor) letdown.

Over the 18, almost 19 years you've sailed with O, whom did you believe when you had to get information? I'd really appreciate knowing what, if any, reliable sources of information there are out there. Thanks, and rest assured we very much look forward to our cruise (assuming it sails-it's in Japan and we've had 2 such cruises cancelled due to Covid, we're hopeful but also cautious).

April 12, 2023. And yeah, I was thinking the same thing, I'm sure my trusty CC friends will weigh in before then. Good point! 😃

Believe me, I hear what you're saying, and I want to believe it. However, you don't work for Oceania, but the phone representative who does, told me point-blank that (assuming you wait until you're onboard to upgrade) it MUST be done within 24 hours (so not day 3, 4, 5, etc, only day 1 or max. day 2). Is she wrong? Maybe, but what choice do I have but to believe them? It's not a big deal, BTW, and it's not something I need an answer to right now. Our cruise is more than 3 months away. But it IS somewhat aggravating, in very much a 1st world problem kind of way. If you were a customer of my company and I told you not to believe the 3 phone reps who work for the company, but only a customer of the same, I think you might be rather annoyed at that.

Not according to Oceania, they now say you HAVE to upgrade prior to sail date in order to avoid the additional $10 fee. (At least according to the apparently clueless phone rep, 😁)

Nice, we used our FCC to pay for a new cruise coming up this November. And, believe you me, if the price drops before final payment date, we'll be requesting a rebook just like we did last year. 🙂

Right, as I mentioned, his post is what prompted mine. 😉 (That's why I referenced it in the first sentence of the post you quoted me on). One of the annoying things about the website (annoying to me, anyway) is that it won't let me upgrade, if I add the Prestige package to my online cart, it charges me the whole thing, i.e. doesn't give credit for the O Life one. Anyway, I'm doubtful it's even worth it at this point, especially since they hiked the price from $20 to $30 extra.

Well that's reassuring. 😉 Can't trust the phone reps, can't trust the chat reps, what's left? Yeah, I'm thinking about doing that. (Not sure I can, though, this was purchased via a travel agency) At this point, I'm considering (but haven't made a final decision on) sticking with the O Life bev package and buying any extra drinks on an à la carte basis. Based on my recent drinking habits, I'm very likely not going to come out ahead by upgrading to Prestige. We'll see.

I read that thread, actually, which is one of the reasons I decided to get the full scoop. I guess the real question is, how many times do I have to call to get the truth, and even then, how do I know the reality if if it keeps changing? I wish the website had the information, but it doesn't. Oh well...

I'd be happy to paste into here the transcript where I specifically said "you do realize the upgrade price is the same as buying it separately" and she acknowledged that was true. Don't get me wrong, I still think she's mistaken, but I think it's really pathetic that someone who works for a premium line like Oceania gives false information SEVERAL TIMES during a chat convo. And what if she's right? I'm not forking over $700 extra. But it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth given that it's our first go-around with Oceania. Not a good first impression, I'd say.

Read my separate thread. She was VERY clear about this, because I asked her several times. I even asked for a transcript of the chat conversation as proof. She said the new rates went into effect January 1, but that the website hasn't been updated yet. Personally, I'd say I agree with you, but for someone who was confused, she answered confidently several times that you'd have to pay $69.95 per person, per day, unless you upgraded prior to the sail date.

We are very much looking forward to our first Oceania cruise in April of this year. Trying to get clarity on the price to upgrade our included House Select package (as part of Olife) to the Prestige, I reached out to Oceania a few minutes ago to ask. Here's what I was told: Effective January 1, 2023, guests wishing to upgrade will pay $29.95 per person, per day, if they do the upgrade prior to sailing. If they wait until boarding, the upgrade price will be $69.95 per person, per day. Previously, I believe the upgrade price was $20, and recently changed to $30. Now it's being increased to a whopping $70. I asked the representative several times if that was the upgrade price, or the full package price (assuming no Olife), and time and again, she said "yes." So for our 10-day sailing, it would amount to $699.95 per person. She said "that is correct." I even remarked that the upgrade price is identical to what someone WITHOUT the House Select package would pay (in other words, effectively canceling the entire idea of an upgrade) and she said "yes, that is why we encourage people to do the upgrade prior to boarding." Based on this, I will not be upgrading at all. That is an outrageous price.