GICNJC

unless you take the pre excursion package, you are responsible for your transfer if you do not use O air.

I had anticipated late delivery of the VISTA Ship due to the COVID issues that raised their heads during construction. I am booked (our 5th O cruise) on the Transatlantic scheduled for Aug 30, 2023 and hope the delays don't extend to then. So looking forward to many of the ports they offered for the cruise.

I am hearing through Facebook that the first three sailing of VISTA are being cancelled. Any CC Members able to confirm?

Definitely depends on where you are cruising. On three of our cruises, they kept the passports (Canadian) but on our recent Baltic cruise they did not.

There are occasions O sells the Ultimate OLife packages. It is generally on cruises that are less than 60% sold within 3 to 5 months of sailing. One of the reasons we book on board is to take advantage of these promotions as reduced advertised pricing or other offers are (upon request) provided as per their guarantee.

Our first O was a transatlantic from Barcelona to Rio. Had a wonderful time kissing the cod on crossing the equator. Every sea day there was lots to do. Trips 2 to 4 were port intensive and we have realized we need the sea days to recoup for the excursions. Our fifth (next year on the Vista) is a transatlantic from London to NYC. We are looking forward to the sea days.

If you booked on board an Oceania ship you need to call them and demand they honour their guarantee for advertised price drops or offers that include the Ultimate. The important issue is the booking must have been made on board. This is not for booking off the ship. We always book on board for these offers for this reason, and then scourge the internet for better price offerings.

I recommend you have alternative flight suggestions for when your flight is cancelled. I have three if our flight from Stockholm gets cancelled to offer to the agent to rebook us on. Have two if our hop flight from Paris to Copenhagen is missed or cancelled on Tuesday. I have found preplanning makes for good planning.

The free excursions are part of the Olife offer (and OLife includes airfare (which if you chose not to use you receive a US$175 credit per flight and per person). A note about the free excursions, they are ones of value up to @200 each.

Even though SAS pilots are on strike and they have filed for Chapter 11, Oceania is only making flight changes when SAS officially cancels the flight. That is occurring roughly 2 days before scheduled flights. This as of July 11th inquiry for a return flight on July 31st.

With all the flight cancellations, due to airlines cutting flights for the summer, how has O being helping with cancelled flights? Are they helping if you are advised prior to leaving the ship or are they taking the position that "now that you have disembarked, it is up to you to deal with the issue". Details welcome.

I ran into this issue pre covid for a new card due to someone fraudulently using the card number on line. It took months to sort out and only after intervention by our TA.

Scandinavian Airlines (SAS/SK) now have a direct non stop flight to Toronto 3 days a week.

From the comments, it appears Oceania is just being stubborn as to air travel right now. We had our flights with O premium economy for over 6 months for flights July 17 and 31st. When I checked for several months the return flight just would not come up under seat guru. Finally, last week I went directly on SAS's web site (a direct flight) only to find out the flight never existed for July 31st but did fly Aug 1. Brought to attention of TA who followed up with O. O told the TA the flight had just been cancelled (a blatant lie) and took a further day to reschedule on another non direct flight, only it was not premium economy (this trip's deposit was paid for in 2019). Check on Seat guru showed PE sold out. TA and I still awaiting O rescheduled flight with PE. As I am writing this, received email from TA with correct seating on another stop over flight.

We are wondering if anyone has experience or access to Oceania's procedure when your initial international flight lands late causing you to miss the short haul European flight. We are arriving three days before embarkation so not really worried about boarding. But am about how O lets the transfer ride and Hotel know you are delayed so they will understand you would be on a different flight and arriving at XX:XX instead of the original time.

OLife Ultimate was occasionally being offered on specific cruises prior to Covid breaking out. Our original Baltic cruise, cancelled twice due to Covid was virtually sold out. Our replacement embarking on Jul 21 started out with many wait list categories. That dropped dramatically when the war broke out and St. Petersburg port was dropped. Today only 3 categories are sold out, the two inside and the Owners Suite. This despite offers since January of OLife Ultimate and 4 category upgrade special limited sales. I suspect the ship will be at most 50% capacity. What does surprise me however, that we are now 4 weeks out, no offers of up sales. Pre Covid up sales usually began 5 to 6 weeks prior to sailing. So looking forward to sailing, enjoying excellent food, and making new international friends again.

I wonder if it is the Baltic Cruise leaving July 21st, if it is we look forward to meeting you. We are on that one and it appears most have abandoned the ship due to the Russian war. There are only 3 categories sold out, the two inside and the Owners suite. I would be surprised if there were over 500 passengers on board for this trip. Four days into dining reservations, you can still get anything you want.

Does anyone have experience with O transfers where the connecting plane to destination was substantially delayed and/or transferred to another flight?

I have done both. Pre Covid the credit was US$175 if not using their air. What we have found is it is important to land in the embarkation point at least one day earlier to minimize stress and to become somewhat accustomed to the time change. Another point is one way flights are much more expensive that return in case start and end points of the cruise are different.

Does anyone know how Oceania deals with or their process for testing, when one uses their Oceania hotel reservations prior to getting on board. Do they arrange for or our on own?

as said above it can not be done online. We had to call Oceania and change one booking and added one more due to St Petersburg being cancelled due to the overnight in Stockholm.