Comparing prices Oceania and Regent

[Wendy The Wanderer]

The coach seat on long hauls make me shudder too, but I can easily imagine inhabiting an RV--I used to backpack with a little two-man tent. My husband thinks I'm crazy, so it won't happen.

 

As for Alaska, I'd like to hear somebody explain what's so great with the new itineraries, aside from the fact the cruises are longer.

[mariners]

Dave, the thought of not taking a Regent cruise because I would only go if I was not "crammed into a coach seat" makes me shudder. We almost always fly economy no matter how long a flight. Paying cash for business air always makes me compare the price of paying for business air to the cost of banking the savings and using it for another trip. The additional travel wins out.:D

We were to fly business air this December but the routing we were offered would have almost doubled our travel time. Once again, economy air won out and, as consolation, we've added another land trip next year.

Wendy, we won't be backpacking or camping as my DH thinks he would be crippled if we did.

[jhp]

Mariners, I have "shuddered" across the pond to Europe, to Asia, and to Africa more times than I can count! Would never pay the cash price for a biz class seat. However, I believe most people here use either frequent flyer miles or Regent's reasonable upgrades to get those up front seats, and I'm glad I hoarded points for many years. This is one more feather for Regent in these comparisons, I was unaware that O charged so much more.

 

For me, however, the space in my cabin is important. I have grown so used to the size of R's standard cabin, that even for a river cruise or the one I took to Antarctica, the small size of the cabins detracted from my "in cabin" experience. That's my dilemma with Oceania.

 

I'm glad we all have choices.

[ChatKat in Ca.]

I like both lines very much. Actually, to do a fair comparison you would do a Concierge Cabin on Oceania or a PH3. The PH3 is similar (with butler) to a a H on Regent.

 

Oceania has a more clubby, old world feel to the ships vs. Regent's more upscale modern.

Service is quite similar with a very slight nod to Regent.

 

Food is excellent on both lines but there are a few more choices on Regent.

 

My last Regent Cruise I felt that there was a decrease in service and food quality in some areas - notably the bar where there were no premium brands in some bars even available (No Grey Goose! - a common brand for a premium pour).

 

My internet bill on Oceania was $250 - too much and no free telephone on Oceania which for the self employed is killer. I have a phone that works in Europe and my bill was $100.00 on it so I used it as a basis for comparing the real cost of free phone.

 

For a port intensive cruise - Oceania does them extraordinarily well. Our Baltic Cruise was over the top. We compared the Concierge Cabin to Regent. The fare with our private tours on Oceania for 14 days came out LESS than the 7 days on Regent would have been so we felt we got twice the cruise for half the cost. We drink less on a Port intensive cruise because we go go go. The Concierge cabin compares well with the Paul Gauguin cabins.

 

Knowing you and David - I think you would be very happy taking an O Cruise in a port intensive location. If you are looking for a spa and floating hotel with all the amenities Regent is the ship. The one issue that money won't address is that you will be doing analysis and comparing the whole time. After taking the kids on the Monster of the Seas a couple years ago and having such a good time slumming onboard with the people doing Hairy Chest Contests, I have put away the eliteism of cruising Regent and have come back to being realistic that if I want to have fun - I bring it on board no matter the amenities.

[Emdee]

I am with ChatKat - I really enjoyed the true monster - Oasis this year.

I am trying Azamara this fall. I will still go Regent once a year but I hardly drink and the costs are really up from next year,

[mariners]

On each of the cruises we have booked over the past few years, I have run spreadsheets comparing costs on Regent, Silversea, Seabourn, and Oceania. The cruises are never exactly the same because of time in port, inclusion or omitting ports, and overall length of the cruise. We have always booked fourteen day or longer cruises. I add up all of the expected costs of economy air, shore excursions, drinks, tips, laundry, pre and/or post cruise hotel, etc. Every year, to my surprise, Regent has come out as the per diem winner on the itineraries we have chosen.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Knowing you and David - I think you would be very happy taking an O Cruise in a port intensive location. ... The one issue that money won't address is that you will be doing analysis and comparing the whole time. ..., I have put away the eliteism of cruising Regent and have come back to being realistic that if I want to have fun - I bring it on board no matter the amenities.

 

Thanks Kathy for the review. Yes, I know we would be very happy on O, and yes, we're very realistic. Yes, we would certainly compare it to R. But mainly I just wanted to examine the bottom line. Right now I'm not seeing a huge advantage in the cruises I've compared. I'll continue to compare prices as time goes on. I'll look at a baltic cruise next perhaps (the least likely for us to take, but.)

 

Perhaps I'm just tired of cruises. The dressing up, the formality, despite the eased dress code. And the food, I'm not sure I haven't suffered from all the fabulous food. Yes, it's nice to be carried about, but frankly, I like spending 2 or 3 days in a place, not 8 hours.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Okay, a Baltic comparison. I'm comparing Marina this time, found cruises of the same length and end points, Stockholm to Copenhagen (but Voyager spends an extra day in St. P.) I know Marina prices are probably higher because it's new and in demand. I also can downgrade the cabin to a B3 since it's a decent size and has a fridge, and the PH is bigger than the Voyager G:

 

Marina, July 21 2011, 10 days

B3: $4999

PH3: $6699

 

Voyager, Jul 08, 2011, 10 Nights

G: $8399 (I avoid H on Voyager)

 

estimate $2000 min. for excursions on Marina (is that enough on the Baltics?), $500 for the bar (not sure if included gratuities are offered.) So, the bottom line:

 

Marina B3: $12,500 (plus tips)

Marina PH3: $15,900 (" ")

Voyager G: $16,800 (-$300 OBC from Amex, + any with-cost excursions)

 

So at the larger cabin size O wins by a nose, so Regent would win in my books. If you would be content with a B, then Oceania wins.

 

Of course, if you go for the Regent Business Class Air deal, then Regent wins, or almost, even with the smaller cabin. Business air would add $4K to the price, whereas on O it would add $7600.

 

So the bottom lines then become:

Marina B3: $20,100

Marina PH3: $23,500

Voyager G: $20,800

 

All very expensive itineraries, which is why I will probably not do a Baltic cruise, unless we could cope with Economy Air. From here in Toronto we could probably take the air credit, book Premium Economy on Air Transat to London and get cheap economy flights to/from Scandinavia, but I hate hassles.

 

Now I know the comparison using Marina is higher than Insignia, and the whole stateroom equation changes.

[WesW]

Wendy for TA's in 2011 on O & R (O (Jan 2011, A3 is $299 per diem, November 2011, Voyager G is $328 per diem) ordinarily R is clear winner if u focus only on per diem..but the January TA is a maiden voyage of the Marina (thus, we accept we're paying a premium).

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Interesting to hear the TA comparisons, for sure. Good to know that TA's are still good value. I too would pay a (small) premium to try Marina.

 

We personally aren't ready for a TA--after 6 days at sea on Voyager last year, one stretch of 3 days, it was enough for us (or at least for David, I could sit on the balcony and watch the ocean go by forever.)

[poss]

Chiming in to say that I'm grateful for the post and re-posts (ripostes?)

We're hoping to do a British Isles cruise next summer, and I went around in circles trying to decide whether to do Voyager or Marina. Actually, I've got deposits on both. I am HORRIBLE with numbers. No matter how hard I concentrate (and make lists and charts, etc), I get completely confused.

A thing I know for sure, though, is that we'd not enjoy signing for things-- especially having to figure out tips. Which reminds me: I remember reading here and there that some TA's cover the tips for their clients. I wonder how that works-- sounds good.

I will haunt this post and you will all figure it out for me. Happy "problems."

(Actually, the choice will probably come down to which itinerary we'd prefer-- though I can't figure that out either!)

[hondorner]

...

A thing I know for sure, though, is that we'd not enjoy signing for things-- especially having to figure out tips. Which reminds me: I remember reading here and there that some TA's cover the tips for their clients. I wonder how that works-- sounds good...

Poss,

 

(1) An 18% gratuity is automatically added to all drink orders for which you have to sign. No need to think about tipping. It would be rare to add anything. Thus, a $2.50 Coke used to be $2.95 with gratuity (but no longer, all sodas and bottled water are now free), and a $34 bottle of wine is around $40 (I don't drink expensive wine :)). You may or may not want to tip for room service; a couple of dollars is fine.

 

(2) Everyone else (and even the room service waiters) are covered by the automatic gratuity added to your shipboard account. You may feel free to add to that amount, but I'm not certain if the individual is free to retain the extra tip, or if they have to throw it into the common kitty. I solve that problem by believing that the automatic amount is good enough.

 

Some travel agencies do include "free" gratuities as part of their incentive to book. In this case, they pre-pay the automatic gratuity amount to Oceania and it appears as such on your invoice, and it does not add to your shipboard account.

 

In actuality, some agents have designated amounts from the cruise line available to use as incentives in addition to their commissions, probably based on the amount of billing they place with the cruise line, and the gratuities are simply subtracted from that amount. Sometimes the incentives are granted in shipboard credit instead of, or in addition to, gratuities, and sometimes the agency itself will kick in additional amounts from their commission. Generally, the less service one expects from their agency, the greater the incentives. I use an agency that has a balanced approach between incentives and outstanding service.

 

Finally, in the Oceania loyalty program (the Oceania Club), the cruise line grants free gratuities after 9 voyages, in addition to shipboard credit ($200 per voyage after 4 cruises, and $400 per voyage after 9). I would presume in that case the agency would grant its incentives in some other manner.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Poss, I'm wondering about pre-paid gratuities too. For this calculation I'm using the $12.50 per day figure from their website.

 

Don't blame you for booking both itins--I've been casting sheep's eyes at the Oceania routes and would love to do one of them--I tend to side on the trip that goes up to Geiranger, although the North Sea can be wild. I'm sure whatever one you take will be wonderful. We'll wait a couple of years for that one I think, unless we decide to do the Hurtigruten instead.

 

Here's my comparison of your two cruises (not knowing cabin preference I'll do it for my own benefit):

 

Voyager, August 2011, roundtrip Southampton, 10 nights:

G balcony: $17400 ($8700x2)

Biz Air: $4000

Total with biz air: $21400

Per Diem: $1070 pp (with biz air)

Total w/o biz air: $17400

Per Diem: $869 pp (w/o biz air)

 

Marina, July 2011, roundtrip London, 14 nights:

B3 balcony: $13800 ($6900x2)

Biz Air: $7600 ($3800x2)

Excursions: $2500

Gratuities: $350

Bar: $700

Total with biz air: $24950

Per diem: $890 pp (with biz air)

Total w/o biz air: $17350 (of course bar and excursions are estimates)

Per diem: $620 pp (w/o biz air)

 

So it's a clear win I think for Marina on per diem which kind of surprises me, even with the sky-high Biz air add-on. Voyager trip is cheaper than the B3, but for shorter cruise of course. And of course, if you go up in cabin class on Marina to a PH all the numbers change. But Marina wins this round.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Poss,

 

(1) An 18% gratuity is automatically added to all drink orders for which you have to sign. No need to think about tipping.

 

Oh right, I forgot about that. Perhaps I should up my bar calculation to $75 per day! :o

[poss]

Don and Wendy: Oh, wow! thanks for your beautifully detailed posts.

Don: I remember now that you'd written before about the automatic add-on of gratuity. I'd forgotten all about that; it definitely makes things easier.

Wendy: It was great to see the breakdown ('twould have taken me forever, with accompanying grunts and groans and other manifestations of exasperation). We always book G on Regent; have booked B1 on Oceania, in order to be mid-ship. (Don't need the extra room of penthouse and too expensive anyway; don't need "concierge"-- don't even know what it is.)

How'd you come up with the figure for excursions?

Also bar? I tried to figure bar costs (even posted a query on that on Oceania board a while back I believe), but can't seem to get a clear handle on that. We each usually have one mixed drink or champagne at cocktail time, each have 2 glasses of wine at dinner (sometimes just one pour moi) (don't like to get bottle cause usually like different "colors"); husband has 1 beer as nightcap. Maybe around $75 a day?

And business air for sure now. (unless we find not so much difference on our upcoming)

Many thanks!!

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Poss, if you think your bar bill would be around ~$75 per day, ours probably would be a hundred! (Although realisticallly I would probably drink less knowing it was costing $$, yes, all-inclusive does make a difference!) I would also look into these wine packages that they have, since we definitely can polish off a bottle with dinner. And of course white wine keeps well so we might have a bottle of white that we can have a glass of, then put aside for another night.

 

As for excursion costs, that's a complete ballpark, based on my (limited) experience of paying for excursions. This would vary greatly depending on the part of the world I think. And I'm assuming that the quality of ship excursions is pretty good these days--don't know, just guessing.

 

I know Oceania sells excursion "packages", but don't have info on the cost of these.

[Dreps]

As an economist, I always enjoy these type of threads and it is certainly an exercise that I’ve undertaken in trying to decide whether to try Oceania. We got so far as booking a PH3 for a S. American cruise in 2009 on the Insignia, but circumstances changed, and we ended up canceling and taking a Regent S. American cruise on the Mariner earlier this year.

 

From my analysis of this forum and the Oceania forum, as well as the brochures that we’ve received on the Marina, I am very interested to see reviews ones she starts sailing. It does appear that Oceania wants a premium for sailing on her. It will be interesting to see what passengers have to say about all aspects of the ship, including the larger number of passengers.

 

For us, however, I think the fact that there is no way to divide the cabins below the PH level into two sections so that I can work in the early morning, may be a deal breaker. (I know that I wouldn't have been able to divide the PHs on the other Oceania ships either.) That is, I think that consistent with the above analyses, unless we will be happy in a lower-priced cabin, a PH on the Marina will actually end up costing us as much or more than a Regent standard cabin. I do realize that the Marina’s PH is larger than a standard Regent cabin, and it certainly looks quite nice.

[EdAway]

All inclusive and all that entails, e.g, no signing, no calculating tips, excursions, etc. Can't really compare Regent and Oceania until Oceania becomes all-inclusive. Case closed except for nickel and dime differences.

[Paulchili]

All inclusive and all that entails, e.g, no signing, no calculating tips, excursions, etc. Can't really compare Regent and Oceania until Oceania becomes all-inclusive. Case closed except for nickel and dime differences.

 

Not as simple as that - at least not for me.

For those of us that do not drink and often prefer making our own arrangements for excursions (because of smaller size of the group, fully individualized and flexible itineraries), Oceania frequently makes more economic sense; especially now that Oceania includes bottled water, specialty coffees and sodas. PPG are often included by many TAs.

From the economic standpoint, for me it still remains an individual choice based on many things - among them (but not exclusively) one's consumption of alcoholic beverages. There are other reasons to choose an all-inclusive cruise line but when comparing costs, this is a consideration for me.

We have cruised with Silversea before and are booked to sail with them again (as well as Regent), despite the fact that we do not drink. It will be because of itineraries and the overall excellent cruising experience; but when comparing prices (per diem) I cannot ignore the above mentioned facts.

JMO.

[EdAway]

Agree with you in regard to Silversea as they are also all-inclusive and therefore do not have the annoyances of signing, calculating gratuities, etc. As to my point, if Oceania goes that way it is a new ball game.

[hondorner]

FDR has been very clear that Oceania will remain "a la carte". I would never say "never", but it is highly unlikely in any of the present scenarios.

 

Don't forget Oceania's phenomenal success in doing what it has been doing -- there's no reason for it to change.

[Paulchili]

EdAway,

I am not disputing you that it is easier and less troublesome without signing for drinks, figuring out gratuities, etc. This was not as much a question of one's personal preference as a question of cost comparisons (as I understood it).

As the thread's title suggets, the OP's question was how the two cruise lines compare in price (on a per diem basis) - that was the point I was making. For us, for the above reasons, Oceania is less per diem; for others it may be the same or even more (depending on their spending habits).

Which cruise line one prefers for other criteria (food, service, ambience, ship & cabin size, all-inclusiveness, etc) is another topic.

Isn't it nice that we have all those choices and we all can choose according to our preferences.

Happy sailings!

[Travelcat2]

EdAway,

I am not disputing you that it is easier and less troublesome without signing for drinks, figuring out gratuities, etc. This was not as much a question of one's personal preference as a question of cost comparisons (as I understood it).

As the thread's title suggets, the OP's question was how the two cruise lines compare in price (on a per diem basis) - that was the point I was making. For us, for the above reasons, Oceania is less per diem; for others it may be the same or even more (depending on their spending habits).

Which cruise line one prefers for other criteria (food, service, ambience, ship & cabin size, all-inclusiveness, etc) is another topic.

Isn't it nice that we have all those choices and we all can choose according to our preferences.

Happy sailings!

 

You do bring up good points. However, IMO, it is not possible to compare costs unless you include the cost of excursions, tips, drinks (unless you do not drink, tip or take excursions). I find Oceania highly intriguing. . . . but, when I add in our personal spending habits, the per diem is not that much less. We personally find signing for anything, an interruption of our cruising experience. You really cannot put a dollar amount on that.

 

Just wanted to pipe in on this thread as I am puzzled as to why the thread exists. Doesn't everyone need to do their own calculations, based on their personal preferences? Even thouigh Oceania is a sister ship -- probably the top premium cruise line in existence -- comparing Oceania and Regent is still comparing apples and oranges.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Y

Just wanted to pipe in on this thread as I am puzzled as to why the thread exists. Doesn't everyone need to do their own calculations, based on their personal preferences? Even thouigh Oceania is a sister ship -- probably the top premium cruise line in existence -- comparing Oceania and Regent is still comparing apples and oranges.

 

Because I and others are constantly making the comparison and I wanted to look at some hard numbers. The bottom line is important to some, including me.

[Travelcat2]

Because I and others are constantly making the comparison and I wanted to look at some hard numbers. The bottom line is important to some, including me.

 

I understand that the bottom line is important. However, isn't the bottom line going to be different, depending upon the add-ons that are required for Oceania. In order for me to calculate this in a way that is meaningful for me, I'd need the cost of everything -- from drinks to excursions and tips. How much, for instance, is a bottle or glass or wine. . . . or a beer. . . or a chocolate martini? As you mentioned in a prior thread, you might drink less since each drink costs money. I agree -- but cannot figure out how much less. On Regent, they keep filling up my glass with wine which tends to make it difficult to determine how many glasses I've had (hiccup):confused:

 

In terms of tipping, I am more than clueless. I understand that you tip the butler, stewardess, maitre'd, server, wine steward. . . . but, the crew who assist these positions should receive something. It takes a huge staff to provide the marvelous service that we receive on board. I feel that the dishwashers, people who wash clothes, clean the hallways and bathrooms, etc. etc. (i.e. behind the scenes personnel) are just as important as those who serve the passengers directly. It gives me a good feeling to know that Regent employees are paid more than employees on ships that are not all-inclusive. Also, on Regent, if you contribute to the Crew Fund, you are contributing to all of the crew! How nice is that?