Bruin Steve Posted November 17, 2010 #1 Share Posted November 17, 2010 Okay...For several years, my travel agent has been trying to talk me into stepping up a bit into "luxury" cruising... On a couple of current threads on this board, I have read some posters protesting that they want to move from Oceania (due to some perceived wrong like not enough specialty restaurant reservations to not enough free shuttles) to some other line...and suggesting they can "book with Regent for the same price as they're paying for Oceania"... Since I get lots of mail and email from Regent, I figured I'd test out the hypothesis... Today's Regent e-mail advertises "2011 Cruises With 2-for-1 Fares Plus Additional Bonus Savings ...In addition to all 2011 voyages featuring FREE Roundtrip Air and FREE Unlimited Shore Excursions, book any of the following voyages and receive 2-for-1 Fares plus additional bonus savings of up to $6,000 per suite!" Okay, fair enough... Since we always cruise July/August due to my wife's work schedule, I figure I'd arbitrarily plug in an August cruise...in this case: Sailing: August 12, 2011 - 12 Nights Ship: Seven Seas Mariner Istanbul to Athens (Piraeus) Suite: H Deluxe Suite Number of Guests: 2 Cruise: $17,998.00 Flights: $0.00 Hotels: Free Luxury Hotel Package - Standard - PRE - $0.00 Total Costs: $18,096.00 That's the lowest priced cabin--252 square foot balcony... Okay, what do they offer that I don't get on Oceania? With this sale, of course, free shore excursions...I figure on most of my recent Europe cruises, between private tours and shore excursions, I'm paying between $2,000 and $2,500 for tours--of course, those have been 14-16 night cruises, this one's a 12...So, let's safely call it a $2,000 value... So, what else does it include? FREE Roundtrip Air --Oceania includes this as well... FREE Ground Transfers between airport and ship...okay, let's assign a number...$200?? FREE Unlimited Shore Excursions...as previously noted, $2000 FREE Business Class Air in Penthouse Suites and higher on Europe sailings**...not applicable, we're pricing an ordinary balcony FREE beverages including fine wines, beer and premium spirits, soft drinks, bottled water, specialty coffees and tea served throughout the ship...difference is, basically, beer and wine...we don't drink much...$40 per day? Call it $500 FREE in-suite mini-bar replenished daily with soft drinks, beer and bottled water...no difference FREE 24-hour room service and no additional charge for specialty restaurants...ditto FREE Pre-Paid Gratuities...Say $12.50 per day pp...$300 Welcome bottle of champagne...$25? Up to four gourmet restaurants including the iconic new steakhouse Prime 7, and Signatures, featuring Le Cordon Bleu®-inspired cuisine, Compass Rose, La Veranda plus the al fresco Pool Grill...same In-suite dining, served course-by-course during restaurant hours...no $$ value Butler service in Penthouse Suites and higher, including complimentary in-suite mini-bar setup and iPod® docking station ...N/A Fitness programs, sauna and steam rooms in the spa ...N/A Onboard activities including expert guest lectures, theatre performance and day time entertainment ...N/A Interactive flat screen television in each suite with extensive media library and complimentary movies-on-demand ...N/A Total it up, we're looking at around $3,000 in extras not found on Oceania... Of course, two thirds of that is the shore excursions and we're stuck with the ship's tour rather than our small group, personally planned private tours... But, take $3,000 off the price and we're still at around $15,100 for two people for a 12 night cruise... Oops! I almost forgot the promotional free night in a hotel pre-cruise...Forgetting that Oceania drastically overprices its hotel deals...we actually DO discount that because we never take them, always booking our own hotels...In 2006, in Istanbul, we actually booked the Conrad pre-cruise for $113 per night! But, let's go with a more realistic $300...That brings us down to $14,800... Okay, now we can compare it, apples for apples to Oceania... Oceania Marina has a 12 nighter in August in the Med on August 26... A 282 Square Foot B4 balcony stateroom on this cruise goes for $5,899 pp...includes airfare... Total price: $11,798 Of course, no free shore excursions, no one-night hotel, no free gratuities, etc. So, let's add in that extra $3,000... New total (slight rounding up): $14,800... $14,800 versus $14,800 lowest standard balcony versus lowest standard balcony... cruise, coach air, shore excursions, gratuities, etc. Virtually identical price! Lo and behold, I am actually somewhat surprised to find out these people ARE correct... Regent and the new Oceania Marina, when one converts included and non-included items to be able to compare apples to apples are priced virtually identically...packaged differently, but the end result is the same... Anyone else surprised? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bal42018 Posted November 17, 2010 #2 Share Posted November 17, 2010 I am surprised...at your math. When you subtracted $3000 in extras from the Regent fare, you discovered that Oceania was still approximately $3000 less. You should have stopped there, rather than adding the 3K back in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruin Steve Posted November 17, 2010 Author #3 Share Posted November 17, 2010 I am surprised...at your math. When you subtracted $3000 in extras from the Regent fare, you discovered that Oceania was still approximately $3000 less. You should have stopped there, rather than adding the 3K back in. You are so RIGHT!!! Brain Freeze... So, there IS a $3,000 difference!!! Yeah, I should have gone back and checked... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulchili Posted November 17, 2010 #4 Share Posted November 17, 2010 As I had mentioned before on a similar thread here - there is no way that we can cruise a luxury line (Silversea, Seabourn or Regent) at the same price as Oceania. In our case it is even more so since we do not drink. There may be some very good deals out there for certain cruises on luxury lines (if you search hard) that may come close but are not likely to be the same or less. One may, however, decide that it may be worth X amount of extra $ to cruise on one of the lux lines for perceived benefits (whatever they may be) - that is an individual choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare PaulMCO Posted November 18, 2010 #5 Share Posted November 18, 2010 You did say luxury cruising did you not??? What you missed is: Oceania upgrade from coach to Business --- minimum (likely higher) $3000 per person Regent -- upgrade only $999 per person. Based on this Regent does win.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benita Posted November 18, 2010 #6 Share Posted November 18, 2010 I did a similar analysis for my upcoming Alaska cruise - although I do have to say, I have enjoyed my previous Oceania cruises so much, that we booked the Regatta on the day the booking desk opened. It was between a 14 day Oceania in a non-concierge balcony cabin, vs a 12 day Regent in a standard outside cabin. Pricing was very similar. Oceania's cruise, of course, was longer, which was a $1200 difference (for two). Oceania had the balcony, but Regent had a much larger cabin and in the cooler weather of Alaska, I considered that about a wash. Regent totally blew Oceania away in excursion costs, by including them, which cost a great deal in Alaska.- negating the price differential for the two less days.The inclusion of alcohol was a nonissue as we hardly drink and actually a negative as we did not want to be around people who had too much to drink. So, at the time of booking, the pricing, taking into account the difference in days, excursions, and cabin types was similar. I guess the people at Oceania noticed the same thing and as Regent is billed as a more of a luxury line, it did not make sense for the pricing to be so comparable, and with so much competition from all the other lines, the price dropped by $1000 a cabin and $1000 shipboard credit was given out, which will probably cover a good part of the shore excursion cost. Part of what I love about Oceania, is they make the same calculations that we do and are flexible enough to change course and make good business decisions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveFr Posted November 18, 2010 #7 Share Posted November 18, 2010 Steve's price comparison between Oceania and Regent is interesting but unfortunately it is an apples to oranges comparison. It also illustrates the importance of not generalizing from one cruise's pricing to the pricing for an entire cruise line. Steve is comparing a Rome to Venice cruise on Oceania with a Holy Land cruise on Regent. I think a better comparison is between the July 6, 2011 Black Sea cruise on Regent (10 days) and the August 26, 2011 Black Sea cruise on Oceania (12 days). These two cruises have a very similar itinerary. For the Regent cruise, I selected a Category H suite (the least expensive), the included coach air including transfers, and no "free" hotel (Regent subtracts $300 pp from the cruise fare). The total fare for two is $14696 or about $1470 pd. Adding business class to the air is $3996 for two. Thus, the total fare with business class is $18692 or about $1870 pd. For the Oceania cruise, the least expensive comparable cabin is a PH3 suite. The price for that suite including coach air and transfers is $14689 for two or about $1224 pd. Upgrading to business class for two costs $7598, so the total fare would be $22287 or about $1857 pd. Normalizing the two cruises with Steve's figures, I added $2000 (excursions) plus $500 (alcohol) plus $300 for gratuities (the butler in the PH3 suite would add about $100 to the total but I ignored this because the Regent suite doesn't include a butler) to the Oceania cruise for a total of $2800. Now the fare including coach air is $17514 or about $1460 pd while the fare including business class air is $25112 or about $2093 pd. So, if you select coach air, the two cruises are within $10 pd of each other. However if you want a business class upgrade, the Oceania cruise is about $223 pd more expensive than the Regent cruise. Without normalization, the two cruises are within $10 pd of each other for business class. The important point to me is that my numbers are only good for these two specific cruises as specifically configured. For example, increase or decrease Steve's alcohol allowance or use frequent flyer miles for business class air while taking an air credit from each line, or sail on the Mariner instead of one of the R ships and the final figures will change considerably. In a nutshell, sometimes pricing is the same, sometimes it favors Regent and sometimes it favors Oceania. Just comparing the published cruise prices without considering all the variables can lead to inaccurate results. Dave (also a Bruin) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wripro Posted November 18, 2010 #8 Share Posted November 18, 2010 Oceania will only come out ahead of you compare a regular balcony cabin to a Regent suite. Even the Mariner's suite is 77 sq. ft. larger than O. The Voyager's suites are over 100 sq. ft. larger. And that extra space makes a huge difference, especially in the bathrooms. Once yo compare an O PH to Regent there is virtually no price difference at all and Regent may even come out ahead, (as will Seabourn and Silversea) assuming you are comparing similar itineraries Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveFr Posted November 18, 2010 #9 Share Posted November 18, 2010 Oops. In the final paragraph, I meant to say "sail on the Marina," not "sail on the Mariner." Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oceans&Rivers Posted November 18, 2010 #10 Share Posted November 18, 2010 You did say luxury cruising did you not??? What you missed is: Oceania upgrade from coach to Business --- minimum (likely higher) $3000 per person Regent -- upgrade only $999 per person. Based on this Regent does win.... I haven't done any price comparisons between Regent and Oceania, but can only emphasize the importance to us in flying nonstop in business class from our home airport (SFO) and definitely factor that (cost, routing, airlines used, ease) into all decisions we would make for any European cruise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vaitape Posted November 19, 2010 #11 Share Posted November 19, 2010 I think Regent's $999 business class upgrade is for EACH way rather than round trip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oceans&Rivers Posted November 19, 2010 #12 Share Posted November 19, 2010 I think Regent's $999 business class upgrade is for EACH way rather than round trip. I would expect that. Are you saying that Oceania's upgrade of $3,000 is round trip? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vaitape Posted November 19, 2010 #13 Share Posted November 19, 2010 I would expect that. Are you saying that Oceania's upgrade of $3,000 is round trip? I'm saying I think Regent's business class upgrade is $999 each way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveFr Posted November 19, 2010 #14 Share Posted November 19, 2010 I would expect that. Are you saying that Oceania's upgrade of $3,000 is round trip? Oceania's round trip upgrade is $3799. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wripro Posted November 20, 2010 #15 Share Posted November 20, 2010 Both Regent and Crystal offer this kind of low price business class upgrade. Great deals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.