kibutzer Posted October 26, 2011 #1 Share Posted October 26, 2011 Hello, We are debating value of taking pre cruise hotel night or getting credit. Not sure how to determine tradeoffs. We are doing Rome to Rio and always arrive a day early anyway. Will credit be worth trade off of finding own transportation to port and hotel? We have points we can use. Pros and cons please from personal experiencel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddmel Posted October 26, 2011 #2 Share Posted October 26, 2011 Good questions. Generally you can better the O hotel price. but, remember the O offer includes transfers. The trip from the Rome airport (FCO) to town and then from Rome to the port is significant. Your use of the hotel points may make the difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted October 26, 2011 #3 Share Posted October 26, 2011 Good questions. Generally you can better the O hotel price. but, remember the O offer includes transfers. The trip from the Rome airport (FCO) to town and then from Rome to the port is significant. Your use of the hotel points may make the difference. I would clarify the transfers i think you only get the 1 from hotel to ship with the "free" hotel I remember this was discussed before Lyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doubledobles Posted October 26, 2011 #4 Share Posted October 26, 2011 That's correct. You only get a transfer from the hotel to the ship "gratis". That is why when we do a hotel, we do our own transportation to the hotel. O's rates to the hotel are a waste of money. My husband and I take a taxi to the hotel for a lot less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wendy The Wanderer Posted October 26, 2011 #5 Share Posted October 26, 2011 Sounds like the pre-cruise hotel is not a good deal (I'm a Regent cruiser, so far, but they give the same deal as Oceania.) Especially if all you're losing is hotel-ship transfer, pre-cruise. You'll have to pay for transfers in Rio (suggest you pre-book privately, at least from the ship to hotel.) You'll have to pay from the airport to your pre-cruise hotel. Have a look at the hotel offered, and go online and see how much it would cost to book it privately. I'm sure you'll see a big difference. Then you can check out other hotels, to see which one seems the nicest and most suitable for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulchili Posted October 26, 2011 #6 Share Posted October 26, 2011 Hello, We are debating value of taking pre cruise hotel night or getting credit. Not sure how to determine tradeoffs. We are doing Rome to Rio and always arrive a day early anyway. Will credit be worth trade off of finding own transportation to port and hotel? We have points we can use. Pros and cons please from personal experiencel. In my mind, there is very little debate about this. As pointed out above, you only get a transfer from hotel to ship. You get a $500 credit for not taking the hotel - you can do much better than that on your own, even in Rome, especially if you have points for hotels. For example, the Intercontinental in Rome, with excellent location can be had for $240 on points ( 10K points can be had for $60 each). If saving money is important, you can stay for even less - just do some research. Transfers from Rome to Civi (for example Romeinlimo) is from Euro 85 (shuttle) to E 135 (car) for 2 people. Even at this rate you are ahead but if you find people from your roll call to share limo to Civi it may be as low as 45 - 60 Euro. Also, you have more control - you choose the hotel (location - sometimes hotels in Rome are 1 hour out of town center, IIRC) and times of transfer, not Oceania. Your choice :) PS Even for those who do not have points - you can take advantage of the credit card offers - Priority Club 60K points, Marriott 70K points, Hilton 60K points, Hyatt 2 free nights - all for opening a new CC for the annual CC fee which is often waived the first year but not more than $75-$85/year, if not waived. Any of these will get you at least one night free (often more). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wripro Posted October 26, 2011 #7 Share Posted October 26, 2011 In general one should never book any kind of hotel through the cruise line. This is a profit center for them. And the reason they are willing to give a $500 credit not to use the hotel is because that money is built into the fare. It is not a free hotel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunchaser1008 Posted October 27, 2011 #8 Share Posted October 27, 2011 I would clarify the transfers i think you only get the 1 from hotel to ship with the "free" hotel I remember this was discussed before Lyn After reading this, I checked w/TA & he said the transfers included airport to hotel & hotel to port. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulchili Posted October 27, 2011 #9 Share Posted October 27, 2011 After reading this, I checked w/TA & he said the transfers included airport to hotel & hotel to port. First, I believe that promotion (free pre-cruise hotel) expired Aug 31, 2011 (as per Oceania agent). Second, it definitely included ONLY transfer from hotel to ship (no airport transfers) - again as per Oceania agent. The only airport to hotel transfers were available with Oceania booked air and hotels (not FREE hotels), AFAIK. These hotel rates were outrageous as they were/per person. Unless there is a new promotion that I am not aware of - if that is so, please provide a link to the new promotion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted October 27, 2011 #10 Share Posted October 27, 2011 After reading this, I checked w/TA & he said the transfers included airport to hotel & hotel to port. Is it the hotel package you are doing or FREE hotel that was included on some cruises? It does make a difference to the answer Lyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunchaser1008 Posted October 28, 2011 #11 Share Posted October 28, 2011 Is it the hotel package you are doing or FREE hotel that was included on some cruises?It does make a difference to the answer Lyn Hi Lyn, yes our cruise includes one night pre-cruise hotel in Rome, and we also are taking Oceania air. (We are first time cruisers so this is all so very new & confusing, :confused:) As this is our first time, we wanted everything included. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacheco18 Posted October 28, 2011 #12 Share Posted October 28, 2011 In my mind, there is very little debate about this. I totally agree. I would never let the cruise line book my hotel or air. However, if spending a little more will give you some peace of mind in that you do not have to make any of the arrangements, then by all means do it all through O. When we took our cruise on the Paul Gauguin to French Polynesia we just booked pre and post cruise hotels, air, transfers with the cruise line, knowing we were overpaying. I had no familiarity with that part of the world and I just wanted to let them take care of me. No regrets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulfromontario Posted October 28, 2011 #13 Share Posted October 28, 2011 Is there not another complication? I thought that if you wanted to take the money you would also have to pay the air deviation fee if you wanted to go one or more days earlier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulchili Posted October 28, 2011 #14 Share Posted October 28, 2011 Is there not another complication? I thought that if you wanted to take the money you would also have to pay the air deviation fee if you wanted to go one or more days earlier. They are 2 separate issues. You can decline the "free" hotel and recieve a $500 credit; you can still take their air. If you want to arrive 1 or 2 days early, you must pay the deviation fee (or decline their "free" air, get the credit and buy your own air - no deviation fee then). I hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted October 28, 2011 #15 Share Posted October 28, 2011 Hi Lyn, yes our cruise includes one night pre-cruise hotel in Rome, and we also are taking Oceania air. (We are first time cruisers so this is all so very new & confusing, :confused:) As this is our first time, we wanted everything included. Just check with your TA what transfers are included ...they may have added to fee based transfer from the airport to the hotel to your invoice Enjoy the cruise lyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted October 28, 2011 #16 Share Posted October 28, 2011 It is so very confusing unless you have a good TA that deals with Oceania & their ways of doing the flights & hotels Lyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benita Posted October 28, 2011 #17 Share Posted October 28, 2011 If the ship is not too far from the hotel, take the $500. You can book the same hotel or, if not, a comparable hotel for far less. That said, we are taking the hotel from Oceania, as the port of embarkation is a two hour drive from Barcelona, and there is no easy transport there. We are not using Oceania's transfers to and from the airport- it is far cheaper to take a taxi. We will be using Oceania's air, as we only wanted to fly in a day early and have to fly home on separation day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leonardofan Posted October 28, 2011 #18 Share Posted October 28, 2011 If specific information helps, it is easy to get to the pier in Rome for little money or effort--train to Civitavecchia goes every hour and the station is near the port. In Rio you will get free transfers to the hotel from the jewelry companies for the asking, so paying for the cruise line's transfers is a waste of money, and many hotels have their own free shuttles to the airport (even staying at the 3 star Hotel California, I got to ride the Othon bus to the A/P at no charge:)) FWIW the hospitality of Stern and Amsterdam Sauer in Rio is incredible--take them up on whatever they offer you:) (Stern gave me a car and driver for the day to go sightseeing--just for me!-I bought nothing and wasn't pressed to buy anything either) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulchili Posted October 28, 2011 #19 Share Posted October 28, 2011 FWIW the hospitality of Stern and Amsterdam Sauer in Rio is incredible--take them up on whatever they offer you:) (Stern gave me a car and driver for the day to go sightseeing--just for me!-I bought nothing and wasn't pressed to buy anything either) Very true - we did something like that as well with another jeweler and went to places we have not been to before (Botanical Garden, lunch at Porcao with local guide's expertise to order special dishes not on menu) - no pressure at all to buy anything but DW got some beautiful costume jewelery that she still loves. It's nice to tip the guide/driver (or treat to a lunch) - still much, much less than an organized tour and more fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Booyakasha Posted November 1, 2011 #20 Share Posted November 1, 2011 Honestly - The Oceania pre and post cruise hotel pricing is just plain silly. We were just offered a post hotel package in Rome at the Parco di Principi, which is a beutiful hotel for $640/night per person :eek: for a room I can book directly for $400 Euros a night total. B. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love.II.Cruise Posted November 2, 2011 #21 Share Posted November 2, 2011 We have our first cruise with Oceania and have done extensive research into this for our cruise. We are leaving out of Barcelona, not Rome - so there could be a difference for you. First, we declined the hotel and got $500 off the total cruise fare. Next we declined the transfers (airport to hotel - but I'd be surprised if this didn't also include hotel to ship the next morning) which were $69/pp. However, we are doing an air deviation since we want to spend several nights in Barcelona before hand. The cost of the air deviation is $125/pp. So we by taking off the hotel and adding the air deviation we are looking at a $250 difference. But we want to choose our hotel in Barcelona. Lots of decisions to make. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kibutzer Posted November 3, 2011 Author #22 Share Posted November 3, 2011 I really appreciate all the CCers that provided information. It looks like we will keep our air since it is TA Rome - Rio but do our own thing for hotel in Rome . Great advice about Rio. In the past we have made our own hotel arrangements using trip advisor for recommendations. In Barcelona we were so close to ship that we walked to shuttle bus that took us to dock. it helps that we travel light. Thank you all, Bonnie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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