Must specifically ask for "free" excursions to be counted as "free," or you pay for t

[Bocantcome]

We sailed on Oceania Riviera in July, and took the 3 free shore excursions per person as our OLife amenity. We booked one before we left through our travel agent. Oceania counted that as one of the three. The other two I booked on board, through the excursion desk. They were each less than $199, as required to qualify for "free." I see now that I was charged for them. My TA took it up with Oceania, who now informs us that you must ask for the credit when booking the excursion, in order to receive it. In other words, I guess I was supposed to tell the excursion desk, "These are my OLife amenities, so please count them as such." I was never told that, or if it was in the small print somewhere I never saw it. When I spent 30 minutes at the excursion desk booking them, no one ever asked whether whether these were my free excursions. I didn't know I needed to say something. I'm extremely upset that we incurred these expenses, when we thought the excursions were free. Frankly, we wouldn't have booked them if they weren't free, as we weren't sure we wanted to go. (And to add insult to injury, one of them was pretty bad.). There were four of us, so we incurred over $1400 in unexpected expenses, that we thought were covered in our OLife amenities.

[LHT28]

Can your TA get a refund for you on the "free" excursions ?

[Mura]

I agree with Lyn that having your TA go to bat for you is the best way to resolve this issue. I agree with the OP that it wouldn't occur to me to need to explain that the tours were "free" through oLife.

 

To date we've had these tours booked by the TA so we avoided the problem, but at least I know what to do in the future if we should book a tour on board.

 

Good luck!

 

Mura

[rloke]

Unfortunately based on the fine print...

 

"If shore excursion amenity is selected, all excursions must be chosen at least 14 days prior to sailing."

 

Anything booked onboard would not qualify as "free" as far as I understand it...

[Bocantcome]

Thanks all. My TA did work on it for me, and got a partial refund. Seems odd to me, as if I'm right in principle, I should get a full refund. I guess they have me on a technicality, so they're offering a partial refund as a sign of goodwill. I feel like if the deal was 3 free excursions, I should get 3, not be charged for 2. They are being pretty sleazy, which I didn't expect out of Oceania. We loved the cruise. Very hesitant to cruise with them again.

[LHT28]

Unfortunately based on the fine print...

 

"If shore excursion amenity is selected, all excursions must be chosen at least 14 days prior to sailing."

 

Anything booked onboard would not qualify as "free" as far as I understand it...

I guess that explains the problem here

 

you need to read the fine print with these offers especially if they have an "* " next to the offer

[Cruseforme]

I would fire my TA if they didn't explain and inform me that this was the stipulation. I would not blame O if you booked through a TA, I would blame the TA, and ask them to refund me! That's why you book with a TA, to assist and inform!!

[Flatbush Flyer]

We sailed on Oceania Riviera in July, and took the 3 free shore excursions per person as our OLife amenity. We booked one before we left through our travel agent. Oceania counted that as one of the three. The other two I booked on board, through the excursion desk. They were each less than $199, as required to qualify for "free." I see now that I was charged for them. My TA took it up with Oceania, who now informs us that you must ask for the credit when booking the excursion, in order to receive it. In other words, I guess I was supposed to tell the excursion desk, "These are my OLife amenities, so please count them as such." I was never told that, or if it was in the small print somewhere I never saw it. When I spent 30 minutes at the excursion desk booking them, no one ever asked whether whether these were my free excursions. I didn't know I needed to say something. I'm extremely upset that we incurred these expenses, when we thought the excursions were free. Frankly, we wouldn't have booked them if they weren't free, as we weren't sure we wanted to go. (And to add insult to injury, one of them was pretty bad.). There were four of us, so we incurred over $1400 in unexpected expenses, that we thought were covered in our OLife amenities.

 

 

The O Life published info regarding the choice of excursions as your amenity couldn't be any clearer. They have to be pre-booked.

[Mura]

Our TA has been proactive in reminding us to book these tours by a certain date. On our first oLife cruise (just completed last month) we early on booked our five tours. For our next cruise in October, we deliberately have not booked all five because we weren't interested in the Bermuda tours offered ... so we have hired a taxi for that day. (We only have 5 ports to begin with.)

 

But our TA still sent us a reminder a few weeks ago that we should book the last tour if we want to use it.

 

It's unfortunate that the OP missed seeing that fine print ... but under the circumstances I think (s)he is fortunate that Oceania accommodated them at all. The TA should have been on-the-ball to be sure that they knew they needed to book those tours before boarding.

 

Mura

[ginabab]

Thanks for alert

This particular OLife condition is news to me

I too missed the fine print

 

We got an OLife excursion cancellation notice when we got onboard and were able to add another OLife excursion

[Flatbush Flyer]

Thanks for alert

This particular OLife condition is news to me

I too missed the fine print

 

We got an OLife excursion cancellation notice when we got onboard and were able to add another OLife excursion

 

 

If you think "O Life" fine print is full of surprises, sit down with a glass of wine and read all 20-30 pages of that comprehensive travel insurance policy you purchased. It's full of surprises!