Oceania Cruises FREE Shore Excurisons

[Mura]

There will be a list of excursions for each port. You can select the one you want (maximum value has to be $199). These must be "ordered" two weeks before the cruise departure. As far as I recall you can change these without penalty.

 

If you want a tour that costs more than the $199, then you would have to pay for that.

 

No, they don't assign you a tour!

 

Mura

[Ken the cruiser]

There will be a list of excursions for each port. You can select the one you want (maximum value has to be $199). These must be "ordered" two weeks before the cruise departure. As far as I recall you can change these without penalty.

 

If you want a tour that costs more than the $199, then you would have to pay for that.

 

No, they don't assign you a tour!

 

Mura

If I might add to that as we have recently booked some that were just over $199 a few times. The only excursions you cannot book with your free excursions are those designated as Oceania Select (OS) and Oceania Exclusive (OE). You can book any of the others listed.

[pinotlover]

The free excursions have their own separate designation, or none at all, after the title of the tour. There is no $199 limit on free or not, it is solely based upon the designation of the tours. Ask your TA which of the tour designations are included as free tours with that O Life option. You’ll maybe have one per port, and it will almost always only be a 4 Hour or less tour.

[docmark]

If I might add to that as we have recently booked some that were just over $199 a few times. The only excursions you cannot book with your free excursions are those designated as Oceania Select (OS) and Oceania Exclusive (OE). You can book any of the others listed.

 

Thanks Ken

That is a very helpful information

[Go-Bucks!]

The free excursions have their own separate designation, or none at all, after the title of the tour. There is no $199 limit on free or not, it is solely based upon the designation of the tours. Ask your TA which of the tour designations are included as free tours with that O Life option. You’ll maybe have one per port, and it will almost always only be a 4 Hour or less tour.

It wasn't like that on my Cuba cruise. We could (and did) choose from any of the non-OS or non-OE tours that cost $199 or less. One of our choices was 8 hrs long.

[PaulMCO]

Of course if your O life excursion gets cancelled (to few people or a tender port you miss) you will get $100 non refundable OBC.

[Mura]

I heard about the $199 limit FROM my TA. And so far that's the way it has worked, at least for us.

 

If in doubt, call O or your TA regarding a specific tour.

[CruiseGal999]

A different twist on the OBC with Oceania ... I put in my info. to book a cruise and first the solo fare went from $2,099 per person for a guarantee cabin to $5,198 for 1 person guarantee cabin. The website stated $600 OBC and when I put in 1 person it went to $300 OBC. I know I am only 1 person, but I am paying for more than 2 people ... I 'should' get the full $600 OBC.

 

Interesting thread because I was thinking of using the OBC for excursions ... and it seems as though that isn't possible.

[Ken the cruiser]

A different twist on the OBC with Oceania ... I put in my info. to book a cruise and first the solo fare went from $2,099 per person for a guarantee cabin to $5,198 for 1 person guarantee cabin. The website stated $600 OBC and when I put in 1 person it went to $300 OBC. I know I am only 1 person, but I am paying for more than 2 people ... I 'should' get the full $600 OBC.

 

Interesting thread because I was thinking of using the OBC for excursions ... and it seems as though that isn't possible.

It might be just an O website "oversight" thing. We have a friend that's traveling solo with us on our Cuba cruise on the Sirena in May and she booked her cabin using our Oceania PCC. She was told she would get the "double occupancy" OBC of $600, but would only get one set of excursions rather than two, even though she was paying for two. Since we wanted to book our excursions before we boarded, she decided to do the "cruise only" fare and get the $600 taken off the fare. But, I would suggest you contact Oceania and ask them the question rather than believing what the website says.

[Ken the cruiser]

You can also just log onto your Oceania account, click on "Manage your Booking", then click on "Shop for Excursions" and look at the selection of excursions associated with your booking yourself. From our recent experience, they seem to show up on our bookings between 6-8 months before the cruise.

You can book your free OLife excursions from any of the ones you see that are not designated as OS or OE. We always book the most expensive ones first to use up our free OLife excursions. Then, once that process is completed, we go back and book enough of them at the other ports to get the Your World Collection (YWC) discount.

 

Just so you know, an OE excursion is "For those travelers who prefer an added measure of intimacy and flexibility, we are pleased to offer our new Oceania Exclusive tours. With a minimum of 10 guests and a maximum capacity of just 16 guests, each tour benefits from a higher level of personal attention and the added flexibility and agility that come from traveling in a small group."

From what I can tell, the OS excursions are beefed up "special" tours that encompass more detailed and probably more costly things to do that the "average" excursions. That's why they cost more.

[su-arizona]

For an upcoming cruise I wanted to book air deviation and shore excursions as early as possible. Custom air is bookable (with some effort from my TA) 270 days before departure. Shore excursions are bookable online 240 days prior to departure. When trying to view shore excursions earlier, they showed online as 'unavailable or sold out'. Magically at 240 days they all showed up as available.

 

In reading previous comments it might not be clear that if you want to choose the OBC Olife option, you will have to pay out of pocket for any shore excursions you book in advance. The OBC can only be used on-board to book shore excursions which are still available when you board - and popular excursions can be filled far in advance of departure.

 

We are booked in a Concierge Veranda, so it's possible that those in suites may be able to book earlier...

[Paulchili]

For an upcoming cruise I wanted to book air deviation and shore excursions as early as possible. Custom air is bookable (with some effort from my TA) 270 days before departure. Shore excursions are bookable online 240 days prior to departure. When trying to view shore excursions earlier, they showed online as 'unavailable or sold out'. Magically at 240 days they all showed up as available.

 

In reading previous comments it might not be clear that if you want to choose the OBC Olife option, you will have to pay out of pocket for any shore excursions you book in advance. The OBC can only be used on-board to book shore excursions which are still available when you board - and popular excursions can be filled far in advance of departure.

 

We are booked in a Concierge Veranda, so it's possible that those in suites may be able to book earlier...

 

You are right about one thing but incorrect about another.

It is true that OBC can be used to book excursions only when you are onboard. However, excursions are available to book for ALL passengers at the same time - whether using O Life included excursions or paying for them with CC.

[Flatbush Flyer]

Thanks for your replies. I just thought there might be a bit of flexibility in the way the 6 FREE Shore Excursions are utilized. (3 passengers using 2 Excursions or 2 passengers using 3 Excursions still amounts to the same number of 6 Shore Excursions)

 

 

 

Take the OBC instead and buy two of the basic excursions at $100 or less once onboard. Upside: you break even. Downside: you can't book until onboard.

 

 

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[pinotlover]

It has been posted here numerous times that one cannot use ONBOARD Credit, until they are onboard the ship. I personally don’t understand why that seems to be a difficult concept for some to understand with a long explanation!

[Go-Bucks!]

It has been posted here numerous times that one cannot use ONBOARD Credit, until they are onboard the ship. I personally don’t understand why that seems to be a difficult concept for some to understand with a long explanation!

Maybe because other cruiselines DO allow passengers to book excursions online ahead of time and OBC is used. I've done it before.

[Paulchili]

Maybe because other cruiselines DO allow passengers to book excursions online ahead of time and OBC is used. I've done it before.

 

Not many do any more. Princess used to do it but no more :(

[ORV]

Not many do any more. Princess used to do it but no more :(

 

Actually Celebrity just recently started allowing it. I also think Royal does also.

[docmark]

It has been posted here numerous times that one cannot use ONBOARD Credit, until they are onboard the ship. I personally don’t understand why that seems to be a difficult concept for some to understand with a long explanation!

 

 

LOL

if everybody read prior posts/ researched their questions before posting ,you would see a LOT, LOT less posts on these boards... !!

[Go-Bucks!]

Not many do any more. Princess used to do it but no more :(

They did 3 months ago. They stopped letting you book tours and pay onboard with OBC, but you could do it precruise online.

 

And I've done it on Celebrity.

[Ken the cruiser]

They did 3 months ago. They stopped letting you book tours and pay onboard with OBC, but you could do it precruise online.

 

And I've done it on Celebrity.

You can also do it on Crystal cruises. With Celebrity you can only use their OBC. However, with Crystal you can use both theirs and any OBC your TA posts to your account because you don't pay for the excursions until you actually board the ship.

[DrivesLikeMario]

Not many do any more. Princess used to do it but no more :(

Princess does it now. You can use your OBC for any tours you want to book ahead of time. Not all OBC is available, like Loyalty OBC, but most of it is (like Shareholders', TAs, promos, perks).

[Sea42]

As information can and does change, searches of prior posts can be very misleading.

[Paulchili]

Princess does it now. You can use your OBC for any tours you want to book ahead of time. Not all OBC is available, like Loyalty OBC, but most of it is (like Shareholders', TAs, promos, perks).

 

Sorry, I misspoke. I meant to say that you could pre-book shorex’s on Princess without paying for them at the time of booking and pay for them only on your final onboard charge account.

Now you have to pay for them as you book them - much like with Oceania. Yes - if you have OBC on Princess, that will be used first - a bit like “free” O Life excursions on Oceania, if you chose that option.

[PaulMCO]

Actually Celebrity just recently started allowing it. I also think Royal does also.

 

So does Azamara - but you have to pay first and then do the swap on board. They are redoing their booing engine to allow for this in the future, but this has been a 1 year exercise.

[DrivesLikeMario]

Sorry, I misspoke. I meant to say that you could pre-book shorex’s on Princess without paying for them at the time of booking and pay for them only on your final onboard charge account.

Now you have to pay for them as you book them - much like with Oceania. Yes - if you have OBC on Princess, that will be used first - a bit like “free” O Life excursions on Oceania, if you chose that option.

 

Yes - you are right in that change. :) Now we have to pay for Princess shore excursions in advance but at least we can use the OBC like with RCI and Celebrity. Sure wish Azamara would join the others on this issue!