Two cruises book separately or as one?

[Cruise Junky]

DH is currently picking his retirement cruise for 2021. Most that we’ve dwindled the list to are in fact a B2B. The current favourite is about $500 more to book them separately. I’m assuming price reductions or upgrades may be more difficult booking just one cruise? Anything else I should watch out for? Pretty sure the deposit is the same. 

 

Tx 

[1985rz1]

29 minutes ago, Cruise Junky said:

DH is currently picking his retirement cruise for 2021. Most that we’ve dwindled the list to are in fact a B2B. The current favourite is about $500 more to book them separately. I’m assuming price reductions or upgrades may be more difficult booking just one cruise? Anything else I should watch out for? Pretty sure the deposit is the same. 

 

Tx 

My understanding is that if the 2 b2b cruises are offerred as an extended (grand) cruise, you cannot book them as b2b, only as the extended cruise.  

[Cruise Junky]

5 minutes ago, 1985rz1 said:

My understanding is that if the 2 b2b cruises are offerred as an extended (grand) cruise, you cannot book them as b2b, only as the extended cruise.  

Oh, that’s interesting. Weird, but interesting. So if I booked one now and then one a week later, they’d make me combine them? 

[Flatbush Flyer]

47 minutes ago, Cruise Junky said:

DH is currently picking his retirement cruise for 2021. Most that we’ve dwindled the list to are in fact a B2B. The current favourite is about $500 more to book them separately. I’m assuming price reductions or upgrades may be more difficult booking just one cruise? Anything else I should watch out for? Pretty sure the deposit is the same. 

 

Tx 

"Most that we’ve dwindled the list to are in fact a B2B."

So, several different possibilities - each consisting of 2 adjacent segments?

 

If the two segments are marketed as an "extended journey" in O publications (a.k.a. a "grand voyage" on the O website under "regions" in Find A Cruise), you cannot book them as separate segments.

 

If the two adjacent segments are not marketed as an "extended journey," you could choose to book them together as a "custom cruise," which gets you a 5% discount on the total cost plus the O Life and RT air (or credit) associated with each segment.

 

What could be limited by doing the "custom cruise" (single booking number), are number of cruise credits (depending on itinerary length) and loyalty SBC (for one cruise vs two).  But, if these are longer, high demand segments, that 5% can easily exceed a few extra hundred loyalty SBC $.

Edited August 15, 2019 by Flatbush Flyer

[Flatbush Flyer]

13 minutes ago, Cruise Junky said:

Oh, that’s interesting. Weird, but interesting. So if I booked one now and then one a week later, they’d make me combine them? 

Yes. If the combo is a marketed "extended journey." 

 

And, it is my understanding that, if you don't book  two (non-extended journey) segments together as a "custom cruise" and book them at different times, your TA will need to negotiate getting the 5% discount on both segments since it may only be applied to the second, later booking. 

Edited August 15, 2019 by Flatbush Flyer

[Cruise Junky]

Great. Thanks for the info. Yes, the 2 O itineraries we are considering are both being marketed as a grand voyage. Looking at about 5 itineraries overall. 

[Flatbush Flyer]

3 minutes ago, Cruise Junky said:

Great. Thanks for the info. Yes, the 2 O itineraries we are considering are both being marketed as a grand voyage. Looking at about 5 itineraries overall. 

Also, if you take air credit on your O cruises, you'll get $ inbound and outbound  for the one extended cruise - not RT $ for each segment, which is what you would get for "custom cruises" (I.e., inbound/outbound $ value for each segment).

 

Whatever you decide, book early since the other challenge is getting the same cabin for each segment.

 

And, finally, do the quantitative and qualitative reasoning. We do longer exotic itineraries and have found the custom cruises provide the best value (though we may give up a cruise credit and a few hundred in O Club SBC in order to get 5% off a $20-30k cruise bill.

[CanEcosse]

On 8/14/2019 at 11:30 PM, Cruise Junky said:

Pretty sure the deposit is the same. 

Suggest you check on the deposit. I have booked a Grand Voyage for next year which consists of 2 B2B segments. However I booked as a GV and was asked to pay a double deposit all the same.

Oceania T&C: Deposit & Payment Policy 
The per person, per cruise deposit required to secure your reservation is 20% of the applicable cruise fare for Owner's, Vista and Oceania Suites and $750 for all other suite/stateroom categories; for Grand Voyages the per person deposit is $1,500.

Edited August 17, 2019 by CanEcosse
details on Oceania deposits

[Cruise Junky]

4 hours ago, CanEcosse said:

Suggest you check on the deposit. I have booked a Grand Voyage for next year which consists of 2 B2B segments. However I booked as a GV and was asked to pay a double deposit all the same.

Oceania T&C: Deposit & Payment Policy 
The per person, per cruise deposit required to secure your reservation is 20% of the applicable cruise fare for Owner's, Vista and Oceania Suites and $750 for all other suite/stateroom categories; for Grand Voyages the per person deposit is $1,500.

Sorry, when I said I'm pretty sure the deposit is the same I meant it would be the same if I were paying for one grand voyage or two separate sailings. 

[kitty9]

One thing, if the cruises are offered separately, but also as a Grand, if you book the Grand, and it’s under 24 days, you only get one cruise credit in the Oceania Club.  We found this out two years ago when we booked a 22 day GV, but a couple of months after we booked, Oceania decided to break it up into 2 parts and offer it as a 12 and a 10 day cruise.  We only got one cruise credit while others who booked the B2B got two.  

[TERRIER1]

One more thing you may wish to consider is the popularity and demand on one of the legs versus the other. We were on a 32 day grand voyage comprised of two 16 day cruises. The first leg was in great demand and booked out immediately. The second leg was not well received. Oceania heavily discounted the second leg right up to sailing. When we and others on the GV requested the discounted fare of the 2nd leg to be applied to our grand voyage (before final payment) Oceania said no. If we cancelled and rebooked we were told that we would lose our cabin on the first leg. Since the entire first leg was waitlisted it meant we would not cruise. You might want to consider demand on each of the legs separately and how many cruise points you will receive for the GV versus individual legs. If you are near a milestone anniversary (ie. bronze or silver level) the points will make a difference in benefits you will receive.

[ORV]

3 hours ago, TERRIER1 said:

One more thing you may wish to consider is the popularity and demand on one of the legs versus the other. We were on a 32 day grand voyage comprised of two 16 day cruises. The first leg was in great demand and booked out immediately. The second leg was not well received. Oceania heavily discounted the second leg right up to sailing. When we and others on the GV requested the discounted fare of the 2nd leg to be applied to our grand voyage (before final payment) Oceania said no. If we cancelled and rebooked we were told that we would lose our cabin on the first leg. Since the entire first leg was waitlisted it meant we would not cruise. You might want to consider demand on each of the legs separately and how many cruise points you will receive for the GV versus individual legs. If you are near a milestone anniversary (ie. bronze or silver level) the points will make a difference in benefits you will receive.

I was in the same situation as you, perhaps the same itinerary but different year and got a reduction on the price due to the second leg being reduced. I credit it to a connected TA. 

[TERRIER1]

1 hour ago, ORV said:

I was in the same situation as you, perhaps the same itinerary but different year and got a reduction on the price due to the second leg being reduced. I credit it to a connected TA. 

 I think that is great and the correct thing to do. We all had different TA's and none of us got the discount. 

[WillB]

On 8/18/2019 at 12:02 AM, kitty9 said:

One thing, if the cruises are offered separately, but also as a Grand, if you book the Grand, and it’s under 24 days, you only get one cruise credit in the Oceania Club.  We found this out two years ago when we booked a 22 day GV, but a couple of months after we booked, Oceania decided to break it up into 2 parts and offer it as a 12 and a 10 day cruise.  We only got one cruise credit while others who booked the B2B got two.  

How are you dear?  Been some years since we cruised together.  Do you mostly cruise Oceana now?

[Paulchili]

On 8/18/2019 at 8:53 AM, ORV said:

I was in the same situation as you, perhaps the same itinerary but different year and got a reduction on the price due to the second leg being reduced. I credit it to a connected TA. 

Was it for a cruise booked onboard with “best price guarantee” till final payment?

[ORV]

Nope, didn't book it onboard. 

[Paulchili]

1 minute ago, ORV said:

Nope, didn't book it onboard. 

Then you’ve got a great TA😀

[LHT28]

1 minute ago, Paulchili said:

Then you’ve got a great TA😀

I would agree 😁

[kitty9]

4 hours ago, WillB said:

How are you dear?  Been some years since we cruised together.  Do you mostly cruise Oceana now?

Well, my goodness.  So nice to hear from you.   Yes, we cruise Oceania pretty much exclusively now.  We've done 41 days so far this year, and we have booked 31 more days up to next February.   

 

How are you and your lovely Wife?  Do you plan on any more cruises?  

[WillB]

Hi Kitty9, Sheri and i are cruising Celebrity and Regent.  Our next is Amsterdam to Barcelona on Reflection.  Looking forward to it.  We are in a Sky Suite and we love Luminae.  The other we have booked is Regent Splendor, Oct. 2020, Venice to Rome by way of Croatia, etc.  Hope you are well and happy and we may cruise again some day.  Much love, Will.

 

[WillB]

On 8/18/2019 at 12:02 AM, kitty9 said:

  

What do you like about Oceana?  We have considered it.  I knew it as the old Renaissance.  Assume it is very different.

[kitty9]

Will, we had three bad cruises on Celebrity in a row, and decided to try other lines.  HAL was a disappointment in terms of food and service, Cunard just didn’t appeal to us, so we tried Oceania on a whim.  We haven’t looked back except for a cruise on Crystal.  We only cruise the O Class, Riviera or Marina, as the R Class ships aren’t really built for someone who’s a full time scooter user, and the O ships have the four specialty restaurants as opposed to the R class ships that only have two.  The cabins are also larger on Marina and Riviera (we generally sail in the Owners or Vista suites), and we like the public rooms.  After sailing on Oceania, we just can’t see going back to those mega liners and their 2800+ passengers. 

[Mura]

It sounds like for your needs and preferences, the "O" ships are for you!  Glad you found something you like.

 

We like the "R" ships as well as the "O" ships (although we do like the additional perks on the "O" ships, no question about that) but we also don't have your needs.  If you are using a scooter I agree that the "O" ships are better for you.

 

P.S. to Will -- sorry, I hadn't looked at your post sufficiently before I answered Kitty9.

 

We are Renaissance people as well, and moved to Oceania as soon as it began.  For us, Oceania is an improvement on Renaissance.  (We missed it a lot when we did an NCL cruise in January 2002 as a replacement for the cruise we'd been planning on Ren for that time ... fortunately for us the bankruptcy occurred about a week before full payment was due.  Insurance returned our deposit although it took a while.)

 

If you knew the "R" ships from back then you'll recognize them.  They have been meticulously maintained by Oceania.  And the "O" ships may be a welcome addition to the repertoire.  They are larger, of course, but not behemothly so!

 

Mura

 

 

 

But I still miss Ren ...

 

 

 

 

Edited August 26, 2019 by Mura

[WillB]

On 8/24/2019 at 10:07 PM, kitty9 said:

Will, we had three bad cruises on Celebrity in a row, and decided to try other lines.  HAL was a disappointment in terms of food and service, Cunard just didn’t appeal to us, so we tried Oceania on a whim.  We haven’t looked back except for a cruise on Crystal.   

Good to know, we may have to look into it.  Thanks.