O Life clarification

[Pvbgirl]

We are booked on a Baltic cruise on Marina next summer and I need definition about the O Life options.  What exactly do you get for “free excursions”?  I don’t think we would drink enough beer or wine for the basic beverage package and the $600 shipboard credit is just equal to the $600 extra you pay 90 days out for the cruise so that’s a wash.  Is it certain excursions or a certain dollar value?  Thanks.

Edited October 13, 2019 by Pvbgirl

[LHT28]

the excursions are those  not marked with OS OE or any other letter designation

usually  up to $199 in price  & must be booked 14 days prior to the cruise

If you are not interested in the  excursions maybe to the cruise only fare & book your own air   then you can fly in earlier  than cruise day

JMO

 

[Pvbgirl]

We are booking our own air but according to our TA we still get one of the O Life options.    When the definite excursion list comes out later this month I will check prices.  

[ORV]

23 minutes ago, Pvbgirl said:

We are booking our own air but according to our TA we still get one of the O Life options.    When the definite excursion list comes out later this month I will check prices.  

You get one of the Olife options if you pay for it. You can do it cruise only, no air, no Olife, but you will get internet. 

[Mura]

I'm repeating myself here but this is a newish thread ...

 

In the past we did mostly DIY tours with other passengers.  With the onset of oLife we did take their tours.  We aren't interested in the drink package.  We get plenty of OBC from our TA and the ship because we're "gold".  We chose the tours selectively so that they were on the higher end of the ones offered, which meant that we got more back than we paid in the surcharge of oLife.  You need to check these things out.

 

In the future we might or might not take tours, depending on what we find.  We've always come out ahead.  BUT, that being said, the surcharge for oLife has consistently gone up so that we might opt out in the future.

 

OBC can be handy if you don't want the drink package but still would be interested in buying some liquor -- whether in the bars or bottles of wine at dinner.  Your choices on the package (as far as wine is concerned) are limited so we prefer to bring on a few bottles of our own and buy some from the list.  Real oenophiles (we aren't) don't necessarily like the list but it suits our needs, even with inflated prices.  Since prices can be equally inflated in restaurants, we just choose carefully.

 

As others have said, do your research.

[Paulchili]

If you don’t mind ship’s excursions then O Life with included excursions is a good value.

You pay $100 per excursion that could actually cost up to $199 - essentially doubling your investment.

If you prefer private excursions then just book cruise only without air and without O Life.

[srdancer]

Oceania has some other excursion options. If you book enough excursions there is a 25 % discount. The Olife ones count towards this number and the OS, etc excursions are included in the discounts. This option is sometimes not available on shorter cruises. Was not on our 7 day Cuba cruise last Dec. 

They also have a packages of unlimited excursions for a flat fee. These would be restricted to the same ones as Olife, with a substantial discount on OS, etc. excursions.. This is what we did on our Cuba cruise. Took 5 included excursions and one OS excursion that was discounted more than 50%. We paid $528 each for 6 excursions each.

[mozfoz]

Can the O Life $600 OBC be used towards gratuities.

[LHT28]

43 minutes ago, mozfoz said:

Can the O Life $600 OBC be used towards gratuities.

yes

[Paulchili]

50 minutes ago, mozfoz said:

Can the O Life $600 OBC be used towards gratuities.

Yes it can but choosing OBC option of O Life makes no sense.

You simply get back the $600 you already paid for that O Life option but now you have to spend it all or lose whatever you do not spend.

Why not just pay the gratuities at the end of the cruise?

Edited October 16, 2019 by Paulchili

[LHT28]

or find  a TA that provides them for your cruise

 

You have to do the math to see if the OBC options works for you

I found  the only time it worked for me was on transatlantic  where I take the O air & pay the deviation fee to go in early or stay longer after the cruise

 

YMMV