Unlimited Passport Collection

[AlexCherie]

With apologies, because surely this topic has been covered at length elsewhere.

We chose to use the O-life benefit regarding excursions on a 10 evening trip in the Caribbean. We selected some expensive choices, and had a bill of less than $600 above our nearly $750 credit. We are anxious to immerse ourselves fairly fully in the O experience. 

If we were to select the Unlimited Passport Collection, what would that entail/cost? What has been your experiences with this level in the past? What if I had a hankering to do something like several additional culinary tours? 

Thanks in advance.

[mauibabes]

AlexCherei ,

Call Oceania and ask the Specialist to work up the comparison between Your World and the Unlimited Passport. Ollection. In our experience the YW 25% discount gives the best bang for the buck.  Your specific combination of excursions could be different but they will run your numbers. 
Mauibabes

[Flatbush Flyer]

1 hour ago, mauibabes said:

AlexCherei ,

Call Oceania and ask the Specialist to work up the comparison between Your World and the Unlimited Passport. Ollection. In our experience the YW 25% discount gives the best bang for the buck.  Your specific combination of excursions could be different but they will run your numbers. 
Mauibabes

I agree (though the website cart will allow a comparison of the costs).

 

For the OP: Most importantly, you need to check the first page of the excursions PDF that come with the emailed O invoice. However, I also will call and ask for the latest version depending on when that first PDF showed up.

The first page of the PDF shows the cost of the Passport for that itinerary as well as the number of tours (total number of purchased and/or O life selections) to qualify for the 25% discount on those that are purchased. 
FWIW, I do the math on every cruise and (for us) the Passport has never been the better bargain because, while the Passport gets you as many O Life approved tours as you can book, you still have to pay 60% of the cost of the OS/OE/et al. ones.

Our strategy is to usually take the O Life tours perk, book our allotment of the most expensive of the allowable ones (e.g., just <$200) in which we are interested and then add enough paid ones to meet the minimum number required for the YWYW 25% discount on paid tours. FYI: one of the nice features of the O web cart is that it is intuitive and will auto assign $0 to the most expensive of the allowable O Life tours to fill your allotment. Your other choices will show their retail price. But, at the top of the cart, it will say how many you still need for the YWYW 25% discount. And the top of the cart will show the total cost for each of the three ways to do it.

Again, because of the upfront Passport fee, it has yet to work out for us. And there are some tours that we prefer to book through private companies (e.g., Maohi Nui on Bora Bora). 
That said, however, the bottom line is: Understand the rules/costs and “DO THE MATH.” (Or call O and gave them do the math)

[AlexCherie]

13 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

I agree (though the website cart will allow a comparison of the costs).

 

For the OP: Most importantly, you need to check the first page of the excursions PDF that come with the emailed O invoice. However, I also will call and ask for the latest version depending on when that first PDF showed up.

The first page of the PDF shows the cost of the Passport for that itinerary as well as the number of tours (total number of purchased and/or O life selections) to qualify for the 25% discount on those that are purchased. 
FWIW, I do the math on every cruise and (for us) the Passport has never been the better bargain because, while the Passport gets you as many O Life approved tours as you can book, you still have to pay 60% of the cost of the OS/OE/et al. ones.

Our strategy is to usually take the O Life tours perk, book our allotment of the most expensive of the allowable ones (e.g., just <$200) in which we are interested and then add enough paid ones to meet the minimum number required for the YWYW 25% discount on paid tours. FYI: one of the nice features of the O web cart is that it is intuitive and will auto assign $0 to the most expensive of the allowable O Life tours to fill your allotment. Your other choices will show their retail price. But, at the top of the cart, it will say how many you still need for the YWYW 25% discount. And the top of the cart will show the total cost for each of the three ways to do it.

Again, because of the upfront Passport fee, it has yet to work out for us. And there are some tours that we prefer to book through private companies (e.g., Maohi Nui on Bora Bora). 
That said, however, the bottom line is: Understand the rules/costs and “DO THE MATH.” (Or call O and gave them do the math)

Interesting and thank you. 

We had selected the most expensive allowed tours - simply to insure a seat. I'll look into the process, but ... it just seems sort of clunky, don't you think? 

Our goal will be to take Oceania at it's word - to seek out a rebirth while onboard and in port, a holistic approach to vacationing. Normally on Caribbean ports for at least three ports I don't even get off the ship. Other than Puerto Plata, I think I'll be in town every day. 

It's exciting. I'm already working it into my head to budget a longer trip for 2023. 

 

[ORV]

6 minutes ago, AlexCherie said:

Interesting and thank you. 

We had selected the most expensive allowed tours - simply to insure a seat. I'll look into the process, but ... it just seems sort of clunky, don't you think? 

Our goal will be to take Oceania at it's word - to seek out a rebirth while onboard and in port, a holistic approach to vacationing. Normally on Caribbean ports for at least three ports I don't even get off the ship. Other than Puerto Plata, I think I'll be in town every day. 

It's exciting. I'm already working it into my head to budget a longer trip for 2023. 

 

I'm pretty sure the Unlimited does not include the expensive tours, think anything over 200- 225. As FF stated above you do get a discount on them. I think his advice (and Mauibabes) to go Your World would be the best advice. 

[Flatbush Flyer]

4 minutes ago, AlexCherie said:

Interesting and thank you. 

We had selected the most expensive allowed tours - simply to insure a seat. I'll look into the process, but ... it just seems sort of clunky, don't you think? 

Our goal will be to take Oceania at it's word - to seek out a rebirth while onboard and in port, a holistic approach to vacationing. Normally on Caribbean ports for at least three ports I don't even get off the ship. Other than Puerto Plata, I think I'll be in town every day. 

It's exciting. I'm already working it into my head to budget a longer trip for 2023. 

 

Actually, once one understands O’s logic and policies, it all makes absolute sense. Related to O is Regent, which is more “all-inclusive” and significantly more expensive - even when you add all the O options to the mix.

Though appearing to ba complicated mix of options at times, O allows choice (booze/tours/SBC) upfront while avoiding nickel/diming once onboard.

It took us about five O cruises to figure it all out. 

[Flatbush Flyer]

1 minute ago, ORV said:

I'm pretty sure the Unlimited does not include the expensive tours, think anything over 200- 225. As FF stated above you do get a discount on them. I think his advice (and Mauibabes) to go Your World would be the best advice. 

Yes - the Passport only includes the O Life allowable tours (I.e., <$200). The OE, OS, et al. are 40% off (?) vs the YWYW 25% off. But, there’s the upfront Passport charge (varying by itinerary) that is often the deal breaker.

[AlexCherie]

4 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Yes - the Passport only includes the O Life allowable tours (I.e., <$200). The OE, OS, et al. are 40% off (?) vs the YWYW 25% off. But, there’s the upfront Passport charge (varying by itinerary) that is often the deal breaker.

LMAO. Yes, yes very clear. 

Laughing again. It's convoluted, I'm sorry. But hey, that's ok. 

Laughing on the way out the door. Thanks to all, though.

[CruiserFromMaine]

I have another question. When I selected my excursions, I was planning to the the YW option and selected more tours than the minimum of four for the 25% discount to kick in. But at checkout, the tour price was shown as the same as the YW price, so no 25% discount. What did I do wrong? 

[ORV]

17 minutes ago, CruiserFromMaine said:

I have another question. When I selected my excursions, I was planning to the the YW option and selected more tours than the minimum of four for the 25% discount to kick in. But at checkout, the tour price was shown as the same as the YW price, so no 25% discount. What did I do wrong? 

Uh, unless I'm confused the YW price is the 25% off price. 

[CruiserFromMaine]

Just now, ORV said:

Uh, unless I'm confused the YW price is the 25% off price. 

That’s exactly what I was expecting, but didn’t see…but didn’t get. 

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, CruiserFromMaine said:

That’s exactly what I was expecting, but didn’t see…but didn’t get. 

What is the difference between the YW price you got  & the Tour price listed?

 

If you did not get the  discounted price at check out  call Oceania & get them to sort it out for you

JMO

[Flatbush Flyer]

1 hour ago, CruiserFromMaine said:

That’s exactly what I was expecting, but didn’t see…but didn’t get. 

There’s a bit of a system glitch.
If, once in the cart, you click the YWYW button and you have added enough non-O Life tours per person to meet/exceed the YWYW total tours (the number is per person), the total price at the bottom should compute out to the right YWYW price (even though the cart prices for the paid tours still display retail). 
Get your pencil out and check the math once you’ve done the above. The most expensive of the allotted allowable O Life ones will add up to zero. Add all the other paid tours in your cart up and multiply that RETAIL price total by .75. Just for fun, add the sum of the now discounted paid ones to the zero cost of the O Life allotment and you’ll have the correct bottom line cost of your O Life/YWYW combination of tours, which should match the bottom line cost in the cart (as long as you checked the YWYW button.

Let me know if it works that way. 
If it doesn’t, keep your version of the bottom line YWYW number handy and call Oceania and have the phone rep do the math on his computer. They should match.

Finally, if you want to know the TRUE out-of-pocket net cost of your tours, remember to add back the original “cost” of the O Life perk which was $100 per tour (I.e., if the perk was $800 SBC, that equated to 8 tours). And we already know that the “O Life without air” price is exactly the same as the ”cruise only” price to which you add the value of the O Life SBC perk. (Which is why the O Life SBC perk is not a good choice.

Edited October 12, 2021 by Flatbush Flyer

[CruiserFromMaine]

Thanks Flatbush Flyer…what happens is that the cart shows the full price but when I proceed to checkout, I can see the discount applied. So that part is all set for me. It’s an odd way for O to show that but all cruise lines have suboptimal web sites.

 

I have another glitch about one of the excursions, but the pricing one is solved. I’ll ask my TA bout the other one. 

[Flatbush Flyer]

1 minute ago, CruiserFromMaine said:

Thanks Flatbush Flyer…what happens is that the cart shows the full price but when I proceed to checkout, I can see the discount applied. So that part is all set for me. It’s an odd way for O to show that but all cruise lines have suboptimal web sites.

 

I have another glitch about one of the excursions, but the pricing one is solved. I’ll ask my TA bout the other one. 

Let me guess the other one. Does it say $0? If so, that’s because you are waitlisted on it.

[Kate-AHF]

3 hours ago, CruiserFromMaine said:

I have another question. When I selected my excursions, I was planning to the the YW option and selected more tours than the minimum of four for the 25% discount to kick in. But at checkout, the tour price was shown as the same as the YW price, so no 25% discount. What did I do wrong? 

 

You did nothing wrong.  Before this upcoming cruise for us in a couple of weeks, I've never had a problem getting the online system to calculate the YWYW prices as long as I selected the minimum amount of shorex for that cruise to qualify.

 

This time, I've had constant issues when selecting, and expecting, that 25% discount to show up and have been on the phone to O twice now to get what I needed.  They did get it done both times.

[CruiserFromMaine]

2 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Let me guess the other one. Does it say $0? If so, that’s because you are waitlisted on it.

I add the excursion and says it’s reserved but it’s not in my cart. 
 

Like I said, I’ll hand it off to my TA. I normally like to just do those types of things myself, but sometimes I give up.

 

Thanks all!

[Flatbush Flyer]

2 hours ago, CruiserFromMaine said:

I add the excursion and says it’s reserved but it’s not in my cart. 
 

Like I said, I’ll hand it off to my TA. I normally like to just do those types of things myself, but sometimes I give up.

 

Thanks all!

Interesting.

You may also want to call O directly since they can answer that question immediately (no need for the TA).

I’m betting it’s that you’re “reserved” on the tour’s “wait list.” Look at that tour in a few more days and it may say “full” (or something like that) which means even the wait list is now full. 

But, in the past, a “waitlisted” tour would show up in your list of purchased tours (once you’ve paid) as a $0 item.
BTW: Trying to add two tours on the same day can get a “ conflict” message if the times are too close. 
Do let us know what you find out.

[Kate-AHF]

10 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

I
BTW: Trying to add two tours on the same day can get a “ conflict” message if the times are too close. 

 

And you can still get the conflict message when O has cancelled the initial shorex, it's no longer listed as a shorex you are taking, and you are trying to replace it.  But  you can't because it still thinks there is a conflict. 

 

Glitchy, glitchy, glitchy.

[JRIH]

13 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

BTW: Trying to add two tours on the same day can get a “ conflict” message if the times are too close. 
 

There needs to be at least 1.5 hours between tours or you get the "conflict" message.  That's how it was explained to me by an O rep.

[sbcs5390]

On 10/13/2021 at 1:51 PM, JRIH said:

There needs to be at least 1.5 hours between tours or you get the "conflict" message.  That's how it was explained to me by an O rep.

Do you know if by calling O a human allows you to book tighter than 1.5 hours, such as 1 hour apart or is the 1.5 hours a hard and fast rule?

[Flatbush Flyer]

1 hour ago, sbcs5390 said:

Do you know if by calling O a human allows you to book tighter than 1.5 hours, such as 1 hour apart or is the 1.5 hours a hard and fast rule?

Some O policies (like FCC deadlines) can have exceptions on a case-by-case basis. However, this 1.5 hr max “layover” tours rule is fairly “hard and fast” because there are multiple reasons why the earlier tour on the same day might be significantly “delayed.”

Sure, there’s the possibility of a traffic snarl that has you returning from your earlier tour past your due time. But, more often than many might think, the delayed arrival of the ship in port will result in the delay of the start of the earlier tour.

This just happened to us a few days ago in Istanbul where the ship occupying our assigned berth left late and our daytime tour was rescheduled to an hour later start. Fortunately, our evening tour was flexible enough to be purposefully delayed as well.

 

[roberts2005]

If you book enough to YWYW, and they cancel a tour or a port, it does create a bit of a problem if there is nothing left you want.

 

Don.  If you want a bottle of Oceania red, leave me a message at 11006.  I know I am not going to drink it.

[sbcs5390]

14 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Some O policies (like FCC deadlines) can have exceptions on a case-by-case basis. However, this 1.5 hr max “layover” tours rule is fairly “hard and fast” because there are multiple reasons why the earlier tour on the same day might be significantly “delayed.”

Sure, there’s the possibility of a traffic snarl that has you returning from your earlier tour past your due time. But, more often than many might think, the delayed arrival of the ship in port will result in the delay of the start of the earlier tour.

This just happened to us a few days ago in Istanbul where the ship occupying our assigned berth left late and our daytime tour was rescheduled to an hour later start. Fortunately, our evening tour was flexible enough to be purposefully delayed as well.

 

Yes, I'm leaning towards not bothering with doing the other one. A nice morning on the ship sounds fine too. 

Edited November 5, 2022 by sbcs5390