Pricing Confusion booking Oceania Tours

[edgee]

On a particular cruise I  am required to purchase 7 tours to qualify for "your way" 25% discount on tours. I went on line to purchase nine tours. At first could not figure out why I was being given only the full retail price without the 25% discount. Finally had to click several times to get the discount to come through. Makes me wonder whey Oceania makes the tour pricing rather confusing and the shopping cart not easy to use.

Edited May 20, 2022 by edgee
clarity

[Flatbush Flyer]

19 minutes ago, edgee said:

On a particular cruise I  am required to purchase 7 tours to qualify for "your way" 25% discount on tours. I went on line to purchase nine tours. At first could not figure out why I was being given only the full retail price without the 25% discount. Finally had to click several times to get the discount to come through. Makes me wonder whey Oceania makes the tour pricing rather confusing and the shopping cart not easy to use.

The “cart” bottom line will usually be correct as long as you’ve met the YWYW minimum number of tours for your cruise and checked the YWYW box. The prices per tour listed above in the cart usually stay the retail price. It can be frustrating.

 

Note that, if you take the O Life excursions option, they count toward the YWYW minimum  which gets the 25% discount on the paid ones.

 

FWIW, the bottom line cost of the combo of the most expensive allowable O Life tours (thus doubling the $100 /tour perk value) and the added paid ones to make a total that qualifies for YWYW (and 25% off) may pleasantly surprise you. Also, ask O for the most updated version of the shore excursions pdf for your cruise. The pdf is much easier to work with than the website.

 

We mix ship and private tours (one reason being doing 100+\- cruise days per year leaves little room for that much private tour research).
 

Go the spreadsheet route and, if you’ve made the right choices, your bottom line will match the cart’s. One good thing about the cart is that it auto-assigns $0 to the highest cost allowable O Life tours you select.

 

Also, call O to book the tours. once purchased,  you can request the math pdf  (pre-purchased excursions doc) that fully explains how the discounting works. 
 

[edgee]

Just now, Flatbush Flyer said:

The “cart” bottom line will usually be correct as long as you’ve met the YWYW minimum number of tours for your cruise and checked the YWYW box. The prices per tour listed above in the cart usually stay the retail price. It can be frustrating.

 

Note that, if you take the O Life excursions option, they count toward the YWYW minimum  which gets the 25% discount on the paid ones.

 

FWIW, the bottom line cost of the combo of the most expensive allowable O Life tours (thus doubling the $100 /tour perk value) and the added paid ones to make a total that qualifies for YWYW (and 25% off) may pleasantly surprise you. Also, ask O for the most updated version of the shore excursions pdf for your cruise. The pdf is much easier to work with than the website.

 

We mix ship and private tours (one reason being doing 100+\- cruise days per year leaves little room for that much private tour research).
 

Go the spreadsheet route and, if you’ve made the right choices, your bottom line will match the cart’s. One good thing about the cart is that it auto-assigns $0 to the highest cost allowable O Life tours you select.

 

Also, call O to book the tours. once purchased,  you can request the math pdf  (pre-purchased excursions doc) that fully explains how the discounting works. 
 

Thanks so much. We did not take Olife in an effort to keep it simple. With the right math in picking tours we may have saved a little, I guess. Also when I added up the YW pricing, my actual pricing came within 50 bucks or so to what I thought it should have been. I will leave things alone at this point.

[mauibabes]

Anytime there is a difficulty confirming the value of your booked excursions and whether the YWYW discount was properly applied, call the Oceania 800 number and ask a Specialist to review your purchased excursions.  They will confirm you are getting the best price for your excursions.  While many on CC dump on the Oceania excursions or even the O Life Free excursions, IMHO they have been very good for US. It is tough to be all things to all people 🤪🤬.

On a Pre Covid 30 day trip on Riviera from Southampton to Reykjavik and on to NYC, I think we were able to take about a dozen tours and I got my average cost down to under $80 and that was GREAT, JMO. 
Select what you like and fits your tour tolerance.  
Mauibabes

[davencl]

12 hours ago, mauibabes said:

Anytime there is a difficulty confirming the value of your booked excursions and whether the YWYW discount was properly applied, call the Oceania 800 number and ask a Specialist to review your purchased excursions.  They will confirm you are getting the best price for your excursions.  While many on CC dump on the Oceania excursions or even the O Life Free excursions, IMHO they have been very good for US. It is tough to be all things to all people 🤪🤬.

On a Pre Covid 30 day trip on Riviera from Southampton to Reykjavik and on to NYC, I think we were able to take about a dozen tours and I got my average cost down to under $80 and that was GREAT, JMO. 
Select what you like and fits your tour tolerance.  
Mauibabes

Yes the Oceania specialist saved us money on our last trip.  The YWYW discount had not been properly applied which she noticed and fixed for us.  Since this was our first Oceania cruise I did not know the O life excursions counted toward the number needed for discount.

[Flatbush Flyer]

1 minute ago, davencl said:

Yes the Oceania specialist saved us money on our last trip.  The YWYW discount had not been properly applied which she noticed and fixed for us.  Since this was our first Oceania cruise I did not know the O life excursions counted toward the number needed for discount.

Though great for savings, the mix of O Life and YWYW (complicated by the auto-application of certain O SBC to offset the bottom line cost) can be very confusing - particularly to some TAs who don’t know O “inside out” and end up making the wrong decision about how best to do the purchase. 

There are times when DIY makes the most sense. 
FWIW: Having an O phone rep do your tour  selection/purchase specifics is efficacious. Their online system system shows them which of the available discount mechanisms (individually or in combination) is the best deal for you.  And, if you know how to combine O Life/YWYW (and add some private tours as needed/desired), you’ll often find that a wholesale comment like “never use ship tours” is naive.

 

For newbies:

 

1) Request the most updated shore excursions PDF from an O Rep (it is much easier to use for planning than is the O website).
 

2) On the first page of that PDF (as well as on the website Cart), you’ll find the minimum tour requirements for YWYW 25% discount (which can include your O Life allotment number).

 

3) With the understanding that your O Life allotment has restrictions (i.e., <$200/tour and no OE/OS selections), do a mock booking of your total choices. The Cart will display what is still needed for YWYW qualification.

 

4) Click the YWYW button. Despite the continuing display of retail prices per tour, the Cart bottom line will almost always be correct and display the best combination O Life/YWYW deal. (BTW: The “passport” plan is seldom worthwhile) 

 

5) If you want to be sure of your decision, just do a simple spreadsheet to verify O’s bottom line.

 

6) Recognize that the website booking has limitations like not allowing two tours on the same day. The official policy is you must have at least an hour (?) or so between end/start of the same day tours. But, whatever the case, you have to do those purchases over the phone (same goes for cancelation of existing tours you’ve bought). Also, recognize that the website displays can be lagging behind what the O Rep sees in his/her system (a big problem right now with so many port changes due to Covid).

 

7) With the understanding that the Cart auto-assigns $0 to the most expensive of your O Life tour allotment selections (and, if you click YWYW button) assigns the  25% discount on enough paid additional tours to make the YWYW minimum, your Cart total should be accurate. However, if you actually use the website for purchase, the confirmation doc you receive by email will only be a basic list of purchased tours.

 

8.) If you want to see/understand how the Cart price came about (and want to educate yourself about how best to assemble your optional O purchase), buy the tours from the O phone rep and ask him/her for a copy of the Pre-purchased excursions and options PDF (you can get this even if you’re using a TA). And, recognizing that your cruise will most likely have Covid itinerary changes, this doc will easily demonstrate what refund may be due to you.

 

The extra O purchases arena is one where (like airfare) DIY is the best way to go.

[pinotlover]

In these circumstances, I merely send my TA an email of the ship tours we want and she handles it all for us. No brain damage or lengthy explanation, as above, required for us . I don’t have control anxiety . Young 2nd Lts quickly learned delegation of responsibility and authority as a matter of survival. Served me well my lifetime.

 

She works the options and savings optimizations and provides me with options if necessary. Professional services are included in the commissions she received. I don’t need a manual. 

[Flatbush Flyer]

7 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

In these circumstances, I merely send my TA an email of the ship tours we want and she handles it all for us. No brain damage or lengthy explanation, as above, required for us . I don’t have control anxiety . Young 2nd Lts quickly learned delegation of responsibility and authority as a matter of survival. Served me well my lifetime.

 

She works the options and savings optimizations and provides me with options if necessary. Professional services are included in the commissions she received. I don’t need a manual. 

Wow. so much handholding! No wonder there’s no commission sharing.

That said, apparently, you’ve never read that ‘70s college classic, Bob Pirsig’s “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.”

Nonetheless, you are fortunate to have such a TA. But, after all, you are paying for it.

[pinotlover]

22 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Wow. so much handholding! No wonder there’s no commission sharing.

That said, apparently, you’ve never read that ‘70s college classic, Bob Pirsig’s “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.”

Nonetheless, you are fortunate to have such a TA. But, after all, you are paying for it.

😂😂  We do get generous  revenue sharing and perks from our TA. Just because we don’t continually brag and gloat about it, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Rarely does the guy at the table

bragging how much he makes actually have the highest income,
 

I don’t consider her services handholding. I rarely go to McDonalds , but don’t insist upon cooking my own burgers and fries when I do. Doubt you eat out much, but do you demand to  wash your own dishes for a rebate when you do? Maybe the chef will give you a rebate!!!! 

 

Tell me, do you ask your room steward for a rebate if you’ll make your own bed? Service expectations and wishes.
 

We are both happy with the highly professional service our Travel Agent provides and the generous services she provides.

 

I believe cruisers have multiple levels of service vs costs expectations from their Travel Agents. You personally choose to minimize service expectations so to hopefully maximize kickbacks.
 

I only attempted to let other cruisers realize that other options exists to balance of the two.  There are multiple options. Your multiple step explanation vs my utilization of my TA., Plus options in between, just demonstrates that.
 

 

[Flatbush Flyer]

32 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

...We do get generous  revenue sharing and perks from our TA....

 

Of course you do...

Case closed...

[Ride-The-Waves]

Just another experience with the confusing and crass Oceania tours.  For the life of me I cannot understand what a seminally "upscale" cruise line is doing with such a dumb way to book excursions.

[Flatbush Flyer]

4 hours ago, Ride-The-Waves said:

Just another experience with the confusing and crass Oceania tours.  For the life of me I cannot understand what a seminally "upscale" cruise line is doing with such a dumb way to book excursions.

IMO, it’s a bit of a Catch-22 situation.

As an intentionally “premium” cruise line, O is positioned as a choice between nickel/diming NCL and all-inclusive Regent. 

The O Life menu of optional choices gives us all an opportunity to buy only what we want and do so pre-cruise. In addition, the added choice of basic/enhanced versions of each perk (O Life booze or tours but not SBC) go a step further in allowing decision making pre-cruise. But, it comes at the cost of confusion for first time or only occasional users.

 

Is there a better way to try to be everything to everybody? Perhaps. But, one thing is clear: Simplifying O’s layered perks, cruise credits, multi-segment pricing breaks, tour and booze packages, etc. would most easily be accomplished by eliminating items. So, basically, (whether we/I like it or not): want a comp cruise every so often? Then we need to live with the screwy cruise credit calculations.

 

That said, the one thing that really needs to be fixed is the excursions shopping cart and it’s interaction with O provided SBC and YWYW/combined with O Life. Things were much easier when we couldn’t use SBC pre-cruise and there was no O Life. But, both of those items are convenient/valuable though at a cost of a maze of seeming confusion.

 

I don’t know who replaced O’s IT head honcho Mike Moore (when he moved over to Regent). But, he used to monitor CC and did take/use some suggestions when O changed the website several years ago.  But, even Mike would have a hard time coming up with a solution that would then require multiple entities from IT to Reservations to Destination Services to O Club to Ship Ops (and “whoever else”) to better coordinate their interactions. Sadly, and though I enjoy O very much, their management is not a shining example of efficacy.

[Ride-The-Waves]

Thanks for the above information and guidance.  We are experienced travelers having set foot on all 7 Continents and lived outside the US to include three years in eastern Europe in the late 1980s.  O's options appear to be intentionally confusing and priced high to benefit the cruise line.  

 

Based on recommendations from this board we have made business class flight reservations directly with the airlines for an upcoming TA.  O was over priced and overly confusing for the same connections.

 

We are still looking forward to our first O cruise.  Once onboard it should be much easier...

 

In the meantime, holding the selection of shore excursions until we return from an Adriatic/central Med cruise on another line.