Black Friday sale more than just prepaid gratuities?

[davencl]

I played around with some bookings I would be interested in.   I found the black friday sale may include more than just prepaid gratuities.   On the review page it showed an additional 4 shoreex under the term O Life Advantage.   This is in addition to the 4 shoreex added when I select that as an amenity.  Not sure why Oceania wouldn't be promoting this.  What am I missing?

[LHT28]

Do you have  an example of the added benefits ??

Link?

 

OK  since I do not have a life  I scrolled through all 6 pages of the Black Friday cruises

did not see  any that advertised O Life Advaantage

 

Is this option from  a TA?

[davencl]

15 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Do you have  an example of the added benefits ??

Link?

Here's a screen shot:

Note I was not logged in when I did this.   Same result when I log in.

Edited November 23, 2022 by davencl

[BSR]

I'm looking at a sailing on the Regatta.  It shows prepaid gratuities are offered.  If you chose 1 of their 3 offers, the price goes up by $400.  So you pay for these offers?

[shepherd really]

2 minutes ago, BSR said:

I'm looking at a sailing on the Regatta.  It shows prepaid gratuities are offered.  If you chose 1 of their 3 offers, the price goes up by $400.  So you pay for these offers?

Yup, Oceania has an odd definition of free.

[LHT28]

18 minutes ago, davencl said:

Note I was not logged in when I did this.   Same result when I log in.

Only sailing I see for the 28th is Sirena   is that your cruise ?

Ok  Guess not on the Canadian O website  ..

 

I have never seen the breakdown on their website  when not logged in  Interesting

Enjoy

[davencl]

11 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Only sailing I see for the 28th is Sirena   is that your cruise ?

Ok  Guess not on the Canadian O website  ..

 

I have never seen the breakdown on their website  when not logged in  Interesting

Enjoy

Yes Sirena in Dec. of 2023.   Miami to Miami 24 days down to the Amazon and back.  The breakdown shows up near the end of a mock booking.  FWIW I tried the same mock booking for an 18 day olso to london cruise in august.  I got the same result.

Edited November 23, 2022 by davencl

[schmerl]

Black Friday Sale

Save with Free Pre-Paid Gratuities, a value up to $500, plus OLife Choice offer with 2 for 1 Cruise Fares, Free Roundtrip Airfare with Airport Transfers,* and choose one free amenity:

FREE - 6 Shore Excursions
FREE - Beverage Package
FREE - $600 Shipboard Credit
Amenities are per stateroom

Book Now - Offer Ends November 30.

[davencl]

4 minutes ago, schmerl said:

Black Friday Sale

Save with Free Pre-Paid Gratuities, a value up to $500, plus OLife Choice offer with 2 for 1 Cruise Fares, Free Roundtrip Airfare with Airport Transfers,* and choose one free amenity:

FREE - 6 Shore Excursions
FREE - Beverage Package
FREE - $600 Shipboard Credit
Amenities are per stateroom

Book Now - Offer Ends November 30.

The Olife choice is the "normal" sale.  The only thing added for Black Friday on this ad is the Pre-Paid Gratuities.  My booking shows both Olife choice shorex and OLIFE ADVANTAGE shorex.  The added OLIFE ADVANTAGE is not part of the "normal" sale.

[ORV]

I don't think it's saying you get 4 more, it's just repeating the 4 you already would get. Or not. Have you asked your TA about this? 

 

I did find this, but it's a few years old. 

 

O Life Advantage "Things to Know".indd (oceaniacruises.com)

Edited November 23, 2022 by ORV

[YoPhilly]

Even when asking for "cruise-only" fares, they automatically add the "free amenity" (which isn't free).  I've had to ask to remove that costly "free" amenity.  And this was through a TA, who should have known better.  As much as I like cruising with O, it's shocking that they're still getting away with this.

[BWV]

We book cruise only also, and our TA knows this from the beginning. We were so pleased that he got us the free gratuities yesterday on our already-booked March cruise  

[LHT28]

3 hours ago, YoPhilly said:

Even when asking for "cruise-only" fares, they automatically add the "free amenity" (which isn't free).  I've had to ask to remove that costly "free" amenity.  And this was through a TA, who should have known better.  As much as I like cruising with O, it's shocking that they're still getting away with this.

What free amenity do they add with Cruise only?

My TA gives us PPG  via the cruise line   I am not complaining 😉

 

 

[Flatbush Flyer]

6 hours ago, ORV said:

 

I did find this, but it's a few years old. 

 

O Life Advantage "Things to Know".indd (oceaniacruises.com)

This may be it: the particular itinerary is on the current list for “Advantage” (and would be there with/without the Black Friday deal).

It appears to be in addition to regular O Life perk choice.

[LHT28]

3 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

This may be it: the particular itinerary is on the current list for “Advantage” (and would be there with/without the Black Friday deal).

It appears to be in addition to regular O Life perk choice.

Where do you find the list for current sailing with  "Advantage"  perks?

[Flatbush Flyer]

16 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Where do you find the list for current sailing with  "Advantage"  perks?

Not unlike the list of cruises that get OCAPP funding of gratuities or Ultimate O Life or rotating “quiet sales,” it’s ever changing. O Connoisseurs Club and Preferred Partner TAs are informed of these promotions (as are O phone reps). And, while those TA  may have an actual “list” (available to view on their own website), I’ve only seen the occasional “specials” in mailings and on the O website usually mixed in with their other stuff. Confounding it all is your location. Different parts of the world have different deals at different times.

[YoPhilly]

9 hours ago, LHT28 said:

What free amenity do they add with Cruise only?

My TA gives us PPG  via the cruise line   I am not complaining 😉

 

 

That’s my point, Lyn - it isn’t free!  She booked me O Life $400 OBC with no air and increased my fare by $400, even though I specified “cruise only”.  Gotta pay attention to the invoice.

Edited November 24, 2022 by YoPhilly

[ORV]

The "Advantage" perk is a new one on me, and we've been cruising with O around 13 years. I've definitely had the Ultimate a couple of times, the OCAPP gratuities quite a bit, some consortium perks like wine, chocolates, excursions, cocktail parties, and other odds and ends, but never run across the Advantage before. There's lots of things out there that apparently are not common. 

[davencl]

I can confirm these are not "extra" shore excursions.  I went back to the invoices for my January Riviera cruise and the same notation was listed on the pre-purchased shorexcursion confirmation PDF.   Wishful thinking on my part.   However there are many perks that are not published that seem to show up as Flatbush noted.  I'm guessing the shorex computer program is separate from the booking computer program and this may be a way to let the shorex program know about the "free" excursions.

Edited November 24, 2022 by davencl

[LHT28]

5 hours ago, YoPhilly said:

That’s my point, Lyn - it isn’t free!  She booked me O Life $400 OBC with no air and increased my fare by $400, even though I specified “cruise only”.  Gotta pay attention to the invoice.

OK  when I book cruise only  that is what  I pay for 

Cruise only should not include any O Life perks

Good that you check your invoice

 

My TA gives us the PPG  as a pass through from O

[ChadnKate]

On 11/23/2022 at 2:37 PM, davencl said:

The Olife choice is the "normal" sale.  The only thing added for Black Friday on this ad is the Pre-Paid Gratuities.  My booking shows both Olife choice shorex and OLIFE ADVANTAGE shorex.  The added OLIFE ADVANTAGE is not part of the "normal" sale.

We get gratuities gratis as per our O Club level. So there won’t w nothing for us in the sale???

[the more ports the better]

Chad Kate, TA typically gives $250 OBC when offering PPG to O club silver and above.  Anyone know if O offers this for the promo?

[Robjame]

Just got off the phone with our TA who has been fighting on our behalf to get the Black Friday free gratuities for one part of our upcoming cruise. She was told that because we have a bundled cruise - a B2B cruise of more than one segment - we are ineligible. Is that a common experience? If we were taking just the one seven day cruise, we would qualify. seems odd.

[Flatbush Flyer]

2 hours ago, Robjame said:

Just got off the phone with our TA who has been fighting on our behalf to get the Black Friday free gratuities for one part of our upcoming cruise. She was told that because we have a bundled cruise - a B2B cruise of more than one segment - we are ineligible. Is that a common experience? If we were taking just the one seven day cruise, we would qualify. seems odd.

O has long maintained a prohibition against double dipping.

We’re on four consecutive Marina segments right now. Best price (by far) was to book as two “extended journeys.” One segment in each “extended journey” had ultra-O Life. But, we’d have to have booked four separate segments to get that perk. 
Interestingly (but expectedly), when everything was reduced to $ values (incl O Club perks), the way we did it was still the best “$ wise.”

[Robjame]

9 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

O has long maintained a prohibition against double dipping.

W

I get that. But as I am finding with Oceania - it all depends.

 

In reality when you do the math, prepaid gratuities doesn’t amount to much.