Simply more's impact on current bookings?

[MEFIowa]

As I look at the new fare for the 10/30-11/9, 2023 Med Cruise for Riviera (Triest to Athens):

 

- Our "cruise only" A3 that was off the ESS: $1899 PP plus $1,016 airfare

   New "Simply More" A3: $3999 (without air)

 

- The original "cruise only" F booking (Feb 2022): $1999 PP plus $1016 airfare.

  New "Simply More" F: $2399 (without air)

[Rainbow3fe]

1 hour ago, Vineyard View said:

I just looked at the itinerary we asked our TA to reserve for us yesterday. There are two options. 
‘Promotional fare with airfare’, and ‘Promotional fare’. 
Does the without airfare include all the other ‘simply more’ features?  Or would you think that means cruise only in a new lingo?  If it includes, the price point is lower than the OLife was before. Higher though than the old cruise only pricing was 
Regardless, included $1,000 in excursions is rather meaningless to us. We rarely take a ship excursion. Whenever we do, we say ‘that’s the last one’. We just do not enjoy them. I hope there are options with this “benefit/no benefit” money that using it on excursions. 

Talk to your TA. If you booked yesterday you will not get simplyMORE.  You won't be stuck with excursions but should be able to choose between excursions or SBC .  From what I heard, people should be able to choose whether they want to stay with the promotional fare or move into simply more. I am not a 100% sure.

      You can remove the airfare at any time up to a specific # of days before the trip. I don't want to give misinformation. 

Edited July 1, 2023 by Rainbow3fe

[EJL2023]

1 hour ago, mauibabes said:

Don’t throw in your towels yet folks, there remains a Cruise Only price, so the grapevine says.  I am sure we will see the official information shortly since It Is July 1. Is the overall price going up, sure but the one thing I have learned from 15 years of sailing on Oceania, it is about the overall Value. Each of us will make our own determination of value so when we do our comparisons with other lines and cruises, we will make our best decisions.  No one likes “Paying” More but just maybe Simply More will still give us the Value we desire. JMHO.

 

Oh, and for what it’s worth, I am not a paid Influencer 🤪, We just happen to have found a wonderful home and family with Oceania. Since O was FDR’s “Baby”, only time will tell if his successors treat the baby right.  While the jury is out, we will get back aboard Vista soon with friends and start planning our future bookings on Allura when O releases itineraries and opens for bookings in September I believe it will be.  🙏🤞.  
Mauibabes

A reliable grapevine?

[MEFIowa]

As I look at the new fare for the 9/9-19/2024 Baltic Cruise for Sirena (Stockholm to Copenhagen):

 

- Our "cruise only" C1 that was off a sale: $2849 PP plus airfare

   New "Simply More" C1: $3699 (without air)

 

Plus: $850 PP.

 

- The original "cruise only" G booking (May 2022): $2499 PP plus airfare.

   New "Simply More" G: $3199 (without air)

 

Plus: $700 PP.

[mamaclark]

Do I understand the process correctly? We were ready to book the April Tokyo-Singapore cruise. Do I need to have our TA wait until October 1 to take advantage take off the Simply More benefit? Thanks.

[Jayne E]

3 hours ago, ak1004 said:

 

Are you comparing to what you booked for or what is was yesterday before the increase?

Comparing to what I am paying. Booked a month ago. Now $1800 more. 

[1985rz1]

1 minute ago, mamaclark said:

Do I understand the process correctly? We were ready to book the April Tokyo-Singapore cruise. Do I need to have our TA wait until October 1 to take advantage take off the Simply More benefit? Thanks.

No. From today on, all cruise sailing after Oct 1 will be booked as SimplyMore whenever you book.

[LHT28]

2 minutes ago, mamaclark said:

Do I understand the process correctly? We were ready to book the April Tokyo-Singapore cruise. Do I need to have our TA wait until October 1 to take advantage take off the Simply More benefit? Thanks.

If you have not booked yet 

You will be paying for the Simply More deal 

[mamaclark]

Just now, LHT28 said:

If you have not booked yet 

You will be paying for the Simply More deal 

If booked today, I would bet the Simply More deal? 

[LHT28]

1 minute ago, mamaclark said:

If booked today, I would bet the Simply More deal? 

If you book today  you will get  SIMPLY MORE deal & pricing

 

[Rainbow3fe]

16 minutes ago, Sebbiesgrammy said:

Our Feb, 2024 51 Day South America cruise only increased by $100 pp for the SM with Air. I already booked my own air for a significant savings but my TA is planning to remove the air from my booking next week.  We were waiting to see what SM would do to our reservation and I'm concerned that just that change will change the entire pricing of our booking.  We should have probably removed the air last week. Removing the air for our itinerary is a savings of $3000 pp.   O only prices for Economy  for this itinerary.  We paid only $781/pp for Prem. Eco so great deal there for us.  So far, keeping OLife and removing the air looks almost exactly like SM w/o air.  Neutral at this point.

 

However.... when you get to the ShoreEx choices, things get a lot more confusing and I still have work to do with that.  We had chosen, but not paid for, 15 excursions.  11 were included with O'Life for a total savings of $3600 (we weren't able to optimize to get the full $4400 by picking all 11 at $199 each)  - so far OLife is winning -- but the option for 25% discount over and above the 11 is now gone.  It may still be grandfathered into my price - I still have to do the calculations -- but it doesn't appear on the selection screen.  Now appears an option for SM at $2945x2 and then the O'Life "discount" is deducted from that - still a better deal with OLife.  The only other option is Unlimited, which is $3415/pp which is not an option for me.  Winner - O'Life but I reserve final decision until I can speak to someone from O (probably not next week) who can game it out for me.

 

I should add that we don't drink a lot and on our last 32 day O trip we brought on 8 bottles of wonderful So. African wine, happily paid the corkage, went to Happy Hour before dinner most days, added an occasional wine or beer with meal and still didn't spend $500 in additional bar charges so the drink package may not be a game changer.

 

Bottom line - the change from OLife fare to SM fare isn't a game changer for us.  But the shore ex/drinks calculations still don't add up to SM being Simply Better.

 

So far I agree with your assessment. We love going to wineries before boarding Oceania. That is something special that other lines don't allow. 

We also enjoy our wines on our Veranda or pay the $25 to have them at dinner.  Never drink beer nor have alcohol during lunch.

[basor]

Just now, mamaclark said:

If booked today, I would bet the Simply More deal? 

That is correct - yesterday was the last day to book a cruise beginning on or after 01OCT 23 under the OLife promotion or to book cruise only ( no air, no perks)

[PinonNoir]

Not sure if this is a mistake on the part of Oceania, but my PH2 booking on the Montreal-Boston cruise departing October 8th is actually now $1000 less per person under Simply More.  I'll take it if my TA can pull this off next week!

[Jayne E]

45 minutes ago, Rainbow3fe said:

     Same with us.

      So far it's weird on 2 of my already booked.

Price for a 14 day B2 on Regatta is $2000 more pp, while 24 day PH2 on Vista is $900 more.  I don't get it.  Thankfully I have plenty of time.

 

It appears that the Simply More increases pp are all over the place. No continuity. Definitely not $400 pp verandah cabin for 10 day cruise as some have posted. 

[mamaclark]

7 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

If you book today  you will get  SIMPLY MORE deal & pricing

 

Thanks all. We have had a Tokyo-Singapore booked and cancelled four times since 2020. Perhaps Simply More will make it worth the wait! Meanwhile we are looking forward to our Alaska Cruise in August.

[mamaclark]

Just now, mamaclark said:

Thanks all. We have had a Tokyo-Singapore booked and cancelled four times since 2020. Perhaps Simply More will make it worth the wait! Meanwhile we are looking forward to our Alaska Cruise in August.

Ironically, Oceania's website is down today so I cannot check the price.

[babysteps]

2 hours ago, Psoque said:

-I was wondering if you decline the shore excursion credit, would the price go down?  If not, that check mark is nothing more than a very crude IQ test.  (In my opinion the “option” to take OLife OBC was, in most instances, was also an IQ test.)

I started a booking just to see - those check marks are grayed out, you cannot change them (at least not at this time).

 

Another data point, 12 day Insignia Dec 5 2023 Bridgetown to Miami, Deluxe Ocean View O-Life no air booked ESS $2749 this past week, now Simply More without air $2749 so no difference. But our category is  now waitlisted so this may not matter to others! We'll stick with old O-Life since $600 to use anyplace onboard is worth more to us than $800 to use on excursions (only).

 

An October 11 Trieste to Rome that waitlisted before we booked ESS is now showing much higher than ESS and is still waitlisted - we were waiting to see the Simply More pricing before making a deposit. With the higher pricing, we won't be signing up for that one!

Edited July 1, 2023 by babysteps

[Rainbow3fe]

1 hour ago, mauibabes said:

Don’t throw in your towels yet folks, there remains a Cruise Only price, so the grapevine says.  I am sure we will see the official information shortly since It Is July 1. Is the overall price going up, sure but the one thing I have learned from 15 years of sailing on Oceania, it is about the overall Value. Each of us will make our own determination of value so when we do our comparisons with other lines and cruises, we will make our best decisions.  No one likes “Paying” More but just maybe Simply More will still give us the Value we desire. JMHO.

 

Oh, and for what it’s worth, I am not a paid Influencer 🤪, We just happen to have found a wonderful home and family with Oceania. Since O was FDR’s “Baby”, only time will tell if his successors treat the baby right.  While the jury is out, we will get back aboard Vista soon with friends and start planning our future bookings on Allura when O releases itineraries and opens for bookings in September I believe it will be.  🙏🤞.  
Mauibabes

       Sounds great. I agree. We also have found a "home" on Oceania.  There's something special that is difficult to describe to people who do short Caribbean cruises. To us its been worth the money to  enjoy this level of comfortas oppsed to being on other cruiselines.

😎💥🎶🌊🎉

[LHT28]

1 minute ago, mamaclark said:

Ironically, Oceania's website is down today so I cannot check the price.

working for me  on the CAD site

[Rainbow3fe]

12 minutes ago, PinonNoir said:

Not sure if this is a mistake on the part of Oceania, but my PH2 booking on the Montreal-Boston cruise departing October 8th is actually now $1000 less per person under Simply More.  I'll take it if my TA can pull this off next 

Wow. Sounds like a steal or a misprint.  Grab it but check the fine print first.

[Astro Flyer]

My 15 day November 2024 “cruise only” price would increase by $500/pp. (no airfare, interior guarantee) with $1,000/cabin for tours and the beer/wine/champagne at lunch & dinner plan.

 

If we wanted $1,000 of tours then that drink plan would be free so it’d be a better deal. We have our first O cruise in September and SM is not an option…is that drink package currently $30/day/person? Doubt if we’d spend $1,000 on tours on our 2024 cruise but if we did SM would currently be beneficial to us.

 

[mamaclark]

8 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

working for me  on the CAD site

I should have been more clear. The website allowed me to search, etc., but not look at a particular cruises for pricing or availability. Thanks you.

[Flatbush Flyer]

53 minutes ago, Rainbow3fe said:

     Same with us.

      So far it's weird on 2 of my already booked.

Price for a 14 day B2 on Regatta is $2000 more pp, while 24 day PH2 on Vista is $900 more.  I don't get it.  Thankfully I have plenty of time.

 

Just looked at one future one. For 37 days BKK-TYO, the fare is $2500 more.

I’m a little uncertain about the tours. Current prices I’ve seen on someone’s cut and paste have replaced the YWYW price with SM price and it’s 25% less than retail. So, is the SM price allowing you to use X amount of your new tour credit up to 25% of the list price OR do you get the old YWYW 25% off for meeting a minimum purchase and then use your SM credit just like other SBC to reduce the price further???

If it’s the latter, SM would bottom line for us at $125 less than what we already paid for tours. If it’s the former, it would be terrible for us.

 

I also looked at the current cost of house select at $40 pp/day. For 37 days, that would be $2960. I’d never pay that. Rather, if I keep the current deal, I’d have the $2500 fare difference for booze (i.e., $67/day/per cabin). With three segments on that cruise, there’ll be plenty of free booze events and invited dinners. $67 for happy hour cocktails daily is fine.

so, either way (with the tour pricing uncertainty, we’re fine as is. But I sure would like to know how the tour credit will be applied (please no speculation - just comment if you know the straight scoop).

 

[ak1004]

26 minutes ago, Jayne E said:

It appears that the Simply More increases pp are all over the place. No continuity. Definitely not $400 pp verandah cabin for 10 day cruise as some have posted. 

 

It depends on the category and what you are comparing to.

 

If you compare to the price that you booked a year ago, then obviously the increase is more.

 

The only apples to apples comparison is comparing the current price to the price yesterday, for cruise only.

 

Here is a screenshot I took yesterday for two cruises next year.

 

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/mediterranean-cruises/venice-to-istanbul-VIS240501/

 

 

 

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/mediterranean-cruises/barcelona-to-lisbon-MNA241105/

 

 

 

As you can see, the increase is $550 CAD or $400 USD. Same for veranda and PH.

 

Edited July 1, 2023 by ak1004

[Acrusa]

We have 18 day carribean cruise this winter on Vista. Price went up $100 PP for SM A3 cabin.Cruise only fair went up $600 PP  Our air credit was $600 PP.We chose the $1000.00 OLIFE credit which would cover our 18 night's of bottle wine.more or less. If we take more then 2 excursion would be a lot for us in the Carribean.  I would think a more intensive port cruise might be better with SM.

Edited July 1, 2023 by Acrusa