Simply more's impact on current bookings?

[Jayne E]

8 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

 

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.

 

I booked one month ago. It is now $900 pp more. Don’t tell me I booked a year ago. I know what I see.  The increases are not uniform as I expected.  However, the cost of SM excursions are less than initial prices.  For those who booked OLife excursions, need to do the math as to what comes out better, should your cost only be increased a few hundred. 
Our $1,800 increase is a no brainer to stay with cruise only. 
haven’t looked at remainder of booked cruises yet but prob more of the same.

Edited July 1, 2023 by Jayne E
Typo

[ak1004]

16 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

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.

 

 

 

If you click on the question mark near "Simply More Shore Excursion Package", it still says "Minimum of 5 excursions for 25% off"

 

[1985rz1]

33 minutes ago, Astro Flyer said:

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.

 

I believe that SimplyMore also includes a second WiFi account, which would have cost about $25 per day under the old OLife program, if that is of interest to you.

[YourWorldWithBill]

The price of my 10-day cruise in November in the category "OLife with airfare" is exactly the same as the new "promotional fare with airfare". 

 

The price of the "promotional fare" in the new structure, however, is an amazing $1,300 more than the "cruise only" in the original booking!

 

When I made the booking in March, however, O was combining the three options as an anniversary sale under OLife, so I got all three: Shipboard credit, excursion credit, as well as the beverage package. Once in a while you get a break. In any case, at first glance we're ok with the new structure, as we tend to use the excursions.

 

By the way, @ak1004, just to add to your previous discussion about Viking, although we liked the line, we're happily ready for O. Viking has a great atmosphere, but they have only two specialty restaurants, and you get a limited number of times in them, depending on the length of the cruise. There's the limited free excursion options, as discussed, and although many don't like casinos, for those of us that do it's one more point. O just has more. 

[ak1004]

2 minutes ago, YourWorldWithBill said:

 

By the way, @ak1004, just to add to your previous discussion about Viking, although we liked the line, we're happily ready for O. Viking has a great atmosphere, but they have only two specialty restaurants, and you get a limited number of times in them, depending on the length of the cruise. There's the limited free excursion options, as discussed, and although many don't like casinos, for those of us that do it's one more point. O just has more. 

 

And this is unfortunate, personally I'm not loyal to any cruise line and like to have more options. But based on the info we have now, we won't be booking Viking anytime soo..

 

That said, while I consider the SM increase reasonable considering what you get, the new pricing in some cases gets dangerously close to SB and SS. And lets face it, I love O, but with similar pricing, I would book SB or SS (given the right itinerary of course).

[basor]

42 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

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).

 

As I understand, O has continued the YWYW discounts and your SM shore excursion credit is a credit off the pricing after YWYW

[goletans]

I was able to check 4 of our 7 booked cruises. One increased $400 pp, two increased $100 pp, and one decreased $100 pp.

 

We are wondering if we would be able to keep our Free pre and post land tours we got duing the Free Land offer.

[basor]

2 minutes ago, goletans said:

I was able to check 4 of our 7 booked cruises. One increased $400 pp, two increased $100 pp, and one decreased $100 pp.

 

We are wondering if we would be able to keep our Free pre and post land tours we got duing the Free Land offer.

I doubt it, but you never know......if you switch to Simply More, it is the current pricing and perks.  We have several booked under the Extraordinary Savings and assume we would lose the large OBC from that promotion.  I need to sit down and figure out the bottom line.  I am sure in the next few weeks, the finer details will emerge and allow us to make our decisions.  These are for sailings in the Fall 2024 so can wait for the dust to settle and see what happens. 

[WESTEAST]

12 minutes ago, basor said:

As I understand, O has continued the YWYW discounts and your SM shore excursion credit is a credit off the pricing after YWYW

Checked our booked 2024 cruise and it still shows our free Land Tour under Land Programs (O invoice states Promo with 0.00 charge) and under Shore Excursions states the same minimum to obtain the 25% off. Haven't compared individual Shore Excursion prices.

 

 

 

[LHT28]

9 minutes ago, WESTEAST said:

Checked our booked 2024 cruise and it still shows our free Land Tour under Land Programs (O invoice states Promo with 0.00 charge) and under Shore Excursions states the same minimum to obtain the 25% off. Haven't compared individual Shore Excursion prices.

 

 

Did you upgrade today to the Simply More deal?

[vtgumby]

5 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

 

Speaking of hostile..

 

"my portfolio was down $10k today"

Is it a lot?

Yes it is if your portfolio is $50k.

No it's not if your portfolio is $10M.

 

Posting partial information without proper context doesn't allow people to understand the real increase. That's my point. 

The ‘real’ increase is 2k (actually 2200) more than we did pay and would have spent. Easy peasy and it doesn’t require number crunching to make it into a good deal for stuff we don’t want. I know that’s how you did it for your cruises, making it a deal for yourself (and congrats) but that doesn’t work for us.
Sorry that’s difficult for you to understand but even if it were a 50 day cruise it wouldn’t matter, we have a price point and the SM prices exceeded it. 
That’s my point.

Happy Canada Day by the way.

[dock]

Checked our Vista Athens- Istanbul July 2024.

PH3 increased by C$ 3668 for the cabin. 
 

We won’t be changing as we don’t drink alcohol, will use some ship excursions to use  up some OBC  but in general prefer private.

 

We also use miles to travel and their up charges for Biz pp each way from YYZ is quite substantial.
 

As long as it’s not mandatory to change to Simply More we will still sail O as I’m looking forward to trying out the line. 
 

[WildWanderers]

By my calculations, it is worth our while to move to SimplyMore on our 5 post-October cruises if we keep our bonus discount/person and Oceania club savings/person and onboard booking savings/person (all listed on various invoices)...meaning that they would be subtracted from the SimplyMore price listed. 

 

Has anyone read anything that suggests we keep or lose these?

 

Otherwise sticking with OLife is better.

 

Cheers,

Greg from Gatineau, Québec

[WildWanderers]

Hello to Dock from Canada,

We too are on Turkish Ovation.  We paid 16,288 CAD for our PH1, now going for 18,298 on SimplyMore.  However, if we get to apply our 2x $905 Oceania club savings (built into the 16,288), then we would have to pay an additional $210 for SimplyMore, but with that would get an additional wifi and some excursions, which would cost much more than $210.

Intéressant, eh?

 

Happy Canada Day!

Greg from Gatineau, Québec

[Orator]

Let's see who criticizes or complains once the pricing of SimplyMore is released. Just look at Celebrity's prices once they started Always Included, especially for Suites. They have amended their program to included AI only for Aqua Class and above. Many found Oceania as a result of the significant rise in price, including me.

[LHT28]

1 minute ago, Orator said:

Let's see who criticizes or complains once the pricing of SimplyMore is released.

It was released today   the complaining has already begun 🙂

[ak1004]

2 minutes ago, WildWanderers said:

Hello to Dock from Canada,

We too are on Turkish Ovation.  We paid 16,288 CAD for our PH1, now going for 18,298 on SimplyMore.  However, if we get to apply our 2x $905 Oceania club savings (built into the 16,288), then we would have to pay an additional $210 for SimplyMore, but with that would get an additional wifi and some excursions, which would cost much more than $210.

Intéressant, eh?

 

Happy Canada Day!

Greg from Gatineau, Québec

 

This is probably pretty typical, maybe slightly more, but for some reason people cannot do a simple math. Criticizing is always more popular..

[dock]

@WildWanderers seems like it would work out great for you then.

 

Im happy with the original price I paid and with the huge OBC from O and another great amount from TA as well .

 

Im waiting for Allura prices to be released and may very well still be fine with O but for now am not inclined to make any changes to our current booking. 
 

I just prefer to be in charge of my own air and excursions at this point. 

[ak1004]

28 minutes ago, vtgumby said:

The ‘real’ increase is 2k (actually 2200) more than we did pay and would have spent. Easy peasy and it doesn’t require number crunching to make it into a good deal for stuff we don’t want. I know that’s how you did it for your cruises, making it a deal for yourself (and congrats) but that doesn’t work for us.
Sorry that’s difficult for you to understand but even if it were a 50 day cruise it wouldn’t matter, we have a price point and the SM prices exceeded it. 
That’s my point.

Happy Canada Day by the way.

 

Actually no.. my comparison was with yesterday prices, not the prices I paid a year ago. So I'm staying with my original booking too because the new prices are more than $1,000 CAD higher compared to what I paid.

 

But you are still missing my point. I understand that your new price is more and you are not switching. But some of us are trying to gather more information to understand what is the real increase per day, as this is the only thing that matters when people book cruises.

[Rainbow3fe]

30 minutes ago, WildWanderers said:

By my calculations, it is worth our while to move to SimplyMore on our 5 post-October cruises if we keep our bonus discount/person and Oceania club savings/person and onboard booking savings/person (all listed on various invoices)...meaning that they would be subtracted from the SimplyMore price listed. 

 

Has anyone read anything that suggests we keep or lose these?

 

Otherwise sticking with OLife is better.

 

Cheers,

Greg from Gatineau, Québec

I cannot answer directly for your cruise but  we took advantage of tbe Memorial Day sale. We should have saved $1700 pp but it came out to $900 pp because we lost an $800 pp bonus. . I recommend working directly on your specific  cruisewhen as someone said, ""when the dust settles".

[Vineyard View]

3 hours ago, Rainbow3fe said:

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. 

Thank you. I just hope the pricing on Monday when our TA is back in the office is the same as this morning. I was surprised. 
we generally use miles to upgrade - does so allow upgrades if you pay the difference, or it the coach booking class used unable to do this? 

Edited July 1, 2023 by Vineyard View

[Orator]

The price of my 12 day cruise on Vista with a cruise only price costs $1000 pp more with SimplyMore.

Not worth to me since I cannot drink alcohol and I don't take excursions. I've been to all the ports many, many times. That's me, you will decide for yourself based on your preferences.

Edited July 1, 2023 by Orator

[PinonNoir]

4 hours 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 week!

I can't edit my post so I am quoting my own post....hate that.  Regardless, I made a mistake in my comparison of the rates (looking at rates with Air versus without).  Still, the Simply More rate on this cruise appears to be $500 less per person than what I have already paid. 

 

One interesting note is my original invoice shows an Air Credit of $500/person.  The new rates for the same cruise show the Air Credit is now $700/person.

 

Also interesting that I received an Oceania brochure in the mail today with the Simply More details and rates.  They have their mailer timing down to a science.

[AMHuntFerry]

23 minutes ago, PinonNoir said:

I can't edit my post so I am quoting my own post....hate that.  Regardless, I made a mistake in my comparison of the rates (looking at rates with Air versus without).  Still, the Simply More rate on this cruise appears to be $500 less per person than what I have already paid. 

 

One interesting note is my original invoice shows an Air Credit of $500/person.  The new rates for the same cruise show the Air Credit is now $700/person.

 

Also interesting that I received an Oceania brochure in the mail today with the Simply More details and rates.  They have their mailer timing down to a science.

The most recent non-sale fares that I have (in my gigantic 2023 catalog) expired March 30th, but here's what I see for your cruise in PH2 (all $ per person unless noted):

OLife w/airfare = $10,249

Cruise only (no air no OLife) = $9,449 (so w/Olife @ $600/cabin = $9,749)

SimplyMore fares:

w/air = $10,849

no air = $10,149

So, I see that the air difference has gone from $500 up to $700.

But, I do not see the discount. Did you pay more than $10,149 for OLife (no air)?

 

[osandomir]

6 hours ago, Rainbow3fe said:

 

 

6 hours ago, Sebbiesgrammy said:

 

 

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.

 

How did you know that 25% discount Excursion package is gone? Anyone else can confirm that or otherwise. I’d suspect that it’s too early now to know, but it would make a difference for the future bookings under Simply more using the Excursion credits.

Edited July 1, 2023 by osandomir