NCLH Press Release on “Simply More”

[ak1004]

5 minutes ago, Bakingnana said:

This is all confusing…does anyone know what the new promotional fare (not the promo fare with air) includes? With O’life Choice one could get the amenities without the air and one could get cruise only without any amenities. Not sure if that is possible now and I cannot find any answer on Oceania’s site. 

 

If somehow you missed hundreds of posts on at least 5 different threads, all sailings now include drinks with meals and excursions credit.

[Bakingnana]

That I know….but for those of us who have pre booked cruises want to know what the promo fare is as I was told the SimplyMORE was for ‘New bookings only’ yet people are getting new invoices for prebooked cruises. Can one still get the promo fare with amenities without air or is the new promo fare no air and no amenities? Some people don’t want all the amenities nor the air….is that still an option? Just trying to understand the new wording of promo with air and promo fare and what is and isn’t included. As my TA said this is very confusing for people to understand and I do a LOT of research and the Oceania site either doesn’t have this answer and for other ?s their answers are 5 years old. 

[Vineyard View]

Our TA rebooked ours with Simply more no air. We received a credit for the air. We chose not to use that as we fly business class, using miles to upgrade. 

[EJL2023]

4 minutes ago, Bakingnana said:

That I know….but for those of us who have pre booked cruises want to know what the promo fare is as I was told the SimplyMORE was for ‘New bookings only’ yet people are getting new invoices for prebooked cruises. Can one still get the promo fare with amenities without air or is the new promo fare no air and no amenities? Some people don’t want all the amenities nor the air….is that still an option? Just trying to understand the new wording of promo with air and promo fare and what is and isn’t included. As my TA said this is very confusing for people to understand and I do a LOT of research and the Oceania site either doesn’t have this answer and for other ?s their answers are 5 years old. 

You can upgrade an existing booking to the Simply More with the noted amenities.  If you don’t want the air, you still get the new SimplyMore amenities.  Your cost will be what shows on their website as the Promotional fare without air column. I just upgraded an existing booking yesterday and for me it worked out much to my advantage. 

[Vineyard View]

We did the same. Switched our booking we made on 6/30 in anticipation of price increases. Yesterday we rebooked under SM no air and saved a good deal of money on that same cruise. We don’t do ship excursions but we still came out ahead by a lot!

[SellaVee]

3 minutes ago, Bakingnana said:

That I know….but for those of us who have pre booked cruises want to know what the promo fare is as I was told the SimplyMORE was for ‘New bookings only’ yet people are getting new invoices for prebooked cruises. Can one still get the promo fare with amenities without air or is the new promo fare no air and no amenities? Some people don’t want all the amenities nor the air….is that still an option? Just trying to understand the new wording of promo with air and promo fare and what is and isn’t included. As my TA said this is very confusing for people to understand and I do a LOT of research and the Oceania site either doesn’t have this answer and for other ?s their answers are 5 years old. 

Having you considered looking on the website for the new fare?

You can no longer get the O Life promo fares, if that's what you mean, but if that's what you’ve already booked you can, I believe, keep it, or you can choose to move to Simply More and pay any supplement that's required.

The (new) Simply More fare always comes with excursion credit and the basic drinks package. 
I learned all this by reading the very  many previous posts on this subject.  I might find it annoying that we have to pay for amenities we don’t want, but I don’t see that it's confusing.  It's been explained on her countless times!

[EJL2023]

1 minute ago, Vineyard View said:

We did the same. Switched our booking we made on 6/30 in anticipation of price increases. Yesterday we rebooked under SM no air and saved a good deal of money on that same cruise. We don’t do ship excursions but we still came out ahead by a lot!

Ours went up by $90 per person.  But we gained the $800 SBC for excursions and the second Wi-Fi…..we do a mix of shore excursions and dyi….so it worked out well for us on this particular cruise. On another one we will probably not change as we purchased it under the 20th Anniversary promo and while we would still be a couple of hundred dollars ahead, we like the flexibility of the SBC with the anniversary sale.  So, as everything there is not always an always encompassing answer.  It will vary by cruise and you just have to be willing to do the research and then make a decision best for you.  

[basor]

1 hour ago, Bakingnana said:

This is all confusing…does anyone know what the new promotional fare (not the promo fare with air) includes? With O’life Choice one could get the amenities without the air and one could get cruise only without any amenities. Not sure if that is possible now and I cannot find any answer on Oceania’s site. 

For bookings after 01JUL 2023 on cruises sailing after 01OCT 23 - 2 choices.....Simply More with air or without air....there no longer is a "cruise only like under OLife", no amenities to choose.  When you book now, you receive all the amenities listed 

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, Bakingnana said:

That I know….but for those of us who have pre booked cruises want to know what the promo fare is as I was told the SimplyMORE was for ‘New bookings only’ yet people are getting new invoices for prebooked cruises. Can one still get the promo fare with amenities without air or is the new promo fare no air and no amenities? Some people don’t want all the amenities nor the air….is that still an option? Just trying to understand the new wording of promo with air and promo fare and what is and isn’t included. As my TA said this is very confusing for people to understand and I do a LOT of research and the Oceania site either doesn’t have this answer and for other ?s their answers are 5 years old. 

Call your TA or Oceania REP  & ask   what your options are

[mariaboudreaux64]

With simplyMORE, can you use OBC in the shops on board the ship?

[shepherd really]

2 minutes ago, mariaboudreaux64 said:

With simplyMORE, can you use OBC in the shops on board the ship?

no, it can only be used for two reasons.

1. excursions

2. to increase Oceania's bottom line when you don't use it all.

[jazznruby]

23 minutes ago, shepherd really said:

no, it can only be used for two reasons.

1. excursions

2. to increase Oceania's bottom line when you don't use it all.

Sooo tired of your constant, sarcastic cynicism. Blocked.

[Bakingnana]

I will believe what Oceania posts in their terms and contracts so unless people have indepdently talked to an O person I am not sure what to believe. However, some of their policies on their site are very old.

 

Also, If one uses a TA an O rep will not talk to you! I know that from experience. 

[shepherd really]

6 minutes ago, jazznruby said:

Sooo tired of your constant, sarcastic cynicism. Blocked.

Your loss, bye bye. 😂

[AMHuntFerry]

4 hours ago, Bakingnana said:

That I know….but for those of us who have pre booked cruises want to know what the promo fare is as I was told the SimplyMORE was for ‘New bookings only’ yet people are getting new invoices for prebooked cruises. Can one still get the promo fare with amenities without air or is the new promo fare no air and no amenities? Some people don’t want all the amenities nor the air….is that still an option? Just trying to understand the new wording of promo with air and promo fare and what is and isn’t included. As my TA said this is very confusing for people to understand and I do a LOT of research and the Oceania site either doesn’t have this answer and for other ?s their answers are 5 years old. 

"Can one still get the promo fare with amenities without air"

Yes

"or is the new promo fare no air and no amenities? "

No - you always get SM amenities

"Some people don’t want all the amenities nor the air….is that still an option?"

No - the cruise only option that had no OLife (now SM) and no air does not exist at the present time; many have hope it will return eventually. Time will tell.

Sidenote, have you clicked on the "Legal" link at the bottom of the page? The T&C are in two places...the regular T&Cs and the Promo T&Cs.

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, mariaboudreaux64 said:

With simplyMORE, can you use OBC in the shops on board the ship?

depends on where the OBC came from

[Bakingnana]

Thanks for the ‘Legal’ link at the bottom of the page. Disn’t know it was there. Will certainly be reading it.

[osandomir]

7 hours ago, Bakingnana said:

This is all confusing…does anyone know what the new promotional fare (not the promo fare with air) includes? With O’life Choice one could get the amenities without the air and one could get cruise only without any amenities. Not sure if that is possible now and I cannot find any answer on Oceania’s site. 

With SM you can get the amenities without the air but you can’t get cruise only without any amenities.

[calicakes]

3 hours ago, shepherd really said:

no, it can only be used for two reasons.

1. excursions

2. to increase Oceania's bottom line when you don't use it all.

I looked at excursions for an upcoming cruise and I'mnot interested in any. I wanted snorkeling and there was nothing.

[MEFIowa]

18 minutes ago, calicakes said:

I looked at excursions for an upcoming cruise and I'm not interested in any. I wanted snorkeling and there was nothing.

So true, such mediocre tours/excursions. I looked at all of O's excursions for our 10 nights each on Riviera (W. Caribbean in 12/2021) and Sirena (E. Caribbean in 11/2022). I found ZERO that we were interested in. We did our own. Absolutely unimpressed with what we see for our 20 nights on Riviera in the Med (Oct-Nov 2023) so AGAIN, booking all our own.

 

For example, at the rather mediocre port Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, O had some beach time, city look arounds and a few more rather uneventful excursions. I do a quick Google search of the area to find they have the only full cable car up a mountain where a huge Jesus statue (like Rio) stands in a national park. So we do our own excursion that does the city tour but then takes us up top of the mountain by van. We walk the park, see Jesus, and get a fascinating cable car ride down. Amazing views. We were the only two from Sirena (630 passengers) who did it, the other two in the van (who also did their own excursions) did the beach time & city tour.

[osandomir]

1 hour ago, MEFIowa said:

So true, such mediocre tours/excursions. I looked at all of O's excursions for our 10 nights each on Riviera (W. Caribbean in 12/2021) and Sirena (E. Caribbean in 11/2022). I found ZERO that we were interested in. We did our own. Absolutely unimpressed with what we see for our 20 nights on Riviera in the Med (Oct-Nov 2023) so AGAIN, booking all our own.

 

For example, at the rather mediocre port Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, O had some beach time, city look arounds and a few more rather uneventful excursions. I do a quick Google search of the area to find they have the only full cable car up a mountain where a huge Jesus statue (like Rio) stands in a national park. So we do our own excursion that does the city tour but then takes us up top of the mountain by van. We walk the park, see Jesus, and get a fascinating cable car ride down. Amazing views. We were the only two from Sirena (630 passengers) who did it, the other two in the van (who also did their own excursions) did the beach time & city tour.

I think it’s hard to get really excited about any of Caribbean tours no matter if it’s through the ship or otherwise. We’re out for the ocean, good weather and some scenery when we go there. Most ports are easy to DIY. Don’t really need a tour, but it’s a good thing that most of the Caribbean cruises are under 10 days so we won’t lose a lot of money with SM even if we don’t want to go on the tour.

[Bone1]

I would just like to say - absolutely no one knows anything positively, 100% accurately, for sure what SimplyMORE covers/doesn’t cover except those that came up with the program at Oceania. I can almost guarantee you that even employees of Oceania can’t answer 100% of the questions here. I have seen a lot of different answers with: I believe, I did this or that, etc. but one needs to realize that it all depends on the cruise that these people are referring to. Just because someone can get a better price by changing a booked cruise to SM, doesn’t mean everyone will because not all cruises are affected by it the same way. Oceania hasn’t even upgraded their website yet on so many things; for example, FAQ, and some Terms and Conditions are not up to date. I believe this should have all been looked into before any major changes (i.e., SM) were rolled out.  Hopefully, we can all be a little more adult and keep our comments and patience with others’ questions/comments to ourselves. As they say, if you have nothing nice to say, don’t say it at all.  Just a thought. 

[DrHemlock]

15 hours ago, calicakes said:

I looked at excursions for an upcoming cruise and I'mnot interested in any. I wanted snorkeling and there was nothing.

We had the same problem on our Iceland-Greenland cruise last summer.  😎

[calicakes]

15 hours ago, osandomir said:

I think it’s hard to get really excited about any of Caribbean tours no matter if it’s through the ship or otherwise. We’re out for the ocean, good weather and some scenery when we go there. Most ports are easy to DIY. Don’t really need a tour, but it’s a good thing that most of the Caribbean cruises are under 10 days so we won’t lose a lot of money with SM even if we don’t want to go on the tour.

We always chose a snorkeling trip.

[Acrusa]

We have an automatic $250.00 OBC because we are Silver. With SM it becomes useless.