Shore excursions under Simply More

[LHT28]

57 minutes ago, the more ports the better said:

Lynn, you can download the Surfshark VPN app.  I think it’s $70 or so per year.  Any VPN will do.  It take a few seconds to download then you can tap on the city you want to show as your home.  In Ontario, you can tap on Chicago and the O website will show pricing as if you are in Chicago.  Then you can gauge whether the exchange rate is comparable to the bank rate.

 

I use this when we are out of the country and I need to look at US websites.  Actually, I keep it on always for privacy but that is another story.

I do not book ships tours

I used to ask  what the Oceania exchange rate was  when booking   but  they  seem to be close to bank rates   so just book in CAD now  & not worry about buying USD  to pay my USD VISA card

 

I was  actually trying  to give HARTERS   some suggestions  on how to see the USD pricing for tours 😉

 

[the more ports the better]

I am with you.  No ship excursions.  The new SM program is just wasted money for me.  I’ll book a small group catamaran excursion with O on islands like Santorini or Mykonos as they are a set number of people based on the size of the boat whether private or through O and it’s a fun to meet fellow passengers.  Sometimes if they have an “on your own” I’ll use their transport if the price is comparable and the timing works out.

 

Other than that, I avoid O excursions so we are paying simply more for no benefit.  I tried an O excursion last week as transportation was an issue and it made me realize again why we never book them.  It was herding cats with so much wasted time.

[pinotlover]

1 hour ago, the more ports the better said:

I am with you.  No ship excursions.  The new SM program is just wasted money for me.  I’ll book a small group catamaran excursion with O on islands like Santorini or Mykonos as they are a set number of people based on the size of the boat whether private or through O and it’s a fun to meet fellow passengers.  Sometimes if they have an “on your own” I’ll use their transport if the price is comparable and the timing works out.

 

Other than that, I avoid O excursions so we are paying simply more for no benefit.  I tried an O excursion last week as transportation was an issue and it made me realize again why we never book them.  It was herding cats with so much wasted time.

A significant reason for SM is to either replace customers like us, or just squeeze more money out of us.

 

It will be enlightening to see the new release of cruises in the next mon+. We’ll then be able to analyze the cost of this new Program without the sales gimmicks. Oceania may well successfully drive away current customers to make room for more profitable ones.

[Harters]

11 hours ago, LHT28 said:

I was  actually trying  to give HARTERS   some suggestions  on how to see the USD pricing for tours

And it was welcomed. Thanks. I've filed your idea away for when I have a bit more time. Of course, when I Google O, it comes up with the .com site but priced in sterling. Not sure how I'll get round that but I'll see. If not, I'll just assume an exchange rate and work to that - it won't be too far adrift. 

 

 

[Picklers]

On 8/3/2023 at 11:56 AM, Redtravel said:

We were slightly put off at first. We liked Olife. However, when we actually booked excursions, it was easy.  We got $1000 credit.  You can pick any of the listed excursions. You are not limited to those under $200.  You can pick very expensive tours and get few tours. You can pick less expensive tours and get more tours. You have a choice. Also, if you book the specified number of tours to get the 25% discount, you may get more bang for your credits.  We found selecting excursions to be easy.  
The only thing that annoys me about Simply More excursion credits is that there are some cruises that I don’t want tours.  We usually do a winter Caribbean cruise.  We have taken many tours over the years. Now we go for the warmth.  There are some ports that we never get off.  Last winter on a 2 week cruise, we stayed on the ship in 4 ports.  There were lots of people who did the same.  We are booked on Vista cruise only for winter 2024.  Going forward with Simply More not selling cruise only, we will likely look for other vacation options that sell cruise only.  

We have booked a 2024 cruise under Olife and are considering rebooking under simplymore. I can't figure out though how the 25% discount works. Do you know if it is only on the 5th and subsequent excursions that you get the discount, Or does it apply to all 5 (or more). 

[EJL2023]

8 minutes ago, Picklers said:

We have booked a 2024 cruise under Olife and are considering rebooking under simplymore. I can't figure out though how the 25% discount works. Do you know if it is only on the 5th and subsequent excursions that you get the discount, Or does it apply to all 5 (or more). 

It applies to ALL of the excursions.  The number needed depends on the cruise but assuming you already know for your particular cruise it is 5.  But once you hit that number, all excursions are with the 25% discount. 

[Redtravel]

22 minutes ago, Picklers said:

We have booked a 2024 cruise under Olife and are considering rebooking under simplymore. I can't figure out though how the 25% discount works. Do you know if it is only on the 5th and subsequent excursions that you get the discount, Or does it apply to all 5 (or more). 

The 25% discount works the same as Olife.  Each cruise has a set number of cruises that must be booked to get 25% discount.  If you book that number of excursions or more, you get the 25% off of all of your excursions.  For us booking the 6th tour kicked in the 25% discount.  If we had just booked 5 tours, it would’ve cost us more. Since everyone 

nicks different tours, it’s up to you to decide what benefits you.

[EJL2023]

12 minutes ago, EJL2023 said:

It applies to ALL of the excursions.  The number needed depends on the cruise but assuming you already know for your particular cruise it is 5.  But once you hit that number, all excursions are with the 25% discount. 

I should add that the 25% discount does not apply to the Private Executive Collection excursions. Those would be at the full list price.

[LHT28]

5 hours ago, Harters said:

And it was welcomed. Thanks. I've filed your idea away for when I have a bit more time. Of course, when I Google O, it comes up with the .com site but priced in sterling. Not sure how I'll get round that but I'll see. If not, I'll just assume an exchange rate and work to that - it won't be too far adrift. 

 

 

I have the same problem

Without a VPN  the darn computer  knows where I live 🙂

[LHT28]

5 hours ago, Harters said:

And it was welcomed. Thanks. I've filed your idea away for when I have a bit more time. Of course, when I Google O, it comes up with the .com site but priced in sterling. Not sure how I'll get round that but I'll see. If not, I'll just assume an exchange rate and work to that - it won't be too far adrift. 

 

 

Maybe someone on your roll call will have a copy of the PDF  they could email it to you

 

[Harters]

12 hours ago, LHT28 said:

Maybe someone on your roll call will have a copy of the PDF  they could email it to you

 

Good idea, LHT. Based on asking the roll call suggestion, I've actually just asked there if someone with access to the USD priced website could tell me the prices of a couple of excursions. That should tell me what exchange rate O is using. 

[Harters]

Thanks again for the idea. Reply on the roll call within minutes. Answer to my question is that there's an approx 18% numerical difference. - an excursion priced to me at £50, is priced at $59. 

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, Harters said:

Thanks again for the idea. Reply on the roll call within minutes. Answer to my question is that there's an approx 18% numerical difference. - an excursion priced to me at £50, is priced at $59. 

well you now have  an idea of prices

[pinotlover]

The market moves daily, however Oceania often hedges and sets its exchange rates for tours a year in advance. Sometimes the exchange rates appear very good, other times not.

[Harters]

2 hours ago, pinotlover said:

Sometimes the exchange rates appear very good, other times not.

It is what it is. Certainly a rate set by a vendor is always intended to be to their advantage.  

Edited August 7, 2023 by Harters

[jonthomas]

Yes had the same issue, only saw prices in CAD...

 

So got a VPN...now easy to see US prices...

It's easy to do...very little cost.

[Harters]

In the several hours since I posted, the issue has gone away. This upcoming booking has now found its way from our TA to our account with O. Where the $1000 has been converted by them to £778, so everything now ties together. Obviously depends on what sort of excursions we decide on, but it looks as though we should be OK for three or four of the fairly basic ones.

[bassethounddog]

I have a SM booking with an $800 Shore excursion credit. I have booked 3 excursions so far to use up the credit. Yesterday I tried adding a 4th one online. The price came up in cart as $0 tour price for each of us (Shore Excursion Total $0). However, the cart total was $298 ($149 twice). I called O just now thinking that perhaps this is the 25% discount??? The O rep said my cruise doesn’t offer the 25% discount and the online number must be a glitch when they switched from OL to SM. Anyone else have this issue? 

[EJL2023]

21 minutes ago, bassethounddog said:

I have a SM booking with an $800 Shore excursion credit. I have booked 3 excursions so far to use up the credit. Yesterday I tried adding a 4th one online. The price came up in cart as $0 tour price for each of us (Shore Excursion Total $0). However, the cart total was $298 ($149 twice). I called O just now thinking that perhaps this is the 25% discount??? The O rep said my cruise doesn’t offer the 25% discount and the online number must be a glitch when they switched from OL to SM. Anyone else have this issue? 

Did you receive the Excursions pdf with your booking documents?  If so, check the document, it should state under the Simply More pricing of the minimum number of excursions needed to receive the 25% discount if applicable. And we also had issues with pricing when booking our excursions online.  We called and the O rep did them all for us and it was priced as we thought it would be. 

Edited August 9, 2023 by EJL2023

[AMHuntFerry]

32 minutes ago, bassethounddog said:

I have a SM booking with an $800 Shore excursion credit. I have booked 3 excursions so far to use up the credit. Yesterday I tried adding a 4th one online. The price came up in cart as $0 tour price for each of us (Shore Excursion Total $0). However, the cart total was $298 ($149 twice). I called O just now thinking that perhaps this is the 25% discount??? The O rep said my cruise doesn’t offer the 25% discount and the online number must be a glitch when they switched from OL to SM. Anyone else have this issue? 

Which cruise is it (date & ship is good)? Sometimes the short cruises (~7 day) don't get the 25% discount.

Oh, and the cart has always been glitchy. Go ahead and fill the cart, but call to purchase, then get the itemized pdf showing price paid for each and discounts.

Edited August 9, 2023 by AMHuntFerry

[bassethounddog]

11 minutes ago, EJL2023 said:

Did you receive the Excursions pdf with your booking documents?  If so, check the document, it should state under the Simply More pricing of the minimum number of excursions needed to receive the 25% discount if applicable. And we also had issues with pricing when booking our excursions online.  We called and the O rep did them all for us and it was priced as we thought it would be. 

Thank you. No, I didn’t receive an Excursion PDF with my booking, but I will request it now. The O Rep tried entering the new excursion for me, but the $298 total showed up on her end. That’s why she said it must be a glitch…. Something about the change from OL to SM. Funny thing is that the math worked out to the 25% discount once all 4 excursions priced together. First 3 were already purchased with the $800 credit and a little cash. 

[bassethounddog]

1 minute ago, AMHuntFerry said:

Which cruise is it (date & ship is good)? Sometimes the short cruises (~7 day) don't get the 25% discount.

11 night cruise Caribbean Vista 1/31- 2/11/2024. I mentioned that to the O Rep, too. 

[AMHuntFerry]

3 minutes ago, bassethounddog said:

11 night cruise Caribbean Vista 1/31- 2/11/2024. I mentioned that to the O Rep, too. 

Huh, your cruise is showing "N/A" in the 25% discount column. When you get your "Pre-Purchased Shore excursions and Onboard Items" pdf (not to be confused with the "Pre-Selected_Tours" pdf with fewer details) you will be able to see if you received any discounts.

If there is no 25% discount for your cruise, you may want to look at the price of the Unlimited shorex package. In the past it has been about $110 x number of ports (not em-/disem-bark ports), so maybe $660? The price will be in the shorex pdf you've asked for. If you get the Ultimate shorex package then some of the shorex have an additional charge (listed in the righmost "Unlimited" column) and others are no-extra-charge (listed as "N/A" which = $0). If you're lucky, you can take two in one day if the timing works (which is a rarity).

[bassethounddog]

6 minutes ago, AMHuntFerry said:

Huh, your cruise is showing "N/A" in the 25% discount column. When you get your "Pre-Purchased Shore excursions and Onboard Items" pdf (not to be confused with the "Pre-Selected_Tours" pdf with fewer details) you will be able to see if you received any discounts.

If there is no 25% discount for your cruise, you may want to look at the price of the Unlimited shorex package. In the past it has been about $110 x number of ports (not em-/disem-bark ports), so maybe $660? The price will be in the shorex pdf you've asked for. If you get the Ultimate shorex package then some of the shorex have an additional charge (listed in the righmost "Unlimited" column) and others are no-extra-charge (listed as "N/A" which = $0). If you're lucky, you can take two in one day if the timing works (which is a rarity).

Thank you for trying to help me. O just sent me the Excursions PDF. It doesn’t look like  a SM Shore Excursion Package is offered for my cruise. 

[AMHuntFerry]

8 minutes ago, bassethounddog said:

Thank you for trying to help me. O just sent me the Excursions PDF. It doesn’t look like  a SM Shore Excursion Package is offered for my cruise. 

Very weird not to have the Ultimate shorex package. I wonder if the pdf for people with OLife has Ultimate available. The website lists prices in the Ultimate column and N/As in the 25% column:

If the Ultimate shorex package interests you (typically pays off if you do shorex in every port), you can ask. If you are satisfied with your current purchases, then have a great time!

 

Edited August 9, 2023 by AMHuntFerry