zteamtwo Posted August 18, 2023 #1 Share Posted August 18, 2023 I think I figured out the way that Oceania handles the $800 excursion allowance (or any higher amount). This is under the new "Simply More" booking procedure. You can go ahead and book excursions well before your sailing and when you look at an excursion, it will show 2 prices. One is the regular price and the other is a 25% discount price. When you book, then Oceania will automatically charge you the higher price. THEN, once you get to 4 excursions, the computer should charge you the lower price for each excursion. The game they are playing is "let's give the *****, $800 excursion credits and make it mandatory to select at least 4 excursions". The hope is you will go way over $800, even with the lower price and then you will owe money!!!! ***** ( fill-in any word you want!!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare 1985rz1 Posted August 18, 2023 #2 Share Posted August 18, 2023 (edited) 28 minutes ago, zteamtwo said: I think I figured out the way that Oceania handles the $800 excursion allowance (or any higher amount). This is under the new "Simply More" booking procedure. You can go ahead and book excursions well before your sailing and when you look at an excursion, it will show 2 prices. One is the regular price and the other is a 25% discount price. When you book, then Oceania will automatically charge you the higher price. THEN, once you get to 4 excursions, the computer should charge you the lower price for each excursion. The game they are playing is "let's give the *****, $800 excursion credits and make it mandatory to select at least 4 excursions". The hope is you will go way over $800, even with the lower price and then you will owe money!!!! ***** ( fill-in any word you want!!) It's no different than the original OLife excursion pricing. You would get 4 (for example) included tours with OLife (for which you paid $100 per excursion in the OLife fare). and once you reached a specified higher number number you would get a 25% discount. under SM, you get a fixed $ amount for excursions, but when you reach a specified number of tours you get the 25% discount. It was called the Your World Collection under OLife and the Simply More Package under SM. Edited August 18, 2023 by 1985rz1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted August 18, 2023 #3 Share Posted August 18, 2023 I think you just book the excursions you want (any price point) click on the SM pricing You do not have to stick to the lower priced ones as with O life once you use up the Excursion credit amount $800 pp in your case) the balance goes on your CC Do they offer 25% discount with SM? The website still shows O Life while people still have that option maybe that is where the 25% comes into play It will be an interesting 2 yrs unless they make everyone take the SM at some future dye JMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EJL2023 Posted August 18, 2023 #4 Share Posted August 18, 2023 6 minutes ago, LHT28 said: I think you just book the excursions you want (any price point) click on the SM pricing You do not have to stick to the lower priced ones as with O life once you use up the Excursion credit amount $800 pp in your case) the balance goes on your CC Do they offer 25% discount with SM? The website still shows O Life while people still have that option maybe that is where the 25% comes into play It will be an interesting 2 yrs unless they make everyone take the SM at some future dye JMO Yes, they offer the 25% discount with SM. We’ve already booked a cruise and used the SM Shore excursion credits and received the discount after hitting our minimum requirement. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare 1985rz1 Posted August 18, 2023 #5 Share Posted August 18, 2023 12 minutes ago, LHT28 said: I think you just book the excursions you want (any price point) click on the SM pricing You do not have to stick to the lower priced ones as with O life once you use up the Excursion credit amount $800 pp in your case) the balance goes on your CC Do they offer 25% discount with SM? The website still shows O Life while people still have that option maybe that is where the 25% comes into play It will be an interesting 2 yrs unless they make everyone take the SM at some future dye JMO Yes, there is an SM Package that kicks in at a specified number of excursions, jut like the OLife YWC package. We've taken advantage of it on an upcoming cruise for which we switched to SM because of the Summer sale. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Banti Posted August 18, 2023 #6 Share Posted August 18, 2023 Do both people have to book the minimum number of tours to get the 25% reduction? My husband booked the minimum, but I have not, and he has not been given the reduction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare judi666 Posted August 18, 2023 #7 Share Posted August 18, 2023 On my cruise, I had to do 6 SM excursions to get the lower price. I did 6, one is in Maui, so I would think not going to happen by March. Who knows how that will work out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmatawan Posted August 18, 2023 #8 Share Posted August 18, 2023 51 minutes ago, judi666 said: On my cruise, I had to do 6 SM excursions to get the lower price. I did 6, one is in Maui, so I would think not going to happen by March. Who knows how that will work out. You will get a refund to your account of the credit for the canceled excursion and you will be given the opportunity to use your credit at another port. If your credit remains unused, it has no value. If you get a refund to your credit card, your shore excursions will be repriced without the 25% discount and you may owe $. Doesn't sound fair, especially if other excursions are sold out or if there are no other ports to book, but that's what O told me. If anyone knows if it's handled differently, please correct me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zteamtwo Posted August 19, 2023 Author #9 Share Posted August 19, 2023 Regarding the choosing of the minimum of 4 excursions for the "Simply More" allowance, pick all of your 4 excursions at once. We made 2 choices one day and then 2 more the next day. We were charged the wrong amount for 2 of the cruises. Had to call Oceania. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PSR Posted August 22, 2023 #10 Share Posted August 22, 2023 On 8/19/2023 at 1:39 PM, zteamtwo said: Regarding the choosing of the minimum of 4 excursions for the "Simply More" allowance, pick all of your 4 excursions at once. We made 2 choices one day and then 2 more the next day. We were charged the wrong amount for 2 of the cruises. Had to call Oceania. You are correct. I just tried to add 3 shorex to my previous 2 already booked and they were charged as if I only had the 3, not the previous 2, so no discount (we have to have 5 booked). I was just experimenting, so I quickly deleted the 3. Our trip isn't for another year, but I wanted to test your experience. I hope they correct this soon. Don't know why they can't just add the new selections to your old ones...Guess the programming for the new SM is not quite ready for prime time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare daydreamer62 Posted August 22, 2023 #11 Share Posted August 22, 2023 I'm assuming the minimum number for the simply more discount is per person not per cabin. Would I be correct? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zteamtwo Posted August 22, 2023 Author #12 Share Posted August 22, 2023 I believe each person must book a minimum of 4 excursions for the new Simply More package. You have a total of $800 to spend (or whatever your amount is). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMHuntFerry Posted August 22, 2023 #13 Share Posted August 22, 2023 (edited) 48 minutes ago, zteamtwo said: I believe each person must book a minimum of 4 excursions for the new Simply More package. You have a total of $800 to spend (or whatever your amount is). @daydreamer62The minimum varies by cruise length, and is not always available on some (usually shorter <10 day) cruises. And yes, the minimum is per person. Edited August 22, 2023 by AMHuntFerry 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare 1985rz1 Posted August 22, 2023 #14 Share Posted August 22, 2023 2 hours ago, zteamtwo said: I believe each person must book a minimum of 4 excursions for the new Simply More package. You have a total of $800 to spend (or whatever your amount is). The number of excursions needed for the SM package depend on cruise length and number of ports, so it varies. The number is per person. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare terry&mike Posted August 23, 2023 #15 Share Posted August 23, 2023 14 hours ago, 1985rz1 said: The number of excursions needed for the SM package depend on cruise length and number of ports, so it varies. The number is per person. I wonder how many excursions would be the minimum needed for the 25% discount on a 35 night sailing with 24 days in port. Does anyone have a rough guess based on past experience? Our sailing is in 2025 and doesn't have this information yet, so I was trying to get a general idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare 1985rz1 Posted August 23, 2023 #16 Share Posted August 23, 2023 4 hours ago, terry&mike said: I wonder how many excursions would be the minimum needed for the 25% discount on a 35 night sailing with 24 days in port. Does anyone have a rough guess based on past experience? Our sailing is in 2025 and doesn't have this information yet, so I was trying to get a general idea. I don’t know tha algorithm. I usually find out the number when the pdf of the excursions is emailed to us by our TA about 1 year before the sailing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Harters Posted August 24, 2023 #17 Share Posted August 24, 2023 On 8/18/2023 at 7:05 PM, LHT28 said: once you use up the Excursion credit amount $800 pp in your case) the balance goes on your CC Does this mean I need to lodge a credit card with O at the point of booking excursions? Is there somewhere on O's website that I do this? Reason for asking is I've been trying to book excursions to use up my £778 credit ($1000). I've been able to book two excursions with no problem, leaving me with a credit of £162. Tried to book a third excursion which costs more than £162 and the system won't accept it. My guess is that this must be related to the need to pay the balance somehow. Or is it? Any advice please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted August 24, 2023 #18 Share Posted August 24, 2023 25 minutes ago, Harters said: Does this mean I need to lodge a credit card with O at the point of booking excursions? Is there somewhere on O's website that I do this? Reason for asking is I've been trying to book excursions to use up my £778 credit ($1000). I've been able to book two excursions with no problem, leaving me with a credit of £162. Tried to book a third excursion which costs more than £162 and the system won't accept it. My guess is that this must be related to the need to pay the balance somehow. Or is it? Any advice please? When you go to check out of the cart does it not give you an option for your CC Info?? I have only booked the cooking classes that was before you could use OBC though I do not book excursion so have no idea I would call O or if you have a TA get them to book the excursion for you JMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Harters Posted August 24, 2023 #19 Share Posted August 24, 2023 2 minutes ago, LHT28 said: When you go to check out of the cart does it not give you an option for your CC Info?? It didnt display the third excursion in the cart. But, nope, no CC option. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EJL2023 Posted August 24, 2023 #20 Share Posted August 24, 2023 59 minutes ago, Harters said: Does this mean I need to lodge a credit card with O at the point of booking excursions? Is there somewhere on O's website that I do this? Reason for asking is I've been trying to book excursions to use up my £778 credit ($1000). I've been able to book two excursions with no problem, leaving me with a credit of £162. Tried to book a third excursion which costs more than £162 and the system won't accept it. My guess is that this must be related to the need to pay the balance somehow. Or is it? Any advice please? Honestly, with excursions I would just decide which ones you want and then call Oceania to book them, much easier. We messed around for about a half our for an upcoming cruise to book them online. Some would not go to the cart, and also pricing was not including the 25% discount. Called them and all done in 5 minutes. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ldtr Posted August 24, 2023 #21 Share Posted August 24, 2023 On 8/18/2023 at 10:05 AM, LHT28 said: I think you just book the excursions you want (any price point) click on the SM pricing You do not have to stick to the lower priced ones as with O life once you use up the Excursion credit amount $800 pp in your case) the balance goes on your CC Do they offer 25% discount with SM? The website still shows O Life while people still have that option maybe that is where the 25% comes into play It will be an interesting 2 yrs unless they make everyone take the SM at some future dye JMO Even under the old booking terms one can get the 25% discount by booking the required number of excursions. The 25% discount gets the price more in line with other cruise lines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Harters Posted August 25, 2023 #22 Share Posted August 25, 2023 Thanks LHT & EJL. We need to contact our TA about a couple of other things, so will ask her if she is able to book this for us. I'm guessing O has a glitch on its UK version website. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EJL2023 Posted August 25, 2023 #23 Share Posted August 25, 2023 1 minute ago, Harters said: Thanks LHT & EJL. We need to contact our TA about a couple of other things, so will ask her if she is able to book this for us. I'm guessing O has a glitch on its UK version website. No problem, and I’m in the US, so the glitch is not just on the UK website. They include all of us sometimes! 😃 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Harters Posted August 25, 2023 #24 Share Posted August 25, 2023 My apologies - I'd failed to take note of your location. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRGACRUZR Posted September 29, 2023 #25 Share Posted September 29, 2023 (edited) On 8/18/2023 at 1:27 PM, zteamtwo said: I think I figured out the way that Oceania handles the $800 excursion allowance (or any higher amount). This is under the new "Simply More" booking procedure. You can go ahead and book excursions well before your sailing and when you look at an excursion, it will show 2 prices. One is the regular price and the other is a 25% discount price. When you book, then Oceania will automatically charge you the higher price. THEN, once you get to 4 excursions, the computer should charge you the lower price for each excursion. The game they are playing is "let's give the *****, $800 excursion credits and make it mandatory to select at least 4 excursions". The hope is you will go way over $800, even with the lower price and then you will owe money!!!! ***** ( fill-in any word you want!!) AND......despite it being advertised and listed as $800 per stateroom, it can only be spent as $400 per passenger, not combinable to purchase a single priced excursion that covers multiple passengers. As a new O cruiser, I'm finding their advertising to be extremely deceptive. It took me 2 days to locate the fine print to qualify the free Champsigne, wine and beer as only available at lunch and dinner. I feel like I need to keep my hand on my wallet as I navigate our initial experience with Oceania. Edited September 29, 2023 by MRGACRUZR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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