Simply More credits will be simply less as of 1/1/24

[elbowroom]

Let's hope it's not too much of an "ouch." The figures at the start of this thread were disappointing but, at first glance, not so radical as I had expected. Let's wait and see.

[AMHuntFerry]

1 hour ago, BEEZLEE said:

Unfortunately, when we wake up tomorrow on Jan 1st we will see a reduction is SM Credits…expecting a huge backlash…not the way to kick-off the new year…OUCH !

Until the wave season sales hits and we can recoup our "losses" 🙂

[FetaCheese]

Cruise I'm interested in is again on sale... New Year sale, 10% O club savings, SM.  Shorex credit reduced $200 per cabin.  Ship entirely wait listed, so don't understand why it's offered with above sales.

 

Fare has changed often, and can't remember last price, but I think it's up about $200pp.

 

Also don't know if discounts combinable, or avail with Future Cruise Deposit Cert.

 

O pricing still difficult to understand.

[edgee]

1 minute ago, FetaCheese said:

Cruise I'm interested in is again on sale... New Year sale, 10% O club savings, SM.  Shorex credit reduced $200 per cabin.  Ship entirely wait listed, so don't understand why it's offered with above sales.

 

Fare has changed often, and can't remember last price, but I think it's up about $200pp.

 

Also don't know if discounts combinable, or avail with Future Cruise Deposit Cert.

 

O pricing still difficult to understand.

And given complexities of discounting and pricing, that's the way they like it!

[Sthrngary]

17 hours ago, FetaCheese said:

Cruise I'm interested in is again on sale... New Year sale, 10% O club savings, SM.  Shorex credit reduced $200 per cabin.  Ship entirely wait listed, so don't understand why it's offered with above sales.

 

Fare has changed often, and can't remember last price, but I think it's up about $200pp.

 

Also don't know if discounts combinable, or avail with Future Cruise Deposit Cert.

 

O pricing still difficult to understand.

@FetaCheese It does tend to be very confusing and that is why when a sale does come up, that is available to one of the cruises I am booked or would like to book; I always ask my Travel Agent to get involved.  This is the major lesson I learned last year.  What you see is not always what is available.  I also, go to a site I can't mention to look at their prices and often times the real price is there.

 

On the Wait List Issue, that is a bit nuts but stranger things have happened.  I hope you get the itinerary you are looking for.  I hope my booked cruise for 2025 has a four category upgrade. FYI, the cruise I booked on the ship two months ago price just went up, the Excursion Credits went down.  

 

Thank you for your great review on Viking.  Love reading it and all the comments.

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

[FetaCheese]

28 minutes ago, Sthrngary said:

@FetaCheese It does tend to be very confusing and that is why when a sale does come up, that is available to one of the cruises I am booked or would like to book; I always ask my Travel Agent to get involved.  This is the major lesson I learned last year.  What you see is not always what is available.  I also, go to a site I can't mention to look at their prices and often times the real price is there.

 

On the Wait List Issue, that is a bit nuts but stranger things have happened.  I hope you get the itinerary you are looking for.  I hope my booked cruise for 2025 has a four category upgrade. FYI, the cruise I booked on the ship two months ago price just went up, the Excursion Credits went down.  

 

Thank you for your great review on Viking.  Love reading it and all the comments.

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

I checked my TA booking engine site.  Since all Wait listed, no cats. available, and no pricing, said to call in.

 

@Sthrngary, thank you for your kind compliment re: V Live From.

 

 

Edited January 2 by FetaCheese

[Tranquility Base]

Posting this excursion booking query on this thread as it concerns SM.

Whilst we have our 2025 cruises booked under O-Life, the ones we made onboard recently for this year are under SM.

 

When booking excursions online under SM, is the programme set up to use in order :

1. SM excursion SBC;

2. Other SBC which is already showing in your account (eg: Oceania Club benefits)

3. Credit Card payment.

 

Also, let's say each person has $400 SM excursion credit,

The first 2 excursions booked have used up $350,

When booking a 3rd excursion will the programme use the remaining $50 then the remainder from other SBC ?

 

Would be good to hear from anyone with actual experience before I call O.

[pmatawan]

20 minutes ago, Tranquility Base said:

Posting this excursion booking query on this thread as it concerns SM.

Whilst we have our 2025 cruises booked under O-Life, the ones we made onboard recently for this year are under SM.

 

When booking excursions online under SM, is the programme set up to use in order :

1. SM excursion SBC;

2. Other SBC which is already showing in your account (eg: Oceania Club benefits)

3. Credit Card payment.

 

Also, let's say each person has $400 SM excursion credit,

The first 2 excursions booked have used up $350,

When booking a 3rd excursion will the programme use the remaining $50 then the remainder from other SBC ?

 

Would be good to hear from anyone with actual experience before I call O.

You are correct in all you assumptions.

[Tranquility Base]

12 minutes ago, pmatawan said:

You are correct in all you assumptions.

Excellent ....thanks.

Only time this year...😇

 

[babysteps]

Agree with @pmatawan. We used our SM in full and about $32 each of SBC. Assume credit card charge would be next - but we're not going to get there lol. 

 

On same track as you @Tranquility Base- our 2025 O cruise is not SM but 2024 is. Our ship's excursions are day 3 and 4 if embarkation is day 1.

[QuestionEverything]

My SE Asia cruise Jan 12, 2025 is on "sale".

It is still $2,000 for 2 more than when I booked in August. The entire veranda inventory still has availability. Interesting. I would have thought it would be fully booked by now........

[Vertygo]

22 minutes ago, QuestionEverything said:

My SE Asia cruise Jan 12, 2025 is on "sale".

It is still $2,000 for 2 more than when I booked in August. The entire veranda inventory still has availability. Interesting. I would have thought it would be fully booked by now........

But that’s over a year away. Plenty of time for bookings.

[AMHuntFerry]

7 hours ago, QuestionEverything said:

My SE Asia cruise Jan 12, 2025 is on "sale".

It is still $2,000 for 2 more than when I booked in August. The entire veranda inventory still has availability. Interesting. I would have thought it would be fully booked by now........

August was the Summer Sale (an extension of the Extraordinary Sale) which was comparable to a clearance sale (too much inventory in stock that needed to move), while the current sale is more like buying something at a regular Macy's sale.

[Vineyard View]

6 hours ago, AMHuntFerry said:

August was the Summer Sale (an extension of the Extraordinary Sale) which was comparable to a clearance sale (too much inventory in stock that needed to move), while the current sale is more like buying something at a regular Macy's sale.

Interesting analogy. Thank you. So maybe unless one is really concerned about a specific itinerary selling out, might not hurt to just hold for a bit…..

[ak1004]

13 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

Interesting analogy. Thank you. So maybe unless one is really concerned about a specific itinerary selling out, might not hurt to just hold for a bit…..

 

Don't they match the price if the sale price is less than the price you booked?

 

Also, I'm curious how the sale price compare to the original prices when the itineraries are just released? is it possible that the original price was say $5,000, then after few increases went up to $6,500 and now on sale at $5,500 which is still higher than the original price? We have never experienced the price going below the original price. For us, the best time to book was always just after the itineraries are released.

[MEFIowa]

5 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

... We have never experienced the price going below the original price. For us, the best time to book was always just after the itineraries are released.

I booked both our 2023 and 2024 cruises when they were released in early 2022. Then I used sales to move from cabin to cabin. Trying to find the 4-category upgrade sales, for example, or something like it. The Extraordinary Savings Sale in 2023 was an absolute blow out for both of our 10-night Med cruises on Riviera.

 

On the 10/30-11/9/2023 cruise: the original F booked 16 Feb 22 was $1999 that came down to $1615 on a later sale. BUT the ESS let us book an A3 for just $1899. 

 

On the 11/9-19/2023 cruise: the original C booked 5 Apr 22 was $1994. Revised it to a B4 on 25 May 22 for $2249. BUT the ESS let us book a B3 for just $17499. 

[ak1004]

8 minutes ago, MEFIowa said:

I booked both our 2023 and 2024 cruises when they were released in early 2022. Then I used sales to move from cabin to cabin. Trying to find the 4-category upgrade sales, for example, or something like it. The Extraordinary Savings Sale in 2023 was an absolute blow out for both of our 10-night Med cruises on Riviera.

 

On the 10/30-11/9/2023 cruise: the original F booked 16 Feb 22 was $1999 that came down to $1615 on a later sale. BUT the ESS let us book an A3 for just $1899. 

 

On the 11/9-19/2023 cruise: the original C booked 5 Apr 22 was $1994. Revised it to a B4 on 25 May 22 for $2249. BUT the ESS let us book a B3 for just $17499. 

 

That's great! Somehow the cruises we book never go on sale.. 😞

[MEFIowa]

Just now, ak1004 said:

That's great! Somehow the cruises we book never go on sale.. 😞

Are you sure? O had at least 6 major sales in 2023, possibly 8. They started 2023 with a 20th Anniversary Sale and then moved into an O Life Sale and I think, IIRC, a double O Life Sale, and then sales for certain events and that huge ESS!

 

I check EVERY new O sale! And I pay close attention to any mention or news about such O sales.

[MEFIowa]

2 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

That's great! Somehow the cruises we book never go on sale.. 😞

And you might try to BOOK a cruise on sale closest to the itinerary you did book. Maybe you find one identical or close but at a different time.

 

I can't imagine wasting money paying non-sale prices. Money is too valuable.

[Vineyard View]

18 minutes ago, MEFIowa said:

I booked both our 2023 and 2024 cruises when they were released in early 2022. Then I used sales to move from cabin to cabin. Trying to find the 4-category upgrade sales, for example, or something like it. The Extraordinary Savings Sale in 2023 was an absolute blow out for both of our 10-night Med cruises on Riviera.

 

On the 10/30-11/9/2023 cruise: the original F booked 16 Feb 22 was $1999 that came down to $1615 on a later sale. BUT the ESS let us book an A3 for just $1899. 

 

On the 11/9-19/2023 cruise: the original C booked 5 Apr 22 was $1994. Revised it to a B4 on 25 May 22 for $2249. BUT the ESS let us book a B3 for just $17499. 

This is really informative. Thank you for sharing. This is so much more flexible than Viking used to be. They didn’t allow you to change pricing unless you cancelled and rebooked. Not sure if that still stands, but it would not surprise me if it did. So ‘wave’ pricing with Oceania isn’t the do all end all. 
We booked last year under the extraordinary sale and were happy with it. Now I know more after this informative post, so thank you. 

[MEFIowa]

15 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

... We booked last year under the extraordinary sale and were happy with it....

That ESS was truly...EXTRAORDINARY! 😉

[ak1004]

1 hour ago, MEFIowa said:

Are you sure? O had at least 6 major sales in 2023, possibly 8. They started 2023 with a 20th Anniversary Sale and then moved into an O Life Sale and I think, IIRC, a double O Life Sale, and then sales for certain events and that huge ESS!

 

I check EVERY new O sale! And I pay close attention to any mention or news about such O sales.

 

1 hour ago, MEFIowa said:

And you might try to BOOK a cruise on sale closest to the itinerary you did book. Maybe you find one identical or close but at a different time.

 

I can't imagine wasting money paying non-sale prices. Money is too valuable.

 

Yes, we checked. We had only one O cruise booked for 2024, and the price was already so low that I cannot imagine that they would have any sales. I mean, $2,150 USD for 10 nights cruise in Europe in OV on the Marina.. it doesn't get any better. We have 2 cruises booked for 2025 on Vista, will see if they have any promotions.

 

As for booking another cruise - well, they now have $150 cancellation fee, plus if the cruise is less than a year out, I already have flight tickets booked with points. So for me, it's not very practical.

 

That said, we usually book cruises that we are happy with the price to begin with. I don't expect paying for O the same or less compared to Celebrity.

[sunlover12]

2 hours ago, ak1004 said:

 

That's great! Somehow the cruises we book never go on sale.. 😞

Same here. 

My booked cruise for later this year on Nautica has never been included in any of the sales. There are many cruises that aren’t included in the sales. 

[Tranquility Base]

2 hours ago, sunlover12 said:

Same here. 

My booked cruise for later this year on Nautica has never been included in any of the sales. There are many cruises that aren’t included in the sales. 

17% of total cruises are included in the current sale.

Of that 17% there are16 cruises (3% of total cruises) which are longer than 20 days.

Edited January 4 by Tranquility Base

[AMHuntFerry]

18 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

Interesting analogy. Thank you. So maybe unless one is really concerned about a specific itinerary selling out, might not hurt to just hold for a bit…..

The sales will typically appeal to people who are flexible with schedule and itinerary. The Extraordinary and Summer sales were an exception...so many amazing options at deep discounts. I am guessing O will try to avoid having such a sale again but who knows. As mentioned earlier, if you see something you like that is within your price range, book it. Keep an eye out for savings, but don't let it spoil your fun.