What happens to OBC for shore ex if you are closed out of bookings?

[knitter]

I just tried to book some Shore ex for a March cruise. Almost every one is already closed, and one that seemed available didn't show up in the cart even though it looked like I booked it on the shore ex page. If you can't use the credits because offerings are full, what happens to your credit? Can you use it for things like the spa? Thanks.

[shepherd really]

39 minutes ago, knitter said:

If you can't use the credits because offerings are full, what happens to your credit? Can you use it for things like the spa? Thanks.

Nope, if you don't/can't use it, you lose it. 

[Flatbush Flyer]

19 minutes ago, knitter said:

I just tried to book some Shore ex for a March cruise. Almost every one is already closed, and one that seemed available didn't show up in the cart even though it looked like I booked it on the shore ex page. If you can't use the credits because offerings are full, what happens to your credit? Can you use it for things like the spa? Thanks.

NEVER use the web cart to buy O tours. Call O or have your TA do it (though I recommend DIY).

 

The O website for tours has long been glitchy- particularly as regards tour availability and the cart itself (e.g., wrong prices display).

 

Another issue is that what you see regarding tours in the shore ex pdf and on the O web may not be the same. Likewise, what the O phone rep sees may be different than what the other sources have. This is because different departments deal with different tour sources AND there can even be differences in what availability a single segment cruisers sees on the web compared to what a multi-segment cruise sees. They can be vastly different (in part because tour adds/changes that are done for a segment cruise may not be done at the same time for multisegment cruises that include that segment. We recently ran into this problem recently when culinary classes were available for each segment of our upcoming cruise but showed full in our multi-segment booking! Quick call to our long-serving O rep and he got it fixed while we were on the phone.  
 

And, since the O phone rep has real time access to the tour bookings, s/he has the useable interface that is as close to the real situation as one can get and can alert other departments when you’ve experienced a disagreement among the sources or have other problems with availability/selection/etc.

 

Another issue is that the O website will not let you book two tours on a single day (e.g., AM & PM) even if there is the acceptable 90 minute buffer between tours). And, of course, if you want to cancel a booked tour, you’ve got to call an O rep anyway.

 

Finally, even if you have a TA, the O rep can sell you all optional purchases and send you a copy of the all-important “pre-purchased shore ex” PDF which has all the computational math that comes in handy if there’s tour cancels/changes/etc once you’re onboard.

 

So, what you’re seeing/not seeing on the O tours web/cart may have nothing to do with reality.

[edgee]

1 hour ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

, what you’re seeing/not seeing on the O tours web/cart may have nothing to do with reality.

It has always been spot on accurate in my experience indicating if tours are full. Second tour on same day or failure of system to properly price...then yes, need to talk to a human.

[Cruzin Terri]

Thanks FF for that invaluable info.  Last cruise we booked late and lost all of our credit for tours.

Terri

[Jayne E]

12 hours ago, Cruzin Terri said:

Thanks FF for that invaluable info.  Last cruise we booked late and lost all of our credit for tours.

Terri

Can’t understand how O can charge for something they ultimately aren’t able to provide. Prior post stated O cancelled excursion last day, nothing else open and excursion credits forfeited. Very poor policy. 

[aussietwo]

knitter - I suggest you at least wait list the tours you want.  Sometimes Oceania increase the number of tour vans in some ports.  Then go through and see if there are any tours with vacancies.  Some of the more expensive tours often don’t fill up and perhaps one or two of those may use your credit.  In the event that your wait listed tours become available you can cancel any tours you don’t want,  Good luck!!

[jonthomas]

what happens if you book very late, does that mean you pay for SM but get nothing for it, since all tours will be gone?

[jonthomas]

I cant believe O would institute such a bad policy.

 

You see a cruise, but it is just 6 months out. You go to tours, all are gone. You cant apply the credit to anything else. So you pay for something that you will not get?

[m1k2s3]

I just recently had this problem. Now that Oceania includes a shore excursion credit, it’s important to book the excursions you may be interested in as soon as you can. If not, those excursions may get booked up and you’re left with a credit you can’t use on anything else.

On an upcoming cruise, I have a $600 credit available and found 2 excursions that would have used up that credit. Except when I called to book them, one of them was wait listed. The Oceania agent explained that if there was enough wait listed, they might add on to this tour. Failing that, if someone cancels that excursion, we might still get it. But of course, that could happen anytime, including right up to the day of the excursion.

That was about a month ago and now we’re 2 weeks away from our cruise and I still don’t know if we’ll get that excursion. So I’ve booked another similar tour through Viator, just so we have something and can cancel up to 48 hours ahead. The irony is, from the tour description, I think Oceania is using the same tour company.

 

[jonthomas]

So you pay for SM but get nothing for it?

 

O needs to see, this will turn off many would be clients. 

 

Those of us who love O, need to loudly proclaim that this policy needs amending. 

[Cruzin Terri]

1 hour ago, jonthomas said:

what happens if you book very late, does that mean you pay for SM but get nothing for it, since all tours will be gone?

This is exactly what happened to us.  We were not able to book any excursions.  The only ones left were zip lines.  We were too old for that #$%^. We were not able too use the credit for anything else.

Edited January 7 by Cruzin Terri

[pinotlover]

SM is merely a price increase. That’s all. People need to get past the other fantasies. Whether you drink or not, the price went up. Whether you desire to, or not, to take a ship shore excursions it doesn’t matter, the price went up. SM was a price increase and not a particularly well disguised one. 

[Jayne E]

49 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

SM is merely a price increase. That’s all. People need to get past the other fantasies. Whether you drink or not, the price went up. Whether you desire to, or not, to take a ship shore excursions it doesn’t matter, the price went up. SM was a price increase and not a particularly well disguised one. 

Actually a “double” price increase. First one adding SM and a couple of months later reducing the SM excursion credit amount $100 pp on all cruises. 
At least provide a future excursion credit or a shipboard credit when O can’t provide the excursion booked. 

[hamrag]

1 hour ago, jonthomas said:

So you pay for SM but get nothing for it?

 

O needs to see, this will turn off many would be clients. .....

For sure, O already know and do not care! 😉

[edgee]

5 minutes ago, hamrag said:

For sure, O already know and do not care! 😉

Absolutely correct! Of course this also happens on luxury lines like Regent where tours are included. Somehow it seems less of an issue because there is not a shown dollar amount on your account. With O you see the money which you lose because you cannot spend it and it is infuriating to some. We experienced a variation of this problem..$196 worth of excursions at final port were cancelled due to rough seas...snorkeling tour cancelled at last minute. Nothing else available. Two $98 tours gone. No way for us to recoup the money. Suck it up and deal with it seems to be O's message. 

[pinotlover]

32 minutes ago, Jayne E said:

Actually a “double” price increase. First one adding SM and a couple of months later reducing the SM excursion credit amount $100 pp on all cruises. 
At least provide a future excursion credit or a shipboard credit when O can’t provide the excursion booked. 

Oceania decided how much of a price increase they needed/wanted. If they gave people spendable OBC, outside of the tours, that would act to lessen the price increase. Not what the line intends to do.

[edgee]

6 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

Oceania decided how much of a price increase they needed/wanted. If they gave people spendable OBC, outside of the tours, that would act to lessen the price increase. Not what the line intends to do.

When I posted a month ago about my annoyance with sometimes inability to use SM shore excursion credit, O apologists argued that not being able to use the funds is equivalent to missing lunch because one is on an excursion or not going to available shows, etc. etc. Because of the defined dollar amount showing on my account, I still think it is more of a problem, but, as others have said...O does not care. It is a price increase!

[Jayne E]

It appears to be a theft of service with a definite dollar amount? You contract and pay for a specific tour with promised $$ credits and wind up with total loss of credits due to O failing to provide tour or replacement. They’re keeping passengers’ money. 

[Tranquility Base]

This situation will increase during the next 18 months as the transition to SM unfolds.

I think a solution will likely be found.

Perhaps.....maybe.....hopefully.

[AMHuntFerry]

I can get a little philosophical when it comes to money, so please feel free to skip this post (or wish you had) 🙂

Here's the SM drama as I see it so far:
Fall 2023: SM is implemented and prices go up the same amount as the SM shorex credit ("SXC" 'cuz who doesn't love TLAs). However, some wine/beer and another internet account are also included. If you use all of the perks (emphasis on "use", as in, it's actually available), you have gotten simply more (as advertised), a "win". If the SM perks are worthless to you, there was a significant price increase to your cruise-only fare, a "loss".
Fall/Winter 23: O should have heeded "be careful what you wish for". It was speculated that one reason for the SXC was to increase the number of passengers using O excursions. It appears to have succeeded beyond O's expectations, and now there are angry customers who did not get the shorex that they were promised. Something needed to be done to either increase the availability of shorex, or to decrease demand (yay, Econ 101 to the rescue!). We know that shorex resources in some locations are limited while in others there are more than enough; it appears O chose to try decreasing demand since in 2024 the SXC was reduced (or maybe a combo).
January 2024: The reduced SXC is implemented for new bookings and some people are angry about the reduction, while others recognize that the reduced SXC may have been balanced to some extent by lower (or zero) price increases (i.e., a "win" for the cruise only crowd). O may also increase the number of shorex in locations where it is possible, but it will be a challenge/impossible on some itineraries.
Will whatever O does change result in better results booking shorex?
Will O change their policy regarding cancelled shorex to better match what they used to do when an O-Life shorex cancellations (i.e. rebook or full/partial refund), or possibly some version of FCC?
Will O change the first date for booking shorex until after final payment (or after the $500 penalty starts)?
These are all questions I have wondered about while watching the changes. For me it is moot since I am in the cruise only crowd, and it just comes down to "am I willing to pay that price for a cruise only experience (i.e., no shorex, no booze, no internet)? And if I get to go whale watching for no additional charge? Sign me up!

[MEFIowa]

8 minutes ago, AMHuntFerry said:

... For me it is moot since I am in the cruise only crowd, and it just comes down to "am I willing to pay that price for a cruise only experience (i.e., no shorex, no booze, no internet)? And if I get to go whale watching for no additional charge? Sign me up!

Ditto "cruise only" for us, which we've done on 4 cruises since 12/2021. We cruise for ports and going out and doing things. Have two more cruises in 2024. But booked both the recently finished 2023 B2B and the 2024 B2B in early 2022. No plans for anything in 2025 or later. The SM prices hikes were brutal for what little one gets and now come the reductions. The sale prices since SM have been underwhelming to say the least.

[babysteps]

Ymmv

 

We booked our first SM cruise onboard Insignia in Dec 2023 for June 2024. After we got home, we booked 2 excursions each (for days 3 and 4 of the itinerary) to use up our SM excursion credit. Plenty of availability, perhaps because the itinerary is in all the sales and starts in Istanbul which risk-averse folks might be avoiding for the time being. 

 

This is Vista June 19 2024 from Istanbul to Trieste. 

 

We also have a cruise-only 2025 TA booked on Vista... 

[Redtravel]

We left another cruise line when they went to all inclusive.  We didn't mind the price increase. We did mind the drunks. Recently we heard that that cruise line went back to cruise only.  For those that drink, they offer a beverage plan. 

Oceania SM has its problems.  It started in October.  It will likely take time to work out those problems.  Offer more excursions with varied starting times. With Olife, I always found excursions.  If I booked late, choices were limited. For better choices, book early.  For those people who get excursions cancelled by the ship or miss a port, compensation should be offered. 

[AMHuntFerry]

25 minutes ago, Redtravel said:

We left another cruise line when they went to all inclusive.  We didn't mind the price increase. We did mind the drunks. Recently we heard that that cruise line went back to cruise only.  For those that drink, they offer a beverage plan. 

Which cruise line? I may be able to take it off of the don't-bother-list.