Cruise without Simply More???

[Psoque]

I’m assuming that everything about “Simply More!!!” will continue to evolve.  One volatile component of it is the amount of shore excursion credit, which has changed already.  Also I guess Oceania will probably mess around with actual “pricing” of excursions based on demand created by these credits.

 

Another easy thing for Oceania to do is to change what wine is served “free” on their included beverage package.  I’m hoping that they will not go super-cheap (like US domestic coach flight “wine”.  The horror!) on the wines, but I guess that’s also an option they can easily consider.

 

My guess is that this whole thing will slowly (or quickly) evolve/devolve and be replaced by another promotional program with a catchy name.

[sunlover12]

On 1/17/2024 at 11:22 AM, Psoque said:

I was just browsing a few online travel agency websites and noted that I see at least two companies are (appearing to be) selling Oceania cruises without Simply More.  Is this something that is easy for a travel agent to negotiate?  Or is this limited to group bookings?

To reiterate what's already been said, I'd be very leery of any travel agency who is saying they are selling Oceania Cruises without Simply More.  Simply More is here to stay for the near-term anyway. Perhaps Oceania will go back to Cruise Only at some point, but IMO, it's not going to happen anytime soon.  

The mega cruise ships are still selling cruise only if anyone is interested in those. 

[QuestionEverything]

10 minutes ago, sunlover12 said:

To reiterate what's already been said, I'd be very leery of any travel agency who is saying they are selling Oceania Cruises without Simply More.  Simply More is here to stay for the near-term anyway. Perhaps Oceania will go back to Cruise Only at some point, but IMO, it's not going to happen anytime soon.  

The mega cruise ships are still selling cruise only if anyone is interested in those. 

Thanks for your post.

I do not know if Oceania will stick with Simply More - I hope it is cancelled asap.

I have 1 remaining cruise booked Jan 25 SE Asia. There has been a $2,000 pp reduction in the pricing which I took advantage of and every category is available.  If bookings were robust, with less than a year to go, this would not have happened.

I wonder if Simply More (which is Simply Less) is having a negative impact on bookings.

I will not book any more cruises with Oceania until they return to their great al a cart pricing structure.

[pinotlover]

5 minutes ago, QuestionEverything said:

Thanks for your post.

I do not know if Oceania will stick with Simply More - I hope it is cancelled asap.

I have 1 remaining cruise booked Jan 25 SE Asia. There has been a $2,000 pp reduction in the pricing which I took advantage of and every category is available.  If bookings were robust, with less than a year to go, this would not have happened.

I wonder if Simply More (which is Simply Less) is having a negative impact on bookings.

I will not book any more cruises with Oceania until they return to their great al a cart pricing structure.

I believe several issues are at play here.

 

1. Because of multiple items, people are waiting later to book. World strife, cancelled ports, changed itineraries, and new constant sales are driving this. In today’s climate, except for that 1% that absolutely has to have a certain cabin, what are the advantages of booking two years out? I’m on an O cruise in 72 days and there is availability nearly throughout the ship. People can book now at less than I paid long ago. Read the current thread about O totally eliminating the Antarctica drive by. Makes people look stupid for early booking! 
 

2.  There are no assurances that the elimination of SM would result in a cruise price decrease. SM was merely a price increase with a few goodies of insignificant costs ( for Oceania) thrown in. I don’t see them giving up the price increase. They have too much debt. It was just a price increase! Nothing to do with booze or shorexs. We’re not getting the old prices back,  SM or not. 

[Tranquility Base]

1 hour ago, QuestionEverything said:

I have 1 remaining cruise booked Jan 25 SE Asia. There has been a $2,000 pp reduction in the pricing which I took advantage of and every category is available.  If bookings were robust, with less than a year to go, this would not have happened.

If it's the one going on to China, South Korea and Japan in early Feb, the possible weather conditions around that area may be playing a part.

[QuestionEverything]

1 minute ago, Tranquility Base said:

If it's the one going on to China, South Korea and Japan in early Feb, the possible weather conditions around that area may be playing a part.

Thanks to you and pinotlover.

Well things have changed indeed. My cruise is from Singapore to HK Jan 12/25. 

Will ride this along and then determine if it is worth the effort before final payment - I am leaning not, especially as I am itinerary driven.

Everyone keep well indeed.

 

[KirkNC]

On 1/17/2024 at 4:31 PM, Redtravel said:

When I read this thread, I contacted my TA. She said that Oceania cannot be booked without Simply More. Thought maybe I had missed a change in things.  We are on Vista now. Nice cruise. However, since we seldom drink and don’t do excursions in the Caribbean, we choose not to rebook as we have previously.  Add to that the price increases for same 10 night cruise in 2025 (50% more than this year), we are not rebooking.  Also, the onboard incentive isn’t as good as last time we booked onboard.  We are booked on a European cruise for spring 2024 with SM.  On that cruise we wanted excursions.  Next winter we will not be on Oceania.

With this change they have lost our business as well.  Too bad as we are Silver and found them to be a nice line.

[Harters]

27 minutes ago, KirkNC said:

hey have lost our business as well

Hope you quickly find a line that suits you better. 

[Vallesan]

1 hour ago, KirkNC said:

With this change they have lost our business as well.  Too bad as we are Silver and found them to be a nice line.

 On our current cruise on Marina there are 500+ 1st time Oceania cruisers so obviously lots of cruisers happy to step in when others opt out!

[Flatbush Flyer]

On 1/17/2024 at 5:18 PM, pinotlover said:

To be more exact, the OCCAPP is provided to the various large Travel Agencies Consortiums and then downward to the Agencies comprising the Consortium. Oceania rotates the perks among the Consortiums, so no Agency gets the OCCAPP perks for every cruise. For highly popular cruises requiring no incentives to fill, Oceania rarely grants them to any Consortium.

There are some independent O Connoisseurs Club TAs (LONG affiliated with O) who are not consortium members but enjoy pass through OCAPP benefits. And there are, at least, several “Elite” Connoisseurs Club TAs that have their own and their consortium’s OCAPP funds (each covering one segment of an Extended Journey). We’ve seen that on a very few occasions.

[Harters]

14 minutes ago, Vallesan said:

lots of cruisers happy to step in when others opt out!

I'm sure the more inclusive arrangements are a response to market research, as well as simply boosting the profits. The SM+ that we now have in the UK, with gratuities also being included in the headline cruise price, came about from pressure from the UK cruise travel agency industry, as reported, directly responding to customer demand. 

[pinotlover]

2 hours ago, Vallesan said:

 On our current cruise on Marina there are 500+ 1st time Oceania cruisers so obviously lots of cruisers happy to step in when others opt out!

Nothing unusual about those numbers. I’ve been on O cruises where the percentage has ranged from about 50% to a high of 82% repeaters. Your number is within that normal range.

 

Several factors seem to affect these numbers including season, location of cruise, and very importantly if Oceania ran country or regional specific sales on certain cruises. I was on a cruise back in 18 with a significant number of Germans and Austrians. Found out that Oceania, wanting to attract new blood from that market, had ran very specific sales within that market. The campaign worked and I got to practice my German regularly on that cruise in that combined the two countries equaled the number of Americans aboard.

[pinotlover]

2 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

There are some independent O Connoisseurs Club TAs (LONG affiliated with O) who are not consortium members but enjoy pass through OCAPP benefits. And there are, at least, several “Elite” Connoisseurs Club TAs that have their own and their consortium’s OCAPP funds (each covering one segment of an Extended Journey). We’ve seen that on a very few occasions.

While I agree there are a very tiny number of boutique Travel Agency, some which might primarily concentrate on Oceania and Regent, that universe is small. As continually demonstrated on this Forum, many of we cruisers are not solely wed to Oceania. While my TA is a high volume Oceania seller, my of those cruisers likewise sail Azamara and Celebrity. Being a boutique, and not a member of  a Consortium, may mean the Agency avoids Consortium fees, but it also means they miss out on the various Consortium deals for many lines that aren’t available to the otherwise small volume Agencies. 
 

If one is a dedicated Oceania only cruiser, then the boutique will work very well. If not, a member of a prominent Consortium will work better. That is , of course, except for those that change Agents like they change their underwear. 

[EJL2023]

4 hours ago, KirkNC said:

With this change they have lost our business as well.  Too bad as we are Silver and found them to be a nice line.

Funny thing is we are all different!! We love SM and see it as a great addition and will most likely keep us coming back.  In past we have always done a combination of private, on our own and excursions. So SM helps there and we have purchased the basic beverage package in past, so that works for us under SM. 

[iowananny]

Our next cruise in July will be our first the SM program.  We've booked excursions and we have no real problems with it.  If all our excursions are cancelled we might come back with a different view.  

 

We were on a cruise in January without SM but we had chosen the drink package for our perk.  Our problem was getting a glass of wine, especially in the TC.  They call them sommeliers but they are really just waiters who bring you a glass of wine off the list.  Maybe in the specialty restaurants they can help you find a special bottle of wine for a special occasion but in the TC all they do is serve you a wine or beer.  More people are going to want their wine and beer because they've paid for it so why not.  We had to wait forever for our first glass and some nights it just wasn't worth waiting to get a second glass.

 

It sure didn't ruin our cruise and maybe they were just under-staffed, but we sure didn't get good service from the so-called sommeliers. I would have liked it if the waiter could have just refilled our wine glass, the bottle was just a few feet away but I'm guessing that is against the rules.  We always had plenty of water and getting a cup of coffee was not a problem.

[pinotlover]

40 minutes ago, iowananny said:

Our next cruise in July will be our first the SM program.  We've booked excursions and we have no real problems with it.  If all our excursions are cancelled we might come back with a different view.  

 

We were on a cruise in January without SM but we had chosen the drink package for our perk.  Our problem was getting a glass of wine, especially in the TC.  They call them sommeliers but they are really just waiters who bring you a glass of wine off the list.  Maybe in the specialty restaurants they can help you find a special bottle of wine for a special occasion but in the TC all they do is serve you a wine or beer.  More people are going to want their wine and beer because they've paid for it so why not.  We had to wait forever for our first glass and some nights it just wasn't worth waiting to get a second glass.

 

It sure didn't ruin our cruise and maybe they were just under-staffed, but we sure didn't get good service from the so-called sommeliers. I would have liked it if the waiter could have just refilled our wine glass, the bottle was just a few feet away but I'm guessing that is against the rules.  We always had plenty of water and getting a cup of coffee was not a problem.

😂. You probably never read my rants back pre Covid “ The Terrace is for Teatotallers!”

 

Your experience has been long felt and discussed. Additionally, as you state, it may get worse with SM. I say may because so many O cruisers don’t drink for various reasons. Having free wine or beer won’t change that. Personally, we avoid the TC at dinner. We enjoy being served opposed to serving ourselves. We enjoy the leisurely paced meals in the GDR while typically sharing a table with fellow travelers, and importantly to this thread, except for the rare evening, overall service including beverage service is far better in the GDR.

 

I have experienced far too many instances of poor or no adult beverage service in the TC. I once sat for over a half hour refusing to go through the buffet until I placed my wine order. The waiters kept coming around asking if there was a problem and I’d tell them “ yes, no wine steward “. The restaurant mgr came by and asked what the problem was. He’d assured me he’d take care of it. Ten minutes later he’s back, still no wine steward. He finally got me a glass himself. About two minutes later a wine steward appeared for the only time. Plenty of good food elsewhere on the ship. 

[iowananny]

I think we will begin to have more meals in the GDR.  We really do like to share a table with others but on our last cruise were never given the opportunity to share.  It could be because we prefer to eat later and there were single tables available and I think that is what most people want.

 

I don't want to drink until I stager out of the dining room but sometimes I may want a white with my appetizer and a red with dinner and my husband is very happy with their drink list port and likes that with cheese after dinner, even if it's in the TC.

 

One night we had a similar experience to you with wine service in the TC.  I finally got up and found the manager and it still took ten minutes to get some wine.  I just can't figure out why anyone can' t do it.  It's a list with some wines on it.  The waiters could easily bring it just as easily as their so-called sommeliers.

 

 

 

[ronrick1943]

On 1/17/2024 at 10:10 AM, Psoque said:

I see at least two online travel agencies selling a few Oceania itineraries with two options: 

 

-Cruise only

-Cruise + beverage package + internet

 

I cannot post their website for the obvious reason, but something funky is going on here.

 

 

Isn't cruise only just the with a promotion that gives you (in the price) wine/beer/champagne at lunch and dinner, plus internet and $500.00pp for tours.

[Syd58]

On 1/17/2024 at 4:31 PM, Redtravel said:

When I read this thread, I contacted my TA. She said that Oceania cannot be booked without Simply More. Thought maybe I had missed a change in things.  We are on Vista now. Nice cruise. However, since we seldom drink and don’t do excursions in the Caribbean, we choose not to rebook as we have previously.  Add to that the price increases for same 10 night cruise in 2025 (50% more than this year), we are not rebooking.  Also, the onboard incentive isn’t as good as last time we booked onboard.  We are booked on a European cruise for spring 2024 with SM.  On that cruise we wanted excursions.  Next winter we will not be on Oceania.

I have found generally the earlier you book, the lower the price, possibly with the exception of last minute discounts. We have 2 2025 cruises that we booked in 2023 that have gone up significantly in price.

[Flatbush Flyer]

13 minutes ago, ronrick1943 said:

Isn't cruise only just the with a promotion that gives you (in the price) wine/beer/champagne at lunch and dinner, plus internet and $500.00pp for tours.

For all new O booking there is only SM with air and SM without air (along with the basic booze, how much tour SBC comes with SM varies depending on itinerary).

 

As for TA advertising, some “blur the line” between what is provided by O and what they provide as added perks. The unscrupulous ones would suggest that they (the TA) provide all the perks associated with an O cruise.

[Kay S]

I haven't done the cruise yet, but I am one of those first-timers with SM.  That had no influence on why we booked.  This cruise is perfect for us because the dates and itinerary are what we were specifically looking for.  I guess if Regent or Carnival had those two elements, we might have chosen differently 🙂.  I am not happy that I have to choose excursions.  None of them really appeal to me, so I chose two that I might possibly enjoy.  The wine thing is going to be a problem with DH.  We will need to upgrade the beverage package on board, I think.  So from someone who must have been the marketing department's target, I can say we booked our cruise IN SPITE of SM and not because of it.

[Vallesan]

4 minutes ago, Kay S said:

I haven't done the cruise yet, but I am one of those first-timers with SM.  That had no influence on why we booked.  This cruise is perfect for us because the dates and itinerary are what we were specifically looking for.  I guess if Regent or Carnival had those two elements, we might have chosen differently 🙂.  I am not happy that I have to choose excursions.  None of them really appeal to me, so I chose two that I might possibly enjoy.  The wine thing is going to be a problem with DH.  We will need to upgrade the beverage package on board, I think.  So from someone who must have been the marketing department's target, I can say we booked our cruise IN SPITE of SM and not because of it.

Not sure what the ‘wine thing’ is but even the upgraded package had the same wine by the glass. If you want ‘upgraded’ wine you will need to buy that buy the bottle or bring your own on board and pay a $25 corkage fee in the restaurants.

 

Just as a matter of interest we have had no issue getting wine in the TC or any of the speciality restaurants even when we change wine to have with a cheese course.

[Vallesan]

5 hours ago, pinotlover said:

Nothing unusual about those numbers. I’ve been on O cruises where the percentage has ranged from about 50% to a high of 82% repeaters. Your number is within that normal range.

 

Several factors seem to affect these numbers including season, location of cruise, and very importantly if Oceania ran country or regional specific sales on certain cruises. I was on a cruise back in 18 with a significant number of Germans and Austrians. Found out that Oceania, wanting to attract new blood from that market, had ran very specific sales within that market. The campaign worked and I got to practice my German regularly on that cruise in that combined the two countries equaled the number of Americans aboard.

May not be unusual on the cruises you have taken but certainly on the ones I’ve taken. In excess of 40% new to Oceania cruisers is new to me.

Your experiences may differ.

Edited May 25 by Vallesan

[iowananny]

10 minutes ago, Kay S said:

The wine thing is going to be a problem with DH.  We will need to upgrade the beverage package on board, I think.

Upgrading will not help you if you don't get someone to wait on you at dinner.  I always upgrade because I like what my husband calls "fou-fou cocktails.  The nice thing about O is you don't both have to upgrade.  He's very happy with wine at dinner and something during happy hour and I can get some drinks I just don't get at home whenever I want.  

[ronrick1943]

3 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

For all new O booking there is only SM with air and SM without air (along with the basic booze, how much tour SBC comes with SM varies depending on itinerary).

 

As for TA advertising, some “blur the line” between what is provided by O and what they provide as added perks. The unscrupulous ones would suggest that they (the TA) provide all the perks associated with an O cruise.

My TA doesn't, they say what's coming from "O" and what they give as your TA.  Coming from "O on the cruise we picked was as stated: Just wine, beer Champaign with dinner, internet, 3 bags of laundry and $500.00 pp in tours.  It was called Simply More (I think that's what it's called).