Vista May 1 '25 mystery

[Dwtlion]

Today I thought I would check the O website to see how the bookings are coming on a cruise I have booked starting May 1,2025 (22 days Miami to London). Lo and behold the website says every category for this cruise is now waitlisted. I also checked a longer Cruise on Vista leaving on the same date and that was also waitlisted. If these two cruises are really waitlisted, it sets a record for Oceania which frankly I don't believe. Personally I smell a charter on the Miami-Lisbon leg, but so far, I have been unable to uncover one using my trusty search engine.

Given Oceana's well-deserved reputation of waiting to the last minute to inform booked passengers of cruise cancellations and major itinerary changes, I would like to find out ASAP so I can book an alternative. My TA is attempting to gather some information (nothing yet), but I would be curious if anybody on the blog knows (no speculation please) what is happening to this itinerary.

[babysteps]

Will be interested in what your TA reports! There are at least 2 factors that might calm your fears in the meantime: 

 

1- Online just now the 12-day Miami-Lisbon segment has some categories showing "avalable" or "guarantee" although most categories are wait listed. 

 

2-This 12-day segment has been one of the lower-priced pp pd itineraries on Vista so that could help drive early bookings compared to some other itineraries. 

[EJL2023]

10 hours ago, Dwtlion said:

Today I thought I would check the O website to see how the bookings are coming on a cruise I have booked starting May 1,2025 (22 days Miami to London). Lo and behold the website says every category for this cruise is now waitlisted. I also checked a longer Cruise on Vista leaving on the same date and that was also waitlisted. If these two cruises are really waitlisted, it sets a record for Oceania which frankly I don't believe. Personally I smell a charter on the Miami-Lisbon leg, but so far, I have been unable to uncover one using my trusty search engine.

Given Oceana's well-deserved reputation of waiting to the last minute to inform booked passengers of cruise cancellations and major itinerary changes, I would like to find out ASAP so I can book an alternative. My TA is attempting to gather some information (nothing yet), but I would be curious if anybody on the blog knows (no speculation please) what is happening to this itinerary.

We had a cruise we had booked back in 2020 for a sail date in July, 2021. Of course it never happened because of Covid. But, before it was ever canceled because of Covid it ended up getting canceled due to being chartered.  The way ours worked on the website is that all of the categories all of a sudden showed up as CLOSED.  It showed that way for a couple of weeks before being notified by Oceania that it was canceled due to being chartered. Assume they were working on finalizing everything before notification. We received this information roughly 11-12 months prior to the scheduled sail date. They offered a FCC for 10% of the cost of the cancelled cruise. 

Edited March 3 by EJL2023

[EJL2023]

Also I believe another reason is the longer segment is also being marketed as a Grand voyage.  Both of the segments making up the grand voyage both have availability.  Same thing for us at this time. We have a Grand voyage for October. It shows as completely Wait Listed but there is availability for both segments making up our Grand voyage. I’m sure something to do with their scheduling software in juggling the staterooms so they may limit more the availability for the longer cruise as in our case the two separate voyages cost more than the one longer version until they get a better feel for sales on all segments.  

Edited March 3 by EJL2023

[golfguyhhi]

As of 5 minutes ago there were 2 A1, 6 A2, 2 A3, and 1 B1 available -- as guarantees.  The rest of the ship may very well be sold out.  We're on this cruise (and the next one).  The per diem was so low, it called out to us -- plus there is/was a $499 PE upgrade special attached.

 

PS:  There is at least 1 OLTA which shows up-to-the-minute availability for all cabins, by category and location, so finding out if the cabin you want is available is easy. 

 

Which begs the question: Why isn't that info available on the Oceania website?

[ORV]

It's the weekend, don't trust anything you see on the website over the weekend. 

 

That's a real big jump in the price of premium economy tickets. I have a cruise in Aug that I have PE to Edinburgh that I paid $199 each for. We booked it in Sept of 22. Is the $499 you mention for 2 or pp?

[Snaefell3]

13 hours ago, Dwtlion said:

Today I thought I would check the O website

That would make it on a Saturday?

 

O's website is notorious for having garbage data on weekends -- their IT folks are updating the live servers.  (Yeah, bad technique, but they do)

[golfguyhhi]

Orv,

 

I also remember the $299 PE upgrade, and I think I remember a $199 offer, also.  The $499 is per person (we're coming from Heathrow).  We had been paying $1799 for business class upgrades (for east coast to Europe or reverse, if that has any impact on the price) and that is now $2399, PP.  We only used the BC upgrade for one-way flights, and we thought that provided good value.

Looking at the 1-way PE rates makes me think the $499 upgrade is also good value.

 

Before anyone feels the need to imply (or directly state) I'm a jerk for paying these upgrade prices, let me just say that I'm quite comfortable doing so.

[osandomir]

15 minutes ago, golfguyhhi said:

Orv,

 

I also remember the $299 PE upgrade, and I think I remember a $199 offer, also.  The $499 is per person (we're coming from Heathrow).  We had been paying $1799 for business class upgrades (for east coast to Europe or reverse, if that has any impact on the price) and that is now $2399, PP.  We only used the BC upgrade for one-way flights, and we thought that provided good value.

Looking at the 1-way PE rates makes me think the $499 upgrade is also good value.

 

Before anyone feels the need to imply (or directly state) I'm a jerk for paying these upgrade prices, let me just say that I'm quite comfortable doing so.

This makes sense and obviously works for you and some other people as well for one way premium air in particular. Especially nowadays when all travel plans can be wrecked in a second it worse to pay even some extra to book the air through a cruise line.

[ORV]

As always just do the math and check what else is available. I also tend to get the PE upgrade when it's offered. I just haven't seen it that high yet. When I do I'll have to compare it to what's available to do it myself. If the credit and the $499 is less than the rates I'll go with O. I like PE for a 10- or 11-hour trip to Europe. I'm not really at the point where I care to pay more for a business ticket than the cruise. Don't need to vacation that bad.