May 2024 Upgrade Sale

[cluso]

I noticed today that O is having a 4 category upgrade sale on some of their cruises.  It says in small print "For new bookings only".  One of my booked cruises is in the sale--I booked directly with O.  I thought I have read on this feed some people were able to upgrade a current reservation.  Is that true? Just call O?

[ORV]

27 minutes ago, cluso said:

I noticed today that O is having a 4 category upgrade sale on some of their cruises.  It says in small print "For new bookings only".  One of my booked cruises is in the sale--I booked directly with O.  I thought I have read on this feed some people were able to upgrade a current reservation.  Is that true? Just call O?

Did you book on board? Otherwise best price match probably won’t apply. 

[cluso]

1 hour ago, ORV said:

Did you book on board? Otherwise best price match probably won’t apply. 

 No, this will be our first O cruise, so I booked directly with them by phone.     We have been on 4 "R" ships before.

The way it's written, it says "Upgrade Now".  To me that kind of means already booked can upgrade.  But, then the fine print.

[ORV]

14 minutes ago, cluso said:

 No, this will be our first O cruise, so I booked directly with them by phone.     We have been on 4 "R" ships before.

The way it's written, it says "Upgrade Now".  To me that kind of means already booked can upgrade.  But, then the fine print.

You can always ask. The worst they can say is no. But I would think “new bookings only” would mean just that. 

[AMHuntFerry]

You can also tell them that you are cancelling, then making a new booking. The math (cancellation penalty vs. savings) will vary depending on when you booked ($0 or $150 before/after the new $150 cancellation fee) and how far before embarkation you cancellation ($0 or >=$500).

[cluso]

Confusing.  I booked us originally on 15 June 2023, then got a lower fare on 2 Jan 2024.  We have an A-2 Aft for Sep '24 Alaska/Pacific Coast.  There are 3 categories of Penthouses available.

I do have a O Connoisseur agent now.  I should probably talk to her.  Any hints on the Penthouse cabins--location, etc?

31 minutes ago, AMHuntFerry said:

You can also tell them that you are cancelling, then making a new booking. The math (cancellation penalty vs. savings) will vary depending on when you booked ($0 or $150 before/after the new $150 cancellation fee) and how far before embarkation you cancellation ($0 or >=$500).

 

[davencl]

Just booked a couple of cruises today.  Both were for a PH3 which was priced lower than usual.  Didn't seem to be apart of the 4 cat upgrade sale but price was only $500 more than A1 in both cases.  Also PH2, PH1 were about $3200 and $3900 pp more than PH3.  The cruises were Papeete to Auckland Mar. 7 2025 and NY to Reykjavik Aug. 6 2025.

Edited May 2 by davencl

[ronrick1943]

1 hour ago, AMHuntFerry said:

You can also tell them that you are cancelling, then making a new booking. The math (cancellation penalty vs. savings) will vary depending on when you booked ($0 or $150 before/after the new $150 cancellation fee) and how far before embarkation you cancellation ($0 or >=$500).

This what I'd do....makes sense to me.

[AMHuntFerry]

3 hours ago, davencl said:

Just booked a couple of cruises today.  Both were for a PH3 which was priced lower than usual.  Didn't seem to be apart of the 4 cat upgrade sale but price was only $500 more than A1 in both cases.  Also PH2, PH1 were about $3200 and $3900 pp more than PH3.  The cruises were Papeete to Auckland Mar. 7 2025 and NY to Reykjavik Aug. 6 2025.

Yep, those are some of the uncommon PH's that are part of upgrade sales (those 2 cruises are part of the sale BTW). Congrats on a great deal!

[AMHuntFerry]

3 hours ago, cluso said:

Confusing.  I booked us originally on 15 June 2023, then got a lower fare on 2 Jan 2024.  We have an A-2 Aft for Sep '24 Alaska/Pacific Coast.  There are 3 categories of Penthouses available.

I do have a O Connoisseur agent now.  I should probably talk to her.  Any hints on the Penthouse cabins--location, etc?

 

Yes, check with your TA. Since you're within the penalty phase, options may be limited or not worth it.

[sunlover12]

I checked the list.  Once again, the included cruises in this sale appear to be the lesser desirable ones.  The cruises that I’m interested in are never included in any sale. 
 

I would be interested to know if anyone is able to upgrade to a PH.  I was once told by an O rep that A1 is the highest category you can upgrade to but I am sure it depends on the specific cruise. 
 

[davencl]

6 hours ago, sunlover12 said:

I checked the list.  Once again, the included cruises in this sale appear to be the lesser desirable ones.  The cruises that I’m interested in are never included in any sale. 
 

I would be interested to know if anyone is able to upgrade to a PH.  I was once told by an O rep that A1 is the highest category you can upgrade to but I am sure it depends on the specific cruise. 
 

see my post #7 in this thread.

[MEFIowa]

I've repeatedly used such 4-cabin upgrade sales to my advantage, for something previously booked.

 

I use the same O rep and call her whenever I see something like that. If it benefits us, we'll rebook the cruise, though it has always kept the same booking number.

[jonthomas]

We made final pay a week ago, for an Alaska cruise that is now part of the sale.

Also the price has come down 400pp.

O will only give us 200pp non refundable obc, even though we booked on board with best price guarantee. 

Doesn't seem fair, but thems the breaks.

[cluso]

17 minutes ago, jonthomas said:

We made final pay a week ago, for an Alaska cruise that is now part of the sale.

Also the price has come down 400pp.

O will only give us 200pp non refundable obc, even though we booked on board with best price guarantee. 

Doesn't seem fair, but thems the breaks.

 

Why did you pay final so early?

 

[AMHuntFerry]

21 minutes ago, jonthomas said:

We made final pay a week ago, for an Alaska cruise that is now part of the sale.

Also the price has come down 400pp.

O will only give us 200pp non refundable obc, even though we booked on board with best price guarantee. 

Doesn't seem fair, but thems the breaks.

Have your TA push back. I was in the same position and received full OBC (although I disagree with that satisfying a price guarantee).

[jonthomas]

2 hours ago, cluso said:

 

Why did you pay final so early?

 

We paid it because that was our due date without penalty.

[jonthomas]

2 hours ago, AMHuntFerry said:

Have your TA push back. I was in the same position and received full OBC (although I disagree with that satisfying a price guarantee).

Our TA did push back, with no result.  You were fortunate. O doesn't paint everyone with the same brush. Probably just based on the mood of the rep that is handling it on any given day.

[AMHuntFerry]

2 hours ago, jonthomas said:

Our TA did push back, with no result.  You were fortunate. O doesn't paint everyone with the same brush. Probably just based on the mood of the rep that is handling it on any given day.

Some day they'll short change an attorney who needs some entertainment...that will be fun to watch. If I didn't have plans for the current OBC I might raise a ruckus about the non-refundable descriptor. Granted, "price guarantee until embarkation" is ill defined as to what the guarantee is, but hmmph!

[jonthomas]

The old info , 2020, for best price guarantee, states that after final pay, O will give you a ship board credit, based upon their discretion.

 

So thats that. O can do as they wish, depending on who deals with it. Could not find anything updated to 2024 for this issue.

 

So time to move on from this . 

[EJL2023]

6 minutes ago, jonthomas said:

The old info , 2020, for best price guarantee, states that after final pay, O will give you a ship board credit, based upon their discretion.

 

So thats that. O can do as they wish, depending on who deals with it. Could not find anything updated to 2024 for this issue.

 

So time to move on from this . 

Per our letter if happens after final payment, at their discretion it is SBC, FCC or stateroom upgrade. This is in letter we received from a booking onboard in February. 

[jonthomas]

Yes, the phrase "best price guarantee up to sailing " is just a scam phrase, but since O is our line of choice we have to put up with phrases like that and others that really mean nothing.

[PhD-iva]

On 5/2/2024 at 1:48 PM, jonthomas said:

We made final pay a week ago, for an Alaska cruise that is now part of the sale.

Also the price has come down 400pp.

O will only give us 200pp non refundable obc, even though we booked on board with best price guarantee. 

Doesn't seem fair, but thems the breaks.

This reminds me of the Seinfeld episode about the car rental reservation. They knew how to take the reservation, they just didn’t know how to HOLD the reservation.

In this case, Oceania knows how to promise the Best price guarantee, O just doesn’t know how to COMPLY with a best price guarantee.

[jonthomas]

Its not that they dont  know, it is that they dont want to. They also know that no one will take them to task on it , legally. If we are committed to the line, then we back off once they give us something, even though that something is nothing compared to what it says in writing. 

 

It is all about promising something, they have no intention of giving you. Very shady practices but as long as they can get away with it, it continues. Hate to speak that way about our line of choice, but it is what it is. 

[PhD-iva]

45 minutes ago, jonthomas said:

Its not that they dont  know, it is that they dont want to. They also know that no one will take them to task on it , legally. If we are committed to the line, then we back off once they give us something, even though that something is nothing compared to what it says in writing. 

 

It is all about promising something, they have no intention of giving you. Very shady practices but as long as they can get away with it, it continues. Hate to speak that way about our line of choice, but it is what it is. 

I guess what you’re telling me is that the other cruiselines are worse. 🤯