May 2024 Upgrade Sale

[pinotlover]

Since 2020, and Covid, the best price guarantee has been until final payment. Very distinctly in the T&Cs. Before FP was sometimes not until 90 days pre cruise, depending upon length of cruise. I believe most have now moved to 150 days or more, thus shortening the span.

 

The other confusing point , for some, was that the guarantee was only for Oceania published sales, not sales ran by On Line Agencies or “ silent “ sales. 

[jonthomas]

It should no longer be called a "best price guarantee" since the price is not adjusted. 

[jonthomas]

23 minutes ago, PhD-iva said:

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

oh Im sure other lines have misleading information as well....

 

for us, we like everything about O, once we are on the ship...I am a fussy eater, there is always something for me,  we like the activities, dont care about entertainment, like the shuttles, like the atmosphere, although that is changing with many now coming from Celebrity and wanting to make changes to O, like louder music, etc. 

[PhD-iva]

26 minutes ago, jonthomas said:

……that is changing with many now coming from Celebrity and wanting to make changes to O, like louder music, etc. 

🤨

[Vineyard View]

Louder music is a big Nono IMHO. 
So question. If you book on this 4 category upgrade, what are the chances that a new sale in the future could possibly be better?  Let’s say you are paying an inside cabin price for a verandah, wouldn’t the verandah need to be lower priced than the inside cabin on a future sale?
Am I missing something?  

[AMHuntFerry]

Just now, Vineyard View said:

Louder music is a big Nono IMHO. 
So question. If you book on this 4 category upgrade, what are the chances that a new sale in the future could possibly be better?  Let’s say you are paying an inside cabin price for a verandah, wouldn’t the verandah need to be lower priced than the inside cabin on a future sale?
Am I missing something?  

I concur with the no loud music comments. I would prefer no piped-in music (i.e., only live music) since any one who wants music has probably heard of this new invention called ear buds with a cell phone (even us cell phone haters have them).

Now to the sale:

It is UP TO 4 cats, so inside (F, G) bumps up to OV, OV (C, D) bumps up to veranda, veranda (B) bumps up to concierge veranda (A), and if you're lucky there is sometimes a bump from concierge veranda to the lowest PH (PH3 or 4 depending on ship).

If a better sale comes along later (and you don't have the buy onboard price guaranty), you can often get the better price if it is before final payment IF there is availability in your category. You/your TA may have to cancel and rebook if O won't give you the new price, and if this happens you need to account for any applicable penalties (at least $150 per person, then more as embarkation gets closer).

[osandomir]

10 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

Louder music is a big Nono IMHO. 
So question. If you book on this 4 category upgrade, what are the chances that a new sale in the future could possibly be better?  Let’s say you are paying an inside cabin price for a verandah, wouldn’t the verandah need to be lower priced than the inside cabin on a future sale?
Am I missing something?  

Our cruise is a part of this 4 category upgrade sale. We have “The best price guarantee” but the current price of our cabin is much higher than what we got during the previous sale that we had taken advantage of.

[Vineyard View]

16 minutes ago, AMHuntFerry said:

I concur with the no loud music comments. I would prefer no piped-in music (i.e., only live music) since any one who wants music has probably heard of this new invention called ear buds with a cell phone (even us cell phone haters have them).

Now to the sale:

It is UP TO 4 cats, so inside (F, G) bumps up to OV, OV (C, D) bumps up to veranda, veranda (B) bumps up to concierge veranda (A), and if you're lucky there is sometimes a bump from concierge veranda to the lowest PH (PH3 or 4 depending on ship).

If a better sale comes along later (and you don't have the buy onboard price guaranty), you can often get the better price if it is before final payment IF there is availability in your category. You/your TA may have to cancel and rebook if O won't give you the new price, and if this happens you need to account for any applicable penalties (at least $150 per person, then more as embarkation gets closer).

Well I completely misunderstood this sale. So you can’t bump to a V from F,G, but you can bump from OV to V?  From a novice O sales perspective, it seemed different when looking at category upgrading. I thank you for clarifying, but damn. I was feeling much better before reading this! Haha! 

[AMHuntFerry]

12 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

Well I completely misunderstood this sale. So you can’t bump to a V from F,G, but you can bump from OV to V?  From a novice O sales perspective, it seemed different when looking at category upgrading. I thank you for clarifying, but damn. I was feeling much better before reading this! Haha! 

Additionally, the price showing on the O website already includes the upgrade (notice that the insides and lowest OV are all the same price), so that is the sale price (it was more before the sale).

[Vineyard View]

Well, I guess thank you again. Too early for a cocktail, so I think I will go work outside in my gardens for a bit. ha!  
 

In looking at a screenshot from April, this really isn’t much of a sale on the itineraries we were considering. 

Edited May 5 by Vineyard View

[Vineyard View]

4 hours ago, osandomir said:

Our cruise is a part of this 4 category upgrade sale. We have “The best price guarantee” but the current price of our cabin is much higher than what we got during the previous sale that we had taken advantage of.

Was this the wave season/January/February sale?  
Not being overly familiar with Oceania and their sales, I just don’t know what to think of the current one. It’s not a big savings, yet is this typically one of their more aggressive sales? 

[osandomir]

21 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

Was this the wave season/January/February sale?  
Not being overly familiar with Oceania and their sales, I just don’t know what to think of the current one. It’s not a big savings, yet is this typically one of their more aggressive sales? 

Yes, if I remember correctly it was the beginning of the year sale that gave us the extraordinary discount. But keep in mind that any sale normally is for the select sailings only that suppose to sail soon and aren’t selling well for some reason. I’m not sure why our cruise to the exotic ports of Asia in February 2025 was also included at that time. The current sale also provides some significant savings for included cruises if you are able to book a balcony cabin for the OV price, etc…

[ORV]

6 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

In looking at a screenshot from April, this really isn’t much of a sale on the itineraries we were considering. 

DING DING DING. 

[bbqoug]

We are sailing on Regatta in September on one of the itineraries listed in this sale.

Oceania adjusted our price in March to match their sale at that time. This reduced our fare by $300 per person.

The current sale is $1,000 pp more than we are paying now for our A1 cabin.

[Vineyard View]

On 5/5/2024 at 5:45 PM, ORV said:

DING DING DING. 

ORC…..in all my following on Oceania, you are truly one of the masters of figuring out the sales…. So please help me here in understanding…..

I will say that there is savings compared to the most recent ‘sale’ for the itinerary we are finally considering…..I didn’t screenshot wave season pricing but memory says it was more attractive. Memorial Day, etc coming up….understanding no crystal ball ….jist not understanding historically Oceania pricing. 

[ORV]

9 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

ORC…..in all my following on Oceania, you are truly one of the masters of figuring out the sales…. So please help me here in understanding…..

I will say that there is savings compared to the most recent ‘sale’ for the itinerary we are finally considering…..I didn’t screenshot wave season pricing but memory says it was more attractive. Memorial Day, etc coming up….understanding no crystal ball ….jist not understanding historically Oceania pricing. 

I don't know about being any master of figuring it out, but, it all comes down to how popular an itinerary is. If a cruise is selling well then, it's not going to be on sale. Also as you noted, the previous price was better. It's a pretty common marketing tactic, increase the price, then put it on sale, but in many cases the sale price is higher than it was 6 months ago. 

 

We tend to book in two scenarios, A. bucket list places that work into our schedule, generally you have to just bite the bullet and pay the going rate, B. bargain and sale cruises that also appeal to us. 

 

Just keep watching for sales and checking prices. Every once and awhile a truly good deal comes along like the Extraordinary Savings sale last year. 

[Vineyard View]

We had booked u dear the Extraordinary Saving last year for a sailing later this month. It was great pricing. Unfortunately we had to cancel due to medical. Now looking for next year. Thank you - 

I don’t see anything about low price guarantee on this sale, so it might not be available to re-price. IDK. 

[osandomir]

15 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

We had booked u dear the Extraordinary Saving last year for a sailing later this month. It was great pricing. Unfortunately we had to cancel due to medical. Now looking for next year. Thank you - 

I don’t see anything about low price guarantee on this sale, so it might not be available to re-price. IDK. 

The “Best price quarantine” isn’t a feature of any sale. It’s only offered for the cruises that are booked onboard.

[Vineyard View]

7 minutes ago, osandomir said:

The “Best price quarantine” isn’t a feature of any sale. It’s only offered for the cruises that are booked onboard.

Thank you. I did not realize this. But I do read often of re-pricing for better sales and I don’t think they were all originally booked while onboard. 

[MEFIowa]

5 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

8 hours ago, ORV said:

... Just keep watching for sales and checking prices. Every once and awhile a truly good deal comes along like the Extraordinary Savings sale last year. 

But I do read often of re-pricing for better sales and I don’t think they were all originally booked while onboard. 

I've been "rebooking" thru sales since the Presidents' Day Sale of 2021, shortly after I had booked a cruise for 12/2021 in 1/2021. BUT for me that has meant "using" sales to change cabin levels, usually going to a higher cabin for the same or less fare. So I've gone from a G to a C and then from a C to an A. Or from an F to a B or an F to an A.

 

And that early summer 2023 Extraordinary Savings Sale was...extraordinary. Rebooked our Med Cruise from an F to an A3 and that A3 was only $1899 PP for 10 nights and then a B4 to a B3 for only $1749 PP for another 10 nights on the B2B. The B4 had been rebooked from an original C to the B4. The ESS cut that sale price by $500 PP. We initially booked early in 2022!

[osandomir]

7 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

Thank you. I did not realize this. But I do read often of re-pricing for better sales and I don’t think they were all originally booked while onboard. 

Yes, most of the time you can get the sale price if it’s before the final payment is made even when the cruise wasn’t booked onboard. But technically it may require cancellation of the existing reservation and rebooking for the lower price. With the recent changes that will result in loosing $150 pp cancellation fee. On the other hand, onboard Best Buy Guarantee promises the price reduction or any other form of compensation up to the sailing date without loosing any funds that have already been applied to your reservation. That’s one of the incentives for booking while onboard the other cruise.

 

I hope that will help you understand the process better.

[Vineyard View]

2 hours ago, osandomir said:

Yes, most of the time you can get the sale price if it’s before the final payment is made even when the cruise wasn’t booked onboard. But technically it may require cancellation of the existing reservation and rebooking for the lower price. With the recent changes that will result in loosing $150 pp cancellation fee. On the other hand, onboard Best Buy Guarantee promises the price reduction or any other form of compensation up to the sailing date without loosing any funds that have already been applied to your reservation. That’s one of the incentives for booking while onboard the other cruise.

 

I hope that will help you understand the process better.

This helps a whole lot!  Thank you. The dots are all connecting. This summary is perfect. 

[Vineyard View]

4 hours ago, MEFIowa said:

I've been "rebooking" thru sales since the Presidents' Day Sale of 2021, shortly after I had booked a cruise for 12/2021 in 1/2021. BUT for me that has meant "using" sales to change cabin levels, usually going to a higher cabin for the same or less fare. So I've gone from a G to a C and then from a C to an A. Or from an F to a B or an F to an A.

 

And that early summer 2023 Extraordinary Savings Sale was...extraordinary. Rebooked our Med Cruise from an F to an A3 and that A3 was only $1899 PP for 10 nights and then a B4 to a B3 for only $1749 PP for another 10 nights on the B2B. The B4 had been rebooked from an original C to the B4. The ESS cut that sale price by $500 PP. We initially booked early in 2022!

The ESS may very well have been a ‘one and done’. I it was great.  I didn’t follow Oceania much before that, but there certainly hasn’t been anything close since….wave season probably closest but medically couldn’t book them.  So that leaves us with what we have now, and who knows if any better, in the near future. You clearly were able to secure unbelievable pricing and upgrades. 

[terrydtx]

I just talked with our TA for our Marina cruise next March. She was able to apply the May promo sale to our current booking. We are in an A3 cabin in a great location on Deck 9. We had 2 options, move up to an A1 cabin on deck 10 in almost the same deck location and save $50pp, or stay where we are and save $250pp on the fare. We decided to stay in the same cabin on deck 9, close to the Concierge lounge and save $500 total. So, it seems that you can use the May sale even if already booked.