New to O, how does Oceania handle move ups to higher category cabins?

[terrydtx]

We are booked on the Marina for next March in an A2 Concierge cabin. I can see that there are plenty of PH cabins available for this cruise, how does O handle moving up to them as we get closer to sailing? Having sailed extensively with Celebrity, they do move up bids which sometimes can snag a great cabin for less than the booking price. If the price was right we could be interested in moving up to a PH cabin. 

[MEFIowa]

O doesn't do such bidding.

 

We've gotten two kinds of offers in the past:

 

1. They've asked us to switch to an entirely different cruise, usually the same itinerary on a better ship and better cabin (e.g., move from Sirena to Riviera). Likely due to an over-booking/guarantee problem.

 

2. They've asked us if we'd like to PAY to upgrade. Usually 6-8 weeks out. The couple times I looked at the offers, the price wasn't very good. Once it was literally tied to the current list price! No saving whatsoever.

 

I have read things here about some Travel Agencies getting access to late secret sales. Esp. for ships with lots of unbooked rooms.

 

BUT, I did raise this with my O sales rep (I always use the same one) for our upcoming London to Stockholm cruise on Sirena. O's web site shows all the F-As as "Available" and the G level as "Guaranteed". She claimed there were only 30 open cabins, but did say that maybe someone from O that deals with this issue might contact us. That was about 3 weeks ago and I haven't heard anything. 

[tropicalkerry2002]

Booked in a B2 for my first O cruise in 2007.

 

About 10 days or so before embarking, got an offer, via my TA(first time I had used this TA), with an offer to move to a PH for $375pp. I leapt on it, no idea what cabin it would be.

 

It was a PH1!!!!

[terrydtx]

34 minutes ago, tropicalkerry2002 said:

Booked in a B2 for my first O cruise in 2007.

 

About 10 days or so before embarking, got an offer, via my TA(first time I had used this TA), with an offer to move to a PH for $375pp. I leapt on it, no idea what cabin it would be.

 

It was a PH1!!!!

That is the kind of upgrade I would jump at too. I bet this doesn't happen very often. My TA told me the Marina is only about 60% booked for our cruise and the PH cabins are sold even less. Unless there are a lot of late bookings there could be a number of nice suites available.

 

In January we had Premium Economy seats on American for our flights to Sydney Australia.  The day after Thanksgiving we got an email from AA offering us a BC upgrade for $1200pp for seats that were selling $8000 more than our PE cost. That was also an upgrade we jumped on. 

Edited June 23 by terrydtx

[IWantToLiveOverTheSea]

We usually book inside staterooms or oceanviews, with an occasional lower-priced veranda booking.  Once in a while we'll book a guarantee on one of those categories. In the past 10 years or so we've typically gotten an upgrade offer maybe 10-14 days pre-cruise. Once or twice we didn't, particularly if the ship was sold out or almost sold out, which happened with our sold out SE Asia cruise in January.  I've only accepted one, maybe two upgrade offers over the years, as I'm fine cruising in any room category, even the lowly inside category.  But I have to admit I do enjoy the "wait and see what they offer" game, even if I say no most of the time.  I would say, however, that if you think you might be interested, don't dawdle if you receive an offer.  Also if you have a TA, make sure that person knows you may be interested, and knows your cell phone number. Typically, I think you have the rest of the day to accept, but after that, O may quickly move on to calling another person.  I would guess that the most frequent offer involves the veranda rooms, as there are plenty of them, and they seem to sell slower than the higher and lower priced rooms.  

[IWantToLiveOverTheSea]

As a P.S., I would think that a cruise in March would fill up quite a bit by that time. My cruise is 5 or 6 months out and still before final payment. There are  no suites available.  They're all wait listed.  And the oceanviews, insides and the lowest veranda category are all wait listed. The lowest-priced concierge level veranda also just flipped over to Guarantee from Available.

 

Edited June 23 by IWantToLiveOverTheSea
checked, now last suite gone

[vlthom]

Your cruise is still quite a long ways out.  More than likely, it will fill up quite a bit more from where it stands now.  But you may get lucky and get a great offer for an upgrade.  I just wouldn’t count on it.

[mauibabes]

@terrydtx

MEFIowa pretty much covered it but I can say from my experiences with O, working through our TA has made a difference. We usually book the kind of Stateroom and location we want from the beginning, 1-2 years out so we are not playing the “wishing and hoping” game because my DW is not willing to consider an Inside stateroom to save some money. It is a Happy Wife Happy Life thing in our house 😇👍❤️ I could not handle an Inside or non Veranda room because we have developed Covid and been quarantined for 5 days and I would have gone stark raving crazy if we were in an Inside room. We had a number of friends get Covid on Vista last October as well but at least they were all able to step outside and breathe fresh air. 
Back to upgrades, we have gotten them numerous times as MEF suggests. Usually 60 days down to one week for ours offers and we were in A Verandas and once a PH. We moved up to A-1’s for $50-100 to improve location to mid ship, moved from A to PH for about 1/3 the PH difference in price, moved from a PH to an Oceania Suite on Riviera and once, a week out offer on Regatta in Alaska to move from a PH to an Owners Suite. On that Alaska trip O had bought out our 7 day A Veranda Alaska cruise from the prior year and gave us $4000 and a following year 10 day Alaska trip in that PH. DW said YES to the Owners Suite offer as we were traveling with three other couples so the party was always in our room 🤪👍🥂🍹🍷. And yes, several times they needed a bunch of A Veranda rooms and they bought us down to a B Veranda from A, maintained all our amenities and we walked away with $2600. With that 💰 in our pocket, while on board Marina there was availability on the following cruise in A Verandas that two of us just stayed aboard for another 10 days for $2500 pp. We felt QUITE good about that cruise deal 🤪🙏. 

Oceania is not Celebrity and we can only hope the folks in Revenue do not come up with that “Bright Idea” to follow suit with X or that dynamic pricing BS 🤬. The Upgrade offers come on a first come, first served basis so you have to act fast. We had some friends on Nautica in South Africa last month in a C Stateroom and had already picked up some amazing amenity offers when they booked. They were already in Capetown on a private tour when they received an emailed offer to go to an A-2 for $350 total so Overall they saved 50%. 
Bottom line, there are some great deals to be had. Always pay attention to your O emails, especially if they are from Revenue. Only you can decide if it is worth the price.

Happy sailing,

Mauibabes

 

[terrydtx]

15 minutes ago, mauibabes said:

@terrydtx

MEFIowa pretty much covered it but I can say from my experiences with O, working through our TA has made a difference. We usually book the kind of Stateroom and location we want from the beginning, 1-2 years out so we are not playing the “wishing and hoping” game because my DW is not willing to consider an Inside stateroom to save some money. It is a Happy Wife Happy Life thing in our house 😇👍❤️ I could not handle an Inside or non Veranda room because we have developed Covid and been quarantined for 5 days and I would have gone stark raving crazy if we were in an Inside room. We had a number of friends get Covid on Vista last October as well but at least they were all able to step outside and breathe fresh air. 
Back to upgrades, we have gotten them numerous times as MEF suggests. Usually 60 days down to one week for ours offers and we were in A Verandas and once a PH. We moved up to A-1’s for $50-100 to improve location to mid ship, moved from A to PH for about 1/3 the PH difference in price, moved from a PH to an Oceania Suite on Riviera and once, a week out offer on Regatta in Alaska to move from a PH to an Owners Suite. On that Alaska trip O had bought out our 7 day A Veranda Alaska cruise from the prior year and gave us $4000 and a following year 10 day Alaska trip in that PH. DW said YES to the Owners Suite offer as we were traveling with three other couples so the party was always in our room 🤪👍🥂🍹🍷. And yes, several times they needed a bunch of A Veranda rooms and they bought us down to a B Veranda from A, maintained all our amenities and we walked away with $2600. With that 💰 in our pocket, while on board Marina there was availability on the following cruise in A Verandas that two of us just stayed aboard for another 10 days for $2500 pp. We felt QUITE good about that cruise deal 🤪🙏. 

Oceania is not Celebrity and we can only hope the folks in Revenue do not come up with that “Bright Idea” to follow suit with X or that dynamic pricing BS 🤬. The Upgrade offers come on a first come, first served basis so you have to act fast. We had some friends on Nautica in South Africa last month in a C Stateroom and had already picked up some amazing amenity offers when they booked. They were already in Capetown on a private tour when they received an emailed offer to go to an A-2 for $350 total so Overall they saved 50%. 
Bottom line, there are some great deals to be had. Always pay attention to your O emails, especially if they are from Revenue. Only you can decide if it is worth the price.

Happy sailing,

Mauibabes

 

Thank you for your insights, they are very helpful. I am with your DW we never have, nor would we book a cruise in an inside cabin, if we can't afford at least a verandah, we do not need the cruise. I know some people are very happy with an inside cabin, that's why they sell them, but we are not those people. We have friends who have booked many cruises on Oceania, and they have told us stories about getting upgrades to suites even higher than PH ones. On one of the first post Covid cruises with Celebrity we got a free upgrade from an Aqua Class cabin to a Sky Suite, which we loved so much the next 6 cruises with them were all in suites and their Retreat class.

Edited June 23 by terrydtx

[Vallesan]

33 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

Thank you for your insights, they are very helpful. I am with your DW we never have, nor would we book a cruise in an inside cabin, if we can't afford at least a verandah, we do not need the cruise. I know some people are very happy with an inside cabin, that's why they sell them, but we are not those people. We have friends who have booked many cruises on Oceania, and they have told us stories about getting upgrades to suites even higher than PH ones. On one of the first post Covid cruises with Celebrity we got a free upgrade from an Aqua Class cabin to a Sky Suite, which we loved so much the next 6 cruises with them were all in suites and their Retreat class.

So Celebrity did a great upsale!

Happened to us with Cathay Pacific, free upgrade to BC and have never been able to fly anything since … has cost a fortune!!!

[mauibabes]

Method in madness 🤪👍 Can not get wife out of her Penthouse either. Good thing that Oceania Suite and Owners Suites were flukes. We all do like a bargain now and then   
Mauibabes 

[GrammieK]

I have another suggestion, not sure if it’s already been discussed….

 

if you work with a TA, I would let he/she know you may be interested in an upgrade. I would also have a deck plan handy and numbers of PHs that would be acceptable. Some people think PH1 is the best, but when we first started with o, we liked the PH3s because they are closer to the back of the boat. But let’s face it, any PH is a good choice. 
 

good luck!

 

k🚢

[mauibabes]

@GrammieK

Definite plan that works. I also do regular checks on my bookings to see what specific Staterooms are available in each Category. That way I can monitor how fast it’s selling and even if there is hope for that desired offer. You are right on that PH3, especially when that 3 is next door to the PH2. 
Mauibabes

[GrammieK]

Mauibabes

Great minds think alike!🚢😂

[terrydtx]

26 minutes ago, GrammieK said:

I have another suggestion, not sure if it’s already been discussed….

 

if you work with a TA, I would let he/she know you may be interested in an upgrade. I would also have a deck plan handy and numbers of PHs that would be acceptable. Some people think PH1 is the best, but when we first started with o, we liked the PH3s because they are closer to the back of the boat. But let’s face it, any PH is a good choice. 
 

good luck!

 

k🚢

Our TA is aware that we are interested in a PH move up if and when available. I agree any PH is a good choice.