No more Simply More

[mauibabes]

@terrydtx Ah, SOOO wrong! Niagara is at best a 6-7 while Iguazu is probably a 9.  No comparison and we saw them within 3 months of one another. We did it as a part of an O Pre Tour. Still have not seen Victoria Falls yet to compare, thinking it is the 10. If you are that close, you must see them, especially if it happens to be entering the wet season. 

Mauibabes

[shepherd really]

6 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

After reading this article it looks like Oceania is taking away value and adding way less back in. This is the same lame policy that got us to leave Celebrity. We use the drinks package and the shorex credit and it saves us a lot on the overall cost. Viking Ocean has the same drinks package and one included shorex in every port, plus free Wi-Fi and specialty restaurants. Need to look more at VO now. Oceania is conning us by marketing we are getting more when we really get less. 

 

This is the quite from the Points Guy that spells out what many of us will be losing with this change.

"

The terms and conditions for Oceania's current "Simply More" package state that the value placed on the package's free alcohol is up to $1,400 per person, and the shore excursion credit is valued at up to $700 per person. The value varies based on sailing length; although those amounts might only be available on sailings longer than 10 days, the numbers still show the change represents a loss in value.

When comparing that to the value of the gratuities by which both of those will be replaced as inclusions, the numbers look even worse. Currently, a charge of $18 per person, per day is added to guests' onboard accounts for gratuities. Passengers in suites with butler service pay $23 per person, per day. Even on the high end, that amounts to $230 per person for a 10-day cruise. So, a $2,100 value is being replaced by a perk valued at just $230"

The math is off, for a ten-day cruise the drink pkg is worth $600 for two, the excursion credit is closer to $600 per cabin.  The grats are worth $360-$460, so it's actually more like a $1200 benefit is replaced by a $360-460 benefit.  It's a $740 to $840 price increase.  Still sucks, but not as much as the numbers in the quoted post.

[terrydtx]

6 minutes ago, mauibabes said:

@terrydtx Ah, SOOO wrong! Niagara is at best a 6-7 while Iguazu is probably a 9.  No comparison and we saw them within 3 months of one another. We did it as a part of an O Pre Tour. Still have not seen Victoria Falls yet to compare, thinking it is the 10. If you are that close, you must see them, especially if it happens to be entering the wet season. 

Mauibabes

We already purchased our airfare and only left one day in BA after the cruise. Just will not have time to do the falls and changing our air BC seats is not possible. Maybe another time if we return. Thanks for all of the input on the falls.

[Thought2go]

18 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

After reading this article it looks like Oceania is taking away value and adding way less back in. This is the same lame policy that got us to leave Celebrity. We use the drinks package and the shorex credit and it saves us a lot on the overall cost. Viking Ocean has the same drinks package and one included shorex in every port, plus free Wi-Fi and specialty restaurants. Need to look more at VO now. Oceania is conning us by marketing we are getting more when we really get less. 

We are light drinkers but do enjoy them occasionally and it was worth the $30 pp per day upcharge for premium having the SM program covering the basic package cost. Now not so much… if at all. Like I said before, I don’t like huge surprise bills at the end of our cruise because someone did something to make their trip more enjoyable. Explora Journeys is now on review.

Edited September 8 by Thought2go

[terrydtx]

3 minutes ago, shepherd really said:

The math is off, for a ten-day cruise the drink pkg is worth $600 for two, the excursion credit is closer to $600 per cabin.  The grats are worth $360-$460, so it's actually more like a $1200 benefit is replaced by a $360-460 benefit.  It's a $740 to $840 price increase.  Still sucks, but not as much as the numbers in the quoted post.

The house drinks package sells on the O website for $39.95 pp per day or $799 for two on a 10 day cruise. The upgrade from House drinks to Prestige drinks in only $30pp per day more. Makes your numbers even worse. I agree it sucks and it the cruise pricing is not changed to reflect the lower benefits, our cruise next year may be our last on O.

[Cruzin Terri]

34 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

We looked at going to the falls next year, but our group decided they can't be any more spectacular than Niagara Falls which we all have visited several times.

You are sadly mistaken.

They are spectacular. Niagara Falls doesn’t come close.

Edited September 8 by Cruzin Terri

[terrydtx]

5 minutes ago, Thought2go said:

We are light drinkers but do enjoy them occasionally and it was worth the $30 pp per day upcharge for premium having the SM program covering the basic package cost. Now not so much… if at all. Like I said before, I don’t like huge surprise bills at the end of our cruise because someone did something to make their trip more enjoyable. Explora Journeys is now on review.

I agree, we like wine with our lunch and dinners plus a drink or two before dinner so we are upgrading our SM to the Prestige Drinks for our 18 day Marina cruise next March for $1080 for the 2 of us. If we had to pay the full Prestige drinks package without the SM House drinks it would cost us $2518, which is way too much for what we drink. 

[Harters]

3 hours ago, Sthrngary said:

Like when you came to my state of Alabama, we specialize in BBQ

I always look for good BBQ when I visit the South. Our stay in Alabama was all too brief - just a couple of days (one night). We'd been in Louisiana's Cajun country and were heading back to Atlanta for the flight home. We took the longer, more scenic, route as I particularly wanted to pay my respects at Hank Williams grave in Montgomery. That proved to be an interesting stop. Got chatting to a local taxi driver who was visiting his family's grave. And, just along from Hank's grave was a largish group of Commonwealth War Graves - all men who were learning to fly for the Royal Ait Force in WW2. I spotted several buried next to each other, all with the same date of death. I researched their names when we got home. Turned out they had been flying together in very close formation and it went wrong for them in dense cloud, with several planes colliding in the air. A rather sad day at the end of a really enjoyable holiday - which had been mainly focussed on music. We'd visited Nashville, Memphis, Tupelo, New Orleans and then Lafayette. 

Edited September 8 by Harters

[ak1004]

At the end of the day, after 14 pages of discussion, no matter how you crunch the numbers, the bottom line is pretty simple:

 

SM was not beneficial to people who don't drink and prefer private tours.

The recent change is the opposite.

 

The net result compared to what it was before SM is addition of gratuities and second Wifi device.

 

Sure, prices increased since then, as they did on all lines.

 

SM was a non event to us, and SL (or whatever you call it) is a non event too.

 

People who like to drink can bring their own wine. Problem solved. I'm sure $25 corking fee won't kill you..

 

But you can continue to vent. It's entertaining to read.

[Rainbow3fe]

1 hour ago, Cruzin Terri said:

You are sadly mistaken.

They are spectacular. Niagara Falls doesn’t come close.

The story goes that when Eleanor Roosevelt visited IguatzuFalls she said “poor Niagara”. Just sayin’

[Rainbow3fe]

2 hours ago, Jayne E said:

Hijacking topic????

Sure. Why not? We are beating a dead horse. Simply More is dead and each of us will decide whether to stay with Oceania or look elsewhere.

[MarkieMarkNYC]

On 9/7/2024 at 2:31 PM, Harters said:

If posting "many who are venting are doing so because they are in many ways hurt", is not an unevidenced and unfounded presumption, then I really don't know what might be. 

 

As for your later remark, are you really suggesting that either I should block you or you should block me?  That would be the height of silliness and I really am not going play that game with you. 

 

Please.

Chill.

[paf225]

1 hour ago, ak1004 said:

At the end of the day, after 14 pages of discussion, no matter how you crunch the numbers, the bottom line is pretty simple:

 

SM was not beneficial to people who don't drink and prefer private tours.

The recent change is the opposite.

 

The net result compared to what it was before SM is addition of gratuities and second Wifi device.

 

Sure, prices increased since then, as they did on all lines.

 

SM was a non event to us, and SL (or whatever you call it) is a non event too.

 

People who like to drink can bring their own wine. Problem solved. I'm sure $25 corking fee won't kill you..

 

But you can continue to vent. It's entertaining to read.

 

You can't rush the stages of grief.  I think most of us will soon arrive at acceptance.

 

Regards, Paul

[edgee]

30 minutes ago, paf225 said:

The net result compared to what it was before SM is addition of gratuities and second Wifi device.

Correction. Second wi fi was introduced about the same time as SM. It was NOT part of SM, though.

Beginning Oct. 1 2023 every passenger had the benefit of 2nd wifi including those that had bookings under the old Olife program. 

[Iamthesea]

On 9/6/2024 at 9:28 PM, ak1004 said:

we are on the same cruise. Booked FV a year ago when they just came out. We are getting $900 USD rebate from our TA. That’s like getting 11% discount, in addition to the early bird 5% discount and FCC.

 

To answer your question, $500 is per person per night.

 

Looking forward to meeting you on the ship!

 

Thank you for the answer.  For our European cruise on the Vista, we are paying $500pp per night for our 12 night in s B2 GTY.  The overall cruise cost for the above trip is $2000 more than last years 14 night to Europe in a Vista Suite on HAL.  The HAL cruise included the Elite Have It All package, crew appreciation, Club Orange dining, ship to airport transfer, and $1125 in OBC. 

 

I feel sure that we could have found a HAL cruise that matched what we had last year.  So, 

after reading what I wrote above, I am wondering why we are paying more to cruise this year.👧  The only thing that I can come up with as to why we picked this cruise is because the itinerary is a bit different, and we like the Vista ship... especially the cabin bathrooms.  There are a few new ports that we have not been to.  Having said that, I am not sure if we will pick another Oceania cruise after this coming spring.

 

3 hours ago, Thought2go said:

We are light drinkers but do enjoy them occasionally and it was worth the $30 pp per day upcharge for premium having the SM program covering the basic package cost. Now not so much… if at all. Like I said before, I don’t like huge surprise bills at the end of our cruise because someone did something to make their trip more enjoyable. Explora Journeys is now on review.

 

2 hours ago, terrydtx said:

I agree, we like wine with our lunch and dinners plus a drink or two before dinner so we are upgrading our SM to the Prestige Drinks for our 18 day Marina cruise next March for $1080 for the 2 of us. If we had to pay the full Prestige drinks package without the SM House drinks it would cost us $2518, which is way too much for what we drink. 

 

We are also light drinkers.  For our 7 night Caribbean cruise last spring, we ended up purchasing the upgrade to the Premium package for $30pp per day.  We did not et off of the ship many days, and made sure to get our monies worth in drinks each day.  Usually a fun drink or two during the day, an before dinner drink, and an after dinner drink.  We took advantage of the SM wine during dinner.  For breakfast, we had specialty coffee, fresh squeezed OJ, and an occasional Mimosa.  For lunch, we did not drink wine, although DH may have had a beer or two the whole week.  We did drink a coke with lunch everyday.

 

So for the upcoming cruise, we still have the SM.  However, we do not feel like we would get our monies worth during such a port intensive cruise if we were to upgrade the package to Premium.  Instead, we will take more advantage of the SM with a beer or glass of wine at lunch (if we are on the ship) and have wine at dinner.  If wanted, we will purchase alcoholic drinks by the glass before and after dinner.  Hopefully, we can work out the timing to take advantage of the 1/1 Happy Hour.  I think we will come out ahead with our bill verses purchasing the Premium package.

[ak1004]

13 minutes ago, Iamthesea said:

 

Looking forward to meeting you on the ship!

 

Thank you for the answer.  For our European cruise on the Vista, we are paying $500pp per night for our 12 night in s B2 GTY.  The overall cruise cost for the above trip is $2000 more than last years 14 night to Europe in a Vista Suite on HAL.  The HAL cruise included the Elite Have It All package, crew appreciation, Club Orange dining, ship to airport transfer, and $1125 in OBC. 

 

I feel sure that we could have found a HAL cruise that matched what we had last year.  So, 

after reading what I wrote above, I am wondering why we are paying more to cruise this year.👧  The only thing that I can come up with as to why we picked this cruise is because the itinerary is a bit different, and we like the Vista ship... especially the cabin bathrooms.  There are a few new ports that we have not been to.  Having said that, I am not sure if we will pick another Oceania cruise after this coming spring.

 

 

Yes, HAL is cheaper, but can you really compare the experience? We sailed on HAL, Celebrity and Princess (among 12 other lines), I doubt we will go back to big ships (unless there is a really unique itinerary). But it pays off to book early. Our cost for this cruise was around $360/night for B5. 

 

I'm sure 2026 prices will be much higher, but we like the small ship experience, and rest of the small ship lines are even more expensive. But there are sales. SS is having a sale now, some sailings for 2026-2027 are around $400/night, TA is even less. So it's worth to look around.

[Jancruz]

15 hours ago, ORV said:

Where have you seen any official announcement about any new Oceania club perks? I try to keep up but I’ve missed that one. 

With all due respect you’re misunderstanding this. Plain and simple, and others have pointed this out up thread, here is what will happen. Just like everyone else you will have gratuities paid just like you have since you turned Silver. If you are Silver or above you will get $250 OBC additional for the cabin. 
 

Where we are losing is not getting anything additional for the value of what we had before. Also everyone is losing the value of the basic drink package and the excursion OBC. 
 

So bottom line is that once again the loyalty perks are diluted, but they are not charging us extra. 

Orv, How is it you make such good sense and most other people are losing it...

Jancruz1

[Jancruz]

On 9/7/2024 at 6:16 PM, AMHuntFerry said:

OMG people! Nobody is losing anything and nobody (or at least not O) is taking any funds out of our trust-fund/IRA/pension/savings. We are buying cruises for goodness sake; they cost what they cost. As the old O-Life era saying goes "run the numbers"; either it meets spec or it doesn't. Carry on (and carry 😉 ).

BTW, I ran a quick "what if" scan of July 2025 cruises, 10-13 days and found that non-balcony Azamara and Oceania were the cheapest, Windstar showed up next (sail, then yacht), then other premium/luxury showed up like Viking, Seabourn, etc with O still being lowest for entry level. Run your own searches with your own preferences (i.e., add bevy pkgs as needed, etc.). O is still competitive with A for me and beats the rest, even with the October 1st "losses".

You make so much sense!!

Jancruz1

[Jancruz]

11 hours ago, jonthomas said:

 

I guess it also depends on your point in life..we were much more adventurous 10 years ago...

 

the only thing I still crave is what some of you are doing..getting a group of friends together, renting a villa in tuscany or provence....and just living the dream...

 

but alas that is not going to happen either...no one else we know has that dream....

Jon you need some new friends..LOL

Jancruz1

[Cruzin Terri]

3 hours ago, Rainbow3fe said:

The story goes that when Eleanor Roosevelt visited IguatzuFalls she said “poor Niagara”. Just sayin’

I have heard that quote and having been to both, I agree with her.

Terri

[Iamthesea]

2 hours ago, ak1004 said:

 

Yes, HAL is cheaper, but can you really compare the experience? We sailed on HAL, Celebrity and Princess (among 12 other lines), I doubt we will go back to big ships (unless there is a really unique itinerary). But it pays off to book early. Our cost for this cruise was around $360/night for B5. 

 

I can compare the experience between HAL and Oceania when sailing the Caribbean.  We enjoy both, and for different reasons, but HAL has inched ahead all 3 times!   Their ships are a good smaller size as compared to Celebrity and RCCL ships (which we have also enjoyed throughout the years.)  Time will tell how Oceania handles this European experience.  And then we can compare to our recent overseas cruises with HAL. 😉

[clo]

11 hours ago, Sthrngary said:

we stayed and extra day in Barcelona.  That was just OK. 

Wow! Why????? I could LIVE in Barcelona! I'm sorry it was just "OK" for you.

[clo]

6 hours ago, Cruzin Terri said:

You are sadly mistaken.

They are spectacular. Niagara Falls doesn’t come close.

I couldn't agree more. 

[Vallesan]

8 hours ago, ak1004 said:

At the end of the day, after 14 pages of discussion, no matter how you crunch the numbers, the bottom line is pretty simple:

 

SM was not beneficial to people who don't drink and prefer private tours.

The recent change is the opposite.

 

Can I turn your analysis on its head?

 

SM may not have been beneficial to those who don’t drink or who prefer private tours BUT SM was not beneficial to Oceania because people were taking the tours and drinking! 
 

The bottom line is pretty simple: SM was costing Oceania too much!

[terry&mike]

20 hours ago, terrydtx said:

We are now combining longer land trips with our cruises, in January we did 22 days by cruise with a 13-day driving trip in Australia. Next March we are doing a week on land before our South America Marina cruise. These land days bring downs our overall cost per day for any vacation.

 

We are in our mid 70's and more adventurous than 10 years ago after extensive overseas traveling since covid has shown how easy and safe international travel can be.

We travel like this as well. I always start with some booking, cruise or land, and then keep adding to it. We take it up to 69 days, as our annual travel insurance policy covers for trips up to 70 days. We usually do this 2x a year. I look at it like a puzzle, seeing what is in the general area of the world or an easy flight, and start building an itinerary. 

 

A simple example is adding Bali before sailing out of Singapore. But some other favorites: 

 

Scenic Mekong Cambodia and Vietnam, added a stay in Hua Hin Thailand (beach relax), then a land tour around Thailand, and a couple extra weeks in Vietnam on our own to spend some time in Hoi An, Hanoi, and HaLong Bay area.

 

Azamara 8 day Spain Intensive sailing, paired with 10 days traveling around Portugal by trains and bus.

 

Azamara Amalfi & Dalmatian Voyage, before hand we spent time in Milan and Bellagio DIY, then met up in Rome with friends. Afterwards, we did a tour in the Puglia region. Then flew over to Hamburg for a couple of days, and sailed the Queen Mary 2 back to the US. 

 

In April 2024, we sailed a Bike and Barge cruise in the Netherlands during tulip time with a group of friends. We had also booked Gorilla Trekking in Uganda in late February with 2 other friends. In a move to reduce our flying time, we ended up combining the trips by filling in the middle dates. We ended up spending a few days in Rwanda, then traveling across Uganda with a local operator, a safari tour in Kenya and Tanzania, a few days in Zanzibar to relax. 3 weeks across Poland by train, and then Berlin. Met our friends in Amsterdam for the barge trip, and home.  

 

In October, we have a river cruise in Provence France, and a transatlantic cruise back to the US from Barcelona. We'll spend 2.5 weeks in Airbnb's in Malaga and Valencia Spain. 

 

I'm currently putting a more complex puzzle together for fall 2025, but I like the challenge. We have a Greek Islands cruise booked with a group of friends in early September, and a transatlantic cruise back to the US booked for early November. We'll visit Cappadoccia Turkey beforehand, then afterwards Azerbaijan for a Formula 1 race, followed by Georgia and Armenia. Then 10 days in Albania where I will use a local tour operator for a 6 day tour. Then Airbnb's for a week in Ljubliana and a week in Trieste. And then the sail home. I had a stay in Sofia Bulgaria in there, as we've been wanting to return, but I pulled it out to spend more time in other places.

 

My husband gets exhausted just thinking about our plans, so I keep him on an as needed basis for planning and details. I love the planning!