ship board charges

[jures]

we have been spoiled for the past 5 cruises by booking on silversea, which is all inclusive on alcholic and non-alcholic beverages. we would appreciate any feed back on the range of wine pricing aboard oceania. at home we drink moderately priced wine in the range of $8 to $15 a bottle, what would this range equate to in oceania pricing. the only feed back i have heard is that they charge for everything, coffee, coke, water etc. thank for any info you can provide or does oceania post a wine/price list. thank you

[spindrift]

jures, I am a previous passenger of Silver Seas as well, and I loved it; however, let me share some of my feelings with you about Oceania.

 

We first sailed her in 2005 around the Horn when she was a new line. She was started by Frank del Rio (formerly w/Rennaisance) and Joe Watters (former Pres. of Crystal)--both highly qualified individuals. You probably already know this, but I mentioned it in case you did not.

 

We have sailed with her seven times since 2005. We have always had a PH category (next one is A3 However since we really don't need the butler). We love the layout of the PH. Of course, if you wish you can have the Owner's Suite or Vista Suite allowing you much more room, but an equivalent is the PH (without the sitting/sleeping areas) to Silver Seas. Let me add that I have only been on the Silver Cloud 2 times and the Silver Wind 2 times.

 

The wine costs are equivalent to any other line--I like La Crema which was around $40 a bottle and my husband likes a Cabernet (can't recall what brand, but we like Chilean wine), which was around $28 to $35. He suggested that you take stateside and add $20 or so (that is their corkage fee for your own personal bottle which you might bring to the dining venues.) What we did, for our room wine was buy wine in the ports at the duty free shops. One fabulous feature is you may bring on your own alcohol (as some lines--not SS of course--but so many others confiscate it). We spent plenty in the bars and bottles of wine for dinner. We only purchased ashore for use in our stateroom.

 

They don't charge for coffee unless it is specialized. They do have an auto tip system charged to your account. You can, if you wish, have it removed or the amount changed to your preference. Of course, we would not do that and do NOT do that. In fact, we always give a bit more to many of the folks onboard. I am of the old school where tipping was a personal preference and I resented this auto tipping procedure from many of the lines, but realizing that many crew are not in direct contact with the passengers but yet add to the pleasure of the trip, I began to realize it was a good thing. We just add that amount to our cost planning. As I said, I do tip in addition to what is charged to my account.

 

In cost comparison, with my booking the PH category, I found my cost to be a lot less than SS. Also the other PLUS factor, is they have magnificent staff and crew. There is just a warmth that you feel with Oceania. By the way, Ray Solaire is with Oceania now. Do you remember Ray?

 

Oceania is also very port intensive. Love it.

 

I hope that you enjoy every minute of your cruise and please don't compare the two lines at every corner of your trip. You will love it. Just enjoy what it has to offer. There will always be pluses and minuses.

[StanandJim]

we have been spoiled for the past 5 cruises by booking on silversea, which is all inclusive on alcholic and non-alcholic beverages. we would appreciate any feed back on the range of wine pricing aboard oceania. at home we drink moderately priced wine in the range of $8 to $15 a bottle, what would this range equate to in oceania pricing. the only feed back i have heard is that they charge for everything, coffee, coke, water etc. thank for any info you can provide or does oceania post a wine/price list. thank you

 

Jures-

 

The Wine list can be found at:

http://www.oceaniacruises.com/T_MainContentPage.aspx?PageUID=735d0886-26d1-410f-86cc-17bad77c6bc9

Although the prices are not listed online, the wines vary in cost from about $20 to several hundred dollars per bottle.

You will find several inexpensive whites , and several inexpensive reds (similar to a Beaujolais Village) hovering around the $20 price point. If you enjoy a white zinfandel, you will find Berenger the lowest priced wine on the ship (I want to say $18, but I'm not positive)

It would be very difficult, if not impossible, in fact, to drink the difference in cruise fares between the all inclusive Silversea and Oceania (unless you have a taste for fine vintages).

You might even find it refreshing that your cruise fare is not subsidizing the excesses of others. I've heard plenty of complaints about that on a Silversea ship.

[legaleaglegreen]

I found the wine list to be very varied both by type and price--obviously they can't carry the full range of a restaurant with a big cellar but it is pretty good. Prices were equivalent to most better restaurants in U.S.--about a 100% market over retail wine store. Tea and coffee are free, as are ice tea and lemonade and fruit juices at breakfast.

[legaleaglegreen]

I meant markup but can't type.

[LHT28]

cappucino & espresso free also

[jerseygirl3]

Since our TA includes a $1000/cabin OBC, I don't think we'll bother bringing our own wine onboard. My favorite is LaCrema Pinot Noir, and now that I know they have it onboard, I know how to spend my OBC!!!

[WELSH WIZARDS]

No one as yet has mentioned hot chocolate. Can you get it on Oceania ? Please say " yes " as its practically all I drink. ! :) Oh , and do you have to pay ?

[hondorner]

There is a 24 hour coffee/tea service center located on the Starboard side of the Terrace buffet, just inside the door from the Waves Grill. There, you will find coffee, fixings for tea, fixings for hot chocolate, lemonade, fruit punch and iced tea. I have a very large travel mug that I carry with me and I stop there after lunch most days and fill it with lemonade and ice. Betsy, being a true Floridian, prefers southern Sweet Tea, so she brews her preference of tea, then sweetens it and chills it in ice for her own iced tea. She says the ship's iced tea is OK, but she really likes her own. The ship staff buzzes around wanting to be of service, but they soon learn our quirks and tolerate us.

 

I have never done so, but I'm certain you can order hot chocolate in any venue and it will be free.

 

I've just recently become a fan of hot chocolate again, after 36 years in Florida, with the record cold spells we have been having. I discovered an assortment of 7 different flavors of hot chocolate at Sams Club, including white chocolate with macadamias, raspberry chocolate, dark chocolate, sweet chocolate with french vanilla and more. Yum.

[WELSH WIZARDS]

.......I'm certain you can order hot chocolate in any venue and it will be free.

I've just recently become a fan of hot chocolate again, after 36 years in Florida, with the record cold spells we have been having. I discovered an assortment of 7 different flavors of hot chocolate at Sams Club, including white chocolate with macadamias, raspberry chocolate, dark chocolate, sweet chocolate with french vanilla and more. Yum.

Oh...thank goodness...I will not have to cancel then.! :D I am such a fan of chocolate that a CC friend designed a logo for my trip on Equinox especially for me. !

 

 

[spindrift]

Enjoy your hot chocolate at no charge. Even tho I really should not drink it as the older I get the harder it is to lose weight and I have to watch what goes in the mouth, you can enjoy it at no charge (and if you ask, they will give you some marshmallows. :D)

[jerseygirl3]

There is a 24 hour coffee/tea service center located on the Starboard side of the Terrace buffet, just inside the door from the Waves Grill. There, you will find coffee, fixings for tea, fixings for hot chocolate, lemonade, fruit punch and iced tea. I have a very large travel mug that I carry with me and I stop there after lunch most days and fill it with lemonade and ice. Betsy, being a true Floridian, prefers southern Sweet Tea, so she brews her preference of tea, then sweetens it and chills it in ice for her own iced tea. She says the ship's iced tea is OK, but she really likes her own. The ship staff buzzes around wanting to be of service, but they soon learn our quirks and tolerate us.

 

I have never done so, but I'm certain you can order hot chocolate in any venue and it will be free.

 

I've just recently become a fan of hot chocolate again, after 36 years in Florida, with the record cold spells we have been having. I discovered an assortment of 7 different flavors of hot chocolate at Sams Club, including white chocolate with macadamias, raspberry chocolate, dark chocolate, sweet chocolate with french vanilla and more. Yum.

 

I, too, love hot chocolate. Especially with these cold days here at the Jersey shore! Around 3 p.m, when I feel the need for that sweet "pick me up" I make a cup of hot chocolate (I use the low calorie Swiss Miss....only 60 calories). I've become addicted to Nestle's Peppermint Mocha creamer. When you add it to the hot chocolate, it tastes like mint chocolate chip ice cream! It soothes my need for something sweet, but much fewer calories than a Hershey bar!

 

Jo-Ann

[shedridt]

My husband & I have traveled on several lines & have been literally all over the world on one conveyance or another - Crystal, Orient, Windstar & Oceania at sea & never mind trains planes & automobiles - & for whatever reason I found it EXTREMELY objectionable to be charged for anything & everything beyond water or iced tea to be an expense on Oceania. Alcohol of any type is NOT the same as water or a Pepsi, but Oceania is not a bucket price line & I felt nickled & dimed on these points, which is something I really hate. Give it to me up front, as in Crystal or Seaborne (to one degree or another) - but PLEASE don't make me pay you for water AND an 18% gratuity every time I go ashore! Not after room & board - & with tuition too in the form of land excursions adding at least another third to the cost of the cruise!

 

NOTE - that although we found the expense of shore excursions outrageous & NOT AT ALL IN LINE WITH OUR LAST CRUISE ON CRYSTAL JUST TWO YEARS AGO - all but one was worth every cent we paid for it & even that was OK. We were satisfied, overall, that we got good value for money.

 

BTW - We are just back from AU TO NZ & loved virtually everything about Oceania Nautica, but the idea that you had to BUY a bottle of water for $3 - AND there was also an 18% gratuity attached to it - rubbed us VERY MUCH the wrong way. I saw all those charges for WATER at $3.54 - & I'd paid a great deal for the cruise itself & only got 2 little bottles of water in my room the entire time - & it was hard to swallow...at the quite high price that was charged for the shore excursions, tossing in a bottle of water should have been NO hardship to O!!! It only served to be an irritant...

[WELSH WIZARDS]

I quite understand your frustration about the price of the water. I am only posting to inform some of the people who cruise something they may not be aware of about the tap water on most cruise ships. It is very good clean water, and quite safe to drink, so there is no necessity to buy water at all, unless you wish to .

[hondorner]

My husband & I have traveled on several lines...Give it to me up front, as in Crystal or Seaborne...but PLEASE don't make me pay you for water AND an 18% gratuity...

I have never sailed on Crystal or Seaborne, but the reason is that after comparing their prices, it looks like I would be paying about $3,000 each for bottles of water on one of those lines, given the number of bottles I buy on Oceania. I would hate to see Oceania's prices be raised high enough to pay for all those freebies, which I don't use. In effect, I would be paying for your water. If Oceania charged as much as Crystal or Seaborne and didn't give me water, I could see your point.

[StanandJim]

I have never sailed on Crystal or Seaborne, but the reason is that after comparing their prices, it looks like I would be paying about $3,000 each for bottles of water on one of those lines, given the number of bottles I buy on Oceania. I would hate to see Oceania's prices be raised high enough to pay for all those freebies, which I don't use. In effect, I would be paying for your water. If Oceania charged as much as Crystal or Seaborne and didn't give me water, I could see your point.

 

Bravo Don, VERY WELL SAID!

 

The difference in price more than covers the so called "freebees" plus a profit. If it didn't, both Crystal and Seabourn would go bust.

 

In a way, I wish that Oceania would add an all inclusive option, so that people who are so chaffed at signing for water could pay extra for the convenience.....IF it were still an issue at the 3k pricepoint ;) .

 

Personally, I think that signing all those autographs is my only chance to feel like George Clooney :D

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I have never sailed on Crystal or Seaborne, but the reason is that after comparing their prices, it looks like I would be paying about $3,000 each for bottles of water on one of those lines, given the number of bottles I buy on Oceania. I would hate to see Oceania's prices be raised high enough to pay for all those freebies, which I don't use. In effect, I would be paying for your water. If Oceania charged as much as Crystal or Seaborne and didn't give me water, I could see your point.

 

I won't talk about Crystal, but in the case of Seabourn I think (And Silversea and Regent), you get a heck of a lot more than free water for that $3000. Water, sodas, specialty coffees, cocktails, wine, beer, classes and tips. What have I missed? I agree that it still probably does not add up for most people, but a drink/bar bill of $100 per day doesn't sound out of line, don't know the price of things, but, hmm, 3 bottles of water, $10.50, a bottle of wine, $30 (min), 4 cocktails or beers $30, perhaps an exercise class (how much, $10?) Hmm, a specialty coffee, $10? Do they charge for ice cream?

[CintiPam]

personally, i think that signing all those autographs is my only chance to feel like george clooney :d

 

rotflol!:)

[nparmelee]

The only coffee drinks we saw a charge for were the ones with alcohol in them. Ice cream is not a charge. We don't drink soda at all so I wouldn't necessarily want to pay for somebody else's soda fix. It would be nice if they had packages for some things, soda, bottled water, wine packages for those who would want to just pay for those once. But to us, signing for those extras is no big deal. We don't get to a $100 a day in the bar bill, probably closer to $50 for both us, some get much higher than $100/day/person, luckily there are lot's of choices out there. If you really want an all-inclusive, those options are out there.

[LHT28]

I agree on one point ..if you do a ship's excursion then they could throw in a bottle of water .

Our bar bill for 32 days was less than $50.

I buy bottled water ashore or take my sport bottle and refill it in the Terrace.

If you want all inclusive stick with the line that have that option

[raffeer]

drink/bar bill of $100 per day doesn't sound out of line, don't know the price of things, but, hmm, 3 bottles of water, $10.50, a bottle of wine, $30 (min), 4 cocktails or beers $30,

 

$170 a day? That's a good reason for us to stick with O. Our bar bill, for a trip is zero. We drink tap water. Don't drink wine, beer or cocktails either.

With all due respect we also don't see ourselves paying for your indulgences.

Raffeer

[StanandJim]

$170 a day? That's a good reason for us to stick with O. Our bar bill, for a trip is zero. We drink tap water. Don't drink wine, beer or cocktails either.

With all due respect we also don't see ourselves paying for your indulgences.

 

Raffeer-

 

Sadly I can beat the $170 a day barbill. But even I could not drink my way through water, wine, beer, or whiskey to a point where Oceania is not the better deal.

And I feel much more comfortable knowing that I'm shouldering my own indulgences. Champagne for Everyone!

[hondorner]

(Sigh) Too bad none of the Oceania ships have a roulette table...:(

[jerseygirl3]

My husband & I have traveled on several lines & have been literally all over the world on one conveyance or another - Crystal, Orient, Windstar & Oceania at sea & never mind trains planes & automobiles - & for whatever reason I found it EXTREMELY objectionable to be charged for anything & everything beyond water or iced tea to be an expense on Oceania. Alcohol of any type is NOT the same as water or a Pepsi, but Oceania is not a bucket price line & I felt nickled & dimed on these points, which is something I really hate. Give it to me up front, as in Crystal or Seaborne (to one degree or another) - but PLEASE don't make me pay you for water AND an 18% gratuity every time I go ashore! Not after room & board - & with tuition too in the form of land excursions adding at least another third to the cost of the cruise!

 

NOTE - that although we found the expense of shore excursions outrageous & NOT AT ALL IN LINE WITH OUR LAST CRUISE ON CRYSTAL JUST TWO YEARS AGO - all but one was worth every cent we paid for it & even that was OK. We were satisfied, overall, that we got good value for money.

 

 

 

BTW - We are just back from AU TO NZ & loved virtually everything about Oceania Nautica, but the idea that you had to BUY a bottle of water for $3 - AND there was also an 18% gratuity attached to it - rubbed us VERY MUCH the wrong way. I saw all those charges for WATER at $3.54 - & I'd paid a great deal for the cruise itself & only got 2 little bottles of water in my room the entire time - & it was hard to swallow...at the quite high price that was charged for the shore excursions, tossing in a bottle of water should have been NO hardship to O!!! It only served to be an irritant...

 

Doesn't Oceania allow you to bring onboard your own bottled water? I know they allow soda, wine, and alcohol, so I just assumed they also allowed water.

 

Jo-Ann

[caribbeansun]

Some of these threads really are quite funny.

 

Lets face it - if your biggest issue is the cost of a bottle of water and the tip on it - you've got it pretty damn good.