cruzpal

We've made a deposit on the Regatta for the 10 night November transatlantic cruise. It deports out of Lisbon and returns to Miami. It's seven actual days at sea. Has anyone been on this particular cruise or purchased this cruise deal? We want to fly to Lisbon two days prior to the cruise. Will that be a hassle or extra fees with Oceana? Should we allow Oceana to book our hotel or find one ourselves including transfers? I have more questions but I'll leave it here for now. Your assistance and expertise is greatly appreciated. Thx.

BarbK

This has been our experience for our upcoming Oceania cruise regarding our post cruise stay.
If you select one of the hotel packages that is offered by the cruise line for your two nights pre-cruise in Lisbon, you would not have any added fees.
If you decide to make your own hotel arrangements, you would be charged air deviation fees as well as any difference in the price of the airfare and you would also be responsible for your own transfers.
For us, it still saved us some money even with the fees, to make our own hotel arrangements. Enough saved in fact to spend an extra night and still spend less than the cruise line's charge.
I hope this helps.

cruzpal

Thank you BarbK. Excellent suggestions. Wer'e traveling from Hawaii which is going to be a long journey (smile). Do we have a say on the flight schedule? Or, do they just send us the schedule and that's that? How much more is for the deviation fee? Is this really a good deal for this kind of cruise? Again, all suggestions and advice is greatly appreicated. Thx.

BarbK

This will be our first time on Oceania so I don't know whether or not it is a good deal (the 2-1 airfare deal?). I'm not sure if you are able to request certain flights or airlines, but you could try. If you booked through a travel agent, you should check with them. They would have more info than I about that. Sorry I can't be more helpful. I can only say what happened with our situation.
Yes you do have a very long trip just to get to your debarkation point. You'll really need the two days prior to the cruise just to get caught up on the time changes! Good luck!

abram

Oceania hotels tend to be much more expensive that ones you book on your own. In Lisbon, we found the Hotel Dom Carlos Park to be a good choice: excellent location, very attractive, modern bathrooms, helpful front desk staff, moderate price.

If you pay the $75pp air deviation fee, you can select your own flights. One time, there was no additional fee, and one time it was $50pp. I could not book my own air less expensively than Oceania's air credit.

A taxi from the Lisbon airport to a downtown hotel will not be expensive.

jamesr3939

We just returned from the Insignia crossing from Barbados to France. We went three days early to Barbados and paid the $75 fee.

We had no choice of airlines or schedules. We booked our own hotel in Barbados and got to the port on our own.

I researched airfare and their fares are considerably cheaper than anything you could get on your own.

They do say "free airfare" but our agent said they would knock $450 off the price if we made our own. Right, I am going to find RT AF from Sacramento to Barbados and France back to Sacramento for $450! Just for fun I did look and it would have cost me almost as much for the AF as I paid for the cruise.

I highly, highly, highly recommend going a few days early. We make it a habit as we have been on cruises where people show and sail without their bags because they got lost on the airlines.

Now, if you were doing port stops that wouldn't be much of a problem, but six days at sea makes it a little hard for you to get your bags.

Plus, I have seen people who have been flying for +20 hours get to the ship looking like zombies and not even knowing where they are for two days, until they recover from jet lag.

boom_boom

We're on the Insignia out of Dover in July for a Baltic cruise and we paid the $75 fee to change the date we depart from the US. We could pick a date, but not an airline (although they did ask if we had a preferred airline) or the flights. The "free" air seemed a reasonable deal.

spur

Cruise lines air cannot possibly be cheaper than the one you find on your own. Note that besides airfare they will charge you a hefty air tax plus fuel surcharge. It isn't only $450-$500 reduction you get for not booking Oceania air but most likely at least twice as much. Always do your homework and compare the prices.

Cruiser

But if you are using frequent flier miles, the $450 would be a nice extra!

spur

It sure would, especially that you also save on air tax and fuel surcharge.

abram

We cruised the Med twice on Oceania. Each time I researched flights on my own, and I could NOT find airfare cheaper than what they would return to me as airfare (and air tax) credit.

When we paid the deviation fee, we picked the exact flights that we wanted. This was in 2004 & 2005.

spur

abram,
This shows that Oceania has been doing a very good job concealing the real cost of the air. Full airfare cost is your airfare credit amount, plus air tax, plus fuel surchage (the latter can be several hundred dollars). After you add it all up, I am pretty sure you will find a cheaper air on your own, because I did.

abram

There was no fuel surcharge.