I have been reading with great interest R vs. O comparisons. We are R regulars and have cruised on all of their ships past and present. We have always been more than satisfied with our experience. We planned to do an SA cruise this winter, but could not get away early enough to do the Mariner which sailed in mid January. So, we booked a B2B on Insignia from Valparaiso to Rio. We place a premium on space and were able to get an OS for both legs of the trip. We knew that R was more expensive than O, but timing rather than cost led us to book O. Having nothing better to do on a Saturday morning, I thought I would put pencil to paper and calculate the difference. Wow! Someone tell me where I am wrong!

I compared fares of the Mariner suite on R to the OS on O (Mariner suite is 650 sq ft with 50sq ft deck – OS is 622 sq ft with 340 sq ft deck).

The R fare for a Mariner suite from Lima to BA is $28595 pp – a 20 day itin for a per diem of $1450 pp. Extending this to 28 days (the length of our itin) takes it to $40,600 pp.

The O fare for the 28 days after deducting air credit and B2B discount comes to $15,000 pp. – and this includes prepaid gratuities for the first leg!

Can this be accurate? Granted, the intins are not the same but should be comparable – the all inclusive arrangement on R is understood, but the comparability of suites and assessments of service and food often compare the two as equal.

For the two of us it’s 30K vs. 80K. That is a stunning difference. Someone tell me where I’m wrong.