Excursion Reservations Pre-Pay?

Well, then add this tidbit of info to my confusion: in late November last year I had booked another excursion for this same cruise. That one required pre-payment. There was no option to pay on board. So, one required it, and one did not. And now the policy will change again. Consistency apparently is not in Princess' master plan.

 

This is our first time on Princess. I am starting to wonder what I am getting myself into. ;p

There's been several lengthy discussions about the changes but this is it in a nutshell.

Late last year Princess began requiring credit card payment to book tours in advance. That upset a lot of their passengers who could no longer book without payment & could only use OBC for onboard reservations. They met passengers halfway by allowing us to use OBC or a charge card to pre-reserve tours.

It's been confusing to their frequent passengers so it's even worse for first time Princess passengers. ;)

Well, then add this tidbit of info to my confusion: in late November last year I had booked another excursion for this same cruise. That one required pre-payment. There was no option to pay on board. So, one required it, and one did not. And now the policy will change again. Consistency apparently is not in Princess' master plan.

 

This is our first time on Princess. I am starting to wonder what I am getting myself into. ;p

Princess tried implementing the prepayment requirement earlier. They then listened to the complaints - particularly the one from people complaining about not being able to use OBC to reserve. They then removed the prepayment requirement. It looks as if they removed it primarily because of the OBC issue and only until they could update the Cruise Personalizer to use OBC. Now that they have made the software update, they are changing back to requiring prepayment but with the option to use OBC to prepay.

At this moment, the cruises in the near future do not require prepayment. The ones farther in the future require prepayment but allow OBC for prepayment. The implementation date is not the same on all ships - some ships change earlier than others.

In my opinion, this is one case where Princess is actually consistent. They listened to the complaints about OBC and removed the earlier prepayment requirement. They are now reinstituting the prepayment requirement (with use of OBC) for future cruises but not immediately. During the transition period, some will not require prepayment. Aft the end of transition period, all will require prepayment and all will allow use of OBC.

They still have some problems with the implementation. Specifically, some OBC is not visible in the Cruise Personalizer and therefore cannot be used fore prepayment. Shareholder OBC is not posted until less than 90 days prior to sailing, and excursions are often available to book much earlier. Loyalty OBC is not posted until onboard. Also some OBC from travel agents is not posted until onboard.

i was told by Princess that for cruises beginning this fall one must pre pay for any shore excursions you want to book before the cruise. The reason given was "our customers prefer to pay before hand so their final payment is not so large".

(of course this issue could be taken care of by offering both payment options)

If you have any Princess OBC which has already been posted to your account they will apply that to your pre purchase bill.. The problem is if you receive OBC say as a gift from your TA (think the Big Box TA)... that does not hit your account until you board,

If you book and pay for an excursion prior to sailing with the idea of cancelling it and immediately re-booking it so as to use this "new" OBC you could lose your spot if there is a waiting list.

If you purchase an excursion you cannot also get on the waiting list . And suite and /or Elite passengers cannot jump the wait list.(so there goes a stated benefit).

therefore it looks like if there is a popular excursion with a limited enrollment you probably have to pre pay to ensure going.

Personally...I will now first look to independent tours.

I wrote Princess about this weeks ago but of course have heard nothing.

Princess tried implementing the prepayment requirement earlier. They then listened to the complaints - particularly the one from people complaining about not being able to use OBC to reserve. They then removed the prepayment requirement. It looks as if they removed it primarily because of the OBC issue and only until they could update the Cruise Personalizer to use OBC. Now that they have made the software update, they are changing back to requiring prepayment but with the option to use OBC to prepay.

 

At this moment, the cruises in the near future do not require prepayment. The ones farther in the future require prepayment but allow OBC for prepayment. The implementation date is not the same on all ships - some ships change earlier than others.

 

In my opinion, this is one case where Princess is actually consistent. They listened to the complaints about OBC and removed the earlier prepayment requirement. They are now reinstituting the prepayment requirement (with use of OBC) for future cruises but not immediately. During the transition period, some will not require prepayment. Aft the end of transition period, all will require prepayment and all will allow use of OBC.

 

They still have some problems with the implementation. Specifically, some OBC is not visible in the Cruise Personalizer and therefore cannot be used fore prepayment. Shareholder OBC is not posted until less than 90 days prior to sailing, and excursions are often available to book much earlier. Loyalty OBC is not posted until onboard. Also some OBC from travel agents is not posted until onboard.

That is a very clear explanation. One other issue about using OBC to pay for excursions that I don't care for is the fact that Princess does not pool a husband and wife's credits and then use the combined total to pay for the excursions. My military and shareholder benefit credits are in my name so they cannot be used to pay for my wife's excursions. I don't know how Princess could program their system to allow for that since some passengers sharing a cabin may not want their credits combined. Maybe they could make it an option you can select when you begin the excursions reservation process.

That is a very clear explanation. One other issue about using OBC to pay for excursions that I don't care for is the fact that Princess does not pool a husband and wife's credits and then use the combined total to pay for the excursions. My military and shareholder benefit credits are in my name so they cannot be used to pay for my wife's excursions. I don't know how Princess could program their system to allow for that since some passengers sharing a cabin may not want their credits combined. Maybe they could make it an option you can select when you begin the excursions reservation process.

While I haven't attempted to do it, I've read posts that by calling Princess to reserve a tour they were able to combine the OBC amounts to use them for both passengers.

That is a very clear explanation. One other issue about using OBC to pay for excursions that I don't care for is the fact that Princess does not pool a husband and wife's credits and then use the combined total to pay for the excursions. My military and shareholder benefit credits are in my name so they cannot be used to pay for my wife's excursions. I don't know how Princess could program their system to allow for that since some passengers sharing a cabin may not want their credits combined. Maybe they could make it an option you can select when you begin the excursions reservation process.

Actually, they do have a simple way to do this if they would choose to.

On board your accounts are be combined (in total) if the same credit card was being used for both people.

So if each person used the personalizer to specify a different credit card, then they could program the system to check that before choosing what OBC to use for pre-cruised booked items such as shore excursions.