Help! We can't book excursions early with on-board credit.

We have booked and paid for the cruise on the Ventura in February. And with Select Fares, we were given £275 per person on-board credits.

We had thought that was great, because we would be able to use most of it on excursions arranged by P&0 .

The big unwelcome surprise was when we logged-in into the "personaliser" on the P&O website, and selected our excursions, we found that we could not pay with our OBCs. The only option was to pay by American Express, Visa and other cards!

If we prepaid with one of our cards, we would not be able to use our OBCs for these excursions.

However, if we wait till we get on board the ship and book then, the excursions may have all been sold out!

We could not even call P&O to speak to a person as a pre-recorded message on P&O referred us to our travel agent. And our travel agent referred us to go onto the "personalizer" on the P&O website.

Can some experienced P&O cruisers here have any solution or suggestion to help us with this predicament?

That's the way it is I'm afraid. However, I have never seen tours being sold out before you get on board. Particularly if it is a coach tour, then they just put on the number of coaches to meet the demand. You may also find that the cost on board is slightly higher.

Brian

I should examine the excursions which you are interested in carefully and assess which ones you definitely do not wish to miss out. My understanding is that although excursions may be very popular and "sell out" in many cases the cruise line can order an additional coach to accommodate the extra people therefore increasing the numbers of seats available. This is possible under certain circumstances such as a tour round an island sightseeing. This is not possible where the total number of places depends on a maximum number of places being available on say a submarine dive excursion. Other excursions will strike you as being restricted to how many people may participate.

Then book and pay by credit card only for things which you really want to do but believe numbers will be restricted. Once on board you can book the rest using OBC as soon as possible.

Regards John

We have booked and paid for the cruise on the Ventura in February. And with Select Fares, we were given £275 per person on-board credits.

 

We had thought that was great, because we would be able to use most of it on excursions arranged by P&0 .

 

The big unwelcome surprise was when we logged-in into the "personaliser" on the P&O website, and selected our excursions, we found that we could not pay with our OBCs. The only option was to pay by American Express, Visa and other cards!

 

If we prepaid with one of our cards, we would not be able to use our OBCs for these excursions.

 

However, if we wait till we get on board the ship and book then, the excursions may have all been sold out!

 

We could not even call P&O to speak to a person as a pre-recorded message on P&O referred us to our travel agent. And our travel agent referred us to go onto the "personalizer" on the P&O website.

 

Can some experienced P&O cruisers here have any solution or suggestion to help us with this predicament?

On Cunard cannot speak for PO I have booked the odd excursion online and received a refund to credit card on board and rebooked using OBC

On Cunard cannot speak for PO I have booked the odd excursion online and received a refund to credit card on board and rebooked using OBC

Never heard of this with pando.

As other have said..The ones you are thinking of doing..Do any of them say restricted numbers.. if they don't then wait until you board to book.

Remember your auto grats can come out of your obc, so that will drop the amount down.

Where are you going and which tours are you interested in.

If you booked via a TA pando will not speak to you direct. They will only deal with the TA.

It is standard procedure that On Board Credit means anything bought ON BOARD but also remember that if you are due a loyalty discount this is NOT applied until such time as you have used up your OBC

We have booked and paid for the cruise on the Ventura in February. And with Select Fares, we were given £275 per person on-board credits.

 

We had thought that was great, because we would be able to use most of it on excursions arranged by P&0 .

 

The big unwelcome surprise was when we logged-in into the "personaliser" on the P&O website, and selected our excursions, we found that we could not pay with our OBCs. The only option was to pay by American Express, Visa and other cards!

 

If we prepaid with one of our cards, we would not be able to use our OBCs for these excursions.

 

However, if we wait till we get on board the ship and book then, the excursions may have all been sold out!

 

We could not even call P&O to speak to a person as a pre-recorded message on P&O referred us to our travel agent. And our travel agent referred us to go onto the "personalizer" on the P&O website.

 

Can some experienced P&O cruisers here have any solution or suggestion to help us with this predicament?

And that's why it is called ONBOARD credit. In any case, you could try cancelling your pre-purchases once onboard (so long as you do so before any penalty deadlines stated in your contract [do read the whole thing]) and rebooking with the OBC. Of course, any really popular excursions will already be filled and your cancellation will only serve to place you at the bottom of the waiting list.

IMO, since you're not talking about a lot of OBC, why not use it for your booze, gratuities, etc and just buy your excursions now.

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We have never had a problem with excursions selling out....Just book at your earliest opportunity on board if you want to use your obc.........It may cost a fraction more but if you're using obc you are saving money anyway!!:)

It is standard procedure that On Board Credit means anything bought ON BOARD but also remember that if you are due a loyalty discount this is NOT applied until such time as you have used up your OBC

If you book an excursion before boarding, then you still get your loyalty discount even if you have on board credit.

Brian

Have you ever read Catch 22.

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We have been on a number of cruises where excursions have sold out before departure and, on occasion, a reasonable number of them. It is not just those where capacity is limited by some other means of transport (e.g. capacity of a boat) and they do not always add additional coaches to fill demand.

So, if there is an excursion which you wouldn't want to miss, I would strongly advise that you do not to do as some others have suggested and wait until you are on board. You may well be disappointed.

It is also infuriating that if you book on board using your on board credit you do not get your loyalty discount. Frankly, I think it's sharp practice by P&O that every purchase on board eats into your OBC at full price until it's gone and only then do you start to benefit from your hard earned loyalty discount.

As others have said, your auto gratuities come out of your OBC as well as all your other on board spend. I thoroughly recommend the select dining restaurants, in particular The Epicurean, although the most popular days and times can also sell out before you board, so book them on the afternoon of the day that you board for your best chance if you want to use your OBC to pay for the supplements.

Remember, one thing you cannot buy with your OBC is foreign currency .

Brian

If you book an excursion before boarding, then you still get your loyalty discount even if you have on board credit.

Brian

Fair comment, I had forgotten that

You also can't use your On Board Credit to pay any medical expenses or pay for a Future Cruise Deposit or to withdraw cash.

We usually book the excursions from the cruise personaliser that we definitely want to go on. For the other excursions we wait until we are onboard to book and take pot luck that there is something available.

When you get to your cabin there is a folder with the excursions listed and details of the ports you are visiting, you fill the form in and take it to the excursion desk.