Paying for excursions before the cruise?

[nikita]

I was wondering if there is anyway to pay for excursions before the cruise. I know that normally this charge is put on your sign and sale card but I was wondering if you could pre-pay on a credit card. I would like to do this since we are paying for my son and his friend to go on the cruise and they are in a different room and under a different reservation number. I do not want to pay for their drinks or souvenirs etc. but would like to pay for other things such as excursions and possibly tips as well.

[johnql]

Not that I know of. Besides, what happens if a tour gets cancelled and you need to get a refund? More of a headache than it's worth.

 

Closest I can figure - you could purchase onboard credit certificates (available in increments of $25) and present them as a way of paying for the excursions and/or the tips.

[Toyz711]

you could buy them on-board credits for them to apply to their account or you could just wait until you are on the ship, go to the customer service desk and pay something toward their account then. if you don't sign up for the excursions until you get on the ship, at the excursions desk you can tell them what account you want billed.

[nikita]

Do you buy the onboard credits online pre-cruise?

[hunterjackson]

No, you order them through the bon voyage gift dept. They are refundable so if they are not used, you get them back. We do this as we are in real estate, so we can budget and still have fun in a down month by supplementing it during the good months.

[Hockey19]

If there are excursions that I know I want to buy, I always try to order in advance. Can be done from the website where you do all your on line registration. Sure beats standing in the excursion line for 2 hours on departure day. Tickets are delivered to your room and charged to your on board account. Cancelling is difficult but not impossible but I highly reccomend that you purchase only if 100% sure.

[garycarla]

I would agree with the poster suggesting just going down to the desk and paying part of their bill - the excursion part, whatever. Or just have them billed to your room in the first place.

 

In any event, I see no good reason to pay anything in advance, only downsides. Cancels, change of mind, billing issues, refunds, cancelled cruise, etc etc.

 

It is my money and I want to hold onto as long as possible.

[nikita]

I would agree with the poster suggesting just going down to the desk and paying part of their bill - the excursion part, whatever. Or just have them billed to your room in the first place.

 

In any event, I see no good reason to pay anything in advance, only downsides. Cancels, change of mind, billing issues, refunds, cancelled cruise, etc etc.

 

It is my money and I want to hold onto as long as possible.

 

So it will be possible to go to the desk and add those charges onto our account? Just want to make sure as I'm positive they will not have enough money to cover the excursion charges. Thanks for all the suggestions.

[crusinmama22]

This is my first NCL cruise. I too would like to pre book some excursions.

 

My question is are we charged now or when we board ?

 

Thanks.

[garycarla]

You might be "charged", but you do not pay until you board. Actually, you do not pay until you leave.

[sparks1093]

This is my first NCL cruise. I too would like to pre book some excursions.

 

My question is are we charged now or when we board ?

 

Thanks.

 

You'll be charged onboard.

[crusinmama22]

Wow! What a quick reply.

 

Thanks.

 

So is it true, I have to wait for my confirmation from NCL that final payment was made in order to book the excursions ?

 

Thanks.

[njhorseman]

Wow! What a quick reply.

 

Thanks.

 

So is it true, I have to wait for my confirmation from NCL that final payment was made in order to book the excursions ?

 

Thanks.

 

No, you can book them at any time. Have you registered on NCL's Web site yet? Once you have, you can complete all your precuise "paperwork" on the site, and book your excursions.

[debnjoe1438]

If there are excursions that I know I want to buy, I always try to order in advance. Can be done from the website where you do all your on line registration. Sure beats standing in the excursion line for 2 hours on departure day. Tickets are delivered to your room and charged to your on board account. Cancelling is difficult but not impossible but I highly reccomend that you purchase only if 100% sure.

 

Let me tell you about my not so good experience with buying shore excursions on line, and this was the ONLY problem or dissatisfaction I had with my first cruise (NCL)

 

I purchased a shore excursion for X amout of dollars (this was 3 years ago). I get on the ship and the price is higher on the ticket than what was on the internet and what I was expecting to pay. I didn't think much of it as I had "already purchased" my tickets for X amount. Well at the end of the cruise I discovered I was being charged the higher price. I went to the shore excursion desk to ask why and they said the price went up and had a "to bad so sad, you've been @#$##" attituded.

 

When I got home the first thing I did was go to my computer to check the price. Well, guess what, the price was the same as BEFORE the cruise. (The price quoted on the internet HAD NOT gone up) Yes, I called NCL and yes I did get a refund for the difference.

 

I'll stand in line at the shore excursion desk, or not go on an excursion. (Yep, I have a trust issuse with online purchases and the shore excursion folks.)

[njhorseman]

Let me tell you about my not so good experience with buying shore excursions on line, and this was the ONLY problem or dissatisfaction I had with my first cruise (NCL)

 

I purchased a shore excursion for X amout of dollars (this was 3 years ago). I get on the ship and the price is higher on the ticket than what was on the internet and what I was expecting to pay. I didn't think much of it as I had "already purchased" my tickets for X amount. Well at the end of the cruise I discovered I was being charged the higher price. I went to the shore excursion desk to ask why and they said the price went up and had a "to bad so sad, you've been @#$##" attituded.

 

When I got home the first thing I did was go to my computer to check the price. Well, guess what, the price was the same as BEFORE the cruise. (The price quoted on the internet HAD NOT gone up) Yes, I called NCL and yes I did get a refund for the difference.

 

I'll stand in line at the shore excursion desk, or not go on an excursion. (Yep, I have a trust issuse with online purchases and the shore excursion folks.)

 

We had exactly the opposite experience. We booked on line at a certain price, and by the time we took our cruise the price had gone up, but NCL charged the price we had booked at.

[debnjoe1438]

We had exactly the opposite experience. We booked on line at a certain price, and by the time we took our cruise the price had gone up, but NCL charged the price we had booked at.

 

I'm glad to hear you got charged the price you booked at. :D

[wants2fly]

When we were on Gem last week, there was 15% off sale on the Shore Excursions at the desk. I do not know if they were the same price or not as I did not request for refund of the differences. If I have known that, I wouldn't booked mine on-line before I went. I could have save couple of dollars!!! I guess they had lower than expected people signed up. Also, by booking on-line, I know I will be included in the tour choice I wanted so it is all luck I guess. We can not get everything we wante in life. Anyways, I enjoyed the excursions very much as it was our first time in Italy.

Enjoy the cruise, everything else is relative...

[vacation luvver]

I like being able to book shore excursions ahead of time online, because on an NCL cruise last year that visited three ports, in two of those ports there was only one shore excursion that appealed to me, and I was happy to be able to lock them in. On the ship, someone told me that she tried to book a shore excursion on the day that we boarded, and it was sold out already. She didn't know that she could have booked them ahead of time.

 

I booked shore excursions for an RCCL cruise ahead of time, and they were immediately charged to my credit card and appeared on the following bill, which came months before the cruise was supposed to leave. I wondered what would happen if the ship had to bypass a port, or if an excursion got canceled, but nothing happened, and I took the excursions.

 

I'm taking another NCL cruise next July, and I've already booked one shore excursion that I'm positive that I'll want to take, and the description said that the tour would be very limited in the number of passengers that could take it. I'm hesitant to book other shore excursions right now, though, because there's a possibility that new shore excursions could be made available in 2010. Does that happen? Do cruiselines add new shore excursions to what's currently available?

[johnql]

I'm hesitant to book other shore excursions right now, though, because there's a possibility that new shore excursions could be made available in 2010. Does that happen? Do cruiselines add new shore excursions to what's currently available?

Yes, they do periodically add new shore excursions. However, if there's something that appeals to you now, I would book it. You can always cancel for a full refund.

[vacation luvver]

Thank you very much, johnql!