Can We Use On Board Credit to Pay For Pre-Booked Excursions?

[BORDER REIVER]

For our Queen Elizabeth cruise next year, we have been given quite a lot of on-board credit and would like to use some of it to pay for the few excursions we're likely to do. I've looked at the Cunard website and it appears that we may not be able to use our OBC for excursions booked in advance, only for those booked on board.

We've cruised with Fred Olsen and P&O and on both cruises our excursions were booked well in advance, but only charged to our account at the end of the cruise.

We don't want to delay booking excursions to the point of being too late, but at this stage, we see OBC as being the best way of paying for them, even if we have to visit the excursions desk on board.

Can any regular Cunard cruisers give any useful advice please?

[Underwatr]

The change in booking, where you pay in advance, is just now being rolled out so passengers won't have had much experience with it on Cunard. I don't know of any way to pay with OBC once you're reserved and paid with a credit card, though. In my opinion it's likely that the policy change will result in more excursions being booked after embarkation.

[gentlemancruiser]

The change in booking, where you pay in advance, is just now being rolled out so passengers won't have had much experience with it on Cunard. I don't know of any way to pay with OBC once you're reserved and paid with a credit card, though. In my opinion it's likely that the policy change will result in more excursions being booked after embarkation.

 

The excurions are billed to your credit card at the time you book and the tickets are delivered to you once you are onboard. Holland America Lines has also changed to pre-book excursions being paid in advance when bookd and several other lines have been using this approach. They haven't had any problems, so I wouldn't expect this to change.

The results is less billing work for the ship's staff, because these items don't show up on our shipboard account.

[Salacia]

If I have a large enough OBC, I think I'll book my tours on board rather than pre-booking, even at the risk that the tour will be sold out. On several occasions, the port stops have changed after I booked tours, so booking on board has often worked well for me anyway.

 

I'll be very interested to read about others experience with this new policy regarding pre-booked tours. Thanks, -S.

[saintgeorge]

For our Queen Elizabeth cruise next year, we have been given quite a lot of on-board credit and would like to use some of it to pay for the few excursions we're likely to do. I've looked at the Cunard website and it appears that we may not be able to use our OBC for excursions booked in advance, only for those booked on board.

 

We don't want to delay booking excursions to the point of being too late, but at this stage, we see OBC as being the best way of paying for them, even if we have to visit the excursions desk on board.

Can any regular Cunard cruisers give any useful advice please?

 

 

Because you now cannot pre-book shore excursions and pay for them using OBC we have missed out on a particular excursion as it is now "SOLD OUT" and this is before our cruise.

 

We were hoping to book on board but do not have that opportunity now.

 

We are very upset as we booked this cruise 17 months ago with a generous amount of OBC which we were hoping to use for excursions.

 

Here in the UK with the new Vantage fares - those booking early and then receiving OBC if the prices go down, will not be able to use this prior to their voyage but will have to book on board.

 

We will just have to spend more time in the bar........

 

PS. according to their "new" website - shore excursions can be pre-booked and paid for on board using OBC !!!!!!

[balf]

Cruise lines have finally latched on to the practice of cagey experienced cruisers of booking a tour in every port and simply cancelling as they go along. Now you have to commit and pay months, even years ahead if you want to be certain of a particular tour.

 

Cruisers need to look closely at the tours on offer. Many will no way be ever sold out: think "swimming with dolphins"simply put another bus on and dolphins don't have trade unions. I can think of many more similar.

 

Unless a tour was very special I would never book ahead if I had to pay up front.

 

David.

[BORDER REIVER]

Thanks all for your replies, there's certainly some thinking to do.

The excursions we are likely to want to do are "desireable", but not "must do's", and we have have researched DIY alternatives anyway, so I guess we'll probably wait until on board before trying to book.

[Scrapnana]

When I cruised on Celebrity seven years ago we had to pay for shore excursions when booked. I liked paying for it before the cruise and not coming home to a credit card bill (I didn't have any OBC).I wonder if this new policy will encourage the company to announce shore excursions any earlier.

[karl_nj]

Because you now cannot pre-book shore excursions and pay for them using OBC we have missed out on a particular excursion as it is now "SOLD OUT" and this is before our cruise.

 

PS. according to their "new" website - shore excursions can be pre-booked and paid for on board using OBC !!!!!!

 

Carnival switched to pre-paying for pre-booked shores excursions. I booked one shore excursion on my last Carnival cruise, earlier this month. When I checked my account on the TV, they had a debit and a credit for the amount of the shore excursion listed. At the time I found this confusing, but keeping this thread's topic in mind, it makes more sense. This was left off of my final bill, but there was also a breakdown listed "LESS SHORE-EX PRESALE CREDITS APPLIED".

 

So, keeping in mind that my experience here is from Carnival and not Cunard, it seems like some cruise lines will allow you to use OBC to pay for "pre-paid" shore excursions. I wouldn't be surprised if Cunard did something similar.

[2irisheyes]

Quote from saintgeorge

"PS. according to their "new" website - shore excursions can be pre-booked and paid for on board using OBC !!!!!!"

 

I have read the info on the Cunard website (faq section) and it contradicted what you have said above. Could you let me know in which section of the website this is mentioned. Thanks

[saintgeorge]

Quote from saintgeorge

"PS. according to their "new" website - shore excursions can be pre-booked and paid for on board using OBC !!!!!!"

 

I have read the info on the Cunard website (faq section) and it contradicted what you have said above. Could you let me know in which section of the website this is mentioned. Thanks

 

Here is a link http://www.cunard.co.uk/Documents/Legal%20Docs/Shore_Excursion_Terms_and_Conditions.pdf

 

I agree, there are many contradictions !!!

[balf]

so I guess we'll probably wait until on board before trying to book.

 

 

Wise. Another thing to remember is that there is often little relation between Cunard land based info and when actually on the ship. It it quite common to be told that the tour is sold out and then to be put on a wait list and for the tickets to be delivered to your cabin the same evening.

 

David.

[2irisheyes]

saintgeorge

 

Thank you for the link but I suspect that these are the old T&Cs as the document is dated January 2012. From what I have read the terms and conditions have or are about to change in relation to pre-payment for shore excursions.

[Underwatr]

Here is a link http://www.cunard.co.uk/Documents/Legal%20Docs/Shore_Excursion_Terms_and_Conditions.pdf

 

I agree, there are many contradictions !!!

That document is dated January 2012; it also says that Shore Excursion fares will be billed to your onboard account. The change to bill your credit card immediately upon reservation of the excursion is more recent than that so I would not rely on any information in the document regarding how they are paid for.

[Salacia]

partial quote

... Another thing to remember is that there is often little relation between Cunard land based info and when actually on the ship. It it quite common to be told that the tour is sold out and then to be put on a wait list and for the tickets to be delivered to your cabin the same evening.

 

David.

 

Yes, that has happened to me. I've also found that on occasion, tours are added to the schedule once on board. (Of course, that always happens when there is a last minute port change.)

 

The tour office has said that if there is enough interest, tours will be added to those tours that have sold out. So I wonder if there's interest on a roll call for a particular sold out tour, that a request could be made to schedule an additional tour...might be worth a try if there's enough people interested. The group could meet and make their request in person at the on-board tour office :) -S.

[saintgeorge]

That document is dated January 2012; it also says that Shore Excursion fares will be billed to your onboard account. The change to bill your credit card immediately upon reservation of the excursion is more recent than that so I would not rely on any information in the document regarding how they are paid for.

 

I agree that the document is dated Januray 2012 but having spent $$$$$ on a brand new web site it would have been prudent to update their Terms and Conditions along with other information !!!!!!

 

A great deal of vital information is now missing from the new site.

[balf]

OK so you can pre book, and pay for tours but are you then committed or can you cancel and get a credit once aboard?

 

David.

[Underwatr]

OK so you can pre book, and pay for tours but are you then committed or can you cancel and get a credit once aboard?

 

David.

I can't find an answer to that question. I did a booking for an excursion up to the point where they request credit card information but I never saw any booking terms & conditions.

 

The previous policy was that if you canceled onboard more than 48 hours before the tour time there was a 10% cancellation fee.

[Salacia]

I can't find an answer to that question. I did a booking for an excursion up to the point where they request credit card information but I never saw any booking terms & conditions.

 

The previous policy was that if you canceled onboard more than 48 hours before the tour time there was a 10% cancellation fee.

 

Apparently, Cunard is not forthcoming with information regarding this new policy. However, credit card companies have published rules and regulations regarding charges (based on my experience in the US using AmEx).

 

My suggestion would be to use only those credit cards that clearly define purchase agreements when pre-purchasing tours through the Cunard website.

 

I'm sorry to see this ill-defined policy regarding pre-purchased Cunard tours. In the past, I have enjoyed Cunard tours. But now, the thrill is off. -S.

[2irisheyes]

I read that 10% would be lost if cancelled. Cannot remember where I read it so not sure how true this is. I wonder if Cunard would compensate with 10% if they cancel a tour and it has been paid for (joke). I have never had as many emails from Cunard reminding me to pre-book excursions as for our upcoming cruise in December.

[phillipahain]

Whats needed is to bombard Cunards CEO with letters of complaint about this new policy because it totally discrimates against all the passengers who have large onboard credits they desperantly want to use

The whole situation is grossly unfair and the excuses offered are farcical

The bottom line is Cunard are craftily trying to extract extra money at a time when many passengers are already cash strapped thanks to low interest rates etc

 

CUnards attitude is exceptionally short sivnted because it will come back to bite them

[2irisheyes]

We have never had loads of obc (sadly) and now we rarely book cruise ship excursions. They are overpriced and not always all that they are cracked up to be. Fortunately we are able to do things on our own but I realise the time may come when that may not be the case. Cunard, and the other cruiselines using this tactic, may well turn out to be the losers. I suspect that many of their excursions are booked precisely because passengers have plenty of obc. With the new Vantage fares price promise there could be even larger sums of obc to be spent if that is how the cruiseline chooses to compensate people for a price drop. I guess they are trying to think of ways to get cash from passengers as early as possible. Of course there is also the possibility that some people may have pre-booked excursions and then cancel. If many people do this it would make things difficult for the cruiseline to schedule excursions.

[phillipahain]

Usually we do not have a lot of OBCs either but between an obc from a future cruise credit plus an obc from Cunard for a price drop and stockholder credit our next cruise on QM its huge and theres 2 tours we wanted to do and spend it on that i know will be sold out beforehand we are very upset indeed

 

We simply cant afford to pay for them beforehand and theres nothing onboard we will want to use the OBC for so Cunards grasping and inconsiderate policy hits hard.

 

At a time when so many passengers are bound to be severely cash strapped due to the financial state of things Cunard are definitely proving their total lack of thought and it will come back to bite them

[balf]

Wasn't there a way of turning OBC into cash in the casino some time ago? Has this been blocked as well.

 

David.

[phillipahain]

Yes thats been blocked too