Pre-payment of ship's shore tours??

[bazzaw]

The only ship's shore tours we have ever done have been with P&O UK and Cunard. I am hearing that now these cruiselines demand pre-payment when pre-booking tours in advance via the Internet. Have also heard rumours about Carnival cruiseline going this way.

 

Any other experience of this out there??

 

Barry

[gek]

We are cruising with Celebrity in January and although their online service appears to accept shore excursion bookings without payment, when I tried to do it the shore excursion was not added to my account. Only when I paid up front was I actually able to confirm the booking.

 

We also pre-booked shore excursions with MSC and Carnival last year and both required pre-payment.

[KirkNC]

Every ship excursion we have ever pre booked required prepayment.

[fishtaco]

Every ship excursion we have ever pre booked required prepayment.

 

 

Sometimes In Australia they are added to your onboard account so not pre paid :)

 

 

Den

[Billy and Charlie's Mum]

Princess does not make you prepay, they put it on the onboard account.

[SpiritofCharles]

LOL! Certainly not going to happen with Carnival any time soon, since they can't get their act together sufficiently to make pre-booking possible!

[bazzaw]

We have sailed with P&O UK and Cunard ( Cunard only this year, 5 months ago) - and the cost of tours was added to our onboard account.

 

Apparently this "change" is new to them ( this year) - and annoying people who had planned to use OBC to pay for their tours.

 

Barry

[Feen Machine]

We have sailed with P&O UK and Cunard ( Cunard only this year, 5 months ago) - and the cost of tours was added to our onboard account.

 

Apparently this "change" is new to them ( this year) - and annoying people who had planned to use OBC to pay for their tours.

 

Barry

Hi

We never book our tours through the ship ,we do our own bookings :)they are so much cheaper .:D

[Debsta]

lol! Certainly not going to happen with carnival any time soon, since they can't get their act together sufficiently to make pre-booking possible!

 

hahahahahahahahahahaha :d

[bazzaw]

Hi

We never book our tours through the ship ,we do our own bookings :)they are so much cheaper .:D

 

Ever been to Phu My (port for Ho Chi Minh City) ? How about Mumbai?? Port Kelang (port for Bangkok)?? etc,etc.

 

Barry

[Royalty X]

You book and prepay with Carnival U.S. I think it's great doing it that way.

[fishtaco]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Feen Machine

Hi

We never book our tours through the ship ,we do our own bookings they are so much cheaper .

 

 

"Ever been to Phu My (port for Ho Chi Minh City) ? How about Mumbai?? Port Kelang (port for Bangkok)?? etc,etc."

 

Barry

 

 

Barry after a lot of searching I ended up pre paying for my VOS HCM tour out of PHU MY. $94 each (full day with lunch)

 

I dont really like ships shore tours but sometimes you just know you are better off on one in some places:eek:

 

Didnt like the Idea of paying up front but I could imagine some would have less choice if waiting to book whilst onboard.

 

I remember my Indonesia cruise where many were going to book independent guided tours of Komodo island, then all the ships tours sold out very quickly as places were limited. there was much dissapointment and even anger when cruisers learned they could not go ashore even with a private booked tour operator,only those on the ship tour went ashore:p Glad I did my research on that one as it was a not to miss and perhaps a once in a lifetime:cool:

 

 

 

Den

[fishtaco]

You book and prepay with Carnival U.S. I think it's great doing it that way.

 

Yes but its all part of the "Carnival Experience" like pre paying for bottles of booze in your cabin!

 

No such luck here though:D

 

Den

[bazzaw]

 

Barry after a lot of searching I ended up pre paying for my VOS HCM tour out of PHU MY. $94 each (full day with lunch)

 

I dont really like ships shore tours but sometimes you just know you are better off on one in some places:eek:

 

Didnt like the Idea of paying up front but I could imagine some would have less choice if waiting to book whilst onboard.

 

I remember my Indonesia cruise where many were going to book independent guided tours of Komodo island, then all the ships tours sold out very quickly as places were limited. there was much dissapointment and even anger when cruisers learned they could not go ashore even with a private booked tour operator,only those on the ship tour went ashore:p Glad I did my research on that one as it was a not to miss and perhaps a once in a lifetime:cool:

 

Den

 

Den

 

There are some places that you just gotta!! :D

 

Barry

[Gold Coast Cruisers]

Princess does not make you prepay' date=' they put it on the onboard account.[/quote']

 

Is that even if you've pre-booked online prior to boarding the ship Eileen?

 

We've just prepaid our chosen Shore excursions for Arcadia. I like doing it that way because it's all paid for now on my credit card. We're still eligible for a refund should we decide to cancel a tour for any reason once we're on board.

 

Jilly:)

[OzKruser]

Yes we were used to P&O and Princess that charged tours to your inboard account but on our trips with RCI we were required to prepay.

I just thought of it as another thing paid for and out of the way.....

[The_Big_M]

Probably not something they need to do, but when others do and it means they get the money faster so can play with it, probably the way things are going.

 

Note it's not just shore tours but also restaurants and other bookings with other cruise lines too.

[NSWP]

Is that even if you've pre-booked online prior to boarding the ship Eileen?

 

We've just prepaid our chosen Shore excursions for Arcadia. I like doing it that way because it's all paid for now on my credit card. We're still eligible for a refund should we decide to cancel a tour for any reason once we're on board.

 

Jilly:)

Yes, with Princess we always book shorex on cruise personaliser, well before cruise date. Not pre paid, put on your on board account.

 

As has been said with Celebrity when you book on line you have to pre pay, as I have done already with a couple of shorex for Solstice, 4 March.

 

One good thing about prepaying shorex, your on board a/c does not look as big at the end, not as scary if you know what I mean LOL.

[Aussieflyer]

But prepaying, as Bazzaw points out, means you cannot use OBC if you want to be safe and precook.

[bazzaw]

There is more to this than meets the eye!! IF, for some cruiselines, we have to pre-pay our prebooked tours -- what are we actually paying??

 

When we went on our P&O UK WC in 2010, we pre-booked tours which were quoted on the P&O UK website in UKP. These were subsequently charged to our onboard account in UKP - along with all other costs incurred onboard. This was then presented to our bank who converted it to AUD.

 

Now - will we have to pay in AUD or in UKP. Because, if we have to pay in AUD, P&O AUS (not UK) do the conversions and they are not at today's rate.

 

I also noted on the RCCL website that tours quoted in AUD are way more expensive than those quoted to Americans in the US version of the RCCL website.

 

*****EDIT****

 

I have now found that my last statement is NO LONGER TRUE!!! When we first booked our VOS cruise, the prices quoted for tours was 150% more expensive than prices quoted to Americans on the US version of the RCL website. HOWEVER - now that we can actually enter our cruise personaliser and make actual bookings, the prices quoted in AUD are proper ie they are all a few dollars less than the figures quoted on the American website (as it should be)

 

Barry

[alibabacruisers]

Hi Barry...we are on a Cunard cruise next year and just booked online our shore excursions. A new policy has been started. You book online and are charged then; it does not get charged to your onboard account. According to the T&C, you can cancel prior to boarding and get a full refund, but if you wait until after boarding you forfeit 10% and get 90% refund.

 

Barbara

[Flipper133]

Yes, with Princess we always book shorex on cruise personaliser, well before cruise date. Not pre paid, put on your on board account.

 

As has been said with Celebrity when you book on line you have to pre pay, as I have done already with a couple of shorex for Solstice, 4 March.

 

One good thing about prepaying shorex, your on board a/c does not look as big at the end, not as scary if you know what I mean LOL.

 

Hi Les

 

Yes it seems with Celebrity you have to pre pay for everything ...including pre bookings for Specialty Restaurants.

 

I was a bit unsure about a booking for the Tuscan, but decided to make a booking anyway and see how I go...just made a booking but did not at that stage make a payment. No probs, until some 12 hours later (maybe 24) the unpaid booking disappeared. I tried this again another two times, in case I was doing something wrong, but nope, the booking was entered into the system but dropped off quick smart if you didn't arrange payment.

 

Ok, done it now, and used a different CC than for my onboard account - just to confuse the buggers!

 

cheers

[mrdevo2u]

RCI gets you to prepay prior to boarding, Bit of a downer but as said before, it makes your final bill look good>

[Sutho]

P&O UK have just introduced it. I am not a fan of pre payment. After my last cruise to the Baltic with Katia I have learnt that it is much better to do your own thing as we enjoyed it more when we walked around and planned our own day based on what we wanted to see. There are some ports where you must do a ships tour due to logistical reasons and I will decide when the time comes up. If I prepay it will only be in one hit. I am not going to prepay every couple of weeks after I decide what to do. Personally I would prefer the bill to be on the shipboard account.