Nice Changes Coming...

[cruis247g]

We consider NOT having to prepay for booked excursions a Princess perk! I hope they don't change it, but thanks to the OP for the head's up!

 

Completely agree and I prefer booking restaurants onboard.

[LadyPandora407]

Watch it be like the other cruise lines where you have to pay for your excursions up front when you reserve them as opposed to on the ship. And if you cancel, there is a penalty.

 

This actually sounds like a negative change.

 

It is a negative change! How do you get your money back and when if the tour is cancelled? I for one will no longer pre-book excursions if I have to prepay them as well. I like paying after I take them.

[Dorset Cruiser]

By booking excursions early on Princess it's somewhat like receiving a discount because many tours increase by as much as double before the tour begins. I don't think Princess cares if passengers cancel tours onboard because they generally have a wait list of passengers who will be charged the higher price.

 

Booking shore excursions without having to prepay is a great option and one I hope Princess does NOT change.

 

In 10+ cruises, I have never heard of or experienced that they increase the price of excursions because of high demand - once the excursion is full, they close the list. I think you should expect that Princess WILL eventually make you pre-pay for excursions or risk waiting until you board the cruise before you try to book an excursion - they want your money in their account for as long as possible 😉

 

 

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[Ethel5]

In 10+ cruises, I have never heard of or experienced that they increase the price of excursions because of high demand - once the excursion is full, they close the list. I think you should expect that Princess WILL eventually make you pre-pay for excursions or risk waiting until you board the cruise before you try to book an excursion - they want your money in their account for as long as possible 😉

 

It may not have happened to you....yet.....but I also experienced the price increase from booking on line and booking on board. I also have watched prices increase from early booking to later bookings. Keep an eye on the rates. :)

[Astro Flyer]

In 10+ cruises, I have never heard of or experienced that they increase the price of excursions because of high demand - once the excursion is full, they close the list.

Since you're doubtful of the accuracy of my post because you "never heard of or experienced" a price increase, it's happened on nearly all of my 30 Princess cruises.

It may not have happened to you....yet.....but I also experienced the price increase from booking on line and booking on board. I also have watched prices increase from early booking to later bookings. Keep an eye on the rates. :)

[Dorset Cruiser]

Don't think my post necessitated a snarky comment from you even if you have done 30+ cruises. I still stand by my comment that in 10+ cruises I have NEVER experienced the price of excursions going up to suit demand. Do they also decrease in price if they are not selling well? Have to say I rarely book ship excursions - much too expensive in the first place.

 

 

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Edited July 27, 2014 by Dorset Cruiser

[jenseib]

We consider NOT having to prepay for booked excursions a Princess perk! I hope they don't change it, but thanks to the OP for the head's up!

 

I agree with you 100%

[Bently57]

Not good-looking but rather pre-paying... I, for one, would like to be able to do all of this line, so once on the ship... Zero bill at the end.

 

 

I am not good-looking but my partner is. Would he then be able to pre-pay?

 

 

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[whitshel]

see above in red

 

 

Hmmm, so since others in the CCL corp are doing it I'm guessing its only a matter of time especially for shore ex. :rolleyes:

 

On the Restaurant charges, I agree but I think that weeds out a lot people who are just window shopping. You pretty much have to be committed to prepay for your specialty dinning. But on RCCl we did get a 30% discount for booking on-line and booking the 1st night. Thats really the only reason we booked on-line. I'm with you guys, I dont think I would prepay for dinner but shore excursions, yes especially on the popular ones.

[Ronnieslady]

Since you're doubtful of the accuracy of my post because you "never heard of or experienced" a price increase, it's happened on nearly all of my 30 Princess cruises.

 

I have also seen the $ go up on certain excursions. It might go up $10.00 or $20.00 per person the closer to sailing, compared to when the excursion 1st came up to reserve. If you don't book Princess excursions you probably don't watch the prices. I usually look back on the excursions to see if they added any new ones. That is when I have noticed price increases. This has already happened on our cruise that ports in San Francisco & the cruise is not until September.

[caribill]

In 10+ cruises, I have never heard of or experienced that they increase the price of excursions because of high demand - once the excursion is full, they close the list.

 

I do not know if what I show below is due to demand or what, but it is my experience on one of my Princess cruises:

 

About the Princess tours: The prices on board were higher (up to 89%) than the prices for most Princess tours that we booked in advance.

 

Tour 1 In advance $49 Onboard $59, $10 more

Tour 2 In advance $99 Onboard $129, $30 more

Tour 3 In advance $69 Onboard $69, same pricing

Tour 4 In advance $69 Onboard $89, $20 more

Tour 5 In advance $29 Onboard $55, $26 more

Tour 6 In advance $129 Onboard $139, $10 more

Tour 7 In advance $59 Onboard $69, $10 more

Edited July 27, 2014 by caribill

[Pam in CA]

I agree that often, tour prices onboard can be higher than if you pre-reserve them. Whether that's due to demand or higher contract prices, I have no idea.

 

As for having a $0 folio at the end of the cruise, that's already an option so I don't see how being able to pre-pay for things would make any difference other than semantics or making it easier to do so.

 

I would not want to go the route of HAL where you pre-pay for excursions and once you enter your credit card into their Personalizer, a hold of $60/pp/day is made on the card. That means that if you've booked a 10-day cruise, there's a hold of $600 for one person and $1,200 for two. Ouch!

[Colo Cruiser]

Yes leave it the way it is. :(

[Love.II.Cruise]

So what exactly is being changed in the future? Or is nothing even set in stone?

[bhopal21]

So what exactly is being changed in the future? Or is nothing even set in stone?

 

 

No changes have been announced by Princess. Just possibilities discussed.

 

Mike:)

[Cruisin' Chick]

Don't think my post necessitated a snarky comment from you even if you have done 30+ cruises. I still stand by my comment that in 10+ cruises I have NEVER experienced the price of excursions going up to suit demand. Do they also decrease in price if they are not selling well? Have to say I rarely book ship excursions - much too expensive in the first place.

 

 

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If a sailing isn't selling well, the cruise line will probably drop the prices to attract passengers. But there really isn't a point to dropping a price of an excursion that doesn't sell out by a specified time (say 48 hours before a port) as the cruise line had negotiated a minimum price with the operator. If there's not enough interest in an excursion, it would probably be cancelled (and the shore exs staff just has to notify anyone who had prebooked -- but at least they won't have paperwork to cancel a charge if it hadn't been charged to passenger accounts yet). It could be that the contract also included increased price if there's high demand, but I really am guessing about this.

 

I just hope if Princess is monitoring this thread, they realize they have an advantage to not charging for prebooked shore excursions (and specialty restaurants). If they do start charging for prebooking, some passengers may think twice about booking through Princess (either go the DIY route or book through an independent company).

[Sea Day Cruiser]

It may not have happened to you....yet.....but I also experienced the price increase from booking on line and booking on board. I also have watched prices increase from early booking to later bookings. Keep an eye on the rates. :)

 

 

Same here. I have half a dozen excursions for my next cruise booked now and the price has increased on five of the six. One is $50 more than when I booked it.

 

 

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[Dorset Cruiser]

My gosh, really never thought a cruiseline would increase prices like that. Don't think I would risk NOT booking an excursion when it is first offered now even if I do have to pre-pay. Talk about profiteering - not nice as they make huge profits even from the first published prices.

 

 

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[cruzemaven]

Well, I don't care whether something is prepaid or not. I'll pay the bill when it is presented for payment.

 

One thing I would like to see is the ability to reserve dinning prior to boarding like RCI allows. On RCI, you can book specialty restaurants on specific dates and at specific times. If you have anytime dinning, you can reserve different dinning times for different dates as well. I also like their new concept where one dinning room is formal every night for you folks that like such and all the other dinning rooms are casual every night for us folks that do not.

 

I agree. When we have been on RCCL and Celebrity.. they have allowed us to switch restaurants (if posssible) and/or cancel in advance once we were on board. So there is some flexibility. But it's nice to have a few dates and times reserved in specialty restaurants before you sail. On Celebrity, we have found the food in the specialty restaurants to be very good. Have never been on Princess but looking forward to our cruise on The Regal in November.