cruis247g Posted July 27, 2014 #126 Share Posted July 27, 2014 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadyPandora407 Posted July 27, 2014 #127 Share Posted July 27, 2014 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dorset Cruiser Posted July 27, 2014 #128 Share Posted July 27, 2014 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 😉 Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ethel5 Posted July 27, 2014 #129 Share Posted July 27, 2014 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. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astro Flyer Posted July 27, 2014 #130 Share Posted July 27, 2014 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. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dorset Cruiser Posted July 27, 2014 #131 Share Posted July 27, 2014 (edited) 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. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD Edited July 27, 2014 by Dorset Cruiser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenseib Posted July 27, 2014 #132 Share Posted July 27, 2014 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% Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bently57 Posted July 27, 2014 #133 Share Posted July 27, 2014 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? Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare whitshel Posted July 27, 2014 #134 Share Posted July 27, 2014 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnieslady Posted July 27, 2014 #135 Share Posted July 27, 2014 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caribill Posted July 27, 2014 #136 Share Posted July 27, 2014 (edited) 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam in CA Posted July 28, 2014 #137 Share Posted July 28, 2014 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! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colo Cruiser Posted July 28, 2014 #138 Share Posted July 28, 2014 Yes leave it the way it is. :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love.II.Cruise Posted July 28, 2014 #139 Share Posted July 28, 2014 So what exactly is being changed in the future? Or is nothing even set in stone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bhopal21 Posted July 28, 2014 #140 Share Posted July 28, 2014 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:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruisin' Chick Posted July 28, 2014 #141 Share Posted July 28, 2014 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. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD 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). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sea Day Cruiser Posted July 28, 2014 #142 Share Posted July 28, 2014 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. Sent from my iPad using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dorset Cruiser Posted July 28, 2014 #143 Share Posted July 28, 2014 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. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruzemaven Posted August 15, 2014 #144 Share Posted August 15, 2014 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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