Booking excursions

[amy&ryan]

We have some OBC that we want to use for excursions; if we book ahead of time on Celebrity's website, is there any way to book but defer payment? In other words, we want to book it now, but use our OBC to pay for it once on board. Is that possible with Celebrity? Thanks in advance.

[floralscent]

The only way to use OBC is onboard. Anything purchased in advance must be paid for at the time of purchase.

[DaisyFire]

I have been doing some research on CC on this topic myself - here is an ad-lib summary of the discussions/replies that I have seen:

 

1) Excursions booked prior to boarding require full advance payment

2) OBC is not available for use until you have boarded the ship

3) While it MAY be possible to book/pay in advance and then cancel first day on board in the hopes of rebooking your spot with OBC, this is problematic since there could be a wait list for your excursion, and if there is, your spot will go to the cruiser at the top of the list and you will go to the bottom of the list. Of course you can always ask if the excursion had open spots before attempting this - but some have said that Celebrity agents will tell you you can't do this and you might get challenged or refused. Of course, nothing ventured, nothing gained... :D

[rockdoctor]

We have booked excursions we particularly wanted in advance and prepaid. Once on board the excursion desk was able to credit the prepaid amount back to the credit card and used OBC. We were careful to prepay with the same credit card used to pay for on excess onboard expenses.

[amy&ryan]

Thanks for all the replies - good info.

[OCruisers]

Just a suggestion: Book and go ahead and pay in advance for any excursions that are "must haves" for you.

Wait and book others when you get on the ship.

LuLu

[CCC's]

We have booked excursions we particularly wanted in advance and prepaid. Once on board the excursion desk was able to credit the prepaid amount back to the credit card and used OBC. We were careful to prepay with the same credit card used to pay for on excess onboard expenses.

 

Do you think this will also apply to pre-booked/paid Specialty Restaurants (Tuscan Grill). ?? I really want to book this restaurant for our evening sailaway from Sydney Harbour.

[keesar]

We have booked excursions we particularly wanted in advance and prepaid. Once on board the excursion desk was able to credit the prepaid amount back to the credit card and used OBC. We were careful to prepay with the same credit card used to pay for on excess onboard expenses.

 

You were fortunate. When I was in that situation, they refused to credit the amount back to the credit card-- but they did, in fact, credit that amount to our onboard account. And we had to use it or lose it before the end of the cruise.