OBC help

[Luv my furbaby]

Can OBC be used to pay for shore excursions prior to your sail date?

[Thrak]

Not if you want to "pre-pay". If you book an excursion before sailing and don't pay for it in advance then it is added to your onboard folio and will come out of your OBC if you have any. If you pre-pay then it will go onto your credit card instead.

Edited April 16, 2016 by Thrak

[socaljo]

Reserve your excursions now! No need to pay early, OBC will cover it later & easier to change your mind if you find one you like better! Cancellation is up to 24 hours before excursion, after you are on board!

Happy Sailing!

[paul929207]

As long as you do not pre-pay the excursions, OBC will pay them. You can reserve an excursion in advance and have OBC pay for it.

[dmdiver]

This is what our vacation planner told us - I'm glad to hear it confirmed by people who have first-hand experience.

[GUT2407]

Can OBC be used to pay for shore excursions prior to your sail date?

 

Short answer, no

[partzguy]

Not if its a cruise to Alaska! Princess is trying something new this year and Alaska excursions must be paid in advance!

[paul929207]

Not if its a cruise to Alaska! Princess is trying something new this year and Alaska excursions must be paid in advance!

I just checked, I have an excursion booked for our Alaskan cruise and I have not paid for it and nothing says I have too.

[skynight]

I just checked, I have an excursion booked for our Alaskan cruise and I have not paid for it and nothing says I have too.

Are you on the Grand? I read on these boards that Alaska sailings this season on the Grand require pre-payment for excursions pre-booked on line. This is the only ship in the trial.

[TravelingEA]

Not if its a cruise to Alaska! Princess is trying something new this year and Alaska excursions must be paid in advance!

 

I am going to Alaska this year, and have an excursion booked. I was not asked to pay for it.

[RSF Cruiser]

I'm on the Grand this summer and just got an invoice for a booked tour. The message said my reservation will be cancelled if I don't pay in 24 hours. I'm only taking the tour to use up some of my OBC. Guess I'll take my chances and book onboard. I have Panama Canal excursions booked on the Island, and did not get an invoice to pay now. I do not like having to pay for tours ahead of time, even if I can cancel.

[partzguy]

I'm on the Grand this summer and just got an invoice for a booked tour. The message said my reservation will be cancelled if I don't pay in 24 hours. I'm only taking the tour to use up some of my OBC. Guess I'll take my chances and book onboard. I have Panama Canal excursions booked on the Island, and did not get an invoice to pay now. I do not like having to pay for tours ahead of time, even if I can cancel.

 

Thank You. My experience booking Alaska tours was the same as yours. I'm not thrilled having to pay up front. I have a fair amount of OBC and hoped to use some of it for excursions and not wait until onboard to book them. My understanding is that Princess is implementing this policy only on Alaska cruises this year but may expand it to other destinations next year.

Edited April 17, 2016 by partzguy

[JF - retired RRT]

Thank You. My experience booking Alaska tours was the same as yours. I'm not thrilled having to pay up front. I have a fair amount of OBC and hoped to use some of it for excursions and not wait until onboard to book them. My understanding is that Princess is implementing this policy only on Alaska cruises this year but may expand it to other destinations next year.

That's a great way to keep me from pre-booking or booking at all.

I prefer to use my OBC for excursions.

 

Guess I'll just have to use the excess OBC in the casino.:D

Edited April 17, 2016 by JF - retired RRT

[skynight]

I'm on the Grand this summer and just got an invoice for a booked tour.

Yes, Alaska tours pre-booked on the Grand for this summer season do require pre-payment, thus you can not use OBC if pre-booked. This is the only ship that requires pre-payment as of right now, but I fear it will eventually be fleet wide.

[RDC1]

It would be a good idea for people to make their opinions known now if they do not want to see this become standard practice on Princess in the future. Basically it would take away one of the major areas where OBC is spent.

 

That might be the intent since Princess has to pay real money to outside providers. Probably a higher percent then outside costs for other OBC spend areas.

 

For me it would greatly reduce one of Princess's competitive advantages (the combined obc.

 

If they find that it does not impact the end number of excursions taken or have some other major economic impact, expect it to become the norm in the future.

[wintersno]

It would be a good idea for people to make their opinions known now if they do not want to see this become standard practice on Princess in the future. Basically it would take away one of the major areas where OBC is spent.

 

That might be the intent since Princess has to pay real money to outside providers. Probably a higher percent then outside costs for other OBC spend areas.

 

For me it would greatly reduce one of Princess's competitive advantages (the combined obc.

 

If they find that it does not impact the end number of excursions taken or have some other major economic impact, expect it to become the norm in the future.

 

That takes the cake!

[Thrak]

I don't like that policy at all. However, they are probably tired of people booking in advance, not paying, then cancelling a day before the excursion after Princess has had to tell people who are trying to book onboard that the excursion is full.

[Luv my furbaby]

On RCCL, you can only use OBC "on board". So either you want to book excursions while onboard or if you book in advance you cannot use your OBC. Hope Princess continues its current policy.

[gma rae]

This is also the policy for Coral in Alaska this year!

[cruiseintoheaven]

Just a recommendation - be sure to go far enough into the booking process before assuming you have to pony up a credit card. When I went to book an excursion for March 2018, I saw the dreaded "pay now to reserve" button and was expecting to have to do so, however when I clicked on the link to do so it automatically defaulted to applying OBC as payment.

 

 

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[Astro Flyer]

Just a recommendation - be sure to go far enough into the booking process before assuming you have to pony up a credit card. When I went to book an excursion for March 2018, I saw the dreaded "pay now to reserve" button and was expecting to have to do so, however when I clicked on the link to do so it automatically defaulted to applying OBC as payment.

That appears to be the future procedure for reserving all tours in advance which currently is in transition.

 

Some have your experience using OBC to pay in advance, some are required to pay cash and others like me can reserve in advance without any payment & have the cost added to our onboard account to use OBC to pay for tours or any other onboard purchases.

 

The procedure has changed several times in the past year & by resuming an outdated thread it results in confusion about current procedures when reading the thread from the beginning.

 

I know that you didn't resume this outdated thread & posted helpful information and there are several current threads about the 3 ways currently used to prebook tours. Princess appears to be gradually implementing the procedure you experienced which appears to eventually become their fleetwide policy.

 

I've read that RCCL & NCL have modified their cash only prepayment requirement to having the option to use certain types of OBC to pay to book tours prior to the cruise. So it appears that will be the standard procedure for these 3 cruise lines.

[Jeter02]

I've Used OBC to pay for excursions. Just don't pre-pay. If you wait till you're onboard, the ship uses all of your OBC first, and if you have a remaining balance, its gets charged to you'r ship account, But OBC is always deducted first.

[cruiseintoheaven]

That appears to be the future procedure for reserving all tours in advance which currently is in transition.

 

Some have your experience using OBC to pay in advance, some are required to pay cash and others like me can reserve in advance without any payment & have the cost added to our onboard account to use OBC to pay for tours or any other onboard purchases.

 

The procedure has changed several times in the past year & by resuming an outdated thread it results in confusion about current procedures when reading the thread from the beginning.

 

I know that you didn't resume this outdated thread & posted helpful information and there are several current threads about the 3 ways currently used to prebook tours. Princess appears to be gradually implementing the procedure you experienced which appears to eventually become their fleetwide policy.

 

I've read that RCCL & NCL have modified their cash only prepayment requirement to having the option to use certain types of OBC to pay to book tours prior to the cruise. So it appears that will be the standard procedure for these 3 cruise lines.[/quote

 

Good point - the date of the original thread went right over my head, then again, I still find myself writing 2016 on checks - should get it right by 2018:)

[coo359a2]

Yes, Alaska tours pre-booked on the Grand for this summer season do require pre-payment, thus you can not use OBC if pre-booked. This is the only ship that requires pre-payment as of right now, but I fear it will eventually be fleet wide.

 

We are on the 9/15 Alaska cruise on the Grand and I have one excursion booked at Icy Strait Point that I wasn't required to prepay. Booked it when the excursions first opened and it still shows as a confirmed excursion. Hopefully when we get on the ship, it is still showing as confirmed.

[Astro Flyer]

Good point - the date of the original thread went right over my head, then again, I still find myself writing 2016 on checks - should get it right by 2018:)

I've done the same thing & overlooked the date of an old outdated thread before posting so you're not alone. ;)

 

Sometimes posters are criticized for not searching for previous discussions; sometimes they're questioned about resuming an old discussion. It's not always easy to decide which is the best procedure however to me when it's old outdated information & there are current threads with updated information, then I post on a recent thread & not on older threads containing outdated information that can confuse us. :confused:

 

Here's a link to one of the current discussions about the evolving pre-booking tours experiences:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2481219