Princess Prepaid Excursions

[knotgillty]

I prepaid & booked an excursion through my cruise personalizer. Will I have to pick up something onboard to show I'm going on the excursion? Or will the necessary document(s) come to my room?

 

Thanks in advance.

[bigpuma]

Our excursion tickets were delivered to our room when we pre-booked and pre-paid.

[Astro Flyer]

Our excursion tickets were delivered to our room when we pre-booked and pre-paid.

My pre-booked & paid onboard (use OBC) excursions has the same procedure...an envelope with our excursion tickets in our cabin.

[Montrealais]

I have never paid for my excursions in advance. The tickets were waiting in our cabin when we boarded. They were charged on our account.

 

But why pay in advance:confused:

[Astro Flyer]

I have never paid for my excursions in advance. The tickets were waiting in our cabin when we boarded. They were charged on our account.

 

But why pay in advance:confused:

 

Like you, there's no benefit to me because I pay onboard & use OBC whenever possible. I reserve a tour well in advance to lock in a lower price (and bring a copy) & to guarantee getting a tour.

 

However some passengers prefer to spread out their cruise expenses over several credit card bills & thus they prepay for them.

 

I've read posts that Princess is testing requiring prepayment this summer on the Grand in Alaska. I've read their rationale statement & they attempt to convince passengers that it's a benefit to prepay for tours. Hopefully that experiment fails miserably because not requiring tour prepayment is one of the things that I like about Princess.

[ladyaero]

I have never paid for my excursions in advance. The tickets were waiting in our cabin when we boarded. They were charged on our account.

 

But why pay in advance:confused:

 

I'm on the Grand this summer and had to pre-pay (it's an experiment they're doing, apparently). I only signed up for one, because it was the excursion I had promised my son and I didn't want to end up breaking my promise by missing out on spots. Otherwise, I either booked independently or I'll wait until I'm on board so I can use some of the OBC my TA included in my deal.

[BratDet]

Cause I was short for 5,000 Princess credit card points to redeem for another 50$ OBC....so I pre-paid, got double points and an extra 50$ to spend on board...

 

I already had redeemed for a 50$ OBC, so now I have 100$.

 

I also had redeemed 40,000 points....think it was 500$ off our cruise...

 

Bernadette

[Montrealais]

Cause I was short for 5,000 Princess credit card points to redeem for another 50$ OBC....so I pre-paid, got double points and an extra 50$ to spend on board...

 

I already had redeemed for a 50$ OBC, so now I have 100$.

 

I also had redeemed 40,000 points....think it was 500$ off our cruise...

 

Bernadette

 

 

 

What happens to your OBC if there are some cancelations due to bad weather, strikes, riots, being quarantined, mechanical failures, etc. :confused:

Edited June 24, 2016 by Montrealais

[BratDet]

What do you mean? 100$ will probably be spent on my coffee card, soda here and there, drinks, or photos.

One of my excursions is departure day- no worries there!... The worst that could happen is they issue me credit... But if they mail refund check.. I won't even lose points...

Edited June 24, 2016 by BratDet

[Astro Flyer]

What do you mean? 100$ will probably be spent on my coffee card, soda here and there, drinks, or photos.

One of my excursions is departure day- no worries there!... The worst that could happen is they issue me credit... But if they mail refund check.. I won't even lose points...

 

Also gratuities use up a portion of my complimentary OBCs.

[BratDet]

I have an additional 410$ of OBC, so 510$ total... I consider the 410 most of our gratuities. (12 day cruise) already spent..

[nanabananna]

What happens to your OBC if there are some cancelations due to bad weather, strikes, riots, being quarantined, mechanical failures, etc. :confused:

 

 

I believe this was not directed to you , specifically but as in a general question what would happen to the money paid for the excursion and then, either cancelled by Princess or due to bad weather from the excursion operator, not the one going on the excursion.

;)

[Astro Flyer]

I believe this was not directed to you , specifically but as in a general question what would happen to the money paid for the excursion and then, either cancelled by Princess or due to bad weather from the excursion operator, not the one going on the excursion.

 

;)

 

If you're asking about OBC, it's a credit on your onboard account from which any debits (except for in the casino) are deducted.

 

Thus if a Princess tour is cancelled, or you decide to cancel (up to about 36 hours in advance), the OBC is returned to your onboard account.

 

If you're asking about a prepaid tour, then I don't know how that works having never prepaid for a tour but guessing it would likely be an OBC or maybe a check mailed to you.

[SWORRUB1]

I have never paid for my excursions in advance. The tickets were waiting in our cabin when we boarded. They were charged on our account.

 

But why pay in advance:confused:

 

If you have GBP its a very good idea to pay in advance or Purchase OBC as the exchange rate is $1.538/GBP at present as opposed to $1.36 at the current rate!:mad:

[caribill]

I've read posts that Princess is testing requiring prepayment this summer on the Grand in Alaska. I've read their rationale statement & they attempt to convince passengers that it's a benefit to prepay for tours. Hopefully that experiment fails miserably because not requiring tour prepayment is one of the things that I like about Princess.

 

Unfortunately, the experiment will probably get good reviews.

 

Why?

 

Over 50% of passengers on Alaska cruises are new to Princess and do not realize they are part of an experiment.

 

If they have cruisesdon other lines such as Carnival and RCCL, they are used to paying in advance and do not realize that Princess normally does not force you to pay in advance at the time you book the excursion.

 

If this is their first cruise ever, they will think that is how cruising works and again not realize this is different from how Princess has historically just added pre-booked excursions to the onboard account.

[Hazelnut1106]

We cruised to Alaska on the Grand in May and unfortunately we were part of the 'pre-pay excursion' experiment. Normally we would have pre-booked our Princess excursions but this time we only pre-booked one excursion because it was one we had always wanted to do. It was a helicopter excursion to a glacier and consequently quite pricey. Upon boarding the ship on San Francisco we were informed that Princess had cancelled all of their helicopter excursions due to a couple of fatal Alaska helicopter accidents in the previous 2 weeks - not ship related excursions. Our cancelled excursion was refunded as refundable OBC on our account. At the end of the cruise we still had a credit balance in excess of $900. A check was mailed to us approximately 4 weeks after the end of the cruise.

[Astro Flyer]

Unfortunately, the experiment will probably get good reviews.

 

 

 

Why?

 

 

 

Over 50% of passengers on Alaska cruises are new to Princess and do not realize they are part of an experiment.

 

 

 

If they have cruisesdon other lines such as Carnival and RCCL, they are used to paying in advance and do not realize that Princess normally does not force you to pay in advance at the time you book the excursion.

 

 

 

If this is their first cruise ever, they will think that is how cruising works and again not realize this is different from how Princess has historically just added pre-booked excursions to the onboard account.

 

I agree with you about the reasons they undoubtedly choose one ship in Alaska & I believe they have rigged the test to reduce negative feedback about the change.

 

 

 

They have done it on cruises with so many first time Princess passengers to minimize the number of upset passengers which would be anyone who has previously sailed on Princess. I read posts with their letter touting this benefit by being able to prepay which is already possible on any of their cruises & is nothing new. :eek:

Edited June 25, 2016 by Astro Flyer

[cherrybear]

We prepaid our excursions on our last cruise. You can print out a confirmation from web site in case you have trust and control issues, which I do. Anyway our tickets were waiting for us in the room and we weren't hit with a big credit card bill after the cruise. Easy peasy.

[Nhsaltshaker]

If paid in advance with a credit card, I find it hard to believe you cannot dispute a cancelled reservation for goods not delivered. JMHO.