Alaska shorex must now be prepaid

[caribill]

JoAnneNYIWell-If prepay a princess excursion...remember this http://www.princess.com/learn/faq_answer/pre_cruise/shore_excursions_faq/best-price-guarantee. As soon as I pay I will be searching for price comparison and sending my form in to be paid the difference. As I do like to use my princess visa to get 2x points when paying.

 

You get the 2x poits whether you pay in advance or on board, so no advantage to paying in advance for that reason.

 

And remember that the guarantee is paid in non-refundable OBC.

[brian1]

Hi,this is going to be worse for us Brits.On our recent Coral repo we had over $1200 of tours prebooked,so we prepaid obc at a rate of $1.54 to the GBP when the current rate was 1.25.This made our tours cheaper than private operators,even the White pass trip was cheaper than Chilkoot due to this rate,cheers,Brian.

[greenie082756]

I just sent off a question to Princess concerning the question the refundability of ship board credit from canceled excursions. If it is not then my days of prebooking Princess excursions are pretty much over.

 

Princess could make the ability to schedule an excursion without prepayment a Platinum or Elite benefit. Since new people won't know better and I would suspect that most of the people that will be really upset by the change have such status.

 

I agree that they could add this to the Platinum or Elite benefit. It would make wanting to continue choosing Princess as a return customer even better.

[likeadisguise]

I just sent off a question to Princess concerning the question the refundability of ship board credit from canceled excursions. If it is not then my days of prebooking Princess excursions are pretty much over.

 

Princess could make the ability to schedule an excursion without prepayment a Platinum or Elite benefit. Since new people won't know better and I would suspect that most of the people that will be really upset by the change have such status.

Anything you've paid for outright that gets changed into a credit is always 100% refundable, I can't imagine they'd change that. It's your money.

[Astro Flyer]

Anything you've paid for outright that gets changed into a credit is always 100% refundable, I can't imagine they'd change that. It's your money.

 

The price guarantee's 110% OBC is non-refundable & we outright pay for the tour so it's not always refundable when we pay for something. For example, if we pay $200 for a tour & receive a 110% price difference $50 non-refundable OBC, they keep all of our money & give us non-refundable OBC.

 

Princess states that the price guarantee is non-refundable but they neglected to state whether the OBC for cancelled tours (between 5 days before sailing & the onboard cancellation time) is refundable or not. I also can't imagine it not being refundable but since they didn't define the type of OBC hopefully we'll soon receive an answer to another incomplete Princess statement.

[RDC1]

Anything you've paid for outright that gets changed into a credit is always 100% refundable, I can't imagine they'd change that. It's your money.

 

However, they have not yet said that. They have said converted to shipboard credit, not refundable shipboard credit. Thus not willing to assume refundable, until Princess puts it in writing.

[cruiselvr1]

This is the most important point in all of this. I cringe when I read the words: "In order to more closely align us with the rest of the industry" or word to that effect. Much of what we love about Princess are the things that set them apart. Large balconies. Real Promenades. Formal Nights. Liberal personal wine allowances. No pre-cruise dinner reservations. And so on. When these things get "aligned" with the rest of the industry, they are kidding themselves if they think that this is "good news for our customers". It is awful news in most instances.

I agree. This has little to do with prepayment, and more to do with Princess not being special anymore. I have noticed other changes on our last two cruises that remind me of other cruiselines. There are other things that other cruise lines have over Princess.

[cruzsnooze]

My take on the OBC and it's not being refundable is because it costs Princess much less then the actual stated amount. I get an $88 dollar credit and when I spend it on the ship the profit margin on the goods I purchase effectively reduce that $88 to whatever the cost of the item was to Princess which is probably 2/3 rd's less then what I paid.

I still prefer to book through Princess so I'll continue to book through Princess and use the GTY when applicable.

Edited November 7, 2016 by cruzsnooze

[RDC1]

I just received a call back from Princess in response to my letter. They did confirm that if you cancel a prepaid cruise on board that the resulting shipboard credit will be refundable. Note this is if you cancel and not the price guarantee credit which is not refundable.

 

One bit of confusion during the call. The person from Princess kept saying that the new policy only applied to Alaska, and not to cruises elsewhere.

 

Can anyone with a non-Alaska cruise booked for this summer check and confirm that it is requiring prepayment or not?

Edited November 8, 2016 by RDC1

[Astro Flyer]

I just received a call back from Princess in response to my letter. They did confirm that if you cancel a prepaid cruise on board that the resulting shipboard credit will be refundable. Note this is if you cancel and not the price guarantee credit which is not refundable.

 

One bit of confusion during the call. The person from Princess kept saying that the new policy only applied to Alaska, and not to cruises elsewhere.

 

Can anyone with a non-Alaska cruise booked for this summer check and confirm that it is requiring prepayment or not?

Thanks for the information about when tours are cancelled between 5 days before sailing & the onboard cutoff time the OBC is refundable. Although it would be good for Princess to define it as refundable in their new shore excursions FAQs because verbal statements aren't as definitive.

 

I read a post that booking a May 2017 tour they were required to make full payment to book prior to their cruise but as I recall it didn't state their destination.

 

Since there already are conflicting statements from Princess (only Alaska from CSR, letter from a VP of sales doesn't say only Alaska), I would put more credence in the statement sent to TAs from John Chernesky (Vice President' North America Sales, Princess Cruises and Cunard Line) than what a Princess CSR verbally told me. He states to pre-purchase "Starting with Summer 2017 voyages, shore excursion reservations will require pre-payment" and not only in Alaska.

 

Also the shore excursions FAQ states "Onboard credit will not be accepted for pre-reservations, however, it can be used once onboard to off-set payment for additional excursions purchased onboard" which also leads me to believe that the CSR was misinformed...and hopefully only about whether pre-payment is required fleetwide & not that the OBC is refundable.

Edited November 8, 2016 by Astro Flyer

[dmurbach]

I'm perplexed, as we are cruising Alaska next month, we have excursions reserved, there is an option to prepay, or pay at the end of the trip....

[LHARTWICK]

I'm perplexed, as we are cruising Alaska next month, we have excursions reserved, there is an option to prepay, or pay at the end of the trip....

 

Is this an independent excursion? I think the "prepay" aspect of this thread is referring to excursions made through the cruise line, but perhaps someone else can clarify? In our experience, independent excursions have usually required a down payment and then pay the balance upon arrival to the excursion or at the end. Others require full payment up front.

[RDC1]

Is this an independent excursion? I think the "prepay" aspect of this thread is referring to excursions made through the cruise line, but perhaps someone else can clarify? In our experience, independent excursions have usually required a down payment and then pay the balance upon arrival to the excursion or at the end. Others require full payment up front.

 

The prepayment requirement for all Princess cruises starts in the fall. Though some select cruises might start earlier. For example we have a British Isles cruise in August that does not require prepayment. A trip scheduled for early October required prepayment.

[dmurbach]

Yes, Excursions booked thru Princess Line

[caribill]

I'm perplexed, as we are cruising Alaska next month, we have excursions reserved, there is an option to prepay, or pay at the end of the trip....

 

Don't be perplexed.

 

Your cruise has the option that has always been available in the past, paying for the pre-reserved excursion on board.

 

Most cruises for the future no longer have that option.