Onboard credit will not be accepted for pre-reservations

[DrJohn]

"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."

 

Just saw this in the FAQ section of excursions on the Princess website. I called Princess and the rep said they had just received an email about it and the email was confusing. I asked if she could get an answer from her supervisor, after a few minutes she came back and said he would send an email to corporate -- so no answer. In September we booked a number of major cruises for 2017 for Europe and the Med where shore excursions are extremely important -- the major incentive to book then was the 3 for 3 sale featuring significant onboard credit. If we can't use onboard credit to buy Princess tours it severely affects the value of onboard credit. And if all passengers are attempting to book tours on the first day of a cruise -- it would be a madhouse with no guarantee you would even be able to book the excursions you want. Pre-reservations and using onboard credit for them is one of the major reasons we sail with Princess -- hopefully this is not yet one more big negative surprise from Princess management.

 

Does anyone have definitive information on this topic?

 

John

[chrysalis]

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2419139

[Pam in CA]

I pre-reserve excursions all the time and once onboard, they are charged to my folio and deducted from my onboard credit. If you choose to pre-pay excursions, then they're already paid for and cannot be deducted from OBC.

[coconut cruiser]

It says that if you pay for the excursion precise and then cancel, you get a non refundable OBC. What if you prepay and then PRINCESS CANCELS THE EXCURSION? Last winter towards the end of our cruise, the ship cancelled the stop in Costa Rica, and the planned excursions and replaced with a day at sea and then cancelled all the snorkle excursions at the next stop in Grand Cayman but didn't tell passengers until after they tendered ashore with no opportunity to book another excursion. We supported the Captains decision based on safety concerns and the charges disappeared from our on board account. However, if we had been given hundreds of $ in an unrefundable OBC we would not have been happy. Princess needs to clarify in writing what the policy will be.

[DrJohn]

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2419139

 

Thanks, understand about Alaska -- but this FAQ appears on all the cruises we have booked. The impression I got from talking to Princess is that the policy had been extended beyond Alaska cruises to perhaps all Princess cruises.

 

John

[DrJohn]

I pre-reserve excursions all the time and once onboard, they are charged to my folio and deducted from my onboard credit. If you choose to pre-pay excursions, then they're already paid for and cannot be deducted from OBC.

 

We also always pre-reserve in order to get the tours we want and they are charged to our onboard account. Our OBC offsets most of those charges. The potential problem is if we cannot pre-reserve without having to pay at time of reservation. We have b2b2b cruises booked starting in August and have already pre-reserved tours on all 3 of them. I asked the rep what would happen to those -- and she did not have an answer. That is why I am asking if anyone on this forum has a definitive answer about this possible change in Princess policy.

 

John

[RDC1]

I pre-reserve excursions all the time and once onboard, they are charged to my folio and deducted from my onboard credit. If you choose to pre-pay excursions, then they're already paid for and cannot be deducted from OBC.

 

That changes as of this summer. As of summer 2017 all pre-reserved excursions must be prepaid.

[RDC1]

It says that if you pay for the excursion precise and then cancel, you get a non refundable OBC. What if you prepay and then PRINCESS CANCELS THE EXCURSION? Last winter towards the end of our cruise, the ship cancelled the stop in Costa Rica, and the planned excursions and replaced with a day at sea and then cancelled all the snorkle excursions at the next stop in Grand Cayman but didn't tell passengers until after they tendered ashore with no opportunity to book another excursion. We supported the Captains decision based on safety concerns and the charges disappeared from our on board account. However, if we had been given hundreds of $ in an unrefundable OBC we would not have been happy. Princess needs to clarify in writing what the policy will be.

 

No that is not quite right. I sent an e-mail to princess and received both a call and an e-mail back. If you prebook and prepay, but then cancel once on board prior to the no cancel time for the excursion, you will receive "refundable shipboard credit".

 

If you book and then find the excursion available elsewhere for less then you can apply for 110% of the difference in price. That difference is in non-refundable OBC.

 

The following is the response I received.

 

Thank you for your correspondence regarding your upcoming cruise onboard Regal Princess. We appreciate the time you have taken to share your concerns, and we welcome the opportunity to respond at this time.

 

Shore Excursions cannot be cancelled or added within 5 days through Cruise Personalizer. If a pre-paid shore excursion is cancelled 5 days or more prior to sailing and there is a balance due amount for the billing contact then the balance will be applied to that shore excursion. If there is no shore excursion balance for the billing contact on the reservation being cancelled, then the pre-paid amount will be refunded to the credit card used to pre-pay the shore excursion. Refunds in this instance will be made within 24 hours of cancellation. If the billing contact adds another shore excursion reservation before the money is refunded to the credit card, the money will be applied to the newly made reservation.

 

If a pre-paid shore excursion is not cancelled within the above time frame or is cancelled during the voyage prior to the "Closing Time for Cancellation" listed for the particular excursion, then the pre-paid amount will be refunded to the billing contact named on the pre-paid reservation as a “refundable” shipboard credit on his/her shipboard folio.

 

Mr. Bowen, thank you once again for taking the time to share your concerns. We look forward to having you onboard Regal Princess in January for what we hope will be a completely enjoyable cruise vacation. Until then, we send our kind regards.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

Princess Cruises

Customer Relations Specialist

customerrelations@princesscruises.com

Edited November 12, 2016 by RDC1

[DrJohn]

As I got deeper into the link provided about Alaska I found the answer. Time to cancel 9 Princess cruises.

 

John

[RDC1]

We also always pre-reserve in order to get the tours we want and they are charged to our onboard account. Our OBC offsets most of those charges. The potential problem is if we cannot pre-reserve without having to pay at time of reservation. We have b2b2b cruises booked starting in August and have already pre-reserved tours on all 3 of them. I asked the rep what would happen to those -- and she did not have an answer. That is why I am asking if anyone on this forum has a definitive answer about this possible change in Princess policy.

 

John

 

From what I understand the booking system requires you to prepay if you make them once the new policy was put into practice. Unfortunately the excursions are not available for cruises I have booked after June 1st so I cannot test the system. Others have reported that they have gotten a notice when booking that it must be paid for within 24 hours or will be canceled.

 

If you were able to make them prior to the system being changed then they might slip through, but I wouldn't count on it. If you bring it to Princess's attention they might correct anything that would allow them to slip through.

 

I would just keep an eye on them and see if anything changes.

 

You might also try going in an making a new one on one of your cruises and see what it says. Of course that might trigger a payment requirement on any of your existing ones.

 

Unfortunately policy now requires pre-payment.

[RDC1]

As I got deeper into the link provided about Alaska I found the answer. Time to cancel 9 Princess cruises.

 

John

 

To me the change clearly reduces the value of OBC we receive on Princess cruises from about 90% cash equivalent to 60% cash equivalent.

 

I would suggest everyone that feels that this is a major negative impact to send a letter/email/phone call to Princess about how they are losing a major competitive advantage with this change.

 

Another suggestion to make to them is that they might consider adding no prepayment reservations to either Elite or Platinum status.

[alibali21]

We have an Alaskan cruise booked for next year and the excursions recently became available to book. When I saw that we would have to prepay I phoned Princess to ask whether we would be charged in US dollars or UK pounds. Having to pay in dollars, which we will have to do, makes the excursions very expensive for us in the UK due to the poor exchange rate at the moment and non sterling transaction fees imposed by credit cards.

Anyway the Princess consultant I spoke to said that they had just been notified that from summer 2017 excursions on all cruises, not just ones to Alaska, will require prepayment.

[fishywood]

As I got deeper into the link provided about Alaska I found the answer. Time to cancel 9 Princess cruises.

 

John

 

I think you are unnecessarily panicking. Yes this is a major policy change. So Princess now becomes like all the other mainstream lines requiring payment for pre-reserved excursions. So those in the same boat as you--wishing to pay with OBC--will simply wait to book on board. Couple that with the elimination of others reserving a bunch of excursions and then cancelling half or more after embarkation and your worrying about being shut out of the excursions you want will prove mostly unfounded.

 

And as again all the other non-luxury lines have required pre-payment for in some cases several years now, do you have any idea where you will be taking your ample future cruise business to? (Not meant as a put-down, I am looking for suggestions as well...)

[RDC1]

We have an Alaskan cruise booked for next year and the excursions recently became available to book. When I saw that we would have to prepay I phoned Princess to ask whether we would be charged in US dollars or UK pounds. Having to pay in dollars, which we will have to do, makes the excursions very expensive for us in the UK due to the poor exchange rate at the moment and non sterling transaction fees imposed by credit cards.

Anyway the Princess consultant I spoke to said that they had just been notified that from summer 2017 excursions on all cruises, not just ones to Alaska, will require prepayment.

 

While this doesn't help help with prepayment of excursions, some have reported that they have been able to buy refundable OBC at a better rate then the current exchange rate.

[pablo222]

As I got deeper into the link provided about Alaska I found the answer. Time to cancel 9 Princess cruises.

 

Finally! Someone who walks the walk.

 

There is so much hollow whining on cruisecritic,

it is nice to read about someone doing more than

just whining.

[Cruiser411]

We also always pre-reserve in order to get the tours we want and they are charged to our onboard account. Our OBC offsets most of those charges. The potential problem is if we cannot pre-reserve without having to pay at time of reservation. We have b2b2b cruises booked starting in August and have already pre-reserved tours on all 3 of them. I asked the rep what would happen to those -- and she did not have an answer. That is why I am asking if anyone on this forum has a definitive answer about this possible change in Princess policy.

 

John

 

If you've already pre-reserved shore excursions for next year, they are grandfathered in. Princess is not going to ask you to pay for them now.

[Cruiser411]

Another suggestion to make to them is that they might consider adding no prepayment reservations to either Elite or Platinum status.

 

I like this suggestion...:)

[DrJohn]

I think you are unnecessarily panicking. Yes this is a major policy change. So Princess now becomes like all the other mainstream lines requiring payment for pre-reserved excursions. So those in the same boat as you--wishing to pay with OBC--will simply wait to book on board. Couple that with the elimination of others reserving a bunch of excursions and then cancelling half or more after embarkation and your worrying about being shut out of the excursions you want will prove mostly unfounded.

 

And as again all the other non-luxury lines have required pre-payment for in some cases several years now, do you have any idea where you will be taking your ample future cruise business to? (Not meant as a put-down, I am looking for suggestions as well...)

 

We've been at the tipping point with Princess for awhile. Over the past 2 years we have seen continual reduction in quality and service levels. As a fellow passengers put it -- "it all started when they took chocolate covered strawberries off the Elite formal night canapé order form." We have 3 major cruises scheduled -- each is b2b2b for a total of 9. We booked these cruises during the 3 for 3 sale -- so each cruise has over $900 of OBC which now cannot be used for tours -- unless we bet on being able to book what we want on ship which experience has taught us is taking a very big gamble. The sale also included free gratuities. We do enjoy wine and drinks in the Elite lounge -- but not $900 worth.

 

So what to do? We are thinking it is time for us to cruise only to the fun in the sun spots, and do land tours to Europe and the Med etc.

 

John

[RDC1]

We've been at the tipping point with Princess for awhile. Over the past 2 years we have seen continual reduction in quality and service levels. As a fellow passengers put it -- "it all started when they took chocolate covered strawberries off the Elite formal night canapé order form." We have 3 major cruises scheduled -- each is b2b2b for a total of 9. We booked these cruises during the 3 for 3 sale -- so each cruise has over $900 of OBC which now cannot be used for tours -- unless we bet on being able to book what we want on ship which experience has taught us is taking a very big gamble. The sale also included free gratuities. We do enjoy wine and drinks in the Elite lounge -- but not $900 worth.

 

So what to do? We are thinking it is time for us to cruise only to the fun in the sun spots, and do land tours to Europe and the Med etc.

 

John

 

We actually feel much the same way. This year we did 70 days on Princess.

 

Next year we will probably do 10 at most. We have canceled 19 days in Asia. Instead we are doing land tours and river cruises.

 

I suspect that one of the major reason Princess is making the change is to reduce the ways OBC can be spent. Forcing it to be spent fully on board on things where Princess has a better margin (less cost to them). Would not be surprised if they start cutting into OBC in other ways as well.

[DrJohn]

We actually feel much the same way. This year we did 70 days on Princess.

 

Next year we will probably do 10 at most. We have canceled 19 days in Asia. Instead we are doing land tours and river cruises.

 

I suspect that one of the major reason Princess is making the change is to reduce the ways OBC can be spent. Forcing it to be spent fully on board on things where Princess has a better margin (less cost to them). Would not be surprised if they start cutting into OBC in other ways as well.

 

I suspect that one of the major reasons is that Princess is trying to reduce the number of Elites. Long time cruisers don't provide the revenue they get from the newbies.

[Potstech]

I am still waiting for a refund on a cancelled excursion that was pre paid thru Princess. The xcursion was scheduled for tha last week in May in Talkeetna. Will never pre pay an excursion again.

 

Wonder if the excursion desk on Princess is set up th handle the number of passengers it will now be getting waiting to book them onboard. Should be interesting to see.

[RDC1]

I am still waiting for a refund on a cancelled excursion that was pre paid thru Princess. The xcursion was scheduled for tha last week in May in Talkeetna. Will never pre pay an excursion again.

 

Wonder if the excursion desk on Princess is set up th handle the number of passengers it will now be getting waiting to book them onboard. Should be interesting to see.

 

When did you cancel? Since you are waiting for a refund you would have had to cancel it prior to the cruise, otherwise it would have been OBC.

 

According to process if canceled prior to cruise it should have shown up on your credit card within a few days of canceling.

 

what has Princess said about it?

[alibali21]

While this doesn't help help with prepayment of excursions, some have reported that they have been able to buy refundable OBC at a better rate then the current exchange rate.

 

Yes we can, in the UK, purchase OBC, at a rate which is fixed at the time of booking, and which is usually considerably better than the rate on the High Street and we pay for it in GB pounds.

I usually book excursions and then try to purchase enough OBC to pay for them, and any other onboard purchases, so that at the end of the cruise we have a relatively small balance to pay. We also prepay our gratuities so they are not on the final balance.

No more Princess excursions for us I'm afraid, and we have booked a lot in the past. Will do a bit of research and book independent tours from now on.

[Potstech]

When did you cancel? Since you are waiting for a refund you would have had to cancel it prior to the cruise, otherwise it would have been OBC.

 

According to process if canceled prior to cruise it should have shown up on your credit card within a few days of canceling.

 

what has Princess said about it?

 

I did not cancel. The excursion had a problem and it could not be completed. Excursion operator said refund would be provided by Princess as that is who I had paid. Princess is not talking to the operator who has contacted them several times. First I heard from Prncess was 2 weeks ago after I sent them a somewhat nasty letter. They finally said they would "post it in a week or two". I will believe it when I see it. By the way this was on the land portion of a cruise tour.

[RDC1]

I did not cancel. The excursion had a problem and it could not be completed. Excursion operator said refund would be provided by Princess as that is who I had paid. Princess is not talking to the operator who has contacted them several times. First I heard from Prncess was 2 weeks ago after I sent them a somewhat nasty letter. They finally said they would "post it in a week or two". I will believe it when I see it. By the way this was on the land portion of a cruise tour.

 

Thats interesting. Usually those show up on ship. I assume that the excursion started but but something went wrong while you were on the excursion.

 

Did you talk with the excursion desk on the ship?

 

I can see where that situation might cause a problem because since the excursion started you would have been outside of the normal immediate refund system. The ship would have needed to for the excursion operator to notify them of a problem and refund. My understanding in those situation s is that Princess requires the excursion operator to verify the refund, before it is generated.

 

What excursion was it and what went wrong?