Onboard credit will not be accepted for pre-reservations

[caribill]

 

They claim the trial with Alaska this year went well so that is why they moved it to fleet wide......

 

Of course it went well:

 

a) Over 50% of passengers on an Alaska cruise are new to Princess. They have no idea you did not have to pay in advance in the past. They will not complain.

 

b) A certain number of past passengers will pre-pay anyway because they like to do so in advance and not have to pay after the cruise.

 

c) So relatively few will not have liked the policy and then also complained.

[SteelMagnolia9]

I just completed my second Princess cruise. The ability to reserve a shore excursion and not prepay, put Princess in the plus column for a future cruise for me. I'm disappointed to learn they have decided to change their policy.

[cruzrbachoua]

Caribill-bummer thanks for the info on the tips. Well I guess if push comes to shove and we still have some obc and have nothing else to do with it we will go and just add it to the pool...would rather it go to the staff then just be left unused. Contemplating doing a soda card, perhaps sending out our formals to be freshened up. Not enough sea days with only 1 to try to attempt ship tour, sanctuary (too cold). I am sure we will find something and if not we will give it to the staff as tips.

 

Yeah I thought the same thing...you tested on 1 small grouping of sailings and knowing how popular Alaska is and all its tours and 1st timers people wanted to make sure they made the best time out of their time there so they did it. Hopefully all of us on here have sent in our emails to customer relations and maybe they will change their ways.....

[Alaskanb]

Your BI cruise is before the new policy apples world wide.

.

Must have missed that --what is the date?

[jagoffee]

Of course it went well:

 

a) Over 50% of passengers on an Alaska cruise are new to Princess. They have no idea you did not have to pay in advance in the past. They will not complain.

 

b) A certain number of past passengers will pre-pay anyway because they like to do so in advance and not have to pay after the cruise.

 

c) So relatively few will not have liked the policy and then also complained.

 

d) Travel Agent OBC is not as common on Princess as other cruise lines because Princess allows Travel Agents to discount cruise.

[Astro Flyer]

Yeah I thought the same thing...you tested on 1 small grouping of sailings and knowing how popular Alaska is and all its tours and 1st timers people wanted to make sure they made the best time out of their time there so they did it. Hopefully all of us on here have sent in our emails to customer relations and maybe they will change their ways.....

Someone posted a letter from Princess touting the pre-payment option on the Grand last summer in Alaska. The letter said this was an option passengers wanted & made it appear to be something new. Inexperienced Princess cruisers wouldn't know that was marketing gibberish because the option to pre-pay for tours had been available for several years & the only difference was that it changed from being optional to being mandatory.

 

As caribill posted, Princess stacked the deck with inexperienced Princess passengers to ensure the results that passengers want to pre-pay for tours...wrong! :rolleyes:

 

I previously expressed my displeasure about the "test" & now it's being implemented fleetwide. The test results were predetermined & it was merely done to have the appearance of them doing what passengers desired...wrong! :rolleyes:

[Astro Flyer]

I am on a late May 2017 British Isles cruise -- no need to pre-pay either for the one Princess excursion we are doing. Princess does need to clarify their statement re pre-booked, onboard booked excursions, and OBC.

On our 2016 Alaska cruise tour we had to prepay for Princess excursions on the land tour component only.

 

Must have missed that --what is the date?

The letter sent to TAs says paying to prebook tours begins in summer 2017.

[dickinson]

The letter sent to TAs says paying to prebook tours begins in summer 2017.

 

which is vague. What is the date? FCD consultant onboard Crown says with Alaska cruises. Still vague but that seems to be May 6.

[Alaskanb]

The letter sent to TAs says paying to prebook tours begins in summer 2017.

My cruise is May 25, 2017.

The conflicting statements are these:

Excursion FAQ: 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.

Under my excursion reservation: "Pay Before You Sail, Or Pay Later Onboard

You have the option to pay for shore excursions in advance of your cruise. If you wait, we will add the charges to your onboard account which is settled at the end of the cruise."

 

On this thread some folks are using the term "tour" -- a cruise tour maybe?--

and the term "excursion".

I have sent my e-mail to the shore excursions e-mail for clarification.

[Astro Flyer]

which is vague. What is the date? FCD consultant onboard Crown says with Alaska cruises. Still vague but that seems to be May 6.

 

Sometimes I think that Princess' middle names are "vague" & "contradictory". :eek:

[cruzsnooze]

Does anyone really believe if they leave extra OBC towards gratuity it really goes there and not into Corporates pocket? How do we really know? I'll cash mine out or will spend it before I let it go into the big Abyss.

Edited November 16, 2016 by cruzsnooze

[cruzrbachoua]

Per our waiters we have had on several cruises we were asked to put our name on the envelope of extra money we gave Said that if we removed our daily tips that what we gave them at the end they had to turn over to the pool. We assured him that we didn't do that but added the last name and cabin # as he requested.

[cr8tiv1]

For what it is worth. I sent an email to Princess Customer Service outlining my concerns for pre-excursion payments and non use of OBC yesterday. Was shocked to receive an personal phone call from Audrey this morning.

 

Currently policy is only for Alaskan cruises 2017. When asked if it was going fleet wide, she said "No". When I asked if it was in the future, she said that she could not confirm Yes or No. Asked if it would affect my cruise in October and she could not/would not commit to a policy change. Continued to say that it was only for Alaska 2017.

 

I asked her to forward my email to those "in charge" and she said she would do just that.

 

Why the phone call rather than email response? No paper trail? She said they thought a person call was better to address this concern.

 

So that's the latest. Not very committal.

[cruzrbachoua]

I got the same call to but I wasn't home so she left a voice mail saying the same thing only alaska 2017 however on my voice mail she did say not all sailings just alaska.

 

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[RDC1]

For what it is worth. I sent an email to Princess Customer Service outlining my concerns for pre-excursion payments and non use of OBC yesterday. Was shocked to receive an personal phone call from Audrey this morning.

 

Currently policy is only for Alaskan cruises 2017. When asked if it was going fleet wide, she said "No". When I asked if it was in the future, she said that she could not confirm Yes or No. Asked if it would affect my cruise in October and she could not/would not commit to a policy change. Continued to say that it was only for Alaska 2017.

 

I asked her to forward my email to those "in charge" and she said she would do just that.

 

Why the phone call rather than email response? No paper trail? She said they thought a person call was better to address this concern.

 

So that's the latest. Not very committal.

 

We will know for sure when non-Alaska cruises for June or later open up. I have gotten two responses. One said Alaska (normal customer service when I called in), the one that called me said fleet wide.

Edited November 17, 2016 by RDC1

[cruzrbachoua]

Just gotta love princess. ..lol..i think they "escaped completely" from reality with this idea that no one there at princess seems to know what is really going on. .lol. i have a classic Canada cruise October 2017 and will certainly post an update when i see mine open. .and personalizer still reads at 120 vs the new 180 they claim

 

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[Sea Day Cruiser]

I am booked on a Baltic cruise and transatlantic cruise the end of August and September 2017. Shore excursions are already available for booking and there is nothing I can find about requiring payment now. I know it is very early but the excursions have been available for over a month. I suppose they could start requiring payment at any point between now and then but right now I am booked on several and there is nothing about paying at this time.

 

 

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[Happy2cruise]

Just gotta love princess. ..lol..i think they "escaped completely" from reality with this idea that no one there at princess seems to know what is really going on. .lol. i have a classic Canada cruise October 2017 and will certainly post an update when i see mine open. .and personalizer still reads at 120 vs the new 180 they claim

 

Sent from my SM-G900P using Forums mobile app

I think sometimes the responses the reps give are scripted management responses or talking points they are instructed to give. This happened all the time when I worked and there was a change in services or policies. Then again I could be totally wrong;)

[Mapu]

For what it is worth. I sent an email to Princess Customer Service outlining my concerns for pre-excursion payments and non use of OBC yesterday. Was shocked to receive an personal phone call from Audrey this morning.

 

Currently policy is only for Alaskan cruises 2017. When asked if it was going fleet wide, she said "No". When I asked if it was in the future, she said that she could not confirm Yes or No. Asked if it would affect my cruise in October and she could not/would not commit to a policy change. Continued to say that it was only for Alaska 2017.

 

I asked her to forward my email to those "in charge" and she said she would do just that.

 

Why the phone call rather than email response? No paper trail? She said they thought a person call was better to address this concern.

 

So that's the latest. Not very committal.

I think those effected by this new policy need to send a clear message to Princess by waiting to reserve shore excursions until onboard, so that obc can be used. The other alternative is to research and book with outside vendors, which is what we often do.

[RDC1]

I am booked on a Baltic cruise and transatlantic cruise the end of August and September 2017. Shore excursions are already available for booking and there is nothing I can find about requiring payment now. I know it is very early but the excursions have been available for over a month. I suppose they could start requiring payment at any point between now and then but right now I am booked on several and there is nothing about paying at this time.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

Interesting. Maybe they are just limiting it to Alaska this year.

[Astro Flyer]

Interesting. Maybe they are just limiting it to Alaska this year.

Princess is giving conflicting information about requiring prepayment to reserve tours & needs to provide a definitive answer.

 

They're verbally telling passengers that it's only required in Alaska but that is not what they state in writing. Their updated shore excursions information 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". Their letter from John Chernesky VP of North America Sales emailed to TAs about this change states "Pre-Purchase: Starting with Summer 2017 voyages, shore excursion reservations will require pre-payment".

 

I put more credence in written statements than in verbal statements about it only being in Alaska which are contradictory. If it's limited to Alaska this summer, they need to correct their current statements which do not state it's only in Alaska.

 

Princess needs to figure out what's their new shore excursions policy & to give us a definitive answer. :rolleyes:

Edited November 17, 2016 by Astro Flyer

[RDC1]

Princess is giving conflicting information about requiring prepayment to reserve tours & needs to provide a definitive answer.

 

They're verbally telling passengers that it's only required in Alaska but that is not what they state in writing. Their updated shore excursions information 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". Their letter from John Chernesky VP of North America Sales emailed to TAs about this change states "Pre-Purchase: Starting with Summer 2017 voyages, shore excursion reservations will require pre-payment".

 

I put more credence in written statements than in verbal statements about it only being in Alaska which are contradictory. If it's limited to Alaska this summer, they need to correct their current statements which do not state it's only in Alaska.

 

Princess needs to figure out what's their new shore excursions policy & to give us a definitive answer. :rolleyes:

 

On the other hand you have someone reporting that they can buy excursions for a non-Alaska late summer cruise and pre-payment was not required. We need to see if anyone reports having to prepay on a non-Alaska tour after June 1.

[frisbee dog fan]

After reading all the posts, I thought I would try to reserve a tour for my upcoming March 2017 cruise. You can still reserve a tour without paying. I was given the choice to pay now or to pay later onboard. The text for paying later said that if I wait, "charges will be added to your onboard account which is settled at the end of the cruise."

[cruzrbachoua]

That is before the "summer 2017" timeframe that princess states.

[Astro Flyer]

On the other hand you have someone reporting that they can buy excursions for a non-Alaska late summer cruise and pre-payment was not required. We need to see if anyone reports having to prepay on a non-Alaska tour after June 1.

 

I agree but if Princess would distribute accurate written procedures that would be the best way to clearly state their new policy without any contradictory statements.