No longer required to prepay excursions

[Astro Flyer]

Tours are available to reserve for my October 2017 transatlantic cruise and no pre-payment is required but as it's been for several years we have the option to pre-pay. I use OBC and I'm so happy that apparently Princess has listened to their passengers & returned to their original tour policy. :D

Edited December 24, 2016 by Astro Flyer

[NavyVeteran]

Thank you.

 

I just reserved tours for my May 18th Alaska cruise on the Grand Princess round trip San Francisco. I received the same message when logging on and did not have to prepay.

 

I had tried reserving excursions earlier but would have had to prepay. I had not reserved any, since I prefer to use my OBC.

 

It looks as if Princess listened. I know I will take a lot more Princess excursions with this policy than I would under the new policy, so they will end up making more money from me now.

[shredie]

Tours are available to reserve for my October 2017 transatlantic cruise and no pre-payment is required but as it's been for several years we have the option to pre-pay. I use OBC and I'm so happy that apparently Princess has listened to their passengers & returned to their original tour policy. :D

 

I figure what happened was, during lunch with Jan Swartz, the Head of the Department of Bad Ideas gave her a swap--pre-paid excursions for Club Class only MDR embarkation lunch. They would still be able to implement a really bad idea, but maybe they'd drive off fewer repeat customers if they just did the lesser impact lunch thing. :p Then again, some days it really does feel like they want to drive off ALL repeat customers.

Edited December 25, 2016 by shredie

[pablo222]

Hopefully this means they have decided they got too many complaints and won't be instituting the must prepay.

 

Either that, or bookings were so slow that it scared them

back to the old policy.

[Coral]

Either that, or bookings were so slow that it scared them

back to the old policy.

 

It is one benefit that Princess had over the other lines. With out that benefit - maybe individuals started to look elsewhere as opposed to just booking Princess. We will probably never know.

[Astro Flyer]

Tours are available to reserve for my October 2017 transatlantic cruise and no pre-payment is required but as it's been for several years we have the option to pre-pay. I use OBC and I'm so happy that apparently Princess has listened to their passengers & returned to their original tour policy. :D

After booking my tours here's the statement about payment:

 

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.

[easyboy]

Either that, or bookings were so slow that it scared them

back to the old policy.

and maybe its tour operators complained too.

[Thrak]

I think it was just due to too much backlash and peeved customers.

 

"I know! Lets pay the gratuities for them and then force them to pay for excursions in advance. That way they will have to buy our watches and spa treatments!" Bad idea.

 

I have to say I'm surprised that they changed their minds but it really may be that someone listened to the customer base.

[satxdiver]

Just checked my AK cruise this coming summer on the Ruby. Indeed the notice did pop up and now I can reserve tours and pay for them once on board as it has been in the past. Looks like Princess got an avalanche of complaints and decided it was not worth it. This is one of the several reasons I have standardized on Princess cruises as they are so easy to do business with and have a good product.

[Lucky TGO]

Very good to hear that. :)

Tony

[flamomo]

I certainly hope this is going fleet-wide. I have a 23 day cruise in the Med booked for next Fall, and with only 5 sea days scheduled, that's a lotta Princess excursion fares that would be coming out of my wallet instead of being able to use OBC for some of the costs.

 

I will be looking for confirmation that this is going to be implemented fleet-wide.

[JF - retired RRT]

This policy has been in place for awhile, no? I never pre-pay shore excursions.

You?

 

It was set to change to prepay only fleet wide in 2017. It seems Princess has changed back before it went into effect.:D:D

[cruzrbachoua]

Yeah! !!

 

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[pandora518]

Yes!!! Shorex just opened up for our 3-week Med cruise late May and I was able to reserve all the tours we wanted without having to pre-pay!!! :)

[weedpindle]

But, you can't use OBC to pay for the reserved excursions.

[jdshaw1000]

Does this mean that we can now use OBC to pay for reserved (not pre-paid) excursions? Previously the only way to use OBC for excursions was to reserve and pay on the ship.

[Astro Flyer]

Does this mean that we can now use OBC to pay for reserved (not pre-paid) excursions? Previously the only way to use OBC for excursions was to reserve and pay on the ship.

 

But, you can't use OBC to pay for the reserved excursions.

 

After booking my tours here's the statement about payment:

 

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.

Based on this statement I received when booking my October 2017 shore excursions, the cost is added to my onboard account where my OBC is used for any purchases. So based on this statement we can use OBC for pre-reserved shore excursions now that the announced summer 2017 changes have been rescinded.

 

Although maybe they'll keep their announced change for tours being available up to 180 days before sailing because mine are available over 300 days prior to sailing. :)

Edited December 25, 2016 by Astro Flyer

[trvlwrld]

just reserved and did NOT prepay for excursions on april majestic. OBC can be used against your excursion balance IF you dont prepay your excursions because everything gets settled to your final shipboard account-its just a simple debit/credit accounting system

[Retiring cajun]

This is great news. Mexican Riviera on Ruby in feb. Fall 2017 Canada-New England, with many ports!! Would hate to pre pay.

 

 

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[pandora518]

Based on this statement I received when booking my October 2017 shore excursions, the cost is added to my onboard account where my OBC is used for any purchases. So based on this statement we can use OBC for pre-reserved shore excursions now that the announced summer 2017 changes have been rescinded.

 

Although maybe they'll keep their announced change for tours being available up to 180 days before sailing because mine are available over 300 days prior to sailing. :)

 

I'm not sure now. In the FAQ it says, "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." That seems to be very carefully worded, and it implies they'll charge your credit card.

[Astro Flyer]

I'm not sure now. In the FAQ it says, "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." That seems to be very carefully worded, and it implies they'll charge your credit card.

It's been my experience that updates to their website are done very slowly & the shore excursions FAQs you quoted were updated when those changes were disclosed several months ago by the Princess VP of Sales. But I understand your skepticism which is created when Princess is slow in updating their website information which is quite routinely the situation. Many of us have expressed our dissatisfaction about the pre-payment policy & apparently Princess has listened to their passengers. :)

 

With previous changes being slowly updated, the real life experiences & current Princess statements are what I find more credible. Throughout these discussions current statements from Princess contradict the FAQs & they're from multiple ships & itineraries including after the previously stated summer 2017 implementation of those changes.

 

You can re-read the posts from current shore excursions experiences including the current Princess statements that we can pre-reserve shore excursions without being required to pre-pay them.

 

This statement is from my October 2017 cruise & it's apparent to me & other passengers that the pre-payment policy has been rescinded & I've pre-reserved shore excursions without pre-payment.

 

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.

 

Shore excursions are added to our onboard account & OBC is a simple credit from which any debit for purchases are deducted which would include shore excursions. When settling our onboard account at the end of the cruise, we only pay for the amount in excess of our OBC total.

 

The first post of this thread also confirms that the procedure has changed & eventually so will their FAQs be updated.

 

I copied this from our 2017 Alaska excursion listing:

 

UPDATE TO SHORE EXCURSION PAYMENT POLICY FOR YOUR VOYAGE

 

Please be advised that we have updated our policies and pre-payment is no longer required for shore excursions. You may now make shore excursion reservations and pay when you settle your onboard folio. If you have already pre-paid your shore excursions and you are happy with your booking, there is no need to do anything at this time. If you would prefer to pay for an existing tour reservation onboard, please cancel your existing reservation, wait 24 hours for the refund to process, and then re-book your shore excursion reservation. Refunds will be issued to the credit card used to pay, and will take approximately 4 to 10 business days. If the price of the tour has gone up since your original booking, or it is currently sold out, please contact us at 1-800-774-6237.

 

By clicking Continue you acknowledge you have received the above notification.

 

Continue

 

As said, I understand your skepticism however the current Princess statements indicate that they've reverted to their original shore excursions policy...pre-reserve with the option to pre-pay or to have the cost added to our onboard accounts from which any OBC offsets our balance due. :D

[joe d]

Great news.

 

One of the main reasons I switched back to Princess was that I did not have to pre pay for excursions and could then use my OBC's to pay for them.

[RDC1]

It's been my experience that updates to their website are done very slowly & the shore excursions FAQs you quoted were updated when those changes were disclosed several months ago by the Princess VP of Sales. But I understand your skepticism which is created when Princess is slow in updating their website information which is quite routinely the situation. Many of us have expressed our dissatisfaction about the pre-payment policy & apparently Princess has listened to their passengers. :)

 

With previous changes being slowly updated, the real life experiences & current Princess statements are what I find more credible. Throughout these discussions current statements from Princess contradict the FAQs & they're from multiple ships & itineraries including after the previously stated summer 2017 implementation of those changes.

 

You can re-read the posts from current shore excursions experiences including the current Princess statements that we can pre-reserve shore excursions without being required to pre-pay them.

 

This statement is from my October 2017 cruise & it's apparent to me & other passengers that the pre-payment policy has been rescinded & I've pre-reserved shore excursions without pre-payment.

 

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.

 

Shore excursions are added to our onboard account & OBC is a simple credit from which any debit for purchases are deducted which would include shore excursions. When settling our onboard account at the end of the cruise, we only pay for the amount in excess of our OBC total.

 

The first post of this thread also confirms that the procedure has changed & eventually so will their FAQs be updated.

 

 

 

As said, I understand your skepticism however the current Princess statements indicate that they've reverted to their original shore excursions policy...pre-reserve with the option to pre-pay or to have the cost added to our onboard accounts from which any OBC offsets our balance due. :D

 

While you are probably correct, keep in mind that Princess can always set their accounting system to enforce the rules about OBC that their systems have not enforced before. One, for example, is that OBC cannot be spent on Tips. Even though they have not enforced that rule in the past they could always start and do exactly what the FAQ says (not let OBC be used for prebookings made before the cruise departure).

[Woobstr112G]

We just booked an excursion for our February 7th Hawaii cruise and they had the option of prepayment or pay later. Works for us. [emoji3][emoji106]

 

 

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I hope they keep the option to prepay for shore excursions. I actually like doing it.....:):):)

 

Bob

[LarryL]

I hope they keep the option to prepay for shore excursions. I actually like doing it.....:):):)

 

 

 

Bob

 

 

That was the option. I will prepay before we board. I prefer it as well. [emoji3]

 

 

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