OBC for excursions

[Kansas Gal]

Looking for clarification from people who have "been there done that." The Princess website specifically says OBC can only be used for excursions booked after on the ship, not reserved before the cruise. I have seen some people on here saying it can be done, I believe it was in reference to an Alaska cruise. Does it differ by cruise destination? We are going to the Baltic.

[1965]

Wow. I sure didn't know that, but I looked at their website and it looks like you are absolutely right. :( Most of our cruises are pretty long so our OBC is usually all used up for the daily gratuities. I almost always book our excursions before we set sail, sometimes months in advance. I always assumed that if there was any OBC left after gratuities I could use it for excursions!! Now I know better. Glad I saw your post.

[trbarton]

Many times I have pre-booked tours that are paid after I'm on the ship. Whatever credit I have on my account is used for those tours and anything else gets charged to my account like gratuities.

I'm on two cruise out of Los Angeles in April & have booked tours on line that my OBC will go towards to paying the costs of the tours. Once my OBC is used up then the charges will appear on my statement at the end of the cruise.

If I'm required to pay in advance for any tours I book, Celebrity requires you to do this, I'll take my chances & book when I'm first on-board.

Tom:cool:

[ILShipmates]

Looking for clarification from people who have "been there done that." The Princess website specifically says OBC can only be used for excursions booked after on the ship, not reserved before the cruise. I have seen some people on here saying it can be done, I believe it was in reference to an Alaska cruise. Does it differ by cruise destination? We are going to the Baltic.

I will preface this by saying "I may be wrong", but... I know this was an issue toward the end of 2016. Princess stopped allowing you to book excursions from your Personalizer without paying for them in advance. It was my understanding that decision was reversed.?. I prebooked excursions for my last cruise in Jan. and they were paid for from OBC during the cruise. Did things change again??????

[trbarton]

I will preface this by saying "I may be wrong", but... I know this was an issue toward the end of 2016. Princess stopped allowing you to book excursions from your Personalizer without paying for them in advance. It was my understanding that decision was reversed.?. I prebooked excursions for my last cruise in Jan. and they were paid for from OBC during the cruise. Did things change again??????

 

As I mentioned earlier I have tours booked for 2 short cruises in April. I have a choice of paying onboard or paying once on the ship. I have seen posts about Alaska Cruises requiring people to pay at the time of booking.

 

Tom:cool:

[easyboy]

I have reserved shore excursion for this month and was not required to pre-pay. Will just pay when onboard,

[LeeW]

For our April cruise all excursions are prebooked but not paid for. Will use OBC for them. Princess policy hasn't changed at all, although for a while they were experimenting with requiring prepayment on a couple of Alaska cruises. Got a lot of flak and backed off on that.

 

The web site allows you to prepay for excursions if you want. BUT, you can't use Onboard Credit to do this. Why? Because you don't actually get Onboard Credit until you get onboard.

 

Other cruise lines require you to prepay if you book any excursions. Of course with Royal it is also hard to get any onboard credit (none of it stacks and can't get it with balcony discounts). All in all, we prefer the way Princess handles this.

[Ginnyfyr]

I will preface this by saying "I may be wrong", but... I know this was an issue toward the end of 2016. Princess stopped allowing you to book excursions from your Personalizer without paying for them in advance. It was my understanding that decision was reversed.?. I prebooked excursions for my last cruise in Jan. and they were paid for from OBC during the cruise. Did things change again??????

 

Oh I hope they haven't changed pre-booking excursions! One of my favourite things about Princess is that I can book our excursions without forking over the money until we've done the excursion. Granted, I can see why they might change if they were having a lot of people book ahead of time and then cancel last minute, but I really hope they have not changed things. This makes me feel like I want to go try to book our Alaska excursions tonight...just in case!

[casofilia]

I have two cruises in June and July and have Reserved Shore Excursions and am able to pay for them on board..

[cb at sea]

YOU can only use your ONBOARD credit ON THE SHIP. If you have substantial OBC, then you must wait until you are ON the ship to spend that!

[TwoCruisers]

I just returned from a cruise on the Regal Princess two days ago. I pre-booked two Princess excursions shortly before leaving for the cruise. I did not pre-pay for them. They were placed on my shipboard account as they always have been in the past. I don’t know if Princess is planning on changing this in the future.

[Astro Flyer]

Princess attempted to require pre-payment to reserve tours last year which meant OBC could only be used to pay for whatever tours were still available upon boarding the ship. There was a big backlash from upset passengers who had OBC they wanted to use for tours & the policy change was rescinded.

 

While they haven't changed the wording on their website from their failed policy change, when booking tours it now states the following which shows that nothing has changed! :)

 

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.

[Astro Flyer]

YOU can only use your ONBOARD credit ON THE SHIP. If you have substantial OBC, then you must wait until you are ON the ship to spend that!

That failed policy change was rescinded & we can pre-book tours in advance & pay for them with OBC that's in our onboard folio.

[Colo Cruiser]

Looking for clarification from people who have "been there done that." The Princess website specifically says OBC can only be used for excursions booked after on the ship, not reserved before the cruise. I have seen some people on here saying it can be done, I believe it was in reference to an Alaska cruise. Does it differ by cruise destination? We are going to the Baltic.

 

Yes, as stated just don't pre pay them.

[magandy]

Just off the Diamond in February around Asia, pre booked excursions before we left home, excursion tickets were in the stateroom when we arrived, cost was taken off our obc no problem [emoji106]

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[1965]

It looks like we're going to have $74 left from our $800 OBC after gratuities are taken out. So happy to know it WILL go automatically toward our excursions. Our excursions will cost quite a bit, but every little bit of OBC will help. We almost never buy anything in the shops, no specialty dining, no special drinks, etc. We don't set sail until Sept. 10, so who knows. We may see a promotion that gives us additional OBC!! :D