Shore Ex and OBC?

[suzyed]

I'm seeing where if you pre-reserve excursions, they can not be paid for with OBC, Does this mean, that the excursions I have reserved which will be paid for onboard, will not have my OBC deducted from their costs?

 

This is what I found in the FAQ's for excursions....

 

Booking Shore Excursions

 

Get the most out of your experience at port by booking a shore excursion. Princess® offers a variety of excursions perfect for families, sightseeing, adventure, and exploring wildlife and nature. You can book your shore excursion with Cruise Personalizer® from approximately 180 days before travel, and up to 5 days before you depart. Learn more about our ports and excursions.

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.

 

Has anyone who has sailed recently dealt with this issue?

[Lucky TGO]

I'm seeing where if you pre-reserve excursions, they can not be paid for with OBC, Does this mean, that the excursions I have reserved which will be paid for onboard, will not have my OBC deducted from their costs?

 

This is what I found in the FAQ's for excursions....

 

Booking Shore Excursions

 

Get the most out of your experience at port by booking a shore excursion. Princess® offers a variety of excursions perfect for families, sightseeing, adventure, and exploring wildlife and nature. You can book your shore excursion with Cruise Personalizer® from approximately 180 days before travel, and up to 5 days before you depart. Learn more about our ports and excursions.

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.

 

Has anyone who has sailed recently dealt with this issue?

 

I'm not a lawyer and you sometime have to be one to figure all this out. If you BOOK your excursion you have to pay with your Credit Card up front. If you just RESERVE it you can pay with your OBC.

That's my guess. Good luck!!

Tony

[Kansas Gal]

This was discussed thoroughly just a few days ago. Go back through the last week's postings.

[beg3yrs]

Princess tried to do this late last year and then rescinded it. The FAQ has not been updated since it was rescinded. You do not have to pay up front for your pre-reserved excursions but you have the option to do so. If you choose to do this, you can't use OBC. If you wait to pay at the end of the cruise, you can use OBC. Princess has not updated the FAQ,

 

There was an old thread recently resurrected on this topic. Its title was confusing lots of people as it was "overcome by events". This thread has been deleted by the moderators because of the confusion.

 

So NO, YOU DON'T HAVE TO PAY FOR YOUR EXCURSIONS IN ADVANCE. YOU CAN PAY ON BOARD AT THE END OF YOUR CRUISE AND USE ANY OBC YOU HAVE.

[suzyed]

Princess tried to do this late last year and then rescinded it. The FAQ has not been updated since it was rescinded. You do not have to pay up front for your pre-reserved excursions but you have the option to do so. If you choose to do this, you can't use OBC. If you wait to pay at the end of the cruise, you can use OBC. Princess has not updated the FAQ,

 

There was an old thread recently resurrected on this topic. Its title was confusing lots of people as it was "overcome by events". This thread has been deleted by the moderators because of the confusion.

 

So NO, YOU DON'T HAVE TO PAY FOR YOUR EXCURSIONS IN ADVANCE. YOU CAN PAY ON BOARD AT THE END OF YOUR CRUISE AND USE ANY OBC YOU HAVE.

Hope you are correct! Never dealt with this before. I was always able to reserve and pay online.

I know there was some "trial" with Alaska cruises that you had to pay in advance, but I planned to pay once I got online with my OBC. Very confusing!

[caribill]

Hope you are correct! Never dealt with this before. I was always able to reserve and pay online.

I know there was some "trial" with Alaska cruises that you had to pay in advance, but I planned to pay once I got online with my OBC. Very confusing!

 

Did you mean "on board"

[easyboy]

Your shore excursion will be paid by your OBC on your onboard account.

[Thrak]

I'm not a lawyer and you sometime have to be one to figure all this out. If you BOOK your excursion you have to pay with your Credit Card up front. If you just RESERVE it you can pay with your OBC.

That's my guess. Good luck!!

Tony

 

What about the rowboat excursions? I've heard that no credit cards are accepted but a sandwich and a beer might work. Not too sure about the beer though. It might have been a double 12 year old single malt.

[Astro Flyer]

Princess tried to do this late last year and then rescinded it. The FAQ has not been updated since it was rescinded. You do not have to pay up front for your pre-reserved excursions but you have the option to do so. If you choose to do this, you can't use OBC. If you wait to pay at the end of the cruise, you can use OBC. Princess has not updated the FAQ,

 

There was an old thread recently resurrected on this topic. Its title was confusing lots of people as it was "overcome by events". This thread has been deleted by the moderators because of the confusion.

 

So NO, YOU DON'T HAVE TO PAY FOR YOUR EXCURSIONS IN ADVANCE. YOU CAN PAY ON BOARD AT THE END OF YOUR CRUISE AND USE ANY OBC YOU HAVE.

 

Hope you are correct! Never dealt with this before. I was always able to reserve and pay online.

I know there was some "trial" with Alaska cruises that you had to pay in advance, but I planned to pay once I got online with my OBC. Very confusing!

What 'beg3yrs' posted is accurate & in November Princess expanded that Alaska prepayment requirement fleetwide. The Cruise Personalizer now states that we can pay in advance or to pay using our onboard account which has the OBC.

 

I've contacted a Princess website member who is working on removing the outdated statement you read in the tour FAQs. That results in unnecessary confusion which you experienced & the same question is regularly repeated due to Princess not updating their website since it was rescinded several months ago.

[Astro Flyer]

I'm not a lawyer and you sometime have to be one to figure all this out. If you BOOK your excursion you have to pay with your Credit Card up front. If you just RESERVE it you can pay with your OBC.

That's my guess. Good luck!!

Tony

That's no longer true & it's back to prebooking with the option to pay in advance or onboard where we can use OBC to pay for it. Other posts in this thread explains why that outdated FAQ statement is no longer valid.

[suzyed]

Did you mean "on board"

Yes!

[flamomo]

I have a cruise booked for later this year and have pre-reserved a ton of excursions. Prepayment was NOT required, though it is an option. It's the same system as what it has always been, now that Princess has rescinded the mandatory prepayment that was once announced.

[Astro Flyer]

This is the Cruise Personalizer statement about booked tours:

 

NEW

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.

[patrickmoran]

Just off the Regal. We had prebooked Princess excursions (2 each) and had lots of OBC. The cost of the excursions was deducted from the OBC the first nights. Our tix for the excursions were in our cabin when we boarded.

[suzyed]

Just off the Regal. We had prebooked Princess excursions (2 each) and had lots of OBC. The cost of the excursions was deducted from the OBC the first nights. Our tix for the excursions were in our cabin when we boarded.

Thanks! That's what I wanted to hear! I know we have the option of pre-paying or waiting until we are on board to pay, but my concern was when they said you can't us OBC to pay for pre-reserved tours. Glad you were able to do it! Puts my mind at ease!

[d9704011]

On our previous cruises we had no problem reserving excursions and paying for them by using OBCs once we boarded the ship. However, we're booked on a cruise from Tokyo to Anchorage in April, 2018 and to be able to reserve excursions the Princess Cruise Personalizer forces us to pay up front. I'm wondering if this is something for cruises to/from Alaska no matter the departure point? We also booked an excursion on Royal Princess during our TA this September and that was no problem to ensure the reservation just as we've done previously.

[cruiseidaho]

I pre-booked shore excursions for Japan in July and Canada/New England in October. Today, all the excursions for Canada/New England have been removed from my reservations. The excursions for Japan still remain and are accompanied with this statement: "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." I tried to again reserve the shore excursions for Canada/New England as I had done about a month ago. Now, I must pay in advance or wait and take a chance on booking once on board. I will have quite a bit of onboard credit, which I had planned to use for excursion payments. I have free gratuities, so would have some problem in spending the credit. Anyone know why there is this difference in policy between the two cruises?

[Cruiser411]

I pre-booked shore excursions for Japan in July and Canada/New England in October. Today, all the excursions for Canada/New England have been removed from my reservations. The excursions for Japan still remain and are accompanied with this statement: "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." I tried to again reserve the shore excursions for Canada/New England as I had done about a month ago. Now, I must pay in advance or wait and take a chance on booking once on board. I will have quite a bit of onboard credit, which I had planned to use for excursion payments. I have free gratuities, so would have some problem in spending the credit. Anyone know why there is this difference in policy between the two cruises?

 

Hmmm... I believe they've updated their system so that you can use OBC to pay for shore excursions.

[cruiseidaho]

Yes, on the Japan cruise. It states that this is new. However, not so on Canada/New England.

[NavyVeteran]

Yes, on the Japan cruise. It states that this is new. However, not so on Canada/New England.

 

They are implementing the change to require prepayment of shore excursions, but not yet on all cruises.

 

If prepayment is required, then you can use any OBC that is already posted to your account when you reserve the excursions. When you go to pay for the excursions, it shows you the amount of OBC you have and you only have to pay by credit card for any excess over that OBC.

 

The main problem is that not all OBC is listed in your Cruise Personalizer in advance. I have pre-booked some excursions for a cruise in January 2018, and my shareholder OBC is not yet listed - they won't list it this far in advance. I used by FCD and veteran's OBC and paid a small amount by credit card for the excess over that OBC.

 

They don't actually charge the OBC in advance - they will do that onboard. They just don't require prepayment if you have OBC. This works for me because they will charge my nonrefundable FCD and shareholder OBC onboard (even though they don't know about it yet) and I can then get a refund of my veteran OBC if I don't spend it on something else.

[cherylandtk]

Anyone know why there is this difference in policy between the two cruises?

The difference is due to when your two cruises occur. As this newest excursion policy is implemented across the fleet they have to pick a 'start date' for each ship. You have one cruise booked before the start date, and thus see the old option of paying in advance (but not with OBC) or waiting to pay until onboard. Your other cruise occurs just after the start date and for that one you must prepay, but either with OBC or a credit card.

 

FWIW, based on what folks have posted in all these threads, it seems that the start date for each ship is sometime in the October (ish) timeframe, partly driven by the change of cruising season; just after the TA's for example. And they may not update the FAQ until the fall when there are no more cruises where one has the 'pay now-pay later' option, because that statement does apply to them.

[Colo Cruiser]

Hmmm... I believe they've updated their system so that you can use OBC to pay for shore excursions.

 

 

 

No.........this is not an option yet on our Royal cruise.

[cruiseidaho]

The difference is due to when your two cruises occur. As this newest excursion policy is implemented across the fleet they have to pick a 'start date' for each ship. You have one cruise booked before the start date, and thus see the old option of paying in advance (but not with OBC) or waiting to pay until onboard. Your other cruise occurs just after the start date and for that one you must prepay, but either with OBC or a credit card.

 

FWIW, based on what folks have posted in all these threads, it seems that the start date for each ship is sometime in the October (ish) timeframe, partly driven by the change of cruising season; just after the TA's for example. And they may not update the FAQ until the fall when there are no more cruises where one has the 'pay now-pay later' option, because that statement does apply to them.

 

Thanks for the explanation. That makes sense.