Pre-Booking Tours: for May-August 2017 voyages

[Baynanno1]

So I think I learned something from this thread -- prices of the shore excursions change? And shore excursions are more expensive to book onboard than online? Can someone please confirm?

 

In my experience, that has always been the case :(

[BBMacLaird]

I have just spoken with an agent for Azamara and he stated that you cannot book now and cancel/re-book once on board. I even read out the "terms and conditions" information written on this forum and he was adamant that you cannot pre-book pay/cancel/re-book.

It is very confusing.

Shirley

 

Im sorry Penzance. This program is rolling out this week. Sounds like the person you talked to hadn't been informed.

[Penzance]

Thank you Bonnie. I didn't mean to sound a bit testy. I obviously wasn't lucky enough to get to speak to the helpful agent who called malcliz earlier.

[BBMacLaird]

Thank you Bonnie. I didn't mean to sound a bit testy. I obviously wasn't lucky enough to get to speak to the helpful agent who called malcliz earlier.

 

Don't worry, I didn't think you testy.

 

Just to make sure, when is your voyage?

[SkiCruiser44]

My hope is that the shore excursion desk staff on board the ships have this updated information and will work with those of us needing to use this new policy, I will know shortly and report back as we are on the May 13 Quest sailing and I have pre booked 2 tours hoping to rebook them when on board.

 

Kathy

[uktog]

My hope is that the shore excursion desk staff on board the ships have this updated information and will work with those of us needing to use this new policy, I will know shortly and report back as we are on the May 13 Quest sailing and I have pre booked 2 tours hoping to rebook them when on board.

 

Kathy

 

They certainly know on Journey just now so hopefully Quest is the same

[Penzance]

Bonnie - we are on the 29th May - 7th June Athens to Barcelona. So we should be OK. :)

[Baynanno1]

They certainly know on Journey just now so hopefully Quest is the same

 

Sounds like you are currently on board my favourite ship.

 

I wonder whether you might be able to answer my queries in post 23?

I have a spreadsheet of Shore Excursions I would like to book on B2B2B cruises starting 29 May on Quest.

[SkiCruiser44]

They certainly know on Journey just now so hopefully Quest is the same

 

Utkog,

Can you verify where or not the 48 cancellation rule is being enforced for rebooking? I have a tour booked for our first port.

 

Thanks,

 

Kathy

[malcliz]

Utkog,

Can you verify where or not the 48 cancellation rule is being enforced for rebooking? I have a tour booked for our first port.

 

Thanks,

 

Kathy

 

I hope not as we booked one for our second port after being reassured by the phone call we received from the Land Discoveries Department yesterday.

[impala1ss]

I am still confused about the new policy, for Aug. sailing, of booking land tours.

 

Can we NOW, 3 months before the cruise, book tours listed online using our credit cards?

 

How and when do we switch to our OBC and cancel our credit card paid tours? For instance, a first-day cruise while in port, or any others we will have reserved.

 

Is this Cancelling all done on the ship (Journey) when we get onboard by staff?

 

How does the "must cancel before 48 hours before tour" happen?

 

Thanks for all responses. Looking forward to cruise.

[BBMacLaird]

I've just received an update/clarification from our Tour Department re. the 48-hour CX rule:

 

Correction in regards to 48 hours cancellation policy:

The new cancel and re-book w/OBC will be allowed in the first two days of the cruise if you are cancelling and re-booking the same tour. We encourage you to advise our onboard Shore Excursions team at the beginning of your cruise.

 

In case you are cancelling a pre-booked tour and re-booking a different tour with your OBC, the original tour must be cancelled no later than 48 hours prior to tour departure as per our cancellation policy.

 

Our apologies for any confusion.

[BBMacLaird]

I am still confused about the new policy, for Aug. sailing, of booking land tours.

Can we NOW, 3 months before the cruise, book tours listed online using our credit cards?

How and when do we switch to our OBC and cancel our credit card paid tours? For instance, a first-day cruise while in port, or any others we will have reserved.

Is this Cancelling all done on the ship (Journey) when we get onboard by staff?

How does the "must cancel before 48 hours before tour" happen?

Thanks for all responses. Looking forward to cruise.

 

Hello impala,

Yes you can book your tours now, using your credit card.

Once you board, go to our Land Discovery tour desk to cancel and rebook the tour(s) using your OBC.

[SkiCruiser44]

Thank you Bonnie for the clarification ! This will work out great for us.

 

Can't wait to board Quest on May 13th!

 

Kathy

[Baynanno1]

Hello impala,

Yes you can book your tours now, using your credit card.

Once you board, go to our Land Discovery tour desk to cancel and rebook the tour(s) using your OBC.

 

Thanks Bonnie for the clarification of this point. Are you able to respond to the other two queries I posed earlier?

 

Guests may not use restricted OBCs (Casino OBC or Spa OBC) to rebook their Shore Excursions.

Does this mean that the only OBC that may be used to pre book (then cancel & re-book on board) Shore Excursions is that earmarked for Shore Excursions, which is not able to be used for any other on board purchase?

Or is one able to also use back to back cruise credit and / or early booking credit, neither of which are earmarked for a specific purpose?

 

Other restrictions apply.

It would be helpful to know what these other restrictions are before using the service.

Thanks,

Trish

[laurieb]

Bonnie, thanks again for the information. Hopefully the glitches will be sorted quickly. In the meantime .....

 

 

 

Terms and Conditions:

 

Shorex Onboard Credit (“OBC”) Offer applies to sailings departing between May and August 2017. Guests may not use restricted OBCs (Casino OBC or Spa OBC) to rebook their Shore Excursions. Tours will be charged at the current onboard price at the time of booking/rebooking. Tours must be cancelled no later than 48 hours prior to tour departure. Shorex OBC Offer excludes tours involving flights, trains, special events, overnight stays, hotel stays, and private tours, which must be cancelled 30 days prior to sailing. OBC is not redeemable for cash and expires on the final night of the cruise. Other restrictions apply.

 

 

 

Tours must be cancelled no later than 48 hours prior to tour departure.

 

Would I be correct in assuming this means CANCELLATION (as is always the case) not cancel and re-book?

 

 

Guests may not use restricted OBCs (Casino OBC or Spa OBC) to rebook their Shore Excursions.

 

Does this mean that the only OBC that may be used to pre book (then cancel & re-book on board) Shore Excursions is that earmarked for Shore Excursions, which is not able to be used for any other on board purchase?

 

Or is one able to also use back to back cruise credit and / or early booking credit, neither of which are earmarked for a specific purpose?

 

 

 

Other restrictions apply.

 

It would be helpful to know what these other restrictions are before using the service.

 

 

 

Thanks.

 

Trish :)

 

 

 

There is OBC other than restricted OBC that can also be used; if you've booked b2b, that OBC can be used as could any that your TA or others have given you

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[BBMacLaird]

Thanks Bonnie for the clarification of this point. Are you able to respond to the other two queries I posed earlier?

 

Guests may not use restricted OBCs (Casino OBC or Spa OBC) to rebook their Shore Excursions.

Does this mean that the only OBC that may be used to pre book (then cancel & re-book on board) Shore Excursions is that earmarked for Shore Excursions, which is not able to be used for any other on board purchase?

Or is one able to also use back to back cruise credit and / or early booking credit, neither of which are earmarked for a specific purpose?

 

Other restrictions apply.

It would be helpful to know what these other restrictions are before using the service.

Thanks,

Trish

 

Hi Trish,

almost all of our OBC is generic, which can be used for shore excursions, and other things onboard.

The B2B OBC, and Early Booking OBC are both generic OBC and can most certainly be used on shore excursions.

Then there was some OBC which was ONLY good on shore excursions, and obviously if you should have this, this would be good to use if you were pre-booking/CX'g & Rebooking with OBC.

Now, very recently, we've rolled out a Spa OBC that is included in our new "Experience More" packages. Spa OBC is NOT applicable to shore excursions.

Hopefully I've answered your questions. If I haven't, just let me know.

[Baynanno1]

There is OBC other than restricted OBC that can also be used; if you've booked b2b, that OBC can be used as could any that your TA or others have given you

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Thanks Laurie :)

[Baynanno1]

Hi Trish,

almost all of our OBC is generic, which can be used for shore excursions, and other things onboard.

The B2B OBC, and Early Booking OBC are both generic OBC and can most certainly be used on shore excursions.

Then there was some OBC which was ONLY good on shore excursions, and obviously if you should have this, this would be good to use if you were pre-booking/CX'g & Rebooking with OBC.

Now, very recently, we've rolled out a Spa OBC that is included in our new "Experience More" packages. Spa OBC is NOT applicable to shore excursions.

Hopefully I've answered your questions. If I haven't, just let me know.

 

Thank you Bonnie. I feel more confident now to try out the pre-booking service. :)

 

Any idea what the "other restrictions" might be??

[impala1ss]

Bonnie - I guess I am just thick in the head but II still do not understand those questions that I think you missed. Here they are:

Is this Cancelling all done on the ship (Journey) when we get onboard by staff?

How does the "must cancel before 48 hours before tour" happen?

[BBMacLaird]

Thank you Bonnie. I feel more confident now to try out the pre-booking service. :)

 

Any idea what the "other restrictions" might be??

 

I don't have any idea what other restrictions might be. Right now there are none that I know of.

Of course, there may be some new tour program under development, that perhaps wouldn't combine, but I am unaware.

We will have to 'wait & see' together.

[BBMacLaird]

Bonnie - I guess I am just thick in the head but II still do not understand those questions that I think you missed. Here they are:

Is this Cancelling all done on the ship (Journey) when we get onboard by staff?

How does the "must cancel before 48 hours before tour" happen?

 

Is this Cancelling all done on the ship (Journey) when we get onboard by staff? Yes. You'd cancel and rebook your tour onboard using your OBC credit, at our Tour Desk with the help of the Tour Desk staff, if you're on one of these voyages from May-August 2017.

 

How does the "must cancel before 48 hours before tour" happen?

We have a Cancellation Policy that tours must be cancelled 48-hours prior to the tour. We just yesterday waived this 48-hour requirement for the first two days on one of these qualifying (May-August 2017) voyages.

[impala1ss]

To those of you who have sailed on Azamara in the past, given that we can now cancel tours paid with credit cards and rebook using OBC, will we have 500 passengers all cancelling and rebooking at the same time the first day?

[BBMacLaird]

To those of you who have sailed on Azamara in the past, given that we can now cancel tours paid with credit cards and rebook using OBC, will we have 500 passengers all cancelling and rebooking at the same time the first day?

 

I'll jump in and say NO, you won't have everyone trying to 'CX and Rebook with OBC' on Day 1.

 

The reasons are, first, and despite the amount of coverage this topic gets here on CC, most of our tour sales are booked on-board, not pre-booked. [Note: it will be those that board without tours already pre-booked who will be at the Tour Desk on Day 1!]

Secondly, not everyone has OBC, and those that do don't all plan to use it on Tours.

Thirdly, not all Tours pre-booked will be on Days 1 & 2. The point being, that if someone has booked a tour later in the cruise, they can CX&Rebook with OBC up to 48-hours in advance; thus not all pre-booked Guests need to be at the Tour Desk on Day 1.

 

But this said, Yes, the staff of the Tour Desk will have much more work on their hands with Cx'g and Rebooking those that do want to do this. So patience will be appreciated :halo:

[SkiCruiser44]

Thanks so much for you continued comments & updates. With a drink in hand and being excited to be on the ship we understand patience for this new process.

 

Quest May 13 can't get here soon enough.

 

Kathy