Alaska Pre-Paid Excursions?

[NeurosurgeryNP]

I cruised Alaska last year with my Mom and Sister and pre-reserved all of our excursions and we paid onboard with out shipboard account. I am going back this year to show the majesty to my husband as I couldn't leave him out. :). Anyways, went to reserve shore excursions and now there is a requirement to pay attention tome of reservation. Wondering if this is new or pertaining only to certain itineraries?

[azbirdmom]

It's fleet wide. All excursions must be paid within 24 hours of reserving. You can use OBC if you have it, otherwise you will have to charge to a credit card.

[NeurosurgeryNP]

Must have just changed recently. Wow.

 

Thanks!

[azbirdmom]

Must have just changed recently. Wow.

 

Thanks!

 

Yes, it was this year. Pretty sure they started with Alaska cruises this summer and then by fall it rolled out to all ships and itineraries.

[DrivesLikeMario]

Yeah, my August cruise didn't require prepayment but my Sept. cruise did. So it was right around that time. At least Princess lets us use some OBC. I wish Azamara would get their act together with that!

[Kamloops50]

They actually started that with from Sept 1,2017. You can also use OBC to prepay the excursions as well. Last year you paid onboard , did you pre book them?

[NeurosurgeryNP]

They actually started that with from Sept 1,2017. You can also use OBC to prepay the excursions as well. Last year you paid onboard , did you pre book them?

 

Yes. June cruise.

[yags]

I can understand why they did that. Too many flaky people out there reserving early and never going. We are doing the Grand to Alaska in June and have prepaid all our excursions. If you decide not to go cancel before 72 hours and you are completely refunded and if you do go the trip has already been paid for with money you forgot about.

[shepp]

While I understand why this policy was instituted, one issue is that in longer cruises with prepaid gratuities, I end up with $250 in stockholder's OBC but that can only be assigned to my account shortly before a cruise, when many of the more popular excursions are already sold out. Anyone try to pay with cash early, then rebook with OBCs later? That work?

[Kamloops50]

You can apply for the shareholders credit up to six weeks before. I’ve done as early as sixteen weeks.

 

 

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[azbirdmom]

While I understand why this policy was instituted, one issue is that in longer cruises with prepaid gratuities, I end up with $250 in stockholder's OBC but that can only be assigned to my account shortly before a cruise, when many of the more popular excursions are already sold out. Anyone try to pay with cash early, then rebook with OBCs later? That work?

 

They are applying shareholder OBC much earlier than in the past. I sent my request in for our Feb 14 cruise in October and it was quickly processed.

[flutprop]

I can understand why they did that. Too many flaky people out there reserving early and never going. We are doing the Grand to Alaska in June and have prepaid all our excursions. If you decide not to go cancel before 72 hours and you are completely refunded and if you do go the trip has already been paid for with money you forgot about.

 

While I understand why this policy was instituted, one issue is that in longer cruises with prepaid gratuities, I end up with $250 in stockholder's OBC but that can only be assigned to my account shortly before a cruise, when many of the more popular excursions are already sold out. Anyone try to pay with cash early, then rebook with OBCs later? That work?

 

I wonder if you can rebook onboard with the Excursion desk, changing payment from credit card (and get a refund) and applying OBC. I will have almost $1000 for each leg of our b2b in August. I don't want to miss out of the excursions that I want, but also can't figure out how I would use that much up otherwise. We have free drinks package, and gratuities are not that much for the three of us travelling.

[abbydancer2003]

You can apply for the shareholders credit up to six weeks before. I’ve done as early as sixteen weeks.

 

 

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At the beginning of November we put our request in for all our cruises through 2018. The credit was applied to all, including the one in September (10 months out).

 

I wonder if you can rebook onboard with the Excursion desk, changing payment from credit card (and get a refund) and applying OBC. I will have almost $1000 for each leg of our b2b in August. I don't want to miss out of the excursions that I want, but also can't figure out how I would use that much up otherwise. We have free drinks package, and gratuities are not that much for the three of us travelling.

 

I thought of that, but I seem to recall that if you cancel a prebooked one on board, they will refund it as on board credit, not credit it back to your card. I guess they figured out that loophole too, and closed it.

[flutprop]

I thought of that, but I seem to recall that if you cancel a prebooked one on board, they will refund it as on board credit, not credit it back to your card. I guess they figured out that loophole too, and closed it.

 

But wouldn't that be refundable ibc, and after the cruise they would mail you a check? I could handle the wait. Or actually, is travel agent OBC refundable usually? Maybe it doesn't really matter how I pay for the excursions if my left over obc gets refunded.

[abbydancer2003]

I thought of that, but I seem to recall that if you cancel a prebooked one on board, they will refund it as on board credit, not credit it back to your card. I guess they figured out that loophole too, and closed it.

But wouldn't that be refundable ibc, and after the cruise they would mail you a check? I could handle the wait. Or actually, is travel agent OBC refundable usually? Maybe it doesn't really matter how I pay for the excursions if my left over obc gets refunded.

Not sure if it would be refundable or not. Heck, I just found out about the difference about a year and a half ago. I used to think it was all nonrefundable.

[Kamloops50]

All pre paid excursions are refundable if you cancel a fixed number of days before excursion date. Some flight excursions might not be refundable.

 

 

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