I was surprised!

[psklak]

DH and I are experienced Princess cruisers. We are doing the British Isles cruise in May 2018 and have started looking at excursions. I know we could do independent excursions, but that's not what we want.

In the past, we have reserved our excursions and paid for them once onboard. This time, we were told that we must pay in advance. We were surprised.

Can anyone tell me when this policy changed?

[fishywood]

In summer 2016 as a test on one ship in Alaska. Which clearly was deemed successful by Princess as the policy has reached the rest of the fleet in all regions in no time at all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[easyboy]

When we booked our shore excursions prior to our September British Isles cruise, it was still available for reservation with no prepayment. For our cruise next month, prepayment is already needed.

 

 

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[DrivesLikeMario]

Sometime approximately between August 20 and September 15. Our August cruise did not require pre-payment but our Sept. cruise did.

[psklak]

Thanks for the replies. We were just surprised. We'll take more time looking things over and may do independent days on those ports we have previously visited.

[OCruisers]

Hate Princess is now doing this.

Unless it is something we REALLY want, we will take our chances and wait to book once we're on the ship. Also, will be looking at things to do on our own more often than we use to.

[WatchHill]

We were spoiled by Princess' old shorex policy of making early reservations and then using OBC's to pay on the ship and adding the balance to the ship board account. We, too, are taking the BI cruise in May 2018, but planning to do as much on our own as possible through private vendors. There was one port in which another CC member took a Princess' tour that appeared rather unique so I decided to go ahead and book it - alas, I had to call Princess because I needed a little hand-holding to get through the process. We have substantial OBC's so the cost of this one tour came out of the credits, thus no payment but we now have a confirmed reservation. We are still looking at one more port for a private tour as the offerings by Princess hold little interest for us.

 

Keep warm; the frigid Boston weather makes me want to escape to a warmer place.

 

Darcy

[helenb]

We're getting on the Ruby on Saturday. I booked one shore excursion in advance and was required to prepay BUT they let me use my OBC (from TA and from FCC) to pay for it. I thought that was a nice compromise.

[Astro Flyer]

Thanks for the replies. We were just surprised. We'll take more time looking things over and may do independent days on those ports we have previously visited.

If you have any onboard credit' date=' you can use it to [i']“pay” for [/i]tours in advance.

 

If you have Shareholder OBC, now they allow us to get the credit before tours are available to book so that’s available to use sooner.

[XBGuy]

Move west, Darcy. It's 81F right now (3:20 pm) in Diamond Bar, CA. I wouldn't be surprised if it was warmer in some neighborhoods.

 

That really isn't the purpose of my post. The way I read your report, you were, in fact, able to use OBC to pay for your Princess excursion. The fact that you needed telephone help from Princess is coincidental. Do I have that right?

[CruiseMstr]

DH and I are experienced Princess cruisers. We are doing the British Isles cruise in May 2018 and have started looking at excursions. I know we could do independent excursions' date=' but that's not what we want.[/color']

 

 

 

In the past, we have reserved our excursions and paid for them once onboard. This time, we were told that we must pay in advance. We were surprised.

 

 

 

Can anyone tell me when this policy changed?

 

 

 

I believe it started with cruises departing on October 1st or later.

 

 

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[CruiseMstr]

Princess started this process because passengers would book 2-3 excursions per port day and cancel the unused ones. This caused many problems with the vendors that provide the shore excursions.

 

 

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[vmom]

Princess started this process because passengers would book 2-3 excursions per port day and cancel the unused ones. This caused many problems with the vendors that provide the shore excursions.

 

 

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Its always the few who abuse a policy that results in changes which are inconvenient for the rest of us. Shame on those few who abused the system without consideration for the vendors.

[Katie333]

I wasn't a fan of this either, but I was happy to be able to use my OBC (including shareholder credit) to buy the excursions we wanted. We are travelling with friends so we all wanted to be on the same tours. 2 on Princess, 1 private and now we are all booked. And thanks to a poster on another similar thread, I did some price checks and found one of our tours online for less, and have now received the difference back as additional OBC. That was a great service though I wonder why this far out, they wouldn't just give me a credit card refund? Ah well, we'll use the funds to hit up Sabatini's for the first time.

[WatchHill]

Move west, Darcy. It's 81F right now (3:20 pm) in Diamond Bar, CA. I wouldn't be surprised if it was warmer in some neighborhoods.

 

That really isn't the purpose of my post. The way I read your report, you were, in fact, able to use OBC to pay for your Princess excursion. The fact that you needed telephone help from Princess is coincidental. Do I have that right?

 

My first attempt at booking the tour resulted in my receiving a confirmed reservation and DH was rejected. Second attempt, same result. We each have over $400. in OBC's, so rather than scream at the web site, it was easier to call for assistance. Seems gremlins were playing around with the booking system, but the CS rep who handled the call, made a few changes and everything eventually worked out.

 

Darcy

[fishywood]

Hate Princess is now doing this.

Unless it is something we REALLY want, we will take our chances and wait to book once we're on the ship. Also, will be looking at things to do on our own more often than we use to.

 

You don't have to wait until after boarding. Just until after the last statement closing date of your credit card before sailing. Unless you are on a month-long cruise your bill will not come due until after you return. Just like when it was charged to your on board folio--and you still get a bit of a jump over those who are so outraged about having to wait until they are on board to book their excursions that this super simple workaround never came to mind. (So don't tell anybody...:rolleyes:)

[jnc0310]

I wasn't a fan of this either, but I was happy to be able to use my OBC (including shareholder credit) to buy the excursions we wanted. We are travelling with friends so we all wanted to be on the same tours. 2 on Princess, 1 private and now we are all booked. And thanks to a poster on another similar thread, I did some price checks and found one of our tours online for less, and have now received the difference back as additional OBC. That was a great service though I wonder why this far out, they wouldn't just give me a credit card refund? Ah well, we'll use the funds to hit up Sabatini's for the first time.

 

For your price matching, did you call Princess or how did you tell them about the cheaper price? Thanks!

[susancruzs]

Decided to book a few for my So. America cruise, had my credit card ready (thanks to posts here :)) was pleasantly surprised when I could use my OBC to pay!

 

The prepaid gratuities and an OBC were part of a promo, so nice I could use it for the excursions!

[CTGirl]

If you have any onboard credit, you can use it to “pay” for tours in advance.

 

If you have Shareholder OBC, now they allow us to get the credit before tours are available to book so that’s available to use sooner.

I have always requested my Shareholder OBC after final payment. I didn't realize that I could get it sooner. How much sooner than final payment will Princess allow me to request the OBC? Do I request it in the same way? I have a cruise in September for which some excursions have already opened up. The Stockholder OBC would be useful.

[Astro Flyer]

I have always requested my Shareholder OBC after final payment. I didn't realize that I could get it sooner. How much sooner than final payment will Princess allow me to request the OBC? Do I request it in the same way? I have a cruise in September for which some excursions have already opened up. The Stockholder OBC would be useful.

 

The change was made about 6 months ago after the current shareholder request form was released. When compared to previous forms, the current version only requires a “current proof of ownership” of the required shares. This previous requirement was eliminated: “Shares certificate and brokerage statement should be dated no earlier than 3 months prior to cruise departure date”.

 

After the shareholder credit program is renewed each March, they update the form for another year. The current form shows to cruise by 7/31/18 however I had the SOBC issued last month for cruises as late as Spring 2019.

 

Here’s a link to the current request form which is not required to use but it does contain all of the required information & how to request it.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=409530&d=1501699350

 

Issuing the SOBC has been reported as sometimes only taking hours to be issued when faxed on a business day. :)

Edited December 30, 2017 by Astro Flyer

[f-mattox]

You don't have to wait until after boarding. Just until after the last statement closing date of your credit card before sailing. Unless you are on a month-long cruise your bill will not come due until after you return. Just like when it was charged to your on board folio--and you still get a bit of a jump over those who are so outraged about having to wait until they are on board to book their excursions that this super simple workaround never came to mind. (So don't tell anybody...:rolleyes:)

 

Simple and effective; thank you.

[CTGirl]

The change was made about 6 months ago after the current shareholder request form was released. When compared to previous forms, the current version only requires a “current proof of ownership” of the required shares. This previous requirement was eliminated: “Shares certificate and brokerage statement should be dated no earlier than 3 months prior to cruise departure date”.

 

After the shareholder credit program is renewed each March, they update the form for another year. The current form shows to cruise by 7/31/18 however I had the SOBC issued last month for cruises as late as Spring 2019.

 

Here’s a link to the current request form which is not required to use but it does contain all of the required information & how to request it.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=409530&d=1501699350

 

Issuing the SOBC has been reported as sometimes only taking hours to be issued when faxed on a business day. :)

Thank you for this information. I never use the form, I just FAX Princess the information and Voila the credit usually shows in my personalizer by the end of the day.

 

This will be very helpful for pre-purchasing excursions. The OBC for the excursion is initially deducted from each person's account. DH usually has more than me because he gets Military OBC. So at times I did not have enough OBC to cover the tours. SHOBC and MOBC are the same amount. I have the SHOBC put under my account so this would equalize our accounts.

 

I have read where some people were able to get Princess to use their spouse's OBC if they did not have enough to cover the cost themselves but I have been unsuccessful in my few attempts to do so. I hope Princess makes this easier as well.

[Katie333]

For your price matching, did you call Princess or how did you tell them about the cheaper price? Thanks!

 

It's actually a very well organized process. There is a form you fill out and you email it to them with a link to the website where you found the cheaper tour. They then give you 110% of the DIFFERENCE in price back in OBC. So, I found tours for $20 less pp, and they gave me $46.10 back in OBC.

 

https://www.princess.com/learn/faq_answer/pre_cruise/shore_excursions_faq/best-price-guarantee.html

[Astro Flyer]

Thank you for this information. I never use the form, I just FAX Princess the information and Voila the credit usually shows in my personalizer by the end of the day.

 

This will be very helpful for pre-purchasing excursions. The OBC for the excursion is initially deducted from each person's account. DH usually has more than me because he gets Military OBC. So at times I did not have enough OBC to cover the tours. SHOBC and MOBC are the same amount. I have the SHOBC put under my account so this would equalize our accounts.

 

I have read where some people were able to get Princess to use their spouse's OBC if they did not have enough to cover the cost themselves but I have been unsuccessful in my few attempts to do so. I hope Princess makes this easier as well.

Princess Booking Support issues the SOBC & said to add a cover letter to my request to add it to my wife’s account to balance my MOBC. Unfortunately that has never happened because the SOBC automatically goes to the first name on the reservation...me because my CCN is an A & her’s is a B. A call to Booking Support quickly transferred the SOBC to my wife to have equal amounts of OBC to “pay” for tours prior to the cruise.

 

It would reduce their staff’s workload by making that change without requiring a phone call and also to allow using OBC for the other person sailing with us by being able to do it online.

[CTGirl]

Princess Booking Support issues the SOBC & said to add a cover letter to my request to add it to my wife’s account to balance my MOBC. Unfortunately that has never happened because the SOBC automatically goes to the first name on the reservation...me because my CCN is an A & her’s is a B. A call to Booking Support quickly transferred the SOBC to my wife to have equal amounts of OBC to “pay” for tours prior to the cruise.

 

It would reduce their staff’s workload by making that change without requiring a phone call and also to allow using OBC for the other person sailing with us by being able to do it online.

I create a word document and insert my proof. I create a text box filled in white with no borders and I cover my DH's name and the account number. Because my name is the only name on the document they get it the SOBC goes to me. BUT (big but) with what you said our CCNs may also make a difference. Many years ago we had one number with an A and a B like you but somewhere along the line that changed and I now have a completely different number than him. I also have a different last name so all those factors may come into play when the SOBC goes under my name.