Booking excursions in advance with uneven onboard credit

[islandwoman]

Over many years DH and I have developed a system for cruising on Princess. First, earn lots of onboard credit ( Princess promotions + TA + military + shareholder). Second, book shore excursions online as soon as they become available. Third, use OBC to pay all or most of our onboard account.

Now Princess is requiring pre-payment for excursions booked online :( and allowing OBC to be applied to these advance bookings :) So we have to change the way we do business :confused:

Our problem is that all of the military OBC for our next three b2b cruises has been applied to DH's account. Well, that's OK because he's the one who served in the military, not me. BUT, when I try to book excursions for the two of us, I discover that although he ends up with excess OBC, I would be required to pay some actual money for my excursions. Maybe I could even things out a bit by applying our shareholder credit all to my account, but maybe I couldn't because the stock is in a joint account - they might split the credit between us. In any case, it's too early to apply for the shareholder OBC.

Is there a way I can use some of DH's OBC to pay for my excursions? If not, what should I do about this situation?

[paradiselivin1]

Over many years DH and I have developed a system for cruising on Princess. First, earn lots of onboard credit ( Princess promotions + TA + military + shareholder). Second, book shore excursions online as soon as they become available. Third, use OBC to pay all or most of our onboard account.

Now Princess is requiring pre-payment for excursions booked online :( and allowing OBC to be applied to these advance bookings :) So we have to change the way we do business :confused:

Our problem is that all of the military OBC for our next three b2b cruises has been applied to DH's account. Well, that's OK because he's the one who served in the military, not me. BUT, when I try to book excursions for the two of us, I discover that although he ends up with excess OBC, I would be required to pay some actual money for my excursions. Maybe I could even things out a bit by applying our shareholder credit all to my account, but maybe I couldn't because the stock is in a joint account - they might split the credit between us. In any case, it's too early to apply for the shareholder OBC.

Is there a way I can use some of DH's OBC to pay for my excursions? If not, what should I do about this situation?

 

I just tried to use DH excess OBC to pay for my excursion and was denied. I would suggest that you have your shareholder OBC applied to your account which sounds like it would level the playing field a bit more. DH has the stock in his account which is the reason we are out of whack on OBC. I paid the differential when booking our tour.

[LeeW]

Book the excursions from his login.

As far as shareholders credit, ours goes to whichever account writes the letter to request it. Princess has now started to allow you to request shareholders credit as soon as you book - you don't have to wait until 90 days any more. And you can request it for several cruises at the same time.

[yoyosma]

Our stock is in my name but unless I request it, they always apply it to my husband. But they will do it on request. Do make sure you ask. And I am the one who always applies for it.

[Astro Flyer]

I’ve had the same situation as ‘islandwoman’ & by calling their Booking Support section they immediately transferred the Shareholder OBC to my wife to balance our OBC.

 

800 872 6779 ext. 30317

 

Once they said to request it in her name but it went to me. They said it’s issued to the first name on the reservation which was me. Our shares are jointly owned & it was easy to get the SOBC transferred to my wife.

 

And as you can read in the most recent SOBC request form, you can now apply with any current shareholder proof of ownership. This change was made so we have the SOBC to pay for prebooking tours. I have SOBC for cruises through the end of 2019.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=412579&d=1512944674

[islandwoman]

Thanks for the information and advice. We'll apply for the shareholder credit tomorrow and try to get Princess to put it into my account.

[Astro Flyer]

Thanks for the information and advice. We'll apply for the shareholder credit tomorrow and try to get Princess to put it into my account.

 

Hopefully you’ll have the same quick & easy solution as us to balance your OBC levels. Everyone I’ve talked to at Booking Support has cheerfully fixed this issue.

[likeadisguise]

You can also just call Princess and ask them to use his OBC to pay for your shore excursions. You can't do it yourself in the Cruise Personalizer, but they can do it for you.

[caribill]

I agree with likeadisguise.

 

Just call Princess to make the excursion reservations and they will work with you to pay with OBC from each account as needed.

[cheeseclan]

I agree with the above comments. For our last cruise I used most of my OBC for shore excursions but then I needed to use my DH's OBC as well and could not do it myself on line. I called Princess and they took care of it with no problems.

[villauk]

Slightly off topic, but Is there a facility on the Princess Personalizer to book other pax from different reservations at the same time as one is reserving their excursions? We have several cabins booked and I want to ensure we all get on the same excursion (plus we will be paying for the kids’ tour anyway). On the X website, I can usually add other reservation numbers and pay/book all the pax together. Is this possible on Princess?

[islandwoman]

You can also just call Princess and ask them to use his OBC to pay for your shore excursions. You can't do it yourself in the Cruise Personalizer, but they can do it for you.

Good idea. I'll do that too. It's nice to know that Princess is flexible.

[Astro Flyer]

Slightly off topic, but Is there a facility on the Princess Personalizer to book other pax from different reservations at the same time as one is reserving their excursions? We have several cabins booked and I want to ensure we all get on the same excursion (plus we will be paying for the kids’ tour anyway). On the X website, I can usually add other reservation numbers and pay/book all the pax together. Is this possible on Princess?

 

I couldn’t locate that option but it may be possible by calling Princess to make reservations.

 

Even when assigned the same time for a tour there are often multiple buses. So have everyone arrive together at the meeting location to be on the same bus.

[islandwoman]

Once they said to request it in her name but it went to me. They said it’s issued to the first name on the reservation which was me. Our shares are jointly owned & it was easy to get the SOBC transferred to my wife.

It happened to me, too. We sent in our shareholder proof yesterday, along with a request to put the credit into my account. Even though the first name on our joint brokerage account is mine, Princess gave the onboard shareholder credit to DH. Now our OBC accounts are REALLY uneven. Princess is sending emails asking for payment for the excursions I have in my cart, but they won't take the OBC for payment because they put it into the wrong account. Have to get DH to call, since he now "owns" the credits.

[caribill]

Slightly off topic, but Is there a facility on the Princess Personalizer to book other pax from different reservations at the same time as one is reserving their excursions? We have several cabins booked and I want to ensure we all get on the same excursion (plus we will be paying for the kids’ tour anyway). On the X website, I can usually add other reservation numbers and pay/book all the pax together. Is this possible on Princess?

 

Two ways to accomplish this:

a) Online - use the confirmation numbers for the other passengers, book the excursions, and pay with your credit card.

b) Call Princess

[Astro Flyer]

It happened to me, too. We sent in our shareholder proof yesterday, along with a request to put the credit into my account. Even though the first name on our joint brokerage account is mine, Princess gave the onboard shareholder credit to DH. Now our OBC accounts are REALLY uneven. Princess is sending emails asking for payment for the excursions I have in my cart, but they won't take the OBC for payment because they put it into the wrong account. Have to get DH to call, since he now "owns" the credits.

 

Booking Support needs to get their IT department to modify their system to allow the OBC to be issued to the correct person when shares are jointly owned to eliminate this snafu.

[caribill]

Booking Support needs to get their IT department to modify their system to allow the OBC to be issued to the correct person when shares are jointly owned to eliminate this snafu.

 

My experience is that shareholder OBC is issued to the account of the first person named on the reservation.

[caribill]

It happened to me, too. We sent in our shareholder proof yesterday, along with a request to put the credit into my account. Even though the first name on our joint brokerage account is mine, Princess gave the onboard shareholder credit to DH. Now our OBC accounts are REALLY uneven. Princess is sending emails asking for payment for the excursions I have in my cart, but they won't take the OBC for payment because they put it into the wrong account. Have to get DH to call, since he now "owns" the credits.

 

Or, book the excursions using DH's link instead of your link. Then pay with his account.

[Astro Flyer]

I’ve had the same situation as ‘islandwoman’ & by calling their Booking Support section they immediately transferred the Shareholder OBC to my wife to balance our OBC.

 

800 872 6779 ext. 30317

 

Once they said to request it in her name but it went to me. They said it’s issued to the first name on the reservation which was me. Our shares are jointly owned & it was easy to get the SOBC transferred to my wife.

 

And as you can read in the most recent SOBC request form, you can now apply with any current shareholder proof of ownership. This change was made so we have the SOBC to pay for prebooking tours. I have SOBC for cruises through the end of 2019.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=412579&d=1512944674

 

My experience is that shareholder OBC is issued to the account of the first person named on the reservation.

Which is what I already stated in post #5 so I am fully aware of that fact. :rolleyes:

[Hoosier-Cruiser]

My experience is that shareholder OBC is issued to the account of the first person named on the reservation.

 

That's not the case with us. The shares are in my wife's rollover IRA and the OBC is issued to her account, although I am the first person on each booking.

[gullgeorge]

I had just about enough in OBC to pay for excursions but most of the OBC was in my name and not my wife. Called Princess and they booked all the excursions using my OBC and hers. They charged the $9.60 that was over the OBC to my credit card. To book 4 excursions and make payment took less than 5 minutes.

[islandwoman]

DH called Princess and they moved the shareholder credit from his account to mine on the spot. That made our accounts equal. After that it was quick and easy to book excursions using OBC. I even cancelled one and the OBC was immediately refunded to our accounts so that I could use it to book something else.

[Astro Flyer]

DH called Princess and they moved the shareholder credit from his account to mine on the spot. That made our accounts equal. After that it was quick and easy to book excursions using OBC. I even cancelled one and the OBC was immediately refunded to our accounts so that I could use it to book something else.

 

Glad that it worked as smoothly for you as it has for us.

[JF - retired RRT]

I just booked two excursions. I had to call Princess, because when I clicked "pay", the system hung up and just kept showing the spinning thingy.

The rep got it all straightened out. She first made sure the order went through. Then she asked if I wanted to move some of DH's OBC to my account to finish paying for the excursions.

I told her it didn't make any difference, since we'd still have to pay some of our gratuities.

I mentioned that the new system they're using to break down how much OBC is used and how much will be needed to pay with a credit card was a great improvement.

She said, "we got a lot of complaints about the old system". I told her, "I know. It was talked about bigly;p on Cruise Critic".

[Astro Flyer]

Today I faxed our shareholder OBC request for a late 2019 cruise & not only was it quickly issued but it was correctly added to my wife’s onboard account.

 

We apply in my wife’s name to balance our credits with my military OBC. Our CCL shares are jointly owned but because my name is listed first on our reservations they previously issued it to me. This time it was immediately issued to my wife which eliminated the need to call them to transfer the SOBC to her.

 

Hopefully this more efficient procedure will now be used each time for everyone.