Booking excursions in advance with uneven onboard credit

[islandwoman]

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.

How did you apply in your wife's name? When we requested that the shareholder obc be applied to my account, it was applied to my husband's. I'd like to know the process that worked for you.

[Astro Flyer]

How did you apply in your wife's name? When we requested that the shareholder obc be applied to my account, it was applied to my husband's. I'd like to know the process that worked for you.

 

I used this Princess request form to use her name but do not think that’s the reason why it was issued to my wife. When I previously used it plus followed their guidance to add a cover letter it never worked & required calling them.

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

Thus it appears that they’ve modified their system to allow Booking Support to add the name of the eligible passenger requesting & not to have it automatically go to the first name on the reservation. Or maybe I got lucky to have an agent process our request who knew how to issue it to my wife.

Edited April 5, 2018 by Astro Flyer

[SoCalTraveler]

We had this issue a cruise back. We called Princess and the problem was solved. And you can always just book the excursions primarily in the account with the most credit.

 

Off-topic: I see from your signature you were on the Yarmouth in 1962. See below: I was on the Yarmouth Castle in 1964.

[islandwoman]

And you can always just book the excursions primarily in the account with the most credit.

I didn't see how to do that. Online, no matter whose login I used, whichever passenger I signed up for an excursion was only allotted their own OBC to pay for an excursion. If there wasn't enough OBC in that passenger's account, the site required money. I didn't see a way to sign up one passenger for an excursion through another's OBC account.

 

Off-topic: I see from your signature you were on the Yarmouth in 1962. See below: I was on the Yarmouth Castle in 1964.

:cool: I didn't think anyone remembered those ships any more.

[Aulanis]

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..

 

Do you think this is part of the one rule for the US and another for everyone else? - Sep 2018 sailing!!

 

 

"

Thank you for your email to Princess Cruises from which I am delighted to learn that you will be joining us on board.

Unfortunately we cannot add the benefits at this time, as this can only be done within 90 days of departure. However, I have added a diary entry and will get this looked at shortly after 25 June.

Once added, a new booking confirmation will be issued detailing the credit. "

[islandwoman]

Do you think this is part of the one rule for the US and another for everyone else? - Sep 2018 sailing!!

 

"

Thank you for your email to Princess Cruises from which I am delighted to learn that you will be joining us on board.

Unfortunately we cannot add the benefits at this time, as this can only be done within 90 days of departure. However, I have added a diary entry and will get this looked at shortly after 25 June.

Once added, a new booking confirmation will be issued detailing the credit. "

Are you required to pay in advance for excursions booked online as are US passengers? If so, you might want to call and ask to have your shareholder credit applied immediately. It's possible that your email reached an agent who isn't aware of the change to the policy.

[Astro Flyer]

Do you think this is part of the one rule for the US and another for everyone else? - Sep 2018 sailing!!

 

 

"

Thank you for your email to Princess Cruises from which I am delighted to learn that you will be joining us on board.

Unfortunately we cannot add the benefits at this time, as this can only be done within 90 days of departure. However, I have added a diary entry and will get this looked at shortly after 25 June.

Once added, a new booking confirmation will be issued detailing the credit. "

Based on the current request form, the previous 90 day requirement has been removed in the US & UK and now only requires a proof of ownership.

 

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

 

It states to fax or mail it to their Booking Support Department and provides that information from both the US & the UK.

 

In the UK

Fax: 02380 657509

Mail: Carnival UK, Carnival House

100 Harbour Parade

Southampton, Hampshire SO15 1ST United Kingdom

 

So the procedure is the same from both countries & was made due to the requirement to make advance payment to reserve tours.

 

As ‘islandwoman’ stated apparently a misinformed agent may be the problem. I have a phone number to call Booking Support in the US and here is their UK phone number.

 

PRINCESS CRUISES (UK)*

Princess Cruises Military & Shareholder Benefits Team

Tel 44 0 843 373 0333

Fax 44 0 238 065 7509

 

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/External.File?item=UGFyZW50SUQ9Mjc0MjIzfENoaWxkSUQ9LTF8VHlwZT0z&t=1

 

Don’t be concerned about the form’s valid dates because each year in March the program is renewed for another year however it takes until about June to update the form. They’ll accept any form or even no form as long as the required information is submitted.

Edited April 12, 2018 by Astro Flyer

[HungryWaffle]

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.

 

Did you just call the general number, or is there a special line I should try? I just called twice to try to do this, and neither agent would let me - told me I had to spend my own OBC, and hubby could only spend his. I also asked both agents if I could simply transfer some of my OBC to hubby (I have more than him), and they also said no to that. Thanks for any help.

[NotThePest_Too]

Did you just call the general number, or is there a special line I should try? I just called twice to try to do this, and neither agent would let me - told me I had to spend my own OBC, and hubby could only spend his. I also asked both agents if I could simply transfer some of my OBC to hubby (I have more than him), and they also said no to that. Thanks for any help.

 

 

Call back and ask again. If you get the same response, ask to speak to the supervisor/manager. Asking is the basis for receiving, and ask with a smile on your face.

[Aulanis]

Based on the current request form, the previous 90 day requirement has been removed in the US & UK and now only requires a proof of ownership............

 

Hi - Thanks for the reply I have just got back from a cruise - (what else!! :D ) and have had a keyboard sabatical. The email I quoted is from the department

you give details for. I have a list of things where they

( and Princess in general) have been either wrong or just plain unhelpful.

Will wait until June and see what happens - am not desperate to use the obc for excursions but if when I get it they are sold out I will ask why I was given the wrong information.- will try to remember to update.

[Astro Flyer]

Hi - Thanks for the reply I have just got back from a cruise - (what else!! :D ) and have had a keyboard sabatical. The email I quoted is from the department

 

you give details for. I have a list of things where they

 

( and Princess in general) have been either wrong or just plain unhelpful.

 

Will wait until June and see what happens - am not desperate to use the obc for excursions but if when I get it they are sold out I will ask why I was given the wrong information.- will try to remember to update.

 

Thanks for the clarification & hope it works for you...I also take a keyboard sabbatical while cruising. ;)

[islandwoman]

Will wait until June and see what happens - am not desperate to use the obc for excursions but if when I get it they are sold out I will ask why I was given the wrong information.- will try to remember to update.

I would not recommend that. We had an issue with an excursion being sold out before it was made available to us. It did us no good to complain after the fact.

[sonoma03]

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.

 

I talked to 2 different agents trying to do this and was told by both that the OBC was non-transferable and I could not use my credit to pay for my fiancé’s excursion. They insisted that the accounts are separate, and no matter who books the excursion, it would be billed separately to each passenger’s account.

[HungryWaffle]

I talked to 2 different agents trying to do this and was told by both that the OBC was non-transferable and I could not use my credit to pay for my fiancé’s excursion. They insisted that the accounts are separate, and no matter who books the excursion, it would be billed separately to each passenger’s account.

 

Yes, this was my experience as well, and I ended up talking to 4 different agents. However, if you wait until you are on board the ship, you will be able to pool all of the stateroom's OBC together and use it on anyone's excursion. The risk of course would be if the excursion is sold out by then or rises in price (which in my experience can happen too, though it was only a $10 difference).

 

Another thing that happened to me that I'm still dealing with (and I've already sailed and arrived back home, lol) is that when I decided to just pay the extra amount via PayPal for hubby's pre-reserved excursion, even though I ticked the option to apply his OBC, the system ignored the OBC and ended up paying for his entire excursion from my PayPal! (For my own excursion, which could be covered entirely with my OBC, there was no issue and the system did not charge me anything.) After many hours dealing with various phone agents and the guest services desk both from the head office and on the ship, they assured me I would get a refund for that PayPal payment, and I now have the folio printout showing that my OBC was eventually used to pay for the excursion (which we've already been on) - and yet we're back home now and still no sign of a refund. Grrr. Of course at this point if I never get that refund, I figure it should be an easy dispute with PayPal; but has this ever happened to anyone else?

 

This was actually my first ever cruise with significant OBC, and I felt that it was far more trouble than it was worth...so much easier to just pay a 3rd party tour operator in cash. We don't drink or gamble or shop, and our gratuities were prepaid as part of our booking promo, so excursions were really the only thing we could spend the OBC on...and the whole ordeal was truly just a huge PITA and wasted several hours of my life, including while on board, and still isn't even over yet. :mad:

[Potstech]

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

 

Not our experience at all. Put DW name on the form requesting the OBC as it was a joint account. A few days later it showed on her portfolio.

[whatcruiseisnext]

Did you just call the general number, or is there a special line I should try? I just called twice to try to do this, and neither agent would let me - told me I had to spend my own OBC, and hubby could only spend his. I also asked both agents if I could simply transfer some of my OBC to hubby (I have more than him), and they also said no to that. Thanks for any help.

 

 

 

There is a way around this. I just did this yesterday (May 17, 2018) This is true....OBC can’t be transferred. BUT the person who has more CAN pay for more than one excursion. After booking some excursions on Princess website, we had an uneven amount of OBC remaining. There was one remaining excursion we wanted to book using the shareholder benefit on hubby’s account. I called Princess and was told that I couldn’t do this. Having done it for multiple past cruises I told the agent that yes I could. I explained that I was not asking to transfer part of the OBC to my account but that hubby... with the larger amount of OBC....wanted to purchase two places on the excursion. She was able to then charge hubbys account for two slots showing both his name and my name on the confirmation. Easy and took a little over 5 minutes on phone.

 

One thing they will not allow though.....you can’t take the rest of your OBC and pay part of your excursion and have the other person pay the rest. The total cost of the excursion for all must be paid out of one account.

[islandwoman]

This is true....OBC can’t be transferred.

We did it in April with shareholder OBC from our joint account that Princess had credited to DH, even though my name was first on our account statement. (see my post #22).

[shepp]

Today I faxed our shareholder OBC request for a late 2019 cruise & not only was it quickly issued but it was correctly added.

 

Congrats on getting that, but since the change seemed to be good to be true I just checked with a Princess rep. Official policy is that you now can only apply a maximum of 90 days before cruising. Looser than before, but still much tighter than 500-something.

[Astro Flyer]

Congrats on getting that, but since the change seemed to be good to be true I just checked with a Princess rep. Official policy is that you now can only apply a maximum of 90 days before cruising. Looser than before, but still much tighter than 500-something.

 

Thanks for the update...was that from a general Princess rep or from their Booking Support section who process requests? Just wondering because it wouldn’t be the first time a rep provided incorrect information.

 

Although it wouldn’t be surprising to me if it was changed back to closer to sailing. Booking Support said a reason for the previous shorter time limit was because of so many cancellations before sailing. I’ve read that on average cabins turnover several times before sailing so maybe they had an increased percentage of cancellations for early issuance of SOBC & have returned to the later date.

[whatcruiseisnext]

Congrats on getting that, but since the change seemed to be good to be true I just checked with a Princess rep. Official policy is that you now can only apply a maximum of 90 days before cruising. Looser than before, but still much tighter than 500-something.

 

 

 

Just got our shareholder benefit applied to a Nov 2018 sailing which is well over 90 days away.

 

 

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[Astro Flyer]

Just got our shareholder benefit applied to a Nov 2018 sailing which is well over 90 days away.

 

That’s why I asked about the source of their 90 day limit information because Booking Support is still issuing SOBC long before sailing.

[shepp]

Thanks for the update...was that from a general Princess rep or from their Booking Support section who process requests? Just wondering because it wouldn’t be the first time a rep provided incorrect information.

 

Although it wouldn’t be surprising to me if it was changed back to closer to sailing. Booking Support said a reason for the previous shorter time limit was because of so many cancellations before sailing.

 

It was just a general Princess rep reading from the script.

 

My impression was the shorter time period was to ensure people were still holding the stock when they sailed.

 

Since I don't have fax capabilities, I have my TA fax my statement. Guess I'll do that next week for a fall cruise and see what happens.

[Astro Flyer]

It was just a general Princess rep reading from the script.

 

My impression was the shorter time period was to ensure people were still holding the stock when they sailed.

 

Since I don't have fax capabilities, I have my TA fax my statement. Guess I'll do that next week for a fall cruise and see what happens.

 

Thanks...you could call Booking Support to ask the people who actually issue SOBC if their policy has changed.

 

800-872-6779 x-30317