Booking and Cancelling Excursions/OBC

[apeller]

I read the terms and conditions on cancelling excursions you book in advance.  

If a pre-paid shore excursion is cancelled during the voyage prior to the "Closing Time for Cancellation" listed for the particular excursion you wish to cancel, then the pre-paid amount will be refunded to the guest named on the pre-paid reservation as a shipboard credit on this guest's shipboard folio. Please note this is done regardless of which guest pre-paid for the shore excursion.

 

Does anyone know if this shipboard credit is refundable credit?  I would assume so, but it doesn't specify on the Princess site. 

 

Also, I noticed that even though DH and I have a surplus of OBC, we can't use it to book excursions for our daughter. I realize that if only she is going, I can put the reservation on my name and change it onboard, but I don't see how I can book something for all 3 of us using obc.  Has anyone had luck getting around this?

[shof515]

if you call up your travel agent or princess directly, they have ways to split the OBC to the other people in your room so that it can be used for excursions

[apeller]

1 hour ago, shof515 said:

if you call up your travel agent or princess directly, they have ways to split the OBC to the other people in your room so that it can be used for excursions

Thanks for your response, shof515.  Before posting my question, I called Princess and told the CSR that I wanted to use my OBC for my daughter, and she said she couldn't offer any help. I will call back one day this week,  and specifically ask them about transferring OBC from me to my daughter. Maybe I didn't use the right words.  I'll report back when  get an answer from them.

[Mud_Shark]

When you call princess, simply tell them how many tickets for an excursion you wish to purchase - ie " From my OBC, I would like 3 tickets for such in such an excursion."  This has worked for me multiple times.  It will show up under your name as a purchase, not your daughter, but there is no restriction on who can use the excursion tickets.

 

Don

Edited October 22, 2018 by Mud_Shark
spelling

[caribcruzin]

As stated above... you need to purchase excursions in your name. They will then ask for the names for who the tickets are for and will be listed under your name.  The tickets will come in your name. We have done this numerous times.  If you are told no... ask to speak to a supervisor or hang up and call back. .  You can’t transfer OBC to someone else so if you ask to do it that way.... it will be denied.  

[snowmaiden]

10 hours ago, apeller said:

I read the terms and conditions on cancelling excursions you book in advance.  

If a pre-paid shore excursion is cancelled during the voyage prior to the "Closing Time for Cancellation" listed for the particular excursion you wish to cancel, then the pre-paid amount will be refunded to the guest named on the pre-paid reservation as a shipboard credit on this guest's shipboard folio. Please note this is done regardless of which guest pre-paid for the shore excursion.

 

Does anyone know if this shipboard credit is refundable credit?  I would assume so, but it doesn't specify on the Princess site. 

We had to cancel an excursion on our cruise last week, and yes, it was refundable.

[NavyVeteran]

A Princess agent can book an excursion for one passenger using another passenger's OBC with no problem. If the agent knows what he or she is doing, it can be done very quickly. Call Princess directly even if you booked through a travel agent - they still handle the excursions directly. If I speak to an agent that doesn't know how to do this, I usually just hang up and call back until I get an agent who understands the process.

 

I have veterans and shareholder OBC and DW does not. I cannot move the stock to her name because I own it in an IRA. I have booked her excursions with my OBC several times.

 

If you book using OBC, they don't actually charge the OBC until you are onboard. When you are onboard, the excursion charges and the OBC are both listed on your onboard account. This is good because the excursion charges use non-refundable OBC first - even if the nonrefundable OBC was not available when you booked them.

 

If you prepay for excursions using your credit card and then cancel onboard, then you receive refundable OBC. My brother and I were on a cruise together recently. I pre-booked my excursions using OBC and he pre-booked using his credit card. My onboard folio showed all my excursion charges and OBC separately. His onboard folio did not show his excursion charges. He then cancelled one of his pre-paid excursions. After cancelling one pre-paid excursion, the charges for all of his excursions appeared on his folio along with a refundable OBC for his prepayment. Since I had listed him on my onboard credit card, his excursion then applied to my nonrefundable OBC first and we received refunds for the remaining (refundable) OBC.

 

I'm not sure if Princess accounting will continue to work the way it worked for us. If so, and if you have to prepay for some excursions because some OBC is not yet visible when you book them, you may be better off booking an additional low-cost excursion to cancel as soon as you are onboard. Our experience was that by cancelling one prepaid excursion, all prepaid excursions were added to our folio along with the refundable OBC for the prepayment, so that they were applied first to the nonrefundable OBC.

[Maksim]

So, if I booked the excursion using partially OBC and partially credit card, and then need to cancel prior to sailing, will my credit card be reimbursed and OBC that was used returned to the OBC account? I wouldn't want to convert the amount used by credit card to the OBC as we already have enough OBC.

[cherylandtk]

1 hour ago, Maksim said:

So, if I booked the excursion using partially OBC and partially credit card, and then need to cancel prior to sailing, will my credit card be reimbursed and OBC that was used returned to the OBC account? I wouldn't want to convert the amount used by credit card to the OBC as we already have enough OBC.

Yes, if done five or more days prior to sailing.  After that, everything is refunded via OBC. 

[caribill]

10 hours ago, Maksim said:

So, if I booked the excursion using partially OBC and partially credit card, and then need to cancel prior to sailing, will my credit card be reimbursed and OBC that was used returned to the OBC account? I wouldn't want to convert the amount used by credit card to the OBC as we already have enough OBC.

 

If you cancel once on board, it will all go to OBC. The part that came from a credit card will be refundable OBC.

[Maksim]

Thank you.

[Kate45]

This is just an obc question. If I pre purchase obc now for our upcoming cruise (3 weeks out), what happens if I don't use it all or worse, have to cancel the cruise altogether? Will it be refunded to my credit card? And if I pre purchase, will it be applied to my account right away or will I have to go to customer service with a copy of my receipt?

[lstone19]

21 hours ago, NavyVeteran said:

If you book using OBC, they don't actually charge the OBC until you are onboard. When you are onboard, the excursion charges and the OBC are both listed on your onboard account. This is good because the excursion charges use non-refundable OBC first - even if the nonrefundable OBC was not available when you booked them.

 

If you prepay for excursions using your credit card and then cancel onboard, then you receive refundable OBC.

 

Building on the above, my experience from a recent cruise, where excursions were pre-purchased with a combination of OBC and credit card, is that both the payments and the excursions were all on our onboard folio. My assumption, not tested yet, is that any excursion payment is essentially a purchase of refundable OBC. So if you pay for an excursion, then get additional non-refundable OBC, when you get on board, you'll find that the excursion has been charged against that additional non-refundable OBC and that amount you pre-paid is now available to you as refundable OBC.

[h20vacations]

I purchased OBC, Princess put it all under my name instead of splitting it 50/50 with my spouse - called to get it corrected & they said I would have to wait & speak to the Purser to get it corrected.   

When I went to purchase excursions on the website it made me pay with a credit card.  Called Princess to ask why they did not pay for the excursions with my pre paid OBC & they stated the pre paid OBC does not go into effect until you are on board.

I purchased enough OBC to cover all my approximate on board expenses.  Now I am worried I won't be refunded my unused OBC if I don't use it all.

Does anymore if the will refund the unused OBC or do I lose it

Thanks

[whatcruiseisnext]

For those who are having trouble using OBC that is in one persons name applied to others for excursions .....this is my most recent experience as of today.

 

 

As I mentioned in my post above, I have done this many times and not had a problem.  The key in no asking to have OBC transferred. They are unable...and won't do that.  We are leaving on the Crown TA next week. Last night our itinerary changed and the port of Genoa was dropped and the port of Livorno (Florence/Pisa) added instead. The excursions that we had previously booked using OBC were cancelled and the OBC credit was returned to the account  and immediately available to use to book other excursions as desired in the new port. A quick phone call to Princess....saying that I needed to book 2 tickets for such and such excursion after giving my booking number had the process completed in less than 5 minutes. No hassle and I was immediately able to see and print out the new excursion under confirmed reservations for the new port with my husband's name listed as billing contact and both our names listed as 'Guests' on the reservation. 

[whatcruiseisnext]

20 minutes ago, h20vacations said:

 

duplicate

Edited October 23, 2018 by whatcruiseisnext

[whatcruiseisnext]

21 minutes ago, h20vacations said:

I purchased OBC, Princess put it all under my name instead of splitting it 50/50 with my spouse - called to get it corrected & they said I would have to wait & speak to the Purser to get it corrected.   

When I went to purchase excursions on the website it made me pay with a credit card.  Called Princess to ask why they did not pay for the excursions with my pre paid OBC & they stated the pre paid OBC does not go into effect until you are on board.

I purchased enough OBC to cover all my approximate on board expenses.  Now I am worried I won't be refunded my unused OBC if I don't use it all.

Does anymore if the will refund the unused OBC or do I lose it

Thanks

Yes it is refundable OBC. You do not lose it.

[windango]

My experience was the same as whatcruiseisnext.  I called yesterday because I had extra OBC and my SO had none and I wanted to book 2 more excursions.  It took a bit of time, but they booked both excursions under my name, using my OBC.  If your daughter is on the same booking as you, it should be no problem.  I ended up owing about $5 extra for both excursions, which I paid by credit card.  The cool part was then they immediately emailed me a receipt showing all the excursions we booked.  The only difference on the last excursion was the quantity showed 2 under my name with both of our names listed immediately under it, instead of each excursion showing on one line for each of us.  The amount of time on the phone was well worth it, although the hold time before speaking with the rep was actually longer than the time it took to complete the transaction.  Apparently Friday evening is a busy time!  

[apeller]

Thanks to everyone for your input and assistance.  I finally got around and called Princess, and there was no problem booking the excursions using my OBC for multiple people.  I already received my email confirmation.  On my other cruise, I had already booked excursions online for DD using DH's name and OBC, so we will deal with that on the ship.  That one was no problem because only she is going on those excursions, so we only needed one reservation. 

[caribill]

12 hours ago, apeller said:

 On my other cruise, I had already booked excursions online for DD using DH's name and OBC, so we will deal with that on the ship.  That one was no problem because only she is going on those excursions, so we only needed one reservation. 

When they collect the ticket for the excursion they pay no attention to the name on the ticket. So DD can use the ticket without any problem even if her name is not on it.

[skennedy25]

On 10/22/2018 at 11:28 AM, NavyVeteran said:

A Princess agent can book an excursion for one passenger using another passenger's OBC with no problem. If the agent knows what he or she is doing, it can be done very quickly. Call Princess directly even if you booked through a travel agent - they still handle the excursions directly. If I speak to an agent that doesn't know how to do this, I usually just hang up and call back until I get an agent who understands the process.

 

I have veterans and shareholder OBC and DW does not. I cannot move the stock to her name because I own it in an IRA. I have booked her excursions with my OBC several times.

 

If you book using OBC, they don't actually charge the OBC until you are onboard. When you are onboard, the excursion charges and the OBC are both listed on your onboard account. This is good because the excursion charges use non-refundable OBC first - even if the nonrefundable OBC was not available when you booked them.

 

If you prepay for excursions using your credit card and then cancel onboard, then you receive refundable OBC. My brother and I were on a cruise together recently. I pre-booked my excursions using OBC and he pre-booked using his credit card. My onboard folio showed all my excursion charges and OBC separately. His onboard folio did not show his excursion charges. He then cancelled one of his pre-paid excursions. After cancelling one pre-paid excursion, the charges for all of his excursions appeared on his folio along with a refundable OBC for his prepayment. Since I had listed him on my onboard credit card, his excursion then applied to my nonrefundable OBC first and we received refunds for the remaining (refundable) OBC.

 

I'm not sure if Princess accounting will continue to work the way it worked for us. If so, and if you have to prepay for some excursions because some OBC is not yet visible when you book them, you may be better off booking an additional low-cost excursion to cancel as soon as you are onboard. Our experience was that by cancelling one prepaid excursion, all prepaid excursions were added to our folio along with the refundable OBC for the prepayment, so that they were applied first to the nonrefundable OBC.

 

 

Within the past year Princess has done away with pre booking excursions that you don't pay for upfront.  I believe they have done this to do away with people grabbing up excursions and then cancelling once onboard to give more people a chance for excursions

[skennedy25]

On 10/23/2018 at 2:48 PM, h20vacations said:

I purchased OBC, Princess put it all under my name instead of splitting it 50/50 with my spouse - called to get it corrected & they said I would have to wait & speak to the Purser to get it corrected.   

When I went to purchase excursions on the website it made me pay with a credit card.  Called Princess to ask why they did not pay for the excursions with my pre paid OBC & they stated the pre paid OBC does not go into effect until you are on board.

I purchased enough OBC to cover all my approximate on board expenses.  Now I am worried I won't be refunded my unused OBC if I don't use it all.

Does anymore if the will refund the unused OBC or do I lose it

Thanks

 

 

As long as the OBC is refundable, it will get refunded.  It might take a couple pf weeks after the cruise since they will do it via check.

[caribill]

20 hours ago, skennedy25 said:

 

 

Within the past year Princess has done away with pre booking excursions that you don't pay for upfront.  I believe they have done this to do away with people grabbing up excursions and then cancelling once onboard to give more people a chance for excursions

I believe they did it to be like their competition. No sense being special anymore.

 

Frankly I think it is a detriment to have to pay for shore excursions months before final payment for a cruise is due. If you wait to reserve (and pay), the excursions you want may be booked up.