Required payment in advance for excursions

[kruisey]

I did not cruise last year due to being tied up in UK sisters death and funeral.

Just booked ON Shore Excursions for my trip in May and it states in red not confirmed till one pays in advance.Then all the rig ma roll conditions if one cancels .

Not lucky enough by the way to have any OBC.

This old gal is certainly not paying in advance for already paid cruise in full all money Princess can use .

If they are cancelled that is fine by me I have seen these ports before and I in turn will have saved some money.

[capriccio]

You absolutely should do what you think is best for you. 

 

We don't usually take Princess excursions but we are doing one on our Norway cruise this summer because there is no private alternative and only a relatively small number of passengers can participate so we paid for that months ago.  We don't pay in full for any cruise until final payment is due.

[1025cruise]

I think it was last year that Princess started requiring prepaying for excursions. At this point, I think most lines do.

[Kingofcool1947]

1 hour ago, kruisey said:

I did not cruise last year due to being tied up in UK sisters death and funeral.

Just booked ON Shore Excursions for my trip in May and it states in red not confirmed till one pays in advance.Then all the rig ma roll conditions if one cancels .

Not lucky enough by the way to have any OBC.

This old gal is certainly not paying in advance for already paid cruise in full all money Princess can use .

If they are cancelled that is fine by me I have seen these ports before and I in turn will have saved some money.

Then don’t book in advance for any tours.

If you don’t see any “must do” shore excursions, then maybe  take your chance and try to book once you are aboard.  Or you might consider going on shore excursions with an independent tour vendor when you arrive at your port of call.  Save about 50% or more vs. the ships shore excursions.  Or as you say, since you’ve seen these ports before, why not just stay on board , and not go off ship, or just walk around on your own?   Now, that’s  really saving you money.   

Good luck and enjoy your cruise.

King 

Edited January 5, 2019 by Kingofcool1947

[RDC1]

2 hours ago, kruisey said:

I did not cruise last year due to being tied up in UK sisters death and funeral.

Just booked ON Shore Excursions for my trip in May and it states in red not confirmed till one pays in advance.Then all the rig ma roll conditions if one cancels .

Not lucky enough by the way to have any OBC.

This old gal is certainly not paying in advance for already paid cruise in full all money Princess can use .

If they are cancelled that is fine by me I have seen these ports before and I in turn will have saved some money.

Princess changed to requiring excursions to be prepaid last year. As a result excursions booked in advance must be prepaid. if you reserve one it will hold it for a day or two, but will release the hold if not paid.

 

so yes they will be canceled and you will need to rebook on board the ship.

[TracieABD]

I still like to book privately. Some people are adverse to that. I do know that on the last couple of cruises I was on, the line at the Shore Ex desk was long. I guess if it was a Princess excursion I really wanted, I would pay for it in advance.

[rocklinmom]

Yes they went to prepay only last year like the other cruise lines.  Too many people were booking them to hold spots and then cancelling at the end.  

[kruisey]

Well I have been with Princess for nearly 18 years now and I am certainly not going to pay for excursions in advance.Its seems they they have been getting away with this latest pay in advance scheme .Apparently Princess makes their biggest profit on shore excursions  .I have never let them down and spent sometimes $1000 on long trip shore excursions. I can just stay on board if thev cancel my trip I will transfer my affections to yet another watch or face creams.Sabatinis and Crown Grill.

 

[TracieABD]

3 minutes ago, kruisey said:

Well I have been with Princess for nearly 18 years now and I am certainly not going to pay for excursions in advance.Its seems they they have been getting away with this latest pay in advance scheme .Apparently Princess makes their biggest profit on shore excursions  .I have never let them down and spent sometimes $1000 on long trip shore excursions. I can just stay on board if thev cancel my trip I will transfer my affections to yet another watch or face creams.Sabatinis and Crown Grill.

 

You can always try to book while on board, Heather. That way you can use OBC if you wish. There is a risk, but as a solo cruiser, you probably have a little better shot of getting what you want.

[compozer]

I agree.  I hate paying ahead for any excursion.    I usually have a lot of OBC's and many times don't spend it all.   I want to use the OBC for the few excursions I book with the ship.   

[Kingofcool1947]

8 minutes ago, kruisey said:

Well I have been with Princess for nearly 18 years now and I am certainly not going to pay for excursions in advance.Its seems they they have been getting away with this latest pay in advance scheme .Apparently Princess makes their biggest profit on shore excursions  .I have never let them down and spent sometimes $1000 on long trip shore excursions. I can just stay on board if thev cancel my trip I will transfer my affections to yet another watch or face creams.Sabatinis and Crown Grill.

 

Why not consider switching to a cruise line where shore excursions are included in the cost of the fare?  Viking Ocean Cruises come to mind.  I’m sure there are others.

Good luck and happy cruising.

King

 

[Diver2014]

1 hour ago, rocklinmom said:

Yes they went to prepay only last year like the other cruise lines.  Too many people were booking them to hold spots and then cancelling at the end.  

 

Exactly!  If you don't want to prepay (you have until the day before to cancel and receive your money or OBC back) then wait until you are on the ship (and find many excursions already sold out).  Reserving multiple excursions with no intention of actually going on all of them caused many cruise lines to go to prepay.  It's a business decision.

[fishywood]

I don't get all the posts showing such surprise at this "new" (sic) policy.

Princess began requiring pre-payments as a trial on one ship (Grand Princess) in the summer of 2016.

At that time--two and a half years ago!--Princess was already pretty much the last mainstream line not requiring payment to pre-reserve. 

So by early the next year the policy had gone fleetwide. There were tons of threads about it back then if you wish to finger through the search function.

 

And in response Princess is now one of the very few lines that lets you use OBC to reserve excursions in advance. Yes I know that many of us--myself included--still prefer rock bottom fares to OBC and other extras. But it was nice for the two cruises I took under the Anniversary Sale last year to be able to spend the OBC up front and have no worries about (1) a big bill for the excursions on my shipboard account; or (2) somehow having non-refundable OBC left over.

Edited January 5, 2019 by fishywood

[fishywood]

35 minutes ago, Diver2014 said:

 

If you don't want to prepay (you have until the day before to cancel and receive your money or OBC back) then wait until you are on the ship (and find many excursions already sold out).  Reserving multiple excursions with no intention of actually going on all of them caused many cruise lines to go to prepay.  It's a business decision.

 

Be careful with such a general statement. Because if you wait to cancel until the onboard deadline the refund is issued in the form of OBC to the person named on the ticket, regardless of how and by who it was paid for in the cruise personalizer. If you pay by credit card (as it appears the OP would have to) you must cancel in the personalizer 4 or 5 days before sailing at the latest for your refund to be in the same form as payment. 

[1emerald1]

The last time I changed my mind about a reserved shore excursion, while onboard, I went to the excursion desk to see about cancellation and the policy is now 2 days prior to the excursion.  They took my ticket and were able to sell it to another passenger so it all worked out.

[Coral]

54 minutes ago, fishywood said:

I don't get all the posts showing such surprise at this "new" (sic) policy.

Princess began requiring pre-payments as a trial on one ship (Grand Princess) in the summer of 2016.

At that time--two and a half years ago!--Princess was already pretty much the last mainstream line not requiring payment to pre-reserve. 

So by early the next year the policy had gone fleetwide. There were tons of threads about it back then if you wish to finger through the search function.

 

Most people don't cruise every year. Some people can only take a cruise every few years. So yes, it would be a change since Princess had always done it differently previously.

 

If you are not cruising, you are probably not on CC. I have friends who consider themselves frequent cruisers. They take a cruise ever 3 years. They were recently surprised at this also.

[Coral]

3 hours ago, rocklinmom said:

Yes they went to prepay only last year like the other cruise lines.  Too many people were booking them to hold spots and then cancelling at the end.  

I really don't think that was the reason. I think they just became more greedy and the Carnival Corp umbrella had them change it to this way. You would be amazed at how many decisions really are decided for Princess by people "above Princess". Each cruise line is really not run on their own like they want us to believe.

Edited January 5, 2019 by Coral

[RDC1]

1 hour ago, Diver2014 said:

 

Exactly!  If you don't want to prepay (you have until the day before to cancel and receive your money or OBC back) then wait until you are on the ship (and find many excursions already sold out).  Reserving multiple excursions with no intention of actually going on all of them caused many cruise lines to go to prepay.  It's a business decision.

ON most excursions the cancellation policy is 48 hours in advance.  There are some excursions which require considerably longer periods (usually those that require hotel and airline bookings such as Machu Picchu)

[RDC1]

24 minutes ago, 1emerald1 said:

The last time I changed my mind about a reserved shore excursion, while onboard, I went to the excursion desk to see about cancellation and the policy is now 2 days prior to the excursion.  They took my ticket and were able to sell it to another passenger so it all worked out.

It has been 48 hours for several years.

[halfapair]

21 hours ago, fishywood said:

I don't get all the posts showing such surprise at this "new" (sic) policy.

Princess began requiring pre-payments as a trial on one ship (Grand Princess) in the summer of 2016.

At that time--two and a half years ago!--Princess was already pretty much the last mainstream line not requiring payment to pre-reserve. 

So by early the next year the policy had gone fleetwide. There were tons of threads about it back then if you wish to finger through the search function.

 

And in response Princess is now one of the very few lines that lets you use OBC to reserve excursions in advance. Yes I know that many of us--myself included--still prefer rock bottom fares to OBC and other extras. But it was nice for the two cruises I took under the Anniversary Sale last year to be able to spend the OBC up front and have no worries about (1) a big bill for the excursions on my shipboard account; or (2) somehow having non-refundable OBC left over.

This is very cool to know. We have cruised on RCL a few times and always booked our shore excursions in advance and paid for them at the time we booked them. We could not use OBC for shore excursions. That we can use OBC on Princess is very good to know. Can't wait to start making reservations for our cruise.

 

Thank you!

[kruisey]

Well tonight Princess tours deleted my booked tours because I did not pay in advance.I will not be booking any even when on board.A very nice Customer relations person phoned me today and said the reason was to let the agency know the amount of folks wanting to tour.I replied you knew that before because we always booked on line.No explanation given after that.She said they would  cancel my bookings by 6 PM this evening if I did not pay which they did.I told them you always trusted us before and I would go to pursers deck on first day and pay .Mentioned it is a question of trust especially those of us that have traveled with them many times.

[donaldsc]

On 1/5/2019 at 12:36 PM, kruisey said:

Well I have been with Princess for nearly 18 years now and I am certainly not going to pay for excursions in advance.Its seems they they have been getting away with this latest pay in advance scheme .Apparently Princess makes their biggest profit on shore excursions  .I have never let them down and spent sometimes $1000 on long trip shore excursions. I can just stay on board if thev cancel my trip I will transfer my affections to yet another watch or face creams.Sabatinis and Crown Grill.

 

 

Nobody is forcing you to book or pay for excursions in advance.  Clearly your choice.  However, what are you planning to do if the best excursions are booked up when you get on the ship.  I will add that on a previous Princess cruise, I paid in advance and had to cancel one excursion.  The refund was easy and quick.

 

DON

Edited January 8, 2019 by donaldsc

[kruisey]

Instead of a Company getting a loan Princess gets one interest free using the money customer pre pay.So the beat goes on.

[paul929207]

On ‎1‎/‎5‎/‎2019 at 3:36 PM, kruisey said:

Well I have been with Princess for nearly 18 years now and I am certainly not going to pay for excursions in advance.Its seems they they have been getting away with this latest pay in advance scheme .Apparently Princess makes their biggest profit on shore excursions  .I have never let them down and spent sometimes $1000 on long trip shore excursions. I can just stay on board if thev cancel my trip I will transfer my affections to yet another watch or face creams.Sabatinis and Crown Grill.

 

So you will punish Princess by not taking their excursions. Instead you will spend the money on a watch or a face cream or specialty restaurant. I don't think  Princess cares which of these profit centers you pick.

[bemis12]

50 minutes ago, kruisey said:

Instead of a Company getting a loan Princess gets one interest free using the money customer pre pay.So the beat goes on.

 

How much interest do you think they'd earn on your May excursion prepayment?  I don't think that's the reason for their policy, nor the reason for your objection to it.