Using an OBC for transfers

[new2cruise]

We have an OBC and the transfer on our Alaska cruise is already on our booking document.  Is it possible to use that credit towards the transfer?

[windsor26]

3 minutes ago, new2cruise said:

We have an OBC and the transfer on our Alaska cruise is already on our booking document.  Is it possible to use that credit towards the transfer?

 

If the transfer is already included in your booking (and you do not have to pay for it again)  you dont need to use obc

[new2cruise]

There is a $59 per person charge and I’d like to apply the credit towards the charge.

[pms4104]

Pre-cruise, one is able to use OBC that appears in one's Personalizer to purchase shore excursions ONLY.  I don't believe you can use it for transfers. 

Edited November 2, 2019 by pms4104

[NavyVeteran]

Your cannot use OBC to purchase transfers pre-cruise.

 

You can use OBC to purchase a post-cruise transfer onboard - not in advance. It is possible that the price onboard will be more than the pre-cruise price.

[new2cruise]

So it sounds like I should cancel my post-cruise transfer now, and then purchase it with my OBC when we get on the ship, right?

[pink845]

We also have OBC on our upcoming Royal Princess cruise out of San Pedro.  We have been told by Princess that we can use our OBC to purchase the transfer back to the airport while we are on the ship.  We cannot use any part of our OBC to purchase our transfer to the ship from the airport.   That we have to pay in advance with our credit card.  Sort of sucks but that is the way it is.  Oh well.  

[ontheweb]

On 11/1/2019 at 9:34 PM, NavyVeteran said:

Your cannot use OBC to purchase transfers pre-cruise.

 

You can use OBC to purchase a post-cruise transfer onboard - not in advance. It is possible that the price onboard will be more than the pre-cruise price.

I used OBC for our next summer's cruise using OBC pre-cruise.

 

Possibly if was allowed because it was not just a transfer to the airport, but also included a stop at Stonehenge..

[NavyVeteran]

6 hours ago, ontheweb said:

I used OBC for our next summer's cruise using OBC pre-cruise.

 

Possibly if was allowed because it was not just a transfer to the airport, but also included a stop at Stonehenge..

Princess treats a post-cruise transfer and a disembarkation shore excursion completely differently.

 

You purchased a disembarkation shore excursion which ended at the airport. Shore excursions are purchased directly through Princess on your Cruise Personalizer even if you have a travel agent, and you can use OBC to purchase a shore excursion in advance. The cost of the shore excursion (if it exceeds your available pre-cruise OBC) must be paid immediately when booked - even if well before final payment.

 

A pre-cruise or post-cruise transfer is not listed on the shore excursions page. If you booked directly with Princess, then you can purchase a transfer on the Travel Arrangements page of the Cruise Personalizer; if you booked through a travel agent, then you can purchase a transfer in advance only through the travel agent. If booked before final payment, the transfer is not paid until final payment.

 

If you purchase onboard, a post-cruise transfer is handled almost the same as a disembarkation shore excursion. The cost is added to your onboard folio, and OBC is applied.

[DrivesLikeMario]

20 hours ago, new2cruise said:

So it sounds like I should cancel my post-cruise transfer now, and then purchase it with my OBC when we get on the ship, right?

Yes.  That's what I'm doing to use up some OBC on one of my cruises too.  Just stop at the shore excursions desk when they're open near the beginning of your cruise to sign up.  If it's just a simple bus transfer, it's rarely ever full.

[ontheweb]

37 minutes ago, NavyVeteran said:

yPrincess treats a post-cruise transfer and a disembarkation shore excursion completely differently.

 

You purchased a disembarkation shore excursion which ended at the airport. Shore excursions are purchased directly through Princess on your Cruise Personalizer even if you have a travel agent, and you can use OBC to purchase a shore excursion in advance. The cost of the shore excursion (if it exceeds your available pre-cruise OBC) must be paid immediately when booked - even if well before final payment.

 

A pre-cruise or post-cruise transfer is not listed on the shore excursions page. If you booked directly with Princess, then you can purchase a transfer on the Travel Arrangements page of the Cruise Personalizer; if you booked through a travel agent, then you can purchase a transfer in advance only through the travel agent. If booked before final payment, the transfer is not paid until final payment.

 

If you purchase onboard, a post-cruise transfer is handled almost the same as a disembarkation shore excursion. The cost is added to your onboard folio, and OBC is applied.

I did figure that the difference was that it was an excursion as well as a transfer. And I did realize I could wait and buy it onboard, but it did say limit 30 and it was something we really wanted.

 

I could have used more OBC if I had waited until we were onboard as the OBC was not divided equally, but it was not worth the risk of an excursion limited to 30 on a ship over 3000 passengers to make that risk worthwhile for a few dollars.

Edited November 4, 2019 by ontheweb
spelling correction buy instead of but

[new2cruise]

We'll be needing a transfer from the ship in Whittier, AK to the airport to pick up a rental car.  I figure I'm safe in waiting until we get onboard to reserve a spot on the bus to the airport, since there are usually several buses going to the airport, right?

[LeeW]

Typically Princess has a "20 available" or "30 available" to push you into believing you need to purchase now or the tour will fill.  Many tours, especially tours ending at the airport, will just add another bus when that one fills.  For example, in Iceland, the large tours had "20 available" but there were 87 buses on the tour.  And they ran out of tour buses in the country, so while we were sailing from Akureyri to Reykjavik the buses drove overnight to pick us up for the next tour.

[NavyVeteran]

7 hours ago, ontheweb said:

I did figure that the difference was that it was an excursion as well as a transfer. And I did realize I could wait and buy it onboard, but it did say limit 30 and it was something we really wanted.

 

I could have used more OBC if I had waited until we were onboard as the OBC was not divided equally, but it was not worth the risk of an excursion limited to 30 on a ship over 3000 passengers to make that risk worthwhile for a few dollars.

You  can use your OBC to pay for an excursion for the other passenger in your cabin or vice versa. I do it often, since I'm a veteran (DW is not) and I own stock in a Roth IRA (and DW does not). You cannot do it online. Call Princess and the telephone representative can do it with no problem. Some of them don't know how, and I've had to teach them how on the phone - sometimes by giving them the booking number of another one of my future cruises where it has already been done.

[trbarton]

I just used some of my OBC for an excursion in Ft Lauderdale that is from 7:30 am - 12:30 pm. I’ve also use some OBC for ship tours. 
 

This is my first time being able to use OBC in advance of the cruise. 
 

Tom😀

[caribill]

2 hours ago, trbarton said:

I just used some of my OBC for an excursion in Ft Lauderdale that is from 7:30 am - 12:30 pm. I’ve also use some OBC for ship tours. 
 

This is my first time being able to use OBC in advance of the cruise. 
 

Tom😀

 

In the past, you did not have to pay for pre-booked excursions until the end of the cruise.

 

Then Princess made it so they had to be paid for when booked pre-cruise.

 

There were many complaints since that meant OBC could not be used to pay for pre-booked excursions anymore. So Princess made it so that known OBC can be used pre-cruise to pay for shore excursions.

 

Princess' competition also requires payment when excursions are booked, but they do not allow use of OBC for this purpose.

[ontheweb]

8 hours ago, NavyVeteran said:

IYou  can use your OBC to pay for an excursion for the other passenger in your cabin or vice versa. I do it often, since I'm a veteran (DW is not) and I own stock in a Roth IRA (and DW does not). You cannot do it online. Call Princess and the telephone representative can do it with no problem. Some of them don't know how, and I've had to teach them how on the phone - sometimes by giving them the booking number of another one of my future cruises where it has already been done.

I guess I just got one of the representatives that did not know how. The difference that I had to pay now by cc (but have left in OBC) was only $35, so it was not really a big deal.