Rebook excursion on ship to use OBC?

[Buckeye10640]

We have a ton of OBC on an upcoming cruise and much of it  is not refundable.. Our booking promo includes gratuities and drink package so we really want to use OBC for excursions. Problem is we cant use it til on the ship.  Anyone ever booked and prepaid  an excursion and then cancelled/rebooked once on the ship to use the OBC? 

[jeno]

36 minutes ago, Buckeye10640 said:

We have a ton of OBC on an upcoming cruise and much of it  is not refundable.. Our booking promo includes gratuities and drink package so we really want to use OBC for excursions. Problem is we cant use it til on the ship.  Anyone ever booked and prepaid  an excursion and then cancelled/rebooked once on the ship to use the OBC? 

I’m not really answering your exact question, but wondering if you’re sure you can’t use OBC to buy your excursions before boarding.  In my experience, if you look on your Cruise Personalizer and see onboard credit listed, you can use it.  Select the excursion and when you go to pay it will give you a choice to use OBC or a credit card.  Have you tried this or are you just thinking you can’t use it because that was how it was before? I just booked using OBC for two cruises.  One of them I’m boarding tomorrow.  I don’t think you can use it to buy anything else ahead of time, just excursions. 
Good luck! 

[Colo Cruiser]

If you cancel and wait until you are onboard you take the chance of any of them being sold out.

 

 

[OCruisers]

51 minutes ago, Buckeye10640 said:

We have a ton of OBC on an upcoming cruise and much of it  is not refundable.. Our booking promo includes gratuities and drink package so we really want to use OBC for excursions. Problem is we cant use it til on the ship.  Anyone ever booked and prepaid  an excursion and then cancelled/rebooked once on the ship to use the OBC? 

 

Yes.  Unless it's an excursion you totally want, take your chances and wait to book on the ship.  This is what we very often do.  

[jeno]

I think that if he has OBC from Princess and it shows on his cruise personalizer he can reserve now.  Then his problem is solved.  Hopefully he will look again and be able to use it now. 

Edited February 2, 2020 by jeno

[Paula_MacFan]

31 minutes ago, jeno said:

I’m not really answering your exact question, but wondering if you’re sure you can’t use OBC to buy your excursions before boarding.  In my experience, if you look on your Cruise Personalizer and see onboard credit listed, you can use it.  Select the excursion and when you go to pay it will give you a choice to use OBC or a credit card.  Have you tried this or are you just thinking you can’t use it because that was how it was before? I just booked using OBC for two cruises.  One of them I’m boarding tomorrow.  I don’t think you can use it to buy anything else ahead of time, just excursions. 
Good luck! 

This has been my experience as well -- we were able to use OBC to book excursions on several different cruises.  

[franktown]

Booked a excursion online using OBC last week.  

[Coral]

If a TA rebates part of their commission using OBC, people don't have access until they are on the ship. Usually this is refundable.

 

Nonrefundable OBC is usually available for shore excursions in the Cruise Personalizer.

 

My main issue is that excursions go up in price so you may be paying more for it. I think it is best to pay for it now and then get a check after the cruise. I use an agent who discounts the cruise off the top when I make final payment so I don't have excessive OBC.

Edited February 2, 2020 by Coral

[lstone19]

I believe when you get on the ship that you will find charges for all the excursions you pre-paid for along with any amounts you pre-paid for excursions considered to be the purchase of refundable OBC. And if there is now (or even anytime before your on-board account is closed out) additional non-refundable OBC available, the new non-findable OBC will be used for those pre-paid excursions leaving you with a refundable balance if you don’t use it all.

 

Example: You paid $500 in advance for excursions. You then get an additional $200 in non-refundable OBC. When you board, you’ll find your account showing a $200 refundable balance.

[casofilia]

We have been able to book Shorex using OBC recently; go through the process and it will ask if you want to use OBC.

[Shmoo here]

3 hours ago, jeno said:

but wondering if you’re sure you can’t use OBC to buy your excursions before boarding.

If the OBC is from the travel agent, you can't.  If the OBC is from the cruiseline, you can.

 

Ask me how I know.  We were booking excursions on an upcoming cruise, and it turned out that the excursions we wanted to book were exactly what our OBC (both TA and cruiseline combined) was.  Then we got an email notifying us we had to pay $XX for a portion of the last excursion we booked.  The amount was the exact amount of OBC from our travel agent.  Once we were onboard, we had a letter in our room telling us we had $XX OBC from our travel agent we could use.

 

Funny thing was, when we were booking the excursions, we looked to see how much OBC we had and it showed the total amount to start with.  And after the excursions were booked, it was $0.  The email telling us we still had to pay the extra didn't happen for about 2 weeks.

Edited February 2, 2020 by Shmoo here

[caribill]

2 hours ago, lstone19 said:

I believe when you get on the ship that you will find charges for all the excursions you pre-paid for along with any amounts you pre-paid for excursions considered to be the purchase of refundable OBC. And if there is now (or even anytime before your on-board account is closed out) additional non-refundable OBC available, the new non-findable OBC will be used for those pre-paid excursions leaving you with a refundable balance if you don’t use it all.

 

Example: You paid $500 in advance for excursions. You then get an additional $200 in non-refundable OBC. When you board, you’ll find your account showing a $200 refundable balance.

 

That was my experience on a recent cruise.

[tartana]

This is a very good question as it has been a question in our experiences as well.  The non refundable OBC we have had shows in the cruise planner and has been spent ahead of time to book excursions.  There is still $200 left that will be available once onboard (I assume this is the refundable amount?) .  We want to book a transfer or two but if we book them ahead of time, we will have to pay for them currently out of pocket.  So, once on the cruise, would we be able to refund and then rebook the transfers to use the remaining OBC?  Or, as others have mentioned, is that remaining amount refundable if it is not used onboard?  Could it be refunded to a credit card, or do they have to write a check?  just curious how that works if someone doesn't use it all. 

[Paula_MacFan]

I was able to purchase shore excursions on 3 cruises in advance using OBC provided by our TA. Maybe it depends on when the TA applies it to the booking? 

[Buckeye10640]

Update...thanks to everyone for your responses.  I just tried to process an excursion all the way theough to payment and my cruiseline OBC IS available.  Big box retailer OBC (refundable) is not but that is to be expected. I would have sworn last year I was not able to do this but we have been cruising a few lines so maybe I mixed them up.  Thanks again for your replies, hopefully this will help anyone else with a similar question. 

Edited February 2, 2020 by Buckeye10640

[pseudoswede]

On 2/2/2020 at 1:09 PM, Paula_MacFan said:

I was able to purchase shore excursions on 3 cruises in advance using OBC provided by our TA. Maybe it depends on when the TA applies it to the booking? 

 

Is it up to the TA's discretion when to apply any OBC to an account? We have quite a bit of TA rebate OBC for our cruise, and I was hoping to apply it towards some excursions and then use the Best Price Guarantee to get it a bit cheaper.

[hobbyfarmer2]

Excursions booked online will use OBC if the specific passenger has some available.   We have paid for excursions by cc or PayPal sometimes before we received our OBC but it really does not matter.  Your account is created on embarkation day and all debits/charges and credits are posted anew, including excursions.  The charges will drain non refundable OBC before refundable OBC is used.  Any leftover refundable OBC will be returned to you with small amounts refunded at the passenger desk, larger amount by check after disembarking.

[suzyed]

On 2/1/2020 at 8:47 PM, Buckeye10640 said:

We have a ton of OBC on an upcoming cruise and much of it  is not refundable.. Our booking promo includes gratuities and drink package so we really want to use OBC for excursions. Problem is we cant use it til on the ship.  Anyone ever booked and prepaid  an excursion and then cancelled/rebooked once on the ship to use the OBC? 

I just pre-booked several excursions for our upcoming cruise on the Personalizer.  I did not get an option to pay for them with a credit card, it showed that they would be paid for with our obc.  You won't see it disappear from your personalizer but they will do it once you are on onboard. 
Perhaps if you don't have any obc or you have already paid for other excursions/gifts/spa etc. with your obc, they will ask for a credit card.