Pre-Sailing Pay For Excursions

[ohcsim123]

Forgive me if this has been answered already but I cannot find it.

 

We have about $400 in excursion "discount" which looks like it can be used to book excursions before sailing.

We would like to book additional excursions (in advance) but it looks like we must pay by credit card even though we have plenty of OBC to cover the additional cost.

 

Can I pay now by credit card for the additional costs and later (after boarding) have the charges reversed to OBC?

 

Thanks in advance.

John

 

[d9704011]

Something strange going on there.  Usually, when booking excursions (let's say you book three with a total value of $700), HAL will apply your excursion credit first (in your case, $400) and charge the remainder to your credit card.

 

Call HAL to book.  I think it would be a bad idea to pay now and try to reverse charges later.

Edited August 11 by d9704011

[highscar]

Another problem:   HAL kept telling me there was a problem and could not complete my payment for two excursions.  Yet the charge appeared on my credit card statement.  I did not get a conformation e mail.    

[Fouremco]

3 hours ago, ohcsim123 said:

Forgive me if this has been answered already but I cannot find it.

 

We have about $400 in excursion "discount" which looks like it can be used to book excursions before sailing.

We would like to book additional excursions (in advance) but it looks like we must pay by credit card even though we have plenty of OBC to cover the additional cost.

 

Can I pay now by credit card for the additional costs and later (after boarding) have the charges reversed to OBC?

 

Thanks in advance.

John

 

HAL views OBC as exactly that, a credit that can be used aboard. So, no using OBC pre-boarding.

 

You can't do a payment reversal per se, with HAL crediting your card and debiting your OBC. You can, however, cancel the cruise, triggering a refund to your credit card, and rebook using your OBC. However, if it's a popular cruise and is fully booked, your cancelled reservation will go to whomever is at the top of the standby list. You chance losing out on the excursion if it's full.

[Cruise Suzy]

2 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

You can't do a payment reversal per se, with HAL crediting your card and debiting your OBC.

Yes, it can be done. You just need to go to the Shore Excursions desk once onboard and before the shore excursion. No need to cancel/rebook.

[Fouremco]

4 minutes ago, Cruise Suzy said:

Yes, it can be done. You just need to go to the Shore Excursions desk once onboard and before the shore excursion. No need to cancel/rebook.

You've personally done that with an excursion that was fully booked and had a standby list? If so, it would seem that you are an exception based on the number of posters who have said that they've been told that they must cancel and rebook. 

[Cruise Suzy]

1 hour ago, Fouremco said:

You've personally done that with an excursion that was fully booked and had a standby list?

Yes. It's been reported by others as well.

[Fouremco]

Just now, Cruise Suzy said:

Yes. It's been reported by others as well.

LOL. HAL's consistently inconsistent application of the rules. I'd just not assume that a straight reversal could be made, and ask pointed questions at the excursions desk beforehand to avoid any unexpected outcome.

 

 

[Cruise Suzy]

As far as has been reported in the last year, no one has been denied a refund to credit card and charge to OBC for pre-booked Shore Excursions. Same goes for Specialty Dining, except you must go to Guest Services.

Edited August 11 by Cruise Suzy

[Alberta Quilter]

2 hours ago, Fouremco said:

You've personally done that with an excursion that was fully booked and had a standby list? If so, it would seem that you are an exception based on the number of posters who have said that they've been told that they must cancel and rebook. 

I just did it about two weeks ago.  Got all of my Prepaid shorex credited to my account, as refundable credit, and then they used the non-refundable OBC to apply to the payment.  Worked seamlessly.  But, as Cruise Suzy says, shorex needs to be handled by the shorex department and dining by Guest Services.  
 

OP, do it early in the cruise!

[Nodakboiler]

And remember the Shore Excursion desk hours are VERY limited so be sure to be there or call well before the 48 hours prior to the excursion.

[kdakda]

I also did this last month with a sold out excursion.  No difficulty

[Haljo1935]

I've done it many times with sold out excursions as well as ones not sold out. Shore Excursions desk is my first stop onboard, we'll as soon as they're open.😊

[Cruise Suzy]

19 hours ago, Cruise Suzy said:

As far as has been reported in the last year, no one has been denied a refund to credit card and charge to OBC for pre-booked Shore Excursions

 

My bad. I forgot the step from pre-paid to refundable OBC and then to credit card. We never use all our refundable OBC, so it ends up on our credit card.

[ohcsim123]

Thanks to all who replied.

I just made all of the excursion reservations on line and they properly applied our HIA excursion credit.

The balance was put on my credit card as expected.

Once on board, I will talk to the folks at the Shore Excursion Desk and ask them to transfer the balance from the CC to OBC.

John

[Haljo1935]

1 hour ago, ohcsim123 said:

Thanks to all who replied.

I just made all of the excursion reservations on line and they properly applied our HIA excursion credit.

The balance was put on my credit card as expected.

Once on board, I will talk to the folks at the Shore Excursion Desk and ask them to transfer the balance from the CC to OBC.

John

Safe travels- enjoy your cruise!

[tigervixxxen]

I don’t want to make a new thread for this but relatedly, do you have to prepay for spa treatments (massage) if booked pre cruise? 

Edited August 14 by tigervixxxen

[Lido deck main]

11 minutes ago, tigervixxxen said:

I don’t want to make a new thread for this but relatedly, do you have to prepay for spa treatments (massage) if booked pre cruise? 

Yes, but you usually get a percentage off if pre-purchased I’ve received as much as 20% off pre cruise, for those discounts services are on a port day.  I choose a day where we arrived late into port so go in the morning, or if a short port day like 3:00 pm all aboard, will choose that day and go in early evening.

[Haljo1935]

25 minutes ago, Lido deck main said:

Yes, but you usually get a percentage off if pre-purchased I’ve received as much as 20% off pre cruise, for those discounts services are on a port day.  I choose a day where we arrived late into port so go in the morning, or if a short port day like 3:00 pm all aboard, will choose that day and go in early evening.

And if you pay with gift cards, you recognize an additional 8% savings. Every bit helps.

[Lido deck main]

1 hour ago, Haljo1935 said:

And if you pay with gift cards, you recognize an additional 8% savings. Every bit helps.

Alas, Canadians can’t get the AARP gift cards, even if we are a member of AARP.

[Fouremco]

9 hours ago, Lido deck main said:

Alas, Canadians can’t get the AARP gift cards, even if we are a member of AARP.

I'm not sure why we can become AARP members, and can get the AARP OBC with HAL, but can't buy the gift cards.