Jump to content

Can we rebook prebooked excursions onboard using OBC?


Ken the cruiser
 Share

Recommended Posts

We understand Princess has changed the rules whereby you used to be able to prebook excursions, then pay for them onboard using accrued OBC present in your shipboard account. If this is still true, is it possible to cancel then immediately rebook our prebooked excursions at the excursion desk while onboard and use our OBC to do so? If so are there any penalties to do so? Also, what happens if an applicable excursion has subsequently sold out?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Let me see if I understand this.

 

You want to pre-book excursions prior to your cruise and pay for them by credit card. Then when you get on the ship cancel them and get refunded and rebook using OBC. I think, if you cancel the pre-booked excursions on board, the refund will actually be a credit to your onboard account (more OBC) and then you would just use that same added OBC to re-book on the cruise. I do not see what you are gaining.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

By the time you get aboard the ship, the excursions you pre-paid for may be sold out and there could be a waiting list as well as a price increase. So if you cancel once onboard, the people on the waiting list would get your excursions before you could rebook them. Even if you can rebook them, the price is likely to be higher than when you first booked them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You can now buy your excursions with your OBC or credit card before the cruise. If you do not have enough OBC to cover the excursions, you pay the balance with a credit card. You can cancel your excursions, you will be refunded OBC or credit card. If, you wait until on the ship to purchase excursions, some of the excursions will be sold out and the price might have increased. You can also cancel the excursions once onboard and a get refund by OBC. The Patter will tell you the cancellation date for that port.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Let me see if I understand this.

 

You want to pre-book excursions prior to your cruise and pay for them by credit card. Then when you get on the ship cancel them and get refunded and rebook using OBC. I think, if you cancel the pre-booked excursions on board, the refund will actually be a credit to your onboard account (more OBC) and then you would just use that same added OBC to re-book on the cruise. I do not see what you are gaining.

Basically we're trying to "launder" our non-refundable OBC such as the military service, shareholder benefits and Princess promotional OBC into refundable OBC. That is our sole purpose.

 

However, if phabric's response is true, (i.e., You can now buy your excursions with your OBC or credit card before the cruise), then we have received the response we were hoping for and this issue becomes mute as all of the OBC our TA is giving us will be refundable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You can purchase tours using OBC before boarding as long as the OBC is in your account.

 

If you try to cancel and rebook, you may hit one or both of these snags. First, the price may have risen, so you get back less than what you will have to pay to replace the tour. Second, there may be a wait list and you do not get a ticket for the tour.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Basically we're trying to "launder" our non-refundable OBC such as the military service, shareholder benefits and Princess promotional OBC into refundable OBC. That is our sole purpose.

 

However, if phabric's response is true, (i.e., You can now buy your excursions with your OBC or credit card before the cruise), then we have received the response we were hoping for and this issue becomes mute as all of the OBC our TA is giving us will be refundable.

 

Not so great to advertise that this is your intention... Princess reads these boards. That's why coffee card policy and others have been revised - because of published abuse.

 

BTW, the military OBC is indeed refundable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We understand Princess has changed the rules whereby you used to be able to prebook excursions, then pay for them onboard using accrued OBC present in your shipboard account. If this is still true, is it possible to cancel then immediately rebook our prebooked excursions at the excursion desk while onboard and use our OBC to do so? If so are there any penalties to do so? Also, what happens if an applicable excursion has subsequently sold out?

 

Yes you can pre-book with OBC, we just did.

  • in personalizer go to; Excursion reservations
  • select the excursion you want
  • select ; add to cart
  • select the people that going
  • click "add to cart" again
  • click "check out"
  • click "Pay Now"
  • here you have the option of paying with OBC or credit card

Hope this helps.

 

 

Theo

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Basically we're trying to "launder" our non-refundable OBC such as the military service, shareholder benefits and Princess promotional OBC into refundable OBC. That is our sole purpose.

 

It has been my experience that if you pre-book an excursion using non-refundable OBC and then cancel, it will be returned/credited as non-refundable OBC.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Basically we're trying to "launder" our non-refundable OBC such as the military service, shareholder benefits and Princess promotional OBC into refundable OBC. That is our sole purpose.

 

However, if phabric's response is true, (i.e., You can now buy your excursions with your OBC or credit card before the cruise), then we have received the response we were hoping for and this issue becomes mute as all of the OBC our TA is giving us will be refundable.

 

A minor side-issue: Military OBC is refundable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just booked a shore ex through the personalizer using my shareholders credit. Had no problem using the shareholders & misc. OBC for that. I was not able to used the OBC to reserve a case of water for the cabin though, that was a credit card only transaction even though I still have some OBC remaining. Guess you can use the OBC in advance for some items, but not others.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Last week I tried to use our OBC for shore excursions and called Princess. Princess rep said you could not use OBC to pay for tour prior to boarding. What is true?

 

Well, you cannot use OBC from a TA that hasn't sent it in yet, but otherwise no.

 

"If you need an accurate answer from Princess, call several times and average the answers". :halo:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Last week I tried to use our OBC for shore excursions and called Princess. Princess rep said you could not use OBC to pay for tour prior to boarding. What is true?

 

Try booking your excursion thru the website. Likely you talked to a rep who was asleep during 'booking excursions' class.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Last week I tried to use our OBC for shore excursions and called Princess. Princess rep said you could not use OBC to pay for tour prior to boarding. What is true?

It depends on the obc

 

Obc that is listed online in your cruise personalizer can be used. If you have additional obc that is not listed then you have to wait until you board the ship to purchase excursions

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We used our OBC to book excursions prior to our August cruise. No problem at all. Excursions were the only thing that could be booked in advance using OBC. Cases of water, specialty dining, soda plan, etc--nope. Only excursions.

 

My understanding is that if you cancel a reservation that is refundable, it will be refunded to you in the same way it was paid--non-refundable OBC will be credited to your account again as non-refundable. However, if you want to book these excursions, there is no issue. Book them, they will default to the non-refundable OBC first. Just don't cancel.

 

The idea of canceling and rebooking on board makes no sense--prices often increase on board!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mission complete. We just got finished booking our UK excursions and when we went to check out, all of our OBC in our account was automatically applied and then they asked for the remaining amount to be paid with a credit card. Thanks everyone for your thoughtful inputs! :D

 

Hopefully you do realize you will still be charged for the daily gratuity which we normally let our OBC handle. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Do not rely on Princess Customer Service to give you valid info. When I called them last week they told me I could not use OBC to pay for my up coming SEA tour. So I accepted that answer.

However, thanks to CC and all of you, I just went online and used my OBC to pay for the tour.

I have over $600 OBC.

So, again. Thank you all for the correct information. HAPPY CRUISING!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hopefully you do realize you will still be charged for the daily gratuity which we normally let our OBC handle. :D

Yup, that is true. We were also going to use it for the laundry service as we DON'T do laundry on a cruise. But, on the bright side, we now won't be tempted to spend any remaining OBC on "stuff" we really don't need. For example my DW still has the watch she bought with "use or lose" OBC we had leftover on a past cruise; although she does use the watch when we're on a cruise since our phones go in the safe until we disembark. So it wasn't a total waste.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can you book prior to sailing specialty dining using OBC?

Yes, I just posted that I booked a tour and used my OBC. My cruise is not until 01/05/2019 and my tour is 01/08/2019. Do not call Princess Customer Service as they don't know too much. I was on the line with them last week for 15 minutes and they told me 'NO, YOU CANNOT USE OBC prior cruise to do anything.' NOT TRUE!!!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Last week I tried to use our OBC for shore excursions and called Princess. Princess rep said you could not use OBC to pay for tour prior to boarding. What is true?

That is absolutely false. I booked serveral of my tours for our upcoming cruise and used OBC. When I "used up", all the credit I had available at that time, I paid for the rest of the tours with a credit card.

Here's the crazy thing....they don't actually "take" the OBC from your account until you are onboard. Once onboard, each of your tours will be listed on your folio and then the OBC you used for those tours will then be subtracted from your OBC account.

I found all this out after I cancelled two of the tours I paid for with my credit card (pre-cruise) but never saw the credit to my charge card. When I called Princess to inquire as to where my credit was, they stated that they added them as OBC to my account. I requested that they issue a credit to my card rather than obc and they have done so.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Try booking your excursion thru the website. Likely you talked to a rep who was asleep during 'booking excursions' class.

I think most of them were asleep in that class. I had to talk to a supervisor before I got anyone who knew what they were talking about and spent over an hour on the phone. ;p

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hopefully you do realize you will still be charged for the daily gratuity which we normally let our OBC handle. :D

When we cancelled two of our tours that we paid for with our credit card, instead of putting it back on our card they gave us OBC....nope not going to work! I added $1000 in OBC from various sources in the last month so I did not need that OBC that they added rather than a credit. We have free gratuties so we didn't need the extra OBC.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...