Why not the full amount at one time.

[chet the jet]

I made my final payment for a 10 day cruise in March of 2012. When I made this payment, I also included $576.00 to cover our gratuities and two shore excursions.

My TA ran into a bit of a complication trying to pay for the shore excursions because they are charged to the shipboard account and Princess will only allow shipboard credits in $25 increments. Consequently he had to arrange for $325 in shipboard credit for me and has to send me a refund check in the amount of $11 which I will then have to pay at the end of the cruise when I settle your shipboard account. Convoluted he knows but there is no other way to do it! This makes him make 13 payments. What gives with this? Why not just take the $336.00 to cover the shore excursions in one payment. So if you want to put a little on your shipboard account you can only do it in $25.00 payments. Would like to pay my account at the end of the cruise in $25.00 payments over a year. That’s right it is on my credit card and I can do that with interest, but I do not like to do that either.

[JustinPlusLauren]

You don't have to pay for the excursions until the end of your cruise....we generally wait and pay it off while on board. No sense in paying for them in advance when you don't have to!

[Near PDX]

Your TA seems to be doing this the hard way. On Board credits or prepaid shore excursions can be purchased in amounts of 25, 50 or 100 dollar amounts each. http://www.princess.com/learn/onboard/gifts_services/onboard_credit/Index.jsp

[whitearrow]

Onboard credit can be bought in amounts up to $100.

[cherylandtk]

Why does your TA have to make 13 payments? That makes no sense.

 

Your TA should have placed your additional $575 into OBC to be spent as you wish onboard. If you use it for tips and excursions, fine. Then you only have one dollar to bring with you to balance your account. Or buy $600 up front and go a little crazy and buy a couple drinks onboard.

[Near PDX]

Not an answere, but a question. Does your TA understand how Princess bookings and payments work?

[chet the jet]

Not an answere, but a question. Does your TA understand how Princess bookings and payments work?

 

I asked another TA about this and they said that it has to be in $25.00. No my TA is new at this, Only be one for 28 years and has booked me on 9 crusies so I trust him. Anyway it is ok with me but more work for him.

[chet the jet]

Your TA seems to be doing this the hard way. On Board credits or prepaid shore excursions can be purchased in amounts of 25, 50 or 100 dollar amounts each. http://www.princess.com/learn/onboard/gifts_services/onboard_credit/Index.jsp

Thanks for the infromation. Will pass it on to him.

[phabric]

I call Princess and take out Onboard Credits to myself to cover our excursions, drinks that I think I am going to spend. I get a card in the cabin to say it has been applied to my account. During the cruise, I go to the Purser's desk to check that it is there.

[CruisinEars]

I recently left my position as a Princess Res Agent and at that time (end of Sept.) Princess had announced that they are now accepting Pre-Paid grats. It is in the special services section. Your TA can call Princess and check on this.

[Cruisin' Chick]

You don't have to pay for the excursions until the end of your cruise....we generally wait and pay it off while on board. No sense in paying for them in advance when you don't have to!

 

Does your TA understand that you don't prepaid for the shore excursions you book through Princess. This makes sense to me as many people decide to change their port plans -- you can cancel an excursion up to a certain point -- and sometimes (hopefully rarely) you might not make it to that port.

[jrzebird]

One of the many things I love about Princess is that I can book excursions now but don't pay for them until they are put on my shipboard account when I sail. I don't book excursions with HAL until a month or two before sailing because I can't abide that they have and use my money when I could be using it.

 

I really don't understand the $25.00 thing. I purchased a large OBC for myself, by using my points from the Princess credit card, prior to sailing and it paid for my excursions and tipping. I could have used my credit card itself to purchase more obc's. It would never occur to me to go through my TA for this when you can do it yourself. It also never occurred to me that the amounts you can buy are all divisible by 25!

[WVBill]

I called Princess and purchased $100 OBC for myself. It was charged to my CC as a single $100 purchase but it showed up in my Princess Special Service Order Summary as 4 x $25.00 OBCs.

 

Odd - but the result is the same....

[tennisobo]

If you have enough onboard credit to pay for your excursion and the excursion is cancelled, you have to either use up that money on something else, or take it out in cash at a slot machine. I would much rather save the money in my own banking accounts and pay off the charge after I get home. I don't pay any interest that way.

 

I really like the Princess policy of not paying for excursions until the end of the cruise.

[jrzebird]

If you have enough onboard credit to pay for your excursion and the excursion is cancelled, you have to either use up that money on something else, or take it out in cash at a slot machine. I would much rather save the money in my own banking accounts and pay off the charge after I get home. I don't pay any interest that way.

 

I really like the Princess policy of not paying for excursions until the end of the cruise.

 

Oh, I have absolutely NO problem using up any OBC I have. LOL :D

 

And I do agree that I would rather have that money than give it to the cruise line months in advance.

[Barry H]

I would recommend that you never prepay for tours. If tours are cancelled and at the end of the cruise you have unused onboard credits, I do not believe that Princess will refund the difference. On my last cruise on the Grand we had two tours cancelled due to lack of participation. Total value for the tours for two was over $500. That is a lot of money to spend onboard. Actually you could get an advance at the casino using your sail and sign card to retrieve your money.

[WVBill]

If you have enough onboard credit to pay for your excursion and the excursion is cancelled, you have to either use up that money on something else, or take it out in cash at a slot machine.

 

Isn't any "remaining balance" OBC on your shipboard account credited to the CC associated with the account when you "settle up" at the end of the cruise? (assuming the OBC was not from a Shareholder credit, military credit or some other Princess source) ??

[caribill]

I would recommend that you never prepay for tours. If tours are cancelled and at the end of the cruise you have unused onboard credits, I do not believe that Princess will refund the difference.

 

Yes, money that you have personally put into the onboard account before the cruise will be refunded to you if not used.