Dear NCL, re: OBC and Booking Excursions

[MicheMommy]

I've yet to set sail on my first cruise, so maybe I have no real understanding here, but bear with me.

 

From what I gather, there have been a lot of unhappy customers lately concerning NCL's relatively new policy that you must pay for excursions when you book them. I understand NCL's side of this issue - it keeps people from booking a whole bunch of excursions and then later dropping the ones they don't want, it theoretically helps them get better numbers for excursions ahead of time, yadda yadda yadda. But I also understand the customer viewpoint. Many many people use their OBC to pay for excursions, so now they either have to #1 - book ahead of time and be unable to use their OBC or #2 - wait to book until they're on the ship and hope that the excursions they want don't fill up.

 

So, NCL, why not allow people to book their excursions ahead of time using the OBC that is already allotted to their account? This seems like a win-win situation to me. NCL still gets their pre-bookings paid for in advance and customers are still able to use their OBC for excursions.

 

Just my 2 cents.

[Pokeraddict]

Ditto to NCL. Hopefully they will read this.

[shof515]

its becoming industry standard to prepay any excursions and other things

Also, your onboard account does not get set up until you are on the ship. Your booking reservation does not show OBC sometimes since there are various ways to earn OBC and those OBC can take a day to fully show on your account on board

[WildcatRock]

I've yet to set sail on my first cruise, so maybe I have no real understanding here, but bear with me.

 

From what I gather, there have been a lot of unhappy customers lately concerning NCL's relatively new policy that you must pay for excursions when you book them. I understand NCL's side of this issue - it keeps people from booking a whole bunch of excursions and then later dropping the ones they don't want, it theoretically helps them get better numbers for excursions ahead of time, yadda yadda yadda. But I also understand the customer viewpoint. Many many people use their OBC to pay for excursions, so now they either have to #1 - book ahead of time and be unable to use their OBC or #2 - wait to book until they're on the ship and hope that the excursions they want don't fill up.

 

So, NCL, why not allow people to book their excursions ahead of time using the OBC that is already allotted to their account? This seems like a win-win situation to me. NCL still gets their pre-bookings paid for in advance and customers are still able to use their OBC for excursions.

 

Just my 2 cents.

 

I see your point, but to me it's a zero sum game. If a cruiser gets OBC of $X for a cruise it can be used for anyting (excursions, drinks, up charges for specialty restaurants, etc). All expenses go into your shipboard account as do all payments (the OBC, your payment, etc). By requiring payment up front for excusions NCL can better manage excursion demand for each cruise; and as you indicated, can keep people from overbooking and dumping excursions while on the cruise. NCL's in this business to make money and they feel that requiring payment up front for excursions is in NCL's best interest. So, someone has to pay for their excursions before the cruise; fine, now they have OBC to us for whatever else they want.

[che5904]

I don't disagree that it would nice to be able to use 'on board' credit prior to being 'on board', which is what I understand you to be sayng.

 

However this policy has been in for almost a year and since about June 2011 and when it first was introduced there were a quite a few threads that contemplated whether it was liked or not. If my memory serves me correctly it was about split about even on both sides of the issue. But truthfully I really haven't seen where "a lot of unhappy customers" have posted much lately. Have I missed these threads.

[DevCruise]

The other problem is OBC is often tied to the reservation you booked. Before final payment this means you might book one offer with say $300 of OBC, but then to take advantage of another offer, you might book a reservation that only gives you $200 OBC or maybe no OBC. So now you need to pay the difference. Could that be taken care of? Sure, but just makes things a lot more complicated.

[Mrs. H.]

What would happen if I booked my cruise, rcvd $500 OBC, booked shore exursions to be deducted from my OBC and months later the price dropped so I re-booked but lost my OBC?

Now I get on board, decide to not take the shore exursion(s). :eek:

Now I wasn't charged since it was supposed to be my OBC,

NCL doesn't make that money if nobody else wants that shore

excursion(s), and also it wouldn't be fair to the person(s) who wanted to book it but it was full when they wanted to book and so they booked

their 2nd choice.

Which now reminds me of a time we had a shore excursion booked back in '04 on the Star/Alaska.

Halfway thru the excursion my DM chickened out. I was happy that

it was the cheaper shore excursion so losing $110 each was not that bad.

NCL Star was kind enough to remimburse us a portion since we took

the bus ride. OMG I think that had to be the nicest thing they could have done for us.

I guess if it ain't broke, don't fix it. It seems to work for the cruise industry.

[MicheMommy]

Okay. A lot of what everyone has said makes sense, but I do have to disagree with this:

 

By requiring payment up front for excusions NCL can better manage excursion demand for each cruise;

 

I know that is one of NCL's purposes in their policy, but I imagine that it's not working as well as they would like, because I've read several times where people have said now they just wait until they're on board to book excursions, so NCL still isn't getting an accurate sense of the numbers ahead of time.

[time2cruise1]

Okay. A lot of what everyone has said makes sense, but I do have to disagree with this:

 

 

 

I know that is one of NCL's purposes in their policy, but I imagine that it's not working as well as they would like, because I've read several times where people have said now they just wait until they're on board to book excursions, so NCL still isn't getting an accurate sense of the numbers ahead of time.

 

That is still better then many passengers booking every tour they think they may want to do and canceling 1/2 onboard :confused:

[che5904]

I know that is one of NCL's purposes in their policy, but I imagine that it's not working as well as they would like, because I've read several times where people have said now they just wait until they're on board to book excursions, so NCL still isn't getting an accurate sense of the numbers ahead of time.

 

The thing is that CC to start with is a very small percentage of cruisers. Unless someone has an extremely high amount of OBC that they are trying to use up, then I can see that making them wait to book on board. Most people don't get that large a chunk of OBC that wouldn't be used up by specialty restaurants, bar bills, spa treatments, internet etc.

 

I think if there was actually a down side for NCL they would toss it out in a minute. Obviously for whatever real reason they did it is working for them.

[WildcatRock]

I could never run a cruise line as nearly every decision you make is either loved or scorned by us cruising minions. Like in this case, I can see both sides of this argument. So, I just happily pay my money to NCL when they want me to which means I can then focus on how awesome my personal cruise experience is going to be..............sitting on my aft balcony, cold drink in my hand, looking at the never-ending ocean, realizing how fortunate I am at that moment, and how much it would suck being back in the office.

[MicheMommy]

Too true, WildCat, too true!

[camper06]

I have a couple questions regarding this topic as well.

 

If you book and pay your excursions ahead, are you still able to cancel them and get a refund?

 

And if an excursion is cancelled (either by you or the cruiseline), how is the refund given - in OBC or refund to the credit card used?

 

Thanks for any responses.

[time2cruise1]

I have a couple questions regarding this topic as well.

 

If you book and pay your excursions ahead, are you still able to cancel them and get a refund?

 

And if an excursion is cancelled (either by you or the cruiseline), how is the refund given - in OBC or refund to the credit card used?

 

Thanks for any responses.

 

Yes you can get a refund but it will show up as an OBC

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk - Jim

[agabbymama]

Yes you can get a refund but it will show up as an OBC

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk - Jim

 

If the cancellation happens before sailing, the refund goes back to the credit card used.

 

If the cancellation happens after you board the ship, the refund goes to OBC.

[drumexpert510]

its also about money...

 

if you have $200 in your OBC...

 

you use $100 for an excursion...

 

that leaves $100 to use on the ship... but only $200 spent total....

 

If you have $200 in you OBC...

 

and NCL requires your to pay up front with cash $100

 

you still have $200 OBC that you HAVE to still spend.

 

Thats $300 total... x that extra $100 by 3,000 passangers... its a lot of money... its a numbers game... but I agree it does suck.

[computerworks]

You can pay for your excursions with OBC right now...

...just book them when you are onboard....they will then be charged to your onboard account and can be offset by the OBCs.

 

If you want the advantage and luxury of pre-booking excursions before departure, then, under the current program, you must pay for them in advance via CC.

 

This is logical...because until you are actually "onboard," you can't spend your "onboard" credit, because you don't have it yet. :p

[miztressuz]

its becoming industry standard to prepay any excursions and other things

 

i am not stirring the pot - i genuinely have no information on this being an industry standard. can someone provide what other cruise lines are requiring pre-payment of shore excursions?

i freely admit having limited cruising experience but the lines I have cruised on did not charge for shore ex until you were on the boat. this is the first time i'm having to pre-pay. i haven't seen it pop up in any of my research so i'd be grateful if someone could give me a general list of what cruise lines they know of.

 

I have a couple questions regarding this topic as well.

 

If you book and pay your excursions ahead, are you still able to cancel them and get a refund?

 

And if an excursion is cancelled (either by you or the cruiseline), how is the refund given - in OBC or refund to the credit card used?

 

Thanks for any responses.

 

according to NCL website it depends on when you cancel.

http://www2.ncl.com/terms/shorex-dining-entertainment-spa

looks like cancel before the ship, credit to card. cancel on the ship, you get OBC. but there are specifics in the link.

 

i wish it were an option you selected at time of reservation, pre-pay now or charge to your account. that way if you know you'll have enough OBC to cover the excursions you could use it. if not, then just select the pre-pay.

 

since this is my first NCL trip and what i booked has no OBC incentives, i don't mind so much paying ahead to get what i want. but i'm not one to part with money until absolutely necessary, so i'd still rather it be charged to the on board account and pay it later. i booked the one excursion that we really wanted in advance but i think i might wait for rest.

 

personally it seems to me that NCL wants you to use the promo OBC for the on ship money makers rather than the lower profit excursions. obviously they make money on the excursions but i bet they make more on the drinks. so they give you $50, you spend $50 on a froo froo drinks, those froo froo drinks costs them $17.5. however, they give you $50, you spend $50 on a shore excursion, that excursion may have cost them $40 to the tour operator. so it 'cost' NCL more to give you that free $50. Hope that makes sense.

 

so while i know you can buy yourself OBC and it's not all promo stuff from NCL and TA's, it would seem to me that NCL thought "win win" we get a better idea of how many people are on each excursion cuz if there is skin in the game there's less chance to cancel (or we get the silly people who think they'll lose the money if they cancel) and we don't use so much of our money to pay for this stuff.

 

but are there really THAT many people that book all kinds of tours and then cancel them all last minute? since most website won't let you book conflicts, i can't see that many shore excursion hogs. and since there are generally transaction fees for both purchase and a return on credit cards i would think it's actually costing slightly more money operating on this method. but obviously it must be a net advantage somewhere or NCL wouldn't have done it.

[Jasalth]

Most people don't get that large a chunk of OBC that wouldn't be used up by specialty restaurants, bar bills, spa treatments, internet etc.

 

While I didn't think about this before, I am wondering for 100% sure if the OBC you get for canceling on board more than 48 hours before port, is refundable OBC. If it it, I might end up booking the excursions we want, as soon as we get on the ship cancel them and then rebook with the OBC we have sitting in the account that is no refundable...

 

My situation is we got $500 OBC from NCL for our Sun cruise booking. $600 from our TA. The price would have to drop a TON for it to make up for all of that OBC! Here is our problem, me and DH don't drink (1 drink purchased in 3 cruises since I have been 21), we are only planing on 2 upcharge dinners, I don't wear jewelry, and I flat out REFUSE to pay $150+ for a massage I can get at home when I am really stressed (aka not relaxing on vacation!) for less than 1/2 the cost.

 

That leaves me with pretty much nothing to spend non-refundable OBC on. We will be spending $200 on the dining and then that leaves me with $300 I "have" to spend or loose. While I am sure even w/o excursions my kids could find something to spend $300 on, I would rather them not (one can only have so many silly knicknacks and such IMO).

 

But if I can book them in advance, cancel and pay with non-refundable OBC on the ship then get the check at the end for what we didn't use in refundable OBC, that would work for me, and I am sure a lot of other people out there with OBC they wouldn't use otherwise :)

[spacepotatoes]

i am not stirring the pot - i genuinely have no information on this being an industry standard. can someone provide what other cruise lines are requiring pre-payment of shore excursions?

 

All of the other mass-market lines, with the exception of Princess, I think, require you to prepay excursions. And they have required this for years before NCL started doing it. NCL just moved towards what everyone else was already doing.

 

I prefer being able to book early and pay onboard, too, but it is what it is.

[miztressuz]

All of the other mass-market lines, with the exception of Princess, I think, require you to prepay excursions. And they have required this for years before NCL started doing it. NCL just moved towards what everyone else was already doing.

 

I prefer being able to book early and pay onboard, too, but it is what it is.

 

i guess i'm just lucky i cruise Princess and Disney, neither of which do. i'll have to check out everyone's websites again and update the research spreadsheets with new info.

[peg013]

While I didn't think about this before, I am wondering for 100% sure if the OBC you get for canceling on board more than 48 hours before port, is refundable OBC. If it it, I might end up booking the excursions we want, as soon as we get on the ship cancel them and then rebook with the OBC we have sitting in the account that is no refundable...

 

My situation is we got $500 OBC from NCL for our Sun cruise booking. $600 from our TA. The price would have to drop a TON for it to make up for all of that OBC! Here is our problem, me and DH don't drink (1 drink purchased in 3 cruises since I have been 21), we are only planing on 2 upcharge dinners, I don't wear jewelry, and I flat out REFUSE to pay $150+ for a massage I can get at home when I am really stressed (aka not relaxing on vacation!) for less than 1/2 the cost.

 

That leaves me with pretty much nothing to spend non-refundable OBC on. We will be spending $200 on the dining and then that leaves me with $300 I "have" to spend or loose. While I am sure even w/o excursions my kids could find something to spend $300 on, I would rather them not (one can only have so many silly knicknacks and such IMO).

 

But if I can book them in advance, cancel and pay with non-refundable OBC on the ship then get the check at the end for what we didn't use in refundable OBC, that would work for me, and I am sure a lot of other people out there with OBC they wouldn't use otherwise :)

 

If you have $300 OBC you don't know what to spend on, just buy 2 Freestyle Cruise Rewards and NCL will pay for your entire deposit for your next 2 cabins. (You will actually use $150 OBC to pay for each $250 Reward.)

 

We have $900 OBC for our May cruise and $950 OBC for our December cruise.....can't wait!:D:cool:

 

I seem to remember reading about someone that had their excursion cancelled because they did not stop at that port and they said they received non-refundable OBC for it and then ended up losing part of it because it was near the end of the cruise.

[MicheMommy]

I could be very wrong here, but I believe I read somewhere on CC that when you have both refundable and non-refundable OBC, they pull from your refundable credit first, so I don't think your scenario would work, Jasalth.

[spacepotatoes]

i guess i'm just lucky i cruise Princess and Disney, neither of which do. i'll have to check out everyone's websites again and update the research spreadsheets with new info.

 

I didn't realize Disney doesn't require pre-payment, either. Carnival and HAL definitely do, from my recent experience with both. RCL and Celebrity do, from previous research.

[peg013]

While I didn't think about this before, I am wondering for 100% sure if the OBC you get for canceling on board more than 48 hours before port, is refundable OBC. If it it, I might end up booking the excursions we want, as soon as we get on the ship cancel them and then rebook with the OBC we have sitting in the account that is no refundable...

 

My situation is we got $500 OBC from NCL for our Sun cruise booking. $600 from our TA. The price would have to drop a TON for it to make up for all of that OBC! Here is our problem, me and DH don't drink (1 drink purchased in 3 cruises since I have been 21), we are only planing on 2 upcharge dinners, I don't wear jewelry, and I flat out REFUSE to pay $150+ for a massage I can get at home when I am really stressed (aka not relaxing on vacation!) for less than 1/2 the cost.

 

That leaves me with pretty much nothing to spend non-refundable OBC on. We will be spending $200 on the dining and then that leaves me with $300 I "have" to spend or loose. While I am sure even w/o excursions my kids could find something to spend $300 on, I would rather them not (one can only have so many silly knicknacks and such IMO).

 

But if I can book them in advance, cancel and pay with non-refundable OBC on the ship then get the check at the end for what we didn't use in refundable OBC, that would work for me, and I am sure a lot of other people out there with OBC they wouldn't use otherwise :)

 

I could be very wrong here, but I believe I read somewhere on CC that when you have both refundable and non-refundable OBC, they pull from your refundable credit first, so I don't think your scenario would work, Jasalth.

 

Actually they are supposed to use the non-refundable first and then the refundable....which is what they did for our last cruise and I actually got a check for just under $100 three weeks after the cruise. I have read of at least one occasion that they did not do it correctly and non-refundable was lost and refundable was used before it. This was a mistake and is not the norm. I keep tabs on my bill to be sure it is done correctly.

 

I also don't think it would work either because I believe they issue non-refundable OBC for excursions cancelled on the ship no matter who cancels them.