How does OBC work?

[lovetotravel68]

Hello,

 

I am booked on the October, 10 night cruise and would like to know how the OBC works? This is my first cruise so I am a little clueless :o

 

We have a decent amount to use so I would like to know if we can prebook PG excursions using our OBC or do we need to wait until we board to do this?

 

The ones we are interested in are:

 

- trail of the ancients

- dr poole whale and dolphin watching

- drift snorkelling in Rangiroa

- possibly a land based excursion on Huahine

 

Do any of these tours need to be booked very early?

 

Also, we are staying on Moorea for 4 nights before our cruise and I was considering booking with Dr Poole during those dates (just very anxious about the weather while on PG) as this is the excursion I most want to do and don't want to miss out!

 

Any advice on OBC and Dr Poole would be appreciated!

[twin123185]

You can use the onboard credit toward anything you spend ON the ship. I highly doubt you can use the OBC before hand. I have heard nothing but good things about Dr. Poole's trip.

Huahine - why land? It's water is beautiful?

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Well why not do Dr. Poole while staying on the island? Then you have choices. If you want to do it from the ship, I would recommend booking in advance since it's a smallish boat--you can always cancel once you're onboard if you manage to do it pre-cruise.

 

I like a mix of land and sea myself--important to me to see the islands and the people as well as the water.

[FlightMedic555]

You can cancel any on board excursions with 24 hours notice so there is little downside to booking in advance. If you are on Moorea for 4 nights before I would go with Dr. Poole while on the ship, presuming space is available. We have done precruise nights on Moorea and will again next month. When you are back to Moorea on the ship it seems there is little to do as you have done quite a bit while land based.

 

I have had the PG request my credit card number to book and pay for an excursion when I made the reservation in advance and other times they took the reservation without charging me. If you have OBC you don't want to have to pay in advance as you then have all that OBC to use and little chance to use it.

[Familygoboston]

I would recommend pre booking your excursions, especially Trail of Ancients and Dr Pooles excursions, with PG before leaving. We were not charged in advance, just received a notice that they were pre reserved. The billing happened after we boarded allowing us to use our OBC to pay for our pre reserved excursions. Just call PG about 6 months or so in advance- they will be happy to do it!

 

You can change them about 24 hours in advance - check the " closing times" carefully to make sure you make your changes within the time limit.

 

Dr Pooles and Trails were both full, with people left out who wanted them on our October cruise, so we were glad we pre reserved (although weather prevented any of us from actually going!:()

[lovetotravel68]

Thank you all for your replies.

 

We are sailing in October so I will contact them now and pre reserve our excursions.

 

If not land based on Huahine what water based activity would you recommend?

 

:)

[lovetotravel68]

Sorry - another question!

 

If we did do the Dr Poole trip while we were on our pre cruise stay in Moorea that would mean we would be doing Trail of the Ancients and the ATV tour while onboard the PG.

 

Do you think doing those two tours on consecutive days would be too repetitive?

 

Thanks!

[Familygoboston]

Sorry - another question!

 

If we did do the Dr Poole trip while we were on our pre cruise stay in Moorea that would mean we would be doing Trail of the Ancients and the ATV tour while onboard the PG.

 

Do you think doing those two tours on consecutive days would be too repetitive?

 

Thanks!

 

We didn't take the ATV tour, but friends did, and they both cover "similar ground" but they are very different activities. Its a small island, so you will see some similar places, no matter what tours you take ( The marae, the belvedere) but the Trail is more about the history and culture and you'll get closer to the preserved sights than you can in an ATV, the ATV's are too noisy to do much talking, it's about the "adventure"! Our friends reported the the guide gets you off the ATVs in some areas and does talk, but I can't imagine he could match the expertise you'd get with Mark on Trails.

[Benita]

We are sitting in a cafe, having just finished Dr. Poole's excursion. We are in Moorea for one more night, before embarking the PG tomorrow. We spent 3 nights at LeMeridien inPapeete and four nights at the Moorea Pearl Hotel. Dr Poole usually has tours on Thursday for people staying in Moorea and Friday for the PG guests. He didnot have enough participants for the Thursday tour, but added us to the PG touring Friday. It will probably be busier in October, as it is not whale season now. We saw lots of dolphins.