Early Booking For Princess Shore Excursions

[Woobstr112G]

Yesterday I received an email from Princess stating that I could book my shore excursions early for my upcoming September 5th T/A on the CB. Kinda surprised me as there are over 200 days to go and while I've seen them a little early in the past, I never saw them this early. The email said I could save money and reserve a spot as most popular excursions often fill up early. I went on my personalizer and noted the only available excursions were for the Shetland Islands. SInce I have signed up for a private excursion this won't actually help me. I did however go ahead and phantom book one of the excursions and noted that there still was the option to pay now or after boarding the ship.

 

I wonder if making the excursions available early has anything to do with Princess testing the waters to making us pay for excursions before boarding?

 

Bob

Edited January 16, 2016 by Woobstr112G

[Colo Cruiser]

I was gonna say I hope they are not carrying this prepay outside Alaska.

You know its coming. We will sometimes take a Princess excursion but if they go fleetwide with this we will not take anymore Princess excursions. :(

[san diego sue]

Looks like Princess is testing and only on Alaska cruises they are asking to pay in advance. Can't book any tours unless we pay up front for those.

There is a tour I would like on my Alaska cruise but will not pay up front. If this is a success with prepayment, Princess will impose this on their other itineraries. I chose to use my OBC to pay for tours.So if I have to wait till I board, will do so.

I think they are trying this for Alaska because those cruises have more

first time Princess cruisers than most others and they may not know any different.

Edited January 16, 2016 by san diego sue

[flamomo]

It seems as though Princess is becoming inconsistent as to when excursions become available. USUALLY one can expect them to open around the 120 day mark, but like your experience, I have had times when they open way early (as much as 6 months out) or quite late. I just got an email from Princess yesterday saying they could finally be booked for a 30 day cruise that I have booked that is now 95 days out.

 

There have been rumors posted recently that people believe Princess is going to start requiring pre-paying excursions, but I certainly hope that will not come to pass. I frequently have a bunch of OBC that I like to use toward the cost of excursions. If they DO change to that, I will start booking more private excursions, with tour operators who expect payment on the day of the tour, not in advance, and I imagine others will feel the same way. In that case, Princess will lose out on the revenue, rather than getting our money in advance.

[Colo Cruiser]

It seems as though Princess is becoming inconsistent as to when excursions become available. USUALLY one can expect them to open around the 120 day mark, but like your experience, I have had times when they open way early (as much as 6 months out) or quite late. I just got an email from Princess yesterday saying they could finally be booked for a 30 day cruise that I have booked that is now 95 days out.

 

There have been rumors posted recently that people believe Princess is going to start requiring pre-paying excursions, but I certainly hope that will not come to pass. I frequently have a bunch of OBC that I like to use toward the cost of excursions. If they DO change to that, I will start booking more private excursions, with tour operators who expect payment on the day of the tour, not in advance, and I imagine others will feel the same way. In that case, Princess will lose out on the revenue, rather than getting our money in advance.

 

 

Yeah but you watch now prepay excursions will be available as far out as they can post them because they will be getting the money rolling in for one more thing so they can sit on it. :(

[Woobstr112G]

Yeah but you watch now prepay excursions will be available as far out as they can post them because they will be getting the money rolling in for one more thing so they can sit on it. :(

 

What are the cancellation policies regarding the mandatory Alaska pre-paid excursions? If you cancel do they require you to book another excursion or will they refund it to your OBC's, or will they refund it to the credit card you initially paid for the excursions with?

 

Bob

[rocklinmom]

Hi Bob, I have prepaid for some shore excursions on our upcoming June Alaska cruise (out of San Fran, thus the prepay requirement) and it is very easy to cancel if necessary. They immediately refund your credit card used for payment - I have already cancelled one and the refund posted in two days. Or, if you cancel and rebook a different shore excursion within 24 hours, they apply the money to the new excursion and refund any price difference. OBC's aren't applicable, you would have to book onboard using those.

[Mary loves to travel]

First cruise with Princess coming up at the end of the summer, and it is an Alaska cruise. Note that although Princess is requiring pre-payment for excursions at the time of booking:

• They are offering a 3% discount; better rate than my bank on a savings account
  
• When I've cancelled, the credit has gone back on my credit card within a couple of days
  
• All but one of our independent tour operators has also required pre-payment of excursions
  

 

We have cruised other lines; I honestly cannot remember if we had to pre-pay for excursions (or what their policy is today, which is more relevant). But, I wasn't all that surprised that pre-pay was required on our upcoming Princess cruise. It will tend to prevent people from booking up excursions "just in case" they might want to go, then cancelling at the last minute. However, I can certainly understand those who want to use their OBC to pay for excursions, and this would be an issue for those folks, certainly!

 

Mary

[RetiredNTraveling]

What are the cancellation policies regarding the mandatory Alaska pre-paid excursions? If you cancel do they require you to book another excursion or will they refund it to your OBC's, or will they refund it to the credit card you initially paid for the excursions with?

 

Bob

 

Bob, on our last booking we selected the PCL Excursions that we wanted and about 6 weeks ahead I prepaid. When we were forced to cancel on the day of the cruise our TA did the cancellations for us. Within one week we had received credits for all of the following: Gratuities, excursions, etc. that we had booked and prepaid through Princess. Princess had told us when we prepaid the excursions, that if needed we could cancel or switch excursions. It would be our choice as long as we did either of these within the allotted time frame.

 

We have cancelled excursions while on board within the 24 hr time frame due to my back problems and immediately received credits on the on-board billing.

 

Just Mike

[LEtue]

So far I have been able to hold my Alaska excursions for July - with no pre-pay requirement.

 

I am hoping this doesn't change because I have OBC to use and want to go toward excursions.

[rocklinmom]

Hi Linda, so I assume that your Alaska cruise is out of Seattle or Canada then, not out of San Fran?

[Murphey]

Here is what I found on our 2016 Med cruise:

 

Cancellation of Optional Pre-Paid Shore Excursions:

 

If you have pre-paid a shore excursion and wish to cancel, the following shall also apply:

 

If a pre-paid shore excursion is cancelled five (5) days or more prior to sailing a refund of the pre-paid amount will be made in one of the following ways:

 

1) If there is a shore excursion balance for the guest named on the reservation being cancelled then the pre-paid amount shall be applied to this balance.

 

Or,

 

2) If there is no shore excursion balance for the guest named on the reservation being cancelled then the pre-paid amount will be refunded to the credit card used to pre-pay the shore excursion. Refunds in this instance will be made within 24 hours of cancellation. If the guest for whom the pre-paid excursion is being cancelled makes another shore excursion reservation within 24 hours of cancellation, the refund will be applied to the newly made reservation.

 

If a pre-paid shore excursion is not cancelled within the above time frame or is cancelled during the voyage prior to the "Closing Time for Cancellation" listed for the particular excursion you wish to cancel, then the pre-paid amount will be refunded to the guest named on the pre-paid reservation as a shipboard credit on this guest's shipboard folio. Please note this is done regardless of which guest pre-paid for the shore excursion.

 

Cancellation of Alaska Land Excursions

 

Alaska Land Excursions, purchased through the Cruise Personalizer, may be cancelled up to three days prior to travel without any cancellation fees. Land Excursions cancelled prior to the cancellation deadline will be refunded to the credit card that you provided in the Cruise Personalizer to purchase your tours. Excursions cancelled within three (3) days prior travel are subject to a 100% cancellation fee, unless the operator, at their sole discretion, is unable to operate the program due to unforeseen circumstances. All sales of tours booked while on your land tour are considered final at the time of purchase and are 100% non-refundable except in the case of an operator approved cancellation.

[Woobstr112G]

Thanks for all of the information regarding shore excursion cancellation procedures.....:):):)

 

Bob

[Nhsaltshaker]

Pardon me for being a bit behind.

 

If you have OBC on a cruise and don't use it...you lose it? Just curious, as I will have some on an upcoming cruise.

[Cruise Raider]

Pardon me for being a bit behind.

 

If you have OBC on a cruise and don't use it...you lose it? Just curious, as I will have some on an upcoming cruise.

 

I assume so. There are ways to get it out so it is not lost....so many things:

 

Gratuities

Internet services

Photos

Casino

Bingo

Onboard Boutiques

Coffee cards

Beverages

Specialty dinners

Spa Treatments

Excursions

Salon

Some enrichment classes

 

We never end up with any left over ... but on Celebrity, they have refundable and non-refundable credit. Anything offered by Celebrity is non-refundable and they use this first. The OBC offered by your travel agent is oftentimes refundable ... this goes back on your credit card if not used. I am unaware if Princess does this ... never had anything left over to find out.

[Pushka]

Thankfully our Alaska cruise does not require prepayment of excursions. There is no discount offered to do so but we can prepay if we choose. I wouldnt mind paying for a couple (3 booked) but if you choose to prepay then you have to prepay them all. There is one I could cancel and rebook later but the other two I might risk losing my spot (popular small excursions). I was surprised that like Celebrity we didnt need to pay when booking but it would appear this is the last year this is possible. On our landtour, all excursions need prepayment but refunds are processed very promptly.

[LEtue]

Hi Linda, so I assume that your Alaska cruise is out of Seattle or Canada then, not out of San Fran?

 

Yes, I am sailing R/T from Seattle this year :)

 

Thankfully our Alaska cruise does not require prepayment of excursions. There is no discount offered to do so but we can prepay if we choose. I wouldnt mind paying for a couple (3 booked) but if you choose to prepay then you have to prepay them all. There is one I could cancel and rebook later but the other two I might risk losing my spot (popular small excursions). I was surprised that like Celebrity we didnt need to pay when booking but it would appear this is the last year this is possible. On our landtour, all excursions need prepayment but refunds are processed very promptly.

 

Same for me. I don't want to give up the small boat tour in Tracy Arm or the Glacier Wilderness Safari. Whale watching I can book on board if necessary. Bear watching in Ketchikan is booked with Island Wings so that's all set :)

[Pushka]

Same for me. I don't want to give up the small boat tour in Tracy Arm or the Glacier Wilderness Safari. Whale watching I can book on board if necessary. Bear watching in Ketchikan is booked with Island Wings so that's all set :)

 

 

Yes - that one books out very quickly I have read.

I wonder if we could try to book it and see if spaces available then cancel the original, pay for a couple of excursions immediately then rebook again? A bit risky I guess.