Reserving shore excursions ?

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Can anyone tell me if Princess charges your credit card at the time you reserve your shore excursions on the cruise personalizer or later? Just trying to figure out my budgeting!

Thanks

Ginny

[mii]

Your charges for your excursions will on your bill at the end of the cruise. That is the time that you pay it. When you board the ship and you wish to cancel an excursion there is a certain time frame for you to do so. The Princess Patter which is the daily newsletter will have all of the info for you to cancel or add on if you wish to take another excursion. Have a great cruise.


Marilyn

[Pam in CA]

Ginny, unlike some other cruiselines, when you reserve a Princess shore excursion, you're just reserving it, not paying for it until you board.

When you do board, your tickets will be either waiting for you in your cabin or delivered shortly thereafter. If you check your onboard account, you'll see that they are charged to your onboard account when they are delivered to you. However, your onboard account isn't actually charged to your credit card until around midnight, the night before you disembark.

Once you have your tickets, you have until 10AM the day before the tour to cancel and get a credit to your onboard account. Princess makes it easy for you to cancel your tours: you can either go to the Tour Desk and give it to a Tour rep; or, you can drop the tickets off in a box right near the Tour Desk if they're not open.

I always reserve tours I'm interested in online before the cruise. That way, I know I'll have the tours I want, even if I decide once I board to change my mind.

Song of Norway & Song of America, 1986-88; Royal Princess 2/99; Sun Princess 1/00; Ocean Princess 12/00; Royal Princess 4/01; Grand Princess 12/23/01; Sea Princess 2/9/02; Explorer of the Seas 12/21/02; Coral Princess 8/9/03; Nordic Empress 12/27/03; Regal Princess (4/20/04)

-- Caribbean Princess (12/26/04) -- [url="http://messages.cruisecritic.com/2/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=927093444&f=4763056957&m=9323078957"]Roll Call[/url]
[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=0099FF&cdt=2004;12;26;12;0;00&timezone=GMT-0800[/img]
-- Royal Princess (4/21/05) -- [url="http://messages.cruisecritic.com/2/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=927093444&f=4763056957&m=999100981&r=999100981#999100981"]Roll Call[/url]
[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=0099FF&cdt=2005;04;21;12;0;00&timezone=GMT-0800[/img]

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Thank you for the quick replies! I'll be booking my excursions this next week.

Ginny

[Pam in CA]

Ginny,

If you do cancel a tour after you board and get the tickets, make sure you check our onboard account the next day at the Purser's Desk to make sure you got your credit.

When I had a question about my account for a charge made the last night of the cruise the morning of disembarkation after a 15-day cruise recently, the guy next to me had turned in tickets for a tour 8 days before and was just checking it then. It created quite a hassle for both the passenger and the cruise staff.

You'll find the Purser's Desk very helpful during the cruise and somewhat frazzled the last 12 hours or so.

Song of Norway & Song of America, 1986-88; Royal Princess 2/99; Sun Princess 1/00; Ocean Princess 12/00; Royal Princess 4/01; Grand Princess 12/23/01; Sea Princess 2/9/02; Explorer of the Seas 12/21/02; Coral Princess 8/9/03; Nordic Empress 12/27/03; Regal Princess (4/20/04)

-- Caribbean Princess (12/26/04) -- [url="http://messages.cruisecritic.com/2/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=927093444&f=4763056957&m=9323078957"]Roll Call[/url]
[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=0099FF&cdt=2004;12;26;12;0;00&timezone=GMT-0800[/img]
-- Royal Princess (4/21/05) -- [url="http://messages.cruisecritic.com/2/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=927093444&f=4763056957&m=999100981&r=999100981#999100981"]Roll Call[/url]
[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=0099FF&cdt=2005;04;21;12;0;00&timezone=GMT-0800[/img]

[auntieann]

Hi Ginny,
Great question. What to do in some ports is still undecided on our part. It is nice to know we can reserve a tour and not be charged until cruise time. I haven't checked recently...have they opened up the tours for us yet?

See you in four months! [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif[/img] [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif[/img] [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Ann

Until Golden Princess
[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=228b22&cdt=2004;10;3;23;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500[/img]

[travelgirl87]

The Princess representative I spoke with told me that the time to cancel shore excursions without penalty was within 24 hours of boarding the ship, not within a particular amount of time from when the excursion would occur.

Did I misunderstand the agent or do I really have the extra days to make up my mind regarding port excursions later in the cruise?

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Ann,

When I last checked our excursions were not yet available. However, I'm being optomistic that they will be showing up by Saturday, our 120 day mark before our cruise, if I count correctly! [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif[/img] [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img] [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif[/img]

Does anyone else out there know if Princess usually has the excursions up in time to reserve 120 days in advace as claimed?

Ginny