larryandregina Posted May 25, 2017 #1 Share Posted May 25, 2017 When did we have to start pre-paying for shore excursions? Starting with the November Panama Canal cruise we have booked, shore excursions need to be paid for in advance. We don't even have all our OBC showing yet (Shareholder, for instance) so they want me to put it on a credit card or PayPal. What is the benefit to this policy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casofilia Posted May 25, 2017 #2 Share Posted May 25, 2017 This changed recently and no one seems to know why. The possible reason is to stop people reserving and then cancelling at the last minute when it is too late to fill the tours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pablo222 Posted May 25, 2017 #3 Share Posted May 25, 2017 This changed recently and no one seems to know why. The possible reason is to stop people reserving and then cancelling at the last minute when it is too late to fill the tours. It changed to pre-pay. There was lots of complaining here. It changed back. There was lots of gloating here about how effective the complaining was. Now, back to pre-pay, negating the above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevintheIrishDJ Posted May 25, 2017 #4 Share Posted May 25, 2017 It is much cheaper to book directly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissCakeyBun Posted May 25, 2017 #5 Share Posted May 25, 2017 Ive just booked 70% of our tours with Viator and saved about 40% on the individual prices Princess are charging....including guaranteed refunds if you cant get into port etc Check them out maybe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCruisers Posted May 25, 2017 #6 Share Posted May 25, 2017 Since it's no longer as easy & convenient to book excursions with Princess as it once was, many may seriously consider independent tour operators. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssbeagle Posted May 25, 2017 #7 Share Posted May 25, 2017 Many times we have save money booking private tours but there are times when we want to book a Princess tour. But I don't want to pay in advance and I am certainly upset when I do have a tour booked with Princess and they cancel it at the last minute because they don't have enough people to go. One tour they cancelled was in Lima (a culinary tour) and they had 18 people instead of the 24 they wanted. So 18 of us were out of tour. Was not happy with them at all. But I refuse to pay for tours in advance. I know if you don't make a port Princess will refund the money but I still don't like laying out that kind of money before all credits are applied and I don't want to tie up that money 6 months or more in advance. Make it another perk, Princcess that we don't have to pay in advance at certain loyalty levels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelingEA Posted May 25, 2017 #8 Share Posted May 25, 2017 We normally have $600-800 in on board credits and we do not drink much. The way we burn the money is to schedule excursions through princess (even though higher priced) I guess will will have to do the slot machine game to get use of our on board credits in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
satxdiver Posted May 25, 2017 #9 Share Posted May 25, 2017 I do not like the current pre-pay policy and is making me look harder at private tours or to take my chances and book once on board. In the past we have returned very few pre-booked ship excursions. It will be interesting to see how well this new policy is working. It may drive pax to use more private tours which would be less profit for Princess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
satxdiver Posted May 25, 2017 #10 Share Posted May 25, 2017 We normally have $600-800 in on board credits and we do not drink much. The way we burn the money is to schedule excursions through princess (even though higher priced) I guess will will have to do the slot machine game to get use of our on board credits in the future. I believe it has been mentioned before that OBC cannot be used in the casino. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountaindog Posted May 25, 2017 #11 Share Posted May 25, 2017 I m looking for information for my next trip and found this CC changes as a mess! I can´t find anything is like they promo by adds and don´t let me chat with fellow passengers where the reviews where totally genunine. I m so annoyed. Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountaindog Posted May 25, 2017 #12 Share Posted May 25, 2017 i found all those CC changes very bad and confussing. I lost the genuine chats with my fellow passengers. Seems to be all addvertisements and paid. Also I did bookings with viator appart from cruise lines but the guides told me that viator retain like 25% so if you book outside all those platforms you can get a better price and the guide happier and more enthusiastic. You can check, if you still find them, the original reviews at TripAdvisor below the market place. i travelled since I retired (2004) and all this internet changed completely. At the beguining it was so simple , no money in the middle, just you and the guide at port. Now all the companies joined and monopolize the business and we pay. So I feel lost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cherylandtk Posted May 25, 2017 #13 Share Posted May 25, 2017 We normally have $600-800 in on board credits and we do not drink much. The way we burn the money is to schedule excursions through princess (even though higher priced) I guess will will have to do the slot machine game to get use of our on board credits in the future.If some of your credit is issued upon booking (TA, FCD, Princess promotion, military) then you can use that credit to 'pay' for your excursion upfront. That's the new wrinkle in this recent change. If your credit comes later, as with Stock, then you have to wait until that credit hits your account before using it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelingEA Posted May 26, 2017 #14 Share Posted May 26, 2017 I believe it has been mentioned before that OBC cannot be used in the casino. We have in the past. Put some money (from OBC) on the card and cashed it out at the money cage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Working 2 Cruise Posted May 26, 2017 #15 Share Posted May 26, 2017 I m looking for information for my next trip and found this CC changes as a mess! I can´t find anything is like they promo by adds and don´t let me chat with fellow passengers where the reviews where totally genunine. I m so annoyed. Tim A ???? Sorry, could you explain? I didn't understand one thing you've said. This site never was using messenger or anything like it. Was that one of your complaints? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssbeagle Posted May 26, 2017 #16 Share Posted May 26, 2017 You can always put OBC towards the tips. Some OBC is refundable if you don't spend it all. I actually got $45 back from our last cruise because I didn't spend it all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucky TGO Posted May 26, 2017 #17 Share Posted May 26, 2017 Since it's no longer as easy & convenient to book excursions with Princess as it once was, many may seriously consider independent tour operators. LuLu, I have already started to do just that. Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCruisers Posted May 26, 2017 #18 Share Posted May 26, 2017 LuLu,I have already started to do just that. Tony Let us know what you're finding for "our" Caribbean Princess cruise. LuLu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caribill Posted May 26, 2017 #19 Share Posted May 26, 2017 This changed recently and no one seems to know why. The possible reason is to stop people reserving and then cancelling at the last minute when it is too late to fill the tours. You can still cancel (same time limitations as before). Before the cruise, get a refund to your credit card. (Not sure what happens if you used OBC pre-cruise to book an excursion.) During the cruise, as refundable OBC on the ship. I think Princess does this to be like other cruise lines that make you pay when you book the excursion. To me, that takes away an incentive to book Princess instead of another cruise line. The more Princess looks like their competitors, the more the reason to look more closely at the competitors. By the way, some of the other cruise lines that make you pay when you book an excursion in advance will charge you 15%-25% of the cost if you cancel on board. So far Princess has not taken that path, but if they want to be more like their competition........ Personally I object to having to pay for shore excursions before final payment is due for a cruise, but to get on the more popular excursions you must book them before final payment date. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
easyboy Posted May 26, 2017 #20 Share Posted May 26, 2017 Since it's no longer as easy & convenient to book excursions with Princess as it once was, many may seriously consider independent tour operators. It is evident on our Roll Call. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owlhelm Posted May 26, 2017 #21 Share Posted May 26, 2017 (edited) Is this different on cruises in Europe? We're off to Norway on the Crown in a few weeks :D, and the Planned Excursions part of my Cruise Personalizer says "NEW Pay Before You Sail, Or Pay Later Onboard You have the option to pay for shore excursions in advance of your cruise. If you wait, we will add the charges to your onboard account which is settled at the end of the cruise." Martin Edited May 26, 2017 by Owlhelm Preview misleading Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cherylandtk Posted May 26, 2017 #22 Share Posted May 26, 2017 Martin, the new changes take effect for cruises beginning this fall, so your cruise in a few weeks is under the old system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owlhelm Posted May 26, 2017 #23 Share Posted May 26, 2017 Martin, the new changes take effect for cruises beginning this fall, so your cruise in a few weeks is under the old system. Ah, thanks for the clarification cheryl or tk :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawkeyetlse Posted May 26, 2017 #24 Share Posted May 26, 2017 The new policy is for cruises after Summer 2017. If you are sailing in the next few months you should still be able to pre-book excursions without paying. Edit: Oops, sorry, cherylandtk already explained this. :embarrassed: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
floridalover5623 Posted May 26, 2017 #25 Share Posted May 26, 2017 I believe it has been mentioned before that OBC cannot be used in the casino. Since when? We have in the past. Put some money (from OBC) on the card and cashed it out at the money cage. As late as Feb for me. After all we do like the slots. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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