Forced to pay for my excursions up front!

[ian441672]

Hi

 

We have a Med cruise booked from Athens for 2 weeks this July.

 

I saw the excursions had been launched, so I am the early bird who likes to pre-plan and book, so I spent a few hours choosing and booking, and $1300 later I was ready to reserve.

 

Normally they are added to our stateroom and I pay upon checkout. What I like to do every month is set aside £200 / $350 from my salary, onto my stateroom account, like a forward savings account which over 18 months of saving (from booking to the actual sailing) adds up to a nice little amount, which pays for all our drink, spa treatments, and excursions, and I have been doing this so far and have $1500 saved.

 

Now though, it seems I have no choice and I have to pay up front to secure my bookings - not even an option to charge to my room!

 

I didn't really want to pay out this large amount already, especially when I have it saved on my ship account.

 

Is this a new policy - we did the Caribbean last January and everything was normal? The only thing I can see is to cancel all my onboard credits I paid out for, to get a refund and then use this money to pay for the excursions, but I didn't really want to do that.

 

Is this the way forward now - do people think it is a good idea?

 

Thanks.

[GJCruiser]

If you have Shipboard Credit shown on your personalizer, then those funds can be placed against your Excursion total prior to paying off the balance.

 

If it is promo or TA SBC, it most likely is non-refundable. Any SBC you purchased is of course, refundable.

[casofilia]

There was a change in this late last year; Princess no longer allow "Reserving" of Shore Excursions.

[PoohUnderstands]

Do the best of both worlds. Put the excursions in the order of wanting to do the most (in case they fill up) and if you have say 5 excursions, book 2 now and pay. Then in your next pay period, or next month, reserve 1 or 2 more and then in March 1 more, etc. This way you pay as you wanted to.

 

Pooh

[GweninTX]

This keeps people from booking lots of popular excursions and then canceling them. You can still cancel later, but have to pay to reserve them. I like this change!

 

 

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[Coral]

This keeps people from booking lots of popular excursions and then canceling them.

 

I don't think this is why they changed it. I think they are doing what they can do to get as much money upfront and because other lines do it.

[RickEk]

This keeps people from booking lots of popular excursions and then canceling them. You can still cancel later, but have to pay to reserve them. I like this change!

 

 

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I don't think this is why they changed it. I think they are doing what they can do to get as much money upfront and because other lines do it.

 

I think both reasons are valid and is basically a win-win for the line.

[easyboy]

The reservation payment for shore excursion was implemented a few months back. If you already have an accumulated OBC, maybe you can call Princess to check if they can apply them to the excursion you want.

 

 

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[ssbeagle]

I was told they had too many cancellations at the last minute. I don't like this new thing with having to pay up front either. I have used all my OBC for tours for our upcoming cruise. If enough people were to complain they may stop doing it. It would be nice if we could reserve our tours without up front payment as a perk for Elite or even Platinum.

[DrivesLikeMario]

It changed sometime between our August cruise (where we could pay onboard) and our September cruise (where we had to pay up front).

 

Almost all of the other cruise lines now expect you to pay in advance. Princess was one of the last hold-outs on this policy.

[Cancun01]

I don't think this is why they changed it. I think they are doing what they can do to get as much money upfront and because other lines do it.

 

Agree with the "much money upfront" aspect. This fairly new policy means that they can make the interest on your money instead of you. :cool:

[ian441672]

Thanks all. It makes sense though it is a nuisance as it goes against what I plan for and save. If other cruise lines are doing it and it is good for the company then I guess it was inevitable. I will try and ring up to see if they can put my savings against my excursions, otherwise I will cancel my manual OBC to the amount I need to pay, then use that. Long winded but there you go!

 

Thanks all.

 

 

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[cheeseclan]

I am not a fan of paying up front either but if there is a shore excursion (s) you really want then you have to do it. We did. I was able to book 3 excursions using my OBC with NO problems whatsoever.

Like i said not something we want to do but the excursions we booked are great and we did not want to miss out on them.

[Hlitner]

I can understand why Princess has changed their policy. Many cruisers would book excursions far in advance and then start to look for other less costly (and often better) options such as private tours (often joining with others via the CC Roll Call board) or DIY days. Many would even wait until the last minute to cancel, hoping to learn of better options from other cruisers (once aboard). The new policy does create more of a disincentive for folks to play these games.

 

Hank

[yags]

It is silly to suggest nefarious motives for why the Princess does anything. The fact is that is what they require now. Do it or don't Princess does not care either way. I find it to be perfectly acceptable to pay now for something I am asking for. If it is too much order it when you can pay for it. You can cancel up to 72 hours before departure of the excursion and buy another excursion with the monies already paid. Paying now gives you the luxury of not paying later and paying with money that you are not going to miss when the cruise is happening.

[shof515]

is they a place to book shore excursions on the ship without going to the shore excursion desk? can you book tours using the tv in your cabin, an app on your device?

[shukapaw]

I am not a fan of paying up front either but if there is a shore excursion (s) you really want then you have to do it. We did. I was able to book 3 excursions using my OBC with NO problems whatsoever.

 

We were also able to book excursions using the OBC we have from various sources (booking promotion, shareholder benefit and Military service OBC). It's unfortunate that Princess has had to implement this policy but I'm sure it is as a result of passengers gaming the system by reserving numerous excursions which they may or may not take. I do applaud Princess for allowing the use of OBC to reserve these online.

 

~Brian

[dickinson]

What do you do when one person has more OBC than the other? Shareholder credit is under my name so I have more OBC than spouse. For our next cruise we will use all our OBC for excursions but I need to give some of mine to my spouse. Previously I had read on CC that you could call Princess for them to do what it took but when I tried it 1x that person said no. I didn't push at that time.

[RickEk]

is they a place to book shore excursions on the ship without going to the shore excursion desk? can you book tours using the tv in your cabin, an app on your device?

 

Yes, you can use Princess@Sea on your smart device to book excursions. We were on the Island Princess for the 19-day Panama Canal cruise from LA right after the major earthquake in Mexico. Puerto Chiapas was dropped because of quake damage and Puerto Vallarta added. We were able to book an excursion with my iPad. No problem.

[Cruise Raider]

What do you do when one person has more OBC than the other? Shareholder credit is under my name so I have more OBC than spouse. For our next cruise we will use all our OBC for excursions but I need to give some of mine to my spouse. Previously I had read on CC that you could call Princess for them to do what it took but when I tried it 1x that person said no. I didn't push at that time.

 

I booked a cruise for my brother and his wife (as well as my DH and myself) and booked all our excursions based on what cabin the OBC was under. If you are in the same cabin, it should make no difference at all who has what, especially if you are both under the same credit card. But even for my brother and his wife, who were in a separate cabin, I just booked the tickets against the cabin with the most OBC. They wanted to do more excursions as it was their first cruise up to Alaska but our 10th ... so we weren't as interested in as many tours as they were.

Anyhow, at least for Alaska, it didn't matter who took the ticket so we just sorted that out afterwards. I just booked them under my cabin as we had a lot more OBC. I've also done the same when we went with my nephews. We prefer to stay onboard in a lot of the ports but all the OBC was under our cabin. We got the tickets that we booked and gave the tickets to them. Our names weren't on the tickets so I would imagine, it doesn't matter really who pays for them. If there is something wrong with that, I am sure someone will let you know. Anyhow, these were, in both cases, different cabins so if you are in the same cabin, I cannot imagine it would make any difference who the OBC belongs to.

[dickinson]

I booked a cruise for my brother and his wife (as well as my DH and myself) and booked all our excursions based on what cabin the OBC was under. If you are in the same cabin, it should make no difference at all who has what, especially if you are both under the same credit card. But even for my brother and his wife, who were in a separate cabin, I just booked the tickets against the cabin with the most OBC. They wanted to do more excursions as it was their first cruise up to Alaska but our 10th ... so we weren't as interested in as many tours as they were.

Anyhow, at least for Alaska, it didn't matter who took the ticket so we just sorted that out afterwards. I just booked them under my cabin as we had a lot more OBC. I've also done the same when we went with my nephews. We prefer to stay onboard in a lot of the ports but all the OBC was under our cabin. We got the tickets that we booked and gave the tickets to them. Our names weren't on the tickets so I would imagine, it doesn't matter really who pays for them. If there is something wrong with that, I am sure someone will let you know. Anyhow, these were, in both cases, different cabins so if you are in the same cabin, I cannot imagine it would make any difference who the OBC belongs to.

 

When you are in the same cabin and look at the details of the excursion it lists both names. You check off each name who wants to go. It is not by cabin but by name.