Onboard reservations and excursions pre-cruise

[Bubbs33]

I am new to cruising. When searching cruise personalized, there are many options to reserve excursions or onboard niceties pre-cruise. Is it cheaper or is there an advantage to doing this ahead of time? Appreciate your patience and wisdom. Cruising to Alaska on Island Princess if that makes a difference. Thank you.

[kylea_s]

I am new to cruising. When searching cruise personalized, there are many options to reserve excursions or onboard niceties pre-cruise. Is it cheaper or is there an advantage to doing this ahead of time? Appreciate your patience and wisdom. Cruising to Alaska on Island Princess if that makes a difference. Thank you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[kylea_s]

The price will be the same if booked precruise or on board. Most cruises it won't make a difference.However, Alaska is different. Popular excursions will be full. Ex. Sled dog rides, some of the helicopter tours. The train in Skagway will probably be available, they will just add another car. I'm not sure of the current cancellation policy is but your personalizer probably explains it. Sometimes they do have deals on board amenities, sometimes it's about the same price.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[vantec]

We have found that sometimes the excursion prices do go up, we usually book our excursions as soon as they are listed on line. Plus, we don't want to get on the ship and then have to stand in line to reserve an excursion, we like everything planned before arriving at the pier. We have never pre-booked the spa, so can't speak to that. We have purchased the water package way before the cruise, not sure you can get it once you board the ship.

[JF - retired RRT]

I am new to cruising. When searching cruise personalized, there are many options to reserve excursions or onboard niceties pre-cruise. Is it cheaper or is there an advantage to doing this ahead of time? Appreciate your patience and wisdom. Cruising to Alaska on Island Princess if that makes a difference. Thank you.

Depends on where you live. If you don't live in the US it may be advantageous to purchase ahead of time due to price variation when the dollar to other currencies fluctuates.

If you live in the US...it's up to you.

If you have On Board Credit (OBC), you can use it to pre-purchase excursions. If you don't have enough OBC, you'll be required to pay with your credit card immediately.

If you want to book a specialty restaurant (or anything else offered) pre-cruise, you must pay with your credit card.

BTW: If you're or anyone else in your cabin is a veteran or active military apply for the benefit NOW. Do a Google search for the info.

 

If you own 100 shares of Carnival Corp. stock, you receive OBC after you send in proof of ownership (another search ;)).

 

If you use a Travel Agent (TA), you can get a small or big price reduction and more OBC. Mentioning names of TAs here is forbidden.

 

Join your roll call!! If you haven't already done so. See "Find Your Roll Call" in the blue header at the top of every page.

[Bubbs33]

Depends on where you live. If you don't live in the US it may be advantageous to purchase ahead of time due to price variation when the dollar to other currencies fluctuates.

If you live in the US...it's up to you.

If you have On Board Credit (OBC), you can use it to pre-purchase excursions. If you don't have enough OBC, you'll be required to pay with your credit card immediately.

If you want to book a specialty restaurant (or anything else offered) pre-cruise, you must pay with your credit card.

BTW: If you're or anyone else in your cabin is a veteran or active military apply for the benefit NOW. Do a Google search for the info.

 

If you own 100 shares of Carnival Corp. stock, you receive OBC after you send in proof of ownership (another search ;)).

 

If you use a Travel Agent (TA), you can get a small or big price reduction and more OBC. Mentioning names of TAs here is forbidden.

 

Join your roll call!! If you haven't already done so. See "Find Your Roll Call" in the blue header at the top of every page.

Thank you. Got $50 OBC from TA and $100each for military program. Total $250 OBC. Didn't realize these could be used pre-cruise for excursions. Appreciate the info and guidance.

[Diver2014]

We pre book our excursions, specialty restaurants, spa, grats, anything that we would end up paying for anyway so we don't have a big credit card bill to pay after we get home. I like having everything lined up and paid for before we ever leave home, otherwise there isn't really an advantage, other than availability being limited once you get on board.

[skynight]

You know about excursions where you can use OBC to pre-book. If you are purchasing internet access there may be an advantage to pre-purchase. Other items like specialty dining are the same on board as pre-purchase.

[Coral]

On my last cruise - excursions went up quite a bit. Those who booked early definitely saved.

 

Also, there is always a chance that Princess will increases costs of beverage packages, tips, etc.... If you pay in advance, you are locking that price in.

[moki'smommy]

As per Coral's post, prices for Princess excursions do change as they fill. We definitely saw this on our 8/11 Alaska cruise. In addition, on the first leg, excursions in Juneau were "sale" priced the day before--we got a flyer with our Patter listing special prices. This did not happen on the second leg; must have been that the excursions weren't selling.

 

One point--we did 3 excursions related to wildlife. All were quite costly. If we had done the Skagway excursion first (which was amazing), we definitely would have made a different choice in Ketchikan. There was nothing wrong with any of the excursions--we got them basically as described. However, the Kroschel Animal Center from Skagway was totally incredible. The sea plane to Taku Lodge in Juneau was also great--lots of scenery, bears, talks about trees, etc. The bear/forest excursion we did in Ketchikan was "just OK," and had it not been the first one, I know we wouldn't have chosen it after the other two. It was just too repetitive and not as good as the other two. It was almost $500 for the two of us--that money could have been saved or better spent.

 

My point is to choose carefully. Waiting and booking while on board can mean sold out excursions and higher prices, but can also mean better choices on your part.

[darstamp]

I don't believe the exchange rate is an issue. When we booked our cruise, Princess had the exchange rate for CAD at $1.25 and we've been told that it will stay at that rate for us through the cruise.

[caribill]

I don't believe the exchange rate is an issue. When we booked our cruise, Princess had the exchange rate for CAD at $1.25 and we've been told that it will stay at that rate for us through the cruise.

 

As I understand it, it will stay that rate for anything you pay for pre-cruise. However, any on board charges will be in US $. If going to your credit card at the end of the cruise, you will have the choice of Princess or your credit card company doing the conversion to Canadian $. Either way, it will be at the current exchange rate. (But if Princess does the conversion, it will cost you more from a combination of using a poor exchange rate plus a 3% charge for the convenience of letting them do this.)

[darstamp]

As I understand it, it will stay that rate for anything you pay for pre-cruise. However, any on board charges will be in US $. If going to your credit card at the end of the cruise, you will have the choice of Princess or your credit card company doing the conversion to Canadian $. Either way, it will be at the current exchange rate. (But if Princess does the conversion, it will cost you more from a combination of using a poor exchange rate plus a 3% charge for the convenience of letting them do this.)

 

That's interesting information and definitely conflicts with what we were given to understand. We had a choice to select the currency we wished to be billed in and we said Cad but if that is the case, we will let our CC do the conversion. Thanks for the info.

[Krazy35]

We always book ahead just to avoid lines on board, but like others have seen price increases and sold out excursions on board. Also helps us to decide what to pack.

[cdngrl]

That's interesting information and definitely conflicts with what we were given to understand. We had a choice to select the currency we wished to be billed in and we said Cad but if that is the case, we will let our CC do the conversion. Thanks for the info.

i always bill in USD and let visa sort out the exchange... or, if you know your exchange rate with princess is 25%, buy yourself OBC (you will get it at 25%) to cover expenses.

the exchange rate for those of us with new bookings is now 30% but that's still better than what the bank charges.