Using $50 shore excursion credit in advance?

[allyfrizzle]

When I try to book an excursion online, it only gives me an option to pay by credit card, although I have a promo $50 credit per stop.

How do I use the excursion credit online? Or does NCL want me to ::gulp:: call and talk to a real person to use this credit in advance?

 

Any insight is appreciated!

[valleyvillage]

You call the excursion desk and they book the excursion. You will get a confirmation e-mail. They don't charge you at that time. They charge you after the excursion and at the end of the cruise they issue a $50.00 credit to your onboard account.

[MountainMermaid]

If you book online, you have to pay in full up front. I did this recently and the $50 was credited to my onboard account after we did the excursion.  I think you can get the discount credited up front if you call, or maybe not even have to pay when you make the reservation.  I'm not sure about that because I'm one of those people who hates having to actually call. 🙂   

[Pitzel]

I begrudgingly called...and got a live human being within a minute or two! Booking was easy and no cost upfront if you call to reserve. Tickets will be delivered to our stateroom on the first night, the excursion will be billed to our onboard account (so, I assume that we can use some of our OBC to pay for the excursion), and we were able to apply our Latitudes discount and the $50 per port credit to the booking. If we change our mind, we can cancel up to 48 hours before sailing without any impact.

Not sure if I would ever book an excursion online with NCL again. Calling was so easy!

[MountainMermaid]

Definitely sounds like it's worthwhile to just make the call.  I will definitely give that a try next time! 

[esm54687]

21 minutes ago, valleyvillage said:

You call the excursion desk and they book the excursion. You will get a confirmation e-mail. They don't charge you at that time. They charge you after the excursion and at the end of the cruise they issue a $50.00 credit to your onboard account.

Just to add: if you DON'T have the excursion promo you will be charged even if you call.

[vince_g]

32 minutes ago, Pitzel said:

If we change our mind, we can cancel up to 48 hours before sailing without any impact.

You actually have 48 hours prior to the excursion to cancel.  That is standard NCL T&C governing shore excursions.

[Pitzel]

11 minutes ago, vince_g said:

You actually have 48 hours prior to the excursion to cancel.  That is standard NCL T&C governing shore excursions.

We were told 48 hours prior to sailing. Not sure if that is a policy change or simply inconsistency in the NCL staff.

[esm54687]

58 minutes ago, Pitzel said:

We were told 48 hours prior to sailing. Not sure if that is a policy change or simply inconsistency in the NCL staff.

Technically it is 48 hours prior to sailing but I've had luck cancelling 48 hours before the excursion if there is a waiting list. 

 

https://www.ncl.com/terms/shorex-dining-entertainment-spa

[Zippeedee]

2 hours ago, esm54687 said:

Technically it is 48 hours prior to sailing but I've had luck cancelling 48 hours before the excursion if there is a waiting list. 

 

https://www.ncl.com/terms/shorex-dining-entertainment-spa

I just called the other day to book a few excursions and was told cancellation is 48 hours before sailing or 48 hours before the excursion.

[Turtles06]

One tip for those going to call to book an excursion using the $50 promo:  before you call, take a screen shot of the shore excursion description showing the price.  I say this because, unless something has changed recently, when you get the confirmation email, it won't show the price of what you booked.  When I first discovered this, the rep on the phone told me they weren't set up to send the emails that way, but assured me I'd be charged the price of the excursion at the time of booking.   

[dbrown84]

one other thing to know.....if you booked all your excursions, they will charge your account for all the excursions on the first night of your cruise.  You'll then get the $50 credited back after each excursion is completed.  No big deal if you're backing your account with a credit card.  If, on the other hand, you're using cash to fund your account you'll need to keep this in mind.

[littlelulu01]

Anytime I’v called shore excursions they are very friendly, knowledgeable and they will go over excursions in detail if you have questions.  They have also given recommendations and will put me on hold/find out more and get right back to me if they aren’t sure. They’ll give you the running total with your latitude discount but yes, they don’t have ability to send invoices with prices.  I also screenshot the excursions because some of mine have increased since I booked. I think sometimes you get lucky if shore excursions are bookable season ahead - end up with the prices from last season. Great way to book if you want to use obc. 

[esm54687]

3 hours ago, Zippeedee said:

I just called the other day to book a few excursions and was told cancellation is 48 hours before sailing or 48 hours before the excursion.

So, which is it??   What if you cancel 14 hours before sailing but 95 hours before the excursion?  

 

This is why I included the link to NCL's T&Cs

[vince_g]

From the T&C:

 

Refunds and Cancellation Fees

Most tours may be cancelled one day or more prior to sailing, any exceptions to this are noted in the tour descriptions on NCL.com. Tour cancellations which occur one day or more prior to sailing shall automatically receive a full refund on the credit card used to purchase such shore excursion tour, unless the tour has a more restrictive cancellation policy or unless a balance remains due to be paid on the guest’s reservation. In order to receive a full refund a guest must cancel their reservation on a shore excursion tour, one or more days prior to sailing. If a guest cancels a shore excursion tour reservation within the cut-off window (one day or more prior to sailing) a full refund shall be posted to the credit card used regardless of whether or not the individual who made the purchase is sailing. Please allow 7-10 business days for the credit to post to the credit card account. Shore excursion tours can be cancelled prior to the start of the sailing by contacting a Shore Excursion Agent at 1.866.625.1167.

[allyfrizzle]

Thanks for the input, everyone.