Shore Excursion Refund

[silversneakers]

Booked several shore excursions on Princess prior to cruise. We had $400 onboard credit and they quickly used this toward the payment of the excursions. Now we may have to cancel those excursions (total is above the $400) so I assume they will take back the $400 and place it as onboard credit again. But what about the remainder of the prepayment for tours I have to cancel?  Does that also stay as OBC or will they refund me directly?

[hokiefans]

They will refund you directly.

[lstone19]

If you have to cancel on the ship, any prepayment will be refunded as refundable-OBC on your shipboard account.

 

From my experience last summer, it appears that when you pre-pay for excursions, you are essentially buying refundable-OBC that will be applied to your shipboard account to pay for the excursions. When you check your account on board, you'll see the prepayment amount as a credit to your account along with all the shore excursions that you pre-paid as charges to your account. So when you cancel an excursion on board, the charge goes away but the credit for the pre-payment is still there and results in refundable-OBC.

[Paula_MacFan]

From the Princess website:

 

SHORE EXCURSION CANCELLATION & REFUND POLICY. If you have booked a shore excursion you must cancel your booking prior to the scheduled closing time printed on the Shore Excursion Order Form found in your stateroom. No refunds will be made for any excursion unless notice of cancellation is given before the closing time. For excursions involving hotel accommodations, flights and private vehicles the closing time is 30 days prior to sailing and no refund will be made after this date. For excursions involving helicopter flights, you must cancel your booking by 12:00 p.m. on the day after embarkation. Carrier cannot cancel any excursion if it is past the closing time, nor will Carrier refund any excursion on which you choose not to go.

No refunds can be made on any excursion booking unless notice of cancellation is given before the closing time indicated on the booking form for the excursions involved. The times when bookings will close will be published onboard. In the event of any excursion being canceled for reasons beyond Princess’ control, a full refund will be made. If any excursion must be abandoned through force majeure or difficulties en route, the best possible refund will be arranged according to the circumstances.

If you have pre-paid a shore excursion and wish to cancel, the following will also apply:

If a pre-paid shore excursion is cancelled five (5) days or more prior to sailing a refund of the pre-paid amount will be made in one of the following ways:

1) If there is a shore excursion balance for the passenger named on the booking being cancelled then the pre-paid amount shall be applied to this balance.

Or,

2) If there is no shore excursion balance for the passenger named on the booking being cancelled then the pre-paid amount will be refunded to the credit card used to pre-pay the shore excursion. Refunds in this instance will be made within 24 hours of cancellation. If the passenger for whom the pre-paid excursion is being cancelled makes another shore excursion booking within 24 hours of cancellation, the refund will be applied to the newly made booking.

If a pre-paid shore excursion is not cancelled within the above time frame or is cancelled during the voyage prior to the "Closing Time for Cancellation" listed for the particular excursion you wish to cancel, then the pre-paid amount will be refunded to the passenger named on the pre-paid reservation as a shipboard credit on this passenger’s shipboard folio. Please note this is done regardless of which passenger pre-paid for the shore excursion.

[Nightowl11]

3 hours ago, Paula_MacFan said:

No refunds can be made on any excursion booking unless notice of cancellation is given before the closing time indicated on the booking form for the excursions involved. The times when bookings will close will be published onboard.

So on the Alaskan cruises, what is the time frame to cancel excursions?   I'm thinking about booking the Rock Climbing in Skagway and the ATV Adventure Karts in Ketchikan.  Does the cancellation window close the night before?  Or 2 nights before? Or a specific time like 5pm the day before?  Does it have to be when the shore excursion desk is open?  If the booking closing times are only onboard, is there time to cancel onboard if the excursion is on day 2 or 3?