Paying with Princess gift cards

[MrSchwump]

I am trying to pay for the soda package and some excursions in advance of our January cruise with Princess gift card. I’ve been told we can’t use the card until we get on board. That seems ridiculous!

Does anyone have experience pre-paying for stuff like this with a Princess gift card?

[beg3yrs]

I've been able to apply a gift card to on board credit (OBC) and then use the OBC to pay for things.

 

Evidently not all phone agents are capable of doing this and sometimes it takes a couple of HUACAs (hang up and call again) to find one who will do this for you.

 

The maximum amount of OBC you can pre-purchase is $1500 BTW.

[Rick&Jeannie]

@MrSchwump While I have not used the method that @beg3yrs suggests...it makes perfect sense.  I try to purchase as much "stuff" as I can pre-cruise I have run into this.  As of now, the website will not let you use OBC for anything except excursions and some additional "add-on" services such as drink packages & such.  If you can do an end run around payment using GCs by purchasing OBC as an interim step, you *should* be able to do what you want.

 

[MrSchwump]

Well the HUACA method worked! I was able to pre-pay from shore excursions. 
Yay!!!

The only consistent thing about Princess phone centers is inconstancy. 

[Esjung1]

2 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

@MrSchwump While I have not used the method that @beg3yrs suggests...it makes perfect sense.  I try to purchase as much "stuff" as I can pre-cruise I have run into this.  As of now, the website will not let you use OBC for anything except excursions and some additional "add-on" services such as drink packages & such.  If you can do an end run around payment using GCs by purchasing OBC as an interim step, you *should* be able to do what you want.

 

I'd like to do this to upgrade to princess plus but wasn't able to.  I've got $410 shipboard credit and want to use it to upgrade but was told by the chat agent I can't do that. 😞

[MrSchwump]

30 minutes ago, Esjung1 said:

I'd like to do this to upgrade to princess plus but wasn't able to.  I've got $410 shipboard credit and want to use it to upgrade but was told by the chat agent I can't do that. 😞

HUACA. 😀

 

I was told we couldn’t use them at all until we were aboard. I was told they could only be used for drinks but not excursions. I was told they could be used for excursions and not drinks.  They really need to tighten down their training policy. 

[Rick&Jeannie]

Yep...keep in mind that we are dealing with *relatively* inexperienced call center people since help center operations was moved to the Philippines.   It's going to take a while before any of them really get up to speed.  It's unfortunate...because new cruisers (or experienced cruisers with a complex problem) don't really know if you can trust the answer you get.

[jwattle]

2 hours ago, Esjung1 said:

I'd like to do this to upgrade to princess plus but wasn't able to.  I've got $410 shipboard credit and want to use it to upgrade but was told by the chat agent I can't do that. 😞

You can do the upgrade when you get onboard. The general rule is the OBC can only be used onboard, other than for excursions.

[Thrak]

7 hours ago, MrSchwump said:

They really need to tighten down their training policy. 

 

Wait... They have training?

[Rick&Jeannie]

12 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Wait... They have training?

Their boxes of training have been held up in shipment...they're flying blind right now! 🙄

Edited August 1, 2023 by Rick&Jeannie

[Rick&Jeannie]

Actually, they are operating from a very old Babbel language lesson...

[beg3yrs]

20 hours ago, MrSchwump said:

.... They really need to tighten down their training policy. 

 

13 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Wait... They have training?

 

1 hour ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Their boxes of training have been held up in shipment...they're flying blind right now! 🙄

Nope, no training, just a policy that needs tightening. Policies are more like suggestions or guidelines!