Advanced payment for excursion question

I will be on a b2b cruise where I have more OBC than I know what to do with on the first cruise (not a bad problem!). The second cruise I don't have quite as much so will end up putting some of my excursions on a credit card. This is a cruise that could be booked a single cruise but I broke it up into two with different booking numbers because I saved quite a bit.

Has anyone had success, after paying for the excursions, going on the cruise and having the shore excursion desk credit back to your credit card and instead used OBC? I am guessing no but would like to ask just in case ;)

OK - why wouldn't you book the excursions with the OBC in the first place?

or are you trying to use some OBC from the first cruise and carry it over to the 2nd leg?

I would call Princess and ask if you can book excursions on the second leg using OBC from the first leg. The worst that can happen is that they say no. However, if the do say no I'd wait half an hour and call back as you might get a different answer. If you are booked with a TA then give them a call and have them work on it for you.

I would think they would have to cancel you out of the excursion in order to put the charges back on your credit card.

I agree with Thrak, call and inquire and if you don’t like the answer, call back again!

The problem is that by booking a b2b separately one has two different booking numbers with different amounts of OBC. Because your folio is not settled til you are leaving.. any OBC not used on the first cruise will carry over to the second.

Carolyn - I think you are right about the fact they would have to cancel the excursion reservation. If it is sold out with a waiting list then I would have a problem!

Called Princess and was told it was not possible. I would have to wait to be on board and book then. Of course, the excursion could be sold out.

Are you traveling with anyone? You could book an excursion for them and have them pay you the cash.

This is only an issue if you have more nonrefundable OBC than you would otherwise use onboard. Refundable OBC will be refunded by check soon after the cruise.

My brother and I recently returned from a Panama Canal cruise on the Caribbean Princess. My brother booked several excursions in advance using a credit card, since he didn't have much OBC. His onboard folio did not show any charges for the pre-booked excursions or any credit for the payment, so they could not be charged to OBC onboard. He then cancelled one of the excursions onboard. His folio then showed charges for all of the remaining pre-booked excursions and OBC (refundable) for his payment. Since he and I were in the same cabin with the same credit card, his excursions then used my non-refundable OBC, and we received a refund for the refundable OBC.

We did not do this deliberately, but it was interesting. No guarantee it will still work. My recommendation is that you book one excursion that you do not plan to take as well as the excursions that you do plan on taking. Then cancel the one excursion when you are onboard. If it works the same way as it did for us, the excursions will be charged to your folio (nonrefundable OBC first) and the payment for all of the excursions will show as refundable OBC.

Called Princess and was told it was not possible. I would have to wait to be on board and book then. Of course, the excursion could be sold out.

(yn);)

I would think they would have to cancel you out of the excursion in order to put the charges back on your credit card.

 

If you can a pre-paid excursion once on board, the money does not go back to the credit card.

Instead it goes to your on-board account as refundable OBC.