Alaska shorex must now be prepaid

Princess is now doing what HAL has always done - requiring prepaying of shore excursions. Next might be booking specialty restaurant reservations online and also paying for those in advance.

This past August was on the Grand Princess. For those excursions we would have had to pay in advance. So because we felt this was something Princess was trying out first with this ship, we didn't book anything in advance. We also had lots of On board credit.

In the end we booked private tours instead.

If that policy becomes fleet-wide, and we are no longer able to use OBC to pay for excursions, I will completely stop doing Princess excursions and switch to all private excursions.

 

I really hate to think that Princess is getting so money-grubbing as to resort to this, so I hope this pre-pay policy won't fly.

I don't think it's "money-grubbing". They're just bringing their policy in line with the rest of the industry. I don't like it much either, but it is what it is...

Has anyone tried to book an excursion by calling Princess (instead of booking on line) and asking the representative to draw down their OBC that shows up in the booking as their means of payment? If you tell the rep that you have $200 of OBC and would like to apply that towards your $140 excursion, what would they say?

As you know, OBC means onboard... it can only be used while onboard.

Has anyone tried to book an excursion by calling Princess (instead of booking on line) and asking the representative to draw down their OBC that shows up in the booking as their means of payment? If you tell the rep that you have $200 of OBC and would like to apply that towards your $140 excursion, what would they say?

I just talked with my Princess Personal Cruise Consultant, he is trying to book an excursion using the OBC. A plus for using a PCC.

Hollon,

No you have to prepay for the excursions so not allowed to use the OBC. That is a bummer since we have quite a bit of OBC for this cruise. Not happy about this at all.

Is the cancelation policy still going to be the same? Wonder if you can cancel once on board then rebook with your OBC.

As you know, OBC means onboard... it can only be used while onboard.

As the excursion is fully cancelable until you are on board, the debt is incurred on board. It should be possible to draw down OBC as payment and apparently weedpindle is trying to do just that. It will be interesting to see what happens there.

Has Princess given a reason for the prepay? I won't prepay for things and if I choose to cancel then it may hard to get my money refunded. I would rather explore the shops and go out on my own than do what they offer.

Is the cancelation policy still going to be the same? Wonder if you can cancel once on board then rebook with your OBC.

I'm guessing that could work unless there's a wait list for the excursion. And I'm also guessing you'd pay the current price on board, which might be higher than when it was originally booked. But I'm just speculating here!

Sorry to hear about this as it will certainly devalue the worth of OBC when they require immediate payment of tours. They have required prepayment of excursions prebooked for pre- or post cruise Alaska land tours in the past. Is it just Alaska? If so, I'm wondering if the tour operators are demanding $$ upfront. Hoping that is the case and this policy doesn't go fleet-wide.

Princess is now doing what HAL has always done - requiring prepaying of shore excursions. Next might be booking specialty restaurant reservations online and also paying for those in advance.

Just sailed on RCCL last month, and we had to pre-pay our specialty restaurant reservation. I don't like any of these new policies either, but I guess it's just a growing trend in the cruising industry. We rarely book excursions through the cruise line, and this is one more reason not to. Add us to the "we don't like it either" boat. :(

Has Princess given a reason for the prepay? I won't prepay for things and if I choose to cancel then it may hard to get my money refunded. I would rather explore the shops and go out on my own than do what they offer.

A letter from Princess was posted on CC touting the prepay option on the Grand to Alaska last summer. They made it appear that prepayment was something new (NOT!) & that it was to benefit passengers (NOT!)...talk about marketing gibberish! :rolleyes:

My recent Princess booking experiences have been that the cruise fare is higher & they're giving more OBC. Either way I'm paying about the same net price but now the OBC is devalued by not being able to use OBC to pay for prebooked tours. :(

Other lines I have cruised on have been doing this for years, so no big deal as far as I am concerned.

There is an advantage to this policy - under the old policy, people would book excursions early just in case they decided later on to take the excursion. That meant that people who had no real intention of taking an excursion would tie up space for people who actually wanted to take it. The end result is that the excursion is probably priced higher than need be because the cruise line had to plan transportation for a larger number of people than will actually be taking the excursion, causing additional expense to the cruise line when they end up with excess unsold capacity. The cruise line then increases prices to cover these expenses, costing everyone who actually takes the excursion to pay more than necessary to cover those loses.

Plus, it could also mean that an excursion "sells" out early due to people who will never follow up on the reservation filling it up, denying some from getting on an excursion they really wanted.

So to me, requiring pre-payment is a benefit. Prices might be lower due to less revenue loss for the cruise lines due to some people fake booking the excursion. And the chance of being left out due to overselling is minimized.

RCCL required prepayment & haven't seen any lower tours prices there and instead only the cruise line holding our money until the cruise.

Other lines I have cruised on have been doing this for years, so no big deal as far as I am concerned.

 

There is an advantage to this policy - under the old policy, people would book excursions early just in case they decided later on to take the excursion. That meant that people who had no real intention of taking an excursion would tie up space for people who actually wanted to take it. The end result is that the excursion is probably priced higher than need be because the cruise line had to plan transportation for a larger number of people than will actually be taking the excursion, causing additional expense to the cruise line when they end up with excess unsold capacity. The cruise line then increases prices to cover these expenses, costing everyone who actually takes the excursion to pay more than necessary to cover those loses.

 

Plus, it could also mean that an excursion "sells" out early due to people who will never follow up on the reservation filling it up, denying some from getting on an excursion they really wanted.

 

So to me, requiring pre-payment is a benefit. Prices might be lower due to less revenue loss for the cruise lines due to some people fake booking the excursion. And the chance of being left out due to overselling is minimized.

How does this change anything if the excursion is fully cancelable and the fee fully refundable? Why wouldn't people still make placeholder reservations? It's not like the time value of money is worth anything. If I am even marginally interested in an excursion that I think might sell out, I am going to book it knowing that I have up to the day before the excursion to cancel and get my money back.

All shoreEX for every cruise beginning in summer 2017 will be prepaid-- not just Alaska.

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IMHO, Princess is losing a competitive advantage. We will probably book fewer Princess excursions, choosing those that are unavailable privately (a train excursion that doesn't normally run on the day we are in port) or a long distance from port with a tight schedule (Cinque Terre).

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All shoreEX for every cruise beginning in summer 2017 will be prepaid-- not just Alaska.

Have you seen an announcement about this or are you speculating?

This past August was on the Grand Princess. For those excursions we would have had to pay in advance. So because we felt this was something Princess was trying out first with this ship, we didn't book anything in advance. We also had lots of On board credit.

In the end we booked private tours instead.

We were also on the Grand this past August ... maybe the same cruise. We booked all our excursions ahead of time for 4 passengers and got a slight discount in doing so. We were very happy with the process. However, ours were completely refundable within 48 hours of the excursion. I think that might be the issue here ... they are no longer refundable?? Is that right ... I don't know? Either way, it was just nice to have everything arranged ahead of time so we didn't have to worry about it once onboard. Plus, we saved a little money ... not a lot but a little. We've also done private excursions in Alaska but have always been impressed by those offered by Princess. Just another side to this but do understand people's frustration with it as well.

PS -- I never seem to have any trouble using up all my onboard credit. What's up with that?? LOL :D

Just received an email from Princess stating prepayment of all excursions starting next summer goes fleet wide.

This really stinks because we always used our OBC to pay for excursions and now it seems we will not be able to do that!!!!!

I wonder if I sign for money to post to my account at a table in the casino will my OBC be applied to that?????

Have you seen an announcement about this or are you speculating?

My TA forwarded her email from Princess & ALL tours will require prepayment beginning Summer 2017.

Dear Travel Partner,

Award-winning shore excursions have always made Princess cruises even more memorable. So it’s no great surprise that guests who purchase excursions directly through Princess rate their overall cruise experience higher than those who do not.

I’m pleased to announce two important shore excursion developments that Princess Cruises® will roll out fleetwide soon.

Best Price Guarantee

If your client pre-purchases a shore excursion and finds the same excursion elsewhere at a lower price, they receive 110% of the price difference in the form of a non-refundable onboard credit.

Best Price Guarantee will go into effect December 5, 2016 for all trades, excluding ports in Asia, Southeast Asia or Japan.

Pre-Purchase

Starting with Summer 2017 voyages, shore excursion reservations will require pre-payment.

Moving to pre-purchase for shore excursions brings us in line with standard industry practice and ensures the spots are only held by guests with firm interest.

We believe these programs will make it even easier for you to offer your clients the experiences that enable them to come back new®. Click here to learn more.

Thank you for your ongoing support. Please do not hesitate to contact your Business Development Manager with questions.

Best regards,

John

John Chernesky

Vice President

North America Sales

Princess Cruises and Cunard Line

This link shows additional information on the prepayment (including cancelation policies) & price guarantee:

http://www.princess.com/learn/faq_answer/pre_cruise/excursions.jsp?utm_campaign=SE6SX002_Agents_US&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&utm_source=BRAND&utm_medium=EMAIL&utm_campaign=OTHER&utm_content=SE6SX002&elqTrackId=322dc87879ee42588c1fd7e69b247fe8&elq=fca66a4a92b64940b6ee11a5fd631190&elqaid=4768&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=5761

Cancellation of Pre-Paid Shore Excursions:

If you have pre-paid a shore excursion and wish to cancel, the following shall 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 guest named on the reservation being cancelled then the pre-paid amount shall be applied to this balance.

Or,

2) If there is no shore excursion balance for the guest named on the reservation 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 guest for whom the pre-paid excursion is being cancelled makes another shore excursion reservation within 24 hours of cancellation, the refund will be applied to the newly made reservation.

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 guest named on the pre-paid reservation as a shipboard credit on this guest's shipboard folio. Please note this is done regardless of which guest pre-paid for the shore excursion.

Cancellation of Pre-Reserved Shore Excursions

Due to the nature of excursions involving hotel accommodations, flights and private vehicles, these excursions are not refundable after the closing date, which is 30 days prior to sailing.

Due to the limited capacity and high demand for helicopter flights, any excursion involving a helicopter flight is not refundable unless cancelled no later than 12:00pm on the day after embarkation.

For other excursions in each port of call, a "Closing Time for Cancellations" is listed on the Shore Excursion Order Form found in your stateroom. This is the time when the bookings for the excursions in that port close and we notify the local operators of the final excursion requirements. You may cancel an excursion if it is prior to the closing time whether you reserve an excursion in advance of the cruise or book onboard. However, we cannot cancel an excursion if it is past this closing time, nor will we refund an excursion on which you have reserved but do not to attend.

Cancellation of Alaska Land Excursions

Alaska Land Excursions, purchased through the Cruise Personalizer, may be cancelled up to three days prior to travel without any cancellation fees. Land Excursions cancelled prior to the cancellation deadline will be refunded to the credit card that you provided in the Cruise Personalizer to purchase your tours. Excursions cancelled within three (3) days prior travel are subject to a 100% cancellation fee, unless the operator, at their sole discretion, is unable to operate the program due to unforeseen circumstances. All sales of tours booked while on your land tour are considered final at the time of purchase and are 100% non-refundable except in the case of an operator approved cancellation.

How does this change anything if the excursion is fully cancelable and the fee fully refundable? Why wouldn't people still make placeholder reservations? It's not like the time value of money is worth anything. If I am even marginally interested in an excursion that I think might sell out, I am going to book it knowing that I have up to the day before the excursion to cancel and get my money back.

Many people are loath to tie up any of their own money, and while they will happily book excursions that cost them nothing out of pocket until the day of the excursion, will whine noisily about having their money tied up in someone else's bank earning the other guy interest and not them. I would expect many of those "book it anyway even though I'm not sure I want it" people to pass on making such a commitment. I read over and over again on these boards how people are outraged about paying in advance for something, and some of those people have made their displeasure heard even on this very thread.

The cancellation policy going into affect requires the cancellation be made five days in advance for a full refund to the credit card or to outstanding excursion reservations that have not yet been paid for. Cancelling on board just before the excursion will result in the refund being posted as OBC, which may or may not be advantageous, depending on on-board spending habits and how close to the end of the cruise that OBC was provided.

I am of the opinion that a significant number of people will hesitate in booking in advance because of the "greedy cruise line making interest on our money" feelings some people have, and a smaller number will hesitate because it is too much trouble.

The end result is that the competition for these excursions will lessen, making it easier for those people who aren't afraid of planning ahead and are willing to commit funds to do so.

How does this change anything if the excursion is fully cancelable and the fee fully refundable? Why wouldn't people still make placeholder reservations? It's not like the time value of money is worth anything. If I am even marginally interested in an excursion that I think might sell out, I am going to book it knowing that I have up to the day before the excursion to cancel and get my money back.

What changes:

Previously: If I change my mind about which excursion to take, I simply and easily with no complications cancel one and book the other.

Now: I pay for the excursion with my credit card when booked. If I change my mind, when I cancel the reservation I have to wait an unknown amount of time until the refund is back on the credit card account. When I book the one I change to, I again use my credit card, so for a while, I have paid the cost of two excursions and sooner of later will get a refund for the cancelled one. Much more of a hassle and depending on the timing of the refund and the need to get a credit to the credit card account tuned back into cash in my checking account, my checking account will have paid for two excursions.

And as others have pointed out, I cannot use OBC to pay for the excursions. Depending on what amenities such as pre-paid gratuities or AIBP came with the booking, it could mean all that is left to spend the OBC on is overpriced merchandise in the boutiques on board.

We were also on the Grand this past August ... maybe the same cruise. We booked all our excursions ahead of time for 4 passengers and got a slight discount in doing so. What makes you say you received a discount by pre-paying? Often excursion prices do increase closer to embarkation, but for those who booked early (and did not have to prepay), they were only charged the original price on board. Even when Princess had a "sale" on pre-booked excursions, that sale price was what was changed to the onboard account.

 

We were very happy with the process. However, ours were completely refundable within 48 hours of the excursion. I think that might be the issue here ... they are no longer refundable?? That has not changed.

 

 

PS -- I never seem to have any trouble using up all my onboard credit. What's up with that?? We do not drink much and rarely use the specialty restaurants. So if my booking included "free" gratuities, the main way to use OBC is to apply it to the shore excursions that were booked in advanced and the cost put onto my on board account. Seems to me the main reason for the new policy is to prevent OBC from being used to pay for shore excursions.

Some people like to pay as much as possible in advance so that they have a small bill at the end of the cruise.

Others want to pay as little as possible in advance, especially those who may not have the funds for shore excursions months in advance of the cruise and do not want to pay credit card companies 18% interest in order to book excursions.

Dear Travel Partner,

 

Award-winning shore excursions have always made Princess cruises even more memorable. So it’s no great surprise that guests who purchase excursions directly through Princess rate their overall cruise experience higher than those who do not.

 

I’m pleased to announce two important shore excursion developments that Princess Cruises® will roll out fleetwide soon.

Best Price Guarantee

If your client pre-purchases a shore excursion and finds the same excursion elsewhere at a lower price, they receive 110% of the price difference in the form of a non-refundable onboard credit. Probably as good as their shopping guarantee for Diamonds International and other recommended shops at ports. In most cases, there will not be the "same excursion elsewhere." For example, Princess excursions include pickup within the secure port area. Private excursions will not be allowed to get their vehicles or personnel into the secure port area and thus will not be the same as the Princess excursion. Consider the White Pass railway excursion in Alaska. The Princess excursion picks you up in the dock area. Booking the same trip on your own, you must walk four blocks into town, making it a different excursion.

Best Price Guarantee will go into effect December 5, 2016 for all trades, excluding ports in Asia, Southeast Asia or Japan.

 

Pre-Purchase

Starting with Summer 2017 voyages, shore excursion reservations will require pre-payment.

Moving to pre-purchase for shore excursions brings us in line with standard industry practice and ensures the spots are only held by guests with firm interest. Just as with the airlines, because most companies do it does not make it right for the consumer. Only Southwest Airlines allows you to have two suitcases at no charge on domestic flights. So far they have resisted charging for those two bags so they can be following "standard industry practice." Princess could also be best in the industry by not requiring prepayment of shore excursions. Instead, they have sunk to the level of the other cruise lines.

 

We believe these programs will make it even easier for you to offer your clients the experiences that enable them to come back new®. Click here to learn more. Not sure how this policy makes it easier for TAs to offer better experiences.

Thank you for your ongoing support. Please do not hesitate to contact your Business Development Manager with questions.

 

Best regards,

John

John Chernesky

Vice President

North America Sales

Princess Cruises and Cunard Line

 

This link shows additional information on the prepayment (including cancelation policies) & price guarantee:

 

http://www.princess.com/learn/faq_an...ampaignId=5761

 

Cancellation of Pre-Paid Shore Excursions:

 

If you have pre-paid a shore excursion and wish to cancel, the following shall 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 guest named on the reservation being cancelled then the pre-paid amount shall be applied to this balance.

 

Or,

 

2) If there is no shore excursion balance for the guest named on the reservation 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 guest for whom the pre-paid excursion is being cancelled makes another shore excursion reservation within 24 hours of cancellation, the refund will be applied to the newly made reservation.

 

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 guest named on the pre-paid reservation as a shipboard credit on this guest's shipboard folio. Please note this is done regardless of which guest pre-paid for the shore excursion.<--- That will make people happy.

At least this is not as bad as Carnival's policy which is to charge 25% of the cost of an excursion if cancelled once onboard.