? Re: Reserving Shore Excursions Via Cruise Personalizer

[img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]Hi! I just reserved a shore excursion for a Diamond sailing to Alaska for ten people on the Cruise Personalizer on the Princess web site under my profile. Everything seemed to go through just fine, and it said "Confirmed" at the end of the signing-up process, but I was expecting to have to submit a credit card number or something. Somehow, just signing up this way with no money committment makes it feel like maybe we don't really have a reservation. With ten people wanting to go on this shore excursion and all ten wanting to stay together, I am a little concerned. Do I *really* have a reservation for all ten on one train (White Pass Railway) all together? How will I end up paying for this?

Thanks very much for any advice you might be able to offer.

You will pay with your cruise card (backed by your credit card) on the ship. I like this as there is no charge until you go. Go back and check the personalizer and it will show you as being on that excursion. Now for being together, stay together the morning of the tour. Being reserved together doesn't mean that someone who is separated from you will be able to catch up with you.

Yes, if it said confirmed. You have 10 seats. Princess does not charge until you are on board. It goes on your sea pass. You will be told where and when to meet in one of the lounges. If you are a group, I would suggest you all meet just outside the door of the lounge then go in as a group. Stay together or you could end up on different buses. (This happened to my son and me on RCCL, they told him I would be put on the same bus but I'm disabled so they put me on a later bus. We did not see each other until we got back on board ship).

I'm not positive but I think you will be charged for all ten people and you will have to collect the money from them and put it on your account.

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Yep, whoever "reserves" the excursion is the one who will be charged for it on their onboard account.

As said, be sure you are all together when you are at the meeting place for leaving. Princess will give you each a sticker with a bus (or whatever) number on it. Tell them there are 10 people in your party and they will give you all the same number.

I prefer Princess' system of paying once on board. It gives me a little more flexibility if I want to cancel or charge my schedule. Even once on board it is easier; you can just fill out a cancel form and put it in a box, as long as it is before cut off time. On RCI I had to cancel my mother's excursions as she had fallen and was not able to go on the excursions. I first had to wait in the shorex line (1/2 hour), then was told I couldn't do anything until the tickets were actually delivered to the room; (one was never delivered and they told me to ask the room stewardess so I had to track her down and she didn't have it either) then I had to go wait back in the shorex line (another 45 minutes) -- all this on the first day and I had a 6 PM or so deadline (for next day excursions) in order to cancel without penalty! That made for a very frustrating and bad start to that cruise.

Denise

You will be charged on your sail and sign card once on board. I booked tours for 2 cabins,when I was aboard I went to the tour office and told them I wanted what tour to be charged to the another cabin. They took the tickets(which had my name and cabin #) and reissued new tickets and charged the other cabin instead of collecting the money from them.

The tickets will be in your cabin when you board or shortly after. Just check to make sure all tours tickets are there, two of our tours did not have tickets but were in their computer system. I went to the tour office and they reissued them.

[img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]Thank you for all the very informative and quick responses to my question. You have all been extremely helpful. I feel a lot more confident about my reservations now. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

As the others have said, the Princess reservation system is great. Much easier and more convenient.

As for the White Pass RR, I strongly advise having everyone meet at the end of the dock -- at least 10 minutes early. We had a group of 10 for the RR and my nephew and his wife (who are chronically late) showed up about 5 minutes after the time on the ticket. By that time, almost all the seats on the train had been taken. We finally found enough in one car at the front so it worked out.

As an FYI, the ships dock right at the White Pass RR terminal. The train will be there right at the end of the gangway. If you check the ship's cam on voyages previous to yours, you'll see the train in the view.

Oh... something else nice about Princess. My daughter was scheduled to go on this tour but at the last minute, felt sick and didn't want to go. I told the tour people, handed over her ticket just before boarding the train and was credited for her tour.

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WE've taken several cruises and I was the one responsible for ordering everyone's tickets, so they all ended up on my room.

No problem. I gave the tickets to the respective users, they brought them to the tour desk and had them switched to their card. One time my friends did it post-excursion, the rest of the times it was pre-excursion.

As someone said, for the train, get to the line early and stay together. It fills up quickly. Sit on the left going up for the best views!

Wow! Thanks for all the great responses. I do appreciate the advice on the White Pass RR and signing up for shore excursions in general. I have read and saved all the responses for future reference. This board is such a wonderful source of information. Thanks again!