'Upfront Payment' for hal shorex

[NSWP]

Hi, just reserved some shorex for our Westerdam cruise next March/April. Had to pay 'upfront by credit card for pre purchase. Has this policy always been there ? Other cruise lines don't take the $ off for shorex until you pay up end of cruise as part of your on board account. I am not complaining, it just seems unusual to have to prepay shorex 9 months out.

[Mr_Cruise]

The only major / mainstream cruise line, that I'm aware of, that bills the shoreX reservations to the on board account is Princess. All others charge at the time of confirmation.

[CherylsCaribbeanTravel]

Hi, just reserved some shorex for our Westerdam cruise next March/April. Had to pay 'upfront by credit card for pre purchase. Has this policy always been there ? Other cruise lines don't take the $ off for shorex until you pay up end of cruise as part of your on board account. I am not complaining, it just seems unusual to have to prepay shorex 9 months out.

 

No, the policy hasn't always been there, but like the previous poster mentioned, most mainstream lines are doing the exact same thing now. I was just on RCCL, and I think their policy is even less consumer friendly in terms of the cut off date for when you can cancel the tour and receive cash back vs. onboard credit.

 

Cheryl

[patseacruiser]

I know RCCL makes you pay in advance also if you pre-book. If you wait to book until you are on the ship it goes on to your onboard account but anything (specialty restaurants, shore excursions, etc) that you book before boarding you pay in advance for.

[Krazy Kruizers]

This has been around for several years.

Should you change your mind about an excursion you can cancel it anytime up to 5 days before the cruise and the refund will be creditedback to your credit card. Once on the ship you can cancel an excursion on the first day without penality. After that there is a 10% penality if you cancel by a certain date -- stated on the shore excursion papers that will be in your cabin. If you miss that deadline -- and/or don't go on the tour you lose all your money.

[catl331]

I guess it prevents people from just reserving a bunch of excursions while they decide which ones they really want. Only the serious passengers reserve ahead. If a cruiser wants a specific or popular excursion, it certainly is important to get your reservation in. On the other hand, the company gets cash early.

[srlafleur]

An advantage to booking and paying for excursions in advance is that the cost can be spread out over a period of time. Book one this paycheck, one next paycheck, etc. No sticker shock at the end. I like that. It's one of the reasons I like to cruise - so much is paid in advance.

[Johanna7]

An advantage to booking and paying for excursions in advance is that the cost can be spread out over a period of time. Book one this paycheck, one next paycheck, etc. No sticker shock at the end. I like that. It's one of the reasons I like to cruise - so much is paid in advance.

 

Yes, that is certainly so. All paid for and maybe forgotten about and then you have a nice outing not on your final bill from the ship. There will be enough on there without that.

[sevenseasnomad]

I guess it prevents people from just reserving a bunch of excursions while they decide which ones they really want. Only the serious passengers reserve ahead. If a cruiser wants a specific or popular excursion, it certainly is important to get your reservation in. On the other hand, the company gets cash early.

 

This is most likely the reason cruise lines have this policy. IMHO it's fair. We had a situation where we really, really wanted a certain excursion, but it sold out quickly. Got put on the waiting list and a few hours after boarding, the excursions desk sent us confirmation that we were on that tour. In the meantime we had changed our minds as DH felt it might be too strenuous. They moved down the list to the next couple. So, people do cancel sometimes.

[Harry1954]

The only major / mainstream cruise line, that I'm aware of, that bills the shoreX reservations to the on board account is Princess. All others charge at the time of confirmation.

Actually, Crystal Cruises does not charge in advance ..

It is hard to blame HAL for charging in advance as everyone would sign up for everything and cancel later ... while i have not seem this abused on Crystal, there are considerably less pax, so it is more sustainable.

harry

[pms4104]

HAL has been doing this since at least 2000 ... which is when we did our first HAL sailing.

[Randyk47]

Personally I have no problem with them charging for packages booked before the cruise. I agree with others who have pointed out you'd have folks reserving tours, cabanas at HMC, etc., just to hold them while they made up their minds if there was no up front cost.

[brfan]

The only major / mainstream cruise line, that I'm aware of, that bills the shoreX reservations to the on board account is Princess. All others charge at the time of confirmation.

 

NCL also doesn't charge until you are on the ship for shore excursion or entertainment/food (for those booked on the Epic).

[cruz chic]

Personally I'd rather pay for mine once on board. I like the way Princess does it. Even on Princess I only book the stuff I'm interested in. It never occured to me to book excursions just for fun. I'd rather have the money in my pocket then in HALs.

[HeatherInFlorida]

This really annoyed me because we had onboard credits showing up on our account, but they would not allow us to use the money. Same held true for PG. We were credited with dinner for two at PG but were not allowed to reserve in advance.

 

I can understand why they don't want passengers just booking up a ton of stuff. But if the onboard credits are already a matter of record on the account, we should be allowed to use it.

[3rdGenCunarder]

I guess it prevents people from just reserving a bunch of excursions while they decide which ones they really want. Only the serious passengers reserve ahead. If a cruiser wants a specific or popular excursion, it certainly is important to get your reservation in. On the other hand, the company gets cash early.

 

My airhead neice took her first cruise on Princess several years ago. She told me how they signed up for all sorts of tours, including a couple of very expensive sail/scuba tours. She said they wanted to sign up for more than one in case they had a rainy day and decided not to go on one.

 

I reminded her that she should check the cancellation dates on her tours if she wasn't going to do some of them. She was shocked to learn she'd be charged if she reserved and was a no-show. She thought it was like a restaurant reservation, where they don't charge you if you don't show up. :rolleyes:

 

So you do get greedy people who sign up for more than they will do "just in case." Meanwhile, someone who really wants the tour gets shut out, which is a shame. I'm glad that HAL does a good job with waitlists.

[patseacruiser]

Sometimes the TA obc doesn't go on until after final payment until you are closer to sailing depending on why they are giving you the obc.

[CtheW0rld]

costa doesn't charge ahead of time, either. i prefer HAL's way. as others have said, i can pay for my excursions ahead of time and avoid that 'OMG moment' when the final bill arrives.

[Opinions]

I don't mind paying for the tours when they are booked...However if you rebook a cruise in order to receive a lower price they cancel all your booked tours...On a 24 day Med cruise we had number of tours we had to rebook...We were lucky that they were all still available...Since we had already paid for them I don't see why this is necessary.

[3rdGenCunarder]

I don't mind paying for the tours when they are booked...However if you rebook a cruise in order to receive a lower price they cancel all your booked tours...On a 24 day Med cruise we had number of tours we had to rebook...We were lucky that they were all still available...Since we had already paid for them I don't see why this is necessary.

 

Did your rebooking give you a new booking number? If so, the old number would have been cancelled, and anything tied to that number was cancelled with it.

[NSWP]

Thanks for the comment and replies, I now see the point in paying upfront for shorex.

 

I like the point that your final bill on disembarkation might be a little lighter by prepaying shorex!

[Jade13]

Hi, just reserved some shorex for our Westerdam cruise next March/April. Had to pay 'upfront by credit card for pre purchase. Has this policy always been there ? Other cruise lines don't take the $ off for shorex until you pay up end of cruise as part of your on board account. I am not complaining, it just seems unusual to have to prepay shorex 9 months out.

 

Every cruise line we have used has taken money upfront, including Celebrity and Azamara. I see you have been on Princess and I believe they are an exception and not typical.

[NMLady]

Every cruise line we have used has taken money upfront, including Celebrity and Azamara. I see you have been on Princess and I believe they are an exception and not typical.

 

As someone else in this thread mentioned, NCL also does not charge until onboard the cruise.