Royal Caribbean makes you prepay excursions?

[M&MCruisin]

Really? I am on a short 3 day cruise next month and it will be my first with RCCL. I was so shocked that Royal Caribbean makes you prepay for shore excursions. When I first tried to book online and saw it, I said..no way, I must be doing something wrong. So I called them and sure enough you have to prepay.

 

Now, you can cancel with 24 hr notice minimum, but still, kind of gives me a bit of a negative taste for this cruise line. Im not sure why it bothers me, but it does. I dont think it will keep me from sailing with RCCL, but it may not be my first choice. Its just wierd.

 

Anyone know how long it takes RCCL to refund your credit card for an excursion if you cancel it? Just curious. Happy Sailing everyone!

[GTO-Girl]

Really? I am on a short 3 day cruise next month and it will be my first with RCCL. I was so shocked that Royal Caribbean makes you prepay for shore excursions. When I first tried to book online and saw it, I said..no way, I must be doing something wrong. So I called them and sure enough you have to prepay.

 

Now, you can cancel with 24 hr notice minimum, but still, kind of gives me a bit of a negative taste for this cruise line. Im not sure why it bothers me, but it does. I dont think it will keep me from sailing with RCCL, but it may not be my first choice. Its just wierd.

 

Anyone know how long it takes RCCL to refund your credit card for an excursion if you cancel it? Just curious. Happy Sailing everyone!

 

I don't think it's weird at all. How else can they have a definate number of who exactly is taking an excursion? Otherwise you would have a lot of people reserving a space and then changing their minds and never cancelling. It would be a nightmare.

 

A lot of these excursions sell out fast, so I'm sure they need to know who's definately going and with you only being a month away those numbers have to be nailed down fast.

 

I would think most all cruiselines would do this the same way.

[akcruz]

If you cancel prior to your cruise it takes about a week to get a refund. If you cancel on board it goes against your onboard account almost immediately.

 

Personally the more I can get taken care of prior to the cruise the better, it stretches the cost of my cruise out over a longer period and makes that bill at the end not seem quite so bad :eek:.

[M&MCruisin]

I don't think it's weird at all. How else can they have a definate number of who exactly is taking an excursion? Otherwise you would have a lot of people reserving a space and then changing their minds and never cancelling. It would be a nightmare.

 

A lot of these excursions sell out fast, so I'm sure they need to know who's definately going and with you only being a month away those numbers have to be nailed down fast.

 

I would think most all cruiselines would do this the same way.

 

Whether you prepay (RCCL) or not (PCL, NCL), the cancellation is still up to 24 hours. Either way, people can change their mind last minute, so getting a head count is no different. Also, if you look at the other side of this coin....if you dont cancel your tour with Princess or NCL, then its still charged to your onboard account, so I dont see how that is a nightmare. Ive never seen empty tour buses on other cruise lines so it must work for them.

 

If you cancel prior to your cruise it takes about a week to get a refund. If you cancel on board it goes against your onboard account almost immediately.

 

Personally the more I can get taken care of prior to the cruise the better, it stretches the cost of my cruise out over a longer period and makes that bill at the end not seem quite so bad :eek:.

 

Thanks for the info! I wont be able to cancel onboard with 24 hours notice since its the first island, so if I did cancel, which I likely wont, but if I did, I would do it before I left and have to wait for a refund. I think thats what bothers me. I would be hunting down my refund.

 

Good point on stretching the cost out. Its just getting used to something different i guess. For the last several years, I havent prepaid, now I have to for this cruise. Its just goes against what Ive been used to, so naturally, I dont like it at first. ha ha. We are creatures of habbit!

[Caliterp07]

Yeah, it was a bit of a turn off to me too. I don't think HAL made us do that last cruise. I like being able to charge stuff to my seapass account and pay the bill all at the end--time value of money!

[Jumbiecruiser]

It's has to be paid at sometime. Why not when you book? All cruise lines are different. No problem here mon.

[cb at sea]

If you put it in the same card you'll be using for your shipboard account, it will all pretty much work out as if you'd charged it to your shipboard account.

 

RCI makes you prepay anything you book in advance...specialty dining, excursions, onboard gifts....

[NancyIL]

Yeah, it was a bit of a turn off to me too. I don't think HAL made us do that last cruise. I like being able to charge stuff to my seapass account and pay the bill all at the end--time value of money!

 

HAL charged our excursions at the time I booked them for an Alaska cruise in 2008.

[ChipLondon]

A cruise is only really one big excursion, and you have to prepay for that, so where is the problem.

[UandMe4Ever]

It's has to be paid at sometime. Why not when you book? All cruise lines are different. No problem here mon.

On RCCI, when we book, we use our regular charge card. It's done and paid for in advance, print out the confirmation and it with us. We can always cancel 24 hours before if we change our mind.

 

On NCL, they charge your seapass the morning of the scheduled excursion. You also can cancel up to 24 hours in advance.

 

To me, this is a win-win situation! I like having excursions paid for before we leave, preferabbly, less on the seapass card at the end. We budget the prepays on the other lines, so it's no probably. Spend it before, spend it during, still gotta pay for it!

 

Don't sweat the small stuff. Enjoy your cruise!

[Paul65]

Whether you prepay (RCCL) or not (PCL, NCL), the cancellation is still up to 24 hours. Either way, people can change their mind last minute, so getting a head count is no different. Also, if you look at the other side of this coin....if you dont cancel your tour with Princess or NCL, then its still charged to your onboard account, so I dont see how that is a nightmare. Ive never seen empty tour buses on other cruise lines so it must work for them.

 

Actually, it's probably much different on getting a head-count. If you have to pay up front, people are much more likely to only book what they really think they're going to do. Paying, with the option of cancelling and getting a refund later, is a bigger committment in many people's minds than just signing up w/o having to put up the money.

[emilygrace]

You could wait and book once you are on board, but you will take the chance that the excursion will be sold out.

[M&MCruisin]

good grief. Its not like I was trashing RCCL or threatening to cancel for such a little thing. Its just different and Im not used to it.

 

There is a BIG difference between paying in advance and paying at the time of excursion. More money I have to have NOW. Some of us dont have a money tree in their yard. I work really hard to pay cash for everything and having to have another $115 for an excursion 45 days sooner than I thought is a big difference to me. So while some of you can freely go to the over flowing bank account, I have to plan and I didnt plan on this. Never knew this would even be an issue. If I had known, I would have been able to plan and will for future cruises.

 

Since some here think I am so out of line...Im curious....when you sail with another line and want to book excursions, do you also pay for it now or do you thankfully wait until they charge it to the onboard account? If you do pay now, more power to you. If not, well...ummm...

 

Hi Paul65 - good point. That is very true and makes good sense. Thanks for the input!

[UandMe4Ever]

good grief. Its not like I was trashing RCCL or threatening to cancel for such a little thing. Its just different and Im not used to it.

 

There is a BIG difference between paying in advance and paying at the time of excursion. More money I have to have NOW. Some of us dont have a money tree in their yard. I work really hard to pay cash for everything and having to have another $115 for an excursion 45 days sooner than I thought is a big difference to me. So while some of you can freely go to the over flowing bank account, I have to plan and I didnt plan on this. Never knew this would even be an issue. If I had known, I would have been able to plan and will for future cruises.

 

Since some here think I am so out of line...Im curious....when you sail with another line and want to book excursions, do you also pay for it now or do you thankfully wait until they charge it to the onboard account? If you do pay now, more power to you. If not, well...ummm...

 

Hi Paul65 - good point. That is very true and makes good sense. Thanks for the input!

I didn't mean to imply anything bad. I'm sorry if you mistook my post as such! I was merely pointing the difference in cruise lines. Believe me, I understand completely waiting till on board to have the seapass card charged at that point and not sooner. Been there and still doin it!

 

I apologize if you got upset. Not my intention at all. In a way, the better way is probably when it's billed to the seapass. Nothing can happen till ship docks back in the States....

 

Safe sails and again, sorry! No hard feelings, I hope.

[M&MCruisin]

You could wait and book once you are on board, but you will take the chance that the excursion will be sold out.

 

Yeah, I thought of that. My mom really wants to swim with the sealions so I didnt want to take the chance that the cruise line would sell out.

[M&MCruisin]

I didn't mean to imply anything bad. I'm sorry if you mistook my post as such! I was merely pointing the difference in cruise lines. Believe me, I understand completely waiting till on board to have the seapass card charged at that point and not sooner. Been there and still doin it!

 

I apologize if you got upset. Not my intention at all. In a way, the better way is probably when it's billed to the seapass. Nothing can happen till ship docks back in the States....

 

Safe sails and again, sorry! No hard feelings, I hope.

 

aww...oh no worries...thanks so much for participating in the discussion!

[madforcruising]

.......Since some here think I am so out of line...Im curious....when you sail with another line and want to book excursions, do you also pay for it now or do you thankfully wait until they charge it to the onboard account? If you do pay now, more power to you. If not, well...ummm...

 

 

I don´t know the policies of all lines, but I don´t think the cruise lines usually give you a choice about when to pay, but they either charge you right away, or onborad. I don´t thankfully wait, I just have to. I´d rather have that taken care of before leaving.

[lovemylab]

good grief. Its not like I was trashing RCCL or threatening to cancel for such a little thing. Its just different and Im not used to it.

 

There is a BIG difference between paying in advance and paying at the time of excursion. More money I have to have NOW. Some of us dont have a money tree in their yard. I work really hard to pay cash for everything and having to have another $115 for an excursion 45 days sooner than I thought is a big difference to me. So while some of you can freely go to the over flowing bank account, I have to plan and I didnt plan on this. Never knew this would even be an issue. If I had known, I would have been able to plan and will for future cruises.

 

Since some here think I am so out of line...Im curious....when you sail with another line and want to book excursions, do you also pay for it now or do you thankfully wait until they charge it to the onboard account? If you do pay now, more power to you. If not, well...ummm...

 

Hi Paul65 - good point. That is very true and makes good sense. Thanks for the input!

 

Another way to look at it is thats $115 less in cash that you will have to take with you.

 

Personally, I prefer to pay for as much stuff as I can before I go on vacation. And I certainly don't have a money tree in my yard or an overflowing bank account.

 

If you don't want to pay now you can always book once onboard. I was told that the cruiseline holds a number of spots for onboard bookings.

[bplazo]

I actually like to pay for the excursions before I cruise (I don't have a money tree but it would be nice) that way it is already paid for and I use my Royal Carribbean card and I get double points before the cruise. If I happen to cancel the excursion onboard I just have extra OBC.

[JenAndDan]

I didn't even realize not all cruise lines were not letting people pre-book/pay in advance. We had to do so on our last cruise which was a Princess cruise. I remember years ago when they didn't have pre-booking and it was such a disaster because as soon as we got onboard we had to run to the excursion desk and wait in the huge line to try and get what we wanted. it was like college all over again. I was so glad when they started letting us pre-book. Now I don't really book through the cruise line so I actually have to pay the day of again.

[negc]

Yeah, it was a bit of a turn off to me too. I don't think HAL made us do that last cruise. I like being able to charge stuff to my seapass account and pay the bill all at the end--time value of money!

 

You can still do that with RCI but you do run the risk of finding that the excursion is all booked up by the time you get onboard and order the tour. You are going to have to pay for the excursion at some time or other so having to pay for it in advance doesn't seem, to me at least, to be an insurmountable obstacle. If there is an excursion that you really are interested in and you don't want to be left out, you'll just have to weigh the benefit of being assured of being included against the negative of being charged for it before you set sail. If you time things properly to take your billing cycle into consideration, you may not lose much "time value" by ordering the excursion before you board.;)

[houlacruiser]

I find that it helps me budget, but can certainly understand that if you weren't expecting it, it would be an inconvenience.

I also pay cash for my on board account and we debit the excursions right out of our checking account. For me, especially when we do expensive excursions it helps me to spend a couple hundred a month for a few months pre-cruise instead of fainting and falling off my balcony when I get my Sea Pass Bill!!! :eek:

Like others have mentioned, if you are worried about the tour selling out I wold pre-book/pre-pay. If not then wait until you are onboard to book, and it will go onto your on board account. If you wait and it is sold out, they are good about wait listing people and if there is a cancellation you may still be able to squeeze on the tour. :) Happy cruising!

[Caliterp07]

You can still do that with RCI but you do run the risk of finding that the excursion is all booked up by the time you get onboard and order the tour. You are going to have to pay for the excursion at some time or other so having to pay for it in advance doesn't seem, to me at least, to be an insurmountable obstacle. If there is an excursion that you really are interested in and you don't want to be left out, you'll just have to weigh the benefit of being assured of being included against the negative of being charged for it before you set sail. If you time things properly to take your billing cycle into consideration, you may not lose much "time value" by ordering the excursion before you board.;)

 

Right, but HAL let you prebook and pay when you cash out your sea pass at the end of the trip. It could be a 6 month difference in time, which is fairly significant.

 

It's a trivial amount, and in the end it doesn't matter that much to me anyway since I've started booking everything privately, but I make it a policy to maximize my dollars when I can--and paying for stuff multiple months in advance doesn't really make sense.

 

Not gonna lose sleep over it, just wish it was a little different, that's all!

[Gilgo Surfer]

You could wait and book once you are on board, but you will take the chance that the excursion will be sold out.

 

Exactly. I book an excursion because it is something I really want to do and have no problem paying in advance. Otherwise why not book every excursion and than decide at the last minute which one you want to do?

[M&MCruisin]

I find that it helps me budget, but can certainly understand that if you weren't expecting it, it would be an inconvenience.

!

 

Exactly! thanks so much for understanding. I know I have to pay for it eventually, but again, I wasnt expecting to pay this week. Thought I had more time to gather the funds.

 

This was also a last minute cruise decision, which I needed cash for the cruise and the airfare fairly quickly. So I literally worked some paint jobs on the weekend and sold a bunch of things on ebay to pay for it. Having to pay for something else right now felt like drawing blood from a turnip.

 

Like Ive said, it wasnt a huge deal, It was surprising, it left me a little disappointed, but it certainly wont make me stop sailing RCL. Thats just silly.