Disappointed related to Shore Excursions

[Jade13]

 

 

Other cruise lines charge the cost of pre-reserved excursions to passengers' cabin accounts. I do not understand why Azamara (and Royal Caribbean & Celebrity) require payment in advance.

 

Every cruise that we have been on (except where the excursions were included such as SilverSea and Swan Hellenic and other expedition cruises) such as Celebrity and HAL have excursions that need to be paid for in advance. We have no problem with that since they are confirmed, but understand there is little else to use OBC on Azamara since on other lines we would use any OBC towards the hotel charges or casino (and Azamara does not allow OBC for the casino where HAL does since the casino can be charged to the cabin portfolio).

 

Ok, so maybe thatis why 6 out of 9 of our excursions do not have the minimum to run. Perhaps people are waiting to use OBC once onboard?

[uktog]

I thought all beit with a 3% handling charge you can do a cash advance at the casino charged to your room which can be used to take out unused on board credit. Has this changed recently?

[Jade13]

I thought all beit with a 3% handling charge you can do a cash advance at the casino charged to your room which can be used to take out unused on board credit. Has this changed recently?

 

I don't know, but I do know people earlier this year who were allowed to cash out their OBC. Azamara let them do it because the shops were closed for renovation and the spa was completely booked, so there was no way they could spend $1,000.00 in OBC.

[BobTroll]

Every cruise that we have been on (except where the excursions were included such as SilverSea and Swan Hellenic and other expedition cruises) such as Celebrity and HAL have excursions that need to be paid for in advance. We have no problem with that since they are confirmed, but understand there is little else to use OBC on Azamara since on other lines we would use any OBC towards the hotel charges or casino (and Azamara does not allow OBC for the casino where HAL does since the casino can be charged to the cabin portfolio).

 

Ok, so maybe that is why 6 out of 9 of our excursions do not have the minimum to run. Perhaps people are waiting to use OBC once onboard?

 

Princess Cruises and P&O Cruises do NOT require pre-payment, when a passenger reserves shore excursions on-line. The cruise line charges pre-booked excursions to the passenger's cabin account - and passengers can use their OBC towards the cost. Furthermore, these cruise lines apply the following policies for subsequent cancellations:

 

Princess:

Cancellation on-line, prior to embarkation. The cruise line does not issue tickets, so no charge to the passenger's cabin account (and no penalty).

 

Subsequent cancellation on-board. Princess charges the cost of excursions to the passenger's cabin account. Subsequent cancellation will qualify for a full refund to the cabin account, provided the passenger has cancelled the reservation, before bookings for that excursion closed. So no penalty.

 

Late cancellation. No refund, if the passenger cancels after the final date and time for booking that excursion.

 

P&O Cruises (UK):

Cancellation on-line, prior to embarkation. The cruise line does not issue tickets, so no charge to the passenger's cabin account (and no penalty).

 

Subsequent Cancellation on-board. Princess charges the cost of excursions to the passenger's cabin account. Subsequent cancellation will qualify for a 90% refund to the cabin account, provided the passenger has cancelled the reservation, before bookings for that excursion closed. This equates to a 10% penalty.

 

Late cancellation. No refund, if the passenger cancels after the final time and date for booking that excursion.

[mzk90]

Azamara cruise fares include many items that are chargeable extras on other cruise lines, so it would have been difficult to spend all of these credits on other items. However, when I tried to reserve excursions on-line, the Azamara website demanded payment in advance.

 

If I had paid for shore excursions by credit card, I would have been unable to use all of our on-board credit. Consequently, I had to wait until we had boarded the ship, before I could purchase any excursions. Other passengers had the same problem - and one of the shore excusions on Azamara Quest was nearly cancelled due to lack of support (because insufficient passengers had booked by 6 pm on embarkation day, when reservations closed).

 

Other cruise lines charge the cost of pre-reserved excursions to passengers' cabin accounts. I do not understand why Azamara (and Royal Caribbean & Celebrity) require payment in advance.

 

Well imo you pay for the cruise in advance of getting onboard, so why not the excursions, especially when that money is for a 3rd party supplier and not just the cruise line.

[BobTroll]

Well imo you pay for the cruise in advance of getting onboard, so why not the excursions, especially when that money is for a 3rd party supplier and not just the cruise line.

 

Did you not read my original post? I said :-

"If I had paid for shore excursions by credit card, I would have been unable to use all of our on-board credit."

I had $1,000 on-board credit. If I had paid for my excursions in advance by credit card, most of my on-board credit would have been wasted. That is why I had to wait until I had boarded the ship, before booking any shore excursions.

 

It is irrelevant whether the money goes to a third party supplier. I am sure that the cruise line won't pay the supplier until after the excursion has been completed.