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prepay for Princess excursions

sept10dsm

By sept10dsm,
in Princess Cruises

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RickEk

RickEk

Posted
Posted
It is a option but you do not have to do it.I don't think I would ever prepay just in case something comes up where you decide not to take the excursion.

 

If you prepay and cancel outside the cancellation period, you'll get your money back.

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Hoosier-Cruiser

Hoosier-Cruiser

Posted
Posted
If you prepay and the price goes up as it did on the Alaska excursions by 20.00 or more do you get it at the cheaper prepaid price?

 

You get the price that is stated to you when you reserve your excursion. The pre-pay is a nice idea, but I would rather spend the same money and pre-pay some OBC to my account. This way, if the ship skips the port or the tour is cancelled fro some other reason, I don't have to be concerned on how or when I get my refund.

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paul929207

paul929207

Posted
Posted
It is a option but you do not have to do it.I don't think I would ever prepay just in case something comes up where you decide not to take the excursion.

Whether you prepay or not, you have the same cancellation policy.

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BratDet

BratDet

Posted
Posted

ONLY because I would use my Princess credit card and then would get double points that would get credited to my account BEFORE my cruise...to boost my rewards balance...

 

I'm going to hit a good reward level any day now....(or might have hit it (waiting for next statement.)

 

500$ off my next cruise.

 

same thing with gratuities....

 

 

Bernadette

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Hoosier-Cruiser

Hoosier-Cruiser

Posted
Posted
ONLY because I would use my Princess credit card and then would get double points that would get credited to my account BEFORE my cruise...to boost my rewards balance...

 

I'm going to hit a good reward level any day now....(or might have hit it (waiting for next statement.)

 

500$ off my next cruise.

 

same thing with gratuities....

 

 

Bernadette

 

Just call Princess and gift yourself OBC. This goes through just like a normal Princess charge and you will have a balance on your onboard account that your shore excursions, hotel charges, etc will take from. If you don't want to worry about a refund at the end, just underestimate what your onboard spending will be. We did this on our last two cruises and it works great. I came home from my last cruise to a $30 charge for the week.

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Treven

Treven

Posted
Posted (edited)

I'd just send $xxx which would be credited to your onboard folio. Then as charges hit, that amount is deducted from your credit amount. I generally send myself enough money to pretty much cover all my expenses. This way I pretty much eliminate "sticker shock" on my next credit card bill.

Edited by Treven
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sept10dsm

sept10dsm

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Thank you all! Paying on board is what we have always done in the past. I just was looking at potential excursions and I never noticed the prepay option. I didn't want to go all the way to book so I decided to ask here! I noticed the option for prepaying gratuities as well. We haven't cruised since 2013 so many new options on Princess website. I'm just trying to see what else may have changed since we last cruised.

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Thrak

Thrak

Posted
Posted
Thank you all! Paying on board is what we have always done in the past. I just was looking at potential excursions and I never noticed the prepay option. I didn't want to go all the way to book so I decided to ask here! I noticed the option for prepaying gratuities as well. We haven't cruised since 2013 so many new options on Princess website. I'm just trying to see what else may have changed since we last cruised.

 

Prepaying gratuities really just gifts yourself OBC in the amount of the gratuities for the cruise. I prefer to pay it all off after the cruise and keep my money for myself as long as I can rather than making what is essentially an interest-free loan to Princess by paying in advance.

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knittinggirl

knittinggirl

Posted
Posted

We haven't prepaid our excursions, because we want to offset them w/ our OBC. We got some OBC for booking on the ship, more from the TA and more for the stockholder's benefit.

 

My big question is what happens if you change your shore excursion after you've paid for them?

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Redwing55

Redwing55

Posted
Posted
Why would people want to prepay when they don't have to. :confused:

LuLu

 

I suspect it may be that some people may have credit cards that may have credit limit issues. So they pay in advance and it's done. Or, maybe they don't even have a CC and want to limit cash they bring. All sorts of reasons...Glad that I can just put it on our CC's as late as possible.

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Wastegirl

Wastegirl

Posted
Posted
Why would people want to prepay when they don't have to. :confused:

LuLu

 

Because when I go on holidays I like to know everything is paid for and there are not going to be any further charges. Hence I prepay anything that can be prepaid or purchased ahead of time and then I buy OBC which will cover any extra costs I may incur on board. To date after 5 cruises I have never had an outstanding amount on my account. In fact a couple of them I had money returned to me.

 

That's just me, once I am on a cruise I am already prepaying my next one :)

 

It has also paid off a couple of times, especially my last cruise on the Solstice a whole raft of things went up in price considerably, our tours and the drink's package and if I had paid on board I would have been up for about $300 more.

 

However Princess is the first time we have been given the option of reserving and/or prepaying. On HAL and Celebrity you could only prepay or book on board, it is a very good option that Princess are offering.

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BratDet

BratDet

Posted
Posted

I have gifted myself OBC before...

 

but it seems so much easier to press that little button...so when I pressed it...

 

I still had to reenter all my CC info even though it is on my booking...

 

So, I'll gift myself OBC instead...

 

 

 

Bernadette

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BratDet

BratDet

Posted
Posted (edited)

I pre-pay on a cruise if i feel like it, because I prefer to be back from vacation without any large bills.

 

I pay off my credit card balances every month/do not carry a balance...

 

A few years back-When I paid in full for 6 people for a cruise, I knew the amount to pay in full would be over my limit on the Princess card...so-

 

I just put a payment of a few K on my account before I booked for us and the charges went thru without asking for a limit increase...and then got paid off.a few days later ..I could have paid with a different card, but Princess purchases get double points...

 

I usually toss everything I buy on Princess card to accumulate points....

so far I've gotten 500$ off a cruise, then 750$ off a cruise and a free balcony breakfast (leaving Venice)......

this year, I'll definitely get at least 500$ off this summers cruise...

 

I used an airline CC for my flights as we get two free bags....

 

I'm a CCL stockholder, so I also get free OBC every cruise I take....100$ for this years 10 day.

 

People who have to use a debit card often pre-pay to avoid having too high a hold put on the card and messing up their account.

 

 

Bernadette

Edited by BratDet
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cruisefan2012

cruisefan2012

Posted
Posted

Sorry to hijack this thread with more questions about shore excursions.

 

Sailing with Princess Cruises in 2016 on Dawn Princess - Sydney to New Zealand on 7th April 2016.

 

Never sailed on Princess before, had an email the other day to say that I can now book shore excursions - I log in and I already know which ones I want to do so I have "reserved" them.

 

Can I pre-pay in advance knowing that its one less thing to worry about or can I pay whilst onboard the ship?

 

Look forward to hearing replies :)

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