Alaska shorex must now be prepaid

[JoAnneNYI]

Just heard this today, second hand, as reported from someones princess vacation planner. It starts as of today Nov 1. that all Alaskan shore excursions must be prepaid. Guess the experiment last season on the Grand was a success.

 

Anyone else confirm?

[twiggycat]

Yes. We booked our May Alaska tours a few days ago and was surprised we had to pay up front.

 

Now we can't use OBCa to pay for tours.

[Colo Cruiser]

Bad move by Princess IMO.....

 

There are many private tour choices in Alaskan ports if one does not want to pay in advance.

Edited November 1, 2016 by Colo Cruiser

[Chief02]

Just heard this today, second hand, as reported from someones princess vacation planner. It starts as of today Nov 1. that all Alaskan shore excursions must be prepaid. Guess the experiment last season on the Grand was a success.

 

Anyone else confirm?

 

Quite frankly, that stinks. One of the best parts for us as frequent ship based Shore Excursion takers, was the ability to pay for them after the cruise had already been paid off. That set Princess apart for us from other lines, such as Celebrity. Oh well, so much for looking at the Ruby next year.

[Chief02]

Just heard this today, second hand, as reported from someones princess vacation planner. It starts as of today Nov 1. that all Alaskan shore excursions must be prepaid. Guess the experiment last season on the Grand was a success.

 

Anyone else confirm?

 

Forgot. Yes, I did confirm this with Princess, as well.

[CATGUY7]

Because of this post, I checked our ability to reserve excursions again for our July Alaskan cruise. (Had checked last week and was allowed to reserve, and then two days later they disappeared). Excursions are once again open, and my previous reservations are still showing. I am able to reserve and place in the shopping cart, and get as far as entering credit card info with my iPhone, but it won't allow me to make a payment. So I attempted with my iPad, and can't find the shopping cart icon that I saw previously. But my reservations say confirmed. I guess I'll keep trying. But I really hate having to prepay.

 

Update: Just received an email confirming payment.

Edited November 1, 2016 by CATGUY7
Update to post

[cheeseclan]

Just checked and the tours are open for our May 27 cruise tour. I was looking at tours and clicked on reserve and it then said must pay now or it will disappear within 24 hours.

This is nuts. Why should i pay now, big bucks, and then not be able to use any of our OBC later? Not happy about this at all.

 

Guess we will book on our own. As far as i can tell Princess will be loosing lots of $. Not smart at all.

[shredie]

Bad move by Princess IMO.....

 

There are many private tour choices in Alaskan ports if one does not want to pay in advance.

 

Yep. The Roll Calls will be busy with people arranging non-Princess tours.

[TravelingEA]

Last spring when we went to Alaska, we got a check back, since we did not use all of your OBC. We are going again in May with more OBC. I am assuming you can use the OBC on the excursions booked on the ship, however limited they may be.

[Potstech]

Still trying to get a refund from a pre paid tour from our May cruise tour. Jet boat out of Talkeetna broke down. Jet boat company said Princess had to refund the money. Princess has been silent ever since. Today, after telling them I ould start letting others know of their not refunding the money. Be very careful and keep every and all records of pre paid tours. I will never pre pay a tour through them again.

[Astro Flyer]

Bad move by Princess IMO.....

 

There are many private tour choices in Alaskan ports if one does not want to pay in advance.

I agree...one of the things that keeps me repeatedly returning to Princess is the option to prereserve tours & paying for them with OBC during the cruise.

 

We can still book Alaska tours using OBC but that's subject to availability & I've seen some popular tours nearly double in price before sailing. I won't risk having tours unavailable upon boarding & will book directly to save money instead of using the overpriced Princess tours. I'll use the OBC to pay for other onboard purchases & save cash by booking independent tours.

 

There goes one less thing that keeps me loyal to Princess & just like their test last summer on the Grand in Alaska it's the next step in implementing this change fleetwide...bad move by Princess!!! :(

Edited November 2, 2016 by Astro Flyer

[JoAnneNYI]

Well, If prepay a princess excursion...remember this

 

http://www.princess.com/learn/faq_answer/pre_cruise/shore_excursions_faq/best-price-guarantee.html

 

 

As soon as I pay I will be searching for price comparison and sending my form in to be paid the difference. As I do like to use my princess visa to get 2x points when paying.

[capriccio]

Does anyone have any ideas on how they will handle the cancellation refund process? Now you can cancel a reservation the day before (or some other designated period) the excursion and incur no costs. In the future they will already have your money and I wonder if they will make the refund to your folio or to the credit card account used to pay for the excursion.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Well, If prepay a princess excursion...remember this

 

http://www.princess.com/learn/faq_answer/pre_cruise/shore_excursions_faq/best-price-guarantee.html

 

 

As soon as I pay I will be searching for price comparison and sending my form in to be paid the difference. As I do like to use my princess visa to get 2x points when paying.

 

The new policy is not a surprise, as Princess is just catching up to the [unforunate IMO] practice of other cruise lines. The best price guarantee won't be much use if you are comparing a Princess excursion to a private excursion that costs the same but includes much more, or that guarantees a small group vs. a full tour bus. Roll Call excursions are usually a better deal, and never (IME) require advance payment.

Edited November 2, 2016 by Host Jazzbeau

[Alaska05]

Sad to hear this. I just booked a May 2017 cruise on the Ruby. Wanted to use our OBC for a tour since they are so expensive. We're not big drinkers, so not sure how we'll use all of it and it's non-refundable. Sad.

[SoCal Cruiser78]

I guess I'm not clear on one aspect of Princess' prepaid shorex policy. Can you still book shore excursions once onboard if there is still space available? Or do they want to sell them only ahead of time?

[caribill]

Just heard this today, second hand, as reported from someones princess vacation planner. It starts as of today Nov 1. that all Alaskan shore excursions must be prepaid. Guess the experiment last season on the Grand was a success.

 

Anyone else confirm?

 

Is this for all ships or just from one embarkation port like this past summer?

[caribill]

I guess I'm not clear on one aspect of Princess' prepaid shorex policy. Can you still book shore excursions once onboard if there is still space available? Or do they want to sell them only ahead of time?

 

 

Yes, you can still book them on board if there is space available.

 

Sometimes the price will be higher than if booked in advance.

[Thrak]

If true, Princess will just lose a lot of business. Foolish.

[Cruiser411]

I would think that they have thought this through. I'm sure there are many, many people who pre-book excursions and then cancel at the last moment. The ship then has to scramble to fill the excursion up or cancel it which leaves more disgruntled folks. Paying in advance allows them to more easily monitor their inventory with folks who are actually serious about taking the excursion.

 

And, btw, you can still use your OBC onboard to book an excursion. Yes, they might be sold out, but that's the chance you take.

[hollon]

Just checked and the tours are open for our May 27 cruise tour. I was looking at tours and clicked on reserve and it then said must pay now or it will disappear within 24 hours.

This is nuts. Why should i pay now, big bucks, and then not be able to use any of our OBC later? Not happy about this at all.

 

Guess we will book on our own. As far as i can tell Princess will be loosing lots of $. Not smart at all.

 

I'm on the May 27th cruise as well, so I put something in our cart as well, but didn't pay, are you saying we can't use our obc from princess for this excursion? if this is the case this whole thing is pointless.

[flamomo]

If that policy becomes fleet-wide, and we are no longer able to use OBC to pay for excursions, I will completely stop doing Princess excursions and switch to all private excursions.

 

I really hate to think that Princess is getting so money-grubbing as to resort to this, so I hope this pre-pay policy won't fly.

[Asa Hartz]

If that policy becomes fleet-wide, and we are no longer able to use OBC to pay for excursions, I will completely stop doing Princess excursions and switch to all private excursions.

 

I really hate to think that Princess is getting so money-grubbing as to resort to this, so I hope this pre-pay policy won't fly.

 

x2.

[JimmyVWine]

Has anyone tried to book an excursion by calling Princess (instead of booking on line) and asking the representative to draw down their OBC that shows up in the booking as their means of payment? If you tell the rep that you have $200 of OBC and would like to apply that towards your $140 excursion, what would they say?

[Eagle_and_hawk]

If that policy becomes fleet-wide, and we are no longer able to use OBC to pay for excursions, I will completely stop doing Princess excursions and switch to all private excursions.

 

I really hate to think that Princess is getting so money-grubbing as to resort to this, so I hope this pre-pay policy won't fly.

 

 

We are onboard with this too. We have Alaska booked for next August and will start looking for private excursions.