Alaska shorex must now be prepaid

[flamomo]

Here's something else to wonder about ..... if excursions are cancelled within the appropriate time frame while onboard, and the cost of them is "refunded" to the person's shipboard account ...... but, in the instance of multiple tour cancellations for one person ..... results in more credit in the shipboard account than the person has ultimately spent onboard, is the remaining balance at the end of the cruise refunded to the passenger as cash in hand or a check mailed to the person or refunded to the credit card????? Or does the passenger just lose that amount?

[denatravels]

Here's something else to wonder about ..... if excursions are cancelled within the appropriate time frame while onboard, and the cost of them is "refunded" to the person's shipboard account ...... but, in the instance of multiple tour cancellations for one person ..... results in more credit in the shipboard account than the person has ultimately spent onboard, is the remaining balance at the end of the cruise refunded to the passenger as cash in hand or a check mailed to the person or refunded to the credit card????? Or does the passenger just lose that amount?

 

 

Supposedly they will send a check-- but I had a huge problem getting a check from my last princess cruise, with multiple reps insisting they use refundable OBC before non-refundable. Finally got it sorted, but it shouldn't have been so difficult!

 

 

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[flamomo]

I have a very port intensive 23 day cruise in the Med and Aegean booked for Fall 2017, which WOULD HAVE resulted in a lot of Princess excursions, but for the upcoming change to the prepaid system.

 

NOW I will be spending my spare time between now and that cruise researching and lining up PRIVATE TOURS for all 18 port days!!

 

Had Princess not opted to go this route, I know that most, if not all, of those days WOULD HAVE been spent on Princess excursions, which would have amounted to close to couple of thousand dollars each for me and my cruise buddy.

 

I'm sure a LOT of people will make this change on who they book tours with, especially once the word gets out among Princess fans. Maybe Princess will find they shot themselves in the foot with this, if the income for tours drops.

 

The suckiest part to me is that all that OBC that I get will no longer be useable for excursions unless I am willing to wait until I get onboard and try to find something of interest from whatever tours are still available by then.

[akswimmom]

I have a very port intensive 23 day cruise in the Med and Aegean booked for Fall 2017, which WOULD HAVE resulted in a lot of Princess excursions, but for the upcoming change to the prepaid system.

 

NOW I will be spending my spare time between now and that cruise researching and lining up PRIVATE TOURS for all 18 port days!!

 

Had Princess not opted to go this route, I know that most, if not all, of those days WOULD HAVE been spent on Princess excursions, which would have amounted to close to couple of thousand dollars each for me and my cruise buddy.

 

I'm sure a LOT of people will make this change on who they book tours with, especially once the word gets out among Princess fans. Maybe Princess will find they shot themselves in the foot with this, if the income for tours drops.

 

The suckiest part to me is that all that OBC that I get will no longer be useable for excursions unless I am willing to wait until I get onboard and try to find something of interest from whatever tours are still available by then.

 

 

Hi, I'm not so sure it really affect the numbers taking excursions. If you look at other cruise lines that have required prepaying they don't seem to have any problems filling their excursions. I know for our upcoming Cruise in Europe next year we have several DIY tours but the majority are ship excursions. This policy won't change my mind on booking them.

 

 

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[brian1]

Supposedly they will send a check-- but I had a huge problem getting a check from my last princess cruise, with multiple reps insisting they use refundable OBC before non-refundable. Finally got it sorted, but it shouldn't have been so difficult!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Those reps are wrong,non-refundable gets used up first,cheers,Brian.

[GJCruiser]

The fine print on the Shipboard Credit (non-refundable OBC) has always stated "not for use in Casino". However, that has not been enforced in the past. If that begins to be enforced, the Shipboard Credit loses its value, especially with gratuities being included in some of the special offers (3 for free). I am hopeful that Princess will allow us to 'commit' our Shipboard Credit for reserved excursions.

[HleeCruiser]

I think it is a great idea. Will definitely keep people from holding space that they may or may not use. Way to go Princess.

[BigTimeCruiser]

This will make organizing Private Tours through Cruise Critic Roll Call Threads even more important and valuable.

[greenie082756]

On our last cruise we added an excursion on the ship. There was quite a line and it made me wonder how many were canceling tours. It did make me wonder if the excursion process was a bit too lenient. So not surprised.

 

From a business point of view I can see why this is being implemented. We have never cancelled an excursion that we reserved but Princess tour operators once cancelled a cruise on us because there was not enough people signed up. That really disappointed me as I wanted to do that excursion.

 

I won't mind paying up front. I understand why.What I do mind is that I most likely will not be able to use the OBC to pay for it ??

 

Guess there's going to be a lot of OBC checks sent out.:eek:

 

On our last cruise I prepaid the gratuities. Guess its a swap and the OBC will be used instead UNLESS its one of the promotions with gratuities paid. Guess we will have to drink more wine :)

[framer]

I would be more agreeable to the prepayment if they just added to what I owed at final pmt time. So if I have to cancel before final pmt no big deal. Also if you are showing OBC in your account then let then use that to cover those charges on final pmt.

 

As for that guarantee, IMHO, worthless...

 

 

framer

[makua]

I spent several hours yesterday researching and booking private Alaska tours for our May cruise. We had planned on Princess excursions, mainly for the convenience. I am protesting this new pay in advance deal, not that Princess will care! We have alot of OBC and are not drinkers nor do we care for specialty dining. Been there done that. We also have the deal with prepaid gratuities Princess knows how much OBC we have I hope in the future they will find a way to deduct the advance payment from that. We have military, stockholder, FCC and promotional credits. I understand that some of that is refundable, anyone have details?

[roamerfromtexas]

Agree with caribill. We don't like alcoholic drinks, seldom eat in the speciality restaurants, and receive elite setups. So, we use obc for excursions, or have until next summer, unless we use it for gratuities. Our cruises next summer are booked under the current sale so no gratuities for us to pay. As princess becomes more and more similar to other cruiselines it becomes less and less important to have any loyalty to Princess.

[azbirdmom]

We have already reserved several excursions for our September 2017 cruise. I wonder if those will be grandfathered under the old policy or if we will be required to prepay in order to keep them? Hope it is the former....

[CATGUY7]

OK, so one of the Alaskan excursions I am looking at through Princess is priced at $150.00/pp. When I search the internet for excursions in Juneau, I get (what looks like) the same excursion, similar description, same amount of time for the excursion with transfers - for $129.00/pp.

 

How do I know whether this would or wouldn't qualify for the 110% price guarantee?

[JimmyVWine]

Many people are loath to tie up any of their own money, and while they will happily book excursions that cost them nothing out of pocket until the day of the excursion, will whine noisily about having their money tied up in someone else's bank earning the other guy interest and not them.

At today's interest rates, how much money do you think you are losing if Princess holds $75 of your money in its account for 5 months? Certainly not enough to worry about.

 

What changes:

 

Previously: If I change my mind about which excursion to take, I simply and easily with no complications cancel one and book the other.

 

Now: I pay for the excursion with my credit card when booked. If I change my mind, when I cancel the reservation I have to wait an unknown amount of time until the refund is back on the credit card account.

This doesn't seem to "unknown" to me.

Cancellation of Pre-Paid Shore Excursions:

 

If you have pre-paid a shore excursion and wish to cancel, the following shall also apply:

 

If a pre-paid shore excursion is cancelled five (5) days or more prior to sailing a refund of the pre-paid amount will be made in one of the following ways:

 

1) If there is a shore excursion balance for the guest named on the reservation being cancelled then the pre-paid amount shall be applied to this balance.

 

Or,

 

2) If there is no shore excursion balance for the guest named on the reservation being cancelled then the pre-paid amount will be refunded to the credit card used to pre-pay the shore excursion. Refunds in this instance will be made within 24 hours of cancellation. If the guest for whom the pre-paid excursion is being cancelled makes another shore excursion reservation within 24 hours of cancellation, the refund will be applied to the newly made reservation.

 

[JimmyVWine]

As princess becomes more and more similar to other cruiselines it becomes less and less important to have any loyalty to Princess.

This is the most important point in all of this. I cringe when I read the words: "In order to more closely align us with the rest of the industry" or word to that effect. Much of what we love about Princess are the things that set them apart. Large balconies. Real Promenades. Formal Nights. Liberal personal wine allowances. No pre-cruise dinner reservations. And so on. When these things get "aligned" with the rest of the industry, they are kidding themselves if they think that this is "good news for our customers". It is awful news in most instances.

[satxdiver]

At least this is not as bad as Carnival's policy which is to charge 25% of the cost of an excursion if cancelled once onboard.

 

Which is why we never book excursions when on Carnivore ships.

 

Being able to reserve excursions ahead of time and pay for them once on board was a really big perk to sail Princess. We seldom cancel an excursion that we had reserved. They do have waiting lists for excursions and I have been on them since I did not reserve it before it filled (before cruising). Now I will move to private excursions as the reserve/pay later was a selling point to me and now that is gone. I really like Princess for the reason they are not like the other cruise lines so I hope they don't go down the rabbit hole after the rest of them. This is a very sad move.

[Astro Flyer]

What I do mind is that I most likely will not be able to use the OBC to pay for it ??

 

Guess there's going to be a lot of OBC checks sent out.:eek:

In the FAQs for the new procedures it states that when canceling between 5 days before sailing & the onboard cancellation time we'll receive OBC. However there is no statement that the OBC from a cancelled tour is refundable so there may not be any refund checks to mail.

We have military, stockholder, FCC and promotional credits. I understand that some of that is refundable, anyone have details?

Currently military OBC is the only type of complimentary OBC that is refundable; paid OBC & credits for things such as voluntarily accepting to cancel a cruise are other types that are refundable.

Edited November 3, 2016 by Astro Flyer

[greenie082756]

In the FAQs for the new procedures it states that when canceling between 5 days before sailing & the onboard cancellation time we'll receive OBC. However there is no statement that the OBC from a cancelled tour is refundable so there may not be any refund checks to mail.

 

Currently military OBC is the only type of complimentary OBC that is refundable; paid OBC & credits for things such as voluntarily accepting to cancel a cruise are other types that are refundable.

 

The OBC from a cancelled tour IMHO should be refundable because it is not a gift from Princess it is the customer's money. Hopefully they will clear that up.:)

[makua]

Thanks Astroflyer :)

[san diego sue]

Is this only on all Alaska cruises?

Right now my summer Europe cruises still have my tours listed and not asking for payment.(unless voluntary)

[Near PDX]

We will be on an Alaska cruise in May, 2017 that goes to Sitka. There is an excursion that we really wanted to take that I couldn't find online from a private operator so I booked the Princess excursion and paid. To my surprise I got a 10% discount. I'll gladly let Princess hold my money for 6 1/2 months interest free for a 10% discount.

[GJCruiser]

I just talked with my Princess Personal Cruise Consultant, he is trying to book an excursion using the OBC. A plus for using a PCC.

 

 

Were you successful in this? Would be a big deal to us that have significant non-refundable OBC.

 

Thanks.

[sloopsailor]

At today's interest rates, how much money do you think you are losing if Princess holds $75 of your money in its account for 5 months? Certainly not enough to worry about.

 

You and I may agree on this, but many people object to someone else earning the interest, even if it's a few cents. I suspect it's that "nickle and diming" conspiracy theory that some people insist all corporations are guilty of. ;)

 

FYI: I just charged about $1,500 worth of excursions for a cruise that won't happen until next June. I'm not at all worried about Princess getting rich off the interest, or me ending up in the poor house due to not earning it. It is well worth the lost interest to secure exactly what I want. :D

 

By the way, the interest I am losing that Princess is "getting rich on", is less than $9. Not much compared to the $7,000 this trip is going to end up costing when everything - transportation, cruise, excursions, etc. - is factored in.

[Astro Flyer]

Is this only on all Alaska cruises?

Right now my summer Europe cruises still have my tours listed and not asking for payment.(unless voluntary)

 

If you read the Princess email (post #46) it states that "Starting with Summer 2017 voyages, shore excursion reservations will require pre-payment" so it's for all cruises fleetwide.

 

It only states that the change "will roll out fleetwide soon" but not an actual date when prepayment will be required. The Best Price Guarantee begins on 12/5/16 but there's no date for the start of prepayment.

Edited November 3, 2016 by Astro Flyer