Alaska shorex must now be prepaid

[pandora518]

This is definitely a game-changer for us. We typically have $850-900 OBC (military, shareholder, FCCs, points from my Princess credit card) and use the majority of it for shorex that we book in advance. That's what has kept us loyal to Princess for so long. I usually get a wine package, but DH doesn't drink at all, we rarely gamble, and we certainly don't need a lot of trinkets from the onboard shops, so just booking directly with private companies wouldn't be the answer for us.

 

To be honest, we prefer HAL's and Celebrity's ships and food, and they often have better prices, so we'll be looking at those lines' itineraries for our 2017 cruises and beyond. Our upcoming cruise may well be our last with Princess. I'm sure Princess doesn't care if it loses a few customers over this. As someone else pointed out, at least half the passengers on any given cruise are first-time Princess cruisers who won't know what they're missing, and they seldom sail with empty cabins. They'll still be able to fill the ships. There'll just be fewer and fewer Platinum and Elite members as time goes on.

[sloopsailor]

.....You might be correct that with the past liberal policy people did not really cancel, but I would have thought a lot of people would have booked "just in case". I have read that some people even book two cruises at the same time and decide later.

 

Yes, unfortunately some do. And they come here and brag about it. I remember one poster bragging they had five cruises booked in the same month - all made during promos that featured small deposits - and they were going to sit on all of them until final payment before making a decision on which one they were going to take. They booked all of them to ensure they had one of the best cabins on each ship. Those fake bookings tied up those popular cabins for anyone else to book them. And then suddenly just prior to final payment that in-demand cabin on four of those ships finally became available again - after other people who wanted them had to book something else because they were being held "just in case".

 

Seems awfully selfish to me. :rolleyes:

Edited November 5, 2016 by sloopsailor

[RDC1]

Came up with a possible work around as far as OBC is concerned. It does tie up the cost of the excursions, but would convert non-refundable OBC to refundable OBC.

 

1. Book the excursions in advance and pay for them

2. Once on board if there is room on the excursion, cancel the prepaid, then rebook. Since Princesses practice has been to charge non-refundable OBC first then it should use non-refundable OBC, leaving refundable in the account.

 

Now if Princess makes the prebooked excursions, non-refundable, or if they change their practice concerning how they prioritize the OBC then it would not work. If they were to do either of those things it would not matter to me, because I would no longer be cruising with them.

 

We generally have 700-1200 in total OBC (tend to be longer cruises,14 days or longer). We tend to spend a fair amount more then that on excursions, and very little elsewhere on the ship. The OBC is the major reason for our loyalty to Princess.

[julie3fan]

RDC1, your strategy might work if there's not a wait list for the excursion. However, I'd guess that as soon as you cancel a reservation on a sold out excursion, that the first person on the wait list gets the reservation. That's the logical way my brain works, but that doesn't mean that's the way it'll work in practice.

[Pierlesscruisers]

Guess I won't be buying any CCL stock now! With the sip and sail promo and not able to use any obc for excursions I really won't need that much! Guess I'll be playing more bingo!:)

 

Why not? The CCL stock OBC can still be used for the gratuities. Oh, you got the deal where the gratuities are already taken care of? Okay, then treat yourself and your spouse or cruising partner to dinner at a specialty restraunt a time or two. At worst, you can always go into one of the stores (okay, boutiques) on the ship and pick up some gift for friends who aren't on the cruise with you. Heck, you're buying with tax-free income in any event! Plus, your stock is earning you about 2.5% a year in dividends in any event which is a whole lot more than it would earn sitting in a savings account anywhere! :p:p See? There's almost always a bright side to things!

 

Tom

[RDC1]

RDC1, your strategy might work if there's not a wait list for the excursion. However, I'd guess that as soon as you cancel a reservation on a sold out excursion, that the first person on the wait list gets the reservation. That's the logical way my brain works, but that doesn't mean that's the way it'll work in practice.

 

The point is to rebook only those that have not sold out. I would suspect that most people that have a lot of OBC, still spend more on excursions. Then they get in non-refundable OBC. In which case if it is sold out you leave it alone, and rebook those that still have space. That should be enough to convert most non-refundable OBC.

[Astro Flyer]

Thanks ..... obviously I missed that detail, probably because I was feeling pretty irate about the required prepaying of pre-reserved tours.

 

You're welcome & we're all learning things about the new shore excursions policy & many of us are upset. :(

[RDC1]

Why not? The CCL stock OBC can still be used for the gratuities. Oh, you got the deal where the gratuities are already taken care of? Okay, then treat yourself and your spouse or cruising partner to dinner at a specialty restraunt a time or two. At worst, you can always go into one of the stores (okay, boutiques) on the ship and pick up some gift for friends who aren't on the cruise with you. Heck, you're buying with tax-free income in any event! Plus, your stock is earning you about 2.5% a year in dividends in any event which is a whole lot more than it would earn sitting in a savings account anywhere! :p:p See? There's almost always a bright side to things!

 

Tom

 

Technically the rules say that it cannot be used for gratuities. Even though current practice allows it. Now that Princess is going after prebooked excursions, how long do you think it will be before they modify their accounting systems to exclude gratuities from being charged against non-refundable OBC.

[Pierlesscruisers]

Technically the rules say that it cannot be used for gratuities. Even though current practice allows it. Now that Princess is going after prebooked excursions, how long do you think it will be before they modify their accounting systems to exclude gratuities from being charged against non-refundable OBC.

 

If they do that, they do it. Then you can still use the non-taxable income (OBC) to purchase something you might not have otherwise bought. The nice thing about Princess' OBC policy is that they automatically use and and all non-refundable OBCs before they use any refundable OBC.

 

Tom

[cruzsnooze]

I just took advantage of the shore excursion guarantee and got 110% back of the difference in OBC. IT"S A BAD DEAL......here's why

I paid full price upfront for the excursion. The difference I found for booking directly with the same excursion was $40 x 2 people. Now I have an $80 + $8 (ten percent ) OBC and nothing to use it on. DH military, our FCC and our loyalty and stockholder OBC already more then covers the gratuity so we have OBC that we'll just waste and I really ended up paying full price for Princess excursion since they don't give me a refund they give OBC.

[seafish]

After all the recent CC posts & further review at our Princess Cruise Personalizer for our close to final payment B2B Regal Feb 2017 cruises -and- CP Panama Feb 2018 - Princess Excursion options show as "Pay Before You Sail -or- Pay Later Onboard and Settle Account at the end of Cruise". So what's up? What am I missing? Is there a change or not? Does this "New Princess Mandatory Pre-Pay Excursion Policy" recently announced via Cruise Critic posts - only effect Alaskan Cruises? For those in the know - if there is a new Princess policy - has a deadline date (cut-off) been set to convert all pre-booked Princess cruise excursions over to mandatory pre-payment. I'll call our Princess CVP Monday but - if this is a new policy - really will impact our sailing decisions.

[lstone19]

If they do that, they do it. Then you can still use the non-taxable income (OBC) to purchase something you might not have otherwise bought.

 

Non-taxable income? No, it's a reduction in price paid. If you book a $2000 cruise and get $300 OBC, you're paying a net $1,700 for the cruise assuming you are able to use all $300 on-board (of course, there's other stuff to be factored in but we can leave them out for purposes of this). But if it reaches a point where I don't think I can use all the OBC, then I stop valuing it at 100% and that makes me think of the net cost of the cruise as higher.

 

Of course, they'd love you to think of it as free money (non-taxable income as you put it) and spend it on things you wouldn't otherwise. But to me, it will always be a reduction in price paid when it comes to me figuring out our net cost and comparing it to other options. Ffor instance, all things equal, if a choice between $2000 fare with $300 OBC and $1800 with no OBC, I'd choose the $2000 and OBC as that's a net $1,700. But I won't value OBC at 100% so a choice between $2000 with $300 OBC and $1700 and no OBC and I choose the $1700 and no OBC (I'd even choose $1,701 and no OBC).

[RDC1]

If they do that, they do it. Then you can still use the non-taxable income (OBC) to purchase something you might not have otherwise bought. The nice thing about Princess' OBC policy is that they automatically use and and all non-refundable OBCs before they use any refundable OBC.

 

Tom

 

That is exactly the point. OBC spent on things you otherwise would not buy, is of far less value then OBC spent on things you actually want to spend it on.

 

As far as I am concerned by this move Princess has reduced the value of their non-refundable OBC from around 90% of cash to around 60% in any calculation for relative value between competing travel options.

[RDC1]

Non-taxable income? No, it's a reduction in price paid. If you book a $2000 cruise and get $300 OBC, you're paying a net $1,700 for the cruise assuming you are able to use all $300 on-board (of course, there's other stuff to be factored in but we can leave them out for purposes of this). But if it reaches a point where I don't think I can use all the OBC, then I stop valuing it at 100% and that makes me think of the net cost of the cruise as higher.

 

Of course, they'd love you to think of it as free money (non-taxable income as you put it) and spend it on things you wouldn't otherwise. But to me, it will always be a reduction in price paid when it comes to me figuring out our net cost and comparing it to other options. Ffor instance, all things equal, if a choice between $2000 fare with $300 OBC and $1800 with no OBC, I'd choose the $2000 and OBC as that's a net $1,700. But I won't value OBC at 100% so a choice between $2000 with $300 OBC and $1700 and no OBC and I choose the $1700 and no OBC (I'd even choose $1,701 and no OBC).

 

Exactly right.

[RDC1]

After all the recent CC posts & further review at our Princess Cruise Personalizer for our close to final payment B2B Regal Feb 2017 cruises -and- CP Panama Feb 2018 - Princess Excursion options show as "Pay Before You Sail -or- Pay Later Onboard and Settle Account at the end of Cruise". So what's up? What am I missing? Is there a change or not? Does this "New Princess Mandatory Pre-Pay Excursion Policy" recently announced via Cruise Critic posts - only effect Alaskan Cruises? For those in the know - if there is a new Princess policy - has a deadline date (cut-off) been set to convert all pre-booked Princess cruise excursions over to mandatory pre-payment. I'll call our Princess CVP Monday but - if this is a new policy - really will impact our sailing decisions.

 

 

From a letter posted earlier the change for all cruises goes into effect this summer. So it won't impact your Feb 2017 cruise, but will impact your Feb 2018 cruise.

[RDC1]

I just took advantage of the shore excursion guarantee and got 110% back of the difference in OBC. IT"S A BAD DEAL......here's why

I paid full price upfront for the excursion. The difference I found for booking directly with the same excursion was $40 x 2 people. Now I have an $80 + $8 (ten percent ) OBC and nothing to use it on. DH military, our FCC and our loyalty and stockholder OBC already more then covers the gratuity so we have OBC that we'll just waste and I really ended up paying full price for Princess excursion since they don't give me a refund they give OBC.

 

The question would be if the OBC coming from 110% back is refundable or not, as is the military OBC. If so then you will get it back by check a few weeks after the cruise if you don't spend it.

 

If it is not refundable that is a whole different story.

[Astro Flyer]

My TA forwarded her email from Princess & ALL tours will require prepayment beginning Summer 2017.

 

Dear Travel Partner,

 

Award-winning shore excursions have always made Princess cruises even more memorable. So it’s no great surprise that guests who purchase excursions directly through Princess rate their overall cruise experience higher than those who do not.

 

I’m pleased to announce two important shore excursion developments that Princess Cruises® will roll out fleetwide soon.

Best Price Guarantee

If your client pre-purchases a shore excursion and finds the same excursion elsewhere at a lower price, they receive 110% of the price difference in the form of a non-refundable onboard credit.

Best Price Guarantee will go into effect December 5, 2016 for all trades, excluding ports in Asia, Southeast Asia or Japan.

 

Pre-Purchase

Starting with Summer 2017 voyages, shore excursion reservations will require pre-payment.

Moving to pre-purchase for shore excursions brings us in line with standard industry practice and ensures the spots are only held by guests with firm interest.

We believe these programs will make it even easier for you to offer your clients the experiences that enable them to come back new®. Click here to learn more.

 

Thank you for your ongoing support. Please do not hesitate to contact your Business Development Manager with questions.

 

Best regards,

John

John Chernesky

Vice President

North America Sales

Princess Cruises and Cunard Line

 

This link shows additional information on the prepayment (including cancelation policies) & price guarantee:

 

http://www.princess.com/learn/faq_answer/pre_cruise/excursions.jsp?utm_campaign=SE6SX002_Agents_US&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&utm_source=BRAND&utm_medium=EMAIL&utm_campaign=OTHER&utm_content=SE6SX002&elqTrackId=322dc87879ee42588c1fd7e69b247fe8&elq=fca66a4a92b64940b6ee11a5fd631190&elqaid=4768&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=5761

 

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.

 

If a pre-paid shore excursion is not cancelled within the above time frame or is cancelled during the voyage prior to the "Closing Time for Cancellation" listed for the particular excursion you wish to cancel, then the pre-paid amount will be refunded to the guest named on the pre-paid reservation as a shipboard credit on this guest's shipboard folio. Please note this is done regardless of which guest pre-paid for the shore excursion.

 

Cancellation of Pre-Reserved Shore Excursions

 

Due to the nature of excursions involving hotel accommodations, flights and private vehicles, these excursions are not refundable after the closing date, which is 30 days prior to sailing.

 

Due to the limited capacity and high demand for helicopter flights, any excursion involving a helicopter flight is not refundable unless cancelled no later than 12:00pm on the day after embarkation.

 

For other excursions in each port of call, a "Closing Time for Cancellations" is listed on the Shore Excursion Order Form found in your stateroom. This is the time when the bookings for the excursions in that port close and we notify the local operators of the final excursion requirements. You may cancel an excursion if it is prior to the closing time whether you reserve an excursion in advance of the cruise or book onboard. However, we cannot cancel an excursion if it is past this closing time, nor will we refund an excursion on which you have reserved but do not to attend.

 

Cancellation of Alaska Land Excursions

 

Alaska Land Excursions, purchased through the Cruise Personalizer, may be cancelled up to three days prior to travel without any cancellation fees. Land Excursions cancelled prior to the cancellation deadline will be refunded to the credit card that you provided in the Cruise Personalizer to purchase your tours. Excursions cancelled within three (3) days prior travel are subject to a 100% cancellation fee, unless the operator, at their sole discretion, is unable to operate the program due to unforeseen circumstances. All sales of tours booked while on your land tour are considered final at the time of purchase and are 100% non-refundable except in the case of an operator approved cancellation.

 

After all the recent CC posts & further review at our Princess Cruise Personalizer for our close to final payment B2B Regal Feb 2017 cruises -and- CP Panama Feb 2018 - Princess Excursion options show as "Pay Before You Sail -or- Pay Later Onboard and Settle Account at the end of Cruise". So what's up? What am I missing? Is there a change or not? Does this "New Princess Mandatory Pre-Pay Excursion Policy" recently announced via Cruise Critic posts - only effect Alaskan Cruises? For those in the know - if there is a new Princess policy - has a deadline date (cut-off) been set to convert all pre-booked Princess cruise excursions over to mandatory pre-payment. I'll call our Princess CVP Monday but - if this is a new policy - really will impact our sailing decisions.

No & as you can read in the Princess email that was in post #46 it is for all cruises effective summer 2017: Starting with Summer 2017 voyages, shore excursion reservations will require pre-payment".

 

'cheeseclan' previously posted ("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") so the new policy is in effect for their May cruise. Your Panama Canal cruise in 2018 will be affected but shouldn't affect your February 2017 cruise.

[seafish]

RDC1 -From a letter posted earlier the change for all cruises goes into effect this summer. So it won't impact your Feb 2017 cruise, but will impact your Feb 2018 cruise.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

RDC1 - Thanks for your reply & info - understand change is Summer 2017. Good to know it will not impact our Feb 2017 Regal cruises. We'll consider excursion options for 2018 CP Panama. Again - appreciate your input.

[Astro Flyer]

The question would be if the OBC coming from 110% back is refundable or not, as is the military OBC. If so then you will get it back by check a few weeks after the cruise if you don't spend it.

 

If it is not refundable that is a whole different story.

The new shore excursions FAQs states that the Best Price Guarantee is a non-refundable OBC: "If your request is accepted, you will receive 110% of the difference in price to enjoy in the form of a non-refundable onboard credit".

 

What they didn't define is if OBC from tours cancelled between 5 days prior to sailing & the onboard cancellation time is refundable or non-refundable: "If a pre-paid shore excursion is not cancelled within the above time frame or is cancelled during the voyage prior to the "Closing Time for Cancellation" listed for the particular excursion you wish to cancel, then the pre-paid amount will be refunded to the guest named on the pre-paid reservation as a shipboard credit on this guest's shipboard folio"

 

http://www.princess.com/learn/faq_answer/pre_cruise/excursions.jsp?utm_campaign=SE6SX002_Agents_US&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&utm_source=BRAND&utm_medium=EMAIL&utm_campaign=OTHER&utm_content=SE6SX002&elqTrackId=322dc87879ee42588c1fd7e69b247fe8&elq=fca66a4a92b64940b6ee11a5fd631190&elqaid=4768&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=5761

Edited November 5, 2016 by Astro Flyer

[RDC1]

The new shore excursions FAQs states that the Best Price Guarantee is a non-refundable OBC: "If your request is accepted, you will receive 110% of the difference in price to enjoy in the form of a non-refundable onboard credit".

 

What they didn't define is if OBC from tours cancelled between 5 days prior to sailing & the onboard cancellation time is refundable or non-refundable: "If a pre-paid shore excursion is not cancelled within the above time frame or is cancelled during the voyage prior to the "Closing Time for Cancellation" listed for the particular excursion you wish to cancel, then the pre-paid amount will be refunded to the guest named on the pre-paid reservation as a shipboard credit on this guest's shipboard folio"

 

http://www.princess.com/learn/faq_answer/pre_cruise/excursions.jsp?utm_campaign=SE6SX002_Agents_US&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&utm_source=BRAND&utm_medium=EMAIL&utm_campaign=OTHER&utm_content=SE6SX002&elqTrackId=322dc87879ee42588c1fd7e69b247fe8&elq=fca66a4a92b64940b6ee11a5fd631190&elqaid=4768&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=5761

 

I just sent off a question to Princess concerning the question the refundability of ship board credit from canceled excursions. If it is not then my days of prebooking Princess excursions are pretty much over.

 

Princess could make the ability to schedule an excursion without prepayment a Platinum or Elite benefit. Since new people won't know better and I would suspect that most of the people that will be really upset by the change have such status.

Edited November 5, 2016 by RDC1

[Pierlesscruisers]

Non-taxable income? No, it's a reduction in price paid. If you book a $2000 cruise and get $300 OBC, you're paying a net $1,700 for the cruise assuming you are able to use all $300 on-board (of course, there's other stuff to be factored in but we can leave them out for purposes of this). But if it reaches a point where I don't think I can use all the OBC, then I stop valuing it at 100% and that makes me think of the net cost of the cruise as higher.

 

Of course, they'd love you to think of it as free money (non-taxable income as you put it) and spend it on things you wouldn't otherwise. But to me, it will always be a reduction in price paid when it comes to me figuring out our net cost and comparing it to other options. Ffor instance, all things equal, if a choice between $2000 fare with $300 OBC and $1800 with no OBC, I'd choose the $2000 and OBC as that's a net $1,700. But I won't value OBC at 100% so a choice between $2000 with $300 OBC and $1700 and no OBC and I choose the $1700 and no OBC (I'd even choose $1,701 and no OBC).

 

After reading your response, I see that what I was trying to say was very poorly worded and I what I was trying to say didn't come through at all. :( My apologies for that. What I was trying to say was that the OBC received through the ownership of the CCL stock was non-taxable income received by the cruiser from ownership of the stock. It isn't in a legal sense of course, but it is from a practical point-of-view in that it does provide the receiver with something that they can use to purchase something with. ;)

 

Anyway, again, my apologies for the misunderstanding of my poorly constructed attempt at humor.

 

Tom

Edited November 5, 2016 by Pierlesscruisers

[Astro Flyer]

I just sent off a question to Princess concerning the question the refundability of ship board credit from canceled excursions. If it is not then my days of prebooking Princess excursions are pretty much over.

 

Princess could make the ability to schedule an excursion without prepayment a Platinum or Elite benefit. Since new people won't know better and I would suspect that most of the people that will be really upset by the change have such status.

Thanks & looking forward to reading their reply but unfortunately it's not unusual for Princess to announce changes without fully describing them. :rolleyes:

 

As has been previously posted, these changes are not for loyal Princess passengers but are for first time Princess passengers who are unaware of the previous great Princess policy.

 

Sadly they ignore that the ability to use OBC to pay for pre-reserved tours is a selling point for any passenger...newbie or experienced. Their email statement shows that Princess is now following the leader & not being a leader to differentiate themselves from their competitors.

 

The only benefit of requiring pre-payment is for Princess to generate additional income while devaluing OBC. There are still many other things that overall makes Princess our best cruise option but booking shore excursions will only be when there is no other option.

Edited November 5, 2016 by Astro Flyer

[lstone19]

After reading your response, I see that what I was trying to say was very poorly worded and I what I was trying to say didn't come through at all. :( My apologies for that. What I was trying to say was that the OBC received through the ownership of the CCL stock was non-taxable income received by the cruiser from ownership of the stock. It isn't in a legal sense of course, but it is from a practical point-of-view in that it does provide the receiver with something that they can use to purchase something with. ;)

 

Anyway, again, my apologies for the misunderstanding of my poorly constructed attempt at humor.

 

Tom

 

 

 

Tom, thanks for the clarification. I mostly agree with you regarding the stockholder OBC or any other that's not bundled with the cruise fare.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[pablo222]

As has been previously posted, these changes are not for loyal Princess passengers but are for first time Princess passengers who are unaware of the previous great Princess policy.

 

I thought loyal princess passengers booked independent tours.

 

At least that's what I've read here many times.

[caribill]

I thought loyal princess passengers booked independent tours.

 

At least that's what I've read here many times.

 

We essentially do 1/3 of the ports with Princess excursions, 1/3 with independent excursions organized on the roll call either by others or by us, and 1/3 just going around on our own using public transportation.