Booking Excursions Online

[gwesq]

ANother question from a new Oceania cruiser:

 

I went to book some shore excursions for my upcoming cruise. After I selected the excursions, and went to Checkout, it asked for my credit card info.

My experience on other lines has been that shore excursions are added to the online bill, not required to be paid for ahead of time. It seems Oceania is different, requiring me to pay in advance. That doesn't seem right - what am I missing?

[ORV]

Yes, Celebrity also does this, as well as Royal Caribbean.

 

They're the only ones I've been on since 2009. Which ones don't require payment?

[Paulchili]

Yes, Celebrity also does this, as well as Royal Caribbean.

 

They're the only ones I've been on since 2009. Which ones don't require payment?

 

Princess doesn't require prepayment. Most other lines do - I wish they didn't.

I like the way Princess does this.

One should only pay for things that you have actually done or purchased rather than for things that you may not use or cancel.

I can see prepaying for very limited availability events like La Reserve or Privee but not for shore excursions.

JMO

Edited December 30, 2016 by Paulchili

[spuds]

Just curious - what if you wanted to use some of your OBC towards the shore excursions - ??

[Paulchili]

Just curious - what if you wanted to use some of your OBC towards the shore excursions - ??

 

You must wait and book onboard - hence the nice feature on Princess of being able to reserve your tours without having to prepay and then using your OBC. This is not available with Oceania.

[GeezerCouple]

NCL will allow you to call (not online) to book the excursion and not pay until onboard, using OBC if desired.

If one books online, giving charge info, one can call and get it reversed, and wait until onboard, and then use OBC if desired.

 

This is current as of May or a bit earlier, for an Alaskan cruise.

 

Would Oceania allow the same with a call?

 

We rarely get ship excursions, so this isn't usually an issue.

But very occasionally, there is a ship excursion that is something we want, and there is nothing similar to be had privately.

(Ours was a 4-person, plus crew, on a private Hovercraft excursion to a "walk on" glacier. It went over significant shallow water and mudflats that any sea or land vehicle would have had a lot of trouble with, at a minimum.

The company only had 2, and NCL booked both. We think they had to have *2*, because if one got stuck or motor breakdown, etc., the other would be needed to ferry the passengers off the first...)

[gwesq]

I don't think I had to pay aheaad of time on Regent - Before they started including the excursions in the fare, nor recently on a few Crystal cruises.

 

As someone pointed out, I'd like to be able to use onboard credit rather than charging to CC. We will have plenty of OBC and would like to use that, but want to book in advance to make sure we don't get shut out of the excursion. Seems like we can't :-(

[LHT28]

Oceania is not other lines they do things their way

If it is a special excursion then book early & prepay ..if you have to cancel within the cancellation period you will get the refund

 

If run of the mill excursion just wait until onboard & book then

[PaulMCO]

No need to advance pay on Crystal.. Makes it easier to use OBC.

[newbie60]

To use OBC, you must book the excursion on board.

 

But - if you have free excursions using OLife or OChoice, you will still be asked for a credit card number when you check out, but the total will be $0.00 unless you booked more excursions than you are entitled to.