shore excursions - how to set up before a Princess cruise?

On Sat, 08 Jan 2011 10:34:17 -0500, Ohioguy wrote:

What you did wrong was wait until 5 days before the cruise to do the
booking of the excursions.

The statements on their website are misleading:

"Pre-reserve your shore excursions and spa treatments within 120 days of
your departure date."

That implies that you can do it anytime before your cruise, starting
120 days prior. It doesn't mention a cutoff date of 5 days before the
cruise anywhere.

So you go from thinking you can do it the last week, to suddenly
finding the new statement that it is too late to do so. That isn't very
user friendly.

I don't know about Princess but I know that on other lines I've seen a
warning that you cannot book an excursion on the last week before you
go. Some cruise lines want you to pay in advance and I suppose they
want to see that you have the money available.

wrote:

I don't know about Princess but I know that on other lines I've seen a
warning that you cannot book an excursion on the last week before you
go. Some cruise lines want you to pay in advance and I suppose they
want to see that you have the money available.

Princess does not charge in advance. Excursions booked in advance are
charged to your onboard sail and sign card.
--
Charles

On 1/14/2011 12:26 PM, Charles wrote:
wrote:

I don't know about Princess but I know that on other lines I've seen a
warning that you cannot book an excursion on the last week before you
go. Some cruise lines want you to pay in advance and I suppose they
want to see that you have the money available.

Princess does not charge in advance. Excursions booked in advance are
charged to your onboard sail and sign card.

With Royal Caribbean, if you book excursions in advance on the internet,
you pay for them when you book them. In some ways this is better than
putting the charges on your sea pass account. At least you can pay them
off before your sailing and keep the amount charged to your credit card
more manageable. You can always book the excursions on board, too.

I think the proscription about booking within a week of sailing has to
do with notifying the excursion desk. They send those emails out ahead
of time to the ship and they require a cut off date.

--
Janet Wilder
Way-the-heck-south Texas
Spelling doesn't count. Cooking does.

In article om, Janet
Wilder wrote:

With Royal Caribbean, if you book excursions in advance on the internet,
you pay for them when you book them. In some ways this is better than
putting the charges on your sea pass account. At least you can pay them
off before your sailing and keep the amount charged to your credit card
more manageable. You can always book the excursions on board, too.

I think the proscription about booking within a week of sailing has to
do with notifying the excursion desk. They send those emails out ahead
of time to the ship and they require a cut off date.

Yes, I am sure the online cut off is because they send out the bookings
several days before the sailing.

I prefer not paying in advance and keeping the money myself until I
actually do the excursion like on Princess. I am not worried about the
amount charged on my credit card since I always pay it off every month.

--
Charles

On 1/14/2011 9:01 PM, Charles wrote:
In raweb.com, Janet
wrote:

With Royal Caribbean, if you book excursions in advance on the internet,
you pay for them when you book them. In some ways this is better than
putting the charges on your sea pass account. At least you can pay them
off before your sailing and keep the amount charged to your credit card
more manageable. You can always book the excursions on board, too.

I think the proscription about booking within a week of sailing has to
do with notifying the excursion desk. They send those emails out ahead
of time to the ship and they require a cut off date.

Yes, I am sure the online cut off is because they send out the bookings
several days before the sailing.

I prefer not paying in advance and keeping the money myself until I
actually do the excursion like on Princess. I am not worried about the
amount charged on my credit card since I always pay it off every month.


We pay ours off every month, too. That's why spreading the charges out
over a couple of months is helpful for us. We rarely do ship excursions
preferring to hire our own guide and van. My DH has some mobility issues
and keeping up with the bus group can sometimes be difficult for him.
With our own transport, he can just sit and I can explore then show him
the photos later. It makes life easier.

--
Janet Wilder
Way-the-heck-south Texas
Spelling doesn't count. Cooking does.

In article m, Janet
Wilder wrote:

We pay ours off every month, too. That's why spreading the charges out
over a couple of months is helpful for us. We rarely do ship excursions
preferring to hire our own guide and van. My DH has some mobility issues
and keeping up with the bus group can sometimes be difficult for him.
With our own transport, he can just sit and I can explore then show him
the photos later. It makes life easier.

I also rarely do ship excursions. They usually cost more and are
usually not as good as doing it on your own.

I guess I have more cash flow than you do. I am still working and
spreading it out is not necessary at this time.

--
Charles

On Fri, 14 Jan 2011 22:39:03 -0500, Charles wrote:

In article m, Janet
Wilder wrote:

We pay ours off every month, too. That's why spreading the charges out
over a couple of months is helpful for us. We rarely do ship excursions
preferring to hire our own guide and van. My DH has some mobility issues
and keeping up with the bus group can sometimes be difficult for him.
With our own transport, he can just sit and I can explore then show him
the photos later. It makes life easier.

I also rarely do ship excursions. They usually cost more and are
usually not as good as doing it on your own.

I guess I have more cash flow than you do. I am still working and
spreading it out is not necessary at this time.

lol - "more cash flow" than the Wilders?
--
Ari Silverstein, C.T.A; C.T.A.S, FREE Cruise Travel Advisory Services
I never have nor ever will solicit or accept a booking.
http://www.cruisecompare.co.uk/ USA site due 1Q 2011.

On 1/14/2011 9:39 PM, Charles wrote:
In aweb.com, Janet
wrote:

We pay ours off every month, too. That's why spreading the charges out
over a couple of months is helpful for us. We rarely do ship excursions
preferring to hire our own guide and van. My DH has some mobility issues
and keeping up with the bus group can sometimes be difficult for him.
With our own transport, he can just sit and I can explore then show him
the photos later. It makes life easier.

I also rarely do ship excursions. They usually cost more and are
usually not as good as doing it on your own.

I guess I have more cash flow than you do. I am still working and
spreading it out is not necessary at this time.


We are on a fixed income. I guess that's the difference.

--
Janet Wilder
Way-the-heck-south Texas
Spelling doesn't count. Cooking does.

In article om, Janet
Wilder wrote:

We are on a fixed income. I guess that's the difference.

I thought that might be the case. When I retire on a fixed income I
know I will have to make changes to the way I currently manage my
spending.

--
Charles

On 14 Jan 2011 18:26:43 GMT, Charles
wrote:

wrote:

I don't know about Princess but I know that on other lines I've seen a
warning that you cannot book an excursion on the last week before you
go. Some cruise lines want you to pay in advance and I suppose they
want to see that you have the money available.

Princess does not charge in advance. Excursions booked in advance are
charged to your onboard sail and sign card.

Neither does NCL but HAL does.

It makes it easier to change/cancel if you haven't already paid, but
some people prefer not to have all the charges at once. I don't care
either way except that it does annoy me when they change something I
have carefully booked to be a morning and afternoon tour to both in
the morning. Then if you've paid in advance you have to go get a
credit.

I usually travel on my own if I've been there before. But if I have
not, or for out of the ordinary tours into the hinterlands that might
be difficult to book on my own, I do the ship tours. For instance I
did the ship tour in Callao to the islands in a small boat from the
ship tour, but yesterday in Nassau, I just took a taxi and told him
where I wanted to go.