How to Reimburse Yourself For Prepaid Excursions

Dear Princess, I understand “cash flow” and respect the fact that we must pay for excursions booked online instead of applying them to my On Board Credits redeemed through my Princess Visa card. In return, please respect my workaround.
Yours Truly, Bill

OK. So until a couple of years ago, you could simply reserve excursions online and have it added to your on board account. Then, Princess changed the process and made you pay for the excursion(s) within 24 hours of booking them.

The primary reason we got the Princess Visa Card was so I could redeem enough points to cover tips plus excursions, but now I have to pay in advance… Time to turn lemons into lemonade.

First… If you have On Board Credits (OBC) from a future cruise deposit or other promo, booking an excursion will use the OBC’s first. After all OBC’s are used, it’s up to you to pay.

I use the Princess Visa to pay for the excursions in advance. I get double points because I’m using Princess. Win. Since Princess will refund unused OBC’s from their Visa Rewards program, I simply redeem enough to cover the prepaid excursions. When I get home, Princess sends me a refund check, which reimburses us for the excursions. Win. Win.

Clear as mud?

Let’s walk through an example. Last September, while in Alaska, Suzi and I booked a float plane excursion over the Juneau Icefield from the Princess website. The cost was just under $500.00 for the both of us. That’s double points, or 1,000 points, when paid for using the Princess Visa.

I redeemed an additional $500.00 worth of OBC’s prior to the cruise. We just made sure we didn’t go overboard (no pun intended) with our spending so when we got off the ship, we still had $500.00 in refundable credits. (Make sure you check your stateroom account as it breaks down refundable vs non-refundable.) In a few weeks, we get our money back.

Here is where it could backfire on Princess. Before the change, it was a given that we’d book the excursion through Princess. Now… I won’t get double points for booking third party, but I can still redeem enough points to get reimbursed and mightsave some money while doing so. Just sayin’