Does Princess charge your CC in $'s?

We usually cruise Celebrity and any on-board charges are charged to our credit card in US Dollars, irrespective of where you cruise. Does Princess charge the same way....will my on-board expenses on any Princess cruise be billed in US Dollars on my US credit card?

Princess gives you a choice. You can have the charge put thru in US$ or your currency. You do NOT want the second option. Princess exchange rates are poor. So have the charge placed in US$ and let your credit card company do the exchange.

I think paul929207's answer was answering a slightly different question than you were asking. So if I have what I think you were asking, you will be charged in whatever the ship's on-board currency is. For all Princess cruises I've been on (including a Baltic cruise), that's USD but I believe I've read cruises in Australia will have AUD as the on-board currency.

But also to amplify paul929207's answer, never, ever (and this applies to all international charges, not just ships) let a merchant put a charge through in your home currency "for your convenience". It will be at a far less favorable exchange rate than what your bank will charge and generally, does not get you out of any international surcharge your bank charges. The only "convenience" is you know up front what the amount will be in your currency but you're paying a big price to know that. If you're traveling internationally, you should have a rough idea what the exchange rate is and therefore a rough idea what the converted amount will be. If you know that, then the difference between what you expect and what you are actually charged should be fairly small and available on-line from your credit card bank within a few days.

Princess no longer give you a choice if a UK resident of whether you want your credit card charged in US$ or let them convert it, at a very poor rate, to £ your credit card is automatically charged in US$ and then your credit card then convert it in country of residence at bank rates which is a better rate. This is what happened to us a fortnight ago on Crown Princess.

This is very recent then. On Crown in May they were still giving the option to convert to sterling. A bit surprising if they've dropped an option which was advantageous to Princess!

This is very recent then. On Crown in May they were still giving the option to convert to sterling. A bit surprising if they've dropped an option which was advantageous to Princess!

It may have been advantageous to Princess but required extra work and programming of the financial system. It is a great deal easier with less programming involved to simply charge everyone in USD and let the pax and their CC company take care of the exchange. It all comes down to is the old method of letting pax decide more economically advantageous to us or not. Looks like the answer is not.

The ships which are based in OZ use the Australian dollar. Ships based elsewhere which call there use the US dollar as do all the remaining ships of the fleet

The ships which are based in OZ use the Australian dollar. Ships based elsewhere which call there use the US dollar as do all the remaining ships of the fleet

This is correct . Any cruise that starts or ends in Australia will be charged in AUD for the onboard spend (you can pay the cruise fare in local currency).

The onboard currency may be USD, but some pre-payable items, such as beverage packages or prepaid gratuities show in EUR on the peronalizer for our mediterran cruise. Excursions and speciality restaurants are however quoted in USD, so it's a bit of a mess.

The Princess FX rate from USD to EUR is indeed poor.

...and to make it worse, we will get the EUR converted by the credit card company to our home currency Swiss Francs, so we'll get bitten twice if we prepay anything.

I strongly hope that I can convince them to at least keep charging me in USD for charges on board, as it says in my reservation.

The onboard currency may be USD, but some pre-payable items, such as beverage packages or prepaid gratuities show in EUR on the peronalizer for our mediterran cruise. Excursions and speciality restaurants are however quoted in USD, so it's a bit of a mess.

 

The Princess FX rate from USD to EUR is indeed poor.

 

...and to make it worse, we will get the EUR converted by the credit card company to our home currency Swiss Francs, so we'll get bitten twice if we prepay anything.

I strongly hope that I can convince them to at least keep charging me in USD for charges on board, as it says in my reservation.

Where are you sailing to? Once you're on the ship, unless the cruise is beginning or ending in Australia, you'll be charged in USD.

This is very recent then. On Crown in May they were still giving the option to convert to sterling. A bit surprising if they've dropped an option which was advantageous to Princess!

I was surprised as we have always had a card in our stateroom on embarkation to fill in and hand into reception but there wasn't one. Asked at reception and was told they have stopped doing it and all cards are charged in US$.

Where are you sailing to? Once you're on the ship, unless the cruise is beginning or ending in Australia, you'll be charged in USD.

It's all within Europe. If the exchange rate was nice, it would be nice for many to have the chrages converted to EUR. As it is, I'm better of not to prepay anything.

It's all within Europe. If the exchange rate was nice, it would be nice for many to have the chrages converted to EUR.

When Dynamic Currency Conversion (converting at the time of the charge to the card holder's home currency) is done, the exchange rate is never "nice". You are far, far better to have the charge go though in USD and be converted by your bank.

When Dynamic Currency Conversion (converting at the time of the charge to the card holder's home currency) is done, the exchange rate is never "nice". You are far, far better to have the charge go though in USD and be converted by your bank.

I do not think Princess uses DCC like many ATMs and merchants do.

Instead I believe they use their current exchange rate which is using not a very good one followed by adding 3% for the convenience of having used a poor rate.

The Purser's desk should be able to tell you the conversion rate that will be used. It may be the same bad rate that is used in the onboard currency exchange machines.

As Istone19 says, it is always better to let your financial institution do the conversion.