ccrain

Decision made....

After creating another one of those obsessive compulsive excel spreadsheets, I have decided to bite the bullet and open an account at Wells Fargo and use their currency exchange services. The savings, over the local Travelex (airport Travelexs are higher), over the next 4 cruises in the next 2 years is over 5.5%, which is not a bad ROI considering today's interest rates. Savings over BoA is a little less, about 3.5% because of their flat $7.50 per currency fee and their slightly higher exchange rate.

Thanks for all the inputs!

i really wish i was traveling in warmer weather. just booked the october canada cruise on regal. i guess unless we have unseasonable highs it will be inside my mini. but at least from all accounts it will be better than the crown celebration i had planned, and definitely more unique :)

We did it inside a mini with 4 people and there was plenty of room. It is better than the Crown, especially if you like to talk to the staff, they're all yours for a couple of hours! its a lot of fun!

A lot of good basic info here, but there is no ONE answer that fits every country, every one's situation, and home location. For example, we probably only use ship's excursions 25% of the time, and rarely spend money in that situation. But we travel extensively (writing this from Canada right now), and almost always use ATMs.

 

This is our second visit to Canada this year, so got money last time (ATM ) and are using it up. We having Euros at home (ATM ), for our next trip to Europe next summer. We generally agree with Keith1010, but have done the research, and plan our trips such that ATMs work most logically for our trips.

 

Good foundational research, from which others should attempt to build their decisions on.

Our previous cruise experiences in Asia, the South Pacific, the Med, the Baltic and Norway proved to me at least that having local currency in hand when you arrived was really, really handy. Even though some of those cruises had several different currencies, I was not ready for planning the upcoming world cruise with over 22 different currencies - some of them closed. An eye opener once I started researching currency exchange rates, currency exchanges and actual ATM locations - not to mention chip and pin vs chip and sign vs swipe and sign vs swipe and pin!

And with technology advances the way they are, everything I research now will be OBE by the time we sail!

But I do appreciate the inputs...

Maybe some people are living in the wrong country.

In Tokyo, there are several independent exchange companies that charge just 1% above the interbank rate, with no transaction charge. I take the subway to visit them, so there is an additional cost of about US$3.50 for transportation.

 

Worrying about a few dollars lost in exchange rates and transactions seems a bit foolish when I see so many cruise passengers who are paying top dollar at the souvenir shop on the pier because:

 

1. they are too lazy to go to the shops not designed for cruise passengers.

 

2. the way they dress screams "I'm a cruise passenger. Please charge me double".

 

3. they insist on using US dollars in other countries, guaranteeing that they will be grossly overcharged and then ripped off a second time on any local currency change they receive.

Too bad we don't have that kind of exchange rate here out in the sticks. I'd hop on it in a second - even drive some ways to get a 1-2% above the interbank rate.

Its really interesting to walk through the 'markets' set up by the ship in which everything is marked in the majority currency of the ship passengers, or in the case of the Baltic, in two or three different currencies, and then wander just a bit off the beaten path and find a completely different pricing structure - but almost always in local currency. The price inflation is as you say, but the currency exchange rate is even worse as it is invariably rounded up in favor of the merchant - and then the coinage you get back in change is absolutely useless except for tossing in that big globe back on the ship or giving to a coin collecting relative.

So I notice that some of you are SE Asia based and have mentioned Vietnam. Upcoming cruises are stopping in Nha Trang, Phu My, Halong Bay and Chan May. Only Travelex sells VND, Wells Fargo does not. So what is the ATM situation in those ports? I do not remember seeing one ATM while running around Vung Tau in 2012.

No offence, but as Keith1010 suggested, the actual cost of doing it the expensive way is peanuts compared with the rest of the holiday costs. I get mine from my travel agent, who usually have good rates; and if somebody else has better rates, I'm not looking around so I won't find out.

I agree that 3% is not a big deal, whereas 25% is to me. Just rubs me the wrong way I guess. I had no idea Travelex charged so much of a markup until I did a detailed review yesterday. For example:

French Polynesian Francs - 19.5%

Vietnam Dong - 24.9%

South Korean Wong - 14.2%

South African Rand - 13.6%

Euro and Pounds are probably the best rate, but even those are just under 10%.

So what does this mean in terms of real life? Well, on some of our upcoming cruises its around $300 to $400 in cash lost in transaction fees if we go with Travelex. About $100 less in Wells Fargo.

A lot in the scheme of things? No, not as a percentage of the overall cost of the trip, but $100 here, a $100 there and pretty soon you've covered the bar bill.

You don't need to use an ATM before being herded on an excursion bus, you don't need money on the bus. Use an ATM after you leave the bus. ATM's are all over the place, I used one during a walking tour, dashed up to one, dashed back, the group did not even notice I was away.

Great idea, but 9 times out of 10, several other people have the same idea. Sort of like the ubiquitous bathroom stop!

I thought the same thing in Bruges last year. While the hunt for the ATM was interesting, and we were lucky that the tourist map had ATMs marked, the first four did not accept my card and I had to use Google Maps to find the fifth. Google maps would not have have worked as well in the narrow alley tall buildings of southern Europe - like Naples or Dubrovnik.

In preparation for some foreignport intensive cruises coming up across multiple countries and many differentcurrencies, I have been doing the math. The total math, and reviewing articles,reading comments to articles and shouting at the screen to people who can'thear me - as my wife just reminded me.

Ok. First of all, let's get the basics out of the way.

1) Use an ATM card to withdraw local cash. That is the singlebest option, depending on your ATM card and fees. But how many of you have timeto do that when the ship docks, as you are herded from the excursion meetingplace to the bus and there is a line at the sole ATM temporarily installed justpast the gangway. Or it has an out of order sign. Taking local currency hasallowed us to just walk on by and smile.

2) Cash advance on credit card. This is the worst way to getlocal cash. You get hit with cash advance fees, an exchange rate fee andprobably a higher exchange rate. Nuff said.

3) Why local cash? I hate passing up that cute little souveniror snack or bottle of water to settle the hiccups or small tip. Giving out US$in foreign ports are ok in ports like Mexico, some South American and theCaribbean, but get further afield, like Seychelles, or Sri Lanka, what is ataxi driver or ice cream vendor going to do with a $5 bill besides having topay exchange fees themselves. And some countries are still cash-centric likeJapan. On our 2012 Asian cruise we carried 12 different currencies and passedup many machines that were out of order or had a heck of a que while we wererushing to catch that bus! Not only that but every time that ATM sucked my cardinto its bowels, I got a shiver running up and down my spine wondering if Iwould ever see that card again!

I do not want to be dependenton a machine when we arrive at the dock. We want to hit the ground running, notwaiting in line or dashing to a nearby bank/ATM that may or may-not take ourcard – been there done that all over Bruges one day trying 4 different ATMsuntil we found one that would take our card – as we had run out of Euros andwanted CHOCOLATE!

So what are the options andcosts – the total costs? We have foursources of foreign currency here in our home town. Wells Fargo, Bank OfAmerica, a local Travelex office and a dedicated currency exchange office about75 miles away. (I’m not even going to discuss exchanging currency in an airportexchange center – that is typically worse than a credit card advance.)

Wells Fargo charges $7.50 percurrency, unless you exchange > $1000 USD, with an exchange rate about 6-7%above the inter-bank exchange rate. This is the rate you see if you Google thecurrency exchange rate. This is the best rate that large banks give each otherfor large (million $) transactions. So yes, Wells Fargo is getting 6-7% rightoff the top. They will waive the $7.50 per transaction if you have an account.But there is a cost of having an account at Wells Fargo. Minimum amounts for nofee savings or checking that are basically getting no interest and noinvestment potential. This ranges from $1500 to $3500 minimum balances. So youare getting basically nothing for that money being tied up.

Bank of America charges $7.50per currency, but only sells to existing customers, with the aforementionedminimum investments and tying up your money – and you still get charged $7.50per currency transaction. They also charge 6-7% above the interbank rate. So ona $100 exchange, you are paying almost 12-13%.

Our local Travelex will allowus to order currency with an ATM card and have it delivered to the local officewith no fees, but an exchange rate with a 10-12% markup depending on the currency.No accounts or minimum balances are required.

The dedicated currencyexchange office that is 75 miles away, in Denver actually, charges about a 3-5%markup in the exchange rate, but also $5-$10 per currency in fees and it wouldtake 6 gallons of gas to go there and back for another $15 to $20 in gas plus 5hours out of your life. No accounts are required, but the larger the amount ofcurrency exchanged, the less per currency fee.

So what is the cost of bankaccounts? For round numbers sake, let’s put $2000 in a BoA or Wells Fargoaccount as opposed to an FDIC CD. Today you can get a CD for 1 year at 1.5%. Soyour $2000 account is costing you $30 per year. Plus the hassle of havinganother account to keep track of.

As you can see, the totalmath shows BoA to be the worst possible choice. Not only a 12-13% markup withthe $7.50 fee, but $30 to maintain the no-fee account, which on small cashreserve transactions could be an additional 10-30% - like getting some pesosfor Mexico!

The currency exchange inDenver looks pretty good with the smaller markup, but then add in the fees, thegas, your time and it’s not worth it either.

The 6-7% markup by WellsFargo looks initially attractive, but then the $30 yearly loss in investmentincome potential, plus the hassle of another account to track is questionable.

Travelex is simpler andstraight forward, but charges an arm and a leg in markup, AND if you come backand do another exchange you get hit with the markup in the opposite direction!

So what is a traveler to do?

That is the real question forus out here in the ‘sticks’. I’m sure travelers in the big cities like New Yorkor LA or Miami might have better options in banks, but right now I’m tornbetween the Wells Fargo account and simply holding my nose and ordering fromTravelex…

BUT, and there is always aBUT, if you do multiple trips per year and multiple currencies per year, the WellsFargo account looks far more attractive than even Travelex. Fees per currencytransactions will eat your lunch, but the lack of fees for Wells Fargo mightjust turn the tables. The ONLY problem is trying to understand their fees forvarious types of accounts. Like wire transfer fees – which do not appear to bewaived when you maintain the minimum balance, which now means you have to personallywrite a check from another account and deposit the check (not sure if mobilebanking has a fee or not) with the time and gas involved. Geez, now I have tobe a CPA and a lawyer to read and understand all the footnotes!

Is everyone confused now?Good, so am I….

Anybody got any other suggestions?

Can I book in advance using OBC or not?

Yes. Use the website, book the excursions, but you can only book up to the amount of OBC EACH PERSON individually has. If one person has more, like a stockholder OBC or a Veteran's OBC, they cannot use that OBC for the other person in the cabin. The website will ask for a Credit Card.

In that event, call Princess and they will allocate payments among the cabin passengers to maximize use of OBC. Apparently they've been getting a lot of these calls and are getting rather good at it...

Based upon what others have said it appears that it does not matter who is actually doing the booking. Each individual person in the booking has to have enough OBC or it will ask for a cc. At least that is my understanding.

That is correct. On our website software, a person in a cabin can book for the other person, but the excursion is charged to that person and there is no selection as to which party to bill, like I remember there used to be.

However, the agents CAN select the party to be billed and that shows up on the website almost immediately. It even shows that the billing is to the other person. We just don't have a simple check mark on our GUI to assign billing. That is really all we need...

And an interesting happy ending...

It turns out that changes to our account are almost immediately view able on your Princess site. So I was able to see the changes she made, very nice people BTW, upon screen refresh and we were able to maximize the use of the OBC.

No calculator or green eyeshades necessary.

Even able to enter credit card on my end via the website after all was said and done.

Now we have to wait for Princess IT to make the functionality changes to our site...

(Plus the fact that one agent noticed a missing FCC credit! That phone call saved me $100!)

Maybe this wasn't so bad after all!

Canceling and rebooking an excursion only works if there is available space on the desired tour; if there is, then you don't even have to call Princess, you can do it yourself from the Personalizer.

 

As for refundability, each type of OBC has its own rules. Most that comes from Princess is not refundable, but you can look in your onboard credits section to see what is and what isn't.

AND, as I was just told on the phone, cancelling and re-booking might make you subject to a higher rate as prices can change. I think Princess will end up adopting the airline seat payment model. No one will end up paying the same price as the prices fluctuate according to demand. Although this will not be in full force until the excursion reservations are non-refundable. Give them a few years...

Jui Jitsu the bureaucracy!

I keep forgetting to apply my anti-bureaucratic tactics to other situations as well.

Princess software is intended to save them money by not printing all those paper excursion pages we used to get. to minimize labor costs of agents and to make the process more automated and efficient. Now if enough people have to call in and manually reserve excursions to fix this problem and it blips their overhead expenses up a bit, they might be convinced to add a payment assignment line to their software - which I thought used to be there but has since disappeared.

We're going to give this a shot today and see what happens!

I just did this. Called Princess (did not have to wait until we got onboard) and they put both excursions on account that had enough OBC. No problem and didn't have to change stock names or anything else.

 

Helen

That's what I am going to have to do...have to get my green eye shades on and calculator revved up!

At least they didn't saddle their agents with the same software 'feature' we have...

I wonder how much Shorex business Princess is losing to independents with this pre-pay thing?

That does sound like quite a hassle. Couple thoughts: have Judy's name added as a joint - owner to the CCL stock, which would seemingly make the issue go away, or - book the excursion ahead of time using credit card and be mindful of cancellation window, then cancel and rebook onboard using the then available stockholders OBC.

 

 

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We are joint owners. That's in the brokerage statement.

Ok, so I know the spiel. Prepay allows for better planning, better pricing, less cancellations, yada yada yada. Got it, moving on...

However now in order to use my shareholder OBC, which is assigned to me personally, to pay for Judy's Shorex reservations, I have to wait till we get on board - although the agent did offer the option to try and book the excursions through her software which might allow assigning payment to me - although now I have to do the math, write down the excursions, which ones to assign to me, which ones to Judy for payment, get out the excel spreadsheet, calculator, green eye shade, bankers light, scratchpad, etc.

The Princess Shorex website assigns payment the person going on the excursion, not the person making the reservation! So even though I have another $250 of OBC via the stockholder's benefit to spend, I can only spend it on my excursions - her's I have to pre-pay for with a credit card.

This is not good and it ain't going to happen...I am not paying for a Shorex with a credit card when I have ample OBC to cover it.

Anyone else found a different way around this new mess?

I usually haunt another cruise booking website as they typically put the new cruises on a day or two early. In this case they had Regal sailings out to 2019 last week, but unbookable, and then they pulled them off the website. Probably just testing the code to see if they work or not.

I wish I could take this cruise but I can not find one after March 2018. Instead Golden will start LA to Sydney on Sep. 2018 and come back on Apr. 2019. No return from LA!!:mad:

No worries. The America's have been announced but not opened for Booking until tomorrow...

The Star will do the 28 day on March 24, 2019.

The Emerald will do the 28 day on October 23, 2018.

If anyone is interested, here is the video of the 2015 Crown 28 day sailing:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4U_Mo-ITYDES2l0TW5PTWdoWHM

And here are the patters:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4U_Mo-ITYDETEl0T2Nfd0czVUU

And here is Part 1 and Part 2 of the written review:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4U_Mo-ITYDEM1p4eXlZQXBKWk0

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4U_Mo-ITYDEUW9NSEVkWU16MUU

Based on port schedules, the Emerald R/T from LA looks like this:

10/23/2018 Tuesday Los Angeles

10/24/2018 Wednesday At Sea

10/25/2018 Thursday At Sea

10/26/2018 Friday At Sea

10/27/2018 Saturday At Sea

10/28/2018 Sunday Hilo

10/29/2018 Monday Kauai

10/30/2018 Tuesday Maui

10/31/2018 Wednesday Honolulu

11/1/2018 Thursday At Sea

11/2/2018 Friday At Sea

11/3/2018 Saturday At Sea

11/4/2018 Sunday At Sea

11/5/2018 Monday Pago Pago

11/6/2018 Tuesday Apia

11/7/2018 Wednesday At Sea

11/8/2018 Thursday At Sea

11/9/2018 Friday Bora Bora

11/10/2018 Saturday Tahiti

11/11/2018 Sunday Moorea

11/12/2018 Monday At Sea

11/13/2018 Tuesday At Sea

11/14/2018 Wednesday At Sea

11/15/2018 Thursday At Sea

11/16/2018 Friday At Sea

11/17/2018 Saturday At Sea

11/18/2018 Sunday At Sea

11/19/2018 Monday At Sea

11/20/2018 Tuesday Los Angeles

The Bold lettered ports correspond to port schedules. I just pasted a typical 28 day R/T over, and moved some ports here and there.

There are a few anomalies in the port schedules - like the Star overnighting in Papeete and the Emerald arriving in LA 3 days early on the 17th, then again on the 20th.

But last year we went through the same exercise about the Tahiti R/T and it turned out about right in the end.

But in the end, I would assume its a safe bet that the Emerald with do the Tahiti R/T in late October. The probably transition to the South America cruises for the rest of our winter.

Hi anyone know which ship is doing the LA - Hawaii- Papeete - LA in October 18. Both the Emerald and Crown look to be

heading to Australia so doesnt leave many ships up there. RubY?

The Crown is in Europe until 11/17/2018. The Golden does a Transpacific to Melbourne on 9/23/18. The Emerald isn't going back to Australia in 2018/2019 as the Australian cruises were just posted. That leaves the Emerald, Ruby, Grand and Star to do the Tahiti run.

Since Princess has been using Super Grands for the past several years I would expect the Ruby or Emerald - almost identical ships.

Looking at the port schedules for HI, the Emerald, Star and Grand are the only Princess west coast ships - not the Ruby. With the Emerald calling into Kauai on the 13 and 29th of October, I would suspect the Emerald is doing the Tahiti run.

HOWEVER, I just looked at the Papeete Port Schedule. It has the Star in port 10/31 to 11/1/18 AND the Emerald 11/11/18. The two night Star schedule is consistent with the Tahiti cruise.

Based on that schedule, the Star might be doing the run with the Emerald going somewhere else (Asia?) in a trans-pacific run.

That would make sense if the Royal does indeed go to the West Coast in 2018 and does the South American cruises along the way...

I have to vote for La Paz and Loreto. Great alternatives to the MR. Our cruise Live From, if you are interested, is here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2002637&page=2

It may have to do with how many in-transit passengers there are. In San Pedro, I've had to get off the ship when doing back to backs (lots of people/short cruises). In Alaska (Whittier), we were waiting in the Crown Grill before given the all clear. Walked in a circle...scanned out/scanned in.

Every port has different rules depending on the CBP rules for that day and that port. Typically though, if you stay onboard they will give you instructions on where and when to meet with your new card the night before. You will get dinged off and dinged back in sometimes in the port, sometimes on the ship.

If you get off the ship you will tag out with your old card, go off and do things, then come back on with the herd, or after the rush, and simply tag back in with your new card and your 'In Transit" piece of paper.

With UBER there are a lot of alternative low cost options in FLL now. There are also a couple of pretty good restaurants, including a GREAT Thai place, within walking distance. Your cruise card, passport and In Transit card will get you through the port gates on foot or in a car.

So does anybody have a link to share with some of the 2018-19 itineraries? We are allowed to shared this type of info on Cruise Critic, we just can't talk about specific travel agencies and their web sites.

Unfortunately both of my sources are a competing website and a TA website. Can't link to either one...sorry...

Cruise Junky yeah I saw the mini brochure but on this thread and another I saw people talking about dates for other 2018/2019 stating sail dates and itinerary info...so I was just commenting on how I wish they would share like used to happen.

 

ccrain--- OCPD...omg I love it!!! That is me and of course some of my friends too. While I may not be booking anything on this release I still like to peruse and see what is out there and perhaps what I might want to do in the future should they keep doing that itinerary. However I have been burned once ....we fell in love with the 14 day circle Caribbean cruises but couldn't go during the times offered......HOPED they would do it summer/fall of 2018 only to have princess yank them away so we are stuck doing a normal b2b with the stop in FLL but it is also not the further down ports we wanted like Barbados, St Lucia and such. Those are offered on some 10 days but that circle 14 day was heaven.....such a shame princess only did a few then stopped. But we will enjoy our 14 day (b2b 7dayer) and if the circle comes out again...what a cryin shame if we have to go cruising again...lol;p

I agree completely with the wasted stopover in FLL with the current 7 day B2B "14 day" Itinerary. I loved that 14 day circle the Caribbean. We did a B2B2B on the Ruby a couple of years ago - 2 easterns and a western - but that wasted 2 days in FLL really turned me off. Won't be doing that again.

There are several "spreadsheets" running around.

There is the typical excel or pdf detailed listing of cruises that go to TAs. They are kind of complex, but give great insight into costs of cruises.

There is the pdf 'brochure' that lists, generically, the cruises, ports, ships and sometimes the Princess 'MSRP' costs.

I help a former CC member, who started his own website, keep a Princess port schedule spreadsheet up to date with dates and ports for each ship in the Princess fleet in a columnar format in an excel sheet. My OCPD (Obsessive Cruise Planning Disorder) uses this sheet for planning future cruises. I highlight booked cruises in green, wish list in yellow and I'm able to look across the entire princess fleet and see where the various ships are on any one date.

I just finished updating this excel schedule using data from a internet cruise TA site that got the data up before Princess. (Princess 2019 itineraries are still not up as of today on the Princess site.) This site's itinerary data format is much more conducive to manual entry into a spreadsheet than the Princess format - and I do have to manually enter each port for each ship. Not as hard as you might think, but tedious nonetheless. When new itineraries are published I add them to the spreadsheet.

For those of us with extreme OCPD, we also peruse various port websites to gain insight into docking schedules. Most of the ports actually have ships booked out into 2020. I did a quick look at the typical Australian ports (SYD, MEL, Hobart, Port Arthur) for the Golden last month and the port schedules have now almost perfectly aligned with the itineraries being published. Some got shifted, but most were accurate.

For right now, the Asian and Australian cruises are out to early 2019 for the Diamond, Majestic, Golden, Sea and Sun. Everything else is to the Fall of 2018. So we are still awaiting the 2018/2019 Caribbean, Exotics, Americas and the Alaskan and European 2019 schedules to fill in the blanks.

I suspect the Royal repositioning, if it happens, will be in the Americas release.