Conversion of credits from/to Australian dollars to US by the ship

Two or three years ago we sailed on a few B2B cruises on the Diamond Princess around NZ and OZ. At that time they were converting OBC from US to Australian at some weird rate. Part way through the cruises the rate became more equitable. but I do not remember what it was. Also, once the ship started towards Japan (departure day from Sydney) the shipboard currency switched to US$. Would someone please bring me up to date? We are doing something similar next year and would like to know if we should stock up on Australian dollars. I am also seeing something about a 1-2% service charge if I settle my shipboard account with a credit card; is that new or have I just not read the fine print before?

Thanks

Two or three years ago we sailed on a few B2B cruises on the Diamond Princess around NZ and OZ. At that time they were converting OBC from US to Australian at some weird rate. Part way through the cruises the rate became more equitable. but I do not remember what it was. Also, once the ship started towards Japan (departure day from Sydney) the shipboard currency switched to US$. Would someone please bring me up to date? We are doing something similar next year and would like to know if we should stock up on Australian dollars. I am also seeing something about a 1-2% service charge if I settle my shipboard account with a credit card; is that new or have I just not read the fine print before?

 

Thanks

The service charge for using a credit card to settle your shipboard account is an Australian thing and yes Princess does charge that. Also any OBC is no longer converted from US to Australian dollars. If you have 100.00 OBC that’s is exactly what you will get for your OBC in Australian dollars while cruising around Australia. We cruised in February 2017 and Princess did convert our OBC from American dollars into Australian dollars which give us more OBC but Princess no less ne’er does this they treat your OBC of 100.00 the same in both currencies. There has been a number of threads on this topic.

If the OBC is provided from Princess it will not be converted and you will receive what they quote in AUD. If you pre-purchase OBC it will be converted, but I don't believe there is an easy way to tell what the conversion rate is (at least without calling). I took an NZ cruise on the Diamond last month and did add US$200 in OBC before sailing, when I got on the ship it was converted to 257.00AUD.

We were on the Diamond for Australia-based cruises last month. Concur with other statements re the 1:1 conversion between USD and AUD. The one on-board exception is the "loyalty OBC". It was converted from USD to AUD.

We were on the Diamond for Australia-based cruises last month. Concur with other statements re the 1:1 conversion between USD and AUD. The one on-board exception is the "loyalty OBC". It was converted from USD to AUD.

The shareholder and military OBC amounts on Princess ships while homeported in Australia are

not converted from US$. They are set by Princess (Australia) and issued in AU$, just like Cunard's

are set and issued in UK£.

Check the PDF linked to on http://www.carnivalcorp.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=140690&p=irol-sharebenefit

If the OBC is provided from Princess it will not be converted and you will receive what they quote in AUD. If you pre-purchase OBC it will be converted, but I don't believe there is an easy way to tell what the conversion rate is (at least without calling). I took an NZ cruise on the Diamond last month and did add US$200 in OBC before sailing, when I got on the ship it was converted to 257.00AUD.

I am guessing that they would do the same if I "gifted" myself $200US for casino use; they would then convert to $AUD. at the rate of 1-1.25 that would make it around $250 AUD which is about you got. Thanks