Canadian Princess Cruisers

[AE_Collector]

I am confused with the exchange rate. My credit card on file says it is not billed in US$, as I heard the banks will give you a better exchange rate. So when I go online, pricing for excursions are in US dollars.

 

You can tell Princess that your credit card is OR isn't billed in US$. If you say that it isn't billed in US that will prompt them to ask if you want them to convert and bill you directly in Canadian. Having them convert o Canadian is what you might want to avoid though I have never gone that route. If you tell them that is billed in US Princess will bill your card in US$ and the credit card company will do the conversion.

 

I was just checking my personalizer, and to prepay my tips would be $92.40 for each of us. We are staying in a mini suite 7 days, so I calculate that to be $84 US, so that seems to be calculated to 1.10%. So if I am reading this right, rather than to pay my excursions, I should just call up princess and put it in as OBC to get the better exchange rate? If that is the case, then you are best to put more down as OBC to save on the exchange. I hope this makes sense

 

Yes, just pre purchase OBC for everything. I assume that pre paying for excursions may not be at the preferred exchange rate though pre paying for excursions is new from Princess. I am not certain how it works as far as exchange rates.

 

Just pre purchase enough OBC to cover gratuities, excursions and other onboard spending. Some pre purchased items are a little less expensive if pre purchased as opposed to buying them onboard such as coffee cards, soda and beer packages plus you get the better exchange rate in top if the better pre purchase price.

 

Terry

[rocker57]

This is why I love to read CC before a cruise. I called Princess, put $1000 OBC and it is going to cost me $1100 Canadian. When I use an exchange site, $1100 Canadian would give me $921.49, so that is an almost $80 savings. So I want to thank everyone that posted this information :D

[rocker57]

This is why I love to read CC before a cruise. I called Princess, put $1000 OBC and it is going to cost me $1100 Canadian. When I use an exchange site, $1100 Canadian would give me $921.49, so that is an almost $80 savings. So I want to thank everyone that posted this information :D

 

Actually, when I do an exchange from 1000 US $ - Canadian $ it would of cost me $1,196, so that is a saving of $96, even better!

[RD64]

I purchased on board credit today for my upcoming cruise as well - thank you all for the great advice.

[Kamloops50]

Any thing that I buy at Princess including cruise fares have been post at Princess Vancouver not Santa Clarita.

[Altarose]

I just called to order $500 OBC on my upcoming cruise. I used the number on the Gifts and Services page which I found out goes to the California Princess office. I asked how much would go on my Canadian credit card and they said $550 so I was really happy of course. I then called my Visa company to confirm the amount in Canadian and they told me it came in at $614.53. I promptly cancelled my OBC with Princess.

If there is a way to do this then I would really like to know. But to those out there that are believing what the Princess rep is telling you, beware, because they don't have a clue what the exchange rate is. My credit card company told me that Princess just put the US amount through to them and they did the conversion at Visa. Princess doesn't do the conversion themselves and shouldn't be quoting the exchange that will be going on your card.

Sorry, this didn't work out for me at all:(

[Been There, Planning That]

I just called to order $500 OBC on my upcoming cruise. I used the number on the Gifts and Services page which I found out goes to the California Princess office. I asked how much would go on my Canadian credit card and they said $550 so I was really happy of course. I then called my Visa company to confirm the amount in Canadian and they told me it came in at $614.53. I promptly cancelled my OBC with Princess.

If there is a way to do this then I would really like to know. But to those out there that are believing what the Princess rep is telling you, beware, because they don't have a clue what the exchange rate is. My credit card company told me that Princess just put the US amount through to them and they did the conversion at Visa. Princess doesn't do the conversion themselves and shouldn't be quoting the exchange that will be going on your card.

Sorry, this didn't work out for me at all:(

 

I simply called the number at the top of the web page, with our reservation number handy. It certainly worked for me on two different occasions for the one trip.

 

I guess it depends upon the operator answering.

 

Ruth

[Quantum Wino]

I checked my credit card and it showed exactly what Princess said they were going to charge me in Canadian. if you are Canadian and paid for the cruise with Canadian funds it definitely works.

[AE_Collector]

If you go back a page or so you will see where I mentioned that I had the same thing happen to me once. It is something strange in their system. Call and try again.

 

Terry

[kruisey]

I just called to order $500 OBC on my upcoming cruise. I used the number on the Gifts and Services page which I found out goes to the California Princess office. I asked how much would go on my Canadian credit card and they said $550 so I was really happy of course. I then called my Visa company to confirm the amount in Canadian and they told me it came in at $614.53. I promptly cancelled my OBC with Princess.

If there is a way to do this then I would really like to know. But to those out there that are believing what the Princess rep is telling you, beware, because they don't have a clue what the exchange rate is. My credit card company told me that Princess just put the US amount through to them and they did the conversion at Visa. Princess doesn't do the conversion themselves and shouldn't be quoting the exchange that will be going on your card.

Sorry, this didn't work out for me at all:(

Must have been received from Princess as $550 US and not Canadian that is the only way this would happen.If they had billed to your bank as Canadian $550 it would have been charged so.........

[atmx093]

There must be some other mechanism the vacation planners can use then because I bought $600 worth of US dollar OBC earlier this week and the charge on my visa was $600 Canadian dollars. That's 100% parity, no 10% top off.

 

 

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[Kamloops50]

I just called to order $500 OBC on my upcoming cruise. I used the number on the Gifts and Services page which I found out goes to the California Princess office. I asked how much would go on my Canadian credit card and they said $550 so I was really happy of course. I then called my Visa company to confirm the amount in Canadian and they told me it came in at $614.53. I promptly cancelled my OBC with Princess.

If there is a way to do this then I would really like to know. But to those out there that are believing what the Princess rep is telling you, beware, because they don't have a clue what the exchange rate is. My credit card company told me that Princess just put the US amount through to them and they did the conversion at Visa. Princess doesn't do the conversion themselves and shouldn't be quoting the exchange that will be going on your card.

Sorry, this didn't work out for me at all:(

 

They might have to add Canadian tax on the $500.

[richstowe]

I can't see the OBC nor the Vodka I purchase . I contacted my TA to get a copy of the info

which is in Special Requests. I do see the OBC received from the TA on my booking .

Is this because I used a TA instead of booking direct with Princess ?

I just called to order $500 OBC on my upcoming cruise. I used the number on the Gifts and Services page which I found out goes to the California Princess office. I asked how much would go on my Canadian credit card and they said $550 so I was really happy of course. I then called my Visa company to confirm the amount in Canadian and they told me it came in at $614.53. I promptly cancelled my OBC with Princess.

If there is a way to do this then I would really like to know. But to those out there that are believing what the Princess rep is telling you, beware, because they don't have a clue what the exchange rate is. My credit card company told me that Princess just put the US amount through to them and they did the conversion at Visa. Princess doesn't do the conversion themselves and shouldn't be quoting the exchange that will be going on your card.

Sorry, this didn't work out for me at all:(

Is it possible that they misunderstood your desire and gave you $550 in OBC for a total of $614.53 ?

[atmx093]

They might have to add Canadian tax on the $500.

 

 

Buying OBC is like buying a gift card- it's not a taxable product.

 

 

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[canadarocks]

I can't see the OBC nor the Vodka I purchase . I contacted my TA to get a copy of the info

which is in Special Requests. I do see the OBC received from the TA on my booking .

Is this because I used a TA instead of booking direct with Princess ?

 

You should have an email confirming your OBC and Vodka purchases. They don't show up on your personalizer, regardless of whether you use a T.A. or not. I've been told it's to allow people to surprise others with gifts (someone else purchasing Vodka or OBC for you ahead of time).

[Quantum Wino]

Anything you buy through Gift Services will not show on your personalizer. It will show on your account when you board, just take the e-mailed receipt with you just in case.

As for paying in Canadian when you phone ask them to quote you in Canadian funds and that you want it charged to your credit card in Canadian not US. They will tell you exactly how much Canadian they are charging and that is what will be charged to your Credit card. It defiantly works!

[Altarose]

I can't see the OBC nor the Vodka I purchase . I contacted my TA to get a copy of the info

which is in Special Requests. I do see the OBC received from the TA on my booking .

Is this because I used a TA instead of booking direct with Princess ?

Is it possible that they misunderstood your desire and gave you $550 in OBC for a total of $614.53 ?

 

No, there was no misunderstanding. I received a confirmatiion saying that I had purchased 500$ OBC and was told that I would have 550$ Canadian on my Canadian CC. They did not do the exchange at Princess even though they told me they would. They put 500$ US on my card and Visa did the conversion plus their 2.5% as per usual. Princess told me they were going to do the conversion and they did not. They did think that the rate was at 10% so they are way off.

[Quantum Wino]

I don't know what to tell you, Princess told me exactly what they were going to charge me Canadian funds based on a 10% exchange and that is exactly what showed up on my credit card statement, to the penny.

[Kamloops50]

OBC has to be charged to you in USD. This is because all on board charges are inUSD.

 

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[CruisinFinsUp]

Just got off the phone with Princess - I used the celebrations and gifts phone number. Was able to get all my pre purchases for our March cruise at 1.10 exchange

 

Just confirming - it took a couple days for the purchases to show up online on my credit card -they are there now from " princess cruise services vancouver " in Canadian Dollars exactly as the rep on the phone quoted me.

Princess converted at 1.10, no exchange fees, and charged to my card in Canadian dollars.

[RD64]

To quote verbatim from Cruistoddler:

 

"Just confirming - it took a couple days for the purchases to show up online on my credit card -they are there now from " princess cruise services vancouver " in Canadian Dollars exactly as the rep on the phone quoted me.

Princess converted at 1.10, no exchange fees, and charged to my card in Canadian dollars."

 

This is exactly what happened to me as well.

Edited January 18, 2015 by RD64

[lastrooney]

We just got off the Regal yesterday.

I purchased 500 USD OBC which cost us 550 CDN.

Credit card co charged us 550 CDN

It wasn't all spent :eek:, and we rec'd a cash refund in USD from the pursers desk.

:)

[bjbing]

First time cruiser and am I ever glad I found this thread. I looked at my booking summary and it listed pre pay gratuities as $88.50 online. Listed beer pkg as $28.46, the soda and more pkg is listed as $8.05 per day. So on my personalizer it appears my prices are in Cdn with the 10% already added. I was ok with that and called Princess to prepay. Princess then said my beer pkg was $25.58 CDN and Soda Pkg and more was $5.70 CDN day. I put a couple hundered OBC on and that was charged at $110.00 CDN for $100. So basically I got my beer and soda at par and 10% for gratuities and OBC. I also paid my gratuities as gratuities, didn't have to hide it as OBC. The gratuities were charged as CDN also. She said my bill was $502 CDN and I instantly see it on my visa online as a pending authorized transaction for $502, exactly as she said. So boils down to paid at par for soda, beer and 10% exchange for gratuities and OBC

[bjbing]

Ok slight change to my post above. I noticed on my confirmation email that they charged me for basic soda instead of soda and more. When she credited me and redid the soda pkg it came out as a 10% exchange. So everything was at 10% EXCEPT the beer pkg which was at par.

[AE_Collector]

Not sure why the beer package initially showed at $28.46 Canadian. Sounds like that might be the regular price of the "6 pack" onboard with gratuities if not pre purchased. The "6 packs" that you can pre purchase are $23.25 US including gratuity so with 10% added in Canadian it should be $25.60 approximately which is what you were charged.

 

Terry

Edited January 20, 2015 by AE_Collector