Canadian Princess Cruisers

[nana541]

You can do most things online!

 

 

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[AE_Collector]

You are welcome Ontario-ites! I know a bargain when I see it!

 

I don't book through TA's anymore but rather go directly through our Princess Vacation Planner so I don't know about calling Princess directly to pre-purchase stuff, but I would just try calling. Seems different than discussing details of the cruise. They do have a pre-purchase "cut off" of something like 5 days before the cruise I think so get on it! Besides OBC I have bought coffee cards and some of the beer packages.

 

Terry

[lastrooney]

Thanks again Terry!

 

I'll take you're advice and give them a call.

 

I'll post their answer tomorrow.

[lastrooney]

Was able to speak to Princess directly.

If I wished to buy $500 OBC, it would cost $550 Cdn.

Not too bad considering the exchange rate today is about 1.21. :eek:

[yvr49]

I just bought $500 OBC but the charge shows on my credit card as $590.93, not $550. Either the 10% conversion rate no longer applies, or I made a mistake in ordering the $500 US to be purchased on my CAD credit card. I am thinking the latter - maybe I should have done it differently?

Oh well, it's in place now and maybe we won't spend it all...........

[M4dC0w]

I just bought $500 OBC but the charge shows on my credit card as $590.93, not $550. Either the 10% conversion rate no longer applies, or I made a mistake in ordering the $500 US to be purchased on my CAD credit card. I am thinking the latter - maybe I should have done it differently?

Oh well, it's in place now and maybe we won't spend it all...........

 

You can ask for a refund, and get it reordered

Edited January 7, 2015 by M4dC0w

[AE_Collector]

You need to be Canadian with a Canadian passport registered with Princess. And you need to have booked directly in Canadian funds with Princess or through a TA that booked in Canadian, not in US converted by credit card company to Canadian.

 

If that is the case then Princess messed your OBC purchase up. It has happened to me too. Best to have the service rep at Princess tell you what amount is that will be billed to your card before they process the charge.

 

You can now call and cancel and then redo it. You will quite likely discover your credit card company only refunds the current bank exchange rate less the 2.5% (approximate) exchange fee which they pocket. I had this happen on a $3500 OBC purchase so I was out of pocket close to $100 and had to call the credit card company to explain that Princess had made an error. They refunded the extra amount since they could see the correct charge went through just a couple of days later which proved it was an error not a returned item.

 

Terry

Edited January 8, 2015 by AE_Collector

[yvr49]

You need to be Canadian with a Canadian passport registered with Princess. And you need to have booked directly in Canadian funds with Princess or through a TA that booked in Canadian, not in US converted by credit card company to Canadian.

 

If that is the case then Princess messed your OBC purchase up. It has happened to me too. Best to have the service rep at Princess tell you what amount is that will be billed to your card before they process the charge.

 

You can now call and cancel and then redo it. You will quite likely discover your credit card company only refunds the current bank exchange rate less the 2.5% (approximate) exchange fee which they pocket. I had this happen on a $3500 OBC purchase so I was out of pocket close to $100 and had to call the credit card company to explain that Princess had made an error. They refunded the extra amount since they could see the correct charge went through just a couple of days later which proved it was an error not a returned item.

 

Terry

 

Thanks Terry - I am Canadian with a Canadian passport - I did ask for a quote on the exchange before proceeding but the person I spoke to said she was unable to give me that info. I might try again tomorrow but not sure the $40 difference I will save is worth the limited time I have tomorrow:)

[AE_Collector]

I have had that too where sometimes they cant tell you what will be billed. No idea why that is. You are probably right that it isn't worth pursuing too far on a fairly small amount. Maybe next time!

 

Terry

[CruisinFinsUp]

I have had that too where sometimes they cant tell you what will be billed. No idea why that is. You are probably right that it isn't worth pursuing too far on a fairly small amount. Maybe next time!

 

Terry

 

Bizarre! I will try soon for our March trip and post back my results.

I think I'll start with "I was wondering how much it will cost me to ..." and if I get the "can't tell you" I'll say never mind then and hang up and call back to get a different person. I sure hope they haven't changed the rules and upped us to market!! :eek:

[RLK33853]

I just placed $500 on board credit on two back to back cruises for March. When I made the call I specified that I wanted $500 US OBC and asked what my credit card would be charged in CAD. He answered that a $550 CAD charge on my credit card would result in $500 US on board credit, and then confirmed same via an email to me.

 

Great deal with the current exchange rate!!!

 

This has always been one of my favorite threads.............Thanks everyone.

 

Ray

[richstowe]

Great thread for us thrifty Canadians ;) ! Thank you Terry for the updates .

With our currencies further and further apart , the rate the cruise lines offer really does matter.

We were also quoted a 10 % premium which was good at booking but has gotten better

and better as the CDN $ continues to fall . I wanted to transfer the booking to a US TA for OBC.

The TA I usually use wasn't interested so I transferred it to Expedia for a smaller OBC.

 

Just wondering , when booking I requested that on-board charges would be in CDN $'s .

Going into my booking it says "Onboard Currency: Folio charges will be in USD".

I asked Princess by phone and they said they have my booking in Cdn funds . I hope so.:confused:

[Been There, Planning That]

Thanks for all the excellent advice. I too have just made an OBC and have rec'd emailed confirmation that the charges and credit are correct.

 

I won'd gamble for our fall cruise, but for February this is great.

 

Ruth

[zoyabean]

Thanks for the information!

 

I just prepaid our gratuities and bought our drinks packages at 10% for our cruise next week! When I picked up some US cash from the bank today I paid 22%!!

 

 

....I wonder if I'll be able to purchase a FCC at the same rate?

[AE_Collector]

Future Cruise Deposits are done in US or Canadian (other currencies too) which detemines the currency that you will book your next cruise in. Canadians can book Princess cruises in US or Canadian. You pay directly with your credit card rather than from your onboard account so if you buy the FCD in US$ you will either have to use a US credit card OR a Canadian credit card and pay the exchange rate on the credit card bill.

 

We always keep multiple Canadian AND US Future Cruise Deposits in place because once the Canadian $ finally turns around there will be a fairly long period of time where it will be to Canadians advantage to book cruises in US$. For example, Princess cruises may be still priced at a 10% premium in Canadian and the Canadian dollar might be back to par. I know, hard to believe but it has happened twice now in the last 8 years. Just as Princess is very slow to change the Canadian price to a 20% premium (shall we run a poll to guess when it will happen) they are also very slow to move prices back to par as well.

 

FCD's can be converted to the other currency as needed but for me that is too much hassle unless absolutely neccesary. I would rather just have some of each in place and then the extra FCD's are insurance against not having enough in place for multiple cruises booked at once before you have the opportunity to reload.

 

Terry

Edited January 14, 2015 by AE_Collector

[atmx093]

Some vacation planners are able to do transactions at par. There doesn't seem to be many, but it's possible.

 

edit: I meant this for OBC, gratuities, services and goods.

 

 

Envoyé de mon iPhone à l'aide de Tapatalk

Edited January 14, 2015 by atmx093

[AspensMom73]

I am a Canadian who booked directly through the Princess website, and paid in Canadian dollars for the cruise, and it showed up as Princess Vancouver on my credit card statement. Just a couple of days ago, I decided to look into pre-paying my gratuities, based on the info provided in this thread. I found that the price quoted to me for gratuities on the Princess website included a 10% exchange rate already, so it was to our advantage to pre-pay it in Canadian funds at 10% rather than the icky rate that the bank is charging for US exchange. I'm also going to call in to Princess tomorrow to buy some OBC, providing the same exchange rate will be used. Thanks Terry for all your input into this discussion, I'm sure it has helped a lot of people already :)

[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, which is the same as what we paid for the cruise. Whoo hoo! Awesome given the current credit card exchange rate plus exchange fees!

 

I bought gratuities, ultimate soda and more, and all inclusive bar. I received email confirms ( had to ask for them) showing the purchases and the charges in canadian dollars. I'll take these emails with us onboard to prove purchases just in case the items don't appear onboard. We have some other OBC too that will cover other things so now our final bill should be pretty small!

 

Can't wait!!

[Been There, Planning That]

How can one figure out the differences between Canadian and American prices when booking? Whenever I go on line I just get Canadian prices and cannot seem to switch to the US pricing.

 

We use a Canadian TA but could book directly I guess if the difference is considerable.

 

And again thanks for this tip. I made a second OBC at the $1.10 exchange rate.

 

Ruth

[CruisinFinsUp]

How can one figure out the differences between Canadian and American prices when booking? Whenever I go on line I just get Canadian prices and cannot seem to switch to the US pricing.

 

Princess sets the exchange rate in advance and it stays that way for awhile. It used to be at the beginning of the year for the whole year but it may be different now.

 

I always ask my Canadian bricks and mortar TA for quotes both in USD and in CAD at the Princess preset rate. Now some have reported here that their TA has been unable to provide the USD booking price because Princess won't sell to Canadians in USD or some other reason. I've never had that problem - I always can get the USD price from her.

 

Depending on which direction the dollar is heading, I pick the one that is better. In years past, as our dollar was getting stronger, I paid in USD because the credit card rate was better than the long standing Princess rate. This cruise, we picked the Princess rate as our dollar is tanking. ( this is NOT the same as picking if Princess will close your final onboard account in USD or in CAD - we never do that because we don't know what the Princess fees are - we know what the credit card fees are - we always leave it in USD and let the credit card company apply the current exchange rate plus 2.5% fee).

 

If you want the USD price without using a TA, you can either phone Princess and ask them what the rate is on that particular sailing ( different sailings may have different rates depending on when the new rate is put in place) or make a pretend login account for a US travel agency website with a pretend US address. You cannot get the US rates if you are logged into your Princess account.

I just put my ipad into "private" mode and the Princess website still gave me CAD. Maybe someone more computer savy has another way but as far as I know, you can't see the US prices from Canada without some effort. :D

 

If you have US funds that you received at a better exchange rate, buying the cruise in USD may work for you.

Edited January 14, 2015 by cruisintoddler

[Been There, Planning That]

Thank you cruisintoddler for a most thorough answer.

 

I've never thought to ask our TA for an American quote but will see next time; though our US dollar account is getting pretty low.

 

We also have a fall cruise with Princess so I hope exchange rates remain at Princess. It's too early to put OBC money right now.

 

We cruise HAL more often so will investigate with that line should we ever book again with them.

 

Once again, I do appreciate the expert advice,

 

Ruth

[Quantum Wino]

I called yesterday and pre paid for a number of things and OBC in Canadian Dollars and was charged 10% exchange. Thanks to everybody for the great advise!

[AE_Collector]

I don't know of an easy way to see the US prices. It uses your IP address to determine that you are in Canada so cross the border and don't log in to Princess!

 

If the Princess price ends in 90 cents it is in Canadian at a 10% exchange rate since they added exactly 10% to the US prices which almost always end in $9. If prices all of a sudden begin ending in 80 cents...they have bumped the rate to 20%.

 

Terry

[rocker57]

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. So if I call princess and want to pay ahead of time for my excursions, soda card and tips, they will bill it to my card through the Princess Vancouver site at the 10% or even better at par? Or is there something else I should do

 

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

Edited January 15, 2015 by rocker57
Adding

[Cruise Junky]

I can see both prices because my work PC is part of a US server. There is a cruise price tracking site that cannot be named but if you google it you should find it. That shows both US and Canadian prices.