Canadian Princess Cruisers

[CruiseCtrl]

Thanks for the tips. I have prepaid my excursions and gratuities. I will purchase OBC ahead of time also. But if there are additional charges should I ask my bill to be in US or Canadian for the best value?

 

Also, wondering if one ever has to enter the promo codes that you get in emails or brochures or do you get the best rate when you log in anyway?

 

I never get OBC other than by purchasing FCC. Do Canadians get those perks when they book? Maybe I'm just not travelling at the right times.

[Kamloops50]

Thanks for the tips. I have prepaid my excursions and gratuities. I will purchase OBC ahead of time also. But if there are additional charges should I ask my bill to be in US or Canadian for the best value?

 

Also, wondering if one ever has to enter the promo codes that you get in emails or brochures or do you get the best rate when you log in anyway?

 

I never get OBC other than by purchasing FCC. Do Canadians get those perks when they book? Maybe I'm just not travelling at the right times.

 

I always get the promo codes when I book. All promos the are on the website automatically go on the booking.

 

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[AspensMom73]

I'd like to emphasize to buy your OBC before you sail. I know it's been said a million times here, and I did buy enough to cover our on board costs, but here's my warning:

- I bought $900 US OBC for $990 Cdn by calling Princess.

- I bought US Cash at $1.26 Cdn at the bank on Jan 23rd for excursion cash as we were taking private tours. Pretty awful.

- We hold a travel BMO Mastercard, and used it to purchase some souvenirs in the shops in Belize. We were charged at $1.298 Cdn with the card's additional 2.5% fee (which most cards have).

 

Had I not purchased OBC at $1.10Cdn, our charge would have been $178 more at the end of the cruise. Luckily, I did a pretty good job guesstimating what we were going to spend on board, so didn't have any additional charges to our card.

 

I did ask at passenger services what rate they charged for a Canadian folio, but all they could tell me is that it fluctuates all the time.

 

When taking private tours as a Canadian, you may want to consider the costs of the exchange rate as well as any other fees they may charge for using a credit card to pay. We took one tour that charged an additional 15% for paying with a credit card. For that excursion, we paid $50 US cash ($63 Cdn each). Had we paid with a credit card it would have been $57 US ($74 Cdn each). This particular excursion was not available through the ship, so I don't have a comparable price to give you for buying through onboard shore excursions. It's something to consider if you're watching your budget on a cruise.

[M4dC0w]

Best is purchase a lot of OBC at 10%. You can always draw from your account anyhow, and get USD. If not they refund it back tonyou.

 

 

My last 9 day, in september I got it at par still. Got over $6k in OBC, took home half in USD.

[ChattyC]

Love this thread. Just bought some onboard credit for my cruise in April. 10% exchange rate.

[racj846]

^^^^ Did you accomplish that on the Princess website, calling Princess or through your TA?

[Been There, Planning That]

^^^^ Did you accomplish that on the Princess website, calling Princess or through your TA?

 

WE called the web site number. Our TA had never heard of the option but I'm sure she could have done it. It just seemed easier to do myself and get direct Emailed confirmation after receiving oral confirmation from the agent with whom I spoke.

 

Ruth

[judy5cents]

Its my understanding that if you booked the cruise through a TA, then you should have your TA do this.

 

Mine did all the purchasing for me and sent me email confirmation that I plan on taking with me

[RLK33853]

Its my understanding that if you booked the cruise through a TA, then you should have your TA do this.

 

Mine did all the purchasing for me and sent me email confirmation that I plan on taking with me

 

Only if you wanted to change your reservation/pricing/cabin/etc. You only require the travel agent if your request is something that they have done for you.

[canadarocks]

You only require the travel agent if your request is something that they have done for you.

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Exactly. In this situation you can have your T.A. do it or you can do it yourself.

[Karen Lynn]

I am a TA ..you can indeed do it yourself! :)

[sportsmum]

I am just off the phone with Princess.

 

I booked through a US travel agent. I thought I would try to gift myself with OBC and take advantage of the great exchange rate. Confirmed that it is $1.10 for $1USD.

 

I was not able to do this as my folio is in USD and anything I get would be at the bank exchange rate. Bless her, she tried and tried!

 

She did tell me that I can use the ship to exchange money and get the good exchange rate and that by checking off for Princess to do the exchange to CND on our folio rather than charging us in USD and the credit card company doing the conversion we would still benefit.

[Karen Lynn]

Yes, booking has to be made originally in CAD :)

Not sure about Princess doing the converting of the onboard account, typically..that's not favourable.

[CruiseCtrl]

I bought the cruise in CAN dollars.

 

I was able to prepay gratuities online at the 1.1% rate.

 

But excursions do not work that way, there are charge in USD only. After trying to refund those charges, I tried to buy OBC through the regular customer service line but they insisted it could only be charged in USD and I would then be subject to a higher exchange rate.

 

I gave up with them and I called back through the Gifts and Celebrations Dept 1-855-500-7690 and there was no problem and I was able to buy OBC at a 1.1% exchange rate.

 

I should have read through this thread more carefully the first time.:eek:

Edited February 6, 2015 by CruiseCtrl

[goofy559]

I am just off the phone with Princess.

 

I booked through a US travel agent. I thought I would try to gift myself with OBC and take advantage of the great exchange rate. Confirmed that it is $1.10 for $1USD.

 

I was not able to do this as my folio is in USD and anything I get would be at the bank exchange rate. Bless her, she tried and tried!

 

She did tell me that I can use the ship to exchange money and get the good exchange rate and that by checking off for Princess to do the exchange to CND on our folio rather than charging us in USD and the credit card company doing the conversion we would still benefit.

 

Where your TA is located does not matter. What matters is what currency you booked your cruise in. I booked with a US TA in Canadian funds and was able to purchase OBC at 1.1. If you booked your cruise in US funds thrn you are sadly out of luck.

 

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[canadarocks]

Where your TA is located does not matter. What matters is what currency you booked your cruise in. I booked with a US TA in Canadian funds and was able to purchase OBC at 1.1. If you booked your cruise in US funds thrn you are sadly out of luck.

 

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This is a key issue. Not many Canadians realize that some USA T.A.s will book in Canadian funds. I used to deal with a US agent that wouldn't and switched.

[Bookworm1971]

Just thought I'd throw my recent experience in for what it's worth. We originally booked through the website in Cdn $. Due to an attempted, and unwanted, cabin switch months later and a hassle to get our original cabin back our fare was adjusted to the US pricing (confirmed by me doing a mock booking on the US site which was slightly less than booking through the Cdn site) but charged in Cdn $ at par plus given some OBC. No idea why the rep I was talking to did it that way (goodwill over the mix-up perhaps?) but we weren't going to question saving a bit of money. :)

 

We decided to pre-pay our excursions and gratuities online a few weeks ago before our dollar dropped any lower. The CC statement came yesterday and to our suprise the gratuities were billed at par through Princess Vancouver. As noted by another poster above, the excursions were billed in US $. Bonus for us as we were expecting to pay the full credit card exchange rate on both. (We hadn't thought about just gifting ourselves OBC when we decided to pre-pay these items.)

 

Last week, because of what I'd read on this thread, we decided to call and buy some OBC. I clarified with the rep that I wanted it billed in Cdn $ and asked her exactly what I'd be billed in Cdn. dollars. I was told that it would be billed at par because "that's the way they do it". We haven't rec'd that CC statement to confirm this but given that the gratuities payment was billed at par I have no reason to doubt what the rep told me on the phone. We shall see when the statement arrives.

 

So, it would appear that you can be billed in Cdn $ at par or at the $1.10 rate other posters have noted receiving. How they figure out who to bill how is beyond me. I can only think it has something to do with how our booking and what fare was used.

[racj846]

^^^ Interesting since reading this I immediately called Gifts & Celebrations but was told additional OBC would be charged in US$. Would be interested to know what number you called.

Edited February 6, 2015 by racj846

[Bookworm1971]

I called the 855-500-7690 number listed on the Princess website. Is your booking US or CDN? As mentioned in other posts that makes a difference in how they'll bill you.

Edited February 6, 2015 by Bookworm1971

[Karen Lynn]

I added some OBCs yesterday to a few bookings and it was $110 CAD.

Bookings were made in CAD though.

[Been There, Planning That]

I added some OBCs yesterday to a few bookings and it was $110 CAD.

Bookings were made in CAD though.

 

I see that your bookings are late summer and fall when we too have one booked.

 

What would happen if for some reason we had to cancel. Would those OBC simply be refunded to our credit card or would we have to await a cheque?

 

We have credits for our cruise this month, but hesitate to do the same for a cruise months away.

 

Ruth

[Karen Lynn]

They would be refunded to the CC used at $1.10

 

:)

[Been There, Planning That]

They would be refunded to the CC used at $1.10

 

:)

 

Thank you for your speedy response.

 

Ruth

[Karen Lynn]

My pleasure :)

[poppypobble]

No, par IS possible, I did it 3 weeks ago. Bought $600 OBC and prepaid gratuities 2x $115 all in US dollars and the charge on my visa was $830 Canadian dollars. If that's not parity, I don't know what it is.

 

I did this through my vacation planner as did everyone else in our group. Not all of them know how to do it and I think very few of them do, but the system does allow them to give parity. Anyhoo, a 10% top-up isn't that big a deal compared to the going exchange rate.

 

Hi

I paid for our trip in Canadian dollars & am trying to purchase online through the cruise personaliser on princess but it says to fax in the form. How did you do this through your vacation planner to get at par rates?

 

Thanks

Poppy