Payment for cruise

[The Captain90]

Almost time to pay for the remainder of our cruise. Had a look at the payment section of my Cruise Personaliser and see that the only option thereon is to pay by either a debit or credit card and by doing so will incur a extra 1.5% charge which in our case is in excess of $100.00.

 

Is there any other way to pay so that we do not incur any extra cost.

[Colo Cruiser]

Almost time to pay for the remainder of our cruise. Had a look at the payment section of my Cruise Personaliser and see that the only option thereon is to pay by either a debit or credit card and by doing so will incur a extra 1.5% charge which in our case is in excess of $100.00.

 

Is there any other way to pay so that we do not incur any extra cost.

 

 

Thats strange, never seen a charge by Princess to pay off your cruise by CC.

 

Is this an Australian thing maybe? :eek:

[Treven]

Almost time to pay for the remainder of our cruise. Had a look at the payment section of my Cruise Personaliser and see that the only option thereon is to pay by either a debit or credit card and by doing so will incur a extra 1.5% charge which in our case is in excess of $100.00.

 

Is there any other way to pay so that we do not incur any extra cost.

Probably not. Are you dealing with Princess directly or are you going through a local travel agent? If a local TA, perhaps that person might suggest something.

ColoCruiser, neither have I; it must be something in Oz.

Edited July 15, 2014 by Treven

[Colo Cruiser]

Probably not. Are you dealing with Princess directly or are you going through a local travel agent? If a local TA, perhaps that person might suggest something.

 

OP did say personalizer.

[The Captain90]

It got the better of me. Phoned Princess. They are sending me their bank account details so I can make a direct deposit in to their account at no extra cost. Pity they don't put this option on Cruise Personaliser.

 

Not long to go now. 99 days until we fly to Singapore.

[KirkNC]

It got the better of me. Phoned Princess. They are sending me their bank account details so I can make a direct deposit in to their account at no extra cost. Pity they don't put this option on Cruise Personaliser.

 

Not long to go now. 99 days until we fly to Singapore.

 

Welcome to the world of double digits, hope you enjoy your cruise.

[Colo Cruiser]

It got the better of me. Phoned Princess. They are sending me their bank account details so I can make a direct deposit in to their account at no extra cost. Pity they don't put this option on Cruise Personaliser.

 

Not long to go now. 99 days until we fly to Singapore.

 

 

Thats crazy. They don't charge you to use a CC onboard do they? :eek:

[The Captain90]

Thats crazy. They don't charge you to use a CC onboard do they? :eek:

 

Not sure. Guess I will find out in October/November.

[beg3yrs]

I've seen that same surcharge for credit and debit cards in Aussie hotels. The hotels claim it is not under their control but a government "thing".

[rkmw]

Thats crazy. They don't charge you to use a CC onboard do they? :eek:

 

australians are charged 1.5% for using their debit/credit card

 

http://www.princess.com/learn/faq_answer/pre_cruise/prepare.jsp

[Treven]

australians are charged 1.5% for using their debit/credit card

 

http://www.princess.com/learn/faq_answer/pre_cruise/prepare.jsp

That could get expensive!, 1.5% surcharge every time you use plastic to pay for things.

[Yillup]

I've seen that same surcharge for credit and debit cards in Aussie hotels. The hotels claim it is not under their control but a government "thing".

 

 

It's not a government thing, it's a money grubbing bank thing. The banks charge the vendor a charge, the vendors pass it on to us poor customers. Ok, in the end we have awesomely rated banks when it comes to our economy and the world market, but we as Australians are certainly paying them enough for it...

 

 

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[NukeIT]

It's not a government thing, it's a money grubbing bank thing. The banks charge the vendor a charge, the vendors pass it on to us poor customers. Ok, in the end we have awesomely rated banks when it comes to our economy and the world market, but we as Australians are certainly paying them enough for it...

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

 

 

U.S. Merchants are charged those same fees by the banking/credit industry but instead of tacking a fee on it is just incorporated into the price of whatever you are buying.

 

Funny how Australian VAT is included in the price of things but U.S. Sales Tax isn't and vice versa for the credit card fees.

 

 

 

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[Aussie Gal]

We also had to pay the credit card fee this week as I booked our cruise with Princess in Australia. I normally book in the U.S. where there are no fees but the cruise we are doing on the Diamond Princess at the time of booking was half the cost of what Princess was charging Americans and Canadians. A most unusual situation!

 

Hotels and the travel industry including airlines all pass on the credit card fee here whereas if we buy groceries, pharmacy items, medical services, clothing etc. it isn't passed on to the consumer. I wish our Government would clamp down on those in the Travel industry that insist on charging us their card fee. We owned our own Pharmacy for 40 years and absorbed all the credit card fees that the Banks charged us and never passed it on to the customer.

 

Jennie

[Thrak]

I wish our Government would

 

Jennie

 

Enough said in that little snippet of your post. Those are pretty much universal words with a fill-in-the-blank space after them. Sad but true.

[Aus Traveller]

We owned our own Pharmacy for 40 years and absorbed all the credit card fees that the Banks charged us and never passed it on to the customer.

 

Jennie

When credit cards first came in, it was illegal for the trader to charge extra if a customer used a CC. That was changed several years ago, and now TA's, cruiselines and some other businesses charge the extra percentage. Shops and other businesses don't charge a fee.

[AKman2495]

Just to let you know, I made a payment towards my cruse next year. It took my credit card info and said nothing about any up charge for credit.

[magandy]

In the UK they charge 1.5% for Credit Cards but nothing for Debit Cards.

[Thorpe]

As I'm also from Australia and book with Princess direct, as the OP found out all that is required to avoid the fee we get hit with is to call Princess and they give you their bank details to pay into and you then send them an email confirming once you transfer the $ :)

Some online TAs here also don't charge the 1.5% credit card surcharge.

[Shogun]

Hi All

Normal practice to charge for cc use have seen it as high as 5% on some internet discount TA cheap head line price bottom line not so good.

 

But cc use does give lot of consumer protection in UK

 

Yours Shogun

 

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[Colo Cruiser]

australians are charged 1.5% for using their debit/credit card

 

http://www.princess.com/learn/faq_answer/pre_cruise/prepare.jsp

 

 

So for all charges onboard they charge 1.5% and they charge 1.5% when you pay your final payment as well?

[rkmw]

So for all charges onboard they charge 1.5% and they charge 1.5% when you pay your final payment as well?

 

i know p&o australia charge you a 1.5% on your final bill so i think princess australia would do the same

[Aussie Gal]

So for all charges onboard they charge 1.5% and they charge 1.5% when you pay your final payment as well?

 

Normally we elect to have our on board charges in U.S. dollars and that then goes automatically to our Amex Card which always charges a conversion fee. We will be on the Diamond Princess in October and we have opted for the charges to again be in U.S. Dollars so I doubt if Princess will add the extra 1.5% to our credit card as we are not really cruising out of Australian waters but will be in Japan. I think the extra 1.5% that is added to the credit cards are when the Australian Princess ships - Sun, Sea and Dawn - are in Aussie waters and therefore all the charges are in Australian dollars.

 

Jennie

[Thorpe]

I actually think the charge is only applied when making final payment on Princess Website. Not on the ships themselves. (Dawn, Sea and Sun). Well not when I have been on them.

[DebJ14]

Normally we elect to have our on board charges in U.S. dollars and that then goes automatically to our Amex Card which always charges a conversion fee. We will be on the Diamond Princess in October and we have opted for the charges to again be in U.S. Dollars so I doubt if Princess will add the extra 1.5% to our credit card as we are not really cruising out of Australian waters but will be in Japan. I think the extra 1.5% that is added to the credit cards are when the Australian Princess ships - Sun, Sea and Dawn - are in Aussie waters and therefore all the charges are in Australian dollars.

 

Jennie

 

FYI Amex Platinum cards have no conversion fees as part of their extra benefits.

 

We have found that we get a much better exchange rate if we let the credit card companies handle it rather than the cruise line. We pay no extra conversion fees on our Chase MC nor on our Capital One MC, so those are the cards we use when traveling out of the country.