NJ&Ozzie Posted November 13, 2015 #1526 Share Posted November 13, 2015 Did you book your cruise in US$ or CDN$? If you booked it using your TD US$ visa then you cannot prepay your tips in CDN. If you booked in CDN then it is still best to buy the US$ OBC and pay your tips in US$ on board. If you pay ahead of time Royal is currently using about a 30% exchange rate. Hey, Haven't booked cruise as yet. So it may depend on pricing of cruise at the time as to whether it is better use Cdn or US card. Wish I'd bought more USF when our dollar was higher!!! Cheers, NJ :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken at the beach Posted November 13, 2015 #1527 Share Posted November 13, 2015 Hey,Haven't booked cruise as yet. So it may depend on pricing of cruise at the time as to whether it is better use Cdn or US card. Wish I'd bought more USF when our dollar was higher!!! Cheers, NJ :) Unless you find something that is significantly lower in US $ then it is better to book in CDN$ to ensure that of our $ drops any further you don't get hit with any additional fees converting CDN to US. The added bonus of being able to buy the US$ OBC also helps soften the blow. Have fun hunting for that cruise.:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare JessyCruises Posted November 24, 2015 #1528 Share Posted November 24, 2015 Does anyone know if the max to take out of the casino per day is $500 per person or per stateroom? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barnoner Posted November 24, 2015 #1529 Share Posted November 24, 2015 I remember a discussion re how to book in Cdn $. I was on phone the other day with RCL and they asked which airport we would use. Since we are between Toronto and Buffalo we can use either. So if they put in Buffalo they only give American prices but if they input Toronto we can book in Cdn dollars. Just FYI Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retird Posted November 24, 2015 #1530 Share Posted November 24, 2015 I remember a discussion re how to book in Cdn $. I was on phone the other day with RCL and they asked which airport we would use. Since we are between Toronto and Buffalo we can use either. So if they put in Buffalo they only give American prices but if they input Toronto we can book in Cdn dollars. Just FYI Why would they ask you which airport you would use. the only thing that matters is that you have a Canadian address. Unless you are using choice air, they do not need to know how you are getting to the ship. I have never been asked that question. I always book direct through RCI in Canadian funds and always take advantage of the low exchange rate for OBC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken at the beach Posted November 24, 2015 #1531 Share Posted November 24, 2015 Why would they ask you which airport you would use. the only thing that matters is that you have a Canadian address. Unless you are using choice air, they do not need to know how you are getting to the ship. I have never been asked that question. I always book direct through RCI in Canadian funds and always take advantage of the low exchange rate for OBC. I was thinking that they were booking air through Royal as well as the cruise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOCruisers Posted November 25, 2015 #1532 Share Posted November 25, 2015 Does anyone know if the max to take out of the casino per day is $500 per person or per stateroom? On Allure in Oct-Nov I was told the max is $500 per day for cash account. For non cash account the max is much higher, $2000 ? per day. We connected our accounts so I assume it was $500 per stateroom. I had no problem to withdraw the max amount a few times. I am keeping the extra for the next cruise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare JessyCruises Posted November 25, 2015 #1533 Share Posted November 25, 2015 On Allure in Oct-Nov I was told the max is $500 per day for cash account. For non cash account the max is much higher, $2000 ? per day. We connected our accounts so I assume it was $500 per stateroom. I had no problem to withdraw the max amount a few times. I am keeping the extra for the next cruise. Thanks! We are boarding the Oasis on Saturday. We have a substantial about of OBC as we really have no idea what we are going to do for excursions etc and wanted to make sure we had enough to cover it all. Whatever we don't spend onboard we will just bring home and stick it in our USD account . I will report back and let you all know if we come across any issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigeldelarue Posted November 25, 2015 #1534 Share Posted November 25, 2015 Does anyone know if the max to take out of the casino per day is $500 per person or per stateroom? Max at the Casino last week was $300, that was on a cash account that I had out money on before the cruise . Worked like a charm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrewFoundLander Posted November 26, 2015 #1535 Share Posted November 26, 2015 This is a very long thread so the information below is already posted I apologize for the repeat. Just back from Nov 10th Anthem 12 night, this cruise was booked in CAD funds. Prior to cruise we purchased $3000 ($500 six times) for a total cost of $3300 CAD. Amazed? I was! Once we arrived in our room the account feature on the TV showed a balance of $3000 USD and it decreased as we used it but always showing the balance. On board we paid for 2 beverage packages (much cheaper than prepaying in CAD online). Gratuities of $12.95 USD per person came from the balance. Went to casino each day to withdraw a few hundred dollars, $500 is the max per day. I did this until there was only enough left in the account to cover gratuities, speciality dining, photos, onboard purchases. There was never a service fee for taking this cash at the casino. Doing this saved us 23-25% on exchange rates at our local bank. Being able to take our cash at the casino also provided for in port and onboard spending as well as occasional tips to our servers/staff etc. It also saved us money on shore excursions and all onboard spending. Not to mention we did not have to travel with a pile of cash. On the last day of the cruise, with only a few dollars left in the pre purchased OBC, I went to guest services, added my Visa to the account and spent the balance at the logo store. Any amount I went over was simply charged to my Visa. I had been reading this with the same interest as many of you, somewhat in disbelief, however now that I've done it for myself I had to report back. This is an amazing way to save hundreds or more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken at the beach Posted November 26, 2015 #1536 Share Posted November 26, 2015 Thanks! We are boarding the Oasis on Saturday. We have a substantial about of OBC as we really have no idea what we are going to do for excursions etc and wanted to make sure we had enough to cover it all. Whatever we don't spend onboard we will just bring home and stick it in our USD account . I will report back and let you all know if we come across any issues. Looking forward to hearing how things go on your sailing. We will be boarding Oasis in just over 3 weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckrobyn Posted November 26, 2015 #1537 Share Posted November 26, 2015 Does anyone know if the max to take out of the casino per day is $500 per person or per stateroom? Just off the Indy - the max is $300 per stateroom account Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Host Jacquelyn Posted November 26, 2015 #1538 Share Posted November 26, 2015 You do not need to withdraw the cash at the casino. If you have prepurchased OBC, you can withdraw at guest services. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molly2kit Posted November 26, 2015 #1539 Share Posted November 26, 2015 We just spent 2 weeks on Oasis Nov 7 to 21. We had quite a bit of pre purchased OBC. We could withdraw 500$ per day at the casino, they tried a few times to charge 5% but as soon as we said it was a cash acct there was no problem and we got the full amount. We could not withdraw cash at guest services until the last day of each cruise. Maybe each ship is slightly different in the way they administer the withdrawals but it certainly made the currency difference a lot easier to take. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken at the beach Posted November 27, 2015 #1540 Share Posted November 27, 2015 You do not need to withdraw the cash at the casino. If you have prepurchased OBC, you can withdraw at guest services. Can you do that any day or only on the last day? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckrobyn Posted November 27, 2015 #1541 Share Posted November 27, 2015 Can you do that any day or only on the last day? As soon as the OBC is posted to your account you can take it all out at Guest Services. OBC usually shows up on day 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken at the beach Posted November 27, 2015 #1542 Share Posted November 27, 2015 As soon as the OBC is posted to your account you can take it all out at Guest Services. OBC usually shows up on day 2. Wow. Seems like each ship certainly is doing things a bit differently regarding getting cash from guest services. Just to keep everyone confused it probably depends on who is working as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retird Posted November 27, 2015 #1543 Share Posted November 27, 2015 You do not need to withdraw the cash at the casino. If you have prepurchased OBC, you can withdraw at guest services. We just got off the Navigator and Guest Services would not advance me money from my OBC until the last day of sailing. They said I had to withdraw it at the Casino at a 5 % charge. I also spoke with a supervisor at guest Services and received the same answer. I still saved 25% over what it would have cost me at the bank, so I was still happy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare A&L_Ont Posted November 27, 2015 #1544 Share Posted November 27, 2015 We just got off the Navigator and Guest Services would not advance me money from my OBC until the last day of sailing. They said I had to withdraw it at the Casino at a 5 % charge. I also spoke with a supervisor at guest Services and received the same answer. I still saved 25% over what it would have cost me at the bank, so I was still happy. I had a CC on my account and did not withdraw cash from the casino. We had $1000 OBC, and used $600 of it. The second to last day at 4:30pm I went to GS and asked to cash out my OBC. I made the comment that I thought I'd come today VS the joining the long line tomorrow. The agent behind the counter agreed and cashed out my account with no fee. On Allure in March the would not do it until the last day, so I was at GS at 7:20 am. There is no way I want to wait in that line. I guess each ship is different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
debgord Posted November 27, 2015 #1545 Share Posted November 27, 2015 This might be a silly question. But why do you take the OBC out? Isn't it to use for things on the ship? Deborah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarea Posted November 27, 2015 #1546 Share Posted November 27, 2015 This might be a silly question. But why do you take the OBC out? Isn't it to use for things on the ship? Deborah Some people might want cash for non-ship excursions and other expenses off the ship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
debgord Posted November 27, 2015 #1547 Share Posted November 27, 2015 Thank you. Never thought of that. Deborah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare JessyCruises Posted November 27, 2015 #1548 Share Posted November 27, 2015 Just off the Indy - the max is $300 per stateroom account Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magicat Posted November 28, 2015 #1549 Share Posted November 28, 2015 As stated before, each ship is different. We were on the Serenade 3 weeks ago and were able to take out $500 at the casino with no service charge on our cash account. The OBC showed on our account on Day 2 of the cruise. The casino cashier did check our account to ensure it was a cash account so no 5% fee was charged. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cantellu Posted November 29, 2015 #1550 Share Posted November 29, 2015 This is an insane deal for CDN passengers. For $1100 CDN I get $1000 US OBC. AS another person stated. I will buy my drink packages and excursions when I get on board with the OBC instead of pre-purchase in CND dollars online. The online price is converted using a much higher exchange rate... Stephen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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