Canadian cruisers!!

[goodml]

Even if you use a card to back up your account you can still get any overpayment you made in cash back on the last day. This is exactly what my son just did.

[monctonguy]

Ok..so I am going in 3 weeks....exchnage rate is terrible.

 

I booked the cruise in CAD. I have not purchased the drink package yet.

 

So is it to my advanatge to simply "buy" OBC to cover the cost and then purchase it on board, rather than just paying for it ahead of time in CAD?

 

I am not trying to make money, but if its saves me some money...it would make sense?

[Cruise Junky]

Ok..so I am going in 3 weeks....exchnage rate is terrible.

 

I booked the cruise in CAD. I have not purchased the drink package yet.

 

So is it to my advanatge to simply "buy" OBC to cover the cost and then purchase it on board, rather than just paying for it ahead of time in CAD?

 

I am not trying to make money, but if its saves me some money...it would make sense?

 

yes, that should work perfectly. The the OBC while you can.

[ecmcm]

It makes perfect sense to buy OBC now at 10% and use it to pay for the drink packages, tips, whatever once you get on board. The number you call is on the first page of this thread. I'd like to thank everyone who's contributed to this. It will make our cruise much more enjoyable knowing we saved a little bit thanks to this information.

[Cardex]

It makes perfect sense to buy OBC now at 10% and use it to pay for the drink packages, tips, whatever once you get on board. The number you call is on the first page of this thread. I'd like to thank everyone who's contributed to this. It will make our cruise much more enjoyable knowing we saved a little bit thanks to this information.

 

It is cheaper to pre-pay the tips. For 12 days ours was $283.88 CDN total for the 2 of us.

[monctonguy]

Well I guess the same would be true for the tips, if I have on OBC, thats what my tips are going to come out of at the end of the cruise!

 

I am going to have to call and get this done. Hope it doesnt change anytime soon!!

[twoblklabs]

It makes perfect sense to buy OBC now at 10% and use it to pay for the drink packages, tips, whatever once you get on board. The number you call is on the first page of this thread. I'd like to thank everyone who's contributed to this. It will make our cruise much more enjoyable knowing we saved a little bit thanks to this information.

 

i did the same thing for our cruise next week for the Regal, Princess offered the 10% exchange rate as well so we loaded up our OBC to cover excursions, tips, beverage packages, specialty restaurants... i am sure there are some that would try and abuse this to make money by buying way too much US dollars then getting it back at the end of the cruise.. return home and convert it back to CDN at say $1.25 ish and make 15% risk free....

[squadron]

It is cheaper to pre-pay the tips. For 12 days ours was $283.88 CDN total for the 2 of us.

 

Interesting - wonder if someone made a mistake when charging you?? I will call about adding my tips - thought I would pay with my "cheap" OBC. I had booked an excursion for my Sept cruise about a month ago. Just noticed that it had gone down in CDN dollars in spite of the fact our dollar had dropped further. ??

[twoblklabs]

It makes perfect sense to buy OBC now at 10% and use it to pay for the drink packages, tips, whatever once you get on board. The number you call is on the first page of this thread. I'd like to thank everyone who's contributed to this. It will make our cruise much more enjoyable knowing we saved a little bit thanks to this information.

 

I agree! Just calculate what you think you will spend on board including any excursions, beverage packages/internet and add that to your OBC account using the 10% FX rate. Obviously you will need some cash on hand for room service etc but the majority of your activities should be used from your OBC account....

[Cardex]

Interesting - wonder if someone made a mistake when charging you?? I will call about adding my tips - thought I would pay with my "cheap" OBC. I had booked an excursion for my Sept cruise about a month ago. Just noticed that it had gone down in CDN dollars in spite of the fact our dollar had dropped further. ??

 

I had read on here about others paying less in CDN than US. Good luck and let us know how you make out.

 

We pre-paid $189CAD each instead of $192US onboard for our upcoming 16 night Radiance cruise. :D

 

 

I just wanted to thank everyone for all the information regarding prepaying gratuities. I just called and prepaid for 7 days $82.79 per person CAN if I had waited till onboard it would have been $84 per person USD

[goodml]

14 of us prepaid our tips for $82.79 Cdn as opposed to $84 US. In this case it pays to not use the onboard credit and pay those in Cdn if that rate is still available. For everything else on board use your prepaid obc to buy on board in US$.

[The Sunset Glow]

We have prepaid our tips for the last 7 cruises booked and they have all worked out cheaper to pre pay in CDN than to pay onboard in US$$. - Even when the dollar was colser to par. I don't know why, they just were.

[cruzin4sun]

14 of us prepaid our tips for $82.79 Cdn as opposed to $84 US. In this case it pays to not use the onboard credit and pay those in Cdn if that rate is still available. For everything else on board use your prepaid obc to buy on board in US$.

 

We have prepaid our tips for the last 7 cruises booked and they have all worked out cheaper to pre pay in CDN than to pay onboard in US$$. - Even when the dollar was colser to par. I don't know why, they just were.

 

Thanks to the wise advice on this thread, we also recently prepaid our gratuities for our upcoming Oasis cruise and were charged $82.79 CDN per person. I am really grateful to everyone for all of the info on here. We have saved a fair bit on the exchange rate.

[Natmom]

Thanks to the wise advice on this thread, we also recently prepaid our gratuities for our upcoming Oasis cruise and were charged $82.79 CDN per person. I am really grateful to everyone for all of the info on here. We have saved a fair bit on the exchange rate.

 

 

Same here:). After reading about prepaid tips we paid for our May oasis cruise at $82.79 cdn per person as well.

[hancogran]

Since we always have "My Time" dining, it is mandatory that we prepay our tips but I prefer it that way. On our upcoming 14 day Brilliance cruise, our tips were $153.75 each Canadian. ;)

[leyla]

Since we always have "My Time" dining, it is mandatory that we prepay our tips but I prefer it that way. On our upcoming 14 day Brilliance cruise, our tips were $153.75 each Canadian. ;)

Same rate we were charged back in March 2014 for our Vision cruise except it is a 15 day. Happy cruising everyone!:)

[Russ Lomas]

How were the lines? They were crazy on the Enchantment yesterday. Over 1000 kids 18-25 years old on our sailing and a lot of them with cash accounts.

I went to the Guest Services desk around noon on the Allure this past Saturday (last sailing day before disembarking) to get my unspent OBC out. There were about 4 people in front of me and I had my cash in about 10 minutes.

[Ourusualbeach]

I went to the Guest Services desk around noon on the Allure this past Saturday (last sailing day before disembarking) to get my unspent OBC out. There were about 4 people in front of me and I had my cash in about 10 minutes.

 

The lines on Enchantment were not that bad earlier in the day either. We had reservations at Chops that evening so I decided to wait until after dinner to cash out. Lesson learned.

[Russ Lomas]

I just got back from our cruise. I had $1,200 in OBC ($200 from Royal, and $500 x 2 that I bought at 10%).

 

When I checked in, I made sure they kept the account as "cash", which I selected online before I came to the port.

 

But, I did run into a Canadian who cashed out some amounts mid cruise in the Casino, and was charged 5%, but then their account showed a credit for that 5%. So, it cost them nothing. No idea how common that is.

 

I had put my account as a cash account with no credit card on file. I had $1000 refundable OBC which I had purchased and another $300 in non-refundable OBC (from using 3 Next Cruise certificates). I was told on this board that I would have to pay 5% to take the money out in the casino mid-cruise. That is not what happened.

 

I went to the casino and they let me cash out $500 US per day. They did not charge me the 5% at all. I asked for the casino manager to confirm this was correct and was told that as long as I did not have a credit card on my account, they do not charge the 5% fee. Not only that, but I only used about $200 of my non-refundable credit and they let me cash out the rest of the $300 non-refundable credit, in addition to the $1000 OBC I had purchased and did not use. I used this money to pay for my private shore excursion I had booked in port.

 

I took all of the rest of my OBC out in cash around noon on the last sea day and had to wait in line for all of 10 minutes to do so. This was on the Allure last week.

 

I am not sure if this is the norm, but that is my experience. ADVICE: Do not put a credit card down on the room, but put it as a cash account if you intend to take money out of the casino or at the end of the cruise. Hope all you fellow Canadians have the same experience I did when trying to do this.

[goodml]

I had put my account as a cash account with no credit card on file. I had $1000 refundable OBC which I had purchased and another $300 in non-refundable OBC (from using 3 Next Cruise certificates). I was told on this board that I would have to pay 5% to take the money out in the casino mid-cruise. That is not what happened.

 

I went to the casino and they let me cash out $500 US per day. They did not charge me the 5% at all. I asked for the casino manager to confirm this was correct and was told that as long as I did not have a credit card on my account, they do not charge the 5% fee. Not only that, but I only used about $200 of my non-refundable credit and they let me cash out the rest of the $300 non-refundable credit, in addition to the $1000 OBC I had purchased and did not use. I used this money to pay for my private shore excursion I had booked in port.

 

I took all of the rest of my OBC out in cash around noon on the last sea day and had to wait in line for all of 10 minutes to do so. This was on the Allure last week.

 

I am not sure if this is the norm, but that is my experience. ADVICE: Do not put a credit card down on the room, but put it as a cash account if you intend to take money out of the casino or at the end of the cruise. Hope all you fellow Canadians have the same experience I did when trying to do this.

 

Great info! Thanks for reporting back. I've heard of a few people now who said they weren't charged the 5%. This must be why.

[hancogran]

I had put my account as a cash account with no credit card on file. I had $1000 refundable OBC which I had purchased and another $300 in non-refundable OBC (from using 3 Next Cruise certificates). I was told on this board that I would have to pay 5% to take the money out in the casino mid-cruise. That is not what happened.

 

I went to the casino and they let me cash out $500 US per day. They did not charge me the 5% at all. I asked for the casino manager to confirm this was correct and was told that as long as I did not have a credit card on my account, they do not charge the 5% fee. Not only that, but I only used about $200 of my non-refundable credit and they let me cash out the rest of the $300 non-refundable credit, in addition to the $1000 OBC I had purchased and did not use. I used this money to pay for my private shore excursion I had booked in port.

 

I took all of the rest of my OBC out in cash around noon on the last sea day and had to wait in line for all of 10 minutes to do so. This was on the Allure last week.

 

I am not sure if this is the norm, but that is my experience. ADVICE: Do not put a credit card down on the room, but put it as a cash account if you intend to take money out of the casino or at the end of the cruise. Hope all you fellow Canadians have the same experience I did when trying to do this.

 

:) Thanks for this update! We called twice and purchased $500 each time (14 day cruise). We actually asked the RCI rep about cashing out some in the casino but we were told there would be a 5% charge. I guess the secret is just to put it as a cash account. I am going to reprint my Set Sail Pass and make sure I remove my credit card info.. Thanks again! :D

Edited March 25, 2015 by hancogran

[jtdlmc]

It is cheaper to pre-pay the tips. For 12 days ours was $283.88 CDN total for the 2 of us.

 

Our prepaid grats are $76.87 CDN per person for 7 days. I don't know how that is seeing as they are supposed to be $84 US for 7 days? I thought maybe it was because I had booked back in the fall when our dollar was a little higher than the US $ but I did a mock booking last week and it came up with the same amount.

[ecmcm]

Thank you all again! Just phoned and prepaid our tips in CAD for less than they would be in US. Who am I to question RCI? :) So now we have extra OBC to spend. Wow.

[cdoobiest]

I booked my parents cruise in USD since I am in US. Will my parents who live in Canada be able to buy OBC with their Canadian credit card?

[copter]

I booked my parents cruise in USD since I am in US. Will my parents who live in Canada be able to buy OBC with their Canadian credit card?

 

 

Not at the discounted rate. It will be charged to their CC in USD (since that's the currency of their booking) and converted by their CC company. The preferred rate is only for bookings in CAD.