mklions Posted September 26, 2016 #1 Share Posted September 26, 2016 We are travelling to Australia and New Zealand this coming November. My confusion is, Looking at my cruise personalizer the excursions are priced in Australian Dollars, the drinks package and all other pre cruise bookings are priced in UK pounds and the on board ships costs are in US dollars. Why have three different currencies?:confused: When we get the final bill at the end of the cruise it will be in what currency. mklions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccastner Posted September 26, 2016 #2 Share Posted September 26, 2016 For my upcoming princess (Golden) to NZ and Australia, it tells me prices on cruise personalizer in US for cost of cruise and airfare and purchase ahead. The excursions are listed in US $ but the site tells me all onboard charges are in Australian $. If you can't figure it out, call Princess. They have always been very helpful to me. Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dobby_The_Ship_Elf Posted September 26, 2016 #3 Share Posted September 26, 2016 We are travelling to Australia and New Zealand this coming November.My confusion is, Looking at my cruise personalizer the excursions are priced in Australian Dollars, the drinks package and all other pre cruise bookings are priced in UK pounds and the on board ships costs are in US dollars. Why have three different currencies?:confused: When we get the final bill at the end of the cruise it will be in what currency. mklions. OK I am going to preface this with the fact that I am NOT an expert on this matter and am happy to be proven wrong. As far as I know if you board in Aussie, the cruise is entirely in Aussie $. There is something hinky with the Cruise Personaliser and the currency exchange rate software which does crazy things to on board prices. For example the on line cost of the All Inclusive Beverage Package is $AU65+/day however once on board it is $AU59/day. I imagine the excursions would be the same. As to whether or not that constitutes value for money due to exchange rate - I am so far out of my depth there I cannot help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucky TGO Posted September 27, 2016 #4 Share Posted September 27, 2016 We are travelling to Australia and New Zealand this coming November.My confusion is, Looking at my cruise personalizer the excursions are priced in Australian Dollars, the drinks package and all other pre cruise bookings are priced in UK pounds and the on board ships costs are in US dollars. Why have three different currencies?:confused: When we get the final bill at the end of the cruise it will be in what currency. mklions. Wow that is crazy :eek: :eek: Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caribill Posted September 27, 2016 #5 Share Posted September 27, 2016 When we get the final bill at the end of the cruise it will be in what currency. If the voyage both starts and ends in Australia, the final bill will be in Australia $$. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUT2407 Posted September 27, 2016 #6 Share Posted September 27, 2016 Wow that is crazy :eek: :eek:Tony Sure is, but keeps happening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUT2407 Posted September 27, 2016 #7 Share Posted September 27, 2016 If the voyage both starts and ends in Australia, the final bill will be in Australia $$. For Aussies yes, not sure about those who book outside Australia, I assume it's still Aussie $$$ as otherwise they'd need multiple price lists, which I've never seen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mklions Posted September 27, 2016 Author #8 Share Posted September 27, 2016 Yesterday I brought some US dollars to use as OBC buying with myUK pound, mainly because I got a very good exchange rate. So because my cruise is in Australia how will I spend my recently purchased US dollars? The Emerald princess is currently sailing from Europe down to Australia and New Zealand then going onto the Paciffic islands, surely they will not change currencies mid cruise? I assume rightly or wrongly that the Emerald will stay with the US dollar as it is not positioned full time in Australia? Mklions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUT2407 Posted September 27, 2016 #9 Share Posted September 27, 2016 Yesterday I brought some US dollars to use as OBC buying with myUK pound, mainly because I got a very good exchange rate.So because my cruise is in Australia how will I spend my recently purchased US dollars? The Emerald princess is currently sailing from Europe down to Australia and New Zealand then going onto the Paciffic islands, surely they will not change currencies mid cruise? I assume rightly or wrongly that the Emerald will stay with the US dollar as it is not positioned full time in Australia? Mklions I know that when it is sailing here it is in Aus$. I'm on it in December and my cruise personaliser says all costs on board will be in Aus$. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
By The Bay Posted September 27, 2016 #10 Share Posted September 27, 2016 (edited) Yesterday I brought some US dollars to use as OBC buying with myUK pound, mainly because I got a very good exchange rate.So because my cruise is in Australia how will I spend my recently purchased US dollars? The Emerald princess is currently sailing from Europe down to Australia and New Zealand then going onto the Paciffic islands, surely they will not change currencies mid cruise? I assume rightly or wrongly that the Emerald will stay with the US dollar as it is not positioned full time in Australia? Mklions One way of checking is to go to the Booking Summary of your Cruise Personalizer and there it is listed what your onboard folio charges will be. I am sailing on the Emerald Princess departing 28 Nov and my folio charges are listed as AUD$. My bet is they change over to AUD$ when sailing on the leg from Sydney to NZ, and remain AUD$ for the South Pacific cruises from Sydney. Last year we cruised on the Golden Princess after it first arrived in Sydney from the USA. All onboard prices were changed to AUD$ from USD$, with a bit of confusion on the first day.;) Edited September 27, 2016 by By The Bay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mklions Posted September 27, 2016 Author #11 Share Posted September 27, 2016 One way of checking is to go to the Booking Summary of your Cruise Personalizer and there it is listed what your onboard folio charges will be. I am sailing on the Emerald Princess departing 28 Nov and my folio charges are listed as AUD$. My bet is they change over to AUD$ when sailing on the leg from Sydney to NZ, and remain AUD$ for the South Pacific cruises from Sydney. Last year we cruised on the Golden Princess after it first arrived in Sydney from the USA. All onboard prices were changed to AUD$ from USD$, with a bit of confusion on the first day.;) OK, I understand that when the ship is in Australia the folio will be in AUD$ but what about the OBC in US dollars that I have just brought? How will I spend that? I have gone from selling UK pounds to buy US dollars which by all accounts cannot be used on the ship. Will the ship convert my brought OBC from US dollars to AUD dollars? and if so I will have to accept any exchange rate Princess want to use.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martin jenkins Posted September 27, 2016 #12 Share Posted September 27, 2016 OK I am going to preface this with the fact that I am NOT an expert on this matter and am happy to be proven wrong. As far as I know if you board in Aussie, the cruise is entirely in Aussie $. There is something hinky with the Cruise Personaliser and the currency exchange rate software which does crazy things to on board prices. For example the on line cost of the All Inclusive Beverage Package is $AU65+/day however once on board it is $AU59/day. I imagine the excursions would be the same. As to whether or not that constitutes value for money due to exchange rate - I am so far out of my depth there I cannot help on the emerald in dec the AIBP is $73 aus per day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evelyne13 Posted September 27, 2016 #13 Share Posted September 27, 2016 Yesterday I brought some US dollars to use as OBC buying with myUK pound, mainly because I got a very good exchange rate.So because my cruise is in Australia how will I spend my recently purchased US dollars? The Emerald princess is currently sailing from Europe down to Australia and New Zealand then going onto the Paciffic islands, surely they will not change currencies mid cruise? I assume rightly or wrongly that the Emerald will stay with the US dollar as it is not positioned full time in Australia? Mklions We are leaving tomorrow on emerald princess from Southampton to Sydney arriving Novemberber 15 our folio is all in $us all excursion booked in advance are in $us also, hope this will help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ando Posted September 27, 2016 #14 Share Posted September 27, 2016 OK, I understand that when the ship is in Australia the folio will be in AUD$ but what about the OBC in US dollars that I have just brought? How will I spend that? I have gone from selling UK pounds to buy US dollars which by all accounts cannot be used on the ship. Will the ship convert my brought OBC from US dollars to AUD dollars? and if so I will have to accept any exchange rate Princess want to use.. Princess will convert your USD OBC to AUD, its usually at a reasonably favorable exchange rate (although I''m not sure exactly what USD to AUD rate they are using at the moment - someone else may know this?) The prices and onboard currency will change to AUD once the ship arrives in Australia (or possibly even on the Singapore-Sydney cruise). on the emerald in dec the AIBP is $73 aus per day. The AUD$73 is due to a long-standing error in cruise personalizer - one Princess is very aware of that has been occurring for a few years now but inexplicably does not fix when their international ships spend the summer in Australia and the onboard currency changes to AUD. The AIBP price if the package is purchased onboard is only AUD$59 per day, so do not purchase it in advance vie cruise personalizer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mklions Posted September 27, 2016 Author #15 Share Posted September 27, 2016 The plot thickens, We are sailing on two B2B Australian / New Zealand cruises on the Emerald. My first cruise ( 8th Nov-15 Nov) is from Perth to Sydney and the folio is showing on my Cruise Personalizer as US dollars. The following cruise ( 15 Nov- 28 Nov)New Zealand( Sydney to Sydney the cruise personalizer is showing the on board folio as AUS dollars. So the switch in currencies must take place on 15th November. It seems such a lot of hassle for ythe ship to change all the menus,bar tariffs, and all other such items that you pay, as I am sure when it goes of to the pacific after our second cruise they will revert back to US dollars. I have brought OBC for both cruises as the exchange rate was very good ( $ 1.53US to one UK £1) As previously mentioned on my second cruise they will have to convert my OBC from US dollars to AUS dollars at some given exchange rate by Princess. I am also guessing that I will have to settle my account at the end of each cruise or otherwise I will have a bill showing two different currencies? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rubynic Posted September 27, 2016 #16 Share Posted September 27, 2016 The plot thickens, We are sailing on two B2B Australian / New Zealand cruises on the Emerald. My first cruise ( 8th Nov-15 Nov) is from Perth to Sydney and the folio is showing on my Cruise Personalizer as US dollars. The following cruise ( 15 Nov- 28 Nov)New Zealand( Sydney to Sydney the cruise personalizer is showing the on board folio as AUS dollars. So the switch in currencies must take place on 15th November. It seems such a lot of hassle for ythe ship to change all the menus,bar tariffs, and all other such items that you pay, as I am sure when it goes of to the pacific after our second cruise they will revert back to US dollars. I have brought OBC for both cruises as the exchange rate was very good ( $ 1.53US to one UK £1) As previously mentioned on my second cruise they will have to convert my OBC from US dollars to AUS dollars at some given exchange rate by Princess. I am also guessing that I will have to settle my account at the end of each cruise or otherwise I will have a bill showing two different currencies? We are also cruising on Emerald Princess from Sydney in December. I had the same query about OBC. When I spoke to Princess in the UK I was told that the $US will be converted to AUD - the current rate was 1.30 AUD to $US1 - this works out well for us at the moment. I was advised that this could change so I was going to purchase some OBC and then check the rate again in December, just before we sail. If the rate is worse than the general exchange rate then I will get this amount refunded. Hope this helps - it seems to be very confusing for passengers in the UK and even Princess were not 100% sure of the rates & rules. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
triple7tahoe Posted September 27, 2016 #17 Share Posted September 27, 2016 I will add to the confusion. We did three cruises B2B2B starting in New Zealand in March on the Diamond. The first two were between NZ and Australia and were in A$. The third cruise departed Sydney and was headed for the Orient. All charges were in US$. Yes, they did change over all drink menus before departing Sydney and we were stopping in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth before leaving OZ. On board charges were carried over for the first two legs and the last leg used US$. Some how it all got straightened out:D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cheznandy Posted September 27, 2016 #18 Share Posted September 27, 2016 on the emerald in dec the AIBP is $73 aus per day. As Ando has stated, buy onboard, cruise personliser prices are wrong. The AUD$73 is due to a long-standing error in cruise personalizer - one Princess is very aware of that has been occurring for a few years now but inexplicably does not fix when their international ships spend the summer in Australia and the onboard currency changes to AUD. The AIBP price if the package is purchased onboard is only AUD$59 per day, so do not purchase it in advance vie cruise personalizer. Ando, not just the Diamond/ Emerald/Golden that visit for half the year, the Sea/Sun/ Dawn also quote the wrong prices for the AIBP in the personaliser. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cheznandy Posted September 27, 2016 #19 Share Posted September 27, 2016 The plot thickens, We are sailing on two B2B Australian / New Zealand cruises on the Emerald. My first cruise ( 8th Nov-15 Nov) is from Perth to Sydney and the folio is showing on my Cruise Personalizer as US dollars. The following cruise ( 15 Nov- 28 Nov)New Zealand( Sydney to Sydney the cruise personalizer is showing the on board folio as AUS dollars. So the switch in currencies must take place on 15th November. It seems such a lot of hassle for ythe ship to change all the menus,bar tariffs, and all other such items that you pay, as I am sure when it goes of to the pacific after our second cruise they will revert back to US dollars. Hi, The Emerald will be crusing from Sydney until April 2017, it will stay in AUD onboard until then, not change for the South Pacific cruises. We are on it on the 28th November, when you disembark. For Australians, we are happy for AUD to be used onboard while it is here for 6 months. I was originally booked on the Singapore/Sydney sector and my personaliser showed a folio in AUD?? Very confusing!! Have a fabulous cruise around the bottom of OZ and over to NZ, and a spectacular cruise into Sydney harbour:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
windsor26 Posted September 27, 2016 #20 Share Posted September 27, 2016 Yesterday I brought some US dollars to use as OBC buying with myUK pound, mainly because I got a very good exchange rate.So because my cruise is in Australia how will I spend my recently purchased US dollars? The Emerald princess is currently sailing from Europe down to Australia and New Zealand then going onto the Paciffic islands, surely they will not change currencies mid cruise? I assume rightly or wrongly that the Emerald will stay with the US dollar as it is not positioned full time in Australia? Mklions Use your US dollars in any port all will take them usually the Australia Emerald cruises STARTING from Sydney will be in AUD - I believe the cruise which bring the ship to Sydney will still be in US$ but I may be wrong on that item Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martin jenkins Posted October 3, 2016 #21 Share Posted October 3, 2016 As Ando has stated, buy onboard, cruise personliser prices are wrong. Ando, not just the Diamond/ Emerald/Golden that visit for half the year, the Sea/Sun/ Dawn also quote the wrong prices for the AIBP in the personaliser. last sept i paid more via cruise personaliser but they refunded the difference onto my OBC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cheznandy Posted October 3, 2016 #22 Share Posted October 3, 2016 last sept i paid more via cruise personaliser but they refunded the difference onto my OBC. Yes, it's crazy, why doesn't Princess just advertise the correct price on their OZ site?? No advantage to purchasing before sailing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martin jenkins Posted October 3, 2016 #23 Share Posted October 3, 2016 Yes, it's crazy, why doesn't Princess just advertise the correct price on their OZ site??No advantage to purchasing before sailing. exactly, ive got to make my final payment tomorrow, I'm going to see what my cruiseaway agent has on there books regarding bev package pricing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cheznandy Posted October 3, 2016 #24 Share Posted October 3, 2016 (edited) exactly, ive got to make my final payment tomorrow, I'm going to see what my cruiseaway agent has on there books regarding bev package pricing. If they are a good TA they will tell you it is $59 AUD onboard, I was on the Dawn Princess recently, $59AUD, lots lined up to get a refund that had booked online. If they are not a knowledgable TA......they will probably quote you what shows up online. I have a Princess Planner who works from the Princess office in Sydney and she said it is a glitch in the system that takes the USD and converts it to AUD:rolleyes: Edited October 3, 2016 by cheznandy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUT2407 Posted October 3, 2016 #25 Share Posted October 3, 2016 If they are a good TA they will tell you it is $59 AUD onboard, I was on the Dawn Princess recently, $59AUD, lots lined up to get a refund that had booked online. If they are not a knowledgable TA......they will probably quote you what shows up online.I have a Princess Planner who works from the Princess office in Sydney and she said it is a glitch in the system that takes the USD and converts it to AUD:rolleyes: I have been told the same, and the way it fluctuates makes me think it's true. It really shouldn't be hard to fix but it seems they've got higher priorities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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