Booking from US for Australia/New Zealand cruise but OBC listed AUD without exchange rate given

[azbirdmom]

Interesting that folks have had such varied experiences.  In October on the Majestic, our booking promo OBC, FCC OBC, and shareholder OBC were not converted.  Free play that I was granted by the casino wasn't converted.  Our loyalty OBC was converted from USD to AUD.  And we had to go to Passenger Services in order to have gift casino OBC converted from USD to AUD since that was originally paid in USD.  That appeared on our folio the next day.

[Ombud]

On 12/15/2019 at 4:49 PM, coo359a2 said:

For us on the Majestic, it was OBC was dollar for dollar except the loyalty credit was converted at the AU exchange rate.  We had refundable OBC remaining after the cruise and the AU dollars (approx $400AU) were converted to US dollars (approx $260) or so.  Don't remember the exact amount we received in US dollars.

How long did it take to get the refund? I left the ship with A$ on the books as I won in the casino. I put my winnings in my account to transfer later (dumb move), then I didn't buy the item I was going to buy, and the casino closed before I got another chance to play. 1st time I had leftover refundable OBC

[coo359a2]

1 hour ago, Ombud said:

How long did it take to get the refund? I left the ship with A$ on the books as I won in the casino. I put my winnings in my account to transfer later (dumb move), then I didn't buy the item I was going to buy, and the casino closed before I got another chance to play. 1st time I had leftover refundable OBC

It was between 2 and 3 weeks. None of our refundable OBC have taken very long to come in the mail 

[Aus Traveller]

On 12/18/2019 at 2:51 PM, BRANDEE said:

 

Thank you for the information..so our OBC has no conversion rate from USD to AUD..but for gratuities they use a conversion rate from USD to AUD.  

That has been the experience of many from North America who have booked on Australian cruises. I cannot see that the policy is fair.

 

If you don't want to pay the high gratuities, you can remove them from your on-board account and personally tip the stewards and bartenders who serve you. On the Aust-based cruises, the auto-gratuity doesn't apply to Aust and New Zealand passengers. The stewards on these ships are not part of the tips pool, but are paid at a higher flat rate according to their contracts. BTW, they love it!

 

If you leave the auto-gratuity in place, the amount you pay will go into the fleet-wide tips pool, shared among the crew who are in the tips pool - not the stewards on the Aust-based ships. Your stewards will be very pleased to have you tip them directly. Yes - they can keep the money.

 

[casofilia]

We live in New Zealand and book through Princess in Australia.

 

I have just booked  cruises at the end of 2020 in Asia. 

 

I can pay for the cruise in NZD either by a Credit Card which costs me a 1.1% fee or by a NZ Bank to NZ Bank "cash" transfer at no cost.

I can similarly pay for my Gratuities in the same way.

But I have to pay for the Shore Excursions in American Dollars using a Credit Card with NO fee.

 

Any OBC from Princess though is in USD.

[Aus Traveller]

26 minutes ago, casofilia said:

We live in New Zealand and book through Princess in Australia.

 

I have just booked  cruises at the end of 2020 in Asia. 

 

I can pay for the cruise in NZD either by a Credit Card which costs me a 1.1% fee or by a NZ Bank to NZ Bank "cash" transfer at no cost.

I can similarly pay for my Gratuities in the same way.

But I have to pay for the Shore Excursions in American Dollars using a Credit Card with NO fee.

 

Any OBC from Princess though is in USD.

Obviously your cruise must be on a ship that operates in US$.

[PescadoAmarillo]

Actually. I got the answer today from someone on board who booked in the US and who is being charged gratuities. They are paying between AU $20 and $21 per day.  It varies from cruise to cruise as the exchange rate changes slightly. 

[ROWSE]

My travel agent again assured me that they pay in US dollars to the ship and this dollar for dollar thing doesn’t happen.  I guess there is so much information they have to wade through by representing so many cruise lines.  

I even sent her screen shots of how it is listed on the Personalizer as the amount they gave in US dollars saying over the column that it is now listed in Australian dollars in same amount, and she stuck to what she said.  I was just suggesting they let people know Princess is doing this to their future clients.  I would have liked to know before I saw it like that.

Travel agent is still paying another $100 OBC right before cruise so according to what has been said on here, I have a chance that will be converted.  I won’t hold my breath.

Thank you again for all the replies!!  
Thank you for the first hand current experience PescadoAmarillo!  Glad at this point I have the perk of paid gratuities!

 

 

 

Edited December 19, 2019 by ROWSE

[BRANDEE]

5 hours ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

Actually. I got the answer today from someone on board who booked in the US and who is being charged gratuities. They are paying between AU $20 and $21 per day.  It varies from cruise to cruise as the exchange rate changes slightly. 

 

Thank you for the information..PescadoAmarillo and Aus Traveller.  I do not want to cheat anyone from their fair share of tips and find it very interesting that the room steward is not part of the tip pool.  I always give an additional tip to our room steward  and waiters over and above the auto..I never felt the amount given to them was fair to begin with.

 

I was really surprised when I found out all our OBC were being converted into AUD without a conversion rate.  A Princess Representative told me to reread the "small" print on Future Cruise, Carnival Stock and Military Credit pages.  Even the OBC per stateroom promotion and our travel agents group credit given when booking became AUD without a conversion rare.  I realize that all this is a gift from Princess and what is given can be taken away.  Even our Loyality credit is in AUD.

 

Both cruises have OBC of over $1200 each.  Luckily, all onboard excursions are AUD quotes and when prebooked, they are charged in AUD and deducted from the folio as AUD and if charged to a credit card they are charged as AUD and the CC company convertes it to USD at the daily rate..

 

I usually use our OBC for auto gratuity. (and drinks)  Now that I know Princess is going to use a conversion rate on gratuities to up  +33% the charge..I might for the first time take off the auto tip.  (Especially knowing our room steward is not part of the tip pool).

 

I also found it amazing that not one Princess Representative knew the answer about auto tip rates on Aussie based cruises.

 

Again, thanks all here for the info..once again cruise critic members helping each other.  The amount of information I have received (and given) regarding so many areas of traveling over the years is fantastic.  Too bad more cruisers don't know about this site!

 

Brandee aka Chris