Using OBC to pre-book shore excursions, question for Bonnie

Hello Bonnie,

I have posed a question twice on your thread "Breaking news! Use your OBC to pre-book shorex" without any response, hence this new thread.

"Can you tell me why, when OBC is in $US . . . and purchases on board using OBC are charged in $US . . .

Why when using (or trying to use) Voyage Planner to pre-book using OBC, there is any need to make a currency conversion?????

Surely the charge should be exactly the same as it is when making the purchase on board!"

Hoping there may be some answer from those who make the rules and set up the website.

Trish

Hi baynanno1,

Below is what I’ve learned...in a nutshell your OBC is converted into the currency of your original booking.

———

“The OBC is converted to currency of the cruise booking at the FX rate of the booking system (aka the e-commerce rate, which fluctuates and is not something that we have control over). The FX is set by the same system that sets the cruise booking fare.

Once the 1st (tour) booking is used to consume the OBC, the FX rate will be locked and (future tour bookings) will be made at that rate for all subsequent tour bookings.”

Hi baynanno1,

Below is what I’ve learned...in a nutshell your OBC is converted into the currency of your original booking.

———

“The OBC is converted to currency of the cruise booking at the FX rate of the booking system (aka the e-commerce rate, which fluctuates and is not something that we have control over). The FX is set by the same system that sets the cruise booking fare.

Once the 1st (tour) booking is used to consume the OBC, the FX rate will be locked and (future tour bookings) will be made at that rate for all subsequent tour bookings.”

Thanks for your prompt response Bonnie. I had ascertained the same.

However, my question remains the same :

Why is this necessary when it is not what happens when using OBC on board?

Why is it different?

Curious as to why there is a difference between using OBC on board and using OBC to pre-book??

It seems to be a system thing...only one currency. Now that you’re spending the OBC through our reservation system, the system converts it to the currency your booking was made in.

Have noticed the same thing happens on Royal Caribbean, when I look at my booking our $300 OBC is converted to U.K. £ at whatever rate RC are using that day.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Thanks for your prompt response Bonnie. I had ascertained the same.

 

However, my question remains the same :

Why is this necessary when it is not what happens when using OBC on board?

Why is it different?

Curious as to why there is a difference between using OBC on board and using OBC to pre-book??

I forgot to mention that onboard transactions are executed in dollars only, therefore when you’re onboard, the OBC is spent in dollars.

Bonnie . . . somewhat off-topic, but related to OBC. We have OBC for early booking. Can that be applied to the Experience More Indulgence package? We booked a veranda when it was first announced for our Norway cruise next year, so the increases in price more than offset the cost of the package.

Thanks,

Jerry

Bonnie . . . somewhat off-topic, but related to OBC. We have OBC for early booking. Can that be applied to the Experience More Indulgence package? We booked a veranda when it was first announced for our Norway cruise next year, so the increases in price more than offset the cost of the package.

 

Thanks,

 

Jerry

I asked this question on the other thread and Bonnie confirmed that it can be used for that, but that package must be purchased with your OBC on board.

hubofhockey . . . Thanks! I found that reply from Bonnie to you, and I have bookmarked it. Just in case, I'll take a hard copy of it with me.

Jerry

I forgot to mention that onboard transactions are executed in dollars only, therefore when you’re onboard, the OBC is spent in dollars.

Yes Bonnie . . . exactly the point of my question in the first post of this thread :

"Can you tell me why, when OBC is in $US . . . and purchases on board using OBC are charged in $US . . . Why when using (or trying to use) Voyage Planner to pre-book using OBC, there is any need to make a currency conversion?????

Surely the charge should be exactly the same as it is when making the purchase on board!"

I guess I expected that as we are now able to use our $US OBC to pre-book shorex, that is what would be used, not $US converted to a currency other than that of our $US OBC as was the case during the "work around".

hubofhockey . . . Thanks! I found that reply from Bonnie to you, and I have bookmarked it. Just in case, I'll take a hard copy of it with me.

 

Jerry

Those packages really only work well if you believe the premium beverage plan is worth $32 per day more than what you get for no charge. The premium package doesn't even get you upgraded wines. For that reason, we're just going to use our non-refundable portion of our OBC on dining packages, WIFI, and spa. If the included wines are low quality, maybe we'll get a wine package as well.