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son3cruisers
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JillK

JillK

Posted
Posted (edited)
Just wondering if anybody knows if Princess and NCL have raised their OBC exchange rate like RCCL did last week. I was just on the NCL board trying to find out and left a posting there asking. People were saying that they were purchasing OBC at 11% just over a week ago, but there are no newer postings (since RCCL jacked their exchange rates). The reason I ask is that I am helping plan a cruise for a relative for this February and this will play hugely into their decision to take NCL/Princess/ or RCCL.

 

Are you paying attention to this RCCL?

 

So because of the sliding dollar (hello .69) I went ahead and bought some OBC through myncl for my cruise this coming December. The rate I paid was $111.11 cdn per $100 usd but there seems to be some inconsistency from other posters about what they are being charged. There has been some speculation that the amount of exchange you are charged depends on when you booked.

 

Since you don't have a booking, your best bet might be to call NCL's customer service and simply ask. In order to buy once booked, you sign into your myncl, go to "explore and plan" and then select "onboard credit." You will be able to buy in increments of $25, $50, $75 and $100.

 

Just note that there is also scuttlebutt that you cannot buy more than $1000 usd worth. The system will allow you to, but you will get a phone call closer to cruise time that you are being refunded everything but $1000. Here's the thread from the NCL board if you want to investigate further: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2297982

 

Good luck!

 

Jill

Edited by JillK
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Misty_Que

Misty_Que

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Hi everyone, I just found this thread a week after RC raised the exchange rate for purchasing OBC :( But I see you are all pre-paying for your gratuities before you sail as it is cheaper. I am just confused as to how that all works out in the end if pre-paying for gratuities on a Canadian Credit card. Or maybe I am just too stupid and don't understand how it all works :confused:

 

We are on an 11 night cruise staying in a suite and booked 2 years ago.

On RC's website it is $15.95 US per person per day. Which would work out to be $350.90 US. Based on todays exchange rate, I would pay $519.33 CAD

Based on what I read here, I called today and I was told it would be $430 CAD. SO based on my above calculations, this is the cheaper way to go. But how does that work if I am paying for it with my Canadian Credit card. Will Royal Caribbean charge me in Canadian so I don't get charged the Exchange rate and credit card fees? Please tell me the best way to do this as I do not do math :confused::eek:

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Ourusualbeach

Ourusualbeach

Posted
Posted
Hi everyone, I just found this thread a week after RC raised the exchange rate for purchasing OBC :( But I see you are all pre-paying for your gratuities before you sail as it is cheaper. I am just confused as to how that all works out in the end if pre-paying for gratuities on a Canadian Credit card. Or maybe I am just too stupid and don't understand how it all works :confused:

 

We are on an 11 night cruise staying in a suite and booked 2 years ago.

On RC's website it is $15.95 US per person per day. Which would work out to be $350.90 US. Based on todays exchange rate, I would pay $519.33 CAD

Based on what I read here, I called today and I was told it would be $430 CAD. SO based on my above calculations, this is the cheaper way to go. But how does that work if I am paying for it with my Canadian Credit card. Will Royal Caribbean charge me in Canadian so I don't get charged the Exchange rate and credit card fees? Please tell me the best way to do this as I do not do math :confused::eek:

 

If you booked in CDn then Royal will charge your credit card in CDN$ for your gratuities....no exchange rate. You are $80 ahead by paying your gratuities in advance.

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hancogran

hancogran

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Posted
Hi everyone, I just found this thread a week after RC raised the exchange rate for purchasing OBC :( But I see you are all pre-paying for your gratuities before you sail as it is cheaper. I am just confused as to how that all works out in the end if pre-paying for gratuities on a Canadian Credit card. Or maybe I am just too stupid and don't understand how it all works :confused:

 

We are on an 11 night cruise staying in a suite and booked 2 years ago.

On RC's website it is $15.95 US per person per day. Which would work out to be $350.90 US. Based on todays exchange rate, I would pay $519.33 CAD

Based on what I read here, I called today and I was told it would be $430 CAD. SO based on my above calculations, this is the cheaper way to go. But how does that work if I am paying for it with my Canadian Credit card. Will Royal Caribbean charge me in Canadian so I don't get charged the Exchange rate and credit card fees? Please tell me the best way to do this as I do not do math :confused::eek:

 

Yes, your calculations are incorrect and if you've booked your cruise in Canadian then definitely call and have them add the tips to your booking. They will bill your Canadian credit card $430 CAD if that's what they quoted you. There shouldn't be any other charge or exchange since it's billed in Canadian...just like you were purchasing something in Canada. :)

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hancogran

hancogran

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Nice to see that this thread has stayed alive and kind of morphed from the OBC to other exchange rate issues including dining and gratuities. Thanks again for starting this all off.:)

 

As usual, I totally agree with you, Ken and thanks to everybody who has contributed to this thread, especially the originally poster for starting it. :)

 

It would be great to keep it going. :)

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jtdlmc

jtdlmc

Posted
Posted
I found this news story on CBC today regarding travel and our falling dollar. It is a bit simple but interesting.

 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/travel-tips-drooping-dollar-1.3404734

 

Thanks for the article! I definitely won't be doing any travelling in the US after our Feb cruise with this exchange rate I don't think. We live in a border city and did 75% of our grocery shopping in Michigan until about September - then it wasn't worth it any longer. Travelling is the same for us unfortunately. I enjoy visiting 4 different countries in a week on a cruise but for the unforeseeable future my family will be visiting just one country for a week at an all-inclusive. We will just have to do more excursions then we used to when at an AI :cool:

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son3cruisers

son3cruisers

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Nice to see that this thread has stayed alive and kind of morphed from the OBC to other exchange rate issues including dining and gratuities. Thanks again for starting this all off.:)

 

Glad it helped fellow Canadian travellers! Still hoping cruisers will report back on their experiences taking money from the casino!

And yes! Let's keep it going! So many posters have such great info to share! :)

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hancogran

hancogran

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Posted
I found this news story on CBC today regarding travel and our falling dollar. It is a bit simple but interesting.

 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/travel-tips-drooping-dollar-1.3404734

 

Thanks for sharing! Sometimes "simple" is what works best. They were talking about this on Canada A.M. this morning. It all makes sense. :)

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Misty_Que

Misty_Que

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Posted
If you booked in CDn then Royal will charge your credit card in CDN$ for your gratuities....no exchange rate. You are $80 ahead by paying your gratuities in advance.

 

Yes, your calculations are incorrect and if you've booked your cruise in Canadian then definitely call and have them add the tips to your booking. They will bill your Canadian credit card $430 CAD if that's what they quoted you. There shouldn't be any other charge or exchange since it's billed in Canadian...just like you were purchasing something in Canada. :)

 

Thank you so much!!!

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robtulipe

robtulipe

Posted
Posted (edited)
Thanks. I wasn't sure what we'd use the OBC for to be honest. I don't drink (my son is 6 lol so he doesn't either), we only have two ports and in Nassau we are not doing a ship excursion, in Coco Cay I understand you can pretty much just sit on the beach and not have to pay for anything. I do want to check though how much the CAD gratuities would cost me. And I hope to book another while onboard, though I'm a little worried with the cost of the dollar right now and predicted. But we did one cruise and are kind of hooked lol. We have to do more! :) My son doesn't even like pop, though I do! We did manage with just the included stuff on our last cruise though. I'm rambling, sorry. Lots to consider.

 

You are still better off prepaying your gratuities in $CAD and then taking the OBC in cash from the casino for off ship purchases even if you have to pay a 5% service charge. We paid ours at an effective exchange rate of just under 1.23 for our next cruise that we booked on Anthem this week. This saved us over $100CAD at the then exchange rate which is now higher by another 3%.

If you are not going to spend much onboard, set up your onboard account as a cash one, not tied to a credit card and you should be able to get cash in the casino without the 5% service charge by advising the casino cashier of this.

We did that on our B2B Freedom cruises last October, on which we did prepay gratuities, so didn't have to pay the extra 5% when taking out cash in the casino from our onboard account. ;)

Edited by robtulipe
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Russ Lomas

Russ Lomas

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Posted

Huge price drop for Ontario residents.

 

My niece just booked a cruise under the Ontario resident rate out of Galveston on the Liberty 2 cruises after its drydock on February 14, 2016.

 

The price for an inside cabin is $500 CANADIAN!!!! (you can confirm this on the website) plust $110 Canadian for port fees.

 

I did a mock booking online and the price tripled though. She called in and booked it at the $500 listed on the website about an hour ago. It is an inside guarantee cabin. $662 Canadian for outside cabins.

 

Hope someone can take advantage of this. I would but cannot get that week off work (teacher's holidays)

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CanadaRob

CanadaRob

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Posted

With the current rate from RCI at 1.40 it is still better than most exchange companies. if I put some more money in, how easy is it to take the $$ out without more %? Already prepaid gratuities and I've been following the casino suggestions so do I go to guest relations and indicate cash account knowing that the c&a dollars I added don't show up for a couple of days anyway? Get money from casino? Don't normally go into casinos.

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