Canadian cruisers!!

[lyteforce]

If you haven't received your email confirmation, call them back to get it. I had to do that the last time. I'm not sure if they got the email address wrong as you have to give it to them verbally (not sure why can't get it off your reservation).

 

Thanks brfan! It actually arrived the following day - not sure why it took so long, but I did get it.

[mabelcat]

We are leaving on the Oasis on August 29th, 2015. I have topped up everyone's OBC.

Can I take cash out during the trip to use for port days, would I do this at the casino?

 

How do I find out how much gratuities are in Canadian dollars to decide if I should pay on the ship or before we go...

 

Thanks for all the help on this everyone

[Clarea]

We are leaving on the Oasis on August 29th, 2015. I have topped up everyone's OBC.

Can I take cash out during the trip to use for port days, would I do this at the casino?

 

How do I find out how much gratuities are in Canadian dollars to decide if I should pay on the ship or before we go...

 

Thanks for all the help on this everyone

You can take cash out at the casino, but they will charge you 5% if you have used a credit card to secure your onboard account.

[bruzin_for_a_cruizin]

We are leaving on the Oasis on August 29th, 2015. I have topped up everyone's OBC.

Can I take cash out during the trip to use for port days, would I do this at the casino?

 

How do I find out how much gratuities are in Canadian dollars to decide if I should pay on the ship or before we go...

 

Thanks for all the help on this everyone

We are on the 29th Oasis sailing, too! I am ecstatic to see you have "topped up everyone's OBC!" How much did you put on my account? ;)

 

I have well-stocked through this promotion as well. As I understand from the helpful people in this thread, as long as you specify your account as a Cash Account upon check-in at the pier, you can withdraw from the casino at any time.

[son3cruisers]

You are limited to $500 per day from the casino. :)

 

Does anyone know if the $500 daily limit is per person or per stateroom? My DH and I have $500 assigned to us individually. Would love to just visit the casino once and have DH withdrawal his $500 and then I would withdrawal mine later in the day.

Possible?

[BCguy100]

Just tried to add another $500 to our account. Was told we had 'maxed out' the limit for the cruise (12 day Baltic). We've already purchased $1500 so I guess that's it, unless anyone else has a different experience.

 

Morley

[cegmar]

Just tried to add another $500 to our account. Was told we had 'maxed out' the limit for the cruise (12 day Baltic). We've already purchased $1500 so I guess that's it, unless anyone else has a different experience.

 

Morley

 

I just called to add another $500 to our account for a total of $1000. Specifically asked the agent if there was a maximum that am allowed to add and was told no. Just the limit $500 per phone transaction.

[KiwiGal117]

Our cruise is still 372 days out (but who's counting!!), is it too early to call to add?

[Tinious]

Can I just say WOW, and thank you for this thread? I just called Royal Caribbean Gifts and Gear (800) 722-5443 -- asked to put $500 USD OBC onto my reservation, gave my reservation number and CC info and boom -- $550cdn becomes $500USD, saving me at least $115cdn at current exchange rates on my cruise in a few weeks. Got my receipt almost instantly.

 

Super wow, thanks!!!

 

BTW - I asked the agent what the limit given there's a theme here about that, he said "he's not aware of one and the most he's added at once was $3000". He also said there'd be no point of a transaction limit because people would just call in multiple times with multiple cards and from friends as "gifts" if needed since that's what this program ostensibly is about.

[mabelcat]

We are on the 29th Oasis sailing, too! I am ecstatic to see you have "topped up everyone's OBC!" How much did you put on my account? ;)

 

I have well-stocked through this promotion as well. As I understand from the helpful people in this thread, as long as you specify your account as a Cash Account upon check-in at the pier, you can withdraw from the casino at any time.

 

Topped up my account, hubbys account my teens accounts, everyone will have their own on board credit....sorry you will have to top up you own, I'm done:)

 

Checked my gratuities price, and it is around $111.00 CAN each for the week, I see others are getting it for lower amounts.. , any reasons this would be?

[Hopetotravel]

Checked my gratuities price, and it is around $111.00 CAN each for the week, I see others are getting it for lower amounts.. , any reasons this would be?

That's what ours is in C$. $111.34 It's 12.95 US$/day.

[LibertyCruiser]

We are leaving on the Oasis on August 29th, 2015. I have topped up everyone's OBC.

Can I take cash out during the trip to use for port days, would I do this at the casino?

 

How do I find out how much gratuities are in Canadian dollars to decide if I should pay on the ship or before we go...

 

Thanks for all the help on this everyone

 

We paid C$15.73/day for gratuities in December but they've increased since then.

 

In any regard it's going to be cheaper to purchase OBC at 10% and use that to pay the gratuities.

[Ourusualbeach]

Topped up my account, hubbys account my teens accounts, everyone will have their own on board credit....sorry you will have to top up you own, I'm done:)

 

Checked my gratuities price, and it is around $111.00 CAN each for the week, I see others are getting it for lower amounts.. , any reasons this would be?

 

The reason for the different gratuity amounts was due to the exchange rate that Royal used when you booked your cruise. The gratuity rates were locked in and Royal did not adjust them. We lucked out and had a couple of cruises where we paid less in CDN$ than they were in US as the cruise was initially booked when the CDN$ was at par or slightly better than the US$.

[jellyfish39]

We have purchased OBC converted at the C$1.10/US$1 rate for our upcoming RCL cruise and tried to do the same for a cruise on Celebrity next year, thinking sister companies would have the same policy.

However the quoted exchange rate for Celebrity was around $1.30.

 

We booked our Celebrity cruise a little later, but booked in C$ when the rate was around $1.10-$1.15. Has anyone else had any better luck buying OBC for Celebrity cruises

 

I tried the Celebrity boards but couldn't find anything recent about OBC

 

Thanks

[mabelcat]

The reason for the different gratuity amounts was due to the exchange rate that Royal used when you booked your cruise. The gratuity rates were locked in and Royal did not adjust them. We lucked out and had a couple of cruises where we paid less in CDN$ than they were in US as the cruise was initially booked when the CDN$ was at par or slightly better than the US$.

 

Good to know thanks....

 

Will buy some more OBC and pay for gratuities onboard

[mabelcat]

You can get US cash on the last evening of the cruise, for any remaining refundable OBC.

 

Bob,

Can I get US cash out during the cruise to use for shopping in Port?:D

[Clarea]

Bob,

Can I get US cash out during the cruise to use for shopping in Port?:D

You can get cash at the casino anytime, but they will charge you 5% if your onboard account is secured with a credit card.

[mabelcat]

You can get cash at the casino anytime, but they will charge you 5% if your onboard account is secured with a credit card.

 

I have a cash account so hopefully will not get charged the 5%...!!!

[Ourusualbeach]

I have a cash account so hopefully will not get charged the 5%...!!!

 

You may need to remind them at the casino that you have a cash account.

[BCguy100]

After being told I had 'maxed out' my onboard cash account, I called back and was able to add another $500 at the 10% rate. Interestingly, some agents will only do $499, others will split the $500 into two amounts. Plan is to withdraw the max each night and use to pay off ship tours, anything on the ship and the rest off ship to buy Euros, etc.

 

M

[nl sailor]

Hi everyone,

 

New to the site, and reading up on this thread.

 

We are booked in Cdn, and therefore eligible for this 'offer'.

 

When we booked we did received 200 US onboard credit, which I noticed on the RC Onboard credit page it notes that this is clearly a use it or lose it.

 

So If I were to call RC, I would essentially ask 'Can I put $1000US (pay $1100CDN) on my cash account"? (Aware of potential $500 cap)

 

Then, let's say I spend $800 on the boat, how do I know my onboard purchases go against the $200 first. And with $400 remaining, I would just get that refunded back to me on my credit card (card used to add the $1,000), or potentially get the cash out on the boat somehow?

 

Thanks

Edited August 19, 2015 by nl sailor

[Ourusualbeach]

Hi everyone,

 

New to the site, and reading up on this thread.

 

We are booked in Cdn, and therefore eligible for this 'offer'.

 

When we booked we did received 200 US onboard credit, which I noticed on the RC Onboard credit page it notes that this is clearly a use it or lose it.

 

So If I were to call RC, I would essentially ask 'Can I put $1000US (pay $1100CDN) on my cash account"? (Aware of potential $500 cap)

 

Then, let's say I spend $800 on the boat, how do I know my onboard purchases go against the $200 first. And with $400 remaining, I would just get that refunded back to me on my credit card (card used to add the $1,000), or potentially get the cash out on the boat somehow?

 

Thanks

 

Yes you can try for the $1000 all at once and some have been successful at having that amount or more processed in 1 transaction.

 

All non-refundable OBC is used first .

 

All leftover OBC will be refunded to your CC at the exchange rate of the day that Royal is using which is probably 125 - 130%.

 

If you take money out at the casino you will be charged a 5% fee unless you set up your account as a cash account (no credit card)

Edited August 19, 2015 by Ourusualbeach

[nl sailor]

Yes you can try for the $1000 all at once and some have been successful at having that amount or more processed in 1 transaction.

 

All non-refundable OBC is used first .

 

All leftover OBC will be refunded to your CC at the exchange rate of the day that Royal is using which is probably 125 - 130%.

 

If you take money out at the casino you will be charged a 5% fee unless you set up your account as a cash account (no credit card)

 

Thanks Ken,

 

I was actually reading your comment on post #480 (alot of reading tonight), and was interested in seeing how you made out. I can see why everyone is adding so much to their OBC now, easy 20% back.

 

The wife seems to want to set up the sea pass as a credit instead of cash, i guess to avoid the wait time to clue up cash account on the last night (though i'm new to this so not sure how much of an inconvenience this is). But if it saves us 5% of the balance, and I put a significant amount in the sea pass account, then it seems worth the wait doesn't it?

Edited August 19, 2015 by nl sailor

[Ourusualbeach]

Thanks Ken,

 

I was actually reading your comment on post #480 (alot of reading tonight), and was interested in seeing how you made out. I can see why everyone is adding so much to their OBC now, easy 20% back.

 

The wife seems to want to set up the sea pass as a credit instead of cash, i guess to avoid the wait time to clue up cash account on the last night (though i'm new to this so not sure how much of an inconvenience this is). But if it saves us 5% of the balance, and I put a significant amount in the sea pass account, then it seems worth the wait doesn't it?

 

Set it up as a cash account initially then take money out of the casino as needed. With 2 days left in the cruise go to guest services and add the credit card to your account. Best of both worlds.:)

[brfan]

We have purchased OBC converted at the C$1.10/US$1 rate for our upcoming RCL cruise and tried to do the same for a cruise on Celebrity next year, thinking sister companies would have the same policy.

However the quoted exchange rate for Celebrity was around $1.30.

 

We booked our Celebrity cruise a little later, but booked in C$ when the rate was around $1.10-$1.15. Has anyone else had any better luck buying OBC for Celebrity cruises

 

I tried the Celebrity boards but couldn't find anything recent about OBC

 

Thanks

 

You can buy OBC for Celebrity on their website under Gifts by Celebrity. Currently the cost for $25 USD is $30.60.