Canadians buying OBC

[huggs]

Can anyone verify that if you have pre bought your OBC in CDN funds , that it is then converted to US credit once on board.

 

Here I was thinking the OBC I had bought was going to be equal but have since been told it will be converted to USD once on board.

 

Has any of my fellow Canucks done this lately and can you verify if you were then surprised when you got on board to find out you had less ? / what rate was used to convert it to USD $

 

Thanks

[Demonyte]

Yes, OBC is always in USD as ship's currency on NCL ships is always USD. And yes, there have been several threads here by Canadiens that it's currently cheaper for you to purchase OBC in advance than paying the onboard account with your non-USD credit card.

[janicemarie29]

On myncl my OBC is showing in US dollars

[mommyto2kids]

Yup you are buying U.S. dollars and paying Canadian so the value will always be $250 US, but my understanding is that you entire reservation must be either us or Canadian. You can't pay for the cruise in Us and buy obc in Canadian. FYI the current Canadian rate is still about 10%

[Xmas515]

I bought OBC on the weekend. 7.5% exchange rate. When you go to "Gifts and More" and select your OBC amount, it will tell you in the shopping cart what your payment is in Canadian dollars. Hopefully, I purchased enough for the cruise. :cool:

[huggs]

So I selected and paid for $1000 OBC...and paid in CDN at par....what amt will I have in my OBC when I board...will it be converted based on current exchange rate offerd by NCL that day...when we booked ..we booked at PAR...

[huggs]

I assume it would be about $900 then in my account to spend on board...very confused.

[smartinm]

I'm confused about this too! People keep talking about 10% or 7.5% exchange rate but when I prepaid for my daily service fee I paid 168 CAD (168 CAD came off my credit card) which I assumed means for some reason my exchange rate is at par. When I go to buy OBC and I select 100 UBC, it totals it to 100 CAD, so I am really not sure how much I would get. I seems that 100 CAD will give me 100 UBC, but I am not 100% since it's weird that they would be at par :S

[ChristinaN]

Whatever the exchange rate is at the time you booked the cruise stays with your booking until sail date so if you booked when the dollar was at par then your exchange rate was 0%, more recently the exchange has been 7.5 or 11.

[smartinm]

The dollar wasn't at par when I booked as far as I know...It was in January when the bank exchange rate was 1 USD= .79 CAD, unless for a random day it was at par for some weird reason.

[ChristinaN]

When I booked 2 weeks ago, the rate was about 26% with the banks but I paid just 11% with NCL. They take a bit longer to update their rates so it's possible it was at par with NCL when you booked.

[smartinm]

I guess it might have been, it just hasn't been close to par in so long that it seems more of an error (in my benefit). But I'm not complaining! I am just paranoid that it was an error and they will notice and charge me more money XD

[Ontario cruise duo]

When I booked 2 weeks ago, I bought $200 US $$'s OBC. My charge card was billed $222.22 Cdn. So I therefore have onboard credit f $200 US. Others have stated that you can withdraw the money at the Casino and are charged a 3% fee for doing so. If I need the money or have leftover OBC at the end of the cruise, I will definitely take the money out at the Casino since this still beats today's current exchange rate of almost 30 cents on the dollar. In fact, I plan on purchasing more OBC prior to my cruise, because, if you do the math, this is a smart purchase on my part.;)

[familymum]

You will almost always spend more than you think, as everything has an extra cost. Ice bar, wine tasting, fitness courses, photos, specialty meals, drinks, coffee, bowling, casino, duty free purchases.... For every $100 USD OBC I was charged $107.50. I could have bought double what I had, an I still would have had a bill to pay... They will refund was you don't spend back to your CC, call customer service to confirm.

[b_cruise]

So I thought i would jump on the exchange and buy some OBC for my trip. I JUST JUST purchased $75 obc. I checked my cc and i was charged $95.46.

 

SO HEADS UP- They have adjusted exchange rate. I thought I would get the 10% deal but no such luck.

[TheManitoban]

Question to the person who said the exchange rate at time of booking stays with you:

 

I booked several months ago when the exchange was much closer. Are you saying that if I was to buy OBC right now (or even three months from now), it would convert at the same rate as when I booked the cruise months ago?

 

Also, since I have only paid the deposit, when I go to pay the rest of the cruise fare, it will be at the rate at the time I booked last year? Because if so, thats great.

[ChristinaN]

Question to the person who said the exchange rate at time of booking stays with you:

 

I booked several months ago when the exchange was much closer. Are you saying that if I was to buy OBC right now (or even three months from now), it would convert at the same rate as when I booked the cruise months ago?

 

Also, since I have only paid the deposit, when I go to pay the rest of the cruise fare, it will be at the rate at the time I booked last year? Because if so, thats great.

 

Yes that has been my experience. As long as you booked in Canadian funds, not if you booked in US dollars.

[TheManitoban]

Yes that has been my experience. As long as you booked in Canadian funds, not if you booked in US dollars.

 

I didnt specify Canadian so Im pretty sure I booked in US dollars. Oh well.

[ChristinaN]

So I thought i would jump on the exchange and buy some OBC for my trip. I JUST JUST purchased $75 obc. I checked my cc and i was charged $95.46.

 

SO HEADS UP- They have adjusted exchange rate. I thought I would get the 10% deal but no such luck.

 

Sounds like you booked your cruise in US funds as the charge shown under my NCL is in Canadian funds and your credit card amount wouldn't be any different from what you were shown on the website.

[ChristinaN]

I didnt specify Canadian so Im pretty sure I booked in US dollars. Oh well.

 

You can easily check on this by logging into MyNCL and trying to buy something from the gifts area. If you booked in Canadian funds, the price will show in Canadian.

Edited March 13, 2015 by ChristinaN

[CruiserRob]

How does one prepurchase OBC?

[janicemarie29]

Sign into ncl and its under gifts and more

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[b_cruise]

Sounds like you booked your cruise in US funds as the charge shown under my NCL is in Canadian funds and your credit card amount wouldn't be any different from what you were shown on the website.

 

Yes, I did book in US dollars but at the time of my booking our dollar was way better ( so that obviously doesn't matter).

 

From reading the posts, it seemed NCL was a bit behind on charging today's rate but they have since caught up. The only way you will get a better rate would be if u booked in canadian dollars from what I'm understanding.

[Scotchick]

So, when you buy OBC yourself and you don't use it all, do you get a refund of the unused part?

[Demonyte]

So, when you buy OBC yourself and you don't use it all, do you get a refund of the unused part?

 

 

Yes, by mail, several weeks after the cruise.