Help - US Gift card Applied to Canadian Booking

[Mud_Shark]

Perhaps there are others in my position.

 

Back in late November Princess offered an incentive. Purchase $1000 in gift cards and Princess will give you a bonus $50 gift card that must be used by the end of Feb 2016.

 

Well, I did that, and I was charged the equivalent of $1000 US for the gift card (my credit card was charged $1375.00)

 

I called today to have the balance of both cards applied to my November booking. I was told, "I'm sorry, you can't apply those cards to this booking. Your booking is in Canadian. These cards are in us funds. You may only use these cards onboard."

 

Well first- the $50 one will expire before I ever get onboard.

Second - We have plenty of OBC already - I don't want more - I want to pay down a portion of our cruise with this.

 

has anyone else experienced this? Could you solve it?

 

The gift cards themselves say that if you booked directly online with Princess.com, you can enter the gift card number in your cruise personalizer. I did book directly online - but I cannot figure out how to apply the gift card numbers anywhere in the cruise personalizer.

 

Looking for help on what to do.

 

Thanks

 

Don

[CruisinFinsUp]

Hi Don,

Princess has always been pretty sticky on not mixing currencies. Once we've picked either CAD or USD we have had to stick to it.

 

Have you tried calling back and asking to speak to a supervisor? Explain that you were not told about the currency issue when you bought the cards? Often some reps won't realize that there are restrictions for non -US customers.

 

Do you have a travel agent that you could talk to? You said you booked online but if you have someone you've used in the past perhaps you can transfer the bookimg to them and see what they can do.

 

If you are stuck applying it as OBC, check the big long thread here for Canadian cruisers. Refunds are given of OBC so you may be able to "cash it out" at the end of the cruise and in essence get your money back. It depends however on "the small print" - whether its refundable or not and if the $50 with the expiry date will work too. If it works, you may even benefit due to the exchange rate! Just remember to take with you all paperwork showing the OBC once you know what the particulars are so you can show them onboard. Often head office and the ships don't communicate very well.

 

Do you have any shore excursions that you could buy in advance and prepay using the gift cards? Shore excursions are charged online in advance I'm pretty sure in $US no matter what currency your booking is in, so maybe that would work for some of it. if you can't find where to put in the gift card at checkout you can call them for help. Also drink packages and gratuities?

 

Good luck!

[Mud_Shark]

Thanks for the reply. Your answer was pretty accurate.

 

I called back to Princess and got referred up the chain to a customer satisfaction rep, who read carefully the Princess gift card legal terms.

 

She then said she completely agreed with me - The legal terms say that these gift cards, though in US funds, can be applied to ANY Princess Cruise.

 

Unfortunately, she then said that she is in place to enforce Princess Policy and Princess Policy is that Canadian Accounts cannot have US gift cards applied to them.

 

She apologized that their legal terms did not reflect this limitation, but that she could do nothing about it other than investigate if I could get a refund for my original gift card purchase. The bonus card, that expires in February, she kindly turned into immediate OBC and applied to our November Cruise, since we would not be able to use it before the time limit with the restriction against applying it to Canadian accounts.

 

In the end we decided the best course of action was simply to load the $1000 as OBC when we board, and then cash it out when we finish the cruise if we have not spent it (which we will likely not).

 

She also said she would inform her supervisors to address the misleading legal policy as it does not reflect their actual policy with respect to gift cards.

 

Lesson learned. Don't go after the gift card incentive campaigns.

 

Don

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the reply. Your answer was pretty accurate.

 

I called back to Princess and got referred up the chain to a customer satisfaction rep, who read carefully the Princess gift card legal terms.

 

She then said she completely agreed with me - The legal terms say that these gift cards, though in US funds, can be applied to ANY Princess Cruise.

 

Unfortunately, she then said that she is in place to enforce Princess Policy and Princess Policy is that Canadian Accounts cannot have US gift cards applied to them.

 

She apologized that their legal terms did not reflect this limitation, but that she could do nothing about it other than investigate if I could get a refund for my original gift card purchase. The bonus card, that expires in February, she kindly turned into immediate OBC and applied to our November Cruise, since we would not be able to use it before the time limit with the restriction against applying it to Canadian accounts.

 

In the end we decided the best course of action was simply to load the $1000 as OBC when we board, and then cash it out when we finish the cruise if we have not spent it (which we will likely not).

 

She also said she would inform her supervisors to address the misleading legal policy as it does not reflect their actual policy with respect to gift cards.

 

Lesson learned. Don't go after the gift card incentive campaigns.

 

Don

 

 

Can't rebook through a US TA?

[Mud_Shark]

Don't wish to rebook. We are locked in at 1.35 for exchange rate, but the current actual exchange rate is 1.42 - so we would have to pay the balance of the cruise fare at a higher exchange - and that would cost me an extra $350.

 

I will leave it as is.

 

Don

[2Canucks]

Don't wait to the end of the cruise to "cash out the $1000US funds" on your onboard account.

 

I had a similar situation in Sept ... I tried going to the Guest Relations desk to withdraw $200US...This worked...No Problem...just had to do the paperwork for the withdrawal. I did this a few times until I had the funds I wished to remove...taken out of my onboard account. Put funds in my cabin safe. (I wouldn't try taking all $1000US at once.)

 

You should leave some funds on your account and if there is a balance left on your account Princess will mail you a cheque. It takes them about a month to mail the cheque.

 

Hope this works for you too.

 

Pat

Edited January 12, 2016 by 2Canucks

[Steelers36]

That seems bogus to me that Princess has some rule that restricts using a gift card for Canadians. I am presuming that if a Canadian made their booking in USD with Princess, then the card could be applied.

 

A similar situation can exist with FCD's. A customer can buy FCD on board and elect the currency. I always elect USD since we tend to book with discount US TA's and not direct in CAD (we save money this way).

 

That said, our friends had CAD FCD one time and we were all making USD booking via a USA TA and their FCD was converted from CAD to USD. I had also inquired of Princess one time about this and there should be no problem converting FCD from one currency to the other and then applying it to a booking. (I agree that you cannot and they won't apply one currency FCD to a booking made in other currency).

 

 

So, I don't see why Princess could not convert a $1000 USD gift card into an equivalent CAD amount and then apply it to a booking. I would have taken that approach with them, but perhaps the OP had all those points and discussions and met with a NO answer.

 

The other option is since you have not lost the $50 (most CCer's were poo-pooing Princess's offer during the holidays because it only amounted to 0.5% bonus - a pittance)...... you could potentially sit on the $1000 gift card (which should not expire) .. and use it on your next cruise by making a booking with a US TA in USD.

 

Did you get confirmation (an email would be best) that the huge OBC is refundable and can be cashed out on board, or post cruise as a rebate?

Edited January 12, 2016 by steelers36

[Mud_Shark]

2 Canucks -- Good idea. I will see if I can draw it out in cash as we go along. $200 a day for a few days.

 

Steelers - I got nothing in writing. At least the paperwork on the original e gift card says it never expires, so if I do get snookered trying to take it out, as you mentioned, I could always make a booking in USD some future time.

 

With the Oil prices tanking however, exchange rates may make it unappealing to take a cruise for a while. We will do this November cruise we will probably stay in Canada in 2017. Lots of local places we need to revisit, and some fish are calling for me to catch them.

 

Don

[Steelers36]

2 Canucks -- Good idea. I will see if I can draw it out in cash as we go along. $200 a day for a few days.

 

Steelers - I got nothing in writing. At least the paperwork on the original e gift card says it never expires, so if I do get snookered trying to take it out, as you mentioned, I could always make a booking in USD some future time.

 

With the Oil prices tanking however, exchange rates may make it unappealing to take a cruise for a while. We will do this November cruise we will probably stay in Canada in 2017. Lots of local places we need to revisit, and some fish are calling for me to catch them.

 

Don

 

I could take some more of "Beautiful British Columbia" some day, or the Rockies on the AB border and Banff area. But most of Canada just has nothing much for me anymore, sorry to say.

Edited January 12, 2016 by steelers36

[LeeW]

Since this is a Princess gift card that got converted to OBC, it might show up in your personalizer in the purchases area. Good luck with this - this concept of not applying funds from one currency to a cruise booked with a different one seems incredibly silly. On European cruises you can walk up to passenger services and pay your account with about a dozen currencies. They could care less since they are happy to get their exchange rate and sell back the non-US to other passengers for another exchange rate.