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Question for UK Celebrity Cruisers

Project_gal

By Project_gal,
in Celebrity Cruises

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new_cruiser14

new_cruiser14

Posted
Posted

I'm also from the UK and contemplating buying OBC for an upcoming cruise. Are there any advances of going via the captains club vs just buying the OBC online?

 

Also when I went on the uk website the other day, OBC was £16.50, am I right to assume this will give me $25? When I log onto my celebrity prices come up in dollars but I'm not sure if this will be converted back to the more favourable rate if I buy in $?

 

Thanks in advance

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new_cruiser14

new_cruiser14

Posted
Posted
I'm also from the UK and contemplating buying OBC for an upcoming cruise. Are there any advances of going via the captains club vs just buying the OBC online?

 

Also when I went on the uk website the other day, OBC was £16.50, am I right to assume this will give me $25? When I log onto my celebrity prices come up in dollars but I'm not sure if this will be converted back to the more favourable rate if I buy in $?

 

Thanks in advance

 

*advantages* sorry

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Gordoncruickshank

Gordoncruickshank

Posted
Posted
I'm also from the UK and contemplating buying OBC for an upcoming cruise. Are there any advances of going via the captains club vs just buying the OBC online?

 

Also when I went on the uk website the other day, OBC was £16.50, am I right to assume this will give me $25? When I log onto my celebrity prices come up in dollars but I'm not sure if this will be converted back to the more favourable rate if I buy in $?

 

Thanks in advance

It gives an exchange rate of $1.515 to the £ which is 10c better than the street rate.

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swigso

swigso

Posted
Posted
I'm also from the UK and contemplating buying OBC for an upcoming cruise. Are there any advances of going via the captains club vs just buying the OBC online?

 

Also when I went on the uk website the other day, OBC was £16.50, am I right to assume this will give me $25? When I log onto my celebrity prices come up in dollars but I'm not sure if this will be converted back to the more favourable rate if I buy in $?

 

Thanks in advance

This may be why someone on another thread was charged £349 instead

of £330, I would call Celebrity rather than do it online.

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Project_gal

Project_gal

Posted
  • Author
Posted
I'm also from the UK and contemplating buying OBC for an upcoming cruise. Are there any advances of going via the captains club vs just buying the OBC online?

 

Also when I went on the uk website the other day, OBC was £16.50, am I right to assume this will give me $25? When I log onto my celebrity prices come up in dollars but I'm not sure if this will be converted back to the more favourable rate if I buy in $?

 

Thanks in advance

 

I strongly suggest that you do not purchase OBC online. The process is not fully automated. It required human intervention. At busy times, orders are processed in date of sailing [not date of order] order. Orders have been lost or duplicated [because of reordering] because of this.

 

£16.50 would purchase US$25. Have you purchased your cruise in US$ [through a US TA?]? If you have, you will be charged for cruise extras, such as OBC, in US$. Then there is no advantage to purchasing OBC.

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Gordoncruickshank

Gordoncruickshank

Posted
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I fix some online a year or so ago but funded up calling them as I received no confirmations nor changes via cc.
Oops that is what predictive text does for you late at night

Was supposed to say

 

I ordered some online a year or so ago but ended up calling them as I received no confirmations nor charges to my cc.

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mickey89

mickey89

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Yes it would provided they don't charge a different rate as happened to one cruiser.

I am that cruiser (probably a past Celebrity cruiser)

I purchased the cruise via a US travel agent and later decided to purchase some additional obc and went to the Celebrity.com website (NOT celebrity.co.uk). I was even given an Invoice Summary stating £330 but was later charged $500 without any communication. Spoke to Celebrity in the US and they said SORRY, but you shouldn't have been able to purchase in GBP.

 

Be aware that Celebrity mistakes cost YOU not them, they treat people with contempt !

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Gordoncruickshank

Gordoncruickshank

Posted
Posted
I am that cruiser (probably a past Celebrity cruiser)

I purchased the cruise via a US travel agent and later decided to purchase some additional obc and went to the Celebrity.com website (NOT celebrity.co.uk). I was even given an Invoice Summary stating £330 but was later charged $500 without any communication. Spoke to Celebrity in the US and they said SORRY, but you shouldn't have been able to purchase in GBP.

 

Be aware that Celebrity mistakes cost YOU not them, they treat people with contempt !

I was aware that this related to you.

Firstly, put in perspective the £19 in terms of the overall cost of the cruise. While it is irritating, it isn't the end of the world. Don't think I don't sympathise but it should not be an overall deal breaker.

 

Can you let us know if you contacted Celebrity in the UK as no one seems to have had this issue by contacting celebrity UK. They quote you in UK£ and there are no differences between the prices quoted by them and what goes through your credit card.

 

If you contacted Celebrity in the US what are they supposed to do. You want $500, you want to pay in Uk£ then you accept the exchange rate applicable at that time.

 

Celebrity UK always tell you what your what you will be charged in UK £ whether you upgrade a beverage package or buy on board credit.

 

Please let us all know how you purchased your obc.

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Gordoncruickshank

Gordoncruickshank

Posted
Posted
I am that cruiser (probably a past Celebrity cruiser)

I purchased the cruise via a US travel agent and later decided to purchase some additional obc and went to the Celebrity.com website (NOT celebrity.co.uk). I was even given an Invoice Summary stating £330 but was later charged $500 without any communication. Spoke to Celebrity in the US and they said SORRY, but you shouldn't have been able to purchase in GBP.

 

Be aware that Celebrity mistakes cost YOU not them, they treat people with contempt !

Apologies for not fully reading your last post but what exactly has celebrity done wrong. You booked in the US so buying obc in Gbp is an overseas transaction for them. As far as they are concerned you are a US customer. I presume you did this because it was cheaper or you received some other benefit not available in the uk. I am afraid the cost of that is a bit more on your obc which you need to write off against the cost of your vacation. It reduces whatever saving you had by £19 which is hardly a life changing amount.

 

Enjoy your cruise, which I think is the same one as mine, booked via the UK.

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Project_gal

Project_gal

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Posted (edited)

For any UK cruiser who booked their cruise in US$ a while ago and reach final payment date soon [and have not fixed their exchange rate in any way] the OBC issue will fade into nothing. The exchange rate has worsened so much over the last five months and the pound is at a five+ year low.

Edited by Project_gal
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hobbsie65

hobbsie65

Posted
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For any UK cruiser who booked their cruise in US$ a while ago and reach final payment date soon [and have not fixed their exchange rate in any way] the OBC issue will fade into nothing. The exchange rate has worsened so much over the last five months and the pound is at a five+ year low.

 

Totally agree - I have booked my next 2 cruises with UK TA again as I can not see the $ getting any weaker against the £ for a while

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Gordoncruickshank

Gordoncruickshank

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For any UK cruiser who booked their cruise in US$ a while ago and reach final payment date soon [and have not fixed their exchange rate in any way] the OBC issue will fade into nothing. The exchange rate has worsened so much over the last five months and the pound is at a five+ year low.

The rate is where it was expected to go after the us raised interest rates last month. We purchased most of our currency when it was likely to happen but before it did.

 

I would think twice about buying via a US TA at the moment as I don't think the rate is going to improve until the UK rates start to rise.

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mickey89

mickey89

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Apologies for not fully reading your last post but what exactly has celebrity done wrong.

 

Accepting an order, taking payment then changing the terms of the purchase afterwards without even contacting the buyer, rather roughshod approach to business in my opinion.

 

When I contacted celebrity in UK they were unable to access my reservation, so phoned the US office and they said I would NOT be able to purchase a Gift in GBP with my cruise ID. How wrong they are.

When I offered to Email a copy of the invoice to prove that I had, they said there is no point as there was nothing they could do, still no apology. Cutting a long story short, I cancelled for a full refund and now awaiting their refund process.

 

All unnecessary hassle which celebrity could avoid with improvements to a disfunctioning website.

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