Is 1.1% surcharge fee something new?

[rkmw]

Simple way around the 'Holds' on a debit card. Register your credit card as normal, but on the last night go down and pay off your bill with your debit card.

 

i do pay by cash on the last night but some people cant as they may not have the available funds so princess puts a hold on their card and it can take up to 30 days for the holds to drop off but its all in the t&c's

 

when they put a hold on the account it looks like they've been slugged twice until the holds drop off and people complain they cant manage their daily living accounts

[newport dave]

I know, that's why I said register a credit card, but use your debit card to pay off on last night so NO holds.

i do pay by cash on the last night but some people cant as they may not have the available funds so princess puts a hold on their card and it can take up to 30 days for the holds to drop off but its all in the t&c's

 

when they put a hold on the account it looks like they've been slugged twice until the holds drop off and people complain they cant manage their daily living accounts

 

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[vmom]

I was surprised by the frequent surcharges i encountered in Australia. We stayed at a Holiday Inn and there was a substantial surcharge for charging our room on our credit card (Visa).

 

we're not used to it in the US so I found it surprising.

[Woobstr112G]

Where is everyone seeing this, the cruise personalizer? If so, I dont see any guest information tab or shipboard acount information.....:confused::confused::confused:

 

Bob

[newport dave]

Where is everyone seeing this, the cruise personalizer? If so, I dont see any guest information tab or shipboard acount information.....:confused::confused::confused:

 

Bob

You'll only see it if you're on an Aus based ship.

 

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[caribill]

Just so I understand.

Is the 1.1% fee charger only for “onboard” expenses or will it be applied to final payment as well?

What if you make a “prepayment” towards your voyage and use the credit to pay onboard expenses?

 

I assume you are on a cruise on an Australian based ship.

 

The surcharge will be on any charges to Princess/Carnival Corp. Australia, so it will be applied to onboard expenses charged to your credit card.

 

Since you live in the USA, your final payment will be to Princess USA and the surcharge will not apply.

 

If you purchase OBC in advance (Princess USA), it will be converted to Australian $ for use on the ship. Find out what conversion rate Princess will use. Chances are the 1.1% surcharge for using a credit card for onboard expenses will cost you less than the loss on a currency conversion.

 

And for your onboard expenses charged to your credit card, be sure that Princess charges you in Australian $ and lets your bank do the conversion to US $. Princess will use a poor (for you) exchange rate. In addition, if your card has a charge for foreign transactions, you would still pay that fee even if Princess did the conversion to US $.

[Corfe Mixture]

Are you sure Princess charged this fee in the UK, we have paid for a few cruises direct to Princess and have never been charged for using our credit card.

 

 

 

Certain.

 

They used to charge 1% for using a credit card up to some time in the last 12 months (I think it only changed when the law banning these charges came into force in Jan) but no longer do so.

 

I used to pick up this charge voluntarily on my BA American Express card, rather than use a debit card in order to get over the threshold for earning my two for one voucher

 

Certainly, last August, I made a conscious decision to pick up a credit card charge of around £50, simply in order to get me over the threshold, which, this year, has enabled us to book to fly first class to Tokyo and back from Shanghai at a ridiculous price.(Indeed, it was so good a deal that I couldn’t even justify flying business class as the difference in cost - in terms of the value of extra Avios I used for one person flying first - was almost balanced out by the fact that I did not have to pay four loads of £83 to select our seats in business class).

 

NOTE: It applied to all credit cards, not just Amex, but was only applied on cruise costs and pre-cruise purchases. It did not get applied when using the credit card to settle my on board account

 

 

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Edited June 6, 2018 by Corfe Mixture

[Omega1]

Certain.

 

They used to charge 1% for using a credit card up to some time in the last 12 months (I think it only changed when the law banning these charges came into force in Jan) but no longer do so.

 

I used to pick up this charge voluntarily on my BA American Express card, rather than use a debit card in order to get over the threshold for earning my two for one voucher

 

Certainly, last August, I made a conscious decision to pick up a credit card charge of around £50, simply in order to get me over the threshold, which, this year, has enabled us to book to fly first class to Tokyo and back from Shanghai at a ridiculous price.(Indeed, it was so good a deal that I couldn’t even justify flying business class as the difference in cost - in terms of the value of extra Avios I used for one person flying first - was almost balanced out by the fact that I did not have to pay four loads of £83 to select our seats in business class).

 

NOTE: It applied to all credit cards, not just Amex, but was only applied on cruise costs and pre-cruise purchases. It did not get applied when using the credit card to settle my on board account

 

 

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Agree that Princess charged a credit card fee until it was outlawed recently. I used to pay the deposit by credit card and pay the balance by debit card. This still gave section 75 protection on the whole cruise cost. Not an issue any more.

[voljeep]

I remember the old cash or credit price at gas stations...yeah, i'm old(er)

[gottagocit]

I assume you are on a cruise on an Australian based ship.

 

The surcharge will be on any charges to Princess/Carnival Corp. Australia, so it will be applied to onboard expenses charged to your credit card.

 

Since you live in the USA, your final payment will be to Princess USA and the surcharge will not apply.

 

If you purchase OBC in advance (Princess USA), it will be converted to Australian $ for use on the ship. Find out what conversion rate Princess will use. Chances are the 1.1% surcharge for using a credit card for onboard expenses will cost you less than the loss on a currency conversion.

 

And for your onboard expenses charged to your credit card, be sure that Princess charges you in Australian $ and lets your bank do the conversion to US $. Princess will use a poor (for you) exchange rate. In addition, if your card has a charge for foreign transactions, you would still pay that fee even if Princess did the conversion to US $.

 

Yes. We are sailing first on the Sea Princess in mid February on a 7 day out of Brisbane. About a week after disembarking we will board the Majestic in Auckland for a NZ to Sydney.

 

Cruise personalizers for each state onboard currencies will be Australian. We will be sure to verify that is what is charged to our cards onboard a table the end. We have a good amount of OBC on each one and free gratuities so I don’t expect to have a large bill due at the end of them.

 

We were mainly thinking abut the potential for the final payments possibly being by with the 1.1%. What you wrote about that seems logical and will be a good thing.

 

Thanks

[caribill]

I remember the old cash or credit price at gas stations...yeah, i'm old(er)

 

Don't have to be old to remember this. I pass several gas stations each day that have this, usually a 10 cent difference.

[YWW]

Yes...I’ts for Australian cruises.

This was listed on my Australian cruise. My cruise says that all charges will be in Australian dollars.

Tom😎

 

Tom, can I assume based on what you are saying the charges will be in Australian dollars while in Australia that the ship's currency will be changed to Chinese RMB when Majestic is returned to Shanghai? I always thought Princess would use US$ as the official currency in all sailings regardless of locations or repositioning.

[newport dave]

Tom, can I assume based on what you are saying the charges will be in Australian dollars while in Australia that the ship's currency will be changed to Chinese RMB when Majestic is returned to Shanghai? I always thought Princess would use US$ as the official currency in all sailings regardless of locations or repositioning.

It's only ships based in Aus that are charged in AUD. ALL other ships no matter their location are in US$.

 

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[land lover]

I remember the old cash or credit price at gas stations...yeah, i'm old(er)

 

Still have it in OC, CA all over.....now if you say you remember waiting in long gas lines in 1973..i'd say you are older, but then I am too...but I was very, very young when I waited...

Edited June 7, 2018 by land lover

[land lover]

Yes. We are sailing first on the Sea Princess in mid February on a 7 day out of Brisbane. About a week after disembarking we will board the Majestic in Auckland for a NZ to Sydney.

 

Cruise personalizers for each state onboard currencies will be Australian. We will be sure to verify that is what is charged to our cards onboard a table the end. We have a good amount of OBC on each one and free gratuities so I don’t expect to have a large bill due at the end of them.

 

We were mainly thinking abut the potential for the final payments possibly being by with the 1.1%. What you wrote about that seems logical and will be a good thing.

 

Thanks

 

No worries about our final payment...as long as your are working with a U.S. travel agent who charges in US dollars.

 

I am on the SEA mid Sept. to end of Oct. 2018.

[land lover]

If you purchase OBC in advance (Princess USA), it will be converted to Australian $ for use on the ship. Find out what conversion rate Princess will use. Chances are the 1.1% surcharge for using a credit card for onboard expenses will cost you less than the loss on a currency conversion.

 

And for your onboard expenses charged to your credit card, be sure that Princess charges you in Australian $ and lets your bank do the conversion to US $. Princess will use a poor (for you) exchange rate. In addition, if your card has a charge for foreign transactions, you would still pay that fee even if Princess did the conversion to US $.

 

Your posts are always informative when it comes to fiance, I am assuming you have experienced this on an Australian sailing?

 

But, even if not, I appreciate ur thoughts/suggestions above as they are reconfirming what I have determined on my own.

 

 

I assume the casino will be in AUD, so any winning there will be distributed in AUD.;)

 

All pre-paid excursions booked on U.S. site are in AUD, and so if credited back before cruise to a US card will have to go thru another conversion. If credited back on ship and I have excess..what happens then? A check returned in U.S.D.

 

I seems many CCers who have cruised paying AUD on ships..never had any remaining funds, to be refunded...

 

 

Another question, is it worth it to pre-pay grats in US dollars?

 

It is, what it is...but I still like to understand how it is handled....

 

Thanks for any input ..L:Dri

[YWW]

I'm finally on the Majestic Princess sailing from Sydney to Auckland NZ. Yes, ship staff confirmed the 1.1% credit card surcharge is only applicable for the Australia New Zealand sailings. However, one thing that took me and many Americans on our cruise by total surprise is our shipboard credit, stockholders and veteran/military shipboard credit all previously in USD but now converted to A$ (Australian dollars) using just a 1 to 1 conversion instead of using a foreign exchange rate. In other words, Princess took our USD100 OBC and automatically changed to A$100 without using the proper Australian exchange rate. To me that's totally absurd and ludicrous. Princess should be using a proper foreign exchange rate to convert our USD OBC to A$ OBC instead of 1 to 1. 

[Thrak]

 

13 minutes ago, YWW said:

However, one thing that took me and many Americans on our cruise by total surprise is our shipboard credit, stockholders and veteran/military shipboard credit all previously in USD but now converted to A$ (Australian dollars) using just a 1 to 1 conversion instead of using a foreign exchange rate. In other words, Princess took our USD100 OBC and automatically changed to A$100 without using the proper Australian exchange rate. To me that's totally absurd and ludicrous. Princess should be using a proper foreign exchange rate to convert our USD OBC to A$ OBC instead of 1 to 1. 

 

Currently one US dollar is worth 1.4 AUD. Sounds like someone had better start screaming bloody murder until they rectify this.

[Aus Traveller]

On 6/5/2018 at 3:42 PM, joybook said:

There is a bit of incorrect information here. Not all merchants/shops etc add the surcharge for credit card usage. In fact it is my experience that from the ones I use, most do not. If they do there is usually a notice displayed at they checkout advising that a surcharge is applicable.

This is correct. The other posters saying it is usual to charge a fee for credit card use are NOT correct. It is actually rather unusual to have a fee charged.

 

When credit cards originally came in, it was illegal for a trader to charge extra, however that was changed several years ago. Now it is a matter of SOME businesses charging it simply because they can. I have found it is usually travel businesses (Princess, P&O and travel agents).

 

As someone else mentioned, if you use a debit card, Princess will not charge a fee.

Edited February 28, 2019 by Aus Traveller

[satxdiver]

I just checked our upcoming Sydney to San Pedro cruise and the warning does not show up nor does any warning that OBC will be converted to AUD or cruise charges in AUD.  This probably is because the ship is returning to the US.  In the US (Canada?) credit card companies were able to get a federal regulation (law?) that prohibited merchants from charging a fee for using a credit card or for having a cash price and a credit card price although some did do the cash price vs credit card price until the government went after them.  Since that time the merchants have been able to remove this restriction but the public insists on keeping it.  

 

Personally I would never use a debit card which allows direct access to my bank account.  There are way too many crooks out there who could attack my bank account emptying it out with little protection.  I will gladly pay the extra credit card fee because of all the safeguards that have been enacted for their use.  

 

Thanks for the heads up on Australian based cruises.  

[diverward]

2 hours ago, satxdiver said:

I just checked our upcoming Sydney to San Pedro cruise and the warning does not show up nor does any warning that OBC will be converted to AUD or cruise charges in AUD.  This probably is because the ship is returning to the US. 

We did the exact same trip in April 2017. All shipboard accounts were in US dollars. And all on board credits were in US dollars. Our cruise was fantastic. Have a great trip.

[newport dave]

5 hours ago, YWW said:

I'm finally on the Majestic Princess sailing from Sydney to Auckland NZ. Yes, ship staff confirmed the 1.1% credit card surcharge is only applicable for the Australia New Zealand sailings. However, one thing that took me and many Americans on our cruise by total surprise is our shipboard credit, stockholders and veteran/military shipboard credit all previously in USD but now converted to A$ (Australian dollars) using just a 1 to 1 conversion instead of using a foreign exchange rate. In other words, Princess took our USD100 OBC and automatically changed to A$100 without using the proper Australian exchange rate. To me that's totally absurd and ludicrous. Princess should be using a proper foreign exchange rate to convert our USD OBC to A$ OBC instead of 1 to 1. 

We had this on our sailing on the Sun last November. We knew of the CC charge beforehand has it was listed on our cruise personaliser. We took cash instead to pay off our bill. Also OBC was a straight 1:1.

 

It's now illegal in the UK/EU for companies to charge for using a CC. 

[Bwana Tom]

On 6/4/2018 at 3:54 PM, YWW said:

While I was in my Guest Information tab and under Shipboard Account, I noticed there's a verbiage right under credit card details in BOLD RED color that says "If you are using a credit card to pay for your onboard charges, a surcharge fee of 1.1% will be applied. Debit cards do not incur a surcharge". I don't recall ever seeing this in previous voyages. Is this something that has just been added recently? I assume what it means is on the last day of your sailing and you use your credit card on file to settle your account, there'll be a 1.1% surcharge added on top of the total. Please advise. Thanks.

 

Don't see it on our May transatlantic cruise on the Emerald Princess.

[newport dave]

26 minutes ago, Bwana Tom said:

 

Don't see it on our May transatlantic cruise on the Emerald Princess.

This only applies to cruises out of Australia on Aus based ships. The charge is levied by Princess Australia. 

[YWW]

On 2/27/2019 at 5:29 PM, Thrak said:

 

 

Currently one US dollar is worth 1.4 AUD. Sounds like someone had better start screaming bloody murder until they rectify this.

The ship's customer service manager rectified the proper 1.4 A$ equivalent on our USD OBC after we raised hell about that. Apparently a number of other Americans raised hell too and they too were compensated properly. However, the sad part is Princess is not correcting this 1 to 1 conversion on OBC across the board. They are only addressing it on an individual basis. If you don't raise hell, you get the 1 to 1 conversion.