Pre booking pkgs/obc for Canadians

[Kate45]

Thinking about pre purchasing soda pkg and buying some obc. I'm a little confused on how this works. We booked some shore excursions already and my cc was billing in US$ so I paid the exchange and cc conversion charge for a total of over 35%. The soda pkg and obc is priced on the Princess site in Cdn funds, not US$ so does that mean my cc company will bill in Cdn funds? Why is it done this way for this and in US$ for shore excursions? What's the difference in buying soda pkg now vs buying on ship (other than the obvious currency difference).

[canadarocks]

If you pre-purchase the soda package, bottled water, or OBC you will pay whatever exchange you booked your cruise at. Great deal if you lucked out with a 20% or 25% rate at the time you booked. 😀

[Lauriemulli]

I purchased OBC on the "better" exchange rate, and used the OBC's to pay for my Excursions.  

[meatloafsfan]

Yes, if you purchased your cruise in Canadian funds, then your personalizer stuff (like drink packages, internet, on board credit) will be purchased in Canadian funds at the exchange rate you booked at. 

For my upcoming cruises, I booked when the exchange rate was $1.20 so I have loaded my account with lots of OBC, pre-bought the soda packages, canned sodas, bottled water and internet. My goal is to have enough money on my account to cover everything (including my and my mother's gambling). Everything I've bought was charged by Princess in Canadian funds at exactly what was listed in my personalizer.

[Kate45]

So why was I charged in US$ for my excursions? Isn't it kinda the same thing?

[Lauriemulli]

For some reason excursions are charged in usd and obc, soda packages ect are in cad funds. Not sure why but when you are in your cruise personalizer it tells you if its charging usd or cad

Edited October 16, 2018 by Lauriemulli

[canadarocks]

Just now, Kate45 said:

So why was I charged in US$ for my excursions? Isn't it kinda the same thing?

Excursions are different in that they are charged in US$. But the "trick" is to pre-purchase OBC (make sure you purchase enough under each person's name) which will be billed at the exchange rate you booked your cruse at. Use that purchased OBC (again, be sure you have enough for each of you) to buy excursions. This will save you money. 

[Kate45]

Why do I need to buy for each of us? Isn't obc on an account that covers both of us (per stateroom)? Any cruises we've done in the past, we have 1 stateroom account but we are itemized separately. Can't I buy obc say of $400 US$ and use it to pay gratuities for both of us andsoda pkg for me?

[Lauriemulli]

Sorry, I don't really have the answer to this question other than when I logged into my Personalizer under my name and purchased obc, it wouldn't let me apply it to my husbands or sons excursions.  

I figured out by logging into the Personalizer under my husband's name and purchasing obc - we could apply them to his excursions.

Since my son is under age - I was not able to log in under his name and buy obc's - so I paid for his in USD. 

[canadarocks]

4 hours ago, Kate45 said:

Why do I need to buy for each of us? Isn't obc on an account that covers both of us (per stateroom)? Any cruises we've done in the past, we have 1 stateroom account but we are itemized separately. Can't I buy obc say of $400 US$ and use it to pay gratuities for both of us andsoda pkg for me?

You're right in that you can use OBC to buy the soda package and pay the gratuities. But you don't need to, because they're charged in CAN$ if that's what you booked your cruise in. So you can pre-pay them directly without having to go through the OBC step, and still take advantage of the discounted exchange rate.

Shore excursions are different in that they are billed in US$. I discovered that when I went to use OBC that I had purchased in my name to pay for both my and my husband's excursions, the website was still saying I owed money. Even though there was enough there to cover both. When I split the purchased OBC between the two of us, pre-paying the shore excursions using that OBC worked.

I know it's confusing, and I learned this kind of through "trial and error". Does it make sense now?

Edited October 17, 2018 by canadarocks
typo

[hokiefans]

Hi,

Generally, no difference.  I pay for our cruises in Canadian dollars most of the time but, to avoid the conversion charges, we now have a US dollar credit card which I register when I do our guest check-in step and pay the balance from a US dollar account.

[goofy559]

4 hours ago, Kate45 said:

Why do I need to buy for each of us? Isn't obc on an account that covers both of us (per stateroom)? Any cruises we've done in the past, we have 1 stateroom account but we are itemized separately. Can't I buy obc say of $400 US$ and use it to pay gratuities for both of us andsoda pkg for me?

The way the princess online systems "works" it will only use OBC if the person going on the excursion has some in their account.  Once onboard it doesn't matter.  As noted, gratuities and the soda package are already priced in canadian at the rate in effect when you booked so no need for OBC to buy those.

Also, any unusued OBC you may have purchased can be cashed out in the casino on the last night so that you have US cash for future travels.

[goldie099]

Slightly off topic (not related to excursions) but fellow Canuck here, and I am wondering, if I go to add OBC to my account now (being quoted in CAD) - can those be "used" once on the ship to cover gratuities etc. at the end of the sailing? Also...since they are quoted in CAD, can anyone tell me what they're "worth" in USD-what the denominations are?

[canadarocks]

2 hours ago, goldie099 said:

Slightly off topic (not related to excursions) but fellow Canuck here, and I am wondering, if I go to add OBC to my account now (being quoted in CAD) - can those be "used" once on the ship to cover gratuities etc. at the end of the sailing? Also...since they are quoted in CAD, can anyone tell me what they're "worth" in USD-what the denominations are?

 

Yes you can. Online the 3 levels of OBC you can pre-purchase in USD are $25, $50 & $100. Whatever your personalizer is showing in CAN$ will tell you the exchange rate you'll be paying (ie. $125 for the US$100 is 25%).