Promotional OBC in Australia/New Zealand

[Ombud]

6 minutes ago, Wisconsin Travelers said:

I find it curious that none of the posters to this thread who have taken other Aussie cruises have shared what the price was in Australian dollars for various ship amenities and purchases.  For example, what is the charge in AUD for the specialty restaurants?  How about beverages?  Just curious. 

Screenshot specialty restaurant charges .... it's the same "#" just in AUD not USD. Water not available and beverage pkg 63 a day 

[joybook]

Two things - OBC is a gift - get over it. If you are relying on OBC to take a cruise maybe you can't afford to cruise.

 

Secondly. A poster mentioned the credit card charge in Australia. Not all retailers/service providers charge a credit card surcharge. It is entirely up to the individual retailer/provider. In my experience most retailers/shopkeepers do not.

[Ombud]

1 hour ago, joybook said:

Two things - OBC is a gift - get over it.

He's not saying he can't afford it, he just didn't know the parameters. Shareholder OBC is more like an added dividend based on the investment as you have to do something (buy / hold / verify shares) to get it

Edited April 25, 2019 by Ombud

[Aus Traveller]

1 hour ago, joybook said:

A poster mentioned the credit card charge in Australia. Not all retailers/service providers charge a credit card surcharge. It is entirely up to the individual retailer/provider. In my experience most retailers/shopkeepers do not.

I agree. Only a few businesses charge the credit card surcharge - retailers/shopkeepers do not. Princess charges the 1.5% surcharge on your on-board account. There are two ways to avoid this: pay cash in at the Passenger Services Desk to cover the balance or use a debit card, not a credit card.

[Aus Traveller]

As a previous poster mentioned,  the cost of a specialty dining meal is the same number of Aussie dollars as US dollars, so it will effectively cost you less. Drinks do not have an 18% gratuity - the price on the menu is what you will be charged, but it is higher than you are used to seeing.

 

Sorry to mention gratuities. People who book in Aust or NZ do not have gratuities added to their account. People who book elsewhere in the world do. 

[Wisconsin Travelers]

56 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

As a previous poster mentioned,  the cost of a specialty dining meal is the same number of Aussie dollars as US dollars, so it will effectively cost you less. Drinks do not have an 18% gratuity - the price on the menu is what you will be charged, but it is higher than you are used to seeing.

 

Sorry to mention gratuities. People who book in Aust or NZ do not have gratuities added to their account. People who book elsewhere in the world do. 

Well, this is an interesting aside!  If people in Aust or NZ don't have gratuities added to their account, then are they still on the old-fashioned envelope system with recommendations of what amount to tip each of the service people at the end of the voyage?  Or do they simply not tip?!

 

I certainly hope it's the former, and not the latter!  First of all, those service people work REALLY hard to give all of us a great cruise experience.  Secondly, I'd be pretty irritated to learn that all of the Americans and Europeans are automatically paying tips and our down under counterparts are not.  What's the deal on this?

[joybook]

Let's not get into this argument again. It really does become boring after all the threads we have had on tipping.

[Aus Traveller]

6 minutes ago, Wisconsin Travelers said:

Well, this is an interesting aside!  If people in Aust or NZ don't have gratuities added to their account, then are they still on the old-fashioned envelope system with recommendations of what amount to tip each of the service people at the end of the voyage?  Or do they simply not tip?!

 

I certainly hope it's the former, and not the latter!  First of all, those service people work REALLY hard to give all of us a great cruise experience.  Secondly, I'd be pretty irritated to learn that all of the Americans and Europeans are automatically paying tips and our down under counterparts are not.  What's the deal on this?

I don't want to get into a debate on tipping either, but Wisconsin Travellers has asked a question that I feel needs an answer. (Sorry to add this, but if you don't wish to read my reply, please skip over it.) 🙂

 

Stewards on the Aussie based ships are not part of the tipping pool. They receive a flat salary, the same amount stewards on the other ships do (their 'guaranteed salary'), but they do not rely on tips to make up this amount. Envelopes are not handed out, but you can pick one up at the Passenger Services Desk and tip if you wish. Many people do.

 

When you are on an Aussie ship, you can remove the auto gratuity if you wish and then tip individually. It is up to you.

[polmcs]

2 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

As a previous poster mentioned,  the cost of a specialty dining meal is the same number of Aussie dollars as US dollars, so it will effectively cost you less. Drinks do not have an 18% gratuity - the price on the menu is what you will be charged, but it is higher than you are used to seeing.

 

Sorry to mention gratuities. People who book in Aust or NZ do not have gratuities added to their account. People who book elsewhere in the world do. 

 

 And when they do add gratuities, they perform a currency conversion. Our typical $13.50 USD per day rate was converted to around $18AUD per day for our Oz-Fiji Cruise last year, even though our FCD OBC was credited at a 1:1 rate. At least the travel agent OBC was credited to our shipboard account using actual currency rates.

[Aus Traveller]

1 hour ago, polmcs said:

 

 And when they do add gratuities, they perform a currency conversion. Our typical $13.50 USD per day rate was converted to around $18AUD per day for our Oz-Fiji Cruise last year, even though our FCD OBC was credited at a 1:1 rate. At least the travel agent OBC was credited to our shipboard account using actual currency rates.

That's rough. In my opinion it would be reasonable to carry the same principle of non-conversion of the currency, through to gratuities as well.

 

On the other hand, I don't see why they charge gratuities to passengers from other parts of the world when the stewards are being paid the guarantee salary anyway and don't get money from the tips pool. But this is another topic not directly relevant to this thread. 🙂

[GUT2407]

1 hour ago, polmcs said:

 

 And when they do add gratuities, they perform a currency conversion. Our typical $13.50 USD per day rate was converted to around $18AUD per day for our Oz-Fiji Cruise last year, even though our FCD OBC was credited at a 1:1 rate. At least the travel agent OBC was credited to our shipboard account using actual currency rates.

That's interesting because last time I had auto grats on Princess it was the same as the US rate, that would have been around 2010 I guess (date may be out slightly).

[land lover]

Info about our Aussie sailings... 2 cruises last fall, on the Sea Princess.. the bottle wine prices with grat included were very reasonable.....there must have been a selection of 10-15 that were in the 30- 40AUD range...mostly local....but very acceptable. However we were buying bottles for under 10AUD while in ports..as Aussies told me "GROG" is taxed much higher than wine.

 

 Also the fact that the ship is in AUD tells you that Princess Australia is catering to Aussie clientele and they want them...that is why no grats are paid by this select group. ....on our 2 cruises, 10 day Queensland on board 120 North Americans a few others, including Kiwis and the remaining 1800 were Aussie. The 28 day had a few more No . Americans because of a NZ cruise following.... about 300. But on that 28 day cruise we were dropping off and picking up people all along the way. Princess Australia was selling bits and pieces of our cruise long after it was showing sold out on the American Princess site.

 

On Sea a much smaller ship I thought the "rules" were very lax in a good way. 

 

 

One negative is, what does one do with a lot of on TA on board credit?...especially when many excursions, on the Queensland sailing must be pre-paid .....So I played the casino and won texas hold'em a few times so cashed out very night..as another poster mentioned i like them used that money to spend at ports and eventually paid off our SBA also brought about 200 AUD home. Figured it was better than having refunable TA money be reconverted again and then get a check in USD....I had pre-paid grats, prior to the cruise.

 

 

Regarding H20 on Australian sailings, haven't you heard the comment that  "wine is cheaper than water in Australia."

Edited April 26, 2019 by land lover

[Steelers36]

I could be wrong, but are cruises sold in the Australia/NZ market priced higher than equivalent sale price in USA so that this higher price paid includes "built-in" grats?  When you travel in Australia, restaurants and such simply charge the price of food and there is no addition of tips or tax (the VAT is built in).  We figured most of the time looking at the numbers charged on menus that if we adjusted the price down before imagined tax and tip, the cost of menu items was largely comparable to home.

 

[Steelers36]

19 hours ago, Ombud said:

Screenshot specialty restaurant charges .... it's the same "#" just in AUD not USD. Water not available and beverage pkg 63 a day 

I have to disagree with this information - it is either incorrectly composed by Princess or out-dated.  We were on Majestic NZ cruise in Feb and the specialty dining prices were adjusted such that the cost in AUD was higher than the cost in USD ($25 or $29) by the amount of the exchange rate.  IOW, you could not dine in the CG for $29 AUD - it was $40.  And La Mer ($25 USD) was $35 AUD.

 

Edited April 26, 2019 by steelers36

[Ombud]

23 minutes ago, steelers36 said:

I have to disagree with this information - it is either incorrectly composed by Princess or out-dated.  We were on Majestic NZ cruise in Feb and the specialty dining prices were adjusted such that the cost in AUD was higher than the cost in USD ($25 or $29) by the amount of the exchange rate.  IOW, you could not dine in the CG for $29 AUD - it was $40.  And La Mer ($25 USD) was $35 AUD.

 

I screenshot the info from my November 2019  so it is accurate for the Melbourne to Auckland one as of yesterday and when I reserve it now, it's still the same. Forgot what I paid for Sabatini last

 

 

Edited April 26, 2019 by Ombud

[Steelers36]

3 minutes ago, Ombud said:

I screenshot the info from my November 2019  so it is accurate for the Melbourne to Auckland one as of yesterday and when I reserve it now, it's still the same. Forgot what I paid for Sabatini last year

Well, then, that is a great deal priced that way.  I wonder if it some sort of Personalizer error for North American bookings?  Anyway, if you aren't looking to use OBC, I would pre-book at that price.

[Ombud]

Sorry .... edited to remove trash and just leave sample booking

[Maui Girl]

This is an interesting thread, some things converted and others not. We are doing our first NZ cruise, RT Sydney on March 8, 2020. I was aware that our 600 OBC was going to be AUD and the ship account in that currency also. As someone mentioned the booking and military OBC could be considered a gift so we shouldn’t complain that it’s not converted to US equivalent, but if my TA ( or even me personally) purchases some OBC for me, it would be charged in US dollars, so it should be converted period.  

I noticed in the personalizer right now I could prebook Share or the Crown Grill for 29 AUD but other items like the beverage package, internet minutes, etc are showing just the normal dollar amount with no designation, so that must be USD.  🤔

[cherylandtk]

As you have undoubtedly realized, Princess does not use dynamic conversion rates, or even weekly or monthly rates.  Sometimes their set rate benefits you, sometimes not.  

 

I hope someone on a recent cruise can tell you the AUD drink prices so you can determine the current Princess rate vs. bank rate.  One other option could be to call Princess and ask what their rate is.

[sandyss]

On 4/25/2019 at 7:56 AM, steelers36 said:

I think the main thing that bothers me about the policy is that I am booking in North America in USD and Princess booking offer includes OBC in USD of course.  But, then it is not converted at an exchange rate to AUD - the currency code is just changed to AUD.  So, $200 USD OBC for booking becomes $200 AUD.  Same thing with the OBC rebate from applying a FCD.  

 

I know companies don't have to be "fair" but the reasonable thing to do would be to convert USD OBC into AUD at a going exchange rate.

 

What bothers me is that our cruise is booked in US$ and the OBC from our TA is shown as: "The value of the shipboard credit is determined by the base cruise fare for the stateroom category booked."

 

There is an inconsistency between the currency used for pricing of the cruise and the OBC percentage calculated on apples (US$) vs oranges ($AU).

[Aus Traveller]

4 hours ago, cherylandtk said:

As you have undoubtedly realized, Princess does not use dynamic conversion rates, or even weekly or monthly rates.  Sometimes their set rate benefits you, sometimes not.  

 

I hope someone on a recent cruise can tell you the AUD drink prices so you can determine the current Princess rate vs. bank rate.  One other option could be to call Princess and ask what their rate is.

Comparing drinks prices won't let you know the current Princess currency conversion rate. Drinks on the Aussie ships do not have the 18% gratuity added. The price you see is what you pay, however, it is much higher than US passengers are used to.

[Haboob]

On 4/25/2019 at 5:54 AM, Wisconsin Travelers said:

I just got a rude awakening on the two Princess cruises I booked several months ago, one to New Zealand and another around Northern Australia...

 

When I realized that my promotional OBC was not in U.S. Dollars, I got to thinking about my shareholder credit, so I asked Princess how this works.  In this instance, I DEFINITELY will be "losing" value.  My $250 shareholder credit will be posted on my folio as 250 AUD.  And that means the value of $250 U.S. becomes approximately 176 AUD.  It's like I arrive at the dock with $250 U.S. in my hands, turn it over to the purser, and receive a credit on my folio statement for 250 AUD - a value of $176 U.S.  I've just lost $74, simply by stepping onboard the ship!!

 

Anyone want to weigh in on this topic?

 

 

 

Your shareholder OBC never was US$250.  Carnival issues it in different amounts depending upon where in the

world your ship is currently homeported:  That top tier SOBC may be credited as US$250, AU$250, £150, or €200.

 

...and, yes, it's more generous for North America homeported ships than those Down Under (or anywhere else).

 

There's a link to a PDF with the exact SOBC rules at http://www.carnivalcorp.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=140690&p=irol-sharebenefit

[aussiebossyboots]

I was reading this thread and was interested to see exactly what we received for our recent booking for a Sea Princess cruise for January 2020 to Papua New Guinea.

 

Interestingly, confirmation from ourTA states that we receive up to US$200OBC on the Princess Perfect Moments Sale.

This has been converted to A$285!  As this is an Australian (Brisbane) return cruise, the currency on board will be Auzzie$s. 

 

Also interesting to note that my confirmation says 'Gratuities not included'.  Since there are no gratuities required for Australian return cruises with Princess, wonder what will happen when we board.

 

Looking forward to your comments.

[Aus Traveller]

1 hour ago, aussiebossyboots said:

I was reading this thread and was interested to see exactly what we received for our recent booking for a Sea Princess cruise for January 2020 to Papua New Guinea.

 

Interestingly, confirmation from ourTA states that we receive up to US$200OBC on the Princess Perfect Moments Sale.

This has been converted to A$285!  As this is an Australian (Brisbane) return cruise, the currency on board will be Auzzie$s. 

 

Also interesting to note that my confirmation says 'Gratuities not included'.  Since there are no gratuities required for Australian return cruises with Princess, wonder what will happen when we board.

 

Looking forward to your comments.

You will be charged the daily gratuity - US$ converted to AUD resulting in a daily charge around AUD$18 - $20. Sorry I didn't work it out exactly. Passengers who book in Aust or NZ, are not charged the gratuity. As the staff are paid a higher than normal rate to take into account the 'lack' of gratuities, I cannot work out why the cruiseline charges Americans, Brits and Europeans the gratuity. Maybe they don't want people to see that the system can work without gratuities. (Smiling at my joke - I don't want anyone to misunderstand my comment.) 😁

[aussiebossyboots]

We are Australian, cruise was booked in Australia.  So OBC quoted at US$200 converted to AUD$285.

 

But.... Gratuities not included.