What currency for FCD?

[BoopTennis]

I will be on an Australian cruise and wish to purchase a Future Cruise Deposit for use in the future on a Caribbean cruise (not net booked). I live in the US. All onboard transactions on this cruise are in $AUD. 

I will buy the FCD with my credit card. Will it be charged in US dollars or $AUD?  What amount am I charged?(In past i have paid $100 US$)

 

then, later, when i go to use it, what will the value be? 

 

 

 

 

[Russell21]

I think you should be able to come to a satisfactory arrangement with the person in the Future cruise office, from memory the form you fill out allows you to nominate the currency.

[GUT2407]

All sorts of different reports, but the most recent I heard was that they paid $100 Aus, and got credit for $100US, also complaints of getting it the other way around when they used a FCD Bought in US$ on an Aussie cruise.

 

To be clear they were Princess cruises, other lines may vary and they may have changed procedures since as the Americans were getting very upset.

[BoopTennis]

Thank you. Yes I should have specified Princess. Got burned in how they handle promos and OBC so don’t want to pay $100 US for an FCD and have it turn into $100 AUD

[OzKiwiJJ]

Here is the FCD form. You can choose the currency that you buy FCDs in and they will have that value when you apply them to a booking. I imagine if you chose to buy FCDs in AUD then the value in USD would depend on the current exchange rate so make sure you tick that USD box. 😉

 

Where people get confused is in the value of the OBC they get. In the fine print it states that OBC is in the onboard currency of the cruise you booked. In other words not necessarily the currency the FCD was purchased in. The amount of OBC also varies by length of cruise and cabin type. 

FutureCruiseDepositForm.pdf

Edited August 12, 2019 by OzKiwiJJ

[Russell21]

We've had one instance where we paid in AU $, stayed in an Oceanview where we were supposed to get AU $75.00 credit, but they converted the AU $75 as if it was US $75.00 and got around the 100buck Aussie mark.

[OzKiwiJJ]

2 hours ago, Russell21 said:

We've had one instance where we paid in AU $, stayed in an Oceanview where we were supposed to get AU $75.00 credit, but they converted the AU $75 as if it was US $75.00 and got around the 100buck Aussie mark.

How long ago was that and what was the onboard currency of the cruise? 

Edited August 13, 2019 by OzKiwiJJ

[Russell21]

32 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

How long ago was that and what was the onboard currency of the cruise? 

18months ago to Fiji on Princess with Aussie dollars as you would know. Couldn't believe our luck, it was around the same time they were trying to get the conversion of the drinks package price sorted out, I don't think they ever did.

[OzKiwiJJ]

19 minutes ago, Russell21 said:

18months ago to Fiji on Princess with Aussie dollars as you would know. Couldn't believe our luck, it was around the same time they were trying to get the conversion of the drinks package price sorted out, I don't think they ever did.

Lucky you. Yes, Princess do have some odd things happening with the AUD onboard cost cruises at times. On the Diamond repositioning cruise we did last year we scored the Gold wine package,  which is usually not available on AUD cruises, for the same price in AUD as it had been in USD on the Med cruise we did the previous year. No conversion to AUD, just the same amount.  

 

[Russell21]

2 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Lucky you. Yes, Princess do have some odd things happening with the AUD onboard cost cruises at times. On the Diamond repositioning cruise we did last year we scored the Gold wine package,  which is usually not available on AUD cruises, for the same price in AUD as it had been in USD on the Med cruise we did the previous year. No conversion to AUD, just the same amount.  

 

One of my constant complaints is that Princess Aus don't have the packages but luckily Carnival do. On our regular mid year Carnival cruise we save big money buying a couple of gold packages for a 10 night cruise.

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, Russell21 said:

One of my constant complaints is that Princess Aus don't have the packages but luckily Carnival do. On our regular mid year Carnival cruise we save big money buying a couple of gold packages for a 10 night cruise.

Yes, those wine packages on Carnival are good value. We just tried the silver one as there was no pinot noir on the gold one. In hindsight we should have git one of each which would have given us more variety.

 

The Princess ones, when you can get them, are better as you can choose any wine on the wine list under $45 or pay the difference (price less $45) on other wines, a saving of about $17 a bottle if you get the 12 bottle package.

Edited August 13, 2019 by OzKiwiJJ

[datone]

We used a FCD to book an overseas cruise on Princess.   Onboard currency will be $US.   FCD we used was $AU.   Length of cruise/cabin type entitles us to $125 each in OBC.   Just looked at my booking which shows an OBC credit of US$125.   Happy with that.

[valantine80]

We used FCD in AUD in was 2016 for Emerald Princess Southampton to Fremantle so the on board currency was $US and that is what our OBC was in similar to the experience of Datone. Can be lucky sometimes!

[OzKiwiJJ]

Yes, I had the same a few years ago on a USD cruise. As the fine print says it doesn't matter what currency you buy your FCD in, the OBC is in the currency onboard - which works for in our favour for cruises outside our region. However it doesn't work in favour of Americans doing our region cruises.

[BoopTennis]

So it sounds like when i am on my next cruise where the onboard currency is $AUD, i will be able to purchase a new FCD with $100 USD.  Then when i use that FCD later on a US based cruise, it will be worth that same $US 100 has a deposit. True?  

[Russell21]

9 hours ago, BoopTennis said:

So it sounds like when i am on my next cruise where the onboard currency is $AUD, i will be able to purchase a new FCD with $100 USD.  Then when i use that FCD later on a US based cruise, it will be worth that same $US 100 has a deposit. True?  

Sounds right to me.

[OzKiwiJJ]

11 hours ago, BoopTennis said:

So it sounds like when i am on my next cruise where the onboard currency is $AUD, i will be able to purchase a new FCD with $100 USD.  Then when i use that FCD later on a US based cruise, it will be worth that same $US 100 has a deposit. True?  

Yes, that is correct.

[BoopTennis]

Thank you!

[Aulanis]

Perhaps I should be starting a new thread but this is a related question.

In the Uk we seem to get  stuffed on FCDs whatever!   I am just getting over the 125US FCD being  only 125 AUS   - did query it and their get out is that the

FCD does not specify a currency for the payments it only says $.

Next up was the shareholders OBC which has been whittled down to $AUS

Next the warning that credit cards have a 1.1% fee when paying off on board account.

Sooo    The question is  having initially specified a debit card to save the 1.1%fee  ( yes I know its not a lot  £11 on £1000but it is the principle as we have not paid  charges on most credit card transactions since 2017ish.)  

If we want to buy FCDs on the credit card  IN GBP   would the 1.1% fee be  applied to that as well.   - There is no warning  on the FCD form and the payment doesnt go through the On Board Account.

That would only be £3-30p on £300 but is it a flat rate or is there a minimum?

 

I appreciate those answering may not know what effect, if any, that the transaction is in GBP might have,  so  when an Australian on a cruise  where  AUD is the on board currency, buys FCDs   do you have to pay the 1.1% fee if you use a credit card.

Thanks in advance.

 

 

 

Edited January 23, 2020 by Aulanis

[OzKiwiJJ]

I just checked my credit card statement and there was no credit card fee added to the $100 when I bought another FCD last month. I was on Ruby Princess cruising out of Sydney.

Edited January 23, 2020 by OzKiwiJJ

[Elorac123]

2 hours ago, Aulanis said:

Perhaps I should be starting a new thread but this is a related question.

In the Uk we seem to get  stuffed on FCDs whatever!   I am just getting over the 125US FCD being  only 125 AUS   - did query it and their get out is that the

FCD does not specify a currency for the payments it only says $.

Next up was the shareholders OBC which has been whittled down to $AUS

Next the warning that credit cards have a 1.1% fee when paying off on board account.

Sooo    The question is  having initially specified a debit card to save the 1.1%fee  ( yes I know its not a lot  £11 on £1000but it is the principle as we have not paid  charges on most credit card transactions since 2017ish.)  

If we want to buy FCDs on the credit card  IN GBP   would the 1.1% fee be  applied to that as well.   - There is no warning  on the FCD form and the payment doesnt go through the On Board Account.

That would only be £3-30p on £300 but is it a flat rate or is there a minimum?

 

I appreciate those answering may not know what effect, if any, that the transaction is in GBP might have,  so  when an Australian on a cruise  where  AUD is the on board currency, buys FCDs   do you have to pay the 1.1% fee if you use a credit card.

Thanks in advance.

 

 

 

We put what we think we may spend on our account before we sail (no fees there)

If you spend more it’s not as much money you lose in interest if you use your cc.

If you don’t spend it all they will refund you the balance.

I hit this advise from cruise critic when I was a newbie to cruising

Cheers Carole