Questions about sailing to Australia

[jajsmom]

We have OBC for our Australia cruises and were told that we would be given this in Australian dollars, rather than US dollars, so that is actually less credit than we ordinarily would be given.  Are the charges on board also all in Australian dollars?  And will they charge our credit cards in Australian or US dollars?  Thanks.

[Guest ldtr]

Princess cruises on ships based in Australia usually use the Aus$ as the on board currency.  As such charges will be in Aus$.  Good idea to use a CC that does not charge a currency change fee.

[jajsmom]

7 minutes ago, ldtr said:

Princess cruises on ships based in Australia usually use the Aus$ as the on board currency.  As such charges will be in Aus$.  Good idea to use a CC that does not charge a currency change fee.

Thank you.

[Guest ldtr]

One other comment you might be able to get Princess to generate your final bill in USD$, do not know have never tried, but I believe that if you go that route the conversion would be at whatever exchange rate Princess is using, not necessarily the actual market rate in force at the time.

[westcoaster]

What you the OBC in Australian dollars was correct.  Princess gives the same dollar amounts for standard OBC (such as Shareholder of Future Cruise Deposit OBC) but in Australian dollars.  Since the AUD is only worth $0.68 USD, that's a substantial discount compared with what you would normally receive.

[chubbypiggy]

We have a Transpacific cruise next April, embark in Sydney, and disembark in Los Angeles.  We have no Australia port; will have 3 NZ, 1 Tahiti, and 3 Hawaii ports.  We were never notified that our OBC will be in Australian currency.  Does it mean our OBC will be in USD?

[Guest ldtr]

11 minutes ago, chubbypiggy said:

We have a Transpacific cruise next April, embark in Sydney, and disembark in Los Angeles.  We have no Australia port; will have 3 NZ, 1 Tahiti, and 3 Hawaii ports.  We were never notified that our OBC will be in Australian currency.  Does it mean our OBC will be in USD?

Should say in your booking information what the onboard currency is.  I expect that it is probably USD.

 

If you log in online and go into that cruise on your upcoming cruise portion of your account it should say in the payments area where it shows your OBC.

Edited January 2, 2023 by ldtr

[chubbypiggy]

10 minutes ago, ldtr said:

Should say in your booking information what the onboard currency is.  I expect that it is probably USD.

 

If you log in online and go into that cruise on your upcoming cruise portion of your account it should say in the payments area where it shows your OBC.

Just checked. Yes, it says "credits in USD".  Thank you.

[PescadoAmarillo]

1 hour ago, chubbypiggy said:

We have a Transpacific cruise next April, embark in Sydney, and disembark in Los Angeles.  We have no Australia port; will have 3 NZ, 1 Tahiti, and 3 Hawaii ports.  We were never notified that our OBC will be in Australian currency.  Does it mean our OBC will be in USD?

If the cruise begins or ends in the US, all charges are in USD. If you are on B2B cruises with one sailing out of Australia and one out of the US (or Canada, I assume), Princess converts your onboard statement from one currency to another (in a way that is so convoluted that me, an accountant, and a friend, a high school math teacher could calculate that the end result was correct though we couldn’t see how they got there). 
 

When I last cruised out of Australia, there was an Australian surcharge for credit card usage, separate from any international charge on your credit card. 

[chubbypiggy]

7 minutes ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

If the cruise begins or ends in the US, all charges are in USD. If you are on B2B cruises with one sailing out of Australia and one out of the US (or Canada, I assume), Princess converts your onboard statement from one currency to another (in a way that is so convoluted that me, an accountant, and a friend, a high school math teacher could calculate that the end result was correct though we couldn’t see how they got there). 
 

When I last cruised out of Australia, there was an Australian surcharge for credit card usage, separate from any international charge on your credit card. 

We booked our Transpacific cruise as B2B cruises.  1st cruise is 5 days, Sydney to Auckland; 2nd cruise, 22 days, Auckland to Los Angeles.  1st cruise begins in Australia and ends in New Zealand, but my travel summary for that cruise still states "Credits are in USD".  

[jajsmom]

17 minutes ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

 When I last cruised out of Australia, there was an Australian surcharge for credit card usage, separate from any international charge on your credit card. 

I know that IN Australia there is a credit card surcharge, but Princess charges that too?

[PescadoAmarillo]

3 minutes ago, jajsmom said:

I know that IN Australia there is a credit card surcharge, but Princess charges that too?

No, just that one, plus any international fee. 

[PescadoAmarillo]

11 minutes ago, chubbypiggy said:

We booked our Transpacific cruise as B2B cruises.  1st cruise is 5 days, Sydney to Auckland; 2nd cruise, 22 days, Auckland to Los Angeles.  1st cruise begins in Australia and ends in New Zealand, but my travel summary for that cruise still states "Credits are in USD".  

I think because that cruise is also available as a logical booking which is 27 nights. 

[chubbypiggy]

2 minutes ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

I think because that cruise is also available as a logical booking which is 27 nights. 

Yes, we originally booked as one cruise, 27 nights.  Then, there was a promotion with a much lower price for the 5 nights and 22 nights, so we cancelled and rebooked as 2 B2B cruises.

[Thrak]

I've been looking for drink menus for Australia. I know that on Australian cruises that the first cruise includes drinks up to $16AUD and the second and third cruises include drinks up to $22AUD but have no idea what the pricing is for the drinks. While I'm guessing it will be comparable to what is available on US sailings I don't really know.

 

Does anybody have a link that shows drink prices for Australia/New Zealand cruising?

[capriccio]

2 hours ago, Thrak said:

I've been looking for drink menus for Australia. I know that on Australian cruises that the first cruise includes drinks up to $16AUD and the second and third cruises include drinks up to $22AUD but have no idea what the pricing is for the drinks. While I'm guessing it will be comparable to what is available on US sailings I don't really know.

 

Does anybody have a link that shows drink prices for Australia/New Zealand cruising?

Check out the Australian and New Zealand cruisers board (https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/564-australia-new-zealand-cruisers/).  If it hasn't been addressed recently, post your question there.  That board has lots of helpful cruisers.

[Thrak]

18 hours ago, capriccio said:

Check out the Australian and New Zealand cruisers board (https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/564-australia-new-zealand-cruisers/).  If it hasn't been addressed recently, post your question there.  That board has lots of helpful cruisers.

 

I looked there first and didn't find anything. Figured I would ask here and if nothing came of it I could go back there and ask or lurk more.