"Crew Appreciation" charge on Australia & NZ cruises?

[cruisevac4]

After reading @skents post I'm very glad that I asked had the Crew Appreciation charges removed.

[AE_Collector]

We’re going to Australia from North America for our second time to board at Sydney at the end of the month. This cruise goes to Tokyo and like cruises within Australia, onboard it is operating in $AUS. Then we stay onboard heading for Alaska and finally to Vancouver. This cruise will operate in $US.

 

We pay for the cruises in $CAD at 1.35 times the US price so effectively are paying in $US. The 1-1 conversion of all of our $US OBC to $AUD annoys me as well. Other cruise lines don’t do this. I’ve never cancelled CA in over 50 cruises so far but have been considering it just on the first cruise from Sydney. Of course I’m also ticked at the increase in price for internet onboard without any notice from Princess that we had a 7-10 day grace period to pre-purchase it. I found out on here two days after the window to pre-pay ended.

 

So, not sure what I will do this time….

[Thrak]

1 hour ago, AE_Collector said:

The 1-1 conversion of all of our $US OBC to $AUD annoys me as well.

 

Going the other way is quite profitable. The AUD is converted 1:1 to USD so, where US folks lose maybe a third of the OBC, those from down under gain that amount. Their $250 AUD becomes $250 USD.  Gotta love the way CCL handles this. They do, however, spell it out very plainly in the heading of the OBC doc so there is no reason to be surprised or upset. You accept the terms when you book.

 

[AE_Collector]

Yes because of constantly changing exchange rates they have attempted to pick easy round numbers that reflect average exchange rates in some cases but they are currently quite far out of line. Typically the Canadian and Australian dollars aren’t too far apart and both on occasion have been worth as much as the US$. But the vast majority of time the $AUS is worth significantly less than the $US but each are set at the same amount, $250 for shareholder OBC on this cruise. Presumably average Australian cruise prices are higher than US prices as supposedly gratuities are rolled into their price. So for certain Australians get less bang for their buck with Princess if they max out their OBC possibilities. 

Edited March 2 by AE_Collector
Typo & clarification

[Torfamm]

11 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Going the other way is quite profitable. The AUD is converted 1:1 to USD so, where US folks lose maybe a third of the OBC, those from down under gain that amount. Their $250 AUD becomes $250 USD.  Gotta love the way CCL handles this. They do, however, spell it out very plainly in the heading of the OBC doc so there is no reason to be surprised or upset. You accept the terms when you book.

 

That document looks like it is for shareholder credit that is given in AUD, not converted.  That is clear and fair but not true for all OBC.

 

What isn’t made clear ahead of time is that if you purchase OBC or shore excursions with US dollar gift cards, they are exchanged 1:1 for AUD.

 

Some OBC is exchanged at a reasonable rate. For example, the 200 USD OBC due to those on casino cruises was exchanged to about 300 AUD in the fall.

[Thrak]

8 minutes ago, Torfamm said:

What isn’t made clear ahead of time is that if you purchase OBC or shore excursions with US dollar gift cards, they are exchanged 1:1 for AUD.

 

I don't think this at all the case. It would be patently illegal to accept $100 USD in payment but only count it as $100 AUD rather than (the current rate) $153 AUD.

[Torfamm]

17 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

I don't think this at all the case. It would be patently illegal to accept $100 USD in payment but only count it as $100 AUD rather than (the current rate) $153 AUD.

I’m telling the truth.  I luckily caught it and cancelled the excursions and OBC then rebooked the excursions with a credit card at an exchange rate I was willing to accept.

 

Companies can offer whatever exchange rate they like as far as I know. It’s up to the customer to choose to exchange with them. While I don’t expect great exchange rates at the airport, hotel front desks or from a cruise line, this was unacceptable to me.

Edited March 2 by Torfamm