Currency exchange on charges with Princess at end of cruise

[PapaGoose]

A year ago I started a topic asking about purchasing OBC credits on NCL because the exchange rate was locked in at a low rate at the time we booked the cruise. We ended up purchasing a good chunk of OBC at 26.5 cents on the dollar and at the end of the cruise NCL handed us a little over $500 in unused refundable OBC in the form of US cash. 
 

This year we are sailing with Princess on a South America cruise in February and I have a different money question for my fellow Canucks. We will be taking that $500 US cash for this trip to use on private excursions and meals at ports. 
 

Our rate of exchange is again locked in for pre cruise purchases, excursions, etc for this Princess cruise. The rate this time is 35 cents on the dollar. We already have a nice amount of OBC courtesy of a promotion with our TA. We are not purchasing one of Princess’s value packages as we won’t drink enough on this port intensive cruise to justify $60 US per person per day. I know that $60 includes gratuities and wifi but we won’t drink $29 per person per day in specialty coffee and alcohol. We are contemplating using some of our OBC to pay for either/or the daily gratuities and a single device wifi package since the OBC is non refundable. Unfortunately my research tells me that Princess doesn’t pay out excess refundable OBC in cash at the end of the cruise like NCL did last year. Princess will mail a check (cheque) in US denomination about 6 weeks after disembarking so we likely aren’t going to buy refundable OBC like last time even though it is offered at 35 cents exchange.
 

Can anyone share their experience with Princess lately in regard to billing of charges at the end of the cruise and the exchange you experienced? Has it been a higher rate than the locked in exchange rate pre cruise? Also how were extra fees if your Canadian CC was charged for the US bill from Princess. 
 

Thanks for any advice you all may have for me!

[CDNPolar]

I cannot comment on anything other than if you are using a Canadian Credit Card and paying your onboard bill with Princess at the point of disembarkation, then the exchange rate that you will pay is your credit card's bank rate either the day of the charge, or the day that the charge processes onto your CC statement.  It would then be up to you to know if your Canadian CC charges you a fee for "foreign transactions" which would be in addition to the exhcange rate.  Some CC's do and some don't.

 

This is my understanding and how my CC works, so if I am misleading in any way, I apologize.  But, we see any foreign charge as being calculated at the rate of our Canadian bank the day that it is charged and would have nothing to do with what arbitrary rate a company like Princess would have for exchange.

 

Also, as a note, when you are paying anywhere in the world and the CC machine asks if you want to be charged in local currency (Euros, USD, Rand, etc.) over CAD we always choose the currency of the country, because then again our bank is going to apply the bank exchange rate of the day.  If you choose to be charged in CAD at point of sale, some conversion is happening in the bank of that country or the store itself, and guaranteed it will be to their advantage.

[PapaGoose]

11 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

I cannot comment on anything other than if you are using a Canadian Credit Card and paying your onboard bill with Princess at the point of disembarkation, then the exchange rate that you will pay is your credit card's bank rate either the day of the charge, or the day that the charge processes onto your CC statement.  It would then be up to you to know if your Canadian CC charges you a fee for "foreign transactions" which would be in addition to the exhcange rate.  Some CC's do and some don't.

 

This is my understanding and how my CC works, so if I am misleading in any way, I apologize.  But, we see any foreign charge as being calculated at the rate of our Canadian bank the day that it is charged and would have nothing to do with what arbitrary rate a company like Princess would have for exchange.

 

Also, as a note, when you are paying anywhere in the world and the CC machine asks if you want to be charged in local currency (Euros, USD, Rand, etc.) over CAD we always choose the currency of the country, because then again our bank is going to apply the bank exchange rate of the day.  If you choose to be charged in CAD at point of sale, some conversion is happening in the bank of that country or the store itself, and guaranteed it will be to their advantage.

Thanks for the input! Good points CDNPolar, especially regarding exchange rates charged by the CC companies. 

 

Our thought is that we might be better off prepaying either the gratuities or the wifi with our CC before we head south. All the prices on our cruise planner on the Princess app are in Canadian funds with the exception of the Excursions. The CAD to USD exchange rate for these pre cruise purchase prices on the Princess app is locked in at 35 cents on the dollar. A little better than current cash exchange rates at most of our Canadian financial institutions. 
 

If we can budget accurately with our non refundable OBC and use it to pay for all our onboard costs we might not incur any post cruise charges on our CC.

Hope springs eternal?

 

[Fouremco]

We've not sailed on Princess previously, so we don't know exactly how they operate, but can you purchase OBC at that locked in exchange rate? Unless you think that the Loonie is all of a sudden gain strength, you could purchase enough OBC to cover all of your possible expenses, and a bit more just to be sure. At the end of the cruise, your OBC covers everything, and if there is a surplus, just have it refunded to you in cash in USD. OBC that you purchase is always refundable.

 

We have a family cruise coming up in just over a week, and I did just that, last year buying far more OBC than we will need an exchange rate of $1.30. I'll happily pocket the surplus USD at the end of the cruise and tuck it away for future travel.

[Heidi13]

On 1/15/2024 at 7:21 PM, PapaGoose said:

A year ago I started a topic asking about purchasing OBC credits on NCL because the exchange rate was locked in at a low rate at the time we booked the cruise. We ended up purchasing a good chunk of OBC at 26.5 cents on the dollar and at the end of the cruise NCL handed us a little over $500 in unused refundable OBC in the form of US cash. 
 

This year we are sailing with Princess on a South America cruise in February and I have a different money question for my fellow Canucks. We will be taking that $500 US cash for this trip to use on private excursions and meals at ports. 
 

Our rate of exchange is again locked in for pre cruise purchases, excursions, etc for this Princess cruise. The rate this time is 35 cents on the dollar. We already have a nice amount of OBC courtesy of a promotion with our TA. We are not purchasing one of Princess’s value packages as we won’t drink enough on this port intensive cruise to justify $60 US per person per day. I know that $60 includes gratuities and wifi but we won’t drink $29 per person per day in specialty coffee and alcohol. We are contemplating using some of our OBC to pay for either/or the daily gratuities and a single device wifi package since the OBC is non refundable. Unfortunately my research tells me that Princess doesn’t pay out excess refundable OBC in cash at the end of the cruise like NCL did last year. Princess will mail a check (cheque) in US denomination about 6 weeks after disembarking so we likely aren’t going to buy refundable OBC like last time even though it is offered at 35 cents exchange.
 

Can anyone share their experience with Princess lately in regard to billing of charges at the end of the cruise and the exchange you experienced? Has it been a higher rate than the locked in exchange rate pre cruise? Also how were extra fees if your Canadian CC was charged for the US bill from Princess. 
 

Thanks for any advice you all may have for me!

 

A number of years ago Princess automatically converted all end of cruise bills to the pax credit card's currency, charging a significant fee. They got significant complaints, so our last few cruises with them, you were are asked if you want the charges converted to your currency (for your convenience), or billed in US $. The time they converted our bill to CAN$, the exchange rate was no better than our bank, but they charged a broker exchange fee.

 

I always elect US $ and the bank converts it at the daily rate it is posted. My credit card has no Fx fees, but with low dollar amounts the exchange rate is 4 or 5 cent worse than the official exchange rate.

[PapaGoose]

11 hours ago, Fouremco said:

We've not sailed on Princess previously, so we don't know exactly how they operate, but can you purchase OBC at that locked in exchange rate? Unless you think that the Loonie is all of a sudden gain strength, you could purchase enough OBC to cover all of your possible expenses, and a bit more just to be sure. At the end of the cruise, your OBC covers everything, and if there is a surplus, just have it refunded to you in cash in USD. OBC that you purchase is always refundable.

 

We have a family cruise coming up in just over a week, and I did just that, last year buying far more OBC than we will need an exchange rate of $1.30. I'll happily pocket the surplus USD at the end of the cruise and tuck it away for future travel.

Last year Fouremco, you were part of the group that gave me advice on the OBC conundrum for our NCL Panama Canal cruise. We ended up purchasing $1,000 US OBC before the cruise at the locked in rate of $1.265. We were able to withdraw $250 of it during the cruise by appealing to the financial rep at guest services. Her hours at the desk were short and spaced all over the clock. It took 2 or 3 attempts to meet with her and I eventually explained to the rep that we had spent more of our own cash than we had planned at a few ports 😜 and lo and behold she gave us a thumbs up and we signed for $250 of our own OBC cash during the middle of the cruise. She emphasized that this was not the normal procedure. 
 

We were informed that we would receive any unused refundable OBC, in the form US cash, on the last night of the cruise. There was actually a lineup as we claimed $500 or so of our unspent OBC funds. Most of that US cash will now be going to Buenos Aires with us in February for our excursions and small purchases. 
 

We can purchase up to $1,000 US OBC at the locked in exchange rate of $1.35 for this upcoming cruise but unfortunately it seems Princess will only pay back any unspent refundable OBC by cheque. That cheque will be mailed to us 4-6 weeks after disembarking. I assume it will be in US funds since the onboard account is in US funds and I have the feeling we will get dinged for a percentage when it is changed to Canadian funds by our bank. The exchange rate to flip back to Canadian funds is always a little higher and there will probably be fees. Unfortunately we do not have a US account at this time.