Shipboard credits

[raf411]

I've seen this subject on other cruise line boards but not on Oceania's, so, thought I start a thread on it:

 

Has anyone purchased Oceania shipboard credits prior to sailing? We're considering doing that for our 20-day 12/21/07 Insignia cruise "around the horn".

 

Because we "like our drink!" and the spa, etc, it's highly unlikely we'd not use it all, however, if we don't, does anyone know if they will refund the remainder?

 

We're interested in hearing any experiences you may have had with this.

 

Thx.

Ruth

[hondorner]

Oceania is "cashless" cruising. Whether you pay for it in advance or charge it to your credit card (or use cash) at the end, everything on board is charged to your Oceania World Card, which is also your ID card when you disembark and embark and your door key card. I suppose you could buy "credits" ahead of time, but unless you don't have a valid credit card, I don't see the point. There are no discounts...

[LHT28]

We usually just pay cash on account part way through the cruise then the night before disembarkation.

 

If you are trying to pre pay some of the expenses ahead of time just put some OBC on your account enough to cover what you think you may need.

I am sure if you have an credit at the end they will give it back to you or credit your credit card.

Get your TA to ask Oceania then there are no surprises.

[raf411]

Oceania is "cashless" cruising. Whether you pay for it in advance or charge it to your credit card (or use cash) at the end, everything on board is charged to your Oceania World Card, which is also your ID card when you disembark and embark and your door key card. I suppose you could buy "credits" ahead of time, but unless you don't have a valid credit card, I don't see the point. There are no discounts...

 

Thanks for all the great info. You guys have certainly done a lot of cruising and are a valuable source of information! This will be just our 3rd cruise.

 

We're thinking in terms of minimizing the shock of seeing the final bill! And, also in terms of avoiding at least part of the international surcharge added by credit card companies. On our 15 day river cruise in the spring, we had a $1600 charge at the end and there was a 3% credit card charge on top of that. Being as we expect our onboard charges to be in the $2000 range (we like our drinks and the spa and I'm sure there will be some other items), we could save $60.

 

Because of the timing of our credit card close-out, it will also allow us to spread the payments for the trip over a couple of months.

 

Ruth

[LHT28]

Thanks for all the great info. You guys have certainly done a lot of cruising and are a valuable source of information! This will be just our 3rd cruise.

 

We're thinking in terms of minimizing the shock of seeing the final bill! And, also in terms of avoiding at least part of the international surcharge added by credit card companies.

 

Ruth

Your shipboard account will be charged in USD.

 

Check the thread on foreign fees and some CC with Oceania

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=635113

[lcand1923]

I, too, like to spread out my credit card payments prior to a cruise.

 

I will pay more than I owe to the credit card company for one or two bills prior to a cruise. (My credit cards will issue a check if I have a positive balance after 90 days.) When the ship board bill "hits" I have a little cushion. I know it sounds silly to let the credit card company have the use of the money, but it removes the shock a bit.

[raf411]

Your shipboard account will be charged in USD.

 

Check the thread on foreign fees and some CC with Oceania

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=635113

 

Thanks LHT28.

 

My fear is that the credit card company will charge the 3% just for handling the out of country charge. It would be good to know in advance if that will happen. Have you traveled on Oceania recently?

 

Thx.

Ruth

[Jancruz]

Get an amex credit card...for your expenses on board, they do not charge 3%

Jan

*****

[LHT28]

Thanks LHT28.

 

My fear is that the credit card company will charge the 3% just for handling the out of country charge. It would be good to know in advance if that will happen. Have you traveled on Oceania recently?

 

Thx.

Ruth

Came back in Feb .

We have booked 3 cruises since March and not extra fees other than the exchange rate from USD to CAD...too bad I didn't wait till this month!!;)

 

It seems to be a problem with US credit cards I have not heard of Canadians having the same problem

[A Knitter]

Get an amex credit card...for your expenses on board, they do not charge 3%

Jan

*****

 

Jan I have never been charged any percentage for using a credit card to card onboard charges on Oceania or any other cruise line. I had planned to use a credit card that is a M/C rewards card for my onboard expenses. Are you saying that there will be a fee and to use American Express?

[CJcruzer]

Canadian here also, and I did not have a 3% credit card charge on my bill - it was charged at 7% (which was the current rate of exchange on US/Canadian) so there was no "built-in" charge to the rate used either!!!

 

I did pay some of my onbaord account with some of the foreign currency I had left (British pounds from pre-cruise, and some US that I had extra at the end of the trip)....

 

CJcruzer

[LHT28]

J Are you saying that there will be a fee and to use American Express?

 

I believe she said they do NOT charge a fee.

[A Knitter]

Again, I have never experienced this before. I just spoke to Oceania who confirmed the onboard expenses are in US dollars, so any credit card you prefer should not incur foreign fees. I will certainly report when I return mid November. Maria

[Rickey 88]

Again, I have never experienced this before. I just spoke to Oceania who confirmed the onboard expenses are in US dollars, so any credit card you prefer should not incur foreign fees. I will certainly report when I return mid November. Maria

 

Please do read the previous posts regarding foreign fees! "Any" credit card you prefer should not incur foreign fees is not true!

 

If you read back, you will find that a vast majority of banks do not charge "foreign" exchange fees on Oceania transactions EXCEPT for those banks of the Chase/JP Morgan group of banks. The charge they make is not a foreign currency conversion, but is levied by them as they consider Oceania to be a "Foreign" merchant, even though they are in Miami, Florida and credit card payments are entered there in US dollars....

[A Knitter]

Please do read the previous posts regarding foreign fees! "Any" credit card you prefer should not incur foreign fees is not true!

 

If you read back, you will find that a vast majority of banks do not charge "foreign" exchange fees on Oceania transactions EXCEPT for those banks of the Chase/JP Morgan group of banks. The charge they make is not a foreign currency conversion, but is levied by them as they consider Oceania to be a "Foreign" merchant, even though they are in Miami, Florida and credit card payments are entered there in US dollars....

Thanks, your response saved me searching for those threads. As you know you have to read through many to get to the meat of the subject. I am on this board much to much as it is. I know now what I need to use. Thank you for your efforts.

[scdreamer]

Our card of choice is an AlaskaAirRewards Visa that Bank of America provides. They DO charge a 3% transaction fee on all foreign transactions, of which Oceania's Irish bank is included.

 

I specifically called B of A to check on this before we used the card on our Oceania booking, as we used the card in Europe a couple years ago, only to come home to discover the unexpected extra charges on our statement.

 

We used our Capital One instead to book our cruise with Oceania.

[A Knitter]

Our card of choice is an AlaskaAirRewards Visa that Bank of America provides. They DO charge a 3% transaction fee on all foreign transactions, of which Oceania's Irish bank is included.

 

I specifically called B of A to check on this before we used the card on our Oceania booking, as we used the card in Europe a couple years ago, only to come home to discover the unexpected extra charges on our statement.

 

We used our Capital One instead to book our cruise with Oceania.

I plan on using Capital One for everything but the onboard expenses. That was one of the concerns. I checked my previous Oceania statement which I saved just to show how much I spent (that was a mistake) and I was not charged 3% just for onboard.

[raf411]

We used our Continental Airlines Visa (JP Morgan/Chase) to pay for our cruise. There was NO add-on. Hopefully that means there won't be add-on for the shipboard account.

Ruth

[A Knitter]

We used our Continental Airlines Visa (JP Morgan/Chase) to pay for our cruise. There was NO add-on. Hopefully that means there won't be add-on for the shipboard account.

Ruth

 

I used my United Card with Chase for both the deposit and final and nada. Unexplainable that some get charged and others don't. Thanks for the input. Maria

[serendipity1499]

Get an amex credit card...for your expenses on board, they do not charge 3%

Jan

*****

 

If I had known that the Amex blue card had a no annual fee, we probably would have applied for one, instead of applying for our CapitalOne Cards....Looks like Amex gives a much higher rebate at the end of the year than our Chase card does, or am I reading it wrong?

 

Not all Chase/JP Morgan cards are the same..Our regular Chase Credit Card charges the 3% foreign converstion fee, but did not charge it when we paid for our cruise on Oceania..We were billed in USD only! The Oceania Outside Sales REP told our TA that only a couple of cards do charge it..Oceania said if we were charged it they would rebate it back to us..

 

In the meantime we applied for a CapitalOne Credit Card which does not charge a "foreign conversion fee" either...They give a 1% rebate on all purchases...You can use the rebate to either reduce your Credit Card bill or other rewards...

 

We plan on using our CapitalOne Cards for purchases out of the country..

 

:) Betty

[hondorner]

If I had known that the Amex blue card had a no annual fee, we probably would have applied for one, instead of applying for our CapitalOne Cards....

I have the blue card, issued by Bank of American under license from AmEx. No annual fee, no requirement to pay it off every 30 days (although we do). I don't know about their interest rates because I've never used them. AND not foreign transaction fee, stated in writing in their contract (however, they do charge a currency conversion fee, as does almost everyone). The only limitation is that many merchants do not accept AmEx because of their high merchant fees (when I had my business, I did not accept AmEx). For that reason, we maintain a couple of other cards "just in case" and make enough purchases on them to keep them interested in us and bumping the creidt limits up. For almost all everyday purposes, I use a Visa Check Card (debit card) -- no bills at the end of the month.

[lilybug]

I would be wary of counting on shipboard charges being in USD. Our deposit from "O" out of Miami was charged from Ireland and we incurred the 3% int'l fee.

[DaveFr]

I would be wary of counting on shipboard charges being in USD. Our deposit from "O" out of Miami was charged from Ireland and we incurred the 3% int'l fee.

lilybug,

 

Oceania does charge in USD. The problem is the Juniper Bank Mastercard, which we also have. Unlike most credit cards which have a foreign currency transaction fee, the Juniper Bank Mastercard has what they call a foreign country fee. Any foreign transaction, regardless of the currency used, is accessed a 3% fee. Although Oceania bills in USD, they use a bank in Ireland to process their credit card charges. Juniper considers Oceania charges to be from Ireland even though Oceania is in Miami and the charge is in USD. It's a ridiculous interpretation but Juniper refuses to change. In fact, they added the "regardless of currency used" language since March, when I first became aware of their practices. In March, it could be argued that the Foreign Country fee didn't apply to transactions in USD. Juniper added the above language to remove any ambiguity.

 

The only solution is to use another card for Oceania transactions. Hope this helps.

[hondorner]

Lwt me add to Dave's excellent explanation. It is not just Oceania. With such cards, you will be charged the foreign country transaction fee in every case where any transaction goes through a foreign bank, whether in US Dollars or not. In cases where the transaction is in some other currency, you will be charged BOTH the foreign currency fee AND the foreign bank fee. The card I use, and those described by others in this thread, does NOT charge the foreign bank fee.

[DaveFr]

Lwt me add to Dave's excellent explanation. It is not just Oceania. With such cards, you will be charged the foreign country transaction fee in every case where any transaction goes through a foreign bank, whether in US Dollars or not. In cases where the transaction is in some other currency, you will be charged BOTH the foreign currency fee AND the foreign bank fee. The card I use, and those described by others in this thread, does NOT charge the foreign bank fee.

Don & Betsy,

 

If by "foreign currency fee," you mean the extra 2% or 3% fee most banks add to a transaction in a foreign currency after converting the foreign currency to USD, then Juniper Bank doesn't charge a foreign currency fee in addition to a foreign bank fee. Last year, I had a purchase from a company in Australia for 40 AUD. The conversion came out to 30 USD and a 60 cent foreign country fee was charged. (At the time, the foreign country fee was 2%.) If both fees had been assessed, the total fee would have been $1.20.