Beware future cruise deposits

That has happened to us as Canadians several times. If we buy in CAD$ we can not use them when booking through a US TA and vice versa. However, what they have done for us on at least two occasions is refund the FCD and repurchase another one for us on the same card. This was through my TA and I don't know how she did it.

Sarah

That has happened to us as Canadians several times. If we buy in CAD$ we can not use them when booking through a US TA and vice versa. However, what they have done for us on at least two occasions is refund the FCD and repurchase another one for us on the same card. This was through my TA and I don't know how she did it.

 

Sarah

you can use your canadian fcd to purchase through a US travel agent. however the agent must give you canadian pricing which they are able to do.

on occasion, i have wanted to book in usd and my agent was also able to get my $CAD fcd coverted to USD for the additional exchange rate of the day.

the op wants to use the australian fcd to book in US. it can't, global economy or not, princess won't allow it and its their game, their rules. ask your TA if they can convert your FCD to USD.

I think you are getting a little confused as Royal and X allow you to purchase future cruises whilst onboard, but they automatically assign it to the TA/country that the cruise you are currently on is reserved in, unless you specifically ask for it to be assigned somewhere else and you have to complete a form with the Future Cruise person to get it changed. It is quite possible to book one cruise in a certain currency and another in say US$, but on the paperwork you would clearly have the currency and booking country that goes with each booking.

 

Additionally, if you booked a future cruise in a certain currency onboard, then you could not change that booking to a US TA if it was purchased, for example, in pounds sterling.

Must admit it's a long time since I had any with Royal/X purely because the OBC value simply isn't there nowadays for the lower end cabins I normally book. Lol.

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..this is still going round in circles and missing the point and, yes, the OP does understand the bit about the currency purchased in (not sure whether you mean the currency I purchased the S'pore-S'hampton cruise or the cruise I'm trying to book now though.)

 

As I'm tired of repeating, there is absolutely nothing in the Princes marketing materials, onboard presentations, or the FCD receipt letter itself to indicate that my FCDs can only be used with a cruise booked through an Australian agent or with Princess directly. The onboard FCD consultants normally say that the FCD payment will not be charged to my onboard account but directly to my registered credit card (Amex in my case.) If there is more to it that I should be aware of, then the literature, marketing materials and FCD consultant should make that clear.

 

The FCD amount itself is peanuts and if it needs to be USD to book with a US agent, then bill me for the difference. It's 2018, we have a global economy, Amazon, Ebay and thousands of others do business internationally using credit cards, without a problem....and Princess are happy to risk a multi-thousand dollar sale, plus spoil my relationship with one of their large US agents, for the sake of what is a $25 difference in deposit, which they could bill me for anyway if necessary. Give me a break.....

They do so every day of the week with their policy of regional bookings. That practice is clearly defined anywhere one tries to book directly with Princess. As such I expect Princess is quite happy ruining the booking relationship between an Australian resident and a US TA. Since that would tend to force booking back through the desired local structure.

The biggest issue here is we know that the Princess web sites do contain language in their terms and conditions that state that users must be resident in the country that each particular web site is aimed. For example the US web site explicitly states that the user must be a resident of the US and be older than 18.

We also know that if you call Princess direct to make a booking the address provided must match the area for which the fare and T&C's are being offered.

The practice of requiring the FCC's currency to match the booking region would seem to be in line with this practice. Since on the form you can request the FCC to be issued in any currency, it would be interesting to see if someone from Australia were to request one in USD if they could then use it through a US travel agent.

What we do not know is the nature of the agreements with the TA and the information they provide to Princess. Since in this case your arrangement is with a US TA and not directly with Princess it is bound by whatever arrangement they have with Princess. Which apparently does not include bypassing the currency restriction, even if it does allow bypassing the residency requirement of booking directly with Princess (which one would need to see the agreement or T&C's of the booking engine to know for sure if Princess has agreed to waiving the normal residency restriction or if the TA is just working around it in some fashion).

Because other cruiselines allow you to do precisely that by means of an exchange rate.....NCL, RCCL and Celebrity for instance.

 

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Those cruise lines, as I understand it, also allow you to book directly with a US TA or with them directly under US T&C's even if you are not a resident of the US.

Princess in general does not, along with most of the other CCL owned lines.

Those cruise lines, as I understand it, also allow you to book directly with a US TA or with them directly under US T&C's even if you are not a resident of the US.

 

Princess in general does not, along with most of the other CCL owned lines.

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Yes, I'm glad to have found this thread as I'll be on my first Princess cruise next year and might have been tempted to invest whilst on board if we like the experience. Trouble is I live in the UK, and the cruise is out of an Australian port, so too many potential problems in usage going forward to bother.

 

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As UK residents we often purchase FCDs in £. We then book cruises, using our FCD, through Princess UK or UK TAs with no difficulties. It doesn’t matter where the cruise departs, it will be priced in £.

As UK residents we often purchase FCDs in £. We then book cruises, using our FCD, through Princess UK or UK TAs with no difficulties. It doesn’t matter where the cruise departs, it will be priced in £.

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This seems pretty simple to me. When Princess says "When you have decided on your next cruise, please contact YOUR travel agent to arrange your booking...." they mean the TA through whom the cruise was purchased. In the OP's case, this was an Australian TA. The OP crossed himself up by switching to an agent in a different country. I don't see any deception by Princess.

It was an interesting comparison. The TA I've used a lot gave a minimal OBC and a modest price savings on one of the cruises. The "new" TA gave no OBC and no price savings. Princess beat the price for both of them on 2 out of 3.

No decent TA should have a price higher than Princess. If you are using a TA that charges more than Princess, it is time to find a new TA.

I didn't mean to say that the TA charge MORE. I said the TA gave me no price reduction. This was factoring in the price charged AND the OBC given.

I am not sure that I followed this correctly but just want to say that while onboard Princess ships we have bought FCD in both US and in CDN dollars. At different times. When using a TA or Princess to subsequently book a cruise using these deposits, we had to book the cruise in the same currency as the deposit. We are, as Canadian residents, able to use TA's in the US either over the phone and on line as well. I do not recall seeing the line about online agents only being able to serve US residents. A few years ago, perhaps 4, we received a $ 100. US check from Princess with absolutely no explanation. We had made a deposit on a cruise earlier that fiscal year for a FCD, so assumed they were returning the money to us. Why they did, or why it wasn't returned to our CC remains a mystery, as we were unable to get a straight answer when we telephoned Princess. Nevertheless, our deposit was returned and our next cruise booking only required a deposit of $ 100.

This seems pretty simple to me. When Princess says "When you have decided on your next cruise, please contact YOUR travel agent to arrange your booking...." they mean the TA through whom the cruise was purchased. In the OP's case, this was an Australian TA. The OP crossed himself up by switching to an agent in a different country. I don't see any deception by Princess.

They use that phrasing in order to keep it simple. In reality (at least in the USA) you can:

a) Use it with the TA you booked that cruise with

b) Use it with any other TA

c) Use it booking directly with Princess.