Fun Dollars Question

[98vette]

I noticed in Carnival Blogs cruisers talking about purchasing Fun Dollars. What are the advantages of having Fun Dollars versus charging to your account? Never ordered any in all my cruises on Carnival. Thanks everyone!

[Perfect Stranger]

You get dollar for dollar so there's no monetary advantage to you, only to Carnival.

[98vette]

You get dollar for dollar so there's no monetary advantage to you, only to Carnival.

 

thanks perfect stranger for the insight...I was curious because so many people buy them....

[Carolin]

Basically its just a way to pre-pay your expenses ahead of time.

[parrothead74]

An advantage for the funship dollars is if you are a person who does not like charging their sign and sail, then you can buy funship dollars with every paycheck leading up to the cruise. This way you have prepaid all of your drinks, excursions, photos, etc...

 

There are other ways to save, but I personally like to set the money aside so I am not tempted to spend it on dumb stuff leading up to the cruise.

[robin13]

Since my birthday is a month before we cruise I am telling everyone to get me funship dollars for my gift. I love to know that I already have a credit waiting for me when I get my sign and sail card.

[serene56]

Since I book our cruise so far in advance--it gives me time to save for my onboard spending.

 

I take 25.00 each pay and buy one. have it mailed and i get it the following week. Every other week I get to watch my stack grow. By the time we cruise I have enough for onboard spending, casinos, tips, etc.

 

We do not own a credit card so we cant use one to secure our account.

And I do not want to travel carrying that kind of money around either

[platinum.wannabe]

No monetary advantage, just personal depending on your preference. I like knowing that *everything* has been covered already the minute I step on the ship. Could I do this by putting aside money in my own savings/etc. account? Sure? (in fact, I do have a cash account also for travel/port/etc. spending :)) But, for me, it's just more fun to buy funship dollars and see that little 'nest egg' there under the My Billing tab on carnival.com getting bigger and bigger, waiting on me to come spend it on the ship. :D It's completely worth whatever few dollars Carnival 'gets out of me' in interest.

[Cozzette2]

Do you have to have them sent to you or can you just have it as a credit on you sign and sail ?

I know it would be fun to see them building up but it is one more thing to have to remember to pack :eek:

Kris

[jdcml]

Boy - these threads are starting to look like the smoking and tipping threads where everyone has a very definite opinion!

 

There are pros and cons to funship dollars. We did $150 in dollars a few months back when we reserved the Chef's Table. We know we are going to incur that expense on the cruise so we went ahead and paid for it. Could we set it in a savings account? Sure, we could, and we could earn about .2% on it and likely not earn enough to even see it. The upside is that now we can simply look forward to that meal and not have to even consider paying for it when the time comes on our S&S.

 

Most of our excursions are going to be private vs through CCL. We might put a little more on the account to cover some DOD's or pictures but not too much, most of it will be in cash when we get onboard (and in our safe). If you end up buying more of the dollars than you use you get a check back under your door on the last night of your cruise. It isn't like it is use or loose, the money is still yours. Keep in mind though that you can't use funship dollars in port for shopping etc, it is only ship related things like photos, steak house, anything that you can put on your sign and sail card.

 

Some people are great with setting up savings and not touching it - some people end up using it to pay for friday night pizza instead! Lets face it, if everyone was great with setting aside savings and not touching it we wouldn't be in the debit crisis we are in as a country ;).

 

You don't "make money" with any sort of a discounted purchase price, but there really isn't any money to make by sticking it in a savings account either. In fact, you may run into a bigger issue when you end up leaving a few hundred on the credit card you use for your S&S and don't pay it off for a few months at 18-29% interest!

 

You can call Bon Voyage and buy them in increments of $25. You can have them mailed to you or simply applied to your account. If you have them applied to your account it can take a few weeks to actually see them online, up to a few weeks before you sail. If you have them mailed you can bring them with you when you board and "cash them in." You apparently can do it online but there have been mixed reports on the reliability of that system.

[platinum.wannabe]

Do you have to have them sent to you or can you just have it as a credit on you sign and sail ?

I know it would be fun to see them building up but it is one more thing to have to remember to pack :eek:

Kris

I have them credited directly to my account. Instead of entering my address on the online order form I put On Board Credit followed by my booking #. In a few days it shows up under the My Billing tab as Booking Charge/Credit and in my e-docs as On Board Credit. :D

[luv2beachkansascity]

Where do you find the "My Billing" tab on carnival? I am not seeing it under my profile as of yet and we have done some on board credits.

[platinum.wannabe]

Under Manage my Cruise you access your booking. Once you do that you have tabs for your Itinerary, Activities, Guests & Billing. I booked online, though - you may not have the billing tab if you booked through a TA? If not, you can choose View Cruise Documents and on the second page you'll see your On Board Credit. :) Hope that helps!

[Dallas Bengal]

I don't sail until April 2012. I used the online option here is the website link

http://www.carnival.com/BonVoyage/AddToCart.aspx?cat=giftcertificates&pid=FSD

If you want it applied to your SS card then where it asks for your address just put in "On Board Credit" and then your Booking number.

I tried this last week and it was applied to my account within 48 hours..and like I said I dont sail until April. This will be easier for me and I wont have the worry about how much we ( My lovely wife and I ) use our SS cards. I may even get a small check delivered to me at the end of the cruise..Just another option that Carnival gives.

[dwayneb236]

I love buying funship dollars. Great to know that the money is waiting for there when I board, and I don't have to worry about paying it off afterwards. There are several people on these boards who are adament about people being pretty much stupid for buying them, which is perplexing to me, as I don't see what it matters to them. But man they are all over people for buying them. Saying if they can't use credit cards then they need to worry about other issues like getting their credit in order. Lots of assumptions from these people. And very wrong in my respect. I say buy as many as you want and feel secure in knowing they are there, they are paid for, and you owe nothing afterwards. Who cares about the 76 cents in interest you are losing out on by giving Carnival your money early. Not gonna break the bank in my life.

 

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

[flasaltwater]

Since I book our cruise so far in advance--it gives me time to save for my onboard spending.

 

I take 25.00 each pay and buy one. have it mailed and i get it the following week. Every other week I get to watch my stack grow. By the time we cruise I have enough for onboard spending, casinos, tips, etc.

 

We do not own a credit card so we cant use one to secure our account.

And I do not want to travel carrying that kind of money around either

 

 

So can I basically pay for everything including tips with the Fun dollars

[rxralph]

Boy - these threads are starting to look like the smoking and tipping threads where everyone has a very definite opinion!

 

There are pros and cons to funship dollars. We did $150 in dollars a few months back when we reserved the Chef's Table. We know we are going to incur that expense on the cruise so we went ahead and paid for it. Could we set it in a savings account? Sure, we could, and we could earn about .2% on it and likely not earn enough to even see it. The upside is that now we can simply look forward to that meal and not have to even consider paying for it when the time comes on our S&S.

 

Most of our excursions are going to be private vs through CCL. We might put a little more on the account to cover some DOD's or pictures but not too much, most of it will be in cash when we get onboard (and in our safe). If you end up buying more of the dollars than you use you get a check back under your door on the last night of your cruise. It isn't like it is use or loose, the money is still yours. Keep in mind though that you can't use funship dollars in port for shopping etc, it is only ship related things like photos, steak house, anything that you can put on your sign and sail card.

 

Some people are great with setting up savings and not touching it - some people end up using it to pay for friday night pizza instead! Lets face it, if everyone was great with setting aside savings and not touching it we wouldn't be in the debit crisis we are in as a country ;).

 

You don't "make money" with any sort of a discounted purchase price, but there really isn't any money to make by sticking it in a savings account either. In fact, you may run into a bigger issue when you end up leaving a few hundred on the credit card you use for your S&S and don't pay it off for a few months at 18-29% interest!

 

You can call Bon Voyage and buy them in increments of $25. You can have them mailed to you or simply applied to your account. If you have them applied to your account it can take a few weeks to actually see them online, up to a few weeks before you sail. If you have them mailed you can bring them with you when you board and "cash them in." You apparently can do it online but there have been mixed reports on the reliability of that system.

 

 

I understand and have no problems with your saving philosophy. I don't understand why we use the "funpass" as an intermediary? Why can we not send the money by check or credit card (what ever is used to buy "funpasses"), direct to Carnival and ask they credit to your S&S card. What in the process am I Missing?

 

ralph

[platinum.wannabe]

You can do that too. You just have to call Carnival directly and have them add $XX to your account. I just like to do it online, so you have to 'buy funship dollars'. Same, same, same really. The difference would come in if you actually had them mail you the paper funship dollars...

[serene56]

So can I basically pay for everything including tips with the Fun dollars

 

 

you give the funship dollars to the pursers desk which they apply to your account. Yes, they can be used shipwide for everything--including tips, casino spending, excursions, etc.

[flasaltwater]

you give the funship dollars to the pursers desk which they apply to your account. Yes, they can be used shipwide for everything--including tips, casino spending, excursions, etc.

 

Sweet!!!

 

Thanks

[camper49]

you give the funship dollars to the pursers desk which they apply to your account. Yes, they can be used shipwide for everything--including tips, casino spending, excursions, etc.

No problems using them at the pursers desk??? I was curious as to what happens if you have them applied as obc and had to cancel your cruise..would they come back to you as a refund???

[serene56]

No problems using them at the pursers desk??? I was curious as to what happens if you have them applied as obc and had to cancel your cruise..would they come back to you as a refund???

 

yes they would credit your card