O.b.c

[lollyed]

Should you buy obc before you go,or just pay at end of cruise ?If you order it now is your card charged now or at end of cruise ...thankyou..

[Tak8]

I've never bought obc before, so I don't know if you are charged. My guess is yes, because it is a credit you have. That for me determines the answer to your question. Why give Princess your money ahead of the cruise. I understand if you get obc from your travel agent or someone else, but otherwise I don't see the value.

[Nan_Sea]

I would expect it is like anything else you charge and it would be on your bill immediately. I personally don't see the point.

[ntvsdgrl]

For me, it allows me to pay off parts of my trip before I go. It also helps me for budgeting, but that's just me.

[paul929207]

For me, it allows me to pay off parts of my trip before I go. It also helps me for budgeting, but that's just me.

It is a great way to avoid the shock at the end of the cruise when the bill is presented.

[1025cruise]

When I went on my last cruise, rather than just my deposit and final payment, I directed my TA to run a portion to my credit card monthly, so it wouldn't be one big hit. After final payment, taking into consideration what excursions I had booked (we were going to Alaska), plus the onboard charge, as well as expected SPA usage, I directed her to run a couple more hits so I would have some OBC to credit me. This way, there wasn't a massive hit at the end of the cruise (or not as bad as it would have been).

 

Basically, do you want to pay it now, or pay it later?

[AKman2495]

Of course, you can do what we did-buy a bunch of OBC's and then still had a bill at the end:D

 

Of course, thanks to the OBCs, the bill was not as bad as it could have been;)

[Rinderoo]

I like to pre-pay as much as I can and generally will have enough OBC to cover gratuities and excursions (if any.) That just leaves onboard purchases and internet, which is still a couple hundred.

 

Usually we're usually cruising right before a quarterly tax payment is coming up, not having the credit card bill the same time as the IRS payment just feels better to us.

 

Basically its a cashflow situation and everyone is going to have a different answer.

[dfields1814]

If you use the Princess Credit Card to pay for the OBC and the OBC is large enough, you may get another OBC from the credit card rewards program. But I would not do this unless I can pay off the credit immediately avoiding interest.

[Pia1913]

Should you buy obc before you go,or just pay at end of cruise ?If you order it now is your card charged now or at end of cruise ...thankyou..

 

Your card is charged the day you order it, whether it be for OBC, casino cash, booze stuff, etc.

[Colo Cruiser]

We don't buy it ahead of time either.

[Pia1913]

We don't buy it ahead of time either.

 

Don't need to add to our OBC. We get enough. But we do send casino cash.

[Feebarn]

Because you are from the UK... yes it is better to buy yourself onboard credit before you go. You will get a better exchange rate currently than what you would get charging it to your switch or credit card. Its not a massive huge saving.... think we saved a 8c on the pound... or something like that. I posted about it somewhere else. I'll try and find that thread. :)

 

Here it is.....http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1799498

 

Apparantly I saved £16 on $500 (£325)

[lets_go]

I wouldn't give Princess any of my money earlier then needed. In regards on saving on the exchange rate, you never know if the exchange rate goes up or down. You can benefit or you can loose changing your money now. I would pay at the end. I always choose the option to get charged in US $ rather then the Princess exchange rate!!!!!! On the last evening, check your onboard account to make sure that the 'pay in US $ box' is tick. Strange but sometimes this box is getting untick. :p

[ftthomas]

After my last cruise I think I will be buying some OBC so the bill shock and CC shock is not so bad!

[Feebarn]

I wouldn't give Princess any of my money earlier then needed. In regards on saving on the exchange rate, you never know if the exchange rate goes up or down. You can benefit or you can loose changing your money now. I would pay at the end. I always choose the option to get charged in US $ rather then the Princess exchange rate!!!!!! On the last evening, check your onboard account to make sure that the 'pay in US $ box' is tick. Strange but sometimes this box is getting untick. :p

 

In normal circumstances this could be true, however the exchange rate that Princess uses is fixed and the rate your credit card charges changes by the hour dependent on markets. Since the turn of the year the dollar has been strong against the pound. This means we are currently getting less for our pound. The princess rate is at a more favourable rate than the current market rate and is likely to stay that way for a while. I think it is $1.60 to the £1 versus a market rate of $1.52 to the £1 (don't quote me on those rates)

[lets_go]

I believe that it is not correct that Princess make up their own exchange rates. May be sometimes you loose and sometimes Princess wins.

[caribill]

I believe that it is not correct that Princess make up their own exchange rates. May be sometimes you loose and sometimes Princess wins.

 

They may not make it up, but the exchange rate is always worse than you can do on your own. On this, Princess always wins.

 

Besides the poor exchange rate, there is also a 3% Princess service charge for the convenience of doing the conversion for you.

[dorisis]

It is a great way to avoid the shock at the end of the cruise when the bill is presented.

 

You can avoid that shock if you check your statement frequently at the front desk.

 

~Doris~

[Feebarn]

They may not make it up, but the exchange rate is always worse than you can do on your own. On this, Princess always wins.

 

Besides the poor exchange rate, there is also a 3% Princess service charge for the convenience of doing the conversion for you.

 

I do not believe this is correct. We have twice now gotten a better deal "buying" onboard credit than charging to a credit card. :)

 

Whilst it does not work in the favour of Americans, it does work in favour of those in the UK currently because the dollar is stronger than the pound. It wouldn't necessarily always be that case. One should do their research carefully. It worked for us because we are travelling soon and there is no signs indicating there would be a huge change before May. If the OP was travelling far into the future, I would suggest hanging fire until nearer the time.

 

I just rechecked the "deal" I got - we bought $500 of obc from Princess at a cost of £325. The best travel money rate I can find (Marks & Spencers) which incidentally is usually better than what I could get with my credit card will give me $479 for £325. I'm $21 up. There are no additional service charges to my card - I paid £325.

[RaeBay]

Ok this may sound stupid but if you elect to have your onboard account charged in your home currency and you ring princess in your home country wouldn't the OBC be charged at home currency rate? In my circumstance AUD which is very strong at moment so for us we are winning anyway. AUD has doubled its value compared to US$ compared to 10 years ago.

[lets_go]

I do not believe this is correct. We have twice now gotten a better deal "buying" onboard credit than charging to a credit card. :)

 

Whilst it does not work in the favour of Americans, it does work in favour of those in the UK currently because the dollar is stronger than the pound. It wouldn't necessarily always be that case. One should do their research carefully. It worked for us because we are travelling soon and there is no signs indicating there would be a huge change before May. If the OP was travelling far into the future, I would suggest hanging fire until nearer the time.

 

I just rechecked the "deal" I got - we bought $500 of obc from Princess at a cost of £325. The best travel money rate I can find (Marks & Spencers) which incidentally is usually better than what I could get with my credit card will give me $479 for £325. I'm $21 up. There are no additional service charges to my card - I paid £325.

 

I have never heard about a bank ( Marks & Spencers) I thought it is shop in London. If you want to check official exchange rates, to compare apples with apples, you have to check with a bank. Be aware there are 4 different rates to work with.

Changing your money with Princess, the only winner in this business will be Princess.

[Feebarn]

I have never heard about a bank ( Marks & Spencers) I thought it is shop in London. If you want to check official exchange rates, to compare apples with apples, you have to check with a bank. Be aware there are 4 different rates to work with.

Changing your money with Princess, the only winner in this business will be Princess.

 

Marks and Spencers are a national chain of shops who also have a banking division. :)

[caribill]

Ok this may sound stupid but if you elect to have your onboard account charged in your home currency and you ring princess in your home country wouldn't the OBC be charged at home currency rate? In my circumstance AUD which is very strong at moment so for us we are winning anyway. AUD has doubled its value compared to US$ compared to 10 years ago.

 

 

To compare apples-to-apples, there are two subjects here.

 

A) What happens to your onboard charges at the end of the cruise.

 

B) Should you buy OBC in advance vs. paying at the end of the cruise.

 

All the Princess ships except those based in Australia (and maybe those to be based in the far east) use US $ for onboard charges and those charges go to your credit card from Princess HQ in California.

 

If you do not live in the USA and want to purchase OBC, it will usually be at an exchange rate either established when you booked your cruise or set by Princess at some point in the year. Thus if the current exchange rate is better for you than the Princess exchange rate, it is not a good idea to purchase OBC at this time. Of course, the exchange rate at the time you complete the cruise may be different than what it is now.

 

At the end of the cruise, if the remaining onboard expenses are to be charged to your credit card, there are two choices. First is to let your bank do the currency conversion and the second is to let Princess do the currency conversion.

 

If your bank does the conversion, it will be at the exchange rate in effect at that time. Some banks add a foreign transaction fee of up to 3% and some do not add any foreign transaction fee.

 

If you let Princess do the conversion, it will be at an exchange rate that Princess chooses and is usually significantly higher than what your bank would charge. Princess then adds a 3% convenience charge for doing this. Thus, your credit card will be billed in your local currency. If your bank has a foreign transaction fee of up to 3%, then this will be charged to you by your bank. Note that this is not a currency exchange fee, it is a fee for making a charge outside of your home country no matter what currency the charge is in. (Example -- If I, living in the USA, make a charge in Turkey in US $, I would be charged a foreign transaction fee by my bank.)

 

There is a box on the boarding pass to check if you do not want Princess to do the currency conversion for you. Sometimes this box is ignored which is why you need to check with the purser's desk to make sure your wishes are being followed.

 

There have been posts by people living in Canada who have a US $ based charge card. If Princess converts the charges from US $ into Canadian $ (at the Princess exchange rate + the 3% Fee), then the bank will convert the charges back to US $ for this type card (at the current exchange rate + a possible up to 3% fee). Obviously, the double conversion and double fees is not a desired outcome and a reason for the passenger to be sure the charges are made in US $.

[Feebarn]

The advice I received was that you could remove any remaining credit at the end of the cruise as a cash withdrawal from the Casino. It would be prudent not to buy much more credit than you can use to avoid such situations as Caribill describes. :)