Canadian Princess Cruisers

[kruisey]

The only folks that could win on cruise prices at the moment are those that have a $US bank account and stacked dollars in it before the big drop in value.If some of us had only known

Otherwise I feel it is wise for folks to book Canadian at the 20% Princess is giving us at the moment.This includes OBC and the rest we can pay for in advance.

I heard over the last few days that the Canadian dollar will not gain till the end of 2016. Things might change it is all a gamble.:cool:

Edited July 27, 2015 by kruisey

[Adventures ahead]

Just printed my boarding pass for our Sept 26 cruise and found this:

 

"Preferred Currency for your onboard account.

Passenger has declined participation in the Preferred Currency Program.

NOTE: YOU CAN COME BACK AND MODIFY YOUR SELECTION UP TO 5 DAYS BEFORE SAILING.REMEMBER, PRINCESS WILL REFUND THE DIFFERENCE IN COST BETWEEN YOUR BANK'S RATE AND OUR RATE IF OUR RATE RESULTS IN A HIGHER CHARGE TO YOUR CARD"

 

At first I read this backwards, thinking that there was a new policy to our advantage. I don't remember seeing this before. Is it new, or have I been sleeping through my boarding passes?

 

We booked our 21-day TA cruise in Cdn$ and our onboard exchange rate for paying tips, purchasing OBC, excursions, etc, is set at 10% (lucky us!). There's not a chance in you-know-where that the bank's credit card rate will be below $1.10 at check out!:eek: Thanks, Princess, but maybe someday...

[bigenna]

This is still confusing me a little.

I went on Princess site today and prepurchased $100 each of OBC and Casino Credits. (Both at $110 each). I know I can transfer over $'s from my OBC to casino, play some, and cash out any remainder.

But how are the Casino Credits handled? Apparently there will be a card in my stateroom which I take to the Casino. Do they then give me cash or is it entered into their system like the OBC transfer would be?

Oh, and when I called Princess and asked how any unspent OBC would be refunded, I was told it would go back on the credit card that I used to purchase it. Well that is a Canadian card, so if they credited me back in USD's I guess I would be getting whatever the current rate would be on that day?

Edited July 30, 2015 by bigenna

[diverward]

Hello all, just wondering if anyone that sailed recently had their on board account closed in Canadian dollars. I usually close my account in US dollars and let the bank do the exchange rate. Now I am wondering what rate will Princess charge for closing the account. Will it be the 10 or 20 % that they are charging for OBC, etc. or will it be the prevailing exchange rate plus a few more %? Would like any comments from everyone. Thanks. Have a great day.

[Karen Lynn]

Hello all, just wondering if anyone that sailed recently had their on board account closed in Canadian dollars. I usually close my account in US dollars and let the bank do the exchange rate. Now I am wondering what rate will Princess charge for closing the account. Will it be the 10 or 20 % that they are charging for OBC, etc. or will it be the prevailing exchange rate plus a few more %? Would like any comments from everyone. Thanks. Have a great day.

 

I'm just off the Regal Princess but I had enough OBC to cover my charges.

It's my understanding that an independent company does their converting so I don't think the attractive conversion will apply!

[goofy559]

Hello all, just wondering if anyone that sailed recently had their on board account closed in Canadian dollars. I usually close my account in US dollars and let the bank do the exchange rate. Now I am wondering what rate will Princess charge for closing the account. Will it be the 10 or 20 % that they are charging for OBC, etc. or will it be the prevailing exchange rate plus a few more %? Would like any comments from everyone. Thanks. Have a great day.[/

 

The lower rate only applies to prepurchased OBC. If you have princess close your account in Canadian it will be at the prevailing rate.

[dshimizu]

You are on the right track, but the timing may well not work for you. If you are left with a large refundable OBC on board and they want to send a cheque and not pay you out at the PSD, then your check may well not arrive from Princess before you leave for the Tahiti cruise.

.

 

IF A BALANCE OF OBC OR CASINO CREDITS Will the cheque be in USD OR Cdn? OR will the balance be sent back on my Cdn credit card. OR is there a chance they may give me cash.

[goofy559]

IF A BALANCE OF OBC OR CASINO CREDITS Will the cheque be in USD OR Cdn? US

OR will the balance be sent back on my Cdn credit card.Possibly OR is there a chance they may give me cash

Some ships return cash - depends on amount - you can always get cash from casino by transfering to your player account, spinning a couple of times on the slots and cashing out .

 

As you can see, all the options you've suggested are possible. Some ships will refund OBC/Casino (that are refundable - i.e. prepurchased) at front desk, some will make you cash out at casino, some will refund to card. Others have reported receiving a cheque.

 

Most common are refund to card (in CDN) or cashing out via casino. Not many have mentioned a cheque.

[jennymaxgirl]

I plan on purchasing some casino credits and cashing them out right away to use as we please. I wasn't planning on purchasing onboard credit.

 

Question is, can we use the cash to pay out or onboard account at the end of the cruise to avoid the hefty foreign exchange rates that is charged?

 

From my understanding, we will be 20% exchange for the prepurchased casino credit and OBC. But if we don't have that, the regular foreign exchange rate would be applied, which is higher.

 

Thanks!

[Steelers36]

I plan on purchasing some casino credits and cashing them out right away to use as we please. I wasn't planning on purchasing onboard credit.

 

Question is, can we use the cash to pay out or onboard account at the end of the cruise to avoid the hefty foreign exchange rates that is charged?

 

From my understanding, we will be 20% exchange for the prepurchased casino credit and OBC. But if we don't have that, the regular foreign exchange rate would be applied, which is higher.

 

Thanks!

 

You can go straight from the casino cage with your cash and ask the friendly PSD agents to apply the cash to your shipboard account. Or anytime, such as the last evening you can go to PSD and do it. Note that PSD will be busy early on the final evening, but I have been up after 11pm and PSD is not busy at all. Now, you have to not go crazy here and you can ask PSD when they are closing out accounts, but you may find that around midnight or 1am - sometime they will close off the accounts that last night and you won't be able to make additional payments. That happened to me one time when I left the poker table quite late. I just took the cash home and put it against my credit card account.

Edited August 10, 2015 by steelers36

[AE_Collector]

But you could have just pre purchased some OBC as well as the casino credits if you want them as well. The pre purchased OBC is there pecifically to offset your onboard spending and/or gratuities thus you dont need to do anything the last day.

 

As for refunds of surplus OBC, the policy changed last fall (apparently) so that they will refund up to a maximum of $25 cash if that is all that is owing but if more than that is refunded by US$ cheque. They used to refund to your credit card but I haven't seen that in over a year now.

 

Terry

Edited August 11, 2015 by AE_Collector

[Steelers36]

Princess probably figured the bank fees for processing Visa/MC/Amex refunds was more than cutting and mailing checks or cheques. (Thought I'd go bilingual - American and Canadian - ;)

[A.Emgee]

Bad news for Canadians! As of today, I think all cruises sailing after about December 20, 2015 will have the exchange rate of US$1 = CAD$1.30. All of my saved cruises sailing after that date now have a price ending in .70.

[JAKE3337]

I just called Princess and asked about casino credits. The girl that I spoke to said any unused credits are refunded to your credit card or cash given at the end of the cruise.....discretion on the ship and the amount. I asked how you redeem the credits and she said any money spent in the casino is just deducted from the credits/card and that you don't get vouchers in the casino that you can redeem for cash.

 

She said the machines don't take cash. I haven't been on Princess for a while but the other cruise lines take cash..... now I'm confused.

 

I was hoping to just purchase some casino credits and cash in vouchers as we need them. Is this no longer the case?

 

Thanks!

[Steelers36]

I just called Princess and asked about casino credits. The girl that I spoke to said any unused credits are refunded to your credit card or cash given at the end of the cruise.....discretion on the ship and the amount. I asked how you redeem the credits and she said any money spent in the casino is just deducted from the credits/card and that you don't get vouchers in the casino that you can redeem for cash.

 

She said the machines don't take cash. I haven't been on Princess for a while but the other cruise lines take cash..... now I'm confused.

 

I was hoping to just purchase some casino credits and cash in vouchers as we need them. Is this no longer the case?

 

Thanks!

 

There's no reason to have unused casino vouchers. If you pre-purchase those, there are cards in your room for the amount purchased (e.g. 5 x $100). The casino cage (cashiers) also have copies of the cards for all pax. You just present the card/voucher with your cruise card at the cage and you receive the cash. Be sure to redeem them all by last evening of the cruise.

 

If you deposit the cash to your on-board account at the PSD, then you could possibly end up with a credit balance at the end of the cruise. If you know you are going to have a credit balance, you could go to casino and withdraw cash again using your cruise card. Any accessing of cash at casino goes against your on-board account.

 

From what I have read here in many posts, is that if you have a credit balance in on-board account at end of the cruise, it may go to your credit card, they may give you cash back, or it may be sent to HQ to issue a check/cheque. That seems to vary by ship, amount of money involved and whims of the PSD policy. So the Princess rep was telling you the right thing.

Edited August 16, 2015 by steelers36

[JAKE3337]

There's no reason to have unused casino vouchers. If you pre-purchase those, there are cards in your room for the amount purchased (e.g. 5 x $100). The casino cage (cashiers) also have copies of the cards for all pax. You just present the card/voucher with your cruise card at the cage and you receive the cash. Be sure to redeem them all by last evening of the cruise.

 

If you deposit the cash to your on-board account at the PSD, then you could possibly end up with a credit balance at the end of the cruise. If you know you are going to have a credit balance, you could go to casino and withdraw cash again using your cruise card. Any accessing of cash at casino goes against your on-board account.

 

From what I have read here in many posts, is that if you have a credit balance in on-board account at end of the cruise, it may go to your credit card, they may give you cash back, or it may be sent to HQ to issue a check/cheque. That seems to vary by ship, amount of money involved and whims of the PSD policy. So the Princess rep was telling you the right thing.

 

 

Thank you, so I can cash these in at the casino and get cash? I thought that sounded funny. Still weird that they said the machines don't accept cash and you can only insert your card to use the slots. I know when you call these cruise lines, you get differerent information each time you call...

 

PS - I'm just around the corner from you in the Niagara Falls area :)

[D&N LUV 2 TRAVEL]

Bad news for Canadians! As of today, I think all cruises sailing after about December 20, 2015 will have the exchange rate of US$1 = CAD$1.30. All of my saved cruises sailing after that date now have a price ending in .70.

 

You are correct. I just checked our British Isles cruise for next June and the exchange rate change has increased our cruise by 11.5%.

With these new exchange rates you are actually better to buy US $'s with your Cdn $'s and book your cruise in US $'s.

[Kamloops50]

The 1.30 rate probably applies to new bookings only.

[AE_Collector]

With these new exchange rates you are actually better to buy US $'s with your Cdn $'s and book your cruise in US $'s.

 

Actually you aren't better to book in US$ even with the new princess 1.30 rate so I think you are doing the math wrong. Todays rate of .764 = 1.308 and the $1.308 rate doesn't yet include bank or credit card exchange charges that typically adds at least 3c. The princess rate is 1.30 with no extra fees.

 

Then if booking in US$ you have to worry that the rate may get even worse before you pay for the cruise. Plus if you pay the Canadian cruise price you can prepurchase all your onboard spending money at the same 1.30 exchange rate.

 

Terry

[kruisey]

Off my fall 2016 cruise.I have mentioned this yesterday August 24th on my own post site but got no replies.

I think it might have expired midnight August 24th but you should check.

My amount was $1333 reduction not to be sneezed at.:)

Edited August 25, 2015 by kruisey

[emmak8]

Amazing discount! Good for you!

[tetleytea]

Princess observes Canada Day. That's nice.

[mattie00]

I am confused. :confused: We booked our cruises in Canadian dollars through our travel agent as we usually get a better fare than quoted on the Princess site so exchange rate doesn't come into play. However, I did notice that the fare for our cruises has gone up by approximately $1000 CDN from when we booked 6 weeks ago. That is likely a result of the horrendous USD exchange rate.:(

[kruisey]

I am confused. :confused: We booked our cruises in Canadian dollars through our travel agent as we usually get a better fare than quoted on the Princess site so exchange rate doesn't come into play. However, I did notice that the fare for our cruises has gone up by approximately $1000 CDN from when we booked 6 weeks ago. That is likely a result of the horrendous USD exchange rate.:(

Your cruise is popular and filling up fast.

This promotion was from 20 to 24th August on a September 2016 cruise.You have to look at the Princess website every day.This special promotions only last for a short time.Then they have regional ones which you can ask them about,just for your region.I book directly with Princess .I could not see a TA looking every day and phoning Princess all the time to see if they have a special.Its up to you to look and inform your TA on that day.Hope this has helped. :) Yes I can see a cruise going up from 20% to30%. If to cruise was $10,000 at 20% the price adding 10% making it 30% would be 11,000=$1000 more

Edited August 25, 2015 by kruisey

[mattie00]

Thanks kruisey. I do indeed check the Princess website every day and call my TA if I see anything that I may be able to get. We have always gotten better prices through the TA as they use a tour aggregator who seems to always get at least $100 PP (and sometimes more) than the advertised special via the cruise line website plus some additional OBC. I only have experience with Norwegian however so other cruise lines may be different.