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RCCL Pre buying OBC.

woodyren

By woodyren,
in Australia & New Zealand Cruisers

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Koz1

Koz1

Posted
Posted
That's is good to know Ken. Thanks for letting us know. It seemed too good to be true, but took the risk anyway. Your info has put my mind at rest.

Hope you are enjoying the Allure:) we loved it, but unfortunately didn't do a B2B....7 days was not long enough:(

Yes we are enjoying it and are so glad that we have another week to look forward to before leaving the ship on the 15th. We originally booked a week on the Oasis and then a few weeks later changed to the two cruises on the Allure when we figured that a week wouldn't be long enough. We booked last May when the prices were low when the BOGOHO had just started and they never came back down to what we paid so it's all worked out well especially with the half of the second person.

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qbay46

qbay46

Posted
Posted

I have a question, i am on a cruise with Celebrity and the cruise line gave us $350 OBC with the cruise, if i top up my OBC with $500 of my money does the cruise line use my money first on purchases or there money. and if i don't spend it all will i get a refund.

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Aussie FF

Aussie FF

Posted
Posted (edited)

The way I believe it works, is you will get your own money back.

If you didn't spend any money, you would only get $500 back.

If you spent $350, you would still get $500 back.

So yes, you use the non-refundable OBC first.

This is my experience with RCI (which I assume would include Celebrity) and Princess.:)

Edited by Aussie FF
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angelwingsflys

angelwingsflys

Posted
Posted

Hi everyone,

I have just had conversion rates confirmed,after watching this thread I decided I would put $500 on my account ,ready for my upcoming cruise, checked today both the receipt from Celebrity and my bank account, looks like it is $ to $ exchange rate.:D

Thank you everyone for posting on this thread.

Cheers Deb.

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cheznandy Holiday Sharing Rare

cheznandy

Posted
Posted

Thanks for all the info here and every ones input.

Have a few Royal Caribbean cruises booked.

Can I ask if those that bought OBC booked direct with Royal or through an OZ TA?

Our first cruise coming up is booked through a US TA, so from the info given here we are unable to buy the OBC in AUD, but the other three were booked with an OZ online TA, so will I contact them or Royal direct?

 

Thanks

Chez

xx

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cruisine21

cruisine21

Posted
Posted
Our first cruise coming up is booked through a US TA, so from the info given here we are unable to buy the OBC in AUD, but the other three were booked with an OZ online TA, so will I contact them or Royal direct?

 

 

 

xx

 

Mine was booked through an OZ TA and I contacted Royal direct.

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MicCanberra Holiday Sharing Rare

MicCanberra

Posted
Posted
We're on the Allure of the Seas on B2B Caribbean cruises now and I called the Australian Royal Caribbean number a few weeks before we left and purchased $200 OBC for each of our cruises. They told me it was 1-1 Australian to US Dollars and the receipt showed as you said, with no indication that it was US Dollars.

 

There was a card delivered to our room on the day we boarded saying we had a gift of $200 Onboard Credit. Message: BEST WISHES Compliments of: SDSDF SDSD .

 

The onboard credit showed on our account when I looked on the TV in the room that we had $US200 OBCR (the R means refundable and when I asked on the ship what happens if we don't use it all I was told that it will be refunded to my credit card (not that we'll have any left).

 

So it was certainly a great deal with the $A exchange rate at the moment.

 

Ken

 

Hi Ken, hope you and Stephanie are having a wonderful time.:D

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MicCanberra Holiday Sharing Rare

MicCanberra

Posted
Posted
Thanks for all the info here and every ones input.

Have a few Royal Caribbean cruises booked.

Can I ask if those that bought OBC booked direct with Royal or through an OZ TA?

Our first cruise coming up is booked through a US TA, so from the info given here we are unable to buy the OBC in AUD, but the other three were booked with an OZ online TA, so will I contact them or Royal direct?

 

Thanks

Chez

xx

 

Just call that number I provided earlier in the thread.:D

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tangogulf

tangogulf

Posted
Posted

Discussed this with my DW and I'm going to try and buy some OBC for our upcoming Radiance Cruise. Seems like an opportunity not to be missed especially on a longer cruise. Even if our Bank levies some kind of fee it will be less than the current exchange rate "penalty" from AUD to USD.

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suzbro

suzbro

Posted
Posted
I have purchased OBC for my next 4 RCI cruises.:D

First one is 17th Feb.:D

I will report back on how it works out. I don't believe there will be any fees to cash out. I have always cashed out in USD, to use next time. LOL, I have money left?:D

If this works out, I will be doing it on all my other cruises, and even buying more than I need, for many more cruises.

Won't need to pre-purchase USD in the future. :)

 

 

Many thanks to the OP.:D

Oh please do let me know Seija. Very interested to know if it is dollar for dollar.

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aronde

aronde

Posted
Posted
.... Even if our Bank levies some kind of fee it will be less than the current exchange rate "penalty" from AUD to USD.

 

On the bank fee note I just had a chat with Westpac about the fee I got charged. Apparently in April last year they changed the policy so that even if you get charged in Aussie dollars if the merchant is overseas they hit you with the currency conversion fee. Given I rang an aussie number and thought I was dealing with the 'local' RCI I will have to be more careful in future! They could not explain to me why my purchase was charged at about 1.9% when the rate for Amex is 3.5%. When they asked if I wanted that investigated I said 'are you kidding?!'

 

I can see this being an issue also when travelling overseas and the merchant asks if you want to use local or Aussie currency. I never said to use $A as I have a 28 degree card and I know the merchant would apply a lousy exchange rate. It would now be the case if you do say to use $A overseas you get hit with the merchant's cut of the exchange rate and your aussie bank will charge a currency fee as well!

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MicCanberra Holiday Sharing Rare

MicCanberra

Posted
Posted
On the bank fee note I just had a chat with Westpac about the fee I got charged. Apparently in April last year they changed the policy so that even if you get charged in Aussie dollars if the merchant is overseas they hit you with the currency conversion fee. Given I rang an aussie number and thought I was dealing with the 'local' RCI I will have to be more careful in future! They could not explain to me why my purchase was charged at about 1.9% when the rate for Amex is 3.5%. When they asked if I wanted that investigated I said 'are you kidding?!'

 

I can see this being an issue also when travelling overseas and the merchant asks if you want to use local or Aussie currency. I never said to use $A as I have a 28 degree card and I know the merchant would apply a lousy exchange rate. It would now be the case if you do say to use $A overseas you get hit with the merchant's cut of the exchange rate and your aussie bank will charge a currency fee as well!

 

That is the trouble when everyone wants a slice of the pie. Staying ahead of the fees and such is an ever moving battle.:(

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aronde

aronde

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Posted
That is the trouble when everyone wants a slice of the pie. Staying ahead of the fees and such is an ever moving battle.:(

 

The guy at Westpac said as much in that there is no guarantee if you use an Aussie website or ring an Australian number that the merchant will actually be based in Australia when it comes to billing your card. He mentioned how someone booked accommodation in Melbourne online and got hit with the fee even though the price was quoted in $A. So I guess I can ask everyone I deal with online or over the phone if they are a 'foreign merchant' or just use my 28degree card for all those payments!

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MicCanberra Holiday Sharing Rare

MicCanberra

Posted
Posted
The guy at Westpac said as much in that there is no guarantee if you use an Aussie website or ring an Australian number that the merchant will actually be based in Australia when it comes to billing your card. He mentioned how someone booked accommodation in Melbourne online and got hit with the fee even though the price was quoted in $A. So I guess I can ask everyone I deal with online or over the phone if they are a 'foreign merchant' or just use my 28degree card for all those payments!

 

Yes, I like to put things anything travel related through on my 28 degrees except for the initial deposit for a cruise or a tour, for that we use the ANZ card to pick up the Travel insurance perks.:D

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