Prepayment of gratuities

[Pushka]

I'm having a hard time trying to understand why one would want to prepay anything?

Apply for a Princess Visa card and use that to obtain additional OBC along with the Military and stockholder credit.

At the end of the cruise you'll see your charges if any on your Princess Visa credit card statement.

As others have mentioned do not use a debit card

 

Howard

 

 

The OP and I are Aussies. We cant get the Princess Credit card and we have to get the best exchange rate we can. Which means prepaying. I agree on not using the debit card though. The cruise will put a large hold on embarkation on your 'real' money.

[alolewis]

I'm having a hard time trying to understand why one would want to prepay anything?

Apply for a Princess Visa card and use that to obtain additional OBC along with the Military and stockholder credit.

At the end of the cruise you'll see your charges if any on your Princess Visa credit card statement.

As others have mentioned do not use a debit card

 

Howard

I like to prepay as much as possible before a vacation/holiday so I do not have large bills when I get home. I would rather have memories of the holiday by my photos, etc than a pile of bills. Your logic is flawed in that if you prepay it gets charged to a credit card and if a rewards credit card you get the rewards if you prepay or pay afterwards. If you pay early enough you can even use the rewards for your current cruise.

Not sure why people are so against prepaying for things like tours, tips, onboard expenses when you prepay for the cruise, airfare, and even now hotels to get the best rates. BTW my best credit card is my credit union card as it gives rewards, no annual fees and no foreign transaction fees.

Edited January 25, 2016 by alolewis

[RocketMan275]

Thanks for the info but personally i do not care much for Sams Club or

Walmart and very rarely shop there. I see what they have done to many small businesses throughout the US and I do not much care for their wage and anti union business practices of their employees.

 

I'll stick with my Princess Visa card

 

Howard

 

This is a forum to discuss cruises. No need to bring unions, etc. into this discussion.

Edited January 25, 2016 by RocketMan275

[RocketMan275]

Not sure why people are so against prepaying for things like tours, tips, onboard expenses when you prepay for the cruise, airfare, and even now hotels to get the best rates. BTW my best credit card is my credit union card as it gives rewards, no annual fees and no foreign transaction fees.

 

Some prefer to pay for items on board since they can use their OBC.

[alolewis]

Some prefer to pay for items on board since they can use their OBC.

 

I understand your position and agree for most it makes sense. I just get upset when people are critic of others opinions such as "I can not understand why anyone would prepay...". I have my reasons for, you have your reasons for not, both are legitimate and personal preference.

[RocketMan275]

I understand your position and agree for most it makes sense. I just get upset when people are critic of others opinions such as "I can not understand why anyone would prepay...". I have my reasons for, you have your reasons for not, both are legitimate and personal preference.

 

It's not my position. I was only repeating what I've heard.

 

I've found that there is absolutely no reason to get upset about what some anonymous poster says on the internet.

[lorri111]

Actually I call it a debit card for convenience but it is technically a prepaid travel card - Qantas Cash. It is not linked to any bank account, but you just load on funds in whatever currency you want and it locks in the exchange rate at that time. So I can carry a card with USD knowing exactly what I have access to instead of having to worry about currency fluctuations from AUD. So security isn't a problem, the only worry with it is that on the last Princess cruise it "held" a preauthorisation for some parts of the final bill that had actually been paid and I had to ask them to release them before the end of the apparently usual 30 day hold period. So I have to make sure it is likely to cover the final bill and then some, in case this happens again. It is just a backup to a credit card and since I loaded funds a few months back when exchange rate was much better I got more USD than I would do now.

[ccruisequeen]

They allowed us to prepay tips last year before they raised them at the start of the year. They were paid at the time of the original booking on the phone with an agent.

 

 

 

I no longer see carnival from my condo front porch :(

[Pam in CA]

I'm having a hard time trying to understand why one would want to prepay anything?

Some people want to budget their spending.

[lorri111]

I just found that the link has been repaired, but to confuse things it quotes prepayment of gratuities in AUD rather than USD, even though prepayment of excursions is quoted in USD! Quoting it in AUD means I can't quite work out how it is calculated - do you pay gratuities for the day (afternoon) you board and / or for the last morning of disembarkation?

[Treven]

I "sort of" pre-pay everything by paying myself a certain amount of money before my cruise. It's generally enough to cover almost all, if not all, of my anticipated onboard expenses. As Pam said,it's more a budgeting issue than anything else.

Edited January 27, 2016 by Treven

[Pushka]

I just found that the link has been repaired, but to confuse things it quotes prepayment of gratuities in AUD rather than USD, even though prepayment of excursions is quoted in USD! Quoting it in AUD means I can't quite work out how it is calculated - do you pay gratuities for the day (afternoon) you board and / or for the last morning of disembarkation?

 

 

Its always been in AUD for me. And they will send you an email confirming gratuities has been paid. And the excursions are in USD on mine also. It works out 7 nights - maybe think of it in nights rather than days.

[lorri111]

If they calculate it on nights they are using a damn good exchange rate - was quoted 122.06AUS but usual calc comes out as 97.65USD (based on 7 nights and 13.95 PP mini suite) which comes out as 0.80 cents exchange rate!

[Pushka]

If they calculate it on nights they are using a damn good exchange rate - was quoted 122.06AUS but usual calc comes out as 97.65USD (based on 7 nights and 13.95 PP mini suite) which comes out as 0.80 cents exchange rate!

 

Yes - I agree.

And if you are planning on buying the All Inclusive Beverage package, do this now also - the same exchange rate applies. I calculated .80 exchange rate on this last week. You need to check out the Aussie boards!

[lorri111]

Wahhh, did not know there were Aussie boards - will check them! Thanks!

[lorri111]

Pushka, how do Princess sort their exchange rate - I have had a quick look at other forum and some think they set and forget at start of year. So I wouldn't expect it to change before my cruise in may? or does it fluctuate?

[Pushka]

Pushka, how do Princess sort their exchange rate - I have had a quick look at other forum and some think they set and forget at start of year. So I wouldn't expect it to change before my cruise in may? or does it fluctuate?

 

 

I've heard both. That they reset at the beginning of each year but also depends on when you book. People have reported more expensive bev packages than I see - but they booked more recently. I think we both booked at the same time (you were discussing the Rockies?). But I dont want to risk it going up so around the 8th of Feb I am going to book the Bev Package. I paid for OBC months ago. Then in March 12th - final payment!

[lorri111]

Good memory! Yep booked it ages ago and doing a Rockies cruisetour. I will do the same and pay gratuities in a month or so. Pity you can't prepay for excursions in AUD as well. I see people put money into OBC but I can't see how to do that in Personaliser - do you have to ring up rather than do it online and how do you get proof you have it?

[Pushka]

Ive bought OBC too. It is in the CRUISE PURCHASES area where you can also buy flowers etc. It is in AUD so I am hoping $31.50 = $25USD when I get onboard. Bit of a gamble with OBC. Will use it to pay part of the excursions.

Edited January 27, 2016 by Pushka

[lorri111]

Thank you for that, it was a mystery to me why it didn't appear on credits and payments page. Did you get any email confirmation, or does it come up online (I seem to remember someone saying it does not), I would be worried about paying for something and not being able to prove it in event of dispute

[lorri111]

BTW, mine is 31.25, even better :-)

[Pushka]

Thank you for that, it was a mystery to me why it didn't appear on credits and payments page. Did you get any email confirmation, or does it come up online (I seem to remember someone saying it does not), I would be worried about paying for something and not being able to prove it in event of dispute

 

 

Im not at my pc but after a search I do find it online. You also get an email. I'll post tomorrow where I find it - its well hidden.

[lorri111]

You have been a great help :-) Let me know if you find anywhere that it does confirm you purchased that amount of USD to show it used correct exchange rate, would be nice to be sure. Personaliser doesn't actually tell you what the AUD buys.

[Pushka]

Ah. Found it using the website on the phone. If you click on 'Onboard Reservations' it shows down the bottom.

 

But it still shows in AUD not USD hence the gamble. Which is why prepaying Gratuities and coffee and drinks packages is much safer.

Edited January 27, 2016 by Pushka

[lorri111]

I think even I would be pushing to drink $70AUD a day :-)