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Buying OBC in UK

scotslizzy

By scotslizzy,
in Princess Cruises

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SWORRUB1

SWORRUB1

Posted
Posted (edited)

It depends when you book.

For example I booked in January 2016 when 1GBP=USD1.54.

The GBP/USD exchange rate then moved significantly so that anyone using USD to buy GBPs got a great deal. Of course the other way around was painful. However a kind poster on this forum mentioned that your OBC rate was actually set at the point of booking, and that this would, if the value of the GBP in Dollars was falling, cause it to be beneficial to purchase OBC. ...and so it proved. My rate was GBP16.25 for USD25.00 OBC, which was roughly $1.54/ 1GBP. Obviously I purchased lots of OBC, as it made a significant difference. Other posters/cruisers on the same cruise got various rates of exchange, following this discovery becoming know via CC and other forums, but as the $ continued to slide everyone was better off purchasing OBC. Obviously if the currency movement was going the other way the tactics would have to be reversed and no OBC purchased but pay for everything upon departing the ship.

 

I would imagine that other cruise lines operate in the same manner.

 

One word of warning, any left over OBC will be returned to you by cheque, with the amount to be returned in GBP calculated on what you purchased at, and I am still waiting at present, having disembarked on 6th August 2015 I am not that needy of the cash but some others may be

Edited by SWORRUB1
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Pink-belle

Pink-belle

Posted
Posted

I hope you meant August 2016 Sworrubi :eek: even so that is a long wait, I would be contacting them to check all is in hand. I manage to spend all my OBC, but believe it should take about 1 month for the refund.

 

Very simple to buy OBC, once booked the option appears in your cruise Personaliser, it is in increments of $25. I tend to gift myself OBC to cover the things I know I like, such as the thermal suite passes, and drinks packages. It is also possible to prepay gratuities and excursions at the same rate.

 

All charges to our card are in £GBP, which is beneficial to us as our cards have a percentage charge on foreign transactions.

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Lizzyanne

Lizzyanne

Posted
Posted

It took 11 weeks for our refund after our May cruise. UK have to wait for a spread sheet from the US before they can pay, two phone calls and an email did not speed this up.

We booked a cruise in July for 2017 and the current obc rate for us is £1=$1.282. I thought about prepaying the gratuities before the increase but decided to wait and hope that the rate is better at the end of our cruise. Our credit card conversion is usually near the market rate.

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SWORRUB1

SWORRUB1

Posted
Posted (edited)

Pink-belle commented

I hope you meant August 2016 Sworrubi even so that is a long wait,

-------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

Yes Im a pillock!

Edited by SWORRUB1
Add quote as the auto one doesnt work for me!
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mklions

mklions

Posted
Posted

Just to recap,

 

I booked my upcoming cruise to Australia and New Zealand vIa a TA back in February this year.

If I were to go on my cruise personaliser and buy OBC i will get it at Februarys rate of exchange?

Which was a huge difference ( thank Brexit for that) from todays exchange rates.

Is that correct?

Mklions

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scotslizzy

scotslizzy

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I thought they (cruise lines) all might do the same deal but it is always good to know about first hand experience.

 

So just to recap .I booked in April this year for our cruise in Feb 2017 so I should get the rate that prevailed in April?

 

Thanks

 

Scotslizzy

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Lizzyanne

Lizzyanne

Posted
Posted
Just to recap,

 

I booked my upcoming cruise to Australia and New Zealand vIa a TA back in February this year.

If I were to go on my cruise personaliser and buy OBC i will get it at Februarys rate of exchange?

Which was a huge difference ( thank Brexit for that) from todays exchange rates.

Is that correct?

Mklions

If you go into your cruise personaliser it will show the cost of buying $25 credit, you should be able to work out the rate from that.
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madmacs

madmacs

Posted
Posted

I was completely un-aware that obc etc are fixed. We have two cruises next year, both on Crown Princess. The coffee card is considerably cheaper on cruise one (fortunately) and I believe can be used on the second one. Looks like worth buying extra for one. Sadly no good for pre-paying gratuities!

 

Thanks

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CCFC

CCFC

Posted
Posted
I thought they (cruise lines) all might do the same deal but it is always good to know about first hand experience.

 

So just to recap .I booked in April this year for our cruise in Feb 2017 so I should get the rate that prevailed in April?

 

Thanks

 

Scotslizzy

 

Yes your exchange rate will be based on when you booked in April.

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porridgeuk

porridgeuk

Posted
Posted

In my personaliser I can only buy the obc in £GBP so not sure from what date the exchange rate will kick in...if it's booking date that would be ok, if it's just before leaving that gives time for the recovery of the £GBP so fingers crossed for either of those x

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Lizzyanne

Lizzyanne

Posted
Posted
On my cruise personaliser it only allows you to buy in pounds sterling, so how do you know before hand what the exchange rate is??

Mklions

 

You purchase in lots of $25 so you need to,divide 25 by the amount shown and that will give you the rate. $25 would cost me £19.50 so my exchange rate is £1.28.

Hope that helps

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downsmead

downsmead

Posted
Posted

When you purchase OBC in the UK, your card is charged in £, so no exchange rate applies. You are then credited with the corresponding $ amount to your account - eg If I bought 7x £70 OBC, my credit card would be charged £490 and on board my account would be credited with $700. The cruise lines are slow in updating their OBC and so some good 'buys' can be had this way. On board, your non-refundable OBC is used first and then your refundable OBC. What we did find was that after our December cruise, we were told that it was not automatically refunded (unlike in previous years) and that we had to apply for the amount to be paid back!! We did so and then received a cheque in £, the exchange rate for which was ~ that of the prevailing rate at the time.

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newport dave

newport dave

Posted
Posted
Thanks,

I will now buy some serious OBC.

You are right thats a great exchange rate.

One last question if you have brought OBC and for some unfortunate reason you need to cancel your holiday will the monies be refunded?

Thank.

Yes

 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

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