OBC on Australian Cruises & Other Tidbits

[Kenswing]

I know there has been a lot of confusion about how OBC is posted on Australian cruises.  Is it $US = $AU.  Do they convert according to current exchange rates?  

 

This is what we experienced on a recent Australia/New Zealand cruise on the Majestic Princess.  YMMV..

 

OBC issued by Princess.  Military/Shareholder/FCC/Promotional  was posted at par.  One U.S. dollar was one  Aussie dollar.

OBC issued by travel agent was converted.  We received $850 U.S from our TA and it posted as $1060 Aussie.

 

We left the ship with about $950 of refundable OBC.  Will be interesting to see how bad the exchange rate is in the other direction.  Will follow up when the check arrives. 

 

Other bits..

The Soda and More package was $7.00 per day.  I'm guessing the tips were left off.  But that comes out to about $5.00 per day $US. .

 

Ordered some extra internet minutes.  The offer was 200 additional minutes for $40.  Onboard account was only charged $32.

 

Bottled water for suites.  Instead of 2 bottles handed out every day they gave us the entire allotment on the first night.

 

I'm sure there were other differences but those are the ones that stood out. 

Edited April 9, 2019 by Kenswing

[NavyVeteran]

On ‎04‎/‎09‎/‎2019 at 3:30 PM, Kenswing said:

I know there has been a lot of confusion about how OBC is posted on Australian cruises.  Is it $US = $AU.  Do they convert according to current exchange rates?  

 

This is what we experienced on a recent Australia/New Zealand cruise on the Majestic Princess.  YMMV..

 

OBC issued by Princess.  Military/Shareholder/FCC/Promotional  was posted at par.  One U.S. dollar was one  Aussie dollar.

OBC issued by travel agent was converted.  We received $850 U.S from our TA and it posted as $1060 Aussie.

 

I was interested in seeing information from someone who has actually sailed, since I am planning a cruise on an Australia based ship. I knew the answer for military, shareholder, and FCD, but the others were not so clear.

 

Princess is clear in their documentation for Military Personnel Benefit Onboard Credit Program. The PDF form clearly states $250 USD/AUD for 14 days or longer, $100 USD/AUD for 7-13 days, and $50 USD/AUD for 6 days or less.

 

Carnival Corporation is also clear in their documentation for the Shareholder Benefit. For a cruise of 14 days or longer, North America Brands provide US $250, Continental Europe Brands provide €200, United Kingdom Brands provide £150, and Austrailia Brands provide A$250. The form then lists the brands under each of these categories. Princess Cruises is listed twice - under both North America Brands and Australia Brands with an asterisk pointing to this note "The onboard credit for Carnival Cruise Line, Costa Cruises, Cunard and Princess Cruises is determined based on the operational currency onboard the vessel."

 

The Future Cruise Deposit Form is not quite as clear. It clearly states the amount of the deposit in several currencies, including "($100 USD, CAD, AUD, NZD, 100 EUR, 75 GBP, 3,000 TWD, 110,000 KRW, 125 SGD, 800 HKD, 10,000 JPY, 630 CNY)". The Per person shipboard credits only lists the US dollar amount but there is an asterisk pointing to the note "Shipboard credit is based on the ship's onboard currency and is not redeemable for cash."

 

I am very happy to see that the travel agent OBC was converted, since I get a large amount of OBC from my travel agent. I believe this is true for any OBC actually purchased by the travel agent using cash or part of the agent's commission. However, it may not be true for travel agent OBC that actually comes from Princess as part of a promotion.

[DDG 41]

I don't get the confusion.

The Military, shareholder, FCD and sale OBC are all stated in dollars not actually allocated to a currency. They also say that is the currency being used on the ship . It may shock some yanks but their country is not the only one to use the $ nor does the world revolve around them. It's very simple unless the on board credit is from your TA who pays it in USD, which is then converted at their set rate, it is in the Currency of the ship (USD/AUD) and as their ships only use $ they post it all around the world in $ so they don't need to hurt the environment by having to print more.

[coo359a2]

We got off the Majestic Princess on 28 February 2019. Looking at my final Stateroom Account and the Shareholder, Military, FCC , Promotional OBC and our TA OBC (listed as Group Amenities Credit non-refundable)were all converted dollar for dollar. Only the Loyalty Commends non-refundable was converted  from $100 US to 139.10 AU $.   We had a balance of approximately 400 AU$ which was converted to approximately $280 US and sent by check

[NavyVeteran]

4 hours ago, coo359a2 said:

We got off the Majestic Princess on 28 February 2019. Looking at my final Stateroom Account and the Shareholder, Military, FCC , Promotional OBC and our TA OBC (listed as Group Amenities Credit non-refundable)were all converted dollar for dollar. Only the Loyalty Commends non-refundable was converted  from $100 US to 139.10 AU $.   We had a balance of approximately 400 AU$ which was converted to approximately $280 US and sent by check

The TA OBC (Group Amenities Credit non-refundable) was actually a promotion from Princess given through the travel agent. It is not the same as the TA OBC that some travel agents purchase out of their commissions which is treated by Princess as purchased OBC and which is refundable.

[DDG 41]

5 hours ago, coo359a2 said:

Military, FCC , Promotional OBC and our TA OBC (listed as Group Amenities Credit non-refundable)were all converted dollar for dollar.

They weren't converted at all they were originally stated in $ , the currency used on all Princess Cruises ships.

[Expat Cruise]

I can confirm that Princess screws the guests here. I was on the Sun Princess from March 5 to 23nd. The cruise was purchased on the US Princess site and we had between future credits, OBC, etc  US$1050 dollars worth that they converted at 1 to 1 so only AUD$1050 in our account with a real exchange rate it should have been  AUD$1620.

 

The one to one would have been somewhat OK but they went around the ship and change all the pricing so at the AUD rates for purchases was the full USD value. What costs USD$7.00 on the Sun out of Singapore in October was now AUD$10.00 on this cruise, so the line collected  the same profit on sales and services, but stole 40% on the currency conversion.

 

The way I see it Princess stole $570 dollars from us on this cruise. Which I will get back when I removed the daily service fee on my non Australian Cruises. Please don't post back to me how I'm hurting the hard working crew, it is Princess who puts guests in this position of having no choice. 

 

 

[land lover]

 

32 minutes ago, Expat Cruise said:

I can confirm that Princess screws the guests here. I was on the Sun Princess from March 5 to 23nd. The cruise was purchased on the US Princess site and we had between future credits, OBC, etc  US$1050 dollars worth that they converted at 1 to 1 so only AUD$1050 in our account with a real exchange rate it should have been  AUD$1620.

 

The one to one would have been somewhat OK but they went around the ship and change all the pricing so at the AUD rates for purchases was the full USD value. What costs USD$7.00 on the Sun out of Singapore in October was now AUD$10.00 on this cruise, so the line collected  the same profit on sales and services, but stole 40% on the currency conversion.

 

The way I see it Princess stole $570 dollars from us on this cruise. Which I will get back when I removed the daily service fee on my non Australian Cruises. Please don't post back to me how I'm hurting the hard working crew, it is Princess who puts guests in this position of having no choice. 

 

 

You are not they only one that this happened too...many of us were disappointed....but I still had the ability to cancel my cruises once I discovered how they handled the conversion, didn't you?

 

[land lover]

More info...

I was on the SEA Princess.

They convert according to the Princess rate...and they will exchange USD for you at the desk. Also an ATM was available that gave a better rate, but added a fee. I was told the rates changed daily. 

 

I figured my TA OBC converted on the ship was 1 USD =1.21 AUD. The  exchange rate "on the outside" fluctuated between 1.30-1.38  during our cruise.

 

When I booked my 2 cruises,  10 day Queensland & 28 day circumnavigation(I traveled last fall,their Spring) I didn't know the ship was run in AUD dollars...and  when I found out my promo money was one for one that was disappointing....but such is the life of travel....

 

As far as the FCD...it is given one for one...

if you try to buy an FCD on the ship they will be charged in your credit card currency.

 

I pre-booked a few thousand AUD worth of excursions...  and a few hundred in promo 1-1 money was used. But on my credit card, there was a lot of conversions(1.23-1.28) going on 10 months before I cruised from purchasing these tours and other items in groups. The PBP on our cruise could not be purchased until you were on the ship.

OP like you, I received OBC from my TA which was converted, once on the ship.

 

I knew we would not spend it all of it. So began to cash in some from the casino. Also a group of us played texas hold'em regularly and I actually gained some money there,  so I used this AUD for my expenses in town..In the end I used my extra money from the Casino to play off my OBA and the brought about $150AUD home to use for the future.

 

I didn't want that AUD refundable OBC reconverted and sent in a check so as the cruise was completing I cleared out my OBC via the casino.

 

OP all the money you are speaking of are gifts...I'd be happy to receive them anyway, I sure you are to, just looking for clarification. Which very well could change tomorrow...

 

Enjoy...

 

Edited April 12, 2019 by land lover

[land lover]

58 minutes ago, land lover said:

 

You are not they only one that this happened too...many of us were disappointed....but I still had the ability to cancel my cruises once I discovered how they handled the conversion, didn't you?

 

oops..I now read your post more carefully...very interesting.....what occurred on your second cruise.

[land lover]

27 minutes ago, land lover said:

More info...

I was on the SEA Princess.

They convert according to the Princess rate...and they will exchange USD for you at the desk. Also an ATM was available that gave a better rate, but added a fee. I was told the rates changed daily. 

 

I figured my TA OBC converted on the ship was 1 USD =1.21 AUD. The  exchange rate "on the outside" fluctuated between 1.30-1.38  during our cruise.

 

When I booked my 2 cruises,  10 day Queensland & 28 day circumnavigation(I traveled last fall,their Spring) I didn't know the ship was run in AUD dollars...and  when I found out my promo money was one for one that was disappointing....but such is the life of travel....

 

As far as the FCD...it is given one for one...

if you try to buy an FCD on the ship they will be charged in your credit card currency.

 

I pre-booked a few thousand AUD worth of excursions...  and a few hundred in promo 1-1 money was used. But on my credit card, there was a lot of conversions(1.23-1.28) going on 10 months before I cruised from purchasing these tours and other items in groups. The PBP on our cruise could not be purchased until you were on the ship.

OP like you, I received OBC from my TA which was converted, once on the ship.

 

I knew we would not spend it all of it. So began to cash in some from the casino. Also a group of us played texas hold'em regularly and I actually gained some money there,  so I used this AUD for my expenses in town..In the end I used my extra money from the Casino to play off my OBA and the brought about $150AUD home to use for the future.

 

I didn't want that AUD refundable OBC reconverted and sent in a check so as the cruise was completing I cleared out my OBC via the casino.

 

OP all the money you are speaking of are gifts...I'd be happy to receive them anyway, I sure you are to, just looking for clarification. Which very well could change tomorrow...

 

Enjoy...

 

and it is obvious I did not read any of these posts carefully....as I am using an OP reference incorrectly..forgive me..everyone for just scanning and unfortunately when I figured it out it was to late to delete....

BYE....

[Steelers36]

2 hours ago, Expat Cruise said:

I can confirm that Princess screws the guests here. I was on the Sun Princess from March 5 to 23nd. The cruise was purchased on the US Princess site and we had between future credits, OBC, etc  US$1050 dollars worth that they converted at 1 to 1 so only AUD$1050 in our account with a real exchange rate it should have been  AUD$1620.

 

The one to one would have been somewhat OK but they went around the ship and change all the pricing so at the AUD rates for purchases was the full USD value. What costs USD$7.00 on the Sun out of Singapore in October was now AUD$10.00 on this cruise, so the line collected  the same profit on sales and services, but stole 40% on the currency conversion.

 

The way I see it Princess stole $570 dollars from us on this cruise. Which I will get back when I removed the daily service fee on my non Australian Cruises. Please don't post back to me how I'm hurting the hard working crew, it is Princess who puts guests in this position of having no choice. 

 

 

So, you decided to screw the employees who have no say nor control over the policy set by Corporate?  Did you at least write Customer Relations and explain your rationale and ask them to cut a check to pay your grats for your non-Australian cruises?

 

[Expat Cruise]

1 hour ago, land lover said:

 

You are not they only one that this happened too...many of us were disappointed....but I still had the ability to cancel my cruises once I discovered how they handled the conversion, didn't you?

 

We really did not have the chance to cancel as it would have costs us money to do so.  Also I did not think Princess would be so stupid as to try to pull this off. No one from the US was happy about this on the ship. 

 

I really think this will come back and hurt Princess as I heard about class action lawsuits planned over this issue.  And yes the Princess Contract for passage does not allow Class Action but if fraud is proven a judge can over ride the terms. And clearly fraud as well as bait and switch is in play here.  When the booking site (Princess.com) that you pay $6000 dollars for the cruise Says $300 dollar on board credit per guest and then changes it to Australian dollars at 1 to 1 it is fraud. As I already said I will just always stop paying the daily service fee now and that will more than make up for what was stolen from me.

[Expat Cruise]

11 minutes ago, steelers36 said:

So, you decided to screw the employees who have no say nor control over the policy set by Corporate?  Did you at least write Customer Relations and explain your rationale and ask them to cut a check to pay your grats for your non-Australian cruises?

 

The way the system is setup the only choice I have is the daily service fee. But it is not the crews money, it all belongs to the company, every single dollar that comes from guests must be turned over to the ship. It is clearly written in the crew contracts. Until guests stand up the polices will not change. We should not even have fake tipping on ships, the daily service fee is not a tip, but the cruise lines account for it as tips to make the most profit they can. 

[DDG 41]

5 hours ago, Expat Cruise said:

I can confirm that Princess screws the guests here. I was on the Sun Princess from March 5 to 23nd. The cruise was purchased on the US Princess site and we had between future credits, OBC, etc  US$1050 dollars worth that they converted at 1 to 1 so only AUD$1050 in our account with a real exchange rate it should have been  AUD$1620.

 

The one to one would have been somewhat OK but they went around the ship and change all the pricing so at the AUD rates for purchases was the full USD value. What costs USD$7.00 on the Sun out of Singapore in October was now AUD$10.00 on this cruise, so the line collected  the same profit on sales and services, but stole 40% on the currency conversion.

 

The way I see it Princess stole $570 dollars from us on this cruise. Which I will get back when I removed the daily service fee on my non Australian Cruises. Please don't post back to me how I'm hurting the hard working crew, it is Princess who puts guests in this position of having no choice. 

 

 

 

5 hours ago, land lover said:

 

You are not they only one that this happened too...many of us were disappointed....but I still had the ability to cancel my cruises once I discovered how they handled the conversion, didn't you?

 

Both of you need to understand that no conversion has taken place all of the OBC that you mention aren't stated anywhere as allocated to a currency such as USD or AUD just $ so they can just apply the $ to the currency of the cruise of which all use $. The reason TA OBC is different is that is given in USD not just $ like the rest of the OBC.

 

Also  @Expat Cruise as you didn't book in the cruise in Australia or New Zealand where they aren't submissive to the "all mighty" America you should pay the DSC as it's part of the their wages which are higher Down Under and Across the Ditch as they have a set wage which is not short cut by ignorant people like you . Princess didn't steal anything as it was never yours in the first place. Also not all things on ships based in Australia/New Zealand prices are higher.

Edited April 12, 2019 by DDG 41

[DDG 41]

3 hours ago, Expat Cruise said:

The way the system is setup the only choice I have is the daily service fee. But it is not the crews money, it all belongs to the company, every single dollar that comes from guests must be turned over to the ship. It is clearly written in the crew contracts. Until guests stand up the polices will not change. We should not even have fake tipping on ships, the daily service fee is not a tip, but the cruise lines account for it as tips to make the most profit they can. 

Evidence? Can you show me a crew contract? 

[Expat Cruise]

2 hours ago, DDG 41 said:

Evidence? Can you show me a crew contract? 

The contracts are 40 plus pages. So cannot post a whole contract but here it the section which covers the Daily Service fee. Crew cannot under the terms ask for tips or payments, the contract also says guests are not required to pay these fees., and any money voluntary paid by guests must be turned into the Discretionary Hotel and Dining Charge Pool. Nowhere in this does it say any payments will be returned to the crew member, like others have said here.  The way I read this if you give your cabin steward  a added $100 tip, it is turn in and goes into the pool. So when someone hands a trip at the first day it must be turn in immediately upon receipt.  

 

Article 4 Wages  E. Discretionary Hotel & Dining Charge Pool

"It has been the Company’s experience that passengers often wish to recognize and reward shipboard staff for working successfully and as a cohesive team to make the cruise experience enjoyable. Accordingly, during each voyage of each vessel a voluntary contribution by each passenger will be suggested for that purpose.

 

Passengers are not obligated to make a contribution or to adhere to the Company’s suggested guidelines for such a contribution.

 

Nonetheless, to the extent passengers follow the suggested contribution guidelines in whole , or deliver their contribution to the Company or directly to any crew member(s), each and every crew member agrees that any such contribution is not his personal wage, but rather a contribution to the Discretionary Hotel and Dining Charge Pool (the “Pool”).

 

Each and every crew member also agrees to deliver any such voluntary passenger contribution he or she receives from any passenger under any circumstances to the Pool immediately upon receipt of the contribution from the passenger. Other than as stated below, the Company is in no way liable to make up any difference between the total of the suggested contributions to the Pool and the actual contributions for any given vessel voyage.

 

The solicitation of compensation of any kind by crew members from passengers is strictly prohibited."

 

 

[DDG 41]

4 minutes ago, Expat Cruise said:

The contracts are 40 plus pages. So cannot post a whole contract but here it the section which covers the Daily Service fee. Crew cannot under the terms ask for tips or payments, the contract also says guests are not required to pay these fees., and any money voluntary paid by guests must be turned into the Discretionary Hotel and Dining Charge Pool. Nowhere in this does it say any payments will be returned to the crew member, like others have said here.  The way I read this if you give your cabin steward  a added $100 tip, it is turn in and goes into the pool. So when someone hands a trip at the first day it must be turn in immediately upon receipt.  

  

Article 4 Wages  E. Discretionary Hotel & Dining Charge Pool

"It has been the Company’s experience that passengers often wish to recognize and reward shipboard staff for working successfully and as a cohesive team to make the cruise experience enjoyable. Accordingly, during each voyage of each vessel a voluntary contribution by each passenger will be suggested for that purpose.

  

Passengers are not obligated to make a contribution or to adhere to the Company’s suggested guidelines for such a contribution.

 

Nonetheless, to the extent passengers follow the suggested contribution guidelines in whole , or deliver their contribution to the Company or directly to any crew member(s), each and every crew member agrees that any such contribution is not his personal wage, but rather a contribution to the Discretionary Hotel and Dining Charge Pool (the “Pool”).

 

Each and every crew member also agrees to deliver any such voluntary passenger contribution he or she receives from any passenger under any circumstances to the Pool immediately upon receipt of the contribution from the passenger. Other than as stated below, the Company is in no way liable to make up any difference between the total of the suggested contributions to the Pool and the actual contributions for any given vessel voyage.

 

The solicitation of compensation of any kind by crew members from passengers is strictly prohibited."

 

 

Thank you. From the extract one can't draw a conclusion as to what happens to that Pool so if you have some other document that explains what happens to the pool, may you please share. 

[Expat Cruise]

1 minute ago, DDG 41 said:

Thank you. From the extract one can't draw a conclusion as to what happens to that Pool so if you have some other document that explains what happens to the pool, may you please share. 

That is the problem with Princess no one will give any information about the pool other than it is split by the crew and other ships expenses. It is clear it does not go back to the person you gave it to, it becomes but of the pool. And since guest remove this fee the pool will never be fully funded even with the extra tips given to crew.

 

So if you have anything proof in writing, like a contract and not someone said that the crew can keep these funds please post that proof. 

[land lover]

 

Onboard Credit : Guests 1 & 2

$200.00 AUD

$200.00 AUD

$300.00 AUD

$300.00 AUD

$300.00 AUD

 

 

finally Princess has got it together and stated in the details of their promo it is AUD, noticed this on a Sea sailing with come back new promo.

[Kenswing]

15 hours ago, Expat Cruise said:

That is the problem with Princess no one will give any information about the pool other than it is split by the crew and other ships expenses. It is clear it does not go back to the person you gave it to, it becomes but of the pool. And since guest remove this fee the pool will never be fully funded even with the extra tips given to crew.

 

So if you have anything proof in writing, like a contract and not someone said that the crew can keep these funds please post that proof. 

There are plenty of threads to discuss tipping.  This isn't one of them. 

[Expat Cruise]

23 minutes ago, Kenswing said:

There are plenty of threads to discuss tipping.  This isn't one of them. 

I'm sorry but the daily service fee is directly related to this threads topic as it is one of the only way to correct the stealing that is being done by Princess with the 1 to 1 conversion rates. Therefore talking about the daily service fee does belong within this thread. 

[DDG 41]

1 hour ago, Expat Cruise said:

Princess with the 1 to 1 conversion rates.

There is no conversion between USD and AUD the OBC is stated in $ so it will be the currency of the ship you are sailing on , which for Princess is $ No Matter What.