Princess Onboard Credit & Spending Onboard Are Both In AUD

[pompeii]

Does anyone know how refundable obc works?  For cruises in USD, we get a check in the mail a few weeks later in USD.  We'll be taking two cruises later this year with AUD as the onboard currency.  Will we receive a check like normal in USD but subject to the exchange rate?  Never faced this before...

[Aus Traveller]

2 hours ago, pompeii said:

Does anyone know how refundable obc works?  For cruises in USD, we get a check in the mail a few weeks later in USD.  We'll be taking two cruises later this year with AUD as the onboard currency.  Will we receive a check like normal in USD but subject to the exchange rate?  Never faced this before...

We had refundable credit on two Princess cruises this year. A couple of weeks after each cruise I received an email from 'HSBC Payment Service Team' advising that the amount due would be deposited into my nominated bank account. The email indicates that this is a bank registered in England. I had to supply the details, the BSB of my bank and my account number. The full amount appeared in my account a few days later.

 

I have to mention that because I had never heard of the HSBC Bank, I was a bit suspicious of the first email from them. In the past we had also received a refund cheque from Princess, but I read the email carefully and decided it was legitimate.

[lyndarra]

On HAL I paid by credit card and refund was to my CC account.

[lyndarra]

48 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

We had refundable credit on two Princess cruises this year. A couple of weeks after each cruise I received an email from 'HSBC Payment Service Team' advising that the amount due would be deposited into my nominated bank account. The email indicates that this is a bank registered in England. I had to supply the details, the BSB of my bank and my account number. The full amount appeared in my account a few days later.

 

I have to mention that because I had never heard of the HSBC Bank, I was a bit suspicious of the first email from them. In the past we had also received a refund cheque from Princess, but I read the email carefully and decided it was legitimate.

I first used that bank in Singapore to convert currency. In those days it was known as the Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation.

[Jean C]

Go into your Cruise Personaliser and select "Account" and then the relevant cruise (if you have more than one booked). There will be a field for pre-paying gratuities IF they are payable on your particular booking. If gratuities aren't payable then there will be no pre-pay field.

[cruiser3775]

3 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

I have to mention that because I had never heard of the HSBC Bank, I was a bit suspicious of the first email from them.

HSBC (HongKong & Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a huge bank with US$2.953 trillion in capital.

It is also the largest bank in Europe by total assets, and they have branches all over the world. They also offer a Mastercard debit card with no foreign exchange fees, which I find very useful when travelling.

[Aus Traveller]

53 minutes ago, cruiser3775 said:

HSBC (HongKong & Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a huge bank with US$2.953 trillion in capital.

It is also the largest bank in Europe by total assets, and they have branches all over the world. They also offer a Mastercard debit card with no foreign exchange fees, which I find very useful when travelling.

I have heard of the Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corp, but I didn't think of that company when I received an email from HSBC. I probably should have, but it didn't come to mind at the time.

[Thrak]

We are booked for a 32 day B2B2B in October/November - 14 days,4 days, 14 days. Our Shareholder and FCD OBC was applied as AUD in a 1:1 change. It doesn't make us happy but it is spelled out on the forms so nothing to gripe about there. I do have a couple of questions regarding currency though.

 

1. If I purchase OBC using USD what sort of exchange rate does Princess use? For instance if I spend $100 USD how much AUD OBC will I end up with?

 

2. If I put money from my account into a slot machine does the machine work in AUD or USD? If I cash out my winnings (Hah! - more likely the little bit I didn't lose) from the Casino what currency will I receive?

[OzKiwiJJ]

2 hours ago, Thrak said:

We are booked for a 32 day B2B2B in October/November - 14 days,4 days, 14 days. Our Shareholder and FCD OBC was applied as AUD in a 1:1 change. It doesn't make us happy but it is spelled out on the forms so nothing to gripe about there. I do have a couple of questions regarding currency though.

 

1. If I purchase OBC using USD what sort of exchange rate does Princess use? For instance if I spend $100 USD how much AUD OBC will I end up with?

 

2. If I put money from my account into a slot machine does the machine work in AUD or USD? If I cash out my winnings (Hah! - more likely the little bit I didn't lose) from the Casino what currency will I receive?

1. If you can purchase OBC in USD for those cruises I'm fairly certain you will get whatever exchange rate Princess was using at the time you booked those cruises. There was a lot of discussion here a few years back about how the Princess exchange rates worked and we can to the conclusion that the rate was locked in at time of booking. I checked a couple of my booked cruises and the earliest booked one is showing the local equivalent of US$100 as AU$135, the other which was booked more recently is showing it as AU$145. However since you may only see the USD amount you won't actually know what the exchange rate was until you see it on your onboard account. We only see the AUD amounts but experience has shown the various amounts equal US $25, $50  and $100.

 

2. The casino operates in the onboard currency so you will receive AUD if you cash out.

[Aus Traveller]

2 hours ago, Thrak said:

We are booked for a 32 day B2B2B in October/November - 14 days,4 days, 14 days. Our Shareholder and FCD OBC was applied as AUD in a 1:1 change. It doesn't make us happy but it is spelled out on the forms so nothing to gripe about there. I do have a couple of questions regarding currency though.

 

1. If I purchase OBC using USD what sort of exchange rate does Princess use? For instance if I spend $100 USD how much AUD OBC will I end up with?

 

2. If I put money from my account into a slot machine does the machine work in AUD or USD? If I cash out my winnings (Hah! - more likely the little bit I didn't lose) from the Casino what currency will I receive?

I suggest you don't purchase OBC in US$ because you can't be sure what exchange rate Princess will use. I feel it would be better to keep control of your money and pay any debit balance on your account at the end using a credit card.

 

As Julie said, the Casino works in AUD. You can transfer funds from your on-board account (that is AUD) and when you cash out, it will be in AUD.

[BRANDEE]

4 hours ago, Thrak said:

We are booked for a 32 day B2B2B in October/November - 14 days,4 days, 14 days. Our Shareholder and FCD OBC was applied as AUD in a 1:1 change. It doesn't make us happy but it is spelled out on the forms so nothing to gripe about there. I do have a couple of questions regarding currency though.

 

1. If I purchase OBC using USD what sort of exchange rate does Princess use? For instance if I spend $100 USD how much AUD OBC will I end up with?

 

2. If I put money from my account into a slot machine does the machine work in AUD or USD? If I cash out my winnings (Hah! - more likely the little bit I didn't lose) from the Casino what currency will I receive?

All OBC on your Australian cruise will be in AUD.  So if you have $250 US military credit  it becomes $250 AUD.  The same goes for all OBC a 1:1 ratio. 

All casino machines and tables are in AUD.  If you take $100AUD from your room credit it goes into the machine as $100AUD and cashed out as AUD(if you are lucky to win) and when you get a check from Princess for unused returnable credit $100AUD is sent to you for about $67 US (the actual rate for the day the check is issued).  I am not sure if you can put USD into the machines on board. But your payout will be AUD.

Regarding gratuities.  Your $15US per day rate will be billed to your account as $22.52AUD per day not $15AUD. (again the rate at the time your bill is calculated) Not 1:1 on gratuities

Regarding purchasing your own OBC.  The rate is what your charge card company/bank issues which should be determined by the going rate the day you purchase.

Regarding ship tours .Prices will be in AUD. They will be deducted from your OBC 1:1  If you need to use your charge card for the tours they are converted by the banks rates of conversion.  

I asked my travel agent and also called Princess, no one was completely sure.....I got my answers when on board!!

[Thrak]

As we are booked with Princess Plus the gratuities become a moot point. If we were booked with the basic fare we might do as suggested by some and remove the auto gratuities as they won't be shared with the crew on our cruise(s). As they are baked into the cost they will apparently go to folks in other regions.

 

Thanks for the info regarding the exchange rate used by Princess (weird) and the casino info. I generally only gamble a little using a slot machine. On our last cruise I decided I was going to take my remaining money and run so I hit the button one more time. Unfortunately I failed to hit the "Max Bet" button for that final spin. Sigh... I've never seen three 7's line up on my machine before. D'Oh!

[MicCanberra]

It seems the Aud to Usd ratio negatively affects Us citizens as well as Aussies. 

[Thrak]

11 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

It seems the Aud to Usd ratio negatively affects Us citizens as well as Aussies. 

 

Aussies and also Canadians. Princess recently ran a "Canadian at Par" promo. Do they ever give the Aussies a break?

 

Also curious how the Shareholder and FCD credit works for Aussies who book out of the US. Does the AUD OBC get converted to USD?

Edited April 14, 2023 by Thrak

[MicCanberra]

2 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Aussies and also Canadians. Princess recently ran a "Canadian at Par" promo. Do they ever give the Aussies a break?

 

Also curious how the Shareholder and FCD credit works for Aussies who book out of the US. Does the AUD OBC get converted to USD?

If you have a ship sailing out of Australia, it is always Aud on board, ans as such,  if we book an overseas cruise it is in Usd on board. The OBC is quoted in whatever currency  is being used for that cruise.

[OzKiwiJJ]

5 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Aussies and also Canadians. Princess recently ran a "Canadian at Par" promo. Do they ever give the Aussies a break?

 

Also curious how the Shareholder and FCD credit works for Aussies who book out of the US. Does the AUD OBC get converted to USD?

We're doing a cruise around Japan in November. Bought in AUD, using an FCD purchased in AUD, but the OBCs we get will be in USD. 😊

[BRANDEE]

1 hour ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

We're doing a cruise around Japan in November. Bought in AUD, using an FCD purchased in AUD, but the OBCs we get will be in USD. 😊

Will your OBC be 1:1 ratio.  That will be great!  

Hi Julie,  Hope all is well with you and family'  Glad to see my Aussie friends catching up with cruising.  Just finished our first Transatlantic and loved it.  So smooth..we were very lucky.  I'm not sure how the cruise prices in Australia are for next year, but prices have gone sky high here in US. Trying to make up all Covid lost revenue now!  We are booked for next year but will seriously consider going or not.  Got to convince my husband these are the "new" prices and they are here to stay.

Take care and be well and Happy Sailing!!

 

Chris aka Brandee

[OzKiwiJJ]

42 minutes ago, BRANDEE said:

Will your OBC be 1:1 ratio.  That will be great!  

Hi Julie,  Hope all is well with you and family'  Glad to see my Aussie friends catching up with cruising.  Just finished our first Transatlantic and loved it.  So smooth..we were very lucky.  I'm not sure how the cruise prices in Australia are for next year, but prices have gone sky high here in US. Trying to make up all Covid lost revenue now!  We are booked for next year but will seriously consider going or not.  Got to convince my husband these are the "new" prices and they are here to stay.

Take care and be well and Happy Sailing!!

 

Chris aka Brandee

Yes, I believe it will be 1:1, it certainly was in 2017 when we did a Med cruise. 

 

Great to hear from you, Chris. Have you fully recovered from the Long Covid effects?

 

Princess fares were very low for the first six months of the restart here, which was from June last year. I guess they wanted to entice people back to cruising. We got a bit carried away and ended up doing six cruises last year. Oops! I think the fares are on the increase now but not too outrageously so far. However Princess is doing some very silly things (in my opinion) that is devaluing the experience. Onboard costs for things like wines have gone up but the by-the-glass wines are cheap, bottom of the range wines which means that on some of them the Princess mark-up is more than 1000% of the retail price. I guess Princess thinks their guests are stupid! 

 

I did catch Covid on one of the cruises we did last year but it was very mild. Princess put me on anti-virals so I recovered very quickly. In our region Princess covers all medical costs, plus gives refunds as FCC for each day in isolation. We had wonderful care and service onboard, and our Kindles were well-stocked so we were able to just relax, and recover in my case - Rolf never caught it despite being isolated in the same cabin.

 

Where are you planning on cruising next year? We're doing a couple of Japan cruises this November - one with Princess and the second with Regent Seven Seas which ends in Bangkok. Next year we're doing the Princess Australian world cruise. I've always dreamed of doing a world cruise so we decided we'd better do it before we get too old to enjoy it properly.

 

Take care, have fun, and keep on cruising. 

[BRANDEE]

22 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Yes, I believe it will be 1:1, it certainly was in 2017 when we did a Med cruise. 

 

Great to hear from you, Chris. Have you fully recovered from the Long Covid effects?

 

Princess fares were very low for the first six months of the restart here, which was from June last year. I guess they wanted to entice people back to cruising. We got a bit carried away and ended up doing six cruises last year. Oops! I think the fares are on the increase now but not too outrageously so far. However Princess is doing some very silly things (in my opinion) that is devaluing the experience. Onboard costs for things like wines have gone up but the by-the-glass wines are cheap, bottom of the range wines which means that on some of them the Princess mark-up is more than 1000% of the retail price. I guess Princess thinks their guests are stupid! 

 

I did catch Covid on one of the cruises we did last year but it was very mild. Princess put me on anti-virals so I recovered very quickly. In our region Princess covers all medical costs, plus gives refunds as FCC for each day in isolation. We had wonderful care and service onboard, and our Kindles were well-stocked so we were able to just relax, and recover in my case - Rolf never caught it despite being isolated in the same cabin.

 

Where are you planning on cruising next year? We're doing a couple of Japan cruises this November - one with Princess and the second with Regent Seven Seas which ends in Bangkok. Next year we're doing the Princess Australian world cruise. I've always dreamed of doing a world cruise so we decided we'd better do it before we get too old to enjoy it properly.

 

Take care, have fun, and keep on cruising. 

 

 

Thanks Julie for asking about my long term fatigue.. The sudden fatigue is still with me but the incidents are less often.  We just returned from a five week vacation of two cruises and land trip and had only two severe incidents of fatigue.  One time I got up and went to  breakfast ..got fatigued eating oatmeal  (my face almost went into the bowl of porridge)..just about got back to our cabin (I was actually crying at this point thinking I just had to lay down in the hall) and went back to sleep for two /three hours.  Twice a month is fine with me, but just concerned it will happen on the long drive to my son's house when alone. It happens so quickly I'm worried about having time to pull over and find a safe spot to sleep for a few hours.  Crazy!!

 

We are booked for a 20 day Caribbean cruise in March.  Paying almost 40% more for a lesser category cabin than this year. I hate the expression" it is what it is" but we both know prices will not go down.  Once the cruise companies see people will pay anything for a cruise.. they will jump for joy and charge more.

 

We cruised Princess and the first one (Caribbean on the Emerald) saw a tremendous decline in the quality of food and spirits. Our waiters acknowledged that the choices of meat and fish were not quality cuts.  On the menu was klingklip twice the first week. It is in the family of eel.  We did not get quality food until the last 4 days.  The wine by the glass was terrible. I do not judge all wine by the price of a bottle but the wine they served for $14 a glass was from a $4.99 bottle. Top of the line spirits were not available even to pay for.  Our second cruise on the Sky which was a transatlantic had better food choices, quality fish and slightly better wine by the glass. Yes the cuts are noticeable by seasoned cruisers.

 

We only do cruising in March. Something we started 24 years ago with an additional cruise here and there with our big group of friends. I love cruising and would love to do a world cruise but that is not on my husband's bucket list.  So far, 30 days is the limit on a ship for him.  We also do the month of October in Aruba..total relaxing (30 day limit there, too).  A few years ago we started doing road trips (May and September) around the US.  Last September we did Canada (2nd time)  Leaving for another long road trip to the west with friends mid May.  Love the road trips but nothing like a cruise where you unpack once. But I will admit there are so many beautiful places to see in my own country. Aiming for all 50 states. At the halfway mark!

 

Glad you had an easy time with covid. Princess had passengers confined in their own cabins, but flu was more a concern. This time we saw a total lack of encouraging passengers to wash hands before using buffet. More was done pre covid.

 

Enjoy your upcoming cruises.  Stay healthy!  Keep in touch!

 

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, BRANDEE said:

 

 

Thanks Julie for asking about my long term fatigue.. The sudden fatigue is still with me but the incidents are less often.  We just returned from a five week vacation of two cruises and land trip and had only two severe incidents of fatigue.  One time I got up and went to  breakfast ..got fatigued eating oatmeal  (my face almost went into the bowl of porridge)..just about got back to our cabin (I was actually crying at this point thinking I just had to lay down in the hall) and went back to sleep for two /three hours.  Twice a month is fine with me, but just concerned it will happen on the long drive to my son's house when alone. It happens so quickly I'm worried about having time to pull over and find a safe spot to sleep for a few hours.  Crazy!!

 

We are booked for a 20 day Caribbean cruise in March.  Paying almost 40% more for a lesser category cabin than this year. I hate the expression" it is what it is" but we both know prices will not go down.  Once the cruise companies see people will pay anything for a cruise.. they will jump for joy and charge more.

 

We cruised Princess and the first one (Caribbean on the Emerald) saw a tremendous decline in the quality of food and spirits. Our waiters acknowledged that the choices of meat and fish were not quality cuts.  On the menu was klingklip twice the first week. It is in the family of eel.  We did not get quality food until the last 4 days.  The wine by the glass was terrible. I do not judge all wine by the price of a bottle but the wine they served for $14 a glass was from a $4.99 bottle. Top of the line spirits were not available even to pay for.  Our second cruise on the Sky which was a transatlantic had better food choices, quality fish and slightly better wine by the glass. Yes the cuts are noticeable by seasoned cruisers.

 

We only do cruising in March. Something we started 24 years ago with an additional cruise here and there with our big group of friends. I love cruising and would love to do a world cruise but that is not on my husband's bucket list.  So far, 30 days is the limit on a ship for him.  We also do the month of October in Aruba..total relaxing (30 day limit there, too).  A few years ago we started doing road trips (May and September) around the US.  Last September we did Canada (2nd time)  Leaving for another long road trip to the west with friends mid May.  Love the road trips but nothing like a cruise where you unpack once. But I will admit there are so many beautiful places to see in my own country. Aiming for all 50 states. At the halfway mark!

 

Glad you had an easy time with covid. Princess had passengers confined in their own cabins, but flu was more a concern. This time we saw a total lack of encouraging passengers to wash hands before using buffet. More was done pre covid.

 

Enjoy your upcoming cruises.  Stay healthy!  Keep in touch!

 

 

Wow! You're still getting those fatigue episodes three years later but I'm glad to hear the frequency is lessening. That wascthebone thing I was scared of when I caught Covid but luckily I recovered quickly. 

 

Our first few cruises last year were on Coral Princess, bouncing around the Australian coast, including a full Round Australia cruise (28 nights). The quality of food on those cruises was very good but, yes, there were some noticeable cutbacks - padding out the escargot with mushroom was very naughty! However they seemed to have an ample supply of good quality lamb cutlets which I made the most of - they are so expensive in Australia they've become a rare treat. 

 

I'd noticed even before Covid hit that the quality of the food on Princess ships varied ship to ship, presumably depending on how good the Executive Chef was. The best was 2019 on Sea Princess. We only had one cruise with really poor quality food but luckily it was our second cruise with Princess, not our first, so we risked a third cruise and that was good quality. 

 

We did one cruise with Holland America over Christmas and the food on that was very disappointing. 

[Kellyansapansa]

21 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Aussies and also Canadians. Princess recently ran a "Canadian at Par" promo. Do they ever give the Aussies a break?

 

Also curious how the Shareholder and FCD credit works for Aussies who book out of the US. Does the AUD OBC get converted to USD?

No, us Aussies seem to miss out on a lot of special deals. 😔

 

We have booked a Singapore round trip and our FCD OBC has been applied in $USD.