Carnival and Canadian Cruisers re: Exchange Rate

Howdy Ya'll

Just wondering if Carnival offers anything with regards to Canadian cruisers and paying in Canadian dollars, since our exchange rate is garbage right now and all.

I priced out a cruise for my birthday in January, 1500$ USD and with the exchange rate it came to almost just under $2000 for a 7 day oceanview (Going solo tho) not to mention the foreign exchange fees for charging in USD on the Canadian credit card.

Tried using the search function but nothing current, if Carnival does offer anything does it change if we get Vacation protection guarantee from Carnival (One TA I talked to said it did, and another said it didnt)

Happy cruising!

Matt

I am from Nova Scotia, and always pay the American rate on my Canadian credit card, and just suck it up.... It's the price we pay for our free health care I guess. We even thought about possible cancelling our cruise (that leaves in nine short days from today) when the Canadian dollar tanked vs the US Greenback in late August. But decided what the heck, let's go anyway.

One trip a few years ago, the Canadian dollar was trading at just over a dollar (I think it was like 1.05) but with the credit card fee for purchasing a US commodity, we STILL ended up paying more that our American shipmates.

It is what it is.... Somethings are less expensive in Canada because of the exchange rate, sometimes they are more.

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Ontario here so same situation here. We opened an American savings account at our bank. Just recently got a U.S. dollar Visa credit card as well. Now we put a little money in the account each week so less painful. And we save the exchange rate fees when we put it on our U.S. visa card.... every little bit of a savings helps.

We always book our cruises with Air Canada Vacations and pay in Canadian dollars. They also are pretty good with OBC. Our March 2016 cruise came with $150.00 in OBC.

Here is the link: http://vacations.aircanada.com/en/ideas/activities/suggestions/recommendations/promotions/Cruise-with-Air-Canada-Vacations/23574

Ontario here so same situation here. We opened an American savings account at our bank. Just recently got a U.S. dollar Visa credit card as well. Now we put a little money in the account each week so less painful. And we save the exchange rate fees when we put it on our U.S. visa card.... every little bit of a savings helps.

This is exactly what we just did ! One of my pay cheques a month goes into our u.s. account.

We save vacations with my wife's quarterly employee stock purchases through Starbucks and when it pays out, it comes in USD. We took out a BMO USD Mastercard and so we don't lose on exchange in that way.

That was our last cruise

On this cruise, we hit a sale and didn't have enough time to finish clearing our balance off the cruise we just returned from so we used my CAD Amex.

Our $2800 USD bill (Including grats - 5 people) turned into about $3750 CAD when the exchange was over and done.

Yes we are from B.C. and face the same problem. That's why we usually opt for longer cruises - this time we're doing a 10 & 11 day back to back on a journey cruise - only have to pay the air once and we're getting a 21 day cruise. The price was a great deal in US funds, but not so great for us - but we figured what the heck - it's still cheaper than what my sisters are doing - they're doing a one week all inclusive to Punta Cana in Feb. They're paying 1300 cdn each for the week and they live in Toronto. We would have to pay2400 each cdn leaving from Vancouver to stay at their same hotel. That's for one week!! We're paying 1300 us per person for the 21 day cruise - so even with the conversion we're still way ahead and we're not just going to one beach but 13!!

Terry

Ontario here so same situation here. We opened an American savings account at our bank. Just recently got a U.S. dollar Visa credit card as well. Now we put a little money in the account each week so less painful. And we save the exchange rate fees when we put it on our U.S. visa card.... every little bit of a savings helps.

Did you get the US Visa from your Bank in Canada? I have been looking into that but have run into setbacks....MC will not. NCL does have Can Funds if you sail with them. We book Med next October with them (our first cruise with NCL) and was offered exchange rate of 1.10 in Sept. and stays locked in until we cruise. So will put some money in OBC before we cruise and then cash out in USF.So hope the rate is good in October 2016.

Ontario here so same situation here. We opened an American savings account at our bank. Just recently got a U.S. dollar Visa credit card as well. Now we put a little money in the account each week so less painful. And we save the exchange rate fees when we put it on our U.S. visa card.... every little bit of a savings helps.

This is what I do as well. Painful, yes, but very beneficial in the end :)

Our $2,000 Conquest cruise (grats included) came to $2,800 on my cc card. The good news is it's an Avion card, so between my flights and cruise fare, I earned 6,500 points or so. Our onboard purchases will also go on my Visa, so more points and bonus points earned there. Gotta look on the bright side!

Nova Scotia here. The exchange rate does make things ugly, especially combined with the extreme cost of airfare from NS to anywhere hot! But we keep doing the cruise thing. We have a Chase Marriott Rewards credit card which doesn't charge foreign exchange rates, plus we received 50 000 rewards points. Used 10 000 to pay for a hotel 20 min. away from the airport and 15 from cruise port to save some money there as well. We are limited to March Break for now which makes things even more expensive.

so the answer is,

Carnival offers nothing as incentives to Canadians to attract against the low CAD dollar and exchange.

They just don't need us when our u.s. friends are filling ships and not suffering at all from any exchange and some of us Canadians are willing to pay a 30 percent premium to cruise Carnival.

Us, we have a US dollar account, and the Marriott Card, which has no foreign transaction fee and earns points and free night per year. The points and free nights covers our hotel rooms pre and post cruise.

We booked in Canadian dollars thru carnival was 31 on the dollar back in june

Like you it hurts. We always book in CND thru carnival on our Canadian mastercard. We do have a U.S account and U.S mastercard but don't want to use up my US cash that we bought at par 3 yrs ago. That's for all the extras that can't be paid for before cruises. This yr got our Airfare cheap flying Ottawa to Miami day before then next day flying to San Juan for cruise and flying home from New Orleans three days after for $504 each Canadian funds, we can't fly out west to visit our daughter for this amount lol Hotel in Miami 70 Canadian (sister works for choice) prepaid and three 3 nights in New Orleans $237 Canadian funds prepaid. Miami rental car $34 for the time we are in Miami. Our cruise is Dream Journey 10 day was $1697.16 balcony prepaid grats and taxes all in when converted to Canadian paid 2223.28 with the $100 US OBC. I was hoping they would run a special for Canadians so I could book for next January but will have to see.

I heard the Sears MC does not charge the extra bank exchange fee so was using that. Just recently received a phone call and a letter that the Sears MC would be no more. Today in the mail I received a Scotiabank MC to take the place of the Sears MC....same credit card number and can use same pin. I carefully read the info with it and it says "We will not charge you any additional foreign currency conversion charge".

Thought it might be of interest to some of you.

Going on a Carnival cruise in February with friends and exchange rate is 32% right now so not much point in paying anything ahead.

But going on an NCL cruise in March with hubby and they are still only charging 10% exchange fee.

I see on here that Royal is charging 30%. Last summer cruised on Royal and it was much lower...around 12% I believe.

just book on the magic

booked online in $US, used marriott visa which has no foreign exchange fees, earned marriott points, but the 75 cents on the dollar still really hurts.

I guess the bottom line is that if we want to cruise we just have to bite the bullet and pay the exchange. We came home from our last cruise with US funds left over and received a US check for fare and airfare refunds from our ill fated liberty cruise. Sadly we had to change the money back to Canadian to put on our MC to pay for our next cruise.

A couple of cruises back we actually made money as our $ was worth more than theirs. Perhaps some day it will be again.

I have an americian credit card through Bmo put everything but 50 dollars on it the 50 dollars I put on my Bmo elite card that way my travel and medical insurance is totally covered. I save US money I buy it at a broker and put it into my US bank account. I travel with air miles so just pay taxes. I own Carnival and royal Caribbean stock so I get enough OBV to help offset costs onboard. I am a solo traveller and that part SUCKs...lol not giving up my travels

Yes, you can book your Carnival cruise in Canadian dollars if you book with a Canadian travel agent! We are allowed to book in either Canadian or American dollars. If you book in Canadian dollars, you can now also receive the equivalent rate as the early saver with price protection. PM for more info

Well obviously nobody really answered your question. I am from Toronto area and also booked in US dollars. I have to pay next month the balance which is huge but again we are cruising and will not stop me. It would be nice for carnival to offer us Canadians dollar at par.... Hell I would book two more then.:):):):)

Well obviously nobody really answered your question. I am from Toronto area and also booked in US dollars. I have to pay next month the balance which is huge but again we are cruising and will not stop me. It would be nice for carnival to offer us Canadians dollar at par.... Hell I would book two more then.:):):):)

that would be amazing if they would...hopefully they will feel sorry for us someday..

I also have an american BM card, and if I use i , my fees are dropped, and I also have my medical on there...so all is good

Look at it this way ..the dollar sucks because the price of oil sucks...that said every time you fill up your saving $10 to $20, Multiply by how many times you fill up in a year and there's the extra $500 for your cruise.

Did you get the US Visa from your Bank in Canada? I have been looking into that but have run into setbacks....MC will not. NCL does have Can Funds if you sail with them. We book Med next October with them (our first cruise with NCL) and was offered exchange rate of 1.10 in Sept. and stays locked in until we cruise. So will put some money in OBC before we cruise and then cash out in USF.So hope the rate is good in October 2016.

We did the same thing when on NCL last summer. We got a 7% exchange rate.

Wish carnival helped us a bit too.

so the answer is,

 

Carnival offers nothing as incentives to Canadians to attract against the low CAD dollar and exchange.

 

They just don't need us when our u.s. friends are filling ships and not suffering at all from any exchange and some of us Canadians are willing to pay a 30 percent premium to cruise Carnival.

 

Us, we have a US dollar account, and the Marriott Card, which has no foreign transaction fee and earns points and free night per year. The points and free nights covers our hotel rooms pre and post cruise.

Check this out, we AMERICANS...take a bath when we go to Great Britian....1.60 to the dollar or to Europe with the Euro....So everbody takes a hit sometimes..

Long Live Canada and the USA

Mike

Princess alows you to pay in Canadian funds for everything up until your on the ship. Once on the ship everything is in US dollars. Not sure what there charging now, but I have 3 cruises booked and the rate is as low as 10% on one of them to 25% on the last one booked. This rate does not change, so adding tips paid and extra credit saves money.

Time for us Americans close to the border to start looking at an all-inclusive in the Caribbean for our winter trip. Will be quite a savings! We did this when the Canadian dollar was low about 10 years ago and had a fabulous time.

The poor Canadian dollar is most of the reason we will not be cruising again until it improves. :( So bummed, but we pay so much already for airfare from where I live, albeit in Canadian funds, that having to tack on another 30-35% to the vacay cost really sucks. But that 30-35% would apply to everything paid to Carnival - the cruise fare, the excursions, the drinks, onboard purchases, casino....) as well as anything spent on the Caribbean islands, which, from my experience, all charge in U.S. funds.

Ouch. Big Ouch.