How are you affected by the USD/CDN Rate - Canadian Cruisers?

We went on our first cruise last Dec on Carnival Freedom and paid about $2500 CDN for a family of 4 in a Balcony room.

Looking at another cruise for this December as we are really missing it but the exchange rates are a killer for us :(

When paying by CC, the rates are 1.3. So a cruise priced at say $3000 USD comes out to $3900 for us?

What are Canadians doing to save on this? Any suggestions?

 

What are Canadians doing to save on this? Any suggestions?

We booked on a cruise for December out of Baltimore. It's only an eight hour drive from Toronto and what we save on airfare is far greater than what we'd lose due to the exchange rate.

We booked on a cruise for December out of Baltimore. It's only an eight hour drive from Toronto and what we save on airfare is far greater than what we'd lose due to the exchange rate.

Thanks for the input. I only see one cruise out of Baltimore for Dec...

We were going to book a cruise for the winter, but saw that the Canadian Dollar was dropping like a rock.

This time we opted for an all-inclusive in Cuba, which the price was in Canadian Dollars. Plus a trip to Cuba is relatively inexpensive compared to paying for a cruise in U.S. Dollars.

The money that we had left over from our Cuban trip will hopefully go toward our next cruise, as long as the exchange rates improve.

I wish Carnival would do what Norwegian does. If you ask to pay in Canadian dollars they use their exchange rate which is a lot better. When I booked in February it was 11%. You can also prepay gratuities and buy on board credit at the same rate as you booked. Plus free beverage package!

We have a b2b booked for Sept. Fortunatly we had our cruise and air paid for before the $ went bust. Still we are going to have to do some belt tightening for extra expenses like excursions and shopping. Still super excited about going. Only hoping that we the $ will climb before we try to book another. We wish we could do a good Caribbean cruise out of Boston to save the airfare.

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I'm hoping the exchange rate levels out before our cruise. It's putting quite a bite into my numbers right now and my air isn't booked yet. I agree with a decent cruise from Boston. The only interesting ones (to me anyway) to the Caribbean are repo cruises so you would have to book one-way from New Orleans to Boston. (Should add that the exchange issue is the reason why I have not even entertained our usual WDW vacation this year).

I wish Carnival would do what Norwegian does. If you ask to pay in Canadian dollars they use their exchange rate which is a lot better. When I booked in February it was 11%. You can also prepay gratuities and buy on board credit at the same rate as you booked. Plus free beverage package!

They do. We booked our upcoming cruise about 6-7 weeks ago in CAD. The exchange rate was better, but not super better.

We just paid the difference to upgrade to a balcony and they charged that in CAD as well. That was about one week ago.

We were planning on sailing out of a port we could drive to so we could save on flights, but we found the cruises often cost a little more or just did not have what we were after. We ended up getting a good price on flights even with the exchange. Flying out of Detroit of course, Toronto is ridiculous.

I wanted to add that you really have to watch the cruises out of NYC as well. We stayed two nights prior to our October cruise and the hotel was $600. That is with stalking hotels dot com for great prices. We had planned on driving as well until I saw that it was $300 to park out the Manhattan terminal for the week. Factor that in with the price of gas, and we were better off flying from Buffalo to La Guardia if you can believe it. The exchange rate was not nearly that bad when we did out first cruise.

I hope it does not stay like this for much longer...:(

Thanks for the input. I only see one cruise out of Baltimore for Dec...

Carnival Pride has sailings on Dec 6, 13, 20, and 26 out of Baltimore. All with similar itineraries though. Options are somewhat limited for Canadians who want to cruise while avoiding both airfare and a multi-day drive. We picked based on departure port rather than itinerary.

They do. We booked our upcoming cruise about 6-7 weeks ago in CAD. The exchange rate was better, but not super better.

 

We just paid the difference to upgrade to a balcony and they charged that in CAD as well. That was about one week ago.

 

We were planning on sailing out of a port we could drive to so we could save on flights, but we found the cruises often cost a little more or just did not have what we were after. We ended up getting a good price on flights even with the exchange. Flying out of Detroit of course, Toronto is ridiculous.

Did you book directly with Carnival or a TA?

Did you book directly with Carnival or a TA?

We booked directly with Carnival on the phone.

We booked directly with Carnival on the phone.

Thanks! Last time I asked them they said no. Do you know the rate they charged?

Hubby says it was around 1.25 but that was over a month ago now. If I am allowed to post on here I can give you the name and number of the Carnival rep we used to book in CAD. No problems at all.

If you pay in Canadian are they pricing your cruise in Canadian or just giving you an exchange rate for the payment you are making.

I booked with reduced deposit for 2016. I am hoping exchange rates are better before I have to pay anymore. I book 4 of us in the one room and I booked a good rate. We are sailing an 8 day Miami on the Breeze, there was a 9 day NYC on the Sunshine for almost the same dates but the cruise was double the price for NYC. My flights to Miami Vs NYC are not that different. I fly from Newfoundland and there is no other option of driving or driving to a US airport that would make things better - but I do use various airline point programs to help with that. I just keep other expenditures to a minimum.

Just kept watching and when Carnival had a Balcony Cabin at an Ocean view price I pulled the trigger...the money saved was equal to the exchange plus had some WestJet points and A $99 companion flight so after a winter we said we were not going south we have a 5 day cruise this month with flights and balcony cabin plus FTTF for around $1800 Canadian....

Like others said, just watch the deals and definitely the flights out of Buffalo or Detroit, even with the drive & exchange rate difference offer huge savings.

I had become so used to the dollar being at par, definitely a step back in time having to think about the difference now.

Like everything else, some things still are reasonable even with the exchange and others, well ... inside on the Liberty with 2 in cabin, girls trip with 3 in the cabin in Sep (we upgraded to balcony with UBP on NCL) due to pricing. LOL I need to have my gambling money, priorities you know!

Our dollar seems to be continuing to drop!!

I wish we would have paid off the balance of our Feb/2016 cruise when we booked months ago.

We have at least booked and paid for our flights to San Juan.

Honestly, I'm just absorbing the difference. It sucks but I'm not going to stop cruising. I make a few more cut backs at home (subbed a once a week take out pizza for canned soup, cut back on Timmy's to only once a day and the swimsuit I bought 3 years ago is just going to have to make it another year).

Make sure you check out your credit cards and what they charge for foreign currency conversion. I have one (Sears Chase MasterCard) that has NO foreign currency conversion, I have a VISA that charges 2.5% on purchases and 2.5% on refunds, and my American Express charges 5% on purchases but 0% on refunds. Now I always use my MC for US purchases, including the cruises that I pay for in US dollars (my Celebrity cruise was in CDN so I used my AMEX for that one). My back up travel card is my VISA (I always carry my main card and then a second one for emergencies or if there's a problem).

Also, check out any rewards you've been collecting. While you may not use them for travel, you can use them for other costs. For example, I collect airmiles through my AMEX. I checked my account the other day and have almost 3000 of them. $20 of groceries at Metro or $20 worth of stuff from the drug store is 95 points. I can use the airmiles for stuff I buy everyday and then put my regular budget into my vacation fund. Christmas will also be heavily purchased through the Sears online site - since that's what I get on my Sears MasterCard, I plan to spend my points on presents instead of paying out of pocket. More money into the vacation fund!

 

Make sure you check out your credit cards and what they charge for foreign currency conversion. I have one (Sears Chase MasterCard) that has NO foreign currency conversion, I have a VISA that charges 2.5% on purchases and 2.5% on refunds, and my American Express charges 5% on purchases but 0% on refunds. Now I always use my MC for US purchases, including the cruises that I pay for in US dollars (my Celebrity cruise was in CDN so I used my AMEX for that one). My back up travel card is my VISA (I always carry my main card and then a second one for emergencies or if there's a problem).

 

Also, check out any rewards you've been collecting. While you may not use them for travel, you can use them for other costs. For example, I collect airmiles through my AMEX. I checked my account the other day and have almost 3000 of them. $20 of groceries at Metro or $20 worth of stuff from the drug store is 95 points. I can use the airmiles for stuff I buy everyday and then put my regular budget into my vacation fund. Christmas will also be heavily purchased through the Sears online site - since that's what I get on my Sears MasterCard, I plan to spend my points on presents instead of paying out of pocket. More money into the vacation fund!

Sears MC is no more which I'm sure those of you who have one know. But today I received my replacement card for it which is a Scotiabank MC and it says very clearly "We will not charge you any additional foreign currency conversion charge." so we're still good.

Don't forget as well that if you use a Scotiabank Gold Amex card you are covered for medical, cancellation, delay, etc. for 15 days (10 days for seniors). Worth the annual fee if you are out of the country several times in a year.

I wish Carnival would do what Norwegian does. If you ask to pay in Canadian dollars they use their exchange rate which is a lot better. When I booked in February it was 11%. You can also prepay gratuities and buy on board credit at the same rate as you booked. Plus free beverage package!

I have one booked with NCL for March and when I booked that was the exchange rate. Then a friend invited me on a Carnival cruise for Feb. and their exchange rate is 32%. Last August went on a Royal Caribbean B2B cruise and at the time I booked they had a 10% exchange rate so I loaded up with OBC, paid gratuities, booked Giovanni's, everything I could do and came out of the B2B with a lot of credit which was given to me in US$.

We were going to book a cruise for the winter, but saw that the Canadian Dollar was dropping like a rock.

 

This time we opted for an all-inclusive in Cuba, which the price was in Canadian Dollars. Plus a trip to Cuba is relatively inexpensive compared to paying for a cruise in U.S. Dollars.

 

The money that we had left over from our Cuban trip will hopefully go toward our next cruise, as long as the exchange rates improve.

This is what we are looking at right now. Cuba is a lot cheaper than cruising when you factor in the flight costs. So it will be a week on the beach for us. At least we can watch the cruise ships sail by.

Nothing that we can do about the Canadian $. BUT, Princess charging 35% exchange, is, IMO, little short of extortion!

john

Sears MC is no more which I'm sure those of you who have one know. But today I received my replacement card for it which is a Scotiabank MC and it says very clearly "We will not charge you any additional foreign currency conversion charge." so we're still good.

 

Did they send it automatically or do you need to re apply ??

I used TD USD VISA for US purchases & just buy USD when the rate is good