Prepay grats from Canada

How many people had effortless experience with pre-paying DSC?

How many people found that NCL messed it up when you prepaid? (This is what I seem to read most often on the boards)

Please share your experience. I've probably been on 10 NCL cruises. Have never prepaid before, but considering it.

And....go...!

I'm from Canada and always prepay. About to head on my third NCL cruise, and I paid my gratuities a couple weeks ago. No hassle. On your edocs it shows that the gratuities are prepaid. Never had an issue.

I'm from Canada and always prepay. About to head on my third NCL cruise, and I paid my gratuities a couple weeks ago. No hassle. On your edocs it shows that the gratuities are prepaid. Never had an issue.

Agreed. We too are from Canada, this will be our 10th NCL cruise. We prepay either through our TA or online via edocs. I print a copy of the confirmation showing they are paid just in case there is a mixup onboard, but never had to use it.

Definitely simplifies the onboard account.

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We usually prepay, however this time we probably won't. When you buy the cruise in Canadian dollars, the exchange rate is locked in. Our is about 35% I think. Since the exchange is so much lower now, I'll just pay in US funds on board. It's not a lot in savings, but it's always better in my pocket that theirs :)

We usually prepay, however this time we probably won't. When you buy the cruise in Canadian dollars, the exchange rate is locked in. Our is about 35% I think. Since the exchange is so much lower now, I'll just pay in US funds on board. It's not a lot in savings, but it's always better in my pocket that theirs :)

Good point. Sometimes the exchange rate benefits us, sometimes it does not.

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Nope not anymore their rate is terrible.

I'm not from Canada, so obviously can't speak for any specific issues relating to Canada, and usually don't bother reading threads that are specific to different countries.

However, I have prepared the DSC on every cruise for over 5 years now, with no problem. I don't recall ever reading of anyone else having had problems when doing so.

As I say, if those comments were all in Canada specific threads then I would probably miss them, but I wasn't aware of this being a problem. I don't see why they would have problems with one specific country though.

It's probably because most people who have issues when they prepay talk about it here.

The vast majority have no issues, so don't even think to mention it.

(Am Canadian, always prepay, never an issue)

It’s currently about a 5% savings by not prepaying or prebuying anything after the banks foreign transaction fee.

I’m going to pay our 12 day gratuity and specialty dining onboard.

I asked my TA a couple weeks ago about prepaying, and the total they gave me equated to about 39%.

No thank's I'll roll the dice and see what the daily rate at the bank is during our sailing.

Nope not anymore their rate is terrible.

Agreed. They use the same garbage rate for shore excursions as well. I understand rates fluctuate, but ~10% above market currency is just silly.

Agreed. They use the same garbage rate for shore excursions as well. I understand rates fluctuate, but ~10% above market currency is just silly.

I think it depends on the rate they were offering when you booked. I just calculated the exchange rate for our next cruise which was booked about 6 months ago, and it’s 74.5 cents. Not bad, but I believe the loonie is around 80 cents right now. I’ll be checking out the bank rate before I prepay this time.

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We got super cheap exchange on US cash in preparation for the trip, so maybe I'll split the difference and use the cash that we got to pay it at the end instead of leaving it on the card. thanks everybody.

I've been on both ends of the NCL exchange rate. One cruise a few years ago, their rate was inexplicably low, so I prepurchased onboard credit and made a few bucks. This year it had swung around, and I didn't really pay attention, so we lost a bit, vs bank rates....moral of story...just pay attention...

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Typically, I have pre-paid gratuities and have not had issues. Like others have mentioned, NCL Canadian rates are very high compared to the current exchange rate so I'm going to pay them with U.S. funds when I'm on the ship.

I prepay when the exchange rate is in my favour. Otherwise I bring US funds to pay balance or use my credit card with its current exchange rate

I prepaid my DSC before the Canadian dollar started to rise. We normally prepay so we don't have worry about it during the cruise. I am waiting to book shore excursions and the dining package until we are onboard because the NCL rate is worse then the current rate.

Ncls exchange rate is about 33% my $100 on board credit shows as being $133 and change cdn.

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