Canadian Pricing - Again !!

[toberman]

I know this comes up every year (several times) but... wondering when will the cruise industry get with the times and start pricing more in line with actual exchange rates?? I've been watching a 10 day cruise in Nov this year and am finding that Princess is publishing prices in Cdn $ that are aprx 15% above US prices. Yet the exchange rate today is 3.5%. The pundits are speculating we will be at par very soon.

Not only that - the prices for this year are nearly 20% higher than I paid in 2009!! Maybe I got a great deal last year, but doubt it. Thinking they may be building in the fuel supplement in advance??

I understand that they can't publish brochures in advance that would reflect the actual exchange rates, but I'm doing it on-line. Would think they could update their prices a little more timelier. Obviously going to wait to see what happens to the pricing but.... how long before I decide on a land holiday ??

Really feel sorry for the Aussies, Brits, Kiwis.

[paul929207]

Princess is protecting itself from adverse swings in the exchange rates. Your cruise is 10 months away. No one knows where the rate will be then.

[Toto2Kansas]

I agree with Paul on this one. Even if you deposited your cruise today, your final payment would not be made for many months, so they are just protecting their pricing. The exchange rates is crazy anymore, and no one can predict what it will do in another six months.

Best way to handle this is to book in US dollars and not Canadian. Good Luck!

[jodi58]

Hi,

 

We booked our october 2010 cruise in US funds, it is really worth it.

 

Jo, Montreal

[Toto2Kansas]

Hi,

 

We booked our october 2010 cruise in US funds, it is really worth it.

 

Jo, Montreal

 

I agree, that really can make a difference. You can watch those exchange rates yourself and decide when you would like to make an early final payment when the exchange rate is in your favor. Way to go!

[jodi58]

exactly! they are predicting the Canadian dollar will be at par or beyond in the next few months.

[rugbypopsie]

We are learning ropes down here too about what to avoid in terms of unrealistic exchange rates set by the cruise lines..todays rate is .93 AUD to the USD and we expect to get to parity too...now if only we could get a fair deal on booking conditions!

 

By the way if you are freezing your butts off...come on down the weathers fine and the locals are friendly:D

[paul929207]

IF the CAN$ does go to par vs the US$ in the next few months, thenmake the final payment then and save the 10 or 15 per cent.

[toberman]

!

 

By the way if you are freezing your butts off...come on down the weathers fine and the locals are friendly:D

 

Love it!!;)

 

Would if I could.

 

Doug

[mommy2jays]

We have always paid for our cruises in USD. It has always made the most sense. Their Canadian Dollar prices have always been way out of line with the US dollar quotes we've gotten.

[Colo Cruiser]

exactly! they are predicting the Canadian dollar will be at par or beyond in the next few months.

 

Or any dollar for that matter.

[mistiqueallie]

Hey there fellow Canuck...

 

I work for a bank here in Canada, and can offer some insider tips:

 

1. Get a USD Mastercard or Visa (all major Canadian banks offer them I think). My bank's is the cheapest, but that's neither here nor there :)

 

2. Open a USD account through your bank.

 

3. Put things onto the USD Credit card (items are charged in USD, no exchange, no extra fees)

 

4. Buy USD by "TRANSFERRING" money from your CAD account to your USD account... this how to get a better rate.

 

5. Pay off your Mastercard/visa

 

I put stuff on my USD card and wait until the exchange is really good before I pay it off. Yes, I pay some interest on it if it sits for more than one month, but I save more on the exchange than I pay in interest. Did you know that credit card companies mark up their exchange rates?? The worst exchange rate you will ever get is on a credit card.

 

Let me know if you want more details.

[jtdlmc]

Mistiqueallie, I have a US bank acc't. I'm not sure how the US Visa would work - do I pay it directly from my US acc't? BTW, I am with TD - my acc't is free but the US Visa is $39 US/year - what bank do you work for and what are the fees?

[alicam]

IF the CAN$ does go to par vs the US$ in the next few months, thenmake the final payment then and save the 10 or 15 per cent.

true...will save there...but....they are going to pay it at the pump because as crude goes up, so does our $$$...I'd rather the dollar sit lower because I buy fuel all the time, I only go to the USA on occasion

[Putterdude]

The real issue for a Canadian booking in US dollars is if the $CDN slides against the $US. I got caught with this in Oct '08 and considered not doing the cruise because the swing was more than $1000. However our TA did get the cruise line to reprice in $CDN going back to the date of booking and we decided to go. Right now I would be watch if the cruise lines don't bring their CDN pricing closer to par and then jump on it.

[toberman]

Hey there fellow Canuck...

 

I work for a bank here in Canada, and can offer some insider tips:

 

1. Get a USD Mastercard or Visa (all major Canadian banks offer them I think). My bank's is the cheapest, but that's neither here nor there :)

 

2. Open a USD account through your bank.

 

3. Put things onto the USD Credit card (items are charged in USD, no exchange, no extra fees)

 

4. Buy USD by "TRANSFERRING" money from your CAD account to your USD account... this how to get a better rate.

 

5. Pay off your Mastercard/visa

 

I put stuff on my USD card and wait until the exchange is really good before I pay it off. Yes, I pay some interest on it if it sits for more than one month, but I save more on the exchange than I pay in interest. Did you know that credit card companies mark up their exchange rates?? The worst exchange rate you will ever get is on a credit card.

 

Let me know if you want more details.

 

We do have a USD account but Scotia does not offer a USVisa. Apparently TD does at $39/year.

 

I was told that I would have to buy a money order from my USD account at Scotia to pay off another bank's USVisa.

 

A question -- are you saying that purchasing US money through a bank transfer from my CAD account is cheaper than walking in with Cdn cash and purchasing it? I quite often withdraw the CAD first and then have it converted and put in my USD account.

 

Janette

[jtdlmc]

I'm assuming then that with a US acc't we could buy a money order with the US funds to pay Carnival and then there would really be no need to have a US credit card? (I refuse to pay an annual fee of any amount to have a credit card - I pay high enough interest charges!!!)

[mistiqueallie]

Mistiqueallie, I have a US bank acc't. I'm not sure how the US Visa would work - do I pay it directly from my US acc't? BTW, I am with TD - my acc't is free but the US Visa is $39 US/year - what bank do you work for and what are the fees?

 

I work for the other bank with a city in it's name :)

USD M/C is $25/year. At my bank, you can pay money to the USD credit card straight from the bank account, by money order from another financial institution, or USD cash.

 

We do have a USD account but Scotia does not offer a USVisa. Apparently TD does at $39/year.

 

I was told that I would have to buy a money order from my USD account at Scotia to pay off another bank's USVisa.

 

Or you can withdraw cash and pay by cash, depends on your convenience tolerance :). If you have to do this every month, it can be tedious, that's why I hold all of my accounts at one bank. (Plus I work there of course :P)

 

A question -- are you saying that purchasing US money through a bank transfer from my CAD account is cheaper than walking in with Cdn cash and purchasing it? I quite often withdraw the CAD first and then have it converted and put in my USD account.

 

You should be able to transfer $$ without having to withdraw/deposit. At least at my bank you can. The exchange rate works out to saving a few dollars per transaction, but depending on how much and how often, it could add up to a dinner out (or a few drinks on board). For a rough example, a few days ago, a customer wanted $1000 USD. For her to get USD cash from her CAD account, it would have cost approx $1065, for her to transfer it to a USD account, it cost her approx $1059. She saved $6.00 on that one transaction. Multiply that by say six transactions per year (saving for future trips, paying off USD credit card, what have you), You've saved $36.00. A good Customer Service Rep should be able to help you save money.

 

I'm assuming then that with a US acc't we could buy a money order with the US funds to pay Carnival and then there would really be no need to have a US credit card? (I refuse to pay an annual fee of any amount to have a credit card - I pay high enough interest charges!!!)

 

You definitely could do that, but I would check with Carnival (or any cruise line) on that one. It is up to their discretion to accept cheques and money orders as payment. I know that for my bank, we will hold cheques from out of the country for up to 30 days. A business may not want to do that, so check with the company you are dealing with first. Another perspective on the annual fee for the USD M/C or Visa is that the credit card companies mark up their exchange rates, so if you put just $1000 (less than the cost of a cruise trip) on your USD card vs CAD no-fee card, you are saving more than the annual fee, by not having to pay the exchange mark-up.

[jtdlmc]

Thanks for the explanations Mistiqueallie.

[toberman]

Thanks for the info Allie. Hear it's been unusually cold in Cowtown this year ! :)

[D&N LUV 2 TRAVEL]

Since being in Canada all we get is the Cdn $ price on the Princess website and of course Cdn $ price in the brochures. I always ask for the comparable US price at time of booking. I was fortunate enough to put away a little bit when the Cdn $ was 1.10 and it is paying off now.

Also, by paying in US we got OBC's that were not available if paid in Cdn $. The Cdn $ is @ .97 US today and the forecasters are saying it could hit 1.10 in the 3rd quarter of this year.

[toberman]

Since being in Canada all we get is the Cdn $ price on the Princess website and of course Cdn $ price in the brochures.

 

If you want to compare prices in US$ - go to Expedia dot com, not dot ca, and you should get US prices.

[daisy-mae]

I work for the other bank with a city in it's name :)

USD M/C is $25/year. At my bank, you can pay money to the USD credit card straight from the bank account, by money order from another financial institution, or USD cash.

 

I am about to open a USD account at your bank. :)

 

I had a TD Visa USD card for years, but when they raised their annual fee to $39, I cancelled the card and opted for your bank's card instead.

 

There's a great currency exchange office just down the road from the bank. When the CDN dollar rises, as it did this week, I buy a few hundred US dollars and stash them away (it's not like I am losing much in interest....). Once I have opened the account, I will be able to make electronic CC payments.

 

Just a word of caution for those of us who are using USD credit cards for onboard expenses. Some of the cruise lines (Princess, notably, but probably others as well) will automatically bill Canucks in Canadian dollars, then do a conversion to US. That would mean a double conversion (and high exchange rate fees) if you are using a USD card; best to clarify the billing issue before disembarking. There are a number of threads about it on these boards.

[mistiqueallie]

I am about to open a USD account at your bank. :)

...

 

Just a word of caution for those of us who are using USD credit cards for onboard expenses. Some of the cruise lines (Princess, notably, but probably others as well) will automatically bill Canucks in Canadian dollars, then do a conversion to US. That would mean a double conversion (and high exchange rate fees) if you are using a USD card; best to clarify the billing issue before disembarking. There are a number of threads about it on these boards.

 

Welcome to my bank, daisy-mae! Too bad you're not in Calgary so I could meet you! :)

 

Good point on the CAD/USD billing. I always use the dot com websites, not the dot ca ones. Most now specify USD before you accept the charges since they're probably seeing more Canucks buying from the US.

 

We recently bought a new gadget that was selling here for $100 more than the US price and after paying shipping and GST and converting CAD to USD to pay the credit card, we still saved almost $50.

[mistiqueallie]

Thanks for the info Allie. Hear it's been unusually cold in Cowtown this year ! :)

 

Yeah... today wasn't too bad as a chinook rolled in. Still looking forward to getting away to Mexico for our first cruise on the Splendor on Jan 31.

 

Global warming....????? What global warming????