Falling $AUD having an influence on crusing plans?

[spirit28]

Thinking about another cruise this year sometime. With the falling dollar, I'm having second thoughts about ships with on-board currency other than AUD, which sort of limits choice a bit.

 

Last time we cruised where the on-board currency in USD, our dollar was at parity so no problems. But have cruised when it was around .61 and suffered some bill shock!!

 

With dollar at around .81 today, I would say it is tolerable, but if the $ goes to the low 70's even into the 60's, then makes for a very expensive on-board experience (who want to pay $10+ for a beer after currency conversion?)..

 

Dunno if it is just me being a tight accountant, but I wonder if it may start impacting on bookings over time with those lines that USD as on-board currency and what impact it may have (e.g. fare discounting).

 

I know I should have bought AUD when the exchange rate was good, but being part of the working poor, there are lot of competing priorities for our hard earned.

 

Would be interested to see what people think

 

Cheers

 

Bill

[rkmw]

Thinking about another cruise this year sometime. With the falling dollar, I'm having second thoughts about ships with on-board currency other than AUD, which sort of limits choice a bit.

 

Last time we cruised where the on-board currency in USD, our dollar was at parity so no problems. But have cruised when it was around .61 and suffered some bill shock!!

 

With dollar at around .81 today, I would say it is tolerable, but if the $ goes to the low 70's even into the 60's, then makes for a very expensive on-board experience (who want to pay $10+ for a beer after currency conversion?)..

 

Dunno if it is just me being a tight accountant, but I wonder if it may start impacting on bookings over time with those lines that USD as on-board currency and what impact it may have (e.g. fare discounting).

 

I know I should have bought AUD when the exchange rate was good, but being part of the working poor, there are lot of competing priorities for our hard earned.

 

Would be interested to see what people think

 

Cheers

 

Bill

 

some people dont mind cruising on the US ships out of OZ but if you cash in $1000 AUD at aus post you will only get back $780 so you are losing $220 before you cruise and the US ships expect people to pay the gratuities so its going to cost you more so the US ships should be about $350 cheaper than the AUS ships to break even

[bazshirl2]

Agree Bill there is limited cruises available where the onboard currency is in AUD. Only some operating out of Aus. Conversely these cruise are increasingly attractive for our o/s friends, particularly from the States.

Will be interesting to see if a trend develops away from o/s travel with more Aussies travelling locally to get better bang for their buck !! Barry:)

[The_Big_M]

Will be interesting to see if a trend develops away from o/s travel with more Aussies travelling locally to get better bang for their buck !!

 

That's the expectation as it used to be that way.

 

But last time it fell, people were still 'sticky' with their overseas travel preferences. It'll take a fair amount of time before that changes.

[GUT2407]

It's not impacting my plans, YET but I can see potential to have to cut back.

 

Last time it really fell some prices went through the roof.

 

One cruise I had booked and paid, I was then asked for an extra $2K that would have only been about 6 or 7 years ago.

[NSWP]

Not really our next two cruises are from UK on Aurora and Oriana, payable in AUD, little spending in USA whilst on the cruise. Plis on P&O UK you can bring on what booze you like and on board drinks are reasonable, not cheap but cheaper then Princess etc.

[Brisbane41]

It will not make a difference to many people. There are plenty of people who have offshore bank accounts in various currencies for when they travel to avoid fees and for convenience.

 

At the end of the day the exchange rate is going to go up and down and it was a lot different a decade ago and it did not stop Australians travelling then. In the last 6 years we have been spoilt with the high dollar.

[Cruisegroover]

Swings and roundabouts for me. I travelled to the US when the $A was only

.50c so if I could survive that I can survive a lot more of the falling $ now. Yes it does effect some people, no I don't have an offshore account I just love to travel.

 

Once in the US I went out to brekkie and it was an all you can and drink for $US35 so $A70 yikes I thought but then I decided whilst I couldn't eat $70 worth of food I could sure have quite a few champers. Spent the afternoon asleep as a result but gee I had a good time at brekkie!

[GUT2407]

One thing that interest me is what [if any] difference t will make to prices here in Aus. When $ went up prices didn't really seem to fall, just hope they don't use it as an excuse to increase prices.

[jinja0707]

I am heading of soon on a 31 day South America cruise on the Golden. What I did to help beat the falling Aussie $ was to pre pay heaps of obc, late last year, direct with Princess even though had booked through a TA. For every $100 us it only cost me $110, which worked out at just just over 90 cents in the $ and there were no credit card fees. I paid in a heap just this week and the rate was still the same, better than I could do anywhere else, that is for sure. Once on board, I can even take some out in the casino and put in the safe to bring home or put towards my b2b cruise.

Asked Princess to send me a copy of the gifts and summary page where it lands, so

I have a copy for when I board. If you decide to do this yourself just check with the rep, that the rate is still the same.

[GUT2407]

I am heading of soon on a 31 day South America cruise on the Golden. What I did to help beat the falling Aussie $ was to pre pay heaps of obc, late last year, direct with Princess even though had booked through a TA. For every $100 us it only cost me $110, which worked out at just just over 90 cents in the $ and there were no credit card fees. I paid in a heap just this week and the rate was still the same, better than I could do anywhere else, that is for sure. Once on board, I can even take some out in the casino and put in the safe to bring home or put towards my b2b cruise.

Asked Princess to send me a copy of the gifts and summary page where it lands, so

I have a copy for when I board. If you decide to do this yourself just check with the rep, that the rate is still the same.

 

 

Wow that is great, now if you paid, say, a million into it, cashed it out and bought it home, you'd make a nice little killing.

[bazshirl2]

Well done with your strategy. You may even come home with a profit on your FX unless tempted to spend it all .

[dizzy1948]

Ahh pays me money an' a teks mi chances :D;) Life's too short - they don't put pockets in shrouds............. :eek:

[MicCanberra]

Ahh pays me money an' a teks mi chances :D;) Life's too short - they don't put pockets in shrouds............. :eek:

 

Yes, if you stress over the dollar will ruin the holiday. We budget for whatever price we feel comfortable with and allow for some $ fluctuation and all is sweet, no stress. That said, I would prefer the AUD to be stronger.:D

[goodycruising]

RCI are giving $400 OBC on some cruises at the moment. That buys a fair few drinks! We got it on a 8 night cruise next year, so that works out to be quite a help for our on board budget. :)

 

We are expecting prices might rise, but there are only so many cruises released. We are working on filling our dance card as much as the budget & taking time off work will allow. :)

[Kinkacruiser]

I'm grateful we booked (and locked in) at AUD rather than USD. As for the ship account and spending money, I hope we don't fall under 80c too soon.....

and yes, I believe a lower AUD will have an impact on o'seas cruising.

Edited January 9, 2015 by Kinkacruiser

[MicCanberra]

RCI are giving $400 OBC on some cruises at the moment. That buys a fair few drinks! We got it on a 8 night cruise next year, so that works out to be quite a help for our on board budget. :)

 

We are expecting prices might rise, but there are only so many cruises released. We are working on filling our dance card as much as the budget & taking time off work will allow. :)

 

Good score, we have our 2015 filled and half of 2016 as well. I have opted to see how finances and the dollar fares before booking anything more for now. That may change quickly if the right cruise comes along though.:D

[woodyren]

It hasn't really changed our plans but it has impacted the way we implement them somewhat.

 

For example we have always looked for bargains rather than be locked in to searching for a particular itinerary and have previously booked exclusively through US TA's because we had found the best value and very much appreciated the flexibility and ability to ride price drops and change categories. The rising US$ has made the equation approx 20% more expensive than it was last year so I have booked my next cruise locally.

 

Most Australian based cruises are far cheaper booking through Aus TA's or directly with the cruise line at present.

 

Because of this I give up the flexibility that I had booking through a US TA. Example. We booked a GTY and once allocated we tried to change to more favourable location within the category. Have done this 4 or 5 times when booking in the US. No problem, done in a minute or two. Ring RCCL when booking locally and this is not possible. Only small things but they add up.

 

I too hope we get back well over 90c so my options are better.

[MicCanberra]

It hasn't really changed our plans but it has impacted the way we implement them somewhat.

 

For example we have always looked for bargains rather than be locked in to searching for a particular itinerary and have previously booked exclusively through US TA's because we had found the best value and very much appreciated the flexibility and ability to ride price drops and change categories. The rising US$ has made the equation approx 20% more expensive than it was last year so I have booked my next cruise locally.

 

Most Australian based cruises are far cheaper booking through Aus TA's or directly with the cruise line at present.

 

Because of this I give up the flexibility that I had booking through a US TA. Example. We booked a GTY and once allocated we tried to change to more favourable location within the category. Have done this 4 or 5 times when booking in the US. No problem, done in a minute or two. Ring RCCL when booking locally and this is not possible. Only small things but they add up.

 

I too hope we get back well over 90c so my options are better.

Similarly we also used US TA until the dropping dollar made their pricing too expensive, now we are booking direct or using a aussie TA. We too have lost some of the flexibility that we had but there are plenty of deals to be had still.:D

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Ahh pays me money an' a teks mi chances :D;) Life's too short - they don't put pockets in shrouds............. :eek:

 

 

Right on....

and they don't have travel agents in the graveyard.:eek:

 

 

 

[MicCanberra]

Right on....

and they don't have travel agents in the graveyard.:eek:

 

 

Dead right.:p

[goodycruising]

Good one Mick!

 

We are also checking out the great specials at the moment, and we have found so far that for RCI balcony/JS categories our "early bird" bookings have still held up price wise, and we got the cabins we picked ourselves.

 

I know the rules being different with US and Aus as far as booking changes is annoying, but with the way things are going on sales, it may be that the US will move to being less able to make changes than before. With sale bookings being more restrictive I have seen a lot of issues with changes to bookings causing problems in pricing for US cruisers on the boards. They don't like it!

 

We haven't yet to use a US TA (had a couple recommended by friends), as when we check out the US price using the geo blocking work around the prices haven't worked out worth it for the ones we researched, which hasn't been many.

 

On some occasions the US price is way higher, which I think relates to them offering "cheaper" air fares by loading the price in the first place. Just a guess. Then when you take into account the exchange rate, it makes for a bit of a gamble if you can't put aside the whole fare and lock in the current exchange rate, either on a travel card or by paying the whole fare. We can't. We book and budget our savings to line up with final payment dates.

 

It will be interesting to see how the fare pricing goes, as while there are some great specials lately, there are some very expensive prices on the popular itineraries and sail dates. Many of the RCI cruises are fairly close to booked out weeks before sailing. I don't research the the brands much, as there is only so much time you can spend trawling the sites. I have to go to work in between to earn money for the cruises!