Canadians - Current Exchange Rate?

[xcell]

I cashed OBC out at the casino on my last two trips without issues - whether at the cashier or the table, no issues, just the 3% fee.

 

Not sure what I would do if I bought $3K OBC but if you have to pay for things on board (ie last minute UDP/UBP) or FCC might as well use the lower converted USD ...

 

BTW the FCC is different now...someone correct me if I am wrong

$250 FCC give you $100 OBC <--- this is the one I am not sure of

$500 FCC gives you $250 OBC

$1000 FCC gives you $500 OBC

[Sneakie]

When you do your online check in don't give them a credit card, say you are paying your bill with cash. If you have a large OBC and don't use all of it, go to Guest Services the last night and withdraw. You'll receive whatever is left in US cash with no 3% taken off like the casino does. If it turns out that you used all the OBC and still owe then give them a credit card at that time. I did this on a B2B in August. I put the OBC on the first week's cruise, withdrew the amount still left on the last night of the first cruise and used some of the US cash to pay the bill on the 2nd week's cruise.

Maybe someone's already said this but our TA told us that the most we could put on at one time for an OBC was $499US which at that time cost us $550CAD BUT you can do this more than once so we did. Over $499US they need to actually see front and back of the credit card (so we were told anyway).

 

 

When / Where do you say if you'd like to set up your account to pay in "cash" or "credit card". Is it when you check in at the Port of Embarkation? Do you not have to give them cash at that time? Or can they see that you have already purchased sufficient OBC for the cruise?

[Tangocherie]

This can be done either when you do the online checkin or when you show up at embarkation.

[katiecat]

Very interesting thread!

I've cruised a few times but not once paid for one in Can $ I will now consider checking it out.

[pisenor]

This can be done either when you do the online checkin or when you show up at embarkation.

 

I think you may be mistaken. I don't believe you can input you cc info online with NCL. I know you can with CCL but not with NCL....at least I have never encountered that option. ;)

[Sneakie]

I think you may be mistaken. I don't believe you can input you cc info online with NCL. I know you can with CCL but not with NCL....at least I have never encountered that option. ;)

 

I can't seem to find where online you would do so.....

[Sneakie]

Very interesting thread!

I've cruised a few times but not once paid for one in Can $ I will now consider checking it out.

 

Hi Katiecat, I see from the Roll Call that we are on the same cruise in a couple of weeks! We are from PEI, almost neighbours ha ha.

We always ask for US and CDN prices and book with the one that gives us the best deal. Years ago when it was close to par we paid in US and got the better pricing. This cruise we paid in CDN at 1.11 exchange.

 

In March we cruised Princess and actually got all our OBC, DSC, and internet prepaid at Par!

[sebas030]

I read, here on CC that if you booked your cruise on ncl dot com and you want Ncl to convert your fare in CDN, the cruise has to "switch" to a Canadian reservation and you will loose all benefits associated with your cruise ( obc, UBP, UDP, etc... ) at time of booking and get what is effective now ?!?

 

Did someone experienced this recently ?

 

Is the 1.11 exchange rate the actual rate ?

 

I am due for final payment next week and would love to save some $$$ on the exchange rate ! ( but not loose my UBP )

 

thank you all in advance,

[Tangocherie]

I think you may be mistaken. I don't believe you can input you cc info online with NCL. I know you can with CCL but not with NCL....at least I have never encountered that option. ;)

 

I think you're right. Theo it's done at checkin.

[Ontario cruise duo]

I read, here on CC that if you booked your cruise on ncl dot com and you want Ncl to convert your fare in CDN, the cruise has to "switch" to a Canadian reservation and you will loose all benefits associated with your cruise ( obc, UBP, UDP, etc... ) at time of booking and get what is effective now ?!?

 

Did someone experienced this recently ?

 

Is the 1.11 exchange rate the actual rate ?

 

I am due for final payment next week and would love to save some $$$ on the exchange rate ! ( but not loose my UBP )

 

thank you all in advance,

 

If I were you I would call NCL to see if you can actually do this.

I booked my cruise back in February and final payment was due middle of September, and that rate I got back in February was 1.11 exchange.

It doesn't hurt to ask buy you may very well be out of luck.

[prairiedawn1946]

I cashed OBC out at the casino on my last two trips without issues - whether at the cashier or the table, no issues, just the 3% fee.

 

Not sure what I would do if I bought $3K OBC but if you have to pay for things on board (ie last minute UDP/UBP) or FCC might as well use the lower converted USD ...

 

BTW the FCC is different now...someone correct me if I am wrong

$250 FCC give you $100 OBC <--- this is the one I am not sure of

$500 FCC gives you $250 OBC

$1000 FCC gives you $500 OBC

 

When we purchased a $250 Future cruise credit on our last cruise the NCL agent converted it to Canadian and gave us $275 FCC for future bookings in $CDN

[Canagirl]

When we purchased a $250 Future cruise credit on our last cruise the NCL agent converted it to Canadian and gave us $275 FCC for future bookings in $CDN

 

And they also do the conversion based on the exchange rate when you cruise. The one I just redeemed was only worth $250 CDN as they said the dollar was at par in 2012 when I bought it. However, they said if I buy one today, it will be worth $330 CDN.

[nangirl79]

Has anyone else had the issue recently where the Canadian exchange rate is $1.25 for the cruise rate itself but the taxes, beverage package and prepaid gratuities and any OBC you try to buy pre cruise is coming up at $1.33. I was always told the exchange rate you book at that everything pre cruise you buy is at that exchange rate. My cruise I booked back in Feb is like this but the cruise i booked last weekend is not. Maybe a rule change? No one I phone at NCL has the answer and keep passing me on to other people which tell me they don't deal with this. My travel agent is getting ahold of someone higher then the reservation department to try to get an answer but no luck so far. Anyone out there have any answers for this?

[bellevuemountain]

Has anyone else had the issue recently where the Canadian exchange rate is $1.25 for the cruise rate itself but the taxes, beverage package and prepaid gratuities and any OBC you try to buy pre cruise is coming up at $1.33. I was always told the exchange rate you book at that everything pre cruise you buy is at that exchange rate. My cruise I booked back in Feb is like this but the cruise i booked last weekend is not. Maybe a rule change? No one I phone at NCL has the answer and keep passing me on to other people which tell me they don't deal with this. My travel agent is getting ahold of someone higher then the reservation department to try to get an answer but no luck so far. Anyone out there have any answers for this?

 

Was told the rate depended on the sailing date, not the booking date. A sales rep at NCL gave me that answer.

[ilovetotravel1977]

I just logged into My NCL and the OBC and DSC are still coming out to my 1.19 rate my cruise is priced at.

[xcell]

Was told the rate depended on the sailing date, not the booking date. A sales rep at NCL gave me that answer.

 

It's sailing dates..

 

My Aug 2015 and Dec 2015 are at a $1.11 rate, whereas my March 2016 was at $1.08

[Canagirl]

Has anyone else had the issue recently where the Canadian exchange rate is $1.25 for the cruise rate itself but the taxes, beverage package and prepaid gratuities and any OBC you try to buy pre cruise is coming up at $1.33. I was always told the exchange rate you book at that everything pre cruise you buy is at that exchange rate. My cruise I booked back in Feb is like this but the cruise i booked last weekend is not. Maybe a rule change? No one I phone at NCL has the answer and keep passing me on to other people which tell me they don't deal with this. My travel agent is getting ahold of someone higher then the reservation department to try to get an answer but no luck so far. Anyone out there have any answers for this?

 

Yes. I have made a couple posts in this thread over the last week or 2 describing the identical problem you have. I booked in October and am sailing in December.

 

For the cruise fare itself, I have been charged 20% exchange and between 33 and 34% for everything else.

 

I booked direct with NCL. I called about it and the rep said he didn't know the exchange rate but could tell me the cost of something if I wanted to pre-pay (was 33 -34%).

 

I'd be interested to hear if you are able to get an adjustment.

 

I haven't pursued it too vigorously as the overall rate averaged as 24% but I think something strange is going on.

Edited November 4, 2015 by Canagirl

[Josher61]

It is very strange. I have been told its all at one rate (see previous discussions that Canagirl mentioned). I priced a cruise for Dec 2015, all come out at 25%. Xcell spoke of his cruise for 2016 being at 1.08 so I went on AC Vac and priced one for March. It was indeed 1.08. Priced another one that was actually cheaper in CDN than US. When I called NCL yesterday to price the one in March it came out a 1.08. I asked the rep why he said initially the rate was 25% when he actually gave me the conversion amount it was 1.08. He stalled and stammered and said there must be a mistake. I asked HOW he does the conversion then. He said its automatic in their system once he plugs in CDN conversion. Which is why most don't know the rate. (Although he did. As has one other rep when asked.) I asked: so its not booking date and rate....its sailing date and rate?? He said: its not supposed to be. Its supposed to be at the 25% rate that NCL is offering for bookings now. We had quite a conversation about it all. He couldn't figure out why they were coming out cheaper. He basically said there must be a glitch and I should book at this "mistake" rate lol. I asked if there had been a change in policy perhaps and he said not to his knowledge but it certainly could be and they weren't informed. Regardless, as he said: why would NCL offer such low rates when the dollar is now so low and they are booking at 25%. He maintained there was something not right in the system. Made no sense to him either. So I certainly don't know/understand anymore :)

[Canagirl]

Josher61 - thanks for confirming the conversion is automatic. I suspected it was since the couple people I spoke to couldn't tell me the rate. They did say the rate was based on booking date, not sailing date and they update their rate for a certain number of months at one time. Seems people are getting different answers, but it would be odd that future sailings would be given a much lower conversion rate as the dollar isn't expected to go up in the next few months, so there wouldn't be a reason to drop the rate to 1.08 a couple months into next year. Going by what the rep told me, anyone booking now should get the same rate and it shouldn't matter when you are cruising - BUT it does matter as there is something wrong with the NCL system right now. It favours some of us and charges others more when it shouldn't be doing that.

 

I tried a couple sample bookings on the Canadian site mentioned and comparing them to the US prices on NCL.com, there do seem to be a number of glitches depending on the cruise you select.

 

I'm not sure if someone manually inputs the conversion for each cruise or how it is calculated, but I believe the Canadian prices shown on the Canadian site mentioned in this thread come directly from and are calculated by NCL (when I select my cruise, the calculations are identical to the ones that NCL did and I can't see any site randomly selecting the same strange conversion percentages that NCL did - picking 20% conversion for the base fare and 33% for everything else). I tried another site that also shows prices in CDN$ and the calculations were identical - the calculations definitely come from NCL.

 

Comparing several different cruises to the NCL US$ price results in a huge variety of oddities. For some cruises, the base fare was calculated at 20% and the taxes at 33%, for some base fare at 20% and taxes at par, for some a much lower conversion rate overall.

 

I had thought that I should just let this go since my overall rate was 24%, but seeing as there is definitely a mistake from the NCL side that has resulted in me paying more than I should, I am going to contact them about this to get my cruise pricing corrected as they shouldn't be charging me 33% on portions of my fare when their conversion rate was lower than that when I booked and is still lower than that now.

 

Very odd!

Edited November 4, 2015 by Canagirl

[xcell]

It's a weird conversion system but it does benefit us Canadians at a time where our dollar sucks. It keeps me with NCL and not jumping ship back to RCCL (their rate is in the 20-30%.

 

The rate even varies on the cat of the cabin. For instance, on my March 2016 cruise I booked a BD cat but the BX (guarantee balcony) which is priced the same as the BD on the ncl.com is $100 more pp on the Canadian site. Shouldn't the balcony guarantee be the least expensive?

[Love.NCL]

So I booked my Escape Dec cruise and the exchange rate was $1 to $1.11.

 

Today I booked my March 2016 BA cruise and it was $1 to $1.08.

 

The weird thing was the price changed within a hour. It went from $4000 CDN to $4600 CDN and then when I rebooked in (AC vacations) via incognito mode, the price went back down to $4000.

 

Hi,

 

Are you able to buy OBC at 1.08 as well?

 

Thank you

[xcell]

Yes when I go to the ncl.com site and buy gift cards - it comes up at 1.08 rate for my March 2016 and 1.11 for my Dec 2015 cruise.

 

Last time I bought $1000 and cashed it out at the casino...no worries...

[jamkam97]

We've been trying to pay whatever we can, since all is at our May booking exchange. $1.11. Will have to look into the gift cards! We were happily surprised at what our cruise ended up being for the room when we booked, we had expected much more given the exchange.

 

Are you able to turn that OBC cards into real cash? To take on excursions?? How do most ppl do this from Canada?

We are first time cruisers and have only really gone where we use our CC always like Disney. We will be bringing some cash of course but I am curious what's best way. I saw you can have travelers checks cashed?

Edited November 4, 2015 by jamkam97
add a question

[Josher61]

Bring only a little cash. Yes, OBC is traded in for "real cash". :) Heres how it works. You buy as much OBC now or up until your cruise date, paying the exchange rate that you have of only 11%! Then when you get on the ship you have all this "cash" pre bought at such a great rate. You go to the casino and ask for cash off of your account. They hand you the cash at a 3% rate. So voila, you have bought US cash for 14% instead of some crazy 33 or 34 that your bank wants. So what some (many, most, Im not sure) do is take as little cash with them as possible. In other words, consider the casino your ATM for the week :) The 3% fee is nothing, compared to what you would pay the bank for US cash today. If you have cash left over on your account because you did not spend it all, simply cash out that amount on the last night of your cruise and bring the US cash back home and sell it to you bank at their own crazy rate and make money :) Don't use your CC (or as little as possible). You can also prepay your gratuities this way as well. Either through NCL now at your great rate or through your OBC also at the great rate with what you have already paid for. So use your CC now to buy whatever amount of OBC you think you will need, through NCL, before you cruise.

 

Have a fabulous first cruise!!!!

Edited November 4, 2015 by Josher61

[Shawnino]

Booked over the phone with a PCC on the weekend for the double promotion. Sailing February.

Cruise fare clicked out at 1.19

OBC is 1.33 (no thank you).

 

We have another cruise booked for Dec 2016. I can get all-I-can-eat OBC at 1.11.