Canadians - Current Exchange Rate?

[ilovetotravel1977]

Right now, I "think" it's 1.19 exchange rate.

[emmak8]

Yikes!!

[trvlbum]

So after reading this thread I have some questions. I can buy OBC from NCL. If I do that and use it as a cash account can I use the money for anything onboard including the casino? I was reading another thread where someone did this and was told once onboard that they could not take it out for the casino and yes, they had bought their own OBC.

 

I don't want to get onboard and find out I can't use some of the money for the casino! It is hard to find the answer on the NCL site.

 

Anyone out there know for sure? Thanks guys!

 

Trish

[ilovetotravel1977]

You are correct. We couldn't use our OBC for casino play, but I think what some folks do is cash out their OBC at the casino for a 3% fee, then just use that cash to play.

 

Is that correct, casino peeps?

[trvlbum]

So you couldn't use it in the casino even though it was OBC that you bought and not OBC given to you by NCL or a travel agent? As long as we can take it out even with a 3 pct fee we will be ok and still way under what the exchange rate is right now!

 

Trish

[MissRabbit]

Just did a mock booking on air canada vacations in CAD and the same one on NCL's website in USD. The price difference was 1.19%

 

So glad I saw this thread or I would have booked in USD and lost hundreds of $$$ in the exchange rate.

 

One question.... for pre-paying tips and purchasing OBC, do we have to call NCL directly in order to get it in CAD?

 

Just an interesting scenario...... if I understand it correctly, if I buy $500 USD in OBC, that comes to $595 CAD @ the current ncl exchange rate of 1.19%. Then if I set up a cash only account (no CC), and don't use any of it, I would get $500 usd back in cash at the end of the cruise? At today's current scotiabank buyback rate for usd (1.26%), I could exchange that $500 back into CAD and end up with $630Cad... a difference of $35 CAD on the plus side! yeah, I jnow, too much of a PITA for a little profit, but thought it was interesting.

[denthygmeech]

I just got off the phone with NCL. I had already paid for my cruise, insurance, excursions, soda plan, etc in USD then read about their CDN exchange rate on one of these threads. Thought I would call to see if they could do anything to help. I was told no, nothing they could do at this point. Wish I would have known about being able to pay in CDN funds prior, would have saved a few hundred dollars. Enough to pay for another excursion. Hopefully these threads will save others some $

[catgrab]

Hi, I have a deposit down on a Feb 2017 cruise. I just called to see what their exchange rate is but she said because it was booked in US funds, she couldn't tell. She then did a mock booking for me in CDN Funds and it was way higher than my original price in Cdn....Had it been lower, I would have cancelled and re-booked. How are you able to get the lower rate - I'm getting 1.29 :mad:

[Mscruisin]

Hi, I have a deposit down on a Feb 2017 cruise. I just called to see what their exchange rate is but she said because it was booked in US funds, she couldn't tell. She then did a mock booking for me in CDN Funds and it was way higher than my original price in Cdn....Had it been lower, I would have cancelled and re-booked. How are you able to get the lower rate - I'm getting 1.29 :mad:

 

I had a deposit down on a Dec 2015 cruise. After reading this I called. Because the deposit was booked in US funds she had to cancel and rebook my cruise. My cruise had not changed in price since I booked it back in June. She was able to get my same cabin back and gave me a rate of 1.11 so I saved $350 by doing this. This made me happy. She told me I would get that rate for anything else I bought for this cruise. Hope thats true when it comes to final payment. Maybe your cruise will drop in price and you can take advantage then as well.

[xcell]

Cruise prices seem to have been stable (not as much Flux as I have seen I the past ). What seems to have the best prices are the guaranteed staterooms but unfortunately, they don't appeal to me because u need connecting cabins. :(

 

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[Love.NCL]

How are people getting 1.1 right now? I did mock bookings and even called NCL and the exchange rate is 1.19. Any suggestion?

Thank you

[Tangocherie]

How are people getting 1.1 right now? I did mock bookings and even called NCL and the exchange rate is 1.19. Any suggestion?

Thank you

 

My guess is that NCL has adjusted their exchange rate for bookings made in $CAN. Not surprising since our dollar has recently hit a 10 year low.:(

[Carlaclaw]

We booked from Air Canada Vacations in June and our rate shows up at 1.11. It's obviously better with current exchange rates to buy on board credit in Cdn funds before we go than to get charged USD on credit card on the boat. Does anyone have experience with how the refund process works on left over on board credit? This is my first time on NCL. Is is done as cash at desk on last day? Or cheque in mail? Also what currency is the money refunded in? If it's cheque how long does it take to get refunded?

 

Any info would be greatly appreciated!

Carolyn

[jb456]

[quote name=

Originally Posted by Love.NCL View Post

How are people getting 1.1 right now? I did mock bookings and even called NCL and the exchange rate is 1.19. Any suggestion?

Thank you

 

 

Tangocherie]My guess is that NCL has adjusted their exchange rate for bookings made in $CAN. Not surprising since our dollar has recently hit a 10 year low.:(

 

They must of just recently changed the rate as we booked last week July 22 at 1.11.

[Love.NCL]

Thanks everyone!

I think i solved the "mystery". I booked my parents cruise back in April at 1.19. - cruise date January 17, 2016. I just did a mock booking for a cruise in December 13, 2015 and the exchange rate is 1.11. a mock booking for January cruise is still at 1.19. So it seems like different exchange rate is applied depending on cruise date.

[ilovetotravel1977]

Thanks everyone!

I think i solved the "mystery". I booked my parents cruise back in April at 1.19. - cruise date January 17, 2016. I just did a mock booking for a cruise in December 13, 2015 and the exchange rate is 1.11. a mock booking for January cruise is still at 1.19. So it seems like different exchange rate is applied depending on cruise date.

 

I think you are onto something with your theory.

 

I just called and changed my sail date and added another person. My new sail date still has a rate of 1.19. Every time I call to see if April 2016 on the Escape has a lower exchange rate, it doesn't. It still comes out to 1.19.

 

As our cruise draws nearer, I will keep calling and price a mock booking to see the rate.

[Tangocherie]

Just booked an April transatlantic cruise. Exchange rate is now 1.19. Still it's better than the "official" exchange rate and I didn't have to pay credit card exchange fees.:)

[OzCanuck]

We put a deposit on a January 2016 cruise about three months ago - it was at the 1.11 rate. Just another data point.

[rxs148]

Disclaimer I am a CDN TA.

I booked a group of us in April in CDN with the 3rd and 4th passenger free promo. Because of group booking we have $75 OBC and it is in USD.

 

Then I bought Casino BJ & slot tournament credits at 1.11 on my account.

I just purchased OBC today of $100 USD they charged my CC $111.11 CDN.

 

Yes you can use OBC at Casino by requesting chips from dealer or Cash from teller window to your account for 3% fee, cruise lines know this happens but can do little to stop it. Then you can gamble or just cash in the chips.

 

As to refunding leftover OBC on your accnt I have heard both put back on your Credit card or check sent so still no positive answer on how NCL does it.

 

So theory holds that rate is from date of booking.

[canadiancruiser13]

Only direct bookings with NCL and booking through Canadian travel agents are allowed to book in Canadian dollars.

 

US agents are not allowed to make Canadian dollar bookings.

 

If your agent is Canadian, they simply have to ask NCL to price in Cdn.

The times my wife and book via NCL, we always ask for the CDN rates with no problems.

[ilovetotravel1977]

We put a deposit on a January 2016 cruise about three months ago - it was at the 1.11 rate. Just another data point.

 

The Cdn $ wasn't as low back then as it is now. NCL is smart to offer this to Canadian cruisers. It has kept us from booking on Carnival, which one would think is the cheapest cruises. Not so.

[Dr. Cocktail]

I think that the big answer for this thread is ... it depends.

 

If you call NCL directly or use most Canadian travel agents, the rate will be $1.19. If you book with an agency/group that has held/booked a LOT of NCL cruises in bulk ("sort-of" like the world's biggest group booking ...), the rate will still be $1.11.

 

Most Air Canada Vacation Bookings will be at $1.11 as will some of the other agencies mentioned above.

 

Best advice? (as always ...)

 

Phone a couple of agencies or suppliers!

[Paddy41]

Hope I can answer a few questions. Just back from B2B on Adventure. I booked in CAD paying 10% exchange at that time. I put several OBC on my account using my travel agent. $499US was the limit at one time but you could just put on another credit anytime. The $499US cost me $550CAD. It sounds like Royal still has a great exchange rate even if it has gone up a bit from when I did it.

When I did my online check-in I opted for 'cash' account. Did not ever give them my credit card number. At the end of the first week we still had a credit. On Friday evening I went to guest services and asked to settle my bill. They gave me my credit in US dollars. Second week I did the same thing and again had credit and received it in US dollars.

i did not try asking at the casino but I understand that if you have a cash account they do not charge you anything to withdraw some money.

Be sure you have checked your charges on your bill. You can do it on the cabin TV. There was an error on my bill which they corrected. I was glad I saw this before closing out the account or it may have been more difficult.

 

And just to make RCI customers happy....I've just been invited by a friend to go with her on a Carnival cruise. Travel agent checked to see if we can do it in CAD and yes we can but the difference in price is 30%! At today's exchange that is still a little bit of a bargain because credit card companies generally add a few % to the rate but still a BIG difference to what Royal is charging Canadians. My friend's son phoned Carnival and asked for the price in CAD and was quoted a price 41% higher than the US price! So beware!

 

I booked an NCL cruise for next year a while ago and their exchange rate was 10% just like Royals. So what cruisers may think is a 'cheap Carnival cruise' can actually turn out to be very expensive for Canadians!

[ibrinn]

I just got off the phone with NCL. I had already paid for my cruise, insurance, excursions, soda plan, etc in USD then read about their CDN exchange rate on one of these threads. Thought I would call to see if they could do anything to help. I was told no, nothing they could do at this point. Wish I would have known about being able to pay in CDN funds prior, would have saved a few hundred dollars. Enough to pay for another excursion. Hopefully these threads will save others some $

 

Exactly the same thing happened to me. After booking my cruise, I found out that I could have booked it in Canadian. I called my PCC and he readily admitted that he should have offered to book it in Can funds when he realized that I gave him a Canadian address.

 

It took 3 weeks and a lot of discussions but he finally got it done. Now, everything I book is in Can funds.

 

The difference between 1.33 on the credit card and 1.11 on the card. Call back and ask for a supervisor or the revenue department.

 

Can you still cancel your cruise and rebook?

 

Don't give up just because you heard "no" once!

[ilovetotravel1977]

Has anyone booked recently? Is the exchange rate still coming out to 1.19?