another traveler's check que.

[spearmint]

From these boards, I was able to find out that one can cash American Express traveler's cheques (in U.S.funds) on board.

 

Has anyone ever paid their on board account with them?

Captain's Club rep says "not possible".

This did not seem sensible to me, if people have cashed them at customer relations during a cruise. But I sure do not want to be caught on board having to put the bill on a Canadian credit card for several hundred dollars more in exchange.:eek:

 

Bill

[debandbruce]

This doesn't answer your specific question but we always pay on our Canadian credit card. We choose the option that has our card provider work out the exchange rate, not Celebrity. this will pop up when you do your on line check in. It is no different than charging something in the US. We have done this for every cruise we have been on and never had an issue with extreme exchange amounts, it is whatever the daily rate is, as it will be for travellers cheques. Correct me if I'm wrong is there not also a service fee on these cheques as well. I don't know what ports you are going to but we have also debited cash at an ATM on islands that have US dollars. Just the extra ATM fee but exchange rate is also at the daily rate. Just a thought instead of the hassle of traveller's cheques.

[Josie2]

Yes, you can cash travellers cheques in board (U.S. Currency) and pay off your account. I doubt you actually gave to cash them, simply pay your account directly via travellers cheques.

[az_tchr]

Spearmint - Wondering why you would want to use them? While you can probably pay your bill with them you will find they are almost impossible to use for shopping and our bank at home does not accept them either. You would certainly need to pay the exchange rate to buy them at home in Canada. Is there a difference? Plus if you have extras you now are at home with checks in $USD. If you spend lots of time in the USA then am sure there is a card issuer that has a card with no foreign exchange fees up there. If paying lots of bills it is certainly cheaper to do it that way. Travellers checks are going the way of the dodo bird - extinct.

 

FWIW, Celebrity often has deals where Canadians can buy OBC at an attractive rate. Just a thought.

[Queen of Oakville]

Seams reasonable to me. If nothing else, cash the cheques and then use cash to pay off your account.

 

Warning - call your branch ahead of time to let them know you want the cheques. TC are not as common anymore. We recently bought some for a trip to Universal Studios. I wanted to take advantage of a 10%Amex discount in the parks; but did not want to charge to my CAD Amex. I thought TC were the solution. it worked - I got the 10% off everywhere. BUT, I don't think the tellers in my branch had ever sold a TC before. It took way longer than it should have for them to figure out how to sell me the cheques!!!

 

Also, see if your bank offers a USD credit card. I have a USD TD Visa. I find it to be quite handy. We maintain a USD savings account (stock up when the rates are good!). And then use our USD savings to pay off our card. I charge freely without worrying about the exchange rate. Whether Celebrity or your BANK is determining the rate; they (obviously) make a profit on the exchange rate.

[Josie2]

Queen is correct. We also have an RBC u.s. Visa (no fee) and a U.S. Savings account. Very handy. And, I also concur with above that travellers cheques are becoming extinct and more and more difficult to use. On board will be fine but not so easy in the islands or anywhere outside of U.s.

[debandbruce]

I worked for RBC 25 years ago and TC were not popular then. I understand why a lot of banks don't have them, there was quite a process to selling them as each number had to be registered seperately. The process may of changed of course but on the rare occasion someone wanted them it was a nightmare. We drive to Florida from Ontario, we pay with debit at gas stations as most accept canadian debit, we use our canadian funds credit cards for some food and lodgings and we use ATM's to withdraw cash if we need it. Travelling is much easier now. I just can't help but picture my father in law standing in line at customer relations on the Eclipse everyday to cash travellers cheques because he was sure of some great catastrophe if he carried cash. It was his vacation time to lose standing in line but still, it was their first and only cruise.

[spearmint]

Thanks, for the responses. Here is what is happening.

 

A few years ago, we opened a U.S. currency account at our bank here when the exchange was basically at par. We did not use it much, as the exchange rate was great for the most part. I kept using our Credit Cards, as I got Air Miles with every purchase, and I use those to keep purchasing our air fare to Florida. I have never once bought tickets for air since our first cruise in 1999.

 

Even last spring, on Eclipse, I bought Celebrity Gift Certificates for about 9% when the actual exchange was about 21%. It was not too bad.

 

However, if I had bought the same no. of days as Eclipse on our back to back upcoming in November, with the same cabin category it would have cost about $1500 more. So we downgraded our cabin and, still having a balcony, only spent a few hundred more. I had decided to take American money from our account to pay for hotels pre-and-post cruise as well as our on board account. Now since we are talking possibly $2-$3000 I figured that rather than all cash, traveler's cheques would be safer. And yes, I have checked with Royal Bank here, and they have the cheques available, and with our account, there will be no service charge. And yes I have contacted both Florida hotels and they will take them.

 

So. Now you see why I need to know about Celebrity. As mentioned in the original post, I had put a traveler's cheque question to the boards and if was from the responses that I think I was told that Celebrity would cash them, and to check out the bank and the hotels. Done that. Today, I just called Celebrity and the CC rep told me it was a no go. :eek: I am not certain that she really knew what I was talking about. Hence, I come back to the fountain of all cruise knowledge....the folks at Cruise Critic! :D

 

Bill

[spearmint]

Thanks, for the responses. Here is what is happening.

 

A few years ago, we opened a U.S. currency account at our bank here when the exchange was basically at par. We did not use it much, as the exchange rate was great for the most part. I kept using our Credit Cards, as I got Air Miles with every purchase, and I use those to keep purchasing our air fare to Florida. I have never once bought tickets for air since our first cruise in 1999.

 

Even last spring, on Eclipse, I bought Celebrity Gift Certificates for about 9% when the actual exchange was about 21%. It was not too bad.

 

However, if I had bought the same number of days as Eclipse on our

back-to-back upcoming in November, with the same cabin category, it would have cost about $1500 more. So we downgraded our cabin and, still having a balcony, only spent a few hundred more. I had decided to take American money from our account to pay for hotels pre-and-post cruise as well as our on board account. Now since we are talking possibly $1500-$2500 I figured that rather than all cash, traveler's cheques would be safer. And yes, I have checked with Royal Bank here, and they have the cheques available, and with our account, there will be no service charge. And yes I have contacted both Florida hotels and they will take them.

 

So. Now you see why I need to know about Celebrity. As mentioned in the original post, I had put a traveler's cheque question to the boards and if was from the responses that I think I was told that Celebrity would cash them, and to check out the bank and the hotels. Done that. Today, I just called Celebrity and the CC rep told me it was a no go to pay the final bill. :eek:

I am not certain that she really knew what I was talking about. Hence, I come back to the fountain of all cruise knowledge....the folks at Cruise Critic! :D

 

Bill

[Josie2]

Rest assured you can cash them on board and use them to pay your on board charges.

[debandbruce]

Ok I get the picture now! Yes as others have said I think you got some bad info. I do know my FIL cashed theirs on the ship so as someone else said just use the cash to pay your on board expenses if they don't take the cheques for it.

[cb at sea]

They don't take PERSONAL checks....maybe put to $200 per cruise...but that's it!

[Trainer]

The Celebrity Rep may have misunderstood, thinking you were referring to checks (cheques) presented by travelers, that is cruisers. Since Travelers Checks are so rarely used these days, it would not be unusual for the person on the phone to be unfamiliar with these items.

Checks from travelers does not equal Travelers Checks!

[LabGuy64]

Why don't you try to figure out what you might spend on the trip and buy OBC? I hear the exchange rate offered by Celebrity is very good and if you do have anything left over it would be refunded

 

From these boards, I was able to find out that one can cash American Express traveler's cheques (in U.S.funds) on board.

 

Has anyone ever paid their on board account with them?

Captain's Club rep says "not possible".

This did not seem sensible to me, if people have cashed them at customer relations during a cruise. But I sure do not want to be caught on board having to put the bill on a Canadian credit card for several hundred dollars more in exchange.:eek:

 

Bill

[snow bunny]

From these boards, I was able to find out that one can cash American Express traveler's cheques (in U.S.funds) on board.

 

Has anyone ever paid their on board account with them?

Captain's Club rep says "not possible".

This did not seem sensible to me, if people have cashed them at customer relations during a cruise. But I sure do not want to be caught on board having to put the bill on a Canadian credit card for several hundred dollars more in exchange.:eek:

 

Bill

 

I have used traveler's cheques on almost every cruise! I too use an American account to dollar cost average my holiday spending. Just use it as cash down on your account. I keep what I don't use for my next trip.

 

snow bunny