How many CDNs are still cruising with the low dollar

[Lynnees]

We are Brits and took a holiday in September 2012 across the American Northwest that included British Columbia and Alberta. We flew into Seattle, as Vancouver was so much more expensive, car hire was 40% more for the same car than in the US. The hotels were also 35-40 % more expensive than the comparible US hotels, eating out again similar higher prices. The Canadian dollar devaluation was long overdue and probably now at a more realistic level to that of other world currencies.

 

You're kidding right -The cost of the British pound is terrible at $2.12. You get so much more for your money here. More than the greenback. You want high prices, look in your own backyard. I spent Christmas in the U.K. visiting family. The cost was horrendous.

[chrismakris]

The CDN dollars drop in value will definitely have an effect in the way I travel. I have a European cruise booked as a solo. Even though there was a price drop in US$ the price in CDN stayed the same because of the exchange rate. I may decide to take advantage of the resident rate instead of the the BBB deal.

 

Also if I were to cruise I would probably be looking at a last minute deal.

[AtleeH]

Of course winter runs from September to June, right? Just Kidding.

 

Actually, we want to do an RV trip up through the Maritime Providences in 2016.

 

The weak Cdn $ should be boosting our export sales; apparently it'll take time for this to work its way through to the economic bottom line. Americans will have lots to spend when they visit the 'great white north' which is beautifully green during all the seasons except winter...LOL.

[Oceangoer2]

We booked our Hawaiian cruise a little over a year ago on board the Connie and booked most of our excursions 8 months ago. If we were to book our C2 cabin today it would cost $5300 dollars more......that makes it more then twice the price we paid. I cannot blame the drastic increase on the low dollar alone...there has to be another reason in my opinion. Regardless, we will monitor the prices and see if we can get any deals. If not we will be staying in Canada.

We found the same price increase...booked our C2 last March, now it's almost $5000 more. This isn't just the Cdn $, nor the perks built in...I think it's a profit to throw at new ship building and catch up for some years when cruises were under charged...JMHO.

[Oceangoer2]

Of course winter runs from September to June, right? Just Kidding.

 

Actually, we want to do an RV trip up through the Maritime Providences in 2016.

Some years you could be right...although some of us Canadians find September and June to be the best weather months, especially for golf and travelling.

 

To my Vancouver friends...you definitely live in the Canadian hot house...but it's a little damp....oui?

 

And re the Maritime RV trip by our Virginian neighbours......a very scenic and fun area of Canada.. not as serious as we are in the Toronto area (but we have fun here too...the city lights up at night!).

Edited January 18, 2016 by oceangoer2

[BrendaJ]

We've currently got four cruises booked, three in Canadian dollars and the Mardi Gras 2017 cruise in U. S. - the price for that one has gone up so much we're still getting a decent deal with all the perks. As for the two cruises we just booked within the last month, one is a unique itinerary in 2018 - I've got lots of time to wait for price drops as there were no perks with this one; and the other is in a suite with all the perks and tons of OBC from our travel agent - expensive, perhaps, but I'm sure it will be wonderful, and maybe the price will come down on that one too - if not, we're still going.

 

Perhaps our dollar is making our trips more expensive, but I can't think of any other way to spend our dollars that makes me happier. Life is short - might as well have as much fun as possible. I'll never lie on my death bed and wish I hadn't taken a vacation.

[dandee2]

Just got back from the Summit. Our cruise was booked last July 2015 at 0.86$.

 

Will not consider going back with a CA$ at 0.65$. Prefers to put kids thru university before. Priorities, you know!!!

 

dandee2

 

PS: Cancelled all 3 Day Pass at resorts last month. No way I sit on a chair for 150$CA for the day.

[ABCruiser]

As for the two cruises we just booked within the last month, one is a unique itinerary in 2018.

 

Curious about the unique itinerary in 2018. Nothing jumped out as unique to me for 2018, must of missed it.

[Bornbeau]

No damn Conservatives.

[BrendaJ]

Curious about the unique itinerary in 2018. Nothing jumped out as unique to me for 2018, must of missed it.

 

The 18 day (actually 19 day with the date line) Tahitian Treasures. They usually have a similar itinerary in the opposite direction in the fall (not released yet), but typically this itinerary has one extra stop in Hawaii, not to mention, I'd rather have the longest flight at the beginning rather than at the end. If the fall itinerary ends up being more appealing, we can always switch once they release it.

[Max Bet]

We are lucky. We are Blue Chip Club VIP's so they offer us a free trip every 3 or 4 months. We just pay taxes and port fees. We get free drinks in the casino bar so don't need a drink package. The dollar in the dump will cause us to not do any excursions but we quite enjoy just wandering around on our own. We will also greatly reduce our gambling budget.;)

[az_tchr]

We found the same price increase...booked our C2 last March, now it's almost $5000 more. This isn't just the Cdn $, nor the perks built in...I think it's a profit to throw at new ship building and catch up for some years when cruises were under charged...JMHO.

 

Spoke to TA at a big local agency - does everything for state employees, University and Raytheon etc. Over 50 employees. They said they were absolutely swamped with cruise reservations. I do note being in Yuma last week that the license plates are still mostly Canadian, but the restaurants are empty and grocery stores full. Obviously cutting back a bit.

 

Wondering what cruise went up $5000 for a cabin? Can understand a suite where few available or the one Pacific coastal where X always sells out, but not anything else. Care to share?

[Dakkar]

We've booked 5 cruises until 2017 when the CND $ was high. We now hope that by 2017, the CND $ will have gone up! ;-)

[Lynnees]

The 18 day (actually 19 day with the date line) Tahitian Treasures. They usually have a similar itinerary in the opposite direction in the fall (not released yet), but typically this itinerary has one extra stop in Hawaii, not to mention, I'd rather have the longest flight at the beginning rather than at the end. If the fall itinerary ends up being more appealing, we can always switch once they release it.

 

Which ship

[iMedic]

My partner and I have one more cruise booked and that's for May of 2017 (10 Day Hawaii to Vancouver). Beyond that we just returned from 7 days at Disney world - thankfully the Disney resort fees were due back when the dollar was in the 75 cent zone. Unfortunately all our expenses while there were not, and lets just say for a couple of DINKs were do love spending money at Disney. Only bright side, I suppose, is that I got more MR points on my Amex.....

 

 

We are still looking at a shorter cruise in March or a long weekend trip to Bermuda, but haven't decided on anything. A good chunk of our travel budget is being eaten up by a friend's wedding this summer in Florence. We just booked our airfare for it and while we got an excellent deal for business in both directions it was still expensive.

 

As for why the dollar is dropping, there are numerous reasons and as much I'd love to blame it all on Harper, we can't, though his government was incredibly short sighted in their management of the economy.

The drop can be summarized the way:

• The Canadian dollar was doing so well in large part due to the US dollar doing poorly
  
• Oil was at record breaking levels and now isn't in large part to OPEC and Saudi Arabia wanting to destroy the competition
  
• Connected to that were plans to destroy Russia's oil industry by flooding the market with cheap oil
  
• Harper and the Conservative government ignoring warning signs
  
• A shift in economic policies by the federal government that focused more political energy upon the energy sector, willifully ignoring the problems of the manufacturing part of Canada (ie: Ontario),
  

 

Those are many of the reasons why the loonie tanked, and it bloody sucks. Particularly since i hate winter and would love to not be where it's cold.

[ABCruiser]

The 18 day (actually 19 day with the date line) Tahitian Treasures. They usually have a similar itinerary in the opposite direction in the fall (not released yet), but typically this itinerary has one extra stop in Hawaii, not to mention, I'd rather have the longest flight at the beginning rather than at the end. If the fall itinerary ends up being more appealing, we can always switch once they release it.

 

Ah! love that itinerary, we did that April 2013 minus Hilo. I know what you mean by the flight. We finished another transpacific last April ending in Vancouver, only an hour flight home from there...loved it!

[BrendaJ]

Which ship

April 11, 2018 on the Solstice.

[dmk]

You can do it pretty inexpensively in a condo. We rented in the Ilikai in Honolulu for years we paid around $950 US for the week. Last Christmas and New Years we rented a townhouse over looking the golf course at Turtle Bay for $1800 US for two weeks. If you need a three course meal every night, then yes you'll pay but it can very done a lot cheaper.

 

We have done the same in Puerto Vallarta. It'll be awhile before we cruise again.

[jellyfish39]

We are cruising in March - booked last year when the C$ rate was reasonable and we got the drinks package. We prepaid gratuities at final payment and got the same exchange rate as the initial booking.

 

We usually cruise twice a year (balconies) and were planning to book on board, but given the current rates will probably skip this time.

 

We did pre-purchase some extra onboard credit about a month ago and got an 80c exchange rate, but this has now changed drastically on the Gifts and Gear page, We bought extra OBC to cover shore excursions etc. We had reserved a hotel room but recently rebooked using a Canadian site to lock in the rate.

 

Have some US$ left from a cruise last fall, but we are kicking ourselves for not buying more US$ when the currencies were at Par.

 

My do some local travelling or something other than US$ based travel.

[Lynnees]

April 11, 2018 on the Solstice.

 

Thank you.

[richstowe]

We are taking break from cruising until March '17 , possibly longer . We got a great deal on HAL last summer both on the exchange rate and with an upsell offer . This brings me to the issue of booking direct vs with TA's . Over our last 3 cruises we did very well exchange rate wise by booking through the cruise lines . We even purchased OBC , so much so that I felt like a currency trader .:D Not sure about the future but I certainly have been booking direct lately . Even with the added perks offered by TA's , we have saved more by booking in CDN dollars direct .

 

We are lucky. We are Blue Chip Club VIP's so they offer us a free trip every 3 or 4 months. We just pay taxes and port fees. We get free drinks in the casino bar so don't need a drink package. The dollar in the dump will cause us to not do any excursions but we quite enjoy just wandering around on our own. We will also greatly reduce our gambling budget.;)

Wow I'm guessing you are not at the 5 (6) dollar table .:D

So what's causing this low dollar? Is it the damn Liberals?

I thought it was caused by the people who voted for the pretty boy .

[lienf]

We've currently got four cruises booked, three in Canadian dollars and the Mardi Gras 2017 cruise in U. S. - the price for that one has gone up so much we're still getting a decent deal with all the perks. As for the two cruises we just booked within the last month, one is a unique itinerary in 2018 - I've got lots of time to wait for price drops as there were no perks with this one; and the other is in a suite with all the perks and tons of OBC from our travel agent - expensive, perhaps, but I'm sure it will be wonderful, and maybe the price will come down on that one too - if not, we're still going.

 

Perhaps our dollar is making our trips more expensive, but I can't think of any other way to spend our dollars that makes me happier. Life is short - might as well have as much fun as possible. I'll never lie on my death bed and wish I hadn't taken a vacation.

 

We have 5 booked including 2 in 2017. Your comments are our thoughts exactly. Well said!

[smtcan]

We have just booked our winter trip and instead of a cruise it is an all inclusive in the Dominican Republic. It is a five star resort, highly recommended by family and friends who have stayed there. We could book everything in CAD and the cost came out at just over 60% 0f the cost of air and a Caribbean cruise on Celebrity for similar dates. We are not expecting the same standard of service, but we are just looking for sunshine and relaxation, so it will suit us fine.

[xpirtss]

Wow ! Hard to Port how did you manage to get that deal, you must have a great TA.

[worldtravellerrus]

It cant be Trudeau Lite, as he hasn't been in Ottawa long enough to do anything, except selfies.

We are booked on a B2B on the Connie but it looks like Istanbul and Israel might be out, and then add to it, the fact we would have to pay an additional $2000 Canadian for the tours we want which are in U.S. Dollars and it is making us really consider dropping the cruises. It was for our 50th too.

 

 

We are taking break from cruising until March '17 , possibly longer . We got a great deal on HAL last summer both on the exchange rate and with an upsell offer . This brings me to the issue of booking direct vs with TA's . Over our last 3 cruises we did very well exchange rate wise by booking through the cruise lines . We even purchased OBC , so much so that I felt like a currency trader .:D Not sure about the future but I certainly have been booking direct lately . Even with the added perks offered by TA's , we have saved more by booking in CDN dollars direct .

 

Wow I'm guessing you are not at the 5 (6) dollar table .:D

I thought it was caused by the people who voted for the pretty boy .