For you Canadian Sailers out there....

[2calgarycruisers]

are you offered the option of settling your onboard account via Canadian to avoid paying the credit card exchange fees? Trying to decide whether to cancel our US credit card. Thanks to all.

[WpgCruise]

In the good old days (before we got a U.S. $ Credit Card) the option was to settle in Canadian or U.S. funds. Two problems, and it seemed consistent across all the cruise lines we sailed, Princess, H.A.L. and Celebrity.

 

First of all their conversion rate stinks. It was always way higher than the applicable bank rate.

 

Secondly, we'd pick the option we wanted, they would charge the currency they wanted.

 

It was always a hassle, but each time there was a problem, I'd fax a copy of our Visa statement showing the incorrect conversion and they would fix it

 

I'd suggest keeping your U.S. $ Credit Card, and if you do drop it, then make sure charges are in U.S. $ before you leave the ship.

[AlbertaCruisers]

You can have them put your account through in CDN, but the ship then uses their conversion fee. Last I looked it was significantly worse than the fee my Canadian credit card charges. I always have them charge it in USD and let my card convert to CDN. There are some Canadian credit cards with no foreign conversion fees if your interested.

 

 

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[Schmoe38]

are you offered the option of settling your onboard account via Canadian to avoid paying the credit card exchange fees? Trying to decide whether to cancel our US credit card. Thanks to all.

 

Keep your US Dollar credit card and use that card number when you complete your Celebrity Check in for purposes of establishing your on board account. Celebrity is currently using a 1.38 per cent exchange conversion from USD to CAD. The current conversion rate in the Canadian Banks is closer to 1.32 per cent. If you do not currently have a USD bank account, open one and purchase some USD to deposit into it. If you already have a USD bank account, purchase some more USD as the Canadian Dollar is exhibiting strength and it is always a good idea to accumulate USD when the Canadian Dollar is strengthening.

 

When we booked our latest cruise for Apr 2017, we booked it through Celebrity in USD to avoid the excessive exchange rate currently being used if you book it in CAD.

 

Celebrity will adjust the exchange rate again in the future, but for now, don't have your cruise charges applied to a Canadian Dollar credit card. It's better for a Canadian to pay for cruise expenses in USD.

 

Randy

[Infinatic]

Get an Amazon visa card, no annual fee, no currency exchange fees.

 

Better yet is a Chase Visa Marriott card, no exchange fees.

There is an annual fee but you get an annual free stay in a US hotel, worth more than the cost of the card.

[Toronto Guy]

Can't we just tell them to bill our CDN credit card in US dollars? And if so, when do we tell them - at check in or after on board?

[gergles]

Can't we just tell them to bill our CDN credit card in US dollars? And if so, when do we tell them - at check in or after on board?

 

Yes, on the Xpress Pass there will be an option to be billed in either CAD or USD. You want to pick the USD option, because all the ships charges are 'natively' in USD. (This option is the second one that says "I want to have my credit card issuer...")

 

If you pick CAD, they will indeed bill your card in CAD, but they will choose the exchange rate (and they choose an unfavorable one plus add a 3% fee to it.)

[cruisefan123]

Keep your US card. My US credit card issued from my bank does not have a transaction fee. When you complete check in use your US card for your on board purchases, etc. You will have a better rate than if you charge your Canadian credit card.

[WpgCruise]

Can't we just tell them to bill our CDN credit card in US dollars? And if so, when do we tell them - at check in or after on board?

 

Of course you can tell them to bill your CDN $$ credit card in U.S. $.

 

The time to tell them to do this is at check in, but far too often for us this has not happened. Instead the Cruise Company (and Celebrity is no worse at this than HAL or Princess) will use their rate to convert the U.S. amount to CDN $$ and then post this CDN amount, at their conversion rate to our CDN $ credit card.

 

The solution if using a CDN $$ credit card that you want billed in U.S. $ is to check several times through out the cruise that the billing is in U.S. $. The alternative is to have and use a U.S. $ credit card.

 

FWIW, when our instructions have been disregarded (and it has happened more times than not) when the Credit Card bill comes in, I've simply sent a copy of the bill to the cruise line and explained the error, pointed out the $ amount of their error, and in every case compensation was provided.

[2calgarycruisers]

Thanks everyone, bigger reason for asking is that our US card comes with no benefits whereas our Capital One Aspire card paid for 75% of our cruise and our aeroplan points (gained by both flights and cc charges) paid for both our business class flights and the rest of our cruise. As you can see, I'm a bit of a points hound so it makes me anxious not to get any :cool:

[Schmoe38]

Thanks everyone, bigger reason for asking is that our US card comes with no benefits whereas our Capital One Aspire card paid for 75% of our cruise and our aeroplan points (gained by both flights and cc charges) paid for both our business class flights and the rest of our cruise. As you can see, I'm a bit of a points hound so it makes me anxious not to get any :cool:

 

Don't get hung up on points at all costs. The key is being able to attribute a dollar amount to each air mile. If that dollar amount is more than the added exchange cost that you are paying by using Celebrity's exchange rate, then by all means continue to gather air miles points by paying in Canadian Dollars. I may be mistaken, and others can assist, but I believe each air mile is worth about 1 cent so it wouldn't be all that difficult to compare the dollar benefit of these new air miles to the potential extra Canadian Dollars you may be paying if Celebrity's current exchange rate is higher than you could get at a local bank branch.

 

Either way, I would not get rid of your USD credit card. Even without perks, it is handy when you are south of the border.

 

Just a thought.

 

 

Randy

Edited August 21, 2016 by Schmoe38

[2calgarycruisers]

Completely agree -that is why the exchange that X charges is important to me

 

 

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[Creepella]

If you really don't want them converting, give them an Amex card. They don't convert for Amex (assuming Celebrity works the same as RCCL).

[Payd]

are you offered the option of settling your onboard account via Canadian to avoid paying the credit card exchange fees? Trying to decide whether to cancel our US credit card. Thanks to all.

 

We have only had the option to pay in USD. It is the reason we still keep a USD credit card (we actually have two now - a visa and a m/c). We are depleting our USD account though and expect by our panama canal cruise it will be gone. We will still keep the USD cards though and just pay the bank exchange rather than cc exchange percentages.

 

Nice to see another Alberta cruiser posting on cc :)

[metrolady]

are you offered the option of settling your onboard account via Canadian to avoid paying the credit card exchange fees? Trying to decide whether to cancel our US credit card. Thanks to all.

 

 

Just checked the Celebrity website today, and they have an unbelievable promotion for Canadian cruisers. -- Select Mediterranean cruises priced CDN at PAR!!!

There are some amazing deals if you can travel in Sept or Oct.2016.

 

Wish they did this more often!!! No worries about exchange rates and US bank cards. :D

(sure hope this offer is not another one of those glitches that the Celebrity website is famous for......)

[fshagan]

Get an Amazon visa card, no annual fee, no currency exchange fees.

 

Better yet is a Chase Visa Marriott card, no exchange fees.

There is an annual fee but you get an annual free stay in a US hotel, worth more than the cost of the card.

 

My Amazon credit card, available here in the US, has a 3% foreign transaction fee - see this link for details.

 

Note that I didn't say "foreign currency fee". It is charged whether I have the bill done in Euros or US dollars if I'm in Europe. It is being out of the country when doing the transaction that triggers the fee. Having the bill charged in your home currency may not help at all if the credit card has this kind of fee.

 

"Dynamic Currency Conversion" (DCC) is the name for the vendor charging you in your home currency. As others here have noted, it is usually a bad idea. Here's PBS travel reporter Rick Steves' opinion and mileage points guru The Points Guy's opinion. In almost all cases it is more expensive to use DCC than simply letting your bank handle the charge. Google "Dynamic Currency Conversion" for thousands of links explaining why it is a rip off.

[Perky1]

We always take US Travellers cheques and settle up the account the night before. If we charge anything else that small amount would not matter going to our Cdn credit card.

[Can'tstopcruising]

Just checked the Celebrity website today, and they have an unbelievable promotion for Canadian cruisers. -- Select Mediterranean cruises priced CDN at PAR!!!

There are some amazing deals if you can travel in Sept or Oct.2016.

 

Wish they did this more often!!! No worries about exchange rates and US bank cards. :D

(sure hope this offer is not another one of those glitches that the Celebrity website is famous for......)

 

That sounds fabulous!

 

But I think the on board charges are always in US.

 

If you use a credit card in Canadian funds, during the cruise, check a couple of times that they are charging you in US, so that your bank can convert it at a better rate. Many posters here over the years have reported problems. We have a BMO M/C in US funds that we use. One time, in their wisdom, they converted it to CAD and then it was converted back to US. What a mess that was to correct!

[robcruz]

What a scam.

 

Equinox Sep.20 advertised at par, balcony X C$2599. Same cruise on US website, balcony X US$1999.

 

Who is Celebrity trying to kid?

[drakes2]

As of October 2016 Master Card is now charging a foreign exchange fee. They were one of the few credit cards that did not originally charge this fee so I opened an account as I was cruising throughout Europe last summer. To offset the fees they are now giving 4% cash back on foreign transactions but I figured I'm still losing a half a percent.

You can have them put your account through in CDN, but the ship then uses their conversion fee. Last I looked it was significantly worse than the fee my Canadian credit card charges. I always have them charge it in USD and let my card convert to CDN. There are some Canadian credit cards with no foreign conversion fees if your interested.

 

 

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[Oceangoer2]

FYI......From my current XPress Pass...the actual wording is:

. I choose to pay my onboard charges in the currency of my card. I choose to use your currency conversion program. (Bloomberg exchange rate plus 3%).

and

. I choose to have my credit card issuer convert my onboard charges to the currency of my card in lieu of participating in Celebrity Cruises currency conversion program. (this would be charges in US $ then converted by your credit card).

 

We always use the 2nd one.

Edited January 16, 2017 by oceangoer2

[Oceangoer2]

What a scam.

 

Equinox Sep.20 advertised at par, balcony X C$2599. Same cruise on US website, balcony X US$1999.

 

Who is Celebrity trying to kid?

 

US $1999 @1.30 = $2598.70 Cdn; definitely not at par, but lower than the present rate. Cost us a lot to cruise for sure.

Edited January 16, 2017 by oceangoer2