Currency conversion - which should I use?

[Icecoldcranberry]

Hi everyone,

 

I am Canadian and have a Canadian credit card. I am trying to complete my online check in process. Royal Caribbean has an option to choose between charging me in US$ and having VISA use its currency conversion rate or Royal converting my charges using its own rate and charging my card in CD$. Does anyone know which is a better rate for me? (IE which will make my charges lower?)

 

Thanks!

[TBone2K]

You should check with your CC, but generally better to let them charge you in USD. RC charges 3% for currency conversion and my Visa, for example is 2.5%. Small difference, but might as well save.

[cruiseguy1016]

Your bank/credit card company will always give you a fair conversion. Don't let RCI convert it for you, have your credit card company do it.

[njkruzer]

Use a card with no foreign transaction fees.

[Clarea]

Your bank/credit card company will always give you a fair conversion. Don't let RCI convert it for you, have your credit card company do it.

Totally agree, and another tip is to check with Guest Services a day or two into the cruise. Royal has a habit of "forgetting" your selection and doing the conversion themselves.

[cruzgryphon]

Totally agree, and another tip is to check with Guest Services a day or two into the cruise. Royal has a habit of "forgetting" your selection and doing the conversion themselves.

Agree with the others about letting your credit card do the conversion. Especially agree with Bob - have been burned a couple of times and paid more in Canadian due to RC doing the conversion vs. my credit card company.

[Ourusualbeach]

Get a US$ card and you don’t have to worry about any of this.

[SeaDays4Us]

Totally agree, and another tip is to check with Guest Services a day or two into the cruise. Royal has a habit of "forgetting" your selection and doing the conversion themselves.

 

 

 

We are Australians and have a credit card that does not charge conversion fees and offers a very good exchange rate. We always tick option B, for our bank to do the conversion. On the last two cruises Royal has chose to ignore our request. We caught it in time when they sent out an interim account half way through the cruise.

I think Royal "forgets" a lot. We mentioned it to some follow passengers and their request were ignored too. Long lines at Guest Services.

We always check now...don't trust them. Not all cruisers have US$ credit cards.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[MrYellowDuck]

The commission free credit card option is a simple marketing trick; you need to look at the net price you are paying taking account of the spread too. Consumers do not get access to the rates the bank gets and they will definitely be clipping your ticket for providing their service.

 

Your bank will almost certainly cost less than RCL will. Also some banks threaten to charge their margin on top if you use a third party like RCL to do the conversion; mine threatens this but since they’re much cheaper in the first place I’ve never tested whether they really would.

[Keith1010]

My experience is to have the credit card company do the conversion.

 

I am from the USA but when we've gone abroad that is how we do it and find that the rate is better that way.

 

Keith

[SeaDays4Us]

The commission free credit card option is a simple marketing trick; you need to look at the net price you are paying taking account of the spread too. Consumers do not get access to the rates the bank gets and they will definitely be clipping your ticket for providing their service.

 

Your bank will almost certainly cost less than RCL will. Also some banks threaten to charge their margin on top if you use a third party like RCL to do the conversion; mine threatens this but since they’re much cheaper in the first place I’ve never tested whether they really would.

 

The credit card we use only for travel and online shopping is a 28 degrees platinum MasterCard and is not issued by a bank. It has no annual fee and no conversion fees. Actually found out about it here on Cruise Critic. Very popular with Australians. Not sure if available to New Zealanders. So we always get them to do our conversion.

[MrYellowDuck]

It has no annual fee and no conversion fees.

 

It's a matter of terminology - there may be no fee but there is a spread between the price your issuer buys the currency and the price they sell it to you for. Consumers never get the wholesale rate. Mastercard sets the price of converting currencies internationally and there is a margin that they make. You can check it yourself buy heading over to https://www.mastercard.us/en-us/consumers/get-support/convert-currency.html (put in zero as your banks fee) and then comparing this to the wholesale rate for the same date.

 

Yes you're probably getting about the best deal you can but you are also paying more for the foreign currency than it costs your card issuer - I'm inclined to call this extra amount a fee but weasel words allow them to claim there is none.

 

No similar cards in NZ that I know of. But it's still better to use a card billed in USD rather than have RCL convert to NZD.

 

NZ pays more for everything as a rule of thumb. There isn't really competition of the type you enjoy in AU. Nevertheless it is almost always cheaper to import than buy locally despite the costs of doing so. Generally things are about twice the price of importing yourself. One of my best savings was on an exercise machine that I bought in sea freight from the US - I saved $3k compared to the local price even after the cost of the freight, import charges, GST and so on.

Edited December 29, 2017 by MrYellowDuck

[fishtaco]

The credit card we use only for travel and online shopping is a 28 degrees platinum MasterCard and is not issued by a bank. It has no annual fee and no conversion fees. Actually found out about it here on Cruise Critic. Very popular with Australians. Not sure if available to New Zealanders. So we always get them to do our conversion.

 

Do not let RCI convert for you or it will cost you !

 

As the poster In the quote above I too use 28 Degree Mastercard for all my Overseas transactions and you get the best exchange rate with zero international exchange fees

 

In Canada and US the 28 Degree Mastercard will possibly be a "GE Mastercard" as 28 Degree is GE Money(General Electrics)

[fishtaco]

Hi everyone,

 

I am Canadian and have a Canadian credit card. I am trying to complete my online check in process. Royal Caribbean has an option to choose between charging me in US$ and having VISA use its currency conversion rate or Royal converting my charges using its own rate and charging my card in CD$. Does anyone know which is a better rate for me? (IE which will make my charges lower?)

 

Thanks!

 

Just to add to my above reply.

 

If you decide to pay with your CND credit card and let them convert instead of Royal then you need to know your credit cards foreign exchange fees, with some visa cards it can be quite a lot,you need to call them with an estimated amount and they will give you the fee

 

To give you an example my latest final payment to RCI with my banks Visa card would have been around $180au in fees!

 

In Australia we can pay deposit and final in $au direct to RCI au as long as it is direct debit or cheque but if we pay with credit card it is charged in $us in Miami. Once on the ship it is all $us only so thats where the 28 Degree Mastercard comes into play,;p

[TBone2K]

Without repeating what has already been said (because that is what people seem to be doing here), Canadians seem to get a limited number of CC choices, especially compared to the US. 28 Degrees seems to be only in AUS. A US$ credit card must still be paid off in US$, so you will pay the conversion somewhere along the line.

 

There is a thread called "Canadian Cruisers" that talks a lot about different conversion options if you can search for it.