Canadian wants to see US prices

[oceansandseas]

I have done a search. There are 241 pages with Canadian and US mentioned. 

 

It says Cunard US, but when I try to do a trial booking, the amount changes to Canadian Dollars.  I am booking for 2022, so I thought I might book in US dollars and see if our Canadian dollar fares better in the next 2 years. I will contact a TA later, but want to know approximately the exchange rate that they are giving today. Hope it is simple to do as I am not really computer literate.

 

Thanks for any help.

[david,Mississauga]

I don't have the ability to disguise my location (Canada) so I am unable to get U.S. fares. But a printed brochure arrived recently that  had sample fares for many voyages in U.S. $. So I was able to see that the conversion rate is, in most cases, 30%  which is fairly good.  There were some fares for inside staterooms that were less and for one voyage some of the staterooms were surcharged by an astonishing 50%.

 

For almost all voyages, when I initially select a specific voyage to see the fares it says that fares are in U.S. $. When I start the booking procedure it says the same but at the third stage it says that "fares are in CAD" as of that date and precise time. So the fares that are claimed to be in U.S.$ are in fact in Can.$.

 

I mentioned this several weeks ago in a posting and have sent an e-mail to Cunard pointing out this error. I suggested this can be bad for business because Canadians seeing this might believe that the fares are, as claimed, in U.S. $ and factor in about 35% for the bank exchange and be discouraged from booking. For sure, any Canadian seeing the fare that had been increased by 50% and thinking that a further 35% bank exchange fee would have to be paid would probably not look further.

 

As is typical with Cunard's California office, they did not respond.  I have found over the years that Cunard will allow Canadians to book in either currency. One exception was the last year of the QE2 (2008) when they insisted on Can. $ which was not to our advantage because Cunard's exchange rate was way more than that of the banks.  But by 2009 Cunard was giving us a good deal on the Can. $ fares.

 

The occasional voyage which departs from a Canadian port, i.e. Vancouver and Québec, is shown as Can.$ at the initial stage. But that is rare.  Most are still shown as being  U.S. $ when they are in fact Can. $.

Edited January 7, 2020 by david,Mississauga

[bluemarble]

Sorry, I meant to reply earlier but my vpn was not allowing connections to Canada last evening or earlier this morning. It's working now so I can report the "From" fares in Canadian dollars I'm seeing advertised in the search results on the Cunard Canada website for all the 2022 voyages are exactly 30% higher than what's being shown in US dollars for those same voyages on the Cunard US website. That confirms what david,Mississauga has reported and is in line with what we've seen last year as well.

[Canuker]

As a Canadian using the Cunard website, I've come to figure out that the prices shown are in C$.
But I've yet to find anything on such pages that clearly shows the currency used.
Given that the default is US$, it would be quite easy for someone to presume that the prices are in US$ - and get scared away. So it's in Cunard's interests to make it clear which currency is being shown. For trading across borders, clearly stating the currency of the contract - up front - is vital.
God forbid someone would pay US$ instead and then have to go through the red tape of a refund - assuming they discovered the error.
Another shortcoming to add to the long list for Cunard's website.
 

Edited January 8, 2020 by Canuker

[SargassoPirate]

The travel website from my big box warehouse club has a small icon in the upper left corner whereby I can switch from US to Canada prices when searching for a cruise.  I am in the US, so I have never tried to switch currencies there, but it may be worth a try.  You can check prices even if you are not a member, but you have to be a member to book through them.

 

Hope this helps.

[david,Mississauga]

10 hours ago, Canuker said:

As a Canadian using the Cunard website, I've come to figure out that the prices shown are in C$.
But I've yet to find anything on such pages that clearly shows the currency used.
Given that the default is US$, it would be quite easy for someone to presume that the prices are in US$ - and get scared away. So it's in Cunard's interests to make it clear which currency is being shown. For trading across borders, clearly stating the currency of the contract - up front - is vital.
God forbid someone would pay US$ instead and then have to go through the red tape of a refund - assuming they discovered the error.
Another shortcoming to add to the long list for Cunard's website.
 

 

Indeed, until recently Cunard recognised I was in Canada and everything was quoted in Can. $.  But they started messing about with their site (and the Voyage Personaliser, but that's another subject) and now it isn't clear.

 

Over the past few days when I click on a particular voyage a notice flashes for about one second that says: "Fares are in Canadian dollars." Then the small print claims the fares in U.S. $ - as I mentioned in my previous posting - and eventually admits they are in Can. $. But the fares claimed to be in U.S. $ are not. They are Can.$.

 

I found a voyage from Québec to New York that quotes Can. $ from the outset. But the Alaska cruises from Vancouver are still quoted wrongly.

[oceansandseas]

Thanks for the replies.  david, Mississauga....I remember seeing that printed brochure that came.  I thought that the prices were so ridiculous that there were misprints. By the way, I always remember your posts as we fly out of YYZ in Mississauga.

Canuker...agree that the website is not very user friendly.

bluemarble....you are always there with a great answers to questions. Much appreciated.

SargessoPirate...saw the little flag in the top right hand corner.  It allows me to see the US prices and the Canadian prices. Did conversion from US to Canadian.  The rate seems to be 1.34 as of today.  I guess it can change daily. I just found this B ig B ox site recently.  I was thinking of maybe using them. Have you had good results with them?

[david,Mississauga]

I checked a dozen cruises for 2021, based on the US $ quoted in the printed brochure and what I get on Cunard's site which eventually are shown as Can.$.  These are different from the voyages I used for comparison the last time.

 

Well, what a difference since my last comparison. The average continues to be 30%. However, there were many fares as low as 10% or as high as 60%.  There were even a few for Club Balcony and the Grills that were cheaper in Can.$ than US $.  The variance was often for the same cruise, i.e. inside staterooms might be only 10% higher but could be 50%, yet the Grills might be only 10%.

 

The Bank of Nova Scotia is charging 34% today for the US $.  So for some stateroom categories on some voyages it would be cheaper to book in US $ and pay the bank exchange.  But for most it is cheaper to book in Can. $.