S&S and currency exchange

[wencel]

I know that charges onboard ship are in USD. I plan to use my Visa for my S&S account. I am Canadian. Will Carnival automatically convert my final USD S&S amount to CAD and charge my Visa this converted CAD amount?

 

I've not found any threads on this (although my search skills are a bit hit & miss). And I ask because I had this experience on my May Princess cruise. Thanks to the Princess boards, I knew of the problem in advance and took all possible steps to clearly indicate on the Princess charge form NOT to convert and still PCL did. The problem is that PCL outsources this and the company they use charges a much higher conversion rate than what Visa charges. Plus in my case I was using a USD Visa so not only did PCL hit me with unnecessary exchange costs by converting the amount, I got hit a second time by Visa when they converted the CAD amount PCL submitted back into USD! It took PCL 3 months after I notified them to correct their error and in the process they made another error that cost me more. One month later and yet another PCL bungled attempt to correct their second mistake. Their third mistake was only a couple of dollars and I gave up. I did end up with a $50 OBC but to me it was hardly worth the hours I'd wasted. Frankly, I'm not inclined to cruise Princess again unless it's a great deal.

 

Sorry for the long story. I've emailed Carnival asking them my question but I leave for my cruise on Thur, and not knowing how long it takes them to reply, thought I'd see if CC can shed some light. Oh and I didn't call Carnival because I want to have a written response from them to refer to if something goes wrong (PCL taught me that!)

[kujobie]

I know that charges onboard ship are in USD. I plan to use my Visa for my S&S account. I am Canadian. Will Carnival automatically convert my final USD S&S amount to CAD and charge my Visa this converted CAD amount?

 

I've not found any threads on this (although my search skills are a bit hit & miss). And I ask because I had this experience on my May Princess cruise. Thanks to the Princess boards, I knew of the problem in advance and took all possible steps to clearly indicate on the Princess charge form NOT to convert and still PCL did. The problem is that PCL outsources this and the company they use charges a much higher conversion rate than what Visa charges. Plus in my case I was using a USD Visa so not only did PCL hit me with unnecessary exchange costs by converting the amount, I got hit a second time by Visa when they converted the CAD amount PCL submitted back into USD! It took PCL 3 months after I notified them to correct their error and in the process they made another error that cost me more. One month later and yet another PCL bungled attempt to correct their second mistake. Their third mistake was only a couple of dollars and I gave up. I did end up with a $50 OBC but to me it was hardly worth the hours I'd wasted. Frankly, I'm not inclined to cruise Princess again unless it's a great deal.

 

Sorry for the long story. I've emailed Carnival asking them my question but I leave for my cruise on Thur, and not knowing how long it takes them to reply, thought I'd see if CC can shed some light. Oh and I didn't call Carnival because I want to have a written response from them to refer to if something goes wrong (PCL taught me that!)

 

Bummer. I don't know how this is even legal. Exchange rates are set by the carrier (Visa) and are usually favorable. Not sure how they can "outsource" this. In any case, if you are concerned and can't get an answer, hit a reliable currency exchange or ATM before you sail and use a cash deposit for your S&S account.

[KruznKel]

On both of our cruises our Visa has been charged in US dollars and Visa did the conversion to Canadian funds. We never had to tell Carnival to do that. I am sure at the time of booking either with Carnival or your TA you could specify you would like the charges to be in US Funds. That then leaves it up to your credit card company to convert or not depending on the currency the card is used for.

[hockeyluver]

We always use our Canadian Credit card, even in ports and have had no problems with exchange.

 

Make sure you call your credit card company and tell them you will be going on a vacation to expect unusual purchases from foreign countries. My sister had her credit card rejected on the second day of her cruise a few years ago. The cc company had noticed "strange places of purchases" on her card and put a hold on it. She had a hell of a time getting ahold of the credit company while on the cruise. We call the 1-800 number before we go away each time now and let them know where we are going to expect purchases.