Booking in Canadian Dollars!!

[dmk]

:( Canadians pay close attention to the Celeb. Site when booking in CAD. Some cruises have large discrepancies between the USD and CAD. With the CAD near $0.80, many Celebrity cruises do not give that kind of exchange and you end up paying more for booking in CAD.:eek:

[Longboysfan]

In talking to my agent about this....

 

She has booked Canadian passangers.

She always gets the rate in American and has the payment made that way.

 

Seems to save a bit for the passanger.

[Jack1]

Next 2 cruises for us are booked through a US TA. She puts through the charges onto our credit card and then the exchange is done through them. Figure we are saving quite a bit of $ this way. However, if the dollar heads the other way again, then maybe we won't be smiling so much!!!! We also have a $US savings account to put $ into when the Cdn dollar gains as it has been. Every little bit helps.

[Cruise Junky]

Me too...we booked with a US agent and I'm planning on paying 1/2 the final payment next week even though it's not due until August 2005. The exchange rate is so good I don't want to miss out.

[dmk]

The economists seem to feel that the CAD will hang around the $0.80 mark for a while. I hope so.

My TA is located in Vancouver and he will book in USD or CAD.

[cathi]

Any good TA will tell you the price in either currency (even Euro's if you want it) and any cruise can be booked in either currency. Just remember when you're looking on Celeb's site for shore excursions they have been pricing in CAD at a set exchange rate. Since the Cruise lines often set the exchange rate only once a year you need to pay attention. Might be worth it to wait till your on board to book that excursion.

[Shmobo]

I always try to get quotes in both US$ and CDN$...

The reason why sometimes there were specials that are only available when booked in CDN$ or Vice Versa.

 

This happened to my upcoming Brilliance cruise where the differences was over CDN$1200 cheaper for the same room if booked in CDN$ VS USD$...

[RickT]

This year the exchange rate wasn't good so I booked in US dollars and am laughing all the way to the bank. Two years ago this was definitely NOT the way to go as Celebrity was using an exchange rate of $1.40 when the real exchange rate was $1.50+. Nice to know you generally have the option of booking in whatever currency you want.

 

Really looking forward to the next cruise especially if the exchange rate continues to be strong. :cool:

[babylene]

Well, I booked three cruises several months ago when the Canadian dollar was going south. I figured it was better to know what I was paying. Now, of course, our dollar is stronger than ever and I am the loser (the cruises have gone up in price so much that it wouldn't pay to rebook.

 

But that is my luck. I didn't buy the stock at $26 because I thought I should wait for it to go down...ha!

[mr green]

DMK.Watch Celebrity! X has not lowered its rates for shore excursions:mad: Its costs in Canadian $s on line are the same as when we had a 74 cent $. I will either buy on Mercury, by VISA in U.S. $s,or forget it. I am not cheap,but I hate being ripped off. john taylor:mad: .

[Highlander]

Our final payment was due in a couple of weeks for our Celebrity cruise in January, so I phoned my travel agent today and asked if I could pay in US dollars. Initially, she said I would lose my cabin, possibly late dining & maybe there would be no cabins in same category and location, but when I said go ahead or I would cancel and rebook with someone else (I had already checked there were a number of cabins in our category in the same location) she came back in 2 minutes and was able to change and still keep our original cabin, late dinner seating and I saved over $250 on the exchange. Not bad for a 2 minute phone call and a paper transaction.

I know some travel agents won't do it but ours did. I guess her choice was no sale or change and keep a sale.

[Moeve]

Interesting thread!! I wonder do these TA's have branches in the US & Canada to be able to do this or is this a special thing just for Canadian TA's?

 

The European RCCL / Celebrity Branches are only allowed to issue prices in Euro's or Pound Sterling but not in USD (these are almost always lower) if you do for some reason or other get a price is USD the it is much higher than the USD price in the US. The same goes for booking excursions online - if you have a european booking no. - you will only get prices in Euro or Pound Sterling and these are currently always higher than the USD price.

[uktog]

Our final payment was due in a couple of weeks for our Celebrity cruise in January, so I phoned my travel agent today and asked if I could pay in US dollars. Initially, she said I would lose my cabin, possibly late dining & maybe there would be no cabins in same category and location, but when I said go ahead or I would cancel and rebook with someone else (I had already checked there were a number of cabins in our category in the same location) she came back in 2 minutes and was able to change and still keep our original cabin, late dinner seating and I saved over $250 on the exchange. Not bad for a 2 minute phone call and a paper transaction.

I know some travel agents won't do it but ours did. I guess her choice was no sale or change and keep a sale.

Well done fellow countryman - I have the same issue on booking cruise credits and shore excursions. Like the original poster X insisted last time in using a preset £ price - not a good rate and I wanted to be billed in $ at the advertised rate to my credit card. Still have not resolved that one for my next trip which again I want to be debited in dollars.

[Highlander]

uktog,

I should clarify that my T/A is in Canada, as I live there now although I am originally from Scotland. I am not sure if the same happens in the UK.

George

[BCHappyGal]

We are Canadian & our TA is in Canada - she always checks the cruise prices out in both CAD & US dollars for me and books whichever way is the cheapest.

[dmk]

Highlander: Good for you! As you mentioned the key is to make sure there are other cabins in the same category as yours. My Ta did the same thing for me but I wouldn't chance it if there weren't cabins available that I liked. :D