Help me understand "Currency Conversion Authorization"

[snorkelman]

Page 11 of 17 of my cruise edocs contains the stuff about setting up your charge account. I understand that part. The part that confuses me is the options presented regarding converting the currency using either RCL or your own credit card conversion. Which is better? I am thinking the credit card is better than RCL, but here is the language. Maybe someone has already looked into this matter.

 

"Currency Conversion Authorization (Please check one of the

following options.)

__ A. I choose to pay my onboard charges in the currency of my card.

I.e.: I choose to use Royal Caribbean International currency conversion

program. (See terms below.)

 

This currency conversion transaction is based on wholesale exchange

rates collected from Bloomberg plus a 3 percent international currency

conversion fee. My choice to have charges billed in the currency of my

card is final. I accept that the exchange rate used will be the rate in

effect at the time the amounts are charged to my card without further

consultation.

 

__B. I choose to have my credit card issuer convert my onboard charges

to the currency of my card in lieu of participating in the Royal Caribbean

International currency program. (See terms below.)

If I opt for my charges to be converted by my credit card issuer, or if my

card is not billed in one of the billing currencies listed, my charges will be

processed in the onboard currency (USD) and the issuer of my card may

charge a service fee for currency conversion.

[madforcruising]

Page 11 of 17 of my cruise edocs contains the stuff about setting up your charge account. I understand that part. The part that confuses me is the options presented regarding converting the currency using either RCL or your own credit card conversion. Which is better? I am thinking the credit card is better than RCL, but here is the language. Maybe someone has already looked into this matter.

 

"Currency Conversion Authorization (Please check one of the

following options.)

__ A. I choose to pay my onboard charges in the currency of my card.

I.e.: I choose to use Royal Caribbean International currency conversion

program. (See terms below.)

 

This currency conversion transaction is based on wholesale exchange

rates collected from Bloomberg plus a 3 percent international currency

conversion fee. My choice to have charges billed in the currency of my

card is final. I accept that the exchange rate used will be the rate in

effect at the time the amounts are charged to my card without further

consultation.

 

__B. I choose to have my credit card issuer convert my onboard charges

to the currency of my card in lieu of participating in the Royal Caribbean

International currency program. (See terms below.)

If I opt for my charges to be converted by my credit card issuer, or if my

card is not billed in one of the billing currencies listed, my charges will be

processed in the onboard currency (USD) and the issuer of my card may

charge a service fee for currency conversion.

 

 

It always depends on the conditions of your credit card.

I usually choose to be billed in USD and not my local currency (which would be EUR). It´s cheaper for me as my CC company always gives the official exchange rate at the given date and only 1% exchange fee.

[Albert Ross]

B...B...B....B....B....B.....B Always pick B!!

[suekay]

I always pick B so that my cc company do the conversion (they give the wholesale rate and do not charge for international transactions)

[emmy]

We always choose B and RCI still converts it. :(I am going to highlight it this time.

[Aprille]

snorkelman - don't know where you are as your location is not listed but note that all replies so far are from those outside of the US.

 

If you are using a US credit card that charges in US dollars, there is no need to check either box because no conversion is required.

[sandancer]

If your home currency is not the US$ go for B. Even if you complete the form to have your card provider convert from $ to ?, don't just trust that they will do it. We always check with the purser during the cruise that they are carrying out our wishes. Don't leave it until the last night because it may be too late then. Our card issuer makes no charge for the conversion and we get the bank rate. I understand most of the cruise lines use their own conversion rates and will still charge a commission.

[DutsCruiser]

The part that confuses me is the options presented regarding converting the currency using either RCL or your own credit card conversion. Which is better?

 

On one of my first cruises I had forgot to mark this one and this was pointed out to me at the pier. I asked the kind lady if she could explain it to me and she answered; "I probably should not give advice..... but pick B. You get a better rate." :p

 

Later I found out that this indeed wat the correct advice. RCCL saved a lot of money that day:D. I would never have cruised RCCL again if she would have said A and it turned out that B was the best option.

[HMSDingy]

Although I'm Canadian, one of the best thngs I ever did was to get a US$ Mastercard. That coupled with my US account here in Canada makes life easier.:D I find that either conversion methods tend to work against me.

[Tikibird]

That's good to know, I have an Aussie Amex card and was wondering what to do about that.

[lovemylab]

Although I'm Canadian, one of the best thngs I ever did was to get a US$ Mastercard.

 

I have done this as well. That being said, RCCL still ignored my instructions and billed me in Cdn dollars...which Mastercard had to convert back to US dollars...

 

It got fixed but it was a pain to deal with.

[CVU]

We always choose B and RCI still converts it. :(I am going to highlight it this time.

 

 

We did all that and they still converted it to CA$$. Now we do cash and pay with a credit card on the last day and it is OK. We have OBC to get us by until we need to pay at the end of the cruise. A Canadian Credit Card gets converted whether we ticked and highlighted it to NOT be converted.

[cassieroll]

I always pick B because my credit card company absorbs the intl fees and doesn't pass them along to the customer.

[Nink]

I have to restate what other Canadians have said. It really doesn't matter what you tick, RCCL will convert to Canadian anyway and charge extra. I had heard this before so I ticked "B", circled it and highlighted it on check-in. My bill was still converted to Canadian so I went to Customer service in plenty of time before leaving the ship to have it reversed. I was told it would be looked after and when I asked for something on paper, was simply given a copy of my charges before the conversion. Well, you guessed it, what showed up on my visa bill was again the converted rate. I called RCCL after receiving my visa bill and was again assured it would be fixed. NEVER HAPPENED. Decided it wasn't worth the aggravation this time but will plan something other than trusting RCCL should we sail with them again

[johnangeri]

It happened to us also..we ticked off B (and highlighted it) and the ship still converted our account. When we got home, I wrote to R.C. in Miami enclosing a photocopy of our MC bill and a copy of the form showing option B. After a couple of weeks and one phone call from R.C. we were issued a cheque for the difference. It wasn't very much, but it more the principle of the thing. Maybe if more people nicely informed the head office of this practice, it might stop (maybe??).

[HMSDingy]

I have to restate what other Canadians have said. It really doesn't matter what you tick, RCCL will convert to Canadian anyway and charge extra. I had heard this before so I ticked "B", circled it and highlighted it on check-in. My bill was still converted to Canadian so I went to Customer service in plenty of time before leaving the ship to have it reversed. I was told it would be looked after and when I asked for something on paper, was simply given a copy of my charges before the conversion. Well, you guessed it, what showed up on my visa bill was again the converted rate. I called RCCL after receiving my visa bill and was again assured it would be fixed. NEVER HAPPENED. Decided it wasn't worth the aggravation this time but will plan something other than trusting RCCL should we sail with them again

 

Section A states "I choose to pay my onboard charges in the currency of my card. How can RCI muck that up if my card clearly states US Currency. The easiest way to check your account prior to the end of the cruise, is to ask for a statement. The statement should show in what currency your account is being charged. You can also have your TA contact RCI direclty with your request.

[HMSDingy]

I've just e-mailed RCI stating the subject of this thread and if they would guarantee that my request will be honoured. Let's just wait and see what their response will be.

[lovemylab]

Section A states "I choose to pay my onboard charges in the currency of my card. How can RCI muck that up if my card clearly states US Currency. The easiest way to check your account prior to the end of the cruise, is to ask for a statement. The statement should show in what currency your account is being charged. You can also have your TA contact RCI direclty with your request.

 

That didn't work for me. My statement was displayed in US dollars and when I received my credit card bill I saw that it had been converted to CDN dollars.

 

Even when we called RCCL to correct it the customer service rep was certain it was in USD as that was what she had showing on her system. It was only after my husband emailed her a PDF copy of our mastercard statement that she could see that we were indeed billed in CDN dollars.

[HMSDingy]

That didn't work for me. My statement was displayed in US dollars and when I received my credit card bill I saw that it had been converted to CDN dollars.

 

Even when we called RCCL to correct it the customer service rep was certain it was in USD as that was what she had showing on her system. It was only after my husband emailed her a PDF copy of our mastercard statement that she could see that we were indeed billed in CDN dollars.

 

At least our $ isn't that much lower than the US$ so the difference will be minimal.

[lovemylab]

At least our $ isn't that much lower than the US$ so the difference will be minimal.

 

In my situation the difference was not minimal. I can get a better exchange rate through my bank than what RCCL is using.

 

Furthermore, credit card companies charge a conversion fee (mine charges 2.5%). The credit card companies build this into their exchange rate.

 

For example, rather than RCCL bill me for $500 in US funds like I asked them too...they charged me for $540 CDN (at the time the $ was the same but RCCL was using a rate of 1.08). Because I was using a USD mastercard, the credit card company then had to convert my CDN dollar charge back to USD. So the final bill ended up being around $550 USD.

 

Mine was corrected...but had I not bothered with it, I would have ended up paying $50 more because of RCCL's error. $50 extra on a $500 bill is not what I consider to be a minimal amount.

 

If RCCL used a better exchange rate I would have no problems with them doing the conversion.

[$CJ]

I'm going to add to this thread by saying that on two cruises I have selected B only to be charged in AUD.

 

The second time I was very careful to check the statement on the last day of the cruise. Seeing that the statement had AUD I immediately called the purser's desk. They said they could fix it but I had to come down to the desk. I refused to line up in a queue for ages for them to fix their mistake .... she finally said they'd fix it but of course eventually billed in AUD.

 

This time I am trying to dispute the transaction with my CC provider. There's no point taking this further with RCI as I has already notified them of their mistake and they failed to fix it.

 

It seems like this is very much intentional by RCI. What can we do as a group to stop it?

 

(Apart from this one issue I love RCI)

[emmy]

I'm going to add to this thread by saying that on two cruises I have selected B only to be charged in AUD.

 

The second time I was very careful to check the statement on the last day of the cruise. Seeing that the statement had AUD I immediately called the purser's desk. They said they could fix it but I had to come down to the desk. I refused to line up in a queue for ages for them to fix their mistake .... she finally said they'd fix it but of course eventually billed in AUD.

 

This time I am trying to dispute the transaction with my CC provider. There's no point taking this further with RCI as I has already notified them of their mistake and they failed to fix it.

 

It seems like this is very much intentional by RCI. What can we do as a group to stop it?

 

(Apart from this one issue I love RCI)

I am reading this just before heading off to bed. How timely as Nov 15 we got off of Liberty only to have this problem once again. Will post our story tomorrow

 

Agreed something MUST be done to the blatant disregard for our wishes. Why do they even ask us to tick what we want to do with our bill on our SetSail pass if they are just going to do the opposite anyway. More tomorrow

[buckanear]

I know that I've talked about this before, but here's the deal...

 

For non-US credit card holders, when you check in and the agent scans your card (this must be done when they are actually scanning the card) remind the agent to check the box declining the conversion. It's the tiniest box and it's so easy to miss since most passengers in the US are using a US credit card, I know I have forgotten to check it before (sorry to anyone I've inconvenienced). I've asked foreign card holders after their cruise whom I checked in and clicked the box and they all say they were billed correctly.

 

Anyways, before I get beat up, I'm just posting a possible solution, or at least another step that increases the possibility that you get billed correctly. I in no way want to imply that RCI handles the problem very well, either onboard or post-cruise. All though I don't know their operations, I don't think it's acceptable to wait so long to get it resolved.

[dirtgirl]

I know that I've talked about this before, but here's the deal...

 

For non-US credit card holders, when you check in and the agent scans your card (this must be done when they are actually scanning the card) remind the agent to check the box declining the conversion. It's the tiniest box and it's so easy to miss since most passengers in the US are using a US credit card, I know I have forgotten to check it before (sorry to anyone I've inconvenienced). I've asked foreign card holders after their cruise whom I checked in and clicked the box and they all say they were billed correctly.

 

Anyways, before I get beat up, I'm just posting a possible solution, or at least another step that increases the possibility that you get billed correctly. I in no way want to imply that RCI handles the problem very well, either onboard or post-cruise. All though I don't know their operations, I don't think it's acceptable to wait so long to get it resolved.

 

After a 3 month fight a year ago that was finally settled in my favour, I have made extra certain at check in to decline the currency conversion. Each time the agent has clicked the box that you are describing, and so far, so good.

 

I also photocopy my Set Sail Pass, after writing on it "Please bill me in US$; I have photocopied this form". I also tick and highlight "B". At least then I have something to send to the cc company if all else fails, as they want proof that you did ask to be billed in US$.

[Cruiserccl]

I know that I've talked about this before, but here's the deal...

 

For non-US credit card holders, when you check in and the agent scans your card (this must be done when they are actually scanning the card) remind the agent to check the box declining the conversion. It's the tiniest box and it's so easy to miss since most passengers in the US are using a US credit card, I know I have forgotten to check it before (sorry to anyone I've inconvenienced). I've asked foreign card holders after their cruise whom I checked in and clicked the box and they all say they were billed correctly.

 

Anyways, before I get beat up, I'm just posting a possible solution, or at least another step that increases the possibility that you get billed correctly. I in no way want to imply that RCI handles the problem very well, either onboard or post-cruise. All though I don't know their operations, I don't think it's acceptable to wait so long to get it resolved.

Long time no see! Do you remember me? I was on you Voyager cruise last March. I haven't seen you on Cruise Critic in a long time! Are you sailing on the Voyager anytime soon?