Ouch! Canadians Booking In USD

[diboja]

At today's rates, that small change has saved me $1,600.

 

I had booked in May for a Feb09 cruise....in CDN $

 

Thank God I did.....because it would have been $1450 more now... :D

[excited to be cruiseing]

Why did I book it un US$. As I booked it Sept 07 for April 09 I don't really remember. I know the TA advised us to book in US$ and I am thinking it was because at that time the rate the cruise line charged would have been more in Cdn$ as I seem to remember they set the rate once a year. But I don't have it in my records what it was in cdn to compare it to then. Thanks all for the info on a US visa. My bank must be the only one that doesn't carry a US visa. I think I have changed my mind on that matter as they all seem to have a yearly fee. I do have another question when I booked air with United I didn't know that they charged for every checked bag. Does anyone know if a suit bag can be considered as a carry on. Tried calling united and gave up no real people to talk to.

[elena7seas]

I had booked in May for a Feb09 cruise....in CDN $

 

Thank God I did.....because it would have been $1450 more now... :D

 

It's wicked, isn't it! I can't believe the speed of the change in relative value.

 

My friend the banker says that the CAD dollar hasn't dropped, but the USD has gone up, which is why other currencies, such as the GBP and the AUS$ are having the same issues as the CAD.

 

If things continue this way, we will have to put a moratorium on booking cruises (says the woman who booked a 12-day Pacific Coastal Wine Cruise on the Millennium 4 days ago) :D.

[BrendaJ]

We have booked our last few cruises in U.S. dollars (with an American agent) because Celebrity used to gouge for exchange big-time when booking excursions on-line (and if you had a Canadian booking number, they charged you in their converted Canadian dollars, no matter what you requested.) We also found that sometimes, even though we would request that our on-board charges not be converted to Canadian dollars, often they would just do it anyways.

 

I'm curious as to what Celebrity is charging for exchange these days. The last few times I compared prices for excursions, it seemed that they were charging a fair exchange rate, but I'm not sure what the current situation is.

[sportsmum]

If it's any concellation, we decided to make final payment for a TA on the Solstice next April. It looks a bit grim for the CAD.

 

 

Just curious- what is a TA? I have seen it elsewhere too and "travel agent' or 'trip advice' doesn't fit! Thanks.

[Lynnees]

If it's any concellation, we decided to make final payment for a TA on the Solstice next April. It looks a bit grim for the CAD.

 

 

Just curious- what is a TA? I have seen it elsewhere too and "travel agent' or 'trip advice' doesn't fit! Thanks.

 

 

Transatlantic is what you're looking for I believe. :o

[Ontario Cruiser]

I was lucky twice. Last year when we were booking our cruise on the Tahitian Princess we had originally booked in USD then when I saw the CDN going up in the fall I rebooked in CDN when our dollar was around $1.03

This August my TA asked me if I wanted to pay for our March 2009 New Zealand cruise in CDN or USD. Then she told me that there was a special that allowed us to book in CDN at par. Our dollar was around 96cents

We are going on the Noordam Nov 7th which we paid in USD but our final bill was in early September. But our spending money is sure going to cost big time. I am hoping that our dollar will go above 80cents at least.

Ontario Cruiser

[diboja]

It's wicked, isn't it!

 

If things continue this way, we will have to put a moratorium on booking cruises :D.

 

You got that right!

I am going to have to spend part of the winter in your hometown, Vancouver - at least it is in Canadian Dollars and your winters compared to our -35C will feel like the Caribbean! ;)

[ali07]

We have two cruises booked through 2010 and both are in $CAN...we've been burned too many times in the past (I remember when the $CAN was $0.65US. Made for a really expensive trip.)

 

sigh....

[tomko2]

We converted all our bookings to CDA dollars in March on my DH's insistence. I even wrote a little note on my cruise sheet (I keep it handy to check for price drops) to the effect that this was a good move only as long as the Canadian dollar does not go above $1.04 US. Managed to keep the cabins and have to give my DH credit. :p

Happy now.:)

Kathy

[sportsmum]

Transatlantic is what you're looking for I believe. :o

 

Thank you. That makes sense now!

[fancymeetingyouhere]

I was lucky - I paid my final payment 3 1/2 weeks ago for the Solistice - I squeeked by with a good USD rate. On top of that I got a great room and rate when they opened up the new sailing and I got a primo flight - gosh this one turned out great considering we had no intention of going on another cruise so soon - it was an impulse by for DH - we just go off a Regent cruise in Sept.

 

My Spring break cruise however will definately be more money. I haven't booked it yet and I'm not sure if I should wait or book now. This one will be painful I'm sure.

[dmk]

I had booked my May 2009 cruise in USD, but was warned at the end of July that the USD was going up. I called Celebrity and explained that I wanted to cancel my cruise and rebook in Canadian dollars, but that I didn't want to lose our AQ location, as we have one of the larger balconies.

 

The Celebrity rep waitlisted my cabin in my own name (apparently you can waitlist a cabin you already are booked in...who knew?) then cancelled my USD booking and rebooked immediatey in CAD. He couldn't guarantee that I would be able to rebook the same cabin, so I was relieved to get our original cabin back.

 

At the time, the Canadian dollar was higher than the US dollar on Celebrity's system, so my cruise ended up costing me $30.00 less pp in CAD than it had been in USD, even factoring in that I had to pay twice as much for the fuel supplement. At today's rates, that small change has saved me $1,600.

 

Thanks. You helped a great deal. I did the same thing for a cruise in 2010 and was able to keep my cabin.:)

[Tugboatbob]

With the Canadian $ sliding almost daily we jumped the gun a few weeks ago and paid off our balance early for our b2b RCI Southern Caribbean cruise. If you are booked on USAirways from Canada I would suggest you check their schedules as the flights from Ottawa were all changed a few days ago. I phoned them and complained and was allowed to cancel with a full refund. I rebooked the flight with them for one day later and saved US$180, this will pay for our hotel in San Juan. We have been buying US dollars for several months and our change jar at home will be used for incidentals in San Juan. We are certainly not high rollers but when it comes to cruising we can still find ways to pay the bills.

The only problem now is how to pay off our Eastern Med cruise on the Solstice next May !

[YOW]

With the Canadian $ sliding almost daily we jumped the gun a few weeks ago and paid off our balance early for our b2b RCI Southern Caribbean cruise. If you are booked on USAirways from Canada I would suggest you check their schedules as the flights from Ottawa were all changed a few days ago. I phoned them and complained and was allowed to cancel with a full refund. I rebooked the flight with them for one day later and saved US$180, this will pay for our hotel in San Juan. We have been buying US dollars for several months and our change jar at home will be used for incidentals in San Juan. We are certainly not high rollers but when it comes to cruising we can still find ways to pay the bills.

The only problem now is how to pay off our Eastern Med cruise on the Solstice next May !

 

Good heads-up, thanks. We're also flying USAirways to San Juan but out of Syracuse (the savings are still good, but cross-border shopping will not be much of a factor), and have been keeping an eye on the schedules. Expect more changes between now and departure.

[elena7seas]

[quote name='dmk'][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=3][COLOR=navy]Thanks. You helped a great deal. I did the same thing for a cruise in 2010 and was able to keep my cabin.:) [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/B][/quote]


Great...I'm glad it worked for you too.

[elena7seas]

[quote name='diboja']You got that right!
I am going to have to spend part of the winter in your hometown, Vancouver - at least it is in Canadian Dollars and your winters compared to our -35C will feel like the Caribbean! ;)[/quote]

Then I hope we have a very good winter for you.

I spent many winters in Winnipeg...my DH, DD and I all went to U of M...DH and DD graduated from there...I came back to BC to finish.

I used to sit in the lab of the Architecture building, pretending that the smoke plumes from the sugar beet factory were mountains. And I remember waiting for the bus on Pembina Hwy in 70 below weather (with wind chill factor)...my eyelashes actually froze and broke off one day when I had to wait longer than 5 minutes for the bus. ;) (For those of you living in Florida...that is a true story).

Wonderful people in Winnipeg.

[Lynnees]

[quote name='elena7seas']Then I hope we have a very good winter for you.

I spent many winters in Winnipeg...my DH, DD and I all went to U of M...DH and DD graduated from there...I came back to BC to finish.

I used to sit in the lab of the Architecture building, pretending that the smoke plumes from the sugar beet factory were mountains. And I remember waiting for the bus on Pembina Hwy in 70 below weather (with wind chill factor)...my eyelashes actually froze and broke off one day when I had to wait longer than 5 minutes for the bus. ;) (For those of you living in Florida...that is a true story).

Wonderful people in Winnipeg.[/QUOTE]

If I can interject here for a sec. I spent 19 years in Winterpeg. I lived just off Pembina Hwy - first in Fort Rouge then in Fort Garry.

I finally couldn't take it anymore and had to get out. I go so tired of freezing half to death. I didn't go back for 20 years. I finally went back last spring ('07) and couldn't believe how much it had spread. We'll go back this spring for a weekend to visit with a cousin.