Canadian Dollar & Cruising

[Payd]

Wow, what a tumble our dollar has taken in just a few short weeks.

 

I had to make final payment on our Jan cruise on Oct. 20. I wish I hadn't put it off - cost me a $1.22 on the US dollar. That hurts.

 

Are any of you considering changing your plans - or will you go for the gusto.

 

Our US $ account has enough for spending $$ on the Jan cruise and a little over half for our March cruise. Then we might have to wait and see.

 

What about you??

[pulledporky]

Nope. And I'm actually thinking about getting a hundred bucks worth of pesos before we go. Almost 14 to 1 here, vs about 10 to 1 down there.

[Payd]

Nope. And I'm actually thinking about getting a hundred bucks worth of pesos before we go. Almost 14 to 1 here, vs about 10 to 1 down there.

 

There is a great outlook!

[sysguy]

We never considered cancelling our December cruise as the kidlets are REALLY looking forward to it:D , and we need our time away, however, DH and I have a trip to Vegas booked in a couple of weeks and we considered cancelling that.

We remember travelling when our dollar was down around .70 cents, that was rough!:eek:

We'll just curtail our spending a little, only do one big excursion, and give thanks that we are still able to travel.

It doesn't take the sting away, though!:(

 

Cindra

[roscoandlucky]

We cruise in feb. DH thinks that we should exchange some money now before it gets worse but I am hoping that it might go back up.

[joejo]

Thankfully I paid most of my cruise balance right before the dollar dropped :D leaving just a teeny tiny amount unpaid. I wasn't expecting it to drop and normally would hang onto the $ but spur of the moment decided to pay most of it upfront.

 

We will likely spend as we would have if the $ hadn't dropped - but in our case that doesn't add up to a lot of spending anyways.

[oceanv]

Fortunately for us most of our hotels and pre and post cruise we bid on so we had to pay for them way back when our dollar was ok. The flights we got in April so same thing. @ cruise final payment i think it went through at 1.08 (i was annoyed ... yikes... now I'm thankful). fortunately when I booked the cruise i vetoed the minimum deposit and put down 50%

 

Just the balance of the excursions, our onboard account and rental car have to be paid for :(

 

 

cancelled our may 09 Alaska cruise because it was in USD.... hopefully we can do it still but maybe last minute.

 

it was nice while it lasted

[boowaaccaa]

My cruise isn't for awhile so I am waiting and hoping that the dollar comes back at least a bit more. I kinda wish I had just paid in full when we booked.

[Prairie_Gal]

Thankfully, I bought some U.S. Traveller's cheques and cash when our dollar was high, so our upcoming vacation is covered, but it sure makes any future travel plans to the States a little more questionable. I just checked and it is currently at 78 cents.

 

On the other hand, the price of gas is really coming down so that helps on a daily basis. IMHO, our dollar is so closely linked to the price of oil that you can't have both. Cheap oil = high U.S. exchange. Overall it is probably better for our Canadian economy this way. We have had two major businesses in our city close that employed a lot of people because of the exchange rate.

 

And yes, I remember taking our kids to Hawaii when the dollar was at 65 cents U.S. :eek:

[RD64]

I was originally booked on the Triumph for March 15th. However, Holland America recently had a sale - and they price in Canadian dollars at an exchange rate which I think is set early in the year.

 

The HAL cruise turned out to be cheaper than Carnival, and as each day passes, and the dollar falls, HAL becomes a much better value!

 

May be something to consider for March.

[Megnolia]

I agree with the poster who mentioned gas. I haven't tried to do any math, but I wonder if the lower gas price is making up for the crappy exchange rate - To fill up at .99 is saving a lot of money over 1.23 , so I think by the time we cruise, we will have recouped the loss in exchange rate anyway. It's not apples to apples, but I think it's a relatively painless trade off.

 

I thankfully prepaid three excursions (for two people). It's the March cruise I'm worried about paying for now, but the airline tickets are purchased and non-refundable, so we'll still be going. I got complacent in the past year thinking 1:1. So I keep my eyes peeled for price drops and call for OBC whenever I can.

[RizzoLee]

We cruise in feb. DH thinks that we should exchange some money now before it gets worse but I am hoping that it might go back up.

 

DH said the same thing to me, and keeps rubbing it in each time it drops. I think it'll go back up a bit anyways, and when you'd have to take the money either a) out of savings, and lose the interest or b) take the money off a credit line and pay the interest, it just didn't make sense to buy the money then anyways.

 

 

I agree with the poster who mentioned gas. I haven't tried to do any math, but I wonder if the lower gas price is making up for the crappy exchange rate - To fill up at .99 is saving a lot of money over 1.23 , so I think by the time we cruise, we will have recouped the loss in exchange rate anyway. It's not apples to apples, but I think it's a relatively painless trade off.

 

 

 

Somebody told me that's the way it works - I claim ignorance, but this person does know how the markets work, lol. OPEC is supposed to be meeting to cut supply again, so we'll see the price of gas probably go back up, which will probably level out the dollar again.

 

My first trip to the States in 2003 - I received $252 US for $400 CDN!

[mac4cruise]

No it won't change my plans I remember when it was .65 might have be a little more careful what we spend.

[stainedglasslady]

Even though our cruise did not have to be paid in full until Nov. 17 I lucked out and paid up in full when booking. Just thought it would be easier than having to worry about converting more. Then we got a price drop which covered tips. I also lucked out and bought $800 (wish I had bought more) spending money while it was only 2 cents on a dollar. Now, with the exchange so crazy we will definitely try to stay within that $800.

[andrewjohnyyz]

Is the dollar done dropping yet?, i hope so! we cruise on Dec 7/ob on the triumph, so we are paid in full and i think we paid about $1.10 excahnge on our credit card, but have yet to get any spending money, can we say ouch, gonna have to budget extra money for that now too,

[caribbeanchickie]

Thank god we got some US cash just as it was starting to take a dive.

i cruise this Sunday and am afraid to see the C/C bill when it comes in....YIKES!

[Payd]

I'm with the rest of you - hoping the dollar will go back up really soon.

 

We also have travelled at a low of 0.65-0.68, but after parity and even better it is a bitter pill to swallow.

 

We are so hooked on the March cruise with Carnival. It is the first for our two children, and I don't want to think about changes.

 

Thankfully we also had a bit of US cash. Enough for spending on our Jan cruise and most of our final payment for March. Crossing fingers that we can buy cheap again soon.

[new sea legs]

well i booked and payed half of the cruise for 4 when our $$ was high or at par then paid it off in August. cruise is feb 02/09. when our $$ was at par or better got all my spending money so now i'm set, just sitting here waiting for the time to pass. dd and her dh still have to buy their money and its going to hurt, told them to buy some each week when it was high. see mother does know best lol.:D:D

[Cruisin Suzin]

Well I'm just 10 days away from my very first cruise, the good news is that my hotel, flight, cruise were all paid when the dollar was good..the bad news is that I kept waiting for the dollar to go back up and did not buy any so today when I bought I paid $1010. Canadian for 797. US..ouch..so it will cut my shopping down considerably, as well as my visits to the casino on the ship, but this being our first cruise, we will be in such awe of everything, and the cruise will be the highlight not the shopping, we have only booked one major shore excursion through Carnival, and if we do like cruising, we will book our next one last minute that's for sure...but the shopping and gambling will stop..I travel with a pre paid Master Card so that's all paid for as well...but still puts a little caution in my sails..

[thesawch]

I booked my valor cruise last winter with a canadian TA and am locked in at a certain price in canadian dollars.i nned to make final payment in nov but i should be OK.I bought all my US money when it was at 1.10 so i did good.Thesawch

[CruiznWithHubby]

Ouch,,,,I feel for you guys,,,,I had forgotten the necessity of Canadians having to exchange money,,,hope it goes back up for y'all soon,,,

 

I do want to know WHERE you can get gasoline for .99 Canadian money or otherwise,,,,that's a PHENOMINALLY good price,,,,

 

I'm paying just over 3.00 USD right now,,,Holly

[Up North Cruiser]

In Canada we pay by the liter not gallons, that's why it sounds so cheap. Your gas always works out to a better deal than ours.

[Prairie_Gal]

Ouch,,,,I feel for you guys,,,,I had forgotten the necessity of Canadians having to exchange money,,,hope it goes back up for y'all soon,,,

 

I do want to know WHERE you can get gasoline for .99 Canadian money or otherwise,,,,that's a PHENOMINALLY good price,,,,

 

I'm paying just over 3.00 USD right now,,,Holly

 

A U.S. gallon = 3.785 liters, so we are paying roughly $3.78 Canadian for a U.S. gallon. Confused yet? $3.78 Canadian = roughly $2.95 U.S. Yay! Our gas is cheaper! :D

[Payd]

In Canada we pay by the liter not gallons, that's why it sounds so cheap. Your gas always works out to a better deal than ours.

 

Yup, we pay by the litre. That would be about $4.00 per gallon.

[CruiznWithHubby]

A U.S. gallon = 3.785 liters, so we are paying roughly $3.78 Canadian for a U.S. gallon. Confused yet? $3.78 Canadian = roughly $2.95 U.S. Yay! Our gas is cheaper! :D

 

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh thankyou,,,I was ready to drive to Canada,,,,FROM FLORIDA :)'

 

And DH just paid 2.87 tonight,,,so not yet are you less expensive,,,although admittedly, that's pretty cheap,,,I paid 3.03 earlier today,,,

 

Holly