Paying for your cruise in Canadian Dollars

[Soccerfan]

:) Our Canadian Dollar is taking a real hit now. The cost of cruising has really increased from not so long ago when we were at par!

 

Although I live in Canada I always book my cruises through TA's in the US as I find they are a lot more price competitive.

 

I have just booked a Celebrity Cruise leaving from Newark in October, Celebrity's website offers the option of booking in Canadian dollars V USD. I got great prices from the US agents, they even upped the $200 OBC being offered by celebrity by $100 but when I did the exchange math it worked out that I was paying $500 more per inside cabin if I paid in USD to a US TA rather than booking directly with Celebrity in Canadian Dollars.

 

I know Royal Caribbean offers this option as well. Not sure if any of the other cruiselines offer this though.

 

Just wanted to share this tip as it saved our group a lot of money.

 

:)

[canada_cruiser]

I always though the canadain price was just an estimate. Did it show up on your credit card statement as the exact price quoted? I purchased a pre cruise hotel in Can $ but it was still charged to my CC in us $ and ended up costing me more based on my CC's exchange rate.

[Soccerfan]

Yes, My visa bill is already in and it is the exact amount that I expected. I also spoke with Celebrity and asked them this question, they said the cost is what they quote in Canadian Dollars, not an estimate.

 

Hope this helps :)

[canada_cruiser]

Wow that would be great! Does anyone know if NCL offers this?

[KAWS]

And Royal Caribbean and Holland America are offering only about a 1% price difference in Cdn vs US $ for the exchange.

 

Eg. RCCL is showing a rate in October for a suite for $799 US and $819 Canadian. No brainer - I booked the Canadian price. Did the same for a cruise in March 2010. Wanted to lock it in before they updated their exchange rates.

 

Carnival charges a 27% exchange rate. That hurts.

[LHT28]

Most cruiselines will book you in CAD but at their conversion rate which may or usually not in your favour. It is usually better to take the USD rate & let the CC company do the conversion

 

Be sure to ask hat the cruise line conversion rate is ...it i9s usually 10+ % more than the daily bank rate.

 

 

some cruise lines will not let Canadians book in USD eg:Princess

[CowPrincess]

HAL's exchange rate is so favorable we too have booked a 2010 cruise in Cdn $, knowing EXACTLY what we'll be paying and locking it in. Last year, though, the HAL Cdn/US exchange rate was unfavorable, so we paid in US$ for both our cruises.

 

(We also hedged our bets a bit, buying a future cruise credit in US $, so we don't get any aggravation next time we want to use US $)