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I'm a little confused about the Canadian pricing...


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That's odd, I'd like to know what's going on too. I checked my Alaskan cruise next year and the conversions worked out fair. But then I checked a random Majesty cruise from the top of the list and you were right, sanifagently cheaper in USD than in CAD. I definitly would like to get to the bottom of this, something smells fishy.

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I'll be calling them tomorrow for sure. Its not like its a small difference, its a pretty nice chunk of change! we're booked on the anthem southern Caribbean on January 14th 2017. Do you want to check that one .. just to make sure I'm right before I call them lol

 

I would call them tonight. While if you tell the robot operator that you are calling about anything but a new cruise, it will say closed. But the new cruise lines are open 24/7, and I have found that because they work without full support they have more power than a normal line agent. I always try to call after normal US operating hours.

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I have booked both ways...and cancelled in one currency and rebooked with the difference currency.

 

RCI doesn't keep the same rates as the official exchange rate.

 

For example, to buy OBC is still 1.5.....whereas the official bank rate is around 1.32 as of Friday......

 

Sometimes its better to book in USD...sometimes CAD...

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Actually surprised that RCI is still sticking with $cdn pricing that they set per cruise. Yes it pays to check to see which price is more avantageous at booking time. Royal seems to set exchange rates a few times per year, so winners and losers depending on the markets. Would be nice to be able to switch with a mouse click but they want to make it more difficult. Fair enough I guess because they are taking the currency risk with non $usd bookings. They have to hedge this risk in the FX market. I'm sure they'd love to avoid dealing with all other currencies. It's nice they do, we're buying a US product in essence.

 

Curious to know what the average nationality breakdown is for the caribbean cruises, canada has to be a strong second still.

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I have booked what is in the best rate converted back to US$; for example our upcoming trip this Friday on Voyager was crazy expensive on the Hong Kong RCCL website. OK on the USA RCCL website and an absolute steal on the Australia RCCL website as they were doing a promotion in Australia. We booked through the Australia website in the end. I may need to pay a bit more by using my USA Bank of America RCCL Visa card but I love those double points and still saved a bucket load of money.

 

We all live in a globally connected word so be sure to shop around for the best price and pick and choose where you can get the best cruise price. Heck, maybe the Mexico RCCL website has some even better deals....

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We all live in a globally connected word so be sure to shop around for the best price and pick and choose where you can get the best cruise price. Heck, maybe the Mexico RCCL website has some even better deals....

 

You do really need to look at these things in the Global market. Companies charge what the market will bear, also pricing is set well in advance and sometimes paying in a non US currency gives you a get deal. If when royal sets the market for cruises in AU$ the  US$ to AU$ is 1 to 0.90 and then the AU market weakens to US$ 1 to 1.01 that gives you a 10% better price paying in US$.  

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I booked out vacation on the Canadian website. It came to about 8500$ Canadian. I'm now searching the exact same sailing on the US site and it comes to 5700$ US, which is 7400$ Canadian. Why am I paying so much more??

cjappert,

When did you originally do the booking? Taking the USD$5700 and dividing by CAD$8500, I come up with a conversion rate of approx 0.67.  Looking at historical exchange rates, the Canadian $ bottomed out at 68.54 cents US around January 20 of this year - so pretty close to the rate that you are seeing. Again it all depends on when you booked. 

 

I also expect that prices for any given cruise can fluctuate in either direction over time. This is based on supply, demand and a somewhat complex formula that the cruise company uses. I even read somewhere on this blog that prices can fluctuate based on the day of the week that one is booking. 

 

Anyway, as a fellow Canadian I do feel your pain. We recently booked a cruise on the Anthem in CAD$. At the time the conversion was spot on but now I am looking at on-board expenses such as 3-night dining package for USD$70 but If your on-board account is in CAD they will charge CAD$106.40 - again an exchange rate of approx 0.658 which is way off from the current spot rate of 0.754.

 

Does anyone have experience with changing their on-board account from one currency to another? e.g. CAD to USD? I was told by one rep that it was not possible and by another rep that it could be done by Guest Services once on board.

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Does anyone have experience with changing their on-board account from one currency to another? e.g. CAD to USD? I was told by one rep that it was not possible and by another rep that it could be done by Guest Services once on board.

 

Your credit card company will do this for you and give you the best rate. If you changed and ask Royal to bill your on board account in CAD it would cost more as their rate is not as good as the credit card company.

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Your credit card company will do this for you and give you the best rate. If you changed and ask Royal to bill your on board account in CAD it would cost more as their rate is not as good as the credit card company.

Todd, That is NOT the question that I'm asking. RCI has told me that my on-board account is in Canadian Dollars. I want to pay my on-board expenses in US Dollars. I do not want it converted by my credit card company or otherwise.

 

If anyone else has had experience switching their on-board account currency from one to the other I would appreciate it if you could share.

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Todd, That is NOT the question that I'm asking. RCI has told me that my on-board account is in Canadian Dollars. I want to pay my on-board expenses in US Dollars. I do not want it converted by my credit card company or otherwise.

 

If anyone else has had experience switching their on-board account currency from one to the other I would appreciate it if you could share.

 

OK here is your answer. Since you paid in CAD it is done in CAD but as the policy says you can request your account be USD. It is done through guest services.

 

Q:  The final charge for my SeaPass® was in a different currency. Why is that? s.gif A:  Our SeaPass onboard statement system places the final charge to your credit or debit card in the same currency that your reservation was made, unless otherwise specified. Additionally, some banks utilize what is termed Dynamic Currency Conversion in order to convert foreign purchases into your card’s issued currency. For more information regarding Dynamic Currency Conversion and if your credit or debit card uses this service, please contact your bank. Royal Caribbean does not process refunds for Dynamic Currency Conversion fees.
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OK here is your answer. Since you paid in CAD it is done in CAD but as the policy says you can request your account be USD. It is done through guest services.

 

Q:  The final charge for my SeaPass® was in a different currency. Why is that? s.gif A:  Our SeaPass onboard statement system places the final charge to your credit or debit card in the same currency that your reservation was made, unless otherwise specified. Additionally, some banks utilize what is termed Dynamic Currency Conversion in order to convert foreign purchases into your card’s issued currency. For more information regarding Dynamic Currency Conversion and if your credit or debit card uses this service, please contact your bank. Royal Caribbean does not process refunds for Dynamic Currency Conversion fees.

 

Now we are getting to the nub of the issue. The answer lies in the "unless otherwise specified" clause in the FAQ that you quote. As I said in my original post, When I phoned RCI the agent said that the currency of my account could be not be changed before or after boarding. I was not satisfied by this answer and as I usually do in such a situation I phoned back and spoke to a different agent. She said that the currency could be changed once on board by Guest Services.

 

I appreciate the research that you have done and will certainly show the FAQ to Guest Services if they give my any push back. What I was mainly looking for was to find someone who had gone through this and could confirm that GS can accommodate the change. My cruise is in a couple of weeks and if I don't hear from anyone, I will post my experience here when I get back.

 

While this may seem like a minor issue, it is not. One example, the cruise currently has a deal (20% discount) on the Ultimate Drink Package. If I purchase it on-line now, I will be charged in CAD$ at an unfavourable (by about 10%) rate - so the net savings would only be about 10%. I expect that for the four people in our group we will be spending about USD$2000 in on-board charges over the 10 days. At 10% that comes to a $200 swing. 

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Better method is to get a $usd credit card, BO montreal has them. Link to your $usd account for payment.

Again, my problem is not with the credit card it is that the currency of my RCI on-board account is in CD$ and RCI is using an unfavourable rate to convert listed US$ pricing to CD$. I have a US$ TD Bank account with a US$ Visa Debit card, which is how I would like to pay ... or as you say it "Link to my $usd account for payment".

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My recollection was , apart from this thread, you start in $cdn, aud, or mex or ..., your entire final payment stays in that same currency.

Switch, not so easy, you have to start over again in the new currency. For that $12 drink Royal will charge 1.45 , VISA might be 1.42

Bottom line is expensive either way, now. I guess we will have a definitive answer shortly.

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I believe I’ve sorted it out now…

 

(1) All pre-cruise purchases (specialty restaurants, dining packages, drink package, excursions, etc.) that you purchase before the cruise is in the same currency as the currency that was used for the original booking. This cannot be changed. The currency for on-board expense account which you set up at check-in is different. You can change the currency for this account with Guest services once you are on board.

 

(2) It turns out that the exchange rate that RCI is charging for pre-cruise purchases is actually reasonable. I had miscalculated it because I got the wrong price for the 3-night dining package from the RCI rep (Quantum and Oasis class ships are $80 instead of the quoted $70 which resulted in my 10% error)

 

If for some reason it turns out that  I am unable to change the currency for our on-board account once we are on our way, I will post here.

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