Rayza Posted July 20, 2017 Report Share Posted July 20, 2017 On cruises out of Australia does RCL present onboard accounts in US dollars and then convert it to Australian dollars or do they charge your credit card in US dollars? What is there exchange rate policy -e.g do they charge 4-5 cents below market rate? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sailor_to_Cruiser Posted July 20, 2017 Report Share Posted July 20, 2017 When you assign the credit card to your account you are given the opportunity to let RCL change to your currency, or have them charge your card in USD and let your card company convert. It is best to let your credit card company convert it as they use banking rates, while RCL will use tourism rates (geared towards pocketing a bit themselves). I do not know what the exact difference is but I know it's better this way. ChessE4 and KristiZ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gears Posted July 20, 2017 Report Share Posted July 20, 2017 5 hours ago, Rayza said: On cruises out of Australia does RCL present onboard accounts in US dollars and then convert it to Australian dollars or do they charge your credit card in US dollars? What is there exchange rate policy -e.g do they charge 4-5 cents below market rate? To convert to the currency of your credit card RCL will use retail market rate on the day of the transaction (end of cruise) and then add a service charge of 3%. Check your credit card policy for foreign exchange charges and fees. They will usually be less than the 3%. Least expensive way is to get a credit card in USD. You have to do the foreign exchange at some point and the best rate is usually done through online banking from your home currency to a USD account and then pay the USD credit card from there. Even after any account or credit card fees we save about $300/yr doing it that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChessE4 Posted July 20, 2019 Report Share Posted July 20, 2019 On 7/20/2017 at 2:36 AM, Sailor_to_Cruiser said: When you assign the credit card to your account you are given the opportunity to let RCL change to your currency, or have them charge your card in USD and let your card company convert. It is best to let your credit card company convert it as they use banking rates, while RCL will use tourism rates (geared towards pocketing a bit themselves). I do not know what the exact difference is but I know it's better this way. Concur with @Sailor_to_Cruiser and @Gears based on our experience in Australia, NZ, and Europe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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