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Canadians Cruising This year


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For all fellow Fellow Canadians who want to cruise this year. Seems the cruise rates have gone way way up. Due to our bad dollar. What are some ways you may be still cruising this year? what type of cruise you doing and what ways are you looking to save? or are you biting the bullet and willing to pay triple the price, lol

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Have a March cruise booked, long before our dollar tanked, so not too worried about that one.

Any future cruise; we will consider inside over balcony, reduce excursions and just wonder around in port instead, consider flight costs(some ports are cheaper to fly too), and watch our overall spending while onboard.

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I have an 8 day eastern Carribean booked for feb 27 on the carnival breeze. I had an epic fail predicting the fall of the dollar, but hey I'm committed now..a year ago when I was booking I planned to stay 2 days in Miami to give me a buffer flying out of canada in winter. my main problem is finding a hotel in Miami that isn't outrageous without staying in a slum. I'm renting a van, so I don't mind driving to find a good place to stay but i could really use some suggestions as to where to consider. Are there areas that are nice and perhaps more reasonable because they lack the convince of being close to airport or seaport?

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 4 months later...
I booked our next cruise in Canadian $. I did the exchange and it is going to cost us at least $200 pp less than pricing it in US$.

 

Smooth Sailing ! :) :) :)

 

As a Canadian that is looking for a January vacation, which ship will you be cruising on?

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As a Canadian that is looking for a January vacation, which ship will you be cruising on?

 

We will be sailing on the Eurodam - the same ship we were on for a two week back to back at the end of January. We loved the ship and look forward to being able to board her in a little over 100 days!

 

Smooth Sailing ! :) :) :)

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I think I'll bite the bullet ... we had so much fun, we enjoyed it so much ... and due to shift work situation, I cannot book the cruise well in advance. So, I'll have to wait until my schedule is out and if I have enough days off attached to my vacation, we're going :)

 

And, to be honest, even if it's the exact same cruise, we'll still go because it was greattttttt :D

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  • 1 month later...

We have a Carnival Eastern Caribbean cruise booked this November out of Miami (We will be flying from Ottawa-spending 2 nights in Miami, then board). It has easily reached $7000US and I still have 2 more excursions to plan + shopping + food off cruise+ incidentals + our hotel on return for the night. I'm expecting it to snowball to around 10G US for our family of 4 :eek:

Next cruise, I'm hoping to book with Royal Caribbean who gives the option of using Canadian dollar and I'm hoping to save airfare, as they have a port in New Jersey - less than 7 hours from us.

Any other holidays will be in Canada until the dollar gets better ..... cause this is cray cray :eek:

We've been lucky and have sailed 2 other amazing cruises earlier this year, but the exchange was higher when I had paid and I got a fantastic deal on the flights, so it didn't affect me nearly as much .....

Edited by Dearabby_84
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We have a Carnival Eastern Caribbean cruise booked this November out of Miami (We will be flying from Ottawa-spending 2 nights in Miami, then board). It has easily reached $7000US and I still have 2 more excursions to plan + shopping + food off cruise+ incidentals + our hotel on return for the night. I'm expecting it to snowball to around 10G US for our family of 4

We've been lucky and have sailed 2 other amazing cruises earlier this year, but the exchange was higher when I had paid and I got a fantastic deal on the flights, so it didn't affect me nearly as much .....

 

Good grief, that's a lot of money for 4 people; how long is your cruise? We're (DH and I) are booked in a balcony cabin on a 15 day trans-Atlantic that is coming in at a little over $7,000 CAD, and that includes first class air to Europe. I'd suggest using Priceline or Hotwire for your hotels and doing some ports on your own, rather than expensive ship excursions.

 

Smooth Sailing ! :) :) :)

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Good grief, that's a lot of money for 4 people; how long is your cruise? We're (DH and I) are booked in a balcony cabin on a 15 day trans-Atlantic that is coming in at a little over $7,000 CAD, and that includes first class air to Europe. I'd suggest using Priceline or Hotwire for your hotels and doing some ports on your own, rather than expensive ship excursions.

 

Smooth Sailing ! :) :) :)

 

Wow you got a good deal! Its a 7 day (balcony) cruise and I think it's the excursions/flight that really got me. We used priceline for our hotel when we get in, but it seems that Miami is just expensive, or it could be the area I chose too!

I'll do some investigating for excursions, see if I can find some more economical options elsewhere!

 

Thank you and you too! 15 day Trans-Atlantic sound AMAZING! :cool:

Edited by Dearabby_84
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I have an 8 day eastern Carribean booked for feb 27 on the carnival breeze. I had an epic fail predicting the fall of the dollar, but hey I'm committed now..a year ago when I was booking I planned to stay 2 days in Miami to give me a buffer flying out of canada in winter. my main problem is finding a hotel in Miami that isn't outrageous without staying in a slum. I'm renting a van, so I don't mind driving to find a good place to stay but i could really use some suggestions as to where to consider. Are there areas that are nice and perhaps more reasonable because they lack the convince of being close to airport or seaport?

 

You are right about being in a "slum" hotel...even they are high-priced! I've never checked prices outside of the resort areas, but with a van, that's a real option!

Use "Hotels.com"...it's great to compare places...they show distance to popular spots....but I would book directly thru the hotel...don't use a 3rd party.

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I have an 8 day eastern Carribean booked for feb 27 on the carnival breeze. I had an epic fail predicting the fall of the dollar, but hey I'm committed now..a year ago when I was booking I planned to stay 2 days in Miami to give me a buffer flying out of canada in winter. my main problem is finding a hotel in Miami that isn't outrageous without staying in a slum. I'm renting a van, so I don't mind driving to find a good place to stay but i could really use some suggestions as to where to consider. Are there areas that are nice and perhaps more reasonable because they lack the convince of being close to airport or seaport?

 

I'm just looking at your dates and plugging them into expedia and comparing them to the Hilton Honors site. The DoubleTree by Hilton Grand Hotel Biscayne Bay on HH is $269 US (352 CAD) a nite, while the E site shows $389 CAD, so you're better off booking through the hotel site.

 

If you're interested in staying in Ft. Lauderdale, I looked at the Hilton Ft Lauderale Marina; the HH price is $284 US (371 CAD) while the E site is $402 CAD.

 

You might want to make a reservation you can cancel and consider bidding on Hotwire or Priceline for a better rate.

 

Smooth Sailing ! :) :) :)

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  • 5 weeks later...

My rules for me.

 

Every garment must fulfil more than one function, I must be able to wear it more than once in different settings. For example, a top/shirt that can only go to the dining room for dinner but nowhere else, cannot come on the voyage. A pair of shoes that are only for show with a particular dress cannot come on the voyage.

 

Black bottoms are good. Black leggings, black skirt, black pants, black shorts. You can spill on them, and it doesn't show. You can throw any number of colourful tops over them, and nobody knows they are the same old, same old. You can wear them to bed and to dinner on the same day, and nobody but you knows that your pyjama bottoms are making a dinner appearance.

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My rules for me.

 

Every garment must fulfil more than one function, I must be able to wear it more than once in different settings. For example, a top/shirt that can only go to the dining room for dinner but nowhere else, cannot come on the voyage. A pair of shoes that are only for show with a particular dress cannot come on the voyage.

 

Black bottoms are good. Black leggings, black skirt, black pants, black shorts. You can spill on them, and it doesn't show. You can throw any number of colourful tops over them, and nobody knows they are the same old, same old. You can wear them to bed and to dinner on the same day, and nobody but you knows that your pyjama bottoms are making a dinner appearance.

 

I'm with you with everything you said! :) And, really, who cares if someone realizes if you wore one legging twice :D LOL ... Next time I'll take even lesser clothing with me (it was so little to start with ... travelled with a half size roller carry on for a 14 day trip)! :)

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For all fellow Fellow Canadians who want to cruise this year. Seems the cruise rates have gone way way up. Due to our bad dollar. What are some ways you may be still cruising this year? what type of cruise you doing and what ways are you looking to save? or are you biting the bullet and willing to pay triple the price, lol

 

We just cruised in August and drove to the port of Baltimore from Toronto area. It was an 8 hour drive but saving the airfare was a HUGE saving! It was Sunday to Sunday so we drove Saturday and spent the night. Baltimore hotels are CHEAP compared to other ports. Off the ship the following Sunday and drove straight home. Had the Monday off due to the long weekend which was nice! Cruise cost us about $3500 CAN for 4 people for balcony room.

 

We've also drove to South Carolina from Ontario. The drive was 2 days there, two days back. About 17 hours to drive. BUT what an amazing drive it was! Such a pretty part of the US to see! That cruise cost us less than $2000 Can for 7 day cruise for 3 people. Window room.

 

We don't mind the roadtrip and find its a great way to still travel but stick to a budget. I find airfare is the biggest cost to factor in.

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Wow .. good to know to be able to pay in CAD! Thanks for sharing :)

 

 

Just booked a 15 day repo cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Valpairiso Chile in Nov 2017 with Celebrity for 1559 each...CDN$$$. Celebrity let's us pay in Canadian.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Two surprises for us this fall. First, we did not expect to buy a cruise because of the high exchange rates. Second, we always buy a cruise from our on line US TA.

 

Happened to see a fabulous Princess South America deal that was priced in CAD and saved us each about $500 in FX fees. Purchased it through a Canadian big box store and got an OBC from them in USD.

 

We typically leave Canada for two or three months during winter. We are avoiding US destinations. The past three winters have been in SE Asia/Australia. This one will be in South America and Central America. US warm weather destinations are not even on our radar. Lots of other great options available for us.

Edited by iancal
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We have a Feb cruise booked as I mentioned above.

 

We were hoping to get a late booking Carib or Mex cruise in early Dec. This afternoon we booked a one week AI in Mexico. One price, get on the plane, get off the plane and go to the resort.

 

No air to purchase, no hotel in Fll or LA, no USD, etc. Bottom line was that the cost was less than half what we would spend on a 7 day cruise all in with air, hotels, cruise, tips, etc.

 

Not quite the same I know but it is our way of skating around the high exchange rates. We did exactly the same for a destination wedding last year.

 

Bottom line is that there are lots of competing vacation options out there. You simply have to pick the best value for you based on your preferences.

Edited by iancal
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  • 1 month later...
Wow .. good to know to be able to pay in CAD! Thanks for sharing :)

 

We sailed with Princess Cruise Line, March, 2016 and paid Canadian dollars; we are booked with NCL for a Mediterranean cruise May, 2017 and are paying Canadian dollars also!

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