Canadians - Payment on Board - Best Approach?

[ABoatNerd]

Greetings Cruise Critic Folks

 

Canadian cruise critic members...Just printed off the Xpress Pass.

 

Question - Which option should Canadians take to minimize the costs?

 

1) Pay onboard charges in the currency of my card - ie Canadian VISA

 

2) Credit card issuer (Visa) convert my onboard charges to the currency of the currency of my card in lieu of participating in the Celebrity Cruises currency conversion program

 

I am on the Sept 20 Solstice from Barcelona.

 

Your expertise would be appreciated

 

Kindest Regards

 

ABoatNerd

[snow bunny]

We have always paid in cash for our onboard expenses. I know that it might not be the best for everyone but it works for us. That being said we did use a Canadian credit card for a very minor billing as we didn't want to stand in the long line to check out so we gave it to them two days before the cruise ended for our final purchases. It didn't seem that the exchange rate was poor and with our dollar being more than the US you would be okay using your Visa.

 

Snow bunny

[A Sixth?]

Greetings Cruise Critic Folks

 

Canadian cruise critic members...Just printed off the Xpress Pass.

 

Question - Which option should Canadians take to minimize the costs?

 

1) Pay onboard charges in the currency of my card - ie Canadian VISA

 

2) Credit card issuer (Visa) convert my onboard charges to the currency of the currency of my card in lieu of participating in the Celebrity Cruises currency conversion program

 

I am on the Sept 20 Solstice from Barcelona.

 

Your expertise would be appreciated

 

Kindest Regards

 

ABoatNerd

 

We have a VISA awards card that gives $ per $$$ spent and the exchange is better than any cruise line we've sailed with... having said that the 1% cash gives the card a head start.

[iancal]

Pay your bill in US dollars and let Visa convert to CAD. Visa will be exchange plus about 3. If Celebrity does it, it will be an extra 3 points.

 

Princess is actually the worst for this....even when you specifically ask them not to do it.

 

We us a USD credit card since we almost always buy cruises for an on line US agency. Saves us quite a bit of money...in conjuction with our US dollar bank account.

[CruisinGirl777]

Let VISA do the exchange for you. It is much more if the cruiseline does it.

[ikelmay]

Option 2 ALWAYS for me!! Judging by past experiences on Cruise Critic of leaving it to the cruise line, charges are almost uniformly higher. It strikes me as a very easy money maker for the cruise line to take on the conversion and exchange rate which I think would inevitably result in higher charges.

[Oakville]

I buy good old fashioned US$ travellers cheques before I leave and they are always accepted onboard without question.

[If only]

Let VISA do the exchange for you. It is much more if the cruiseline does it.

 

I totally agree, we always let Visa do the exchange & never had any problem. Sometime's we take US cash & make a deposit to our account mid way through the cruise & put the rest on Visa never had any problem, enjoy your cruise.

[We're The Groupnors]

We typically use a Canadian cc that gives us benefits, and let the cc company convert, and have always found the exchange to be best that way (whether a cruise or stateside shopping, as many stores offer to convert now). However, we recently found out that we could get both a US dollar companion Chequing account and a US dollar companion cc to our Canadian cc from our Canadian bank at no extra charge, so you may wish to ask at your bank.

[WpgCruise]

For many years we have used a US denominated Visa card. Celebrity 3 x over the years has converted the US charges to CDN $$, (at a really good rate for Celebrity, a not so good rate for us) and the bank has then converted the charges back to US $$, in which currency the bill has to be paid. Each time they did that, I Fax'd a copy of the Visa statement to Celebrity and they mailed me a cheque for all the conversion charges.

 

An honest mistake? I don't know...... but do know when their error has been explained to them and proof provided they have fixed it.

[Mapleleaf5]

Let VISA do the exchange for you. It is much more if the cruiseline does it.

 

We also let Visa do the exchange.

 

Joanne

[Stelladoro]

Although we've always selected Option 2 on the XPress Pass, I really don't think the staff pay too much attention to this. We've experienced this on all the cruise lines, not just Celebrity. A couple of days prior to the end of the cruise, we always check with Customer Relations to ensure the billing information reflects Option 2.

[dmk]

Celebrity has a terrible rate of exchange. We always have our Visa card do the exchange.

[LeftcoastBC]

Lately (last 5-6 yrs anyways) letting your Credit card (or RBC visa anyways) to do the exchange has been our method of choice. Previously at times it was better to let X (RCL) do the math but as all things go forward they are not likely to miss out on that revenue stream again.

 

and I agree that sometimes they do not pay much attention to which option you check off when you check in on line. It also makes a difference if you have paid your fare in US or Ca $$.

 

So: about the 4th day of your cruise go and ask for a print out at Guest relations and check for sure. It takes a while to get it straightened around if it is incorrect because it is set by onshore head office.

 

BTW at check in at the pier do not waste your time trying to correct this there if you happen to notice it's incorrect..it can not be done (in my experience)

 

& should you find at the end of your cruise that it is still not as you wish it (which has happened) Do not waste time at the ship wait until you get home. Write or email and ask for the difference back regardless of how little it may be....(back in the day my bar bill was a lot bigger :confused: ) maybe if we all did that they would get the mssg.

[ABCruiser]

TD Canada Trust has a US Visa credit card. Apply for one with annual fee of $49 I believe but if you bank with them they will probably waived the annual fee. Then there is no need for the banks or cruise line to charge more to have your canadian dollars converted to US. Especially now when our dollar is higher than US you can buy some $USD then pay off your US credit card when is due.

[shrek]

We always use our Visa and have our credit card company do the conversion. Once RCCL disregarded our instruction, and their rate was much higher than the bank's conversion rate.

[sundaycomes]

Most Canadian credit cards will charge you the exchange rate + a foreign currency transaction fee (usually 2.5%). I would suggest picking option 2 (i.e. let your credit card company do the conversion for you) and getting the Chase Amazon.ca Rewards Visa which doesn't charge the extra 2.5%.