Canadians, currency exchange & final payment

[canuckgirl]

Hello all! I still need to make final payment & wondered if any of my fellow Canadians watch exchange rates before the due date. I'm no cheapskate but I am frugal where it is possible. It could mean a difference of $50 or more. To me this is better than a price drop because I have more power over it. If I am checking for a price drop everyday, I may as well check to see if the exchange rate works to my advantage too!

 

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[JillK]

I understand completely where you're coming from and do the same. For my cruise on the Epic, I paid the final payment months before it was due as the exchange was good and I was concerned about it going lower.

 

It's amazing how the currency can greatly impact the overall cost of the cruise.

 

I remember in 2003 booking a 7 night on Royal Caribbean, inside guarantee cabin for $364 USD per person. I thought it was a steal and booked it. At the time, the exchange was the worst it's been in my adult lifetime (around 0.63). We ended up spending around $1000 Cdn after exchange.

 

Conversely, when our dollar was up to $1.07 in 2007, I put a deposit on a cruise that Carnival ended up cancelled so the ship could go to dry dock. We ended up getting back more than we paid since the dollar was so strong.

 

As we're sailing in less than a month, I've been watching the exchange closely for a few months, deciding what I might want to charge ahead of time (Bon Voyage, paying tips, etc) and it's been staying around the 0.95-0.96 mark, which is pretty good compared to 2003!

 

Happy sailing!

 

Jill

[eltigre]

We pay our deposit on our points Visa which also gives us travel insurance. When the final payment is due it goes through automatically on the same Visa. We get 2 benefits but pay the exchange rate of the day.

 

However, I have saved throughout the year into my USA Bank Account whenever there have been good exchange rates. So I make up some of my costs of exchange that way.

 

Also it is cheaper to change your CDN funds to USA funds online than it is at the bank. (That was a very interesting bit of info I thought)

 

That is how I try to save a few $'s ;)

[jenng1976]

We have a US$ bank account and US$ Visa - I transfer money regularly to the US acct (more if the exchange rate is great!), and then just pay the cruise balance with our US Visa when the time comes.

 

Since I always have money in our US account, it doesn't really matter what the exchange rate is any given day!

[canuckgirl]

Great tips folks!! I'm going to keep an eye on the rates & will definitely consider a US account. It totally makes sense!

[cocacola86]

We use the CAA US prepaid MasterCard, so when you put money on it, it exchanges the money into US funds, the minimum is 200. We booked our cruise with it.

 

 

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[Dee777]

Hello all! I still need to make final payment & wondered if any of my fellow Canadians watch exchange rates before the due date. I'm no cheapskate but I am frugal where it is possible. It could mean a difference of $50 or more. To me this is better than a price drop because I have more power over it. If I am checking for a price drop everyday, I may as well check to see if the exchange rate works to my advantage too!

 

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We don't watch the exchange rates for booking as we pay in full when we book. We do, however, have a joint U.S. savings account linked to our personal individual checking accounts and when our dollar is strong we dump some cash into the U.S. account for our vacations.