charges on cruise accounr

[frannie]

I have a question for all the canadian cruisers . Do you let the cruise line convert the charges on your ship account to canadian Money or do you let them bill in American currency and have the credit card company convert .

 

Just filled out the on line forms and was not sure which option to choose . We booked the trip in canadain funds but not sure if we should let them convert the on ship charges

[chrysalis]

I have them bill in US, and let you CC company convert...you will get a better exchange rate.

[Lady Arwen]

We let our credit card compnay do the conversion. It seems to work out a little less than the cruiselines conversion.

[paul929207]

Everything I have heard says that the cruise lines use much more unfavorable (to you) exchange rates. Always let the credit card do the conversion

[Occy]

We always bill in US & let CC convert.

[Gunner22aa]

Princess charges a premium to do the conversion and it is more than your financial institution will charge you. Make sure you don't let them do the conversion to Cdn $

[cnd crsr]

We have them bill us in US and have the CC company convert.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[nunuc2000]

Us too... they bill us in US dollars and our CC company does the conversion.:)

[caribill]

Not only does Princess use a poor exchange rate, they tack on a 3% convenience charge for doing so.

 

Let the credit card company do the conversion.

[frannie]

Thanks everyone thats what i picked . let M/C do the conversion

[fun cruiserz]

I always let the bank do the conversion.

 

I work for TD Visa and we charge a 2.5% conversion fee plus the foreign exchange difference in the dollar, but it still is better than what the cruise line charges.

[caribill]

I always let the bank do the conversion.

 

I work for TD Visa and we charge a 2.5% conversion fee plus the foreign exchange difference in the dollar, but it still is better than what the cruise line charges.

 

In the USA, if we have a foreign charge even in US$, we get that conversion fee even though there is no conversion (unless one has a credit card that does not charge foreign exchange fees).

 

Is it the same way in Canada? If Princess changed the onboard account billing to Canadian $ (with their poor conversion rate and 3% convenience fee), would the Canadian credit card issuer still have the 2.5% fee added?

[cdnphotogirl]

I decided to have my credit card do the conversion. Reportedly, there are some stores in Northern Europe who will offer to do this favour for you but it ends up costing you more.

[AE_Collector]

Is it the same way in Canada? If Princess changed the onboard account billing to Canadian $ (with their poor conversion rate and 3% convenience fee), would the Canadian credit card issuer still have the 2.5% fee added?

 

No, in this situation Princess would be submitting their charges to our Canadian CC in Canadian funds so the charge that comes through would be exactly the amount including the exchange rate and fees that Princess added.

 

I thought that Princess claimed that try provided a "better" conversion price than the CC companies but it has never looked very attractive to me.

 

Be sure to check this topic about Pre Purchasing certain items from Princess that will be charged in Canadian $ at par if your cruise is booked in Canadian $.

 

http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1968249

 

Terry

[caribill]

No, in this situation Princess would be submitting their charges to our Canadian CC in Canadian funds so the charge that comes through would be exactly the amount including the exchange rate and fees that Princess added.

 

 

Good for Canadians, but the opposite of what happens to a USA resident when a charge already in US$ comes through from overseas.

[caribill]

I decided to have my credit card do the conversion. Reportedly, there are some stores in Northern Europe who will offer to do this favour for you but it ends up costing you more.

 

My experience with that (and not just in Nothern Europe since I have seen it in Spain, Italy, England and China) is that it is not an offer to convert but happens automatically when they run a USA based credit card through their charge machine. And the slip you sign says you accept that conversion and agree it cannot be contested.

 

I try to tell them in advance of running the card through that I do not want the conversion to be done by them, but they claim the bank that the machine is communicating with does it and the merchant can't prevent it.

 

This conversion scam is something I have yet to be able to avoid when using a charge card in the establishments that do this.

[Liz54]

I too let my bank do the conversion. HOWEVER you need to check and double check that they are not doing the conversion. Princess prefers it this way as it is revenue for them. Remember to check when you board, then at the pursers desk mid cruise. I once had to re-request 3 times and argue with the purser when he said they could not change it on the file.:mad: