Celebrity Currency Conversion Rate

[TSM AND JP]

We are going on the Century to Alaska in two weeks. Does anyone know what rate Celebrity uses to convert US Expenses to Canadian Dollars? Not sure if I'm better to pay their rate or my credit card rate.

[WestLakeGirl]

The conventional wisdom is to let the credit card do the conversion

[Phxazzcruisers]

As long as your credit card company does not charge a fee, I would definitely let them do it. Celebrity rates are not always very favorable. When you use your charge card you get the interbank rate. Again, make sure they do not charge an additional "foreign transaction fee"

Enjoy your Alaska Cruise

[The_Big_M]

It depends what sort of credit card you have.

 

If you have a bad commission applied e.g 4%+ you are better off with Celebrity. However, if you have a low commission card then stick with that.

 

That said, if your purchases aren't much, it won't make much difference either.

[TSM AND JP]

Thanks everyone! Appreciate the advice.

[txflood33]

Good info...it's been on my to do list to call the credit card company to let them know where I'll be as well as ask about international fees

 

The info I got from Citibank

 

..if the transaction is billed in US dollars, there is no fee...so ask if the merchant can process the transaction in US dollars

 

..if the transaction is billed in another currency, they will convert it to US dollars at the WSJ rate the day of the transaction and charge you 3% of the transaction

 

I imagine all the cruise lines have the ability to bill in US dollars

 

 

**and now I see the OP is in Canada...so this won't be of much help...'doh

Edited June 28, 2014 by txflood33

[gretnagirl]

We are going on the Century to Alaska in two weeks. Does anyone know what rate Celebrity uses to convert US Expenses to Canadian Dollars? Not sure if I'm better to pay their rate or my credit card rate.

 

 

Your best bet as a Canadian is to quickly get yourself a Chase Amazon.ca card as it will not charge you the normal foreign fee that all Canada-based banks do. With this card, you simply pay the exchange rate- nothing else. It's not a huge deal for small purchases, but it saves you a lot if you're spending a lot of money (which you likely will in Alaska). And, it doesn't charge you the extra fee on any international purchase, not just US dollar purchases. It was the best credit card decision I ever made!

 

 

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[iancal]

We have a Chase Bank Canada Visa card. We have used it in SE Asia and US.

 

We checked the exchange. It is very, very close to the days average FX rate so I guess it depends on the time it gets processed. Much better than our old cards.

 

And.....we do not get charged that scandalous 2 1/2 percent admin charge for VISA fx transactions. Gave up that crummy US dollar Visa card that our Canadian bank used to charge us $30. for.

 

We NEVER have our on board charges converted. We keep then in USD...as another poster said,,,the ship will add 3 percent to their actual exchange rate. If you are renting a car in a US port keep in mind that our experience over the past year is that Budget and Avis like to automatically convert you bill from USD to CAD and charge 3 percent for doing it. We missed it once when we were in a hurry. I do not like getting ripped off.

Edited June 29, 2014 by iancal

[gcgold]

celebrity rip off british clients by using a conversion rate way inferior to the banks . as an example they offered a saving of $5 per day if one pre-booked. trouble was the brits had to pay in £. when i converted it back at my card i would be charged $5 per day More than if i paid on the boat! the rates rcci used was £1 =¥$150 my bank was over $160 at the time.

 

 

we have booked our next cruise via TA in the USA and saved loads compared to booking in UK. now the £ has gone over $1.70 we will save even more 😎

 

 

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[richstowe]

The conventional wisdom is to let the credit card do the conversion

Don't believe conventional wisdom.:D

We cruised on Connie this May. The Canadian $ was at .90 at the time. Plus the credit cards charge 2.5%

Celebrity was charging .99 . I asked if I could buy OBC at that rate.

When they said yes I bought $750 US for less then $760 CDN.

 

Not saying this is the case now but you never know.

[Christine Frances]

We have a USD account and buy US when the rates are good. We do monitor it frequently. When we cruise we convert the cash to US Traveller's Cheques which are cashed for free on the ship. Only cash what we need and make sure we pay off our on board account so credit card isn't charged. Any left over TC's get redeposited right back into the US account.

 

When we booked the Baltic cruise over a year out, we watched ForEx rates and bought US & Euros regularly. Scotiabank offers both accounts. We took TC's in both currencies. By the time we cruised our dollar had tanked and I really felt sorry for people that just relied on ATM's for currency as they were stuck with the current and much higher rate.

[Lois R]

We have a USD account and buy US when the rates are good. We do monitor it frequently. When we cruise we convert the cash to US Traveller's Cheques which are cashed for free on the ship. Only cash what we need and make sure we pay off our on board account so credit card isn't charged. Any left over TC's get redeposited right back into the US account.

 

When we booked the Baltic cruise over a year out, we watched ForEx rates and bought US & Euros regularly. Scotiabank offers both accounts. We took TC's in both currencies. By the time we cruised our dollar had tanked and I really felt sorry for people that just relied on ATM's for currency as they were stuck with the current and much higher rate.

 

Question for you:).....a bit off topic...I will be in Toronto next month

for 5 days......hope this is not too much of an idiotic question.....:eek:

I am bringing some US $ money with me.....I am guessing downtown

Toronto has plenty of ATM's where I can get Canadian $ with my

ATM card? And yes, I will have a couple of credit cards with me as

as well.

First land vacation in eons!

[Lois R]

I guess I should have posted that question on the Canada board.......

Sorry:eek:

[Yukonbear]

Question for you:).....a bit off topic...I will be in Toronto next month

for 5 days......hope this is not too much of an idiotic question.....:eek:

I am bringing some US $ money with me.....I am guessing downtown

Toronto has plenty of ATM's where I can get Canadian $ with my

ATM card? And yes, I will have a couple of credit cards with me as

as well.

First land vacation in eons!

 

Lots of ATMs that you can use and you will get CAD.

[Lois R]

Lots of ATMs that you can use and you will get CAD.

 

Thank you:)

[Ruthk]

Lois - in Canada everyone accepts the US dollar with open arms - but you will not get a favourable rate from restaurants or merchants; more than likely you will get it at par. Best bet will be to go into a bank for an exchange to the Canadian dollar.

 

As for going on the cruise with Canadian charge cards. I quit using my Cdn charge card because of the Celebrity exchange rate and then the Master Card rate for foreign currency. I now have a U.S. BMO Master Card and use it always in the states. Mind you, living on the border, we head to the States weekly for groceries and gasoline. I strongly suggest that you get a U.S. card - saves you a couple of bucks.

[Lois R]

Hi Ruth, thank you for that reply. I appreciate it:)

[TSM AND JP]

Thanks for all your input. Greatly Appreciated!

[Ruthk]

Hi Ruth, thank you for that reply. I appreciate it:)

 

Lois - have fun in Toronto, it's a great city. If you have time, you should take a trip to the Niagara Peninsula which is absolutely beautiful (mind you, I live here also). The drive is about 90 minutes and very easy to get to. This would include Niagara Falls and also a town called Niagara On The Lake, which is stunning. Niagara On The Lake is known as one of the most beautiful towns in Canada and it is in wine country - the town is breathtaking with quaint shops, beautiful flower gardens, wonderful restaurants and around 100 wineries. Google the town's name - you won't be disappointed. Have a great vacation!