Canadian cruisers!!

[squadron]

With out $ tanked you will find that those have gone up in price too.

 

Unfortunately - price of AI resorts may be cheaper but are too "beachy and pool" for me. I like waking up to a new location with new things to see and do.

[hancogran]

Unfortunately - price of AI resorts may be cheaper but are too "beachy and pool" for me. I like waking up to a new location with new things to see and do.

 

I feel the same way as you.. I'm ok at an AI resort for a day or so but after that, I get very bored. :(

[CanadaRob]

I feel the same way as you.. I'm ok at an AI resort for a day or so but after that, I get very bored. :(

 

Although if canada would go back and buy a Caribbean island I would give it a try :)

[A&L_Ont]

I feel the same way as you.. I'm ok at an AI resort for a day or so but after that, I get very bored. :(

 

I have done it and I have to agree. We are doing it again at the end of the month and I will survive somehow.;) My DW on the other hand could sit on a lounger all day reading.

[hancogran]

I have done it and I have to agree. We are doing it again at the end of the month and I will survive somehow.;) My DW on the other hand could sit on a lounger all day reading.

 

Way back before we started cruising, we'd go to an AI a few times a year. Back then, we were both working full time and were more than happy to relax just like your DW.. sitting in a lounger reading and sipping on a cold drink. Now that we've both retired, we need to be "on the go" or doing something interesting when we go on vacation. We relax enough at home! :rolleyes:

 

It's funny how our priorities change as we age. I'm not ready for a nursing home yet! haha :D

[JessyCruises]

We are doing an AI in Cuba this March break. We used to go every year, but now we are Disney Vacation club members and have fallen in love with cruising so we are only doing AIs every 2-3 yrs.

[LuCruise]

It's a shame that they have removed the OBC 1.1 exchange, but I'm still glad that Royal lets us book our cruise in CAD. I'd rather pay $4600CAD for a family of 4 for Royal than $5700 USD for a Disney cruise

(comparing Allure to Fantasy...same week and similar stateroom and itinerary). There are ways to minimize the costs when in ports.

And won't land travel to US have same issue? But yeah...the cost of cruising has jumped up about 1K over the past year, which is most likely due to the bad dollar.

[A&L_Ont]

Way back before we started cruising, we'd go to an AI a few times a year. Back then, we were both working full time and were more than happy to relax just like your DW.. sitting in a lounger reading and sipping on a cold drink. Now that we've both retired, we need to be "on the go" or doing something interesting when we go on vacation. We relax enough at home! :rolleyes:

 

It's funny how our priorities change as we age. I'm not ready for a nursing home yet! haha :D

 

I was hoping for Freedom 35 but at 44 I am still at it.;) It helps to pay for my love of cruising, in cars and on ships. My DW is a stay at home mom and after having our DS and myself at home for the holidays she deserves a break.:)

 

I totally get where you two are at in life, and it sounds like a wonderful spot to be.

 

Andrew

[dpostman]

I was hoping for Freedom 35 but at 44 I am still at it.;) It helps to pay for my love of cruising, in cars and on ships. My DW is a stay at home mom and after having our DS and myself at home for the holidays she deserves a break.:)

 

I totally get where you two are at in life, and it sounds like a wonderful spot to be.

 

Andrew

 

Yup, no Freedom 35 for me neither.:(

 

 

I'm also 44, and this is my summer cruizer...

 

Although, it does cruise OK in the winter as well :)

Edited January 8, 2016 by dpostman

[A&L_Ont]

Yup, no Freedom 35 for me neither.:(

 

I'm also 44, and this is my summer cruizer...

 

Although, it does cruise OK in the winter as well :)

 

Maybe Freedom 45 is the new Freedom 35.;)

 

I rotate my avatar pic a few times a year to include pics of some of our fun cars. Like I said I love cars and crusing.

 

I used to have a TJ, pre-kids and marriage. My daily driver now is the Jeep SRT8. Family friendly and a fun grocery getter with 450HP.:D I am first on the my local dealer list for the Trail Hawk, if they make it. It is the factory installed 707 HP Hell Cat engine in a Grand Cherokee. Needless to say the winter tire package is a direct swap between the two and I can get the grociers a bit quicker. :p

 

 

 

I guess the only positive with the bottoming of our dollar is the slowwwww drop in the price of gas.

[dpostman]

Maybe Freedom 45 is the new Freedom 35.;)

 

I rotate my avatar pic a few times a year to include pics of some of our fun cars. Like I said I love cars and crusing.

 

I used to have a TJ, pre-kids and marriage. My daily driver now is the Jeep SRT8. Family friendly and a fun grocery getter with 450HP.:D I am first on the my local dealer list for the Trail Hawk, if they make it. It is the factory installed 707 HP Hell Cat engine in a Grand Cherokee. Needless to say the winter tire package is a direct swap between the two and I can get the grociers a bit quicker. :p

 

 

I guess the only positive with the bottoming of our dollar is the slowwwww drop in the price of gas.

 

That is one nice ride. My wife has her heart set on a Challenger for her next vehicle... I'm trying to talk her down to a Charger, at least it has four doors, and way better with 2 kids. But we'll see.

 

Good luck on the HellCat, better tie down those groceries in the back or your Coffee Creme with be turned into butter :D

 

dp

Edited January 8, 2016 by dpostman

[hancogran]

I was hoping for Freedom 35 but at 44 I am still at it.;) It helps to pay for my love of cruising, in cars and on ships. My DW is a stay at home mom and after having our DS and myself at home for the holidays she deserves a break.:)

 

I totally get where you two are at in life, and it sounds like a wonderful spot to be.

 

Andrew

 

Yes, Andrew, your turn will come soon enough, believe me! ;)

 

My DH had only been retired for a year when he was "bored" whenever we were home. It got a bit costly cruising to Europe and traveling all over Europe so the solution was a little part time job for him at a Best Western hotel in our city. He loves it and it gets him out of my hair for a few hours every week ... I can so relate to your wife deserving a break after having you and your son home for the holidays.. :p DH has been there 3 years now and in addition to never having a problem getting time off, we get cheap hotels when traveling! :D

[A&L_Ont]

That is one nice ride. My wife has her heart set on a Challenger for her next vehicle... I'm trying to talk her down to a Charger, at least it has four doors, and way better with 2 kids. But we'll see.

 

Good luck on the HellCat, better tie down those groceries in the back or your Coffee Creme with be turned into butter :D

 

dp

 

I'd work your best on that. I had an Orange SRT8 for a couple of years post marriage and pre-kids. It was awkward with our DS bucking him up in the back and I concluded it was best to move to something else. The bolstered seats made fitting a booster in hard to do. Positives are the tunk is huge and it rides like a sedan.

 

A Charger would have beem a better choice but you only live once. Your DW might say the same.:)

[Russ Lomas]

We travel in March, and really hope we will be able to take a bit out during the first few days of the cruise to pay for an excursion. The rest is all for onboard spending.

 

Not really sure how they would stop people using the OBC which they PAID for to purchase casino chip and then deciding to cash out. I do not think they could "force" you to gamble all that money and I am sure that if there is credit on a person's account, the cruise line would likely be happy to have people use it in the casino. The casinos would not be in business if they were losing money. They are there because they make the company money.

[son3cruisers]

Not really sure how they would stop people using the OBC which they PAID for to purchase casino chip and then deciding to cash out. I do not think they could "force" you to gamble all that money and I am sure that if there is credit on a person's account, the cruise line would likely be happy to have people use it in the casino. The casinos would not be in business if they were losing money. They are there because they make the company money.

 

This is what I m thinking ( hoping) . It's our money!!!

And I'm talking about withdrawing a very little amount ( for one excursion/port spending). In fact, I think Royal has benefitted from this low exchange rate, as we have put a lot of money into OBC for this sailing, much more then we would normally. We plan to use some to book excursions once onboard ( we frequently book independently) and are considering a few drink packages . Things that we wouldn't normally do, but the savings make it comparable to booking privately or buying individual drinks.

Edited January 8, 2016 by son3cruisers

[ilovetotravel1977]

...Or maybe NCL will benefit greatly from this....hmmm

 

I'm booked on the Escape for April 2016 and NCL prices are also high and have been for a while. They are no longer offering the really attractive exchange rates like they once did. I believe a lot of recent (last 3 months) bookings have reported to be around 1.35 or matching the going bank rates.

 

They do still honour if you locked your cruise in a better rate, along with matching rates for excursions, OBC, service charges, etc. We were lucky to have a rate of 1.19.

[springaussie]

Australians may also have had the exchange rates changed from 76.9 to 71.2 according to a couple of people who tried yesterday.

[Virtopia]

I got an email about a price drop on my upcoming cruise. When I called to get it adjusted, she quoted a lower price than what I saw online. I'm looking at my confirmation now and I see an additional credit for Canadian resident. Looks like they are still trying to help us out! A 10 minute call and I saved just under $300 :D

Edited January 9, 2016 by Virtopia

[Russ Lomas]

I got an email about a price drop on my upcoming cruise. When I called to get it adjusted, she quoted a lower price than what I saw online. I'm looking at my confirmation now and I see an additional credit for Canadian resident. Looks like they are still trying to help us out! A 10 minute call and I saved just under $300 :D

I noticed they had jacked up the price of our 2017 cruise for the March Break if you were booking in Canadian funds. I just went back and put in Ontario residence and it gave me absolutely no reduced rate for being from Ontario. Looks like you lucked out with your sailing and a resident rate. Glad for you but it does not appear to translate into a deal for other cruises.

[Russ Lomas]

This is what I m thinking ( hoping) . It's our money!!!

And I'm talking about withdrawing a very little amount ( for one excursion/port spending). In fact, I think Royal has benefitted from this low exchange rate, as we have put a lot of money into OBC for this sailing, much more then we would normally. We plan to use some to book excursions once onboard ( we frequently book independently) and are considering a few drink packages . Things that we wouldn't normally do, but the savings make it comparable to booking privately or buying individual drinks.

Agreed. We plan on doing basically the exact same as you. We do not do a lot of onboard purchases but at 10% we would consider them, at 40% we will just go without. From what I read on the boards here, it sounds like many people have decided to cut back drastically on their alcohol purchases on the ship due to RCCL's jacking up the prices much higher since they introduced the packages. All those who do not drink enough to warrant purchasing the packages have decided to cut back on their alcohol purchase, or maybe not buy any on the ship at all, thus RCCL seems to be offering deals like drink cards on specific voyages. Wonder if doing the same to the exchange rate for Canadians will have a similar effect on how much many of us spend onboard? I know there are some who just say they are on holidays and will spend anyways, but then there are a large portion who will just reduce spending as well since tacking on another 30% was not in our original budgets.

[tinkertwo]

so now i'm wondering.....if you decided to cancel your obc now, would you get the new rate or would you get the old rate?

not looking to do this mind you, its just my mind goes in twelve 'what if' directions at a time.

[Ourusualbeach]

so now i'm wondering.....if you decided to cancel your obc now, would you get the new rate or would you get the old rate?

not looking to do this mind you, its just my mind goes in twelve 'what if' directions at a time.

 

Since the only confirmation that you receive from Royal shows how much you paid in CDN$ I would assume (which I know is dangerous where Royal is concerned) that the amount refunded would be that amount.

[hancogran]

so now i'm wondering.....if you decided to cancel your obc now, would you get the new rate or would you get the old rate?

not looking to do this mind you, its just my mind goes in twelve 'what if' directions at a time.

 

I agree with Ken on this. Your credit card would just be credited back with the amount they charged in CAD... same as if you ordered a drink package or something else from gifts and gear and then cancelled. :)

[Mapleleafforever]

Looks like we'll be at an AI resort instead of a cruise next winter, no biggie.

[A&L_Ont]

Looks like we'll be at an AI resort instead of a cruise next winter, no biggie.

 

We live 20 minutes from London Ontario. Right now West Jet, Air Transat, and Sunwing have flights to AIs. I just looked at the cheapest AI direct to Punta Cana and for 2 it was $2,600 all in. There is even a direct flight deal with Celeberty that has run last year as well as this year. It has transfers and IF I remember correctly it had tips and maybe a drink package. I know someone who did it last year and they said it was so easy to fly right from home.

Edited January 9, 2016 by A&L_Ont