coconutmonkey Posted July 20, 2015 #1 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Does anyone know what exchange rate for Canadian dollars Celebrity uses for new bookings? Princess has a 1.20 usd/cda dollar exchange rate which is very favorable. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justcake Posted July 20, 2015 #2 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Does anyone know what exchange rate for Canadian dollars Celebrity uses for new bookings? Princess has a 1.20 usd/cda dollar exchange rate which is very favorable.Thanks. Don't know but they did just raise all of there Canadian $ onboard credits and anything you pre-purchase. I bought have of the OBC I wanted a couple of weeks ago and paid $27.20 CAD for $25. Today that $25 now costs over $30. I wish I had prepurchased everything 2 weeks ago but I didn't know the $ was going to tank so much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
If only Posted July 20, 2015 #3 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Don't know but they did just raise all of there Canadian $ onboard credits and anything you pre-purchase. I bought have of the OBC I wanted a couple of weeks ago and paid $27.20 CAD for $25. Today that $25 now costs over $30. I wish I had prepurchased everything 2 weeks ago but I didn't know the $ was going to tank so much! I think they change their rates about every 3 months, I know they had the OBC a lot longer than that but I guess since the Cdn $ did not do get better they raised it. Too bad but it is still cheaper than the banks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare hammo Posted July 20, 2015 #4 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Imagine how we Aussies feel --:eek:- .77 US cents = $1 AU .:eek: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oskial Posted July 20, 2015 #5 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Imagine how we Aussies feel --:eek:- .77 US cents = $1 AU .:eek: I would take that if the Canadian $ were $.77. We're about $.67 right now. :(. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barwick Cruiser Posted July 20, 2015 #6 Share Posted July 20, 2015 I would take that if the Canadian $ were $.77. We're about $.67 right now. :(. Not sure where you are in Canada, not that it should matter but it's trading at .77US at the moment here in Ontario Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norwegianwood57 Posted July 20, 2015 #7 Share Posted July 20, 2015 I would imagine that less and less Canadians are travelling outside of Canada with their currency being so low compared to the US dollar. This must be affecting the cruise industry. I thought we would see some favorable incentives for Canadians as a result. I have heard that the Canadian dollar will go as low as 60 cents. Cant see anyone would want to leave Canada at that point. On the other hand all of Canada is on sale for Americans, a real bonanza for them to come north. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fouremco Posted July 20, 2015 #8 Share Posted July 20, 2015 I've not worked it out recently to the exact penny, but it is still in our favour and has been for a long time. I frequently flip to the US website for prices to make a comparison and I've yet to find an exchange rate in their favour. Plus any OBC perks are in USD, so we do quite well with Celebrity given the falling Loonie. I also purchase OBC before a cruise, again because the exchange rate is favourable and better than the rate I'd get paying my cruise-end billing with a credit card. Celebrity still sells gifts and other items in Canadian dollars, while HAL, for example, will only sell these items in USD. Of course, their booking prices are in Canadian dollars, like Celebrity, but I must say that I've never compared exchange rates between line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrappytraveller Posted July 20, 2015 #9 Share Posted July 20, 2015 OBC is now at 1.224, as of a couple of days ago. Still better than bank rates, but a lot more painful than they were letting us get away with a few weeks ago. :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
If only Posted July 21, 2015 #10 Share Posted July 21, 2015 Not sure where you are in Canada, not that it should matter but it's trading at .77US at the moment here in Ontario It may be trading at .77 U.S., but that is the Bank of Canada rate not what you buy it at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justcake Posted July 21, 2015 #11 Share Posted July 21, 2015 It may be trading at .77 U.S., but that is the Bank of Canada rate not what you buy it at. So true unfortunately! I just purchased a tour in Bermuda for $135 USD and had to pre-pay with my credit card. Was charged $179.97 which is a little over 33%:eek: I remember a few years back when the CAD was almost at par with the USD. It sure was nice to cruise then....I'm afraid I won't be taking as many cruises for the next little while:( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oskial Posted July 21, 2015 #12 Share Posted July 21, 2015 It may be trading at .77 U.S., but that is the Bank of Canada rate not what you buy it at. You are correct. I just bought $100 US on line and paid $133.10 through TD Canada Trust. If you buy it at an exchange house, you can get it for a little bit better rate. I'm hoping that the rate gets better before we go. We have a US $ account and I haven't bought any US $ in quite some time. (other than the $100 I bought tonight) We also have some OBC and I just may purchase some more if the rate thru Celebrity is that much better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tacrum43 Posted July 21, 2015 #13 Share Posted July 21, 2015 (edited) I have heard that the Canadian dollar will go as low as 60 cents. Cant see anyone would want to leave Canada at that point. On the other hand all of Canada is on sale for Americans, a real bonanza for them to come north. I'm surprised it's gone so low. I remember only like three years ago when I went to Victoria, BC it was $0.95 Canadian per $1 US. Made for pricey meals out in BC, and the Costco's in Washington state were full of Canadians buying cheap milk to bootleg across the border, lol. Anyway, maybe now is a good time to look into a Lake Louise trip. :D Edited July 21, 2015 by tacrum43 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare hammo Posted July 23, 2015 #14 Share Posted July 23, 2015 Aussie dollar down to .73 US cents now , so cruising for us @ US Dollar prices will be a struggle . We lose approx 4 cents on any exchange rate conversion also so we get about .69 cents value . Good for our local tourist industry as most we know will prefer to spend their hard earned here rather than get such dismal exchange rates .:( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vivi9909 Posted July 24, 2015 #15 Share Posted July 24, 2015 (edited) You are correct. I just bought $100 US on line and paid $133.10 through TD Canada Trust. If you buy it at an exchange house, you can get it for a little bit better rate. I'm hoping that the rate gets better before we go. We have a US $ account and I haven't bought any US $ in quite some time. (other than the $100 I bought tonight) We also have some OBC and I just may purchase some more if the rate thru Celebrity is that much better. Oskial and IfOnly, If you want to do the maths properly, you have to take the ratio of the two amounts (make a division) to calculate the correct exchange rate and not to make a subtraction; unfortunately it is a common mistake. Oskial, in your example 100/133.10 = .7513 which is close to the official published rate. If you subtract 33.10CAN$ from 100US$, you obtain 66.90 but it is wrong maths to consider that your exchange rate was .6690. The exchange fee that the banks will take is normally in the order of 1.5 - 2.5%, not more than this. Similarly, for the example provided by Justcake, 135US$/179.97CAN$ = .7501. Of course, it was much better for us last year but the maths have to be done properly. Edited July 24, 2015 by vivi9909 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acadie Posted July 26, 2015 #16 Share Posted July 26, 2015 Knowing the Canadian dollar is forecasted to continue to drop, we just purchased $500 onboard credit for our April 2016 TA for $612USD. At today's rate, 1.224 is a great deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JillK Posted July 26, 2015 #17 Share Posted July 26, 2015 We purchased obc ahead of time for our cruise in this past March and paid a very favourable exchange rate of just over $27 cdn for $25 usd as a previous poster mentioned. Too bad it's now gone up and I didn't act earlier for my upcoming December cruise, which is now getting more and more expensive with the dropping dollar! The only other thing to watch out for is allowing Celebrity to charge your credit card for onboard expenses in USD vs. CDN. Regardless of what their current rate is, which I believe you can find out by calling them, you will at least save the 2.5% conversion fee the credit cards charge. If I recall correctly there is a box to check on your form authorizing payment to have them charge it in your credit card's currency. We've got to take the breaks, no matter how small, where we can! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fouremco Posted July 26, 2015 #18 Share Posted July 26, 2015 We purchased obc ahead of time for our cruise in this past March and paid a very favourable exchange rate of just over $27 cdn for $25 usd as a previous poster mentioned. Too bad it's now gone up and I didn't act earlier for my upcoming December cruise, which is now getting more and more expensive with the dropping dollar! The only other thing to watch out for is allowing Celebrity to charge your credit card for onboard expenses in USD vs. CDN. Regardless of what their current rate is, which I believe you can find out by calling them, you will at least save the 2.5% conversion fee the credit cards charge. If I recall correctly there is a box to check on your form authorizing payment to have them charge it in your credit card's currency. We've got to take the breaks, no matter how small, where we can! We use an Chase Bank Amazon Canada credit card with no conversion transaction fee and a favourable conversion rate for onboard expenses. While Celebrity has offers a good conversion rate on its website for cruises and extras, I don't know if their onboard rate is the same. The website is probably only updated on a periodic basis, while the onboard rate might be daily and may or may not be as good as the Chase Amazon rate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmk Posted July 26, 2015 #19 Share Posted July 26, 2015 We purchased obc ahead of time for our cruise in this past March and paid a very favourable exchange rate of just over $27 cdn for $25 usd as a previous poster mentioned. Too bad it's now gone up and I didn't act earlier for my upcoming December cruise, which is now getting more and more expensive with the dropping dollar! The only other thing to watch out for is allowing Celebrity to charge your credit card for onboard expenses in USD vs. CDN. Regardless of what their current rate is, which I believe you can find out by calling them, you will at least save the 2.5% conversion fee the credit cards charge. If I recall correctly there is a box to check on your form authorizing payment to have them charge it in your credit card's currency. We've got to take the breaks, no matter how small, where we can! The only thing that I would check is the exchange rate that Celebrity charges. It can be more favourable to have your credit card to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
If only Posted July 26, 2015 #20 Share Posted July 26, 2015 (edited) The only thing that I would check is the exchange rate that Celebrity charges. It can be more favourable to have your credit card to it. You are correct, Celebrity charges 3% just for the conversion on top of their rate of exchange, it happened to us at the start of one cruise. We had to go to Customer Service & show proof that we wanted our credit card to do the exchange. It has always been better to have your credit card do the conversion as it is less than Celebrity. Edited July 26, 2015 by If only Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmk Posted July 27, 2015 #21 Share Posted July 27, 2015 You are correct, Celebrity charges 3% just for the conversion on top of their rate of exchange, it happened to us at the start of one cruise. We had to go to Customer Service & show proof that we wanted our credit card to do the exchange. It has always been better to have your credit card do the conversion as it is less than Celebrity. It is a good idea to check with Guest Relations anyway. They often mess it up. We usually check on our 2nd day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnchorsAweigh2011 Posted July 28, 2015 #22 Share Posted July 28, 2015 With the Canadian dollar continuing to drop compared to the US dollar, it will affect our future vacations and we will be rethinking our future bookings. When you pay $1500 US per person for a cruise, it converts to $2024.40, based on a conversion factor of 1.3496 on our Visa. That’s a difference of $524.40 a person or $1048.80 per couple, which is a significant difference. When you factor in airfare, hotel and meals in addition to the cruise, the price goes way up! It’s getting much more expensive to be a Canadian travelling on Celebrity! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Macadian Posted July 28, 2015 #23 Share Posted July 28, 2015 Yes, the current Cdn/US $ exchange rate has become a Major consideration for us regarding future cruise bookings. It is what it is. We may look for a last minute deal should something favorable arise this coming winter but other than that we will be taking a cruise hiatus. 😕 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmk Posted July 28, 2015 #24 Share Posted July 28, 2015 I am with you! Yes, the current Cdn/US $ exchange rate has become a Major consideration for us regarding future cruise bookings. It is what it is. We may look for a last minute deal should something favorable arise this coming winter but other than that we will be taking a cruise hiatus. 😕 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare hammo Posted July 28, 2015 #25 Share Posted July 28, 2015 You should try and rationalize the Cost / Value equation when you have Australian Dollars :eek: We have 3 upcoming Celebrity cruises and the final payment looms big , bigger , biggest . We will be looking at land based holidays as our dollar falls and suspect that many Aussies will do the same . Cruising , when you add 30% plus to the rate makes it a hard sell for us.:( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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