Final Bill Payment - Exchange options - Theirs or Credit Cards, which to choose?

[Audiosolo]

Hi all, first time cruising, and am booked on the Regal for March 20th. In setting up my online profile they ask us if we want the final charges on board to be billed in USD to my credit card, or use their currency conversion. Has anyone done any research on which is the better option? I don't have a USD credit card. Or does it make sense to do exchange on shore at bank from CDN to USD and just pay it on the OBC account when boarding?

 

Any insight or experiences would be great. Thanks!

[chrysalis]

Have them charge your credit card in US$.....you should get a better exchange rate when your bank converts it

[fishywood]

Have them charge your credit card in US$.....you should get a better exchange rate when your bank converts it

 

For Canadians, not necessarily. Princess had been running promotions in Canada where the conversion rate was set and locked in on the date of booking. With the bank rate continuing to worsen almost daily the OP needs to confirm what the rate Princess will use for them would be.

[chrysalis]

For Canadians, not necessarily. Princess had been running promotions in Canada where the conversion rate was set and locked in on the date of booking. With the bank rate continuing to worsen almost daily the OP needs to confirm what the rate Princess will use for them would be.

 

So you are suggesting that someone who booked 1.5 years ago when the $ was much stronger, will get that same exchange rate on their on board spending balance, and that Princess is keeping track of that?

 

Good deal for those that booked 18 months ago if doing an around the world cruise!

[fishywood]

I'm only suggesting that the OP inquire as to what rate Princess will charge him as it is not a given for CA$ that Princess' rate will be worse than the banks (as it is for the GBP or Euro). The promotion I reference (and admittedly may not have stated entirely accurately) is not offered at all times but is frequently discussed on the 'for Canadian cruisers' threads on this board.

Edited March 1, 2016 by fishywood

[Kamloops50]

Princess doesn't carry the booking rate over. The third party that does the conversion rate adds a service charge ( 3-6%) to the credit card. Then uses a rate that they can obtain. The rate your credit card gives is better , even for Canadians.

[goofy559]

So you are suggesting that someone who booked 1.5 years ago when the $ was much stronger, will get that same exchange rate on their on board spending balance, and that Princess is keeping track of that?

 

Good deal for those that booked 18 months ago if doing an around the world cruise!

This is only true if you gift yourself obc. I'm sailing in 2 weeks and bought Inc at 20% Right now the rate is 35%. Your gratuity prepayment would also reflect the rate in effect when the cruise was booked.

[Audiosolo]

Thanks for the input.. I booked my cruise with a US Travel Agent so I'm not likely to get the exchange lock in, but given as I only booked the cruise yesterday and it leaves in 20 days that's not going to be a big deal.

 

I have read on here of the program your talking about where the exchange rate bracket you booked under is applied to your other purchases etc for that cruise.

 

So has anyone calculated what the rate was if they got the charge put directly onto their Visa as USD compared to Visa's posted rate and fee on the day it was posted. (you can check this - just google Visa exchange rate, you select the currency of your card, the currency of the charge, day you made it, add in the fee charged by your CC company, usually 2.5% in Canada, you can your card provider to verify your rate). It will then show you the rate used including the fee for that day.

 

So for instanace today (March 1, 2016) it shows:

March 1, 2016

1 USD = 1.392938 CAD

 

 

Bank of Canada Rate for March 1: 1.3407 (your never going to get this rate, it's the rate the bank and cc rates are set off of).

 

 

 

TD Bank rate: 1.378

 

 

So curious to see what princess would set their rate by, and with what fees.

[smithmlmx]

The major difference is the service charge. I use a Marriott branded CC issued by Chase. To my knowledge it is the only Canadian CC which does not charge a fee when non Canadian Funds are charged to the card. It costs $120 Cdn/ yr and provides Marriott points. It also provides a free hotel stay once /yr up to a Category 5 hotel. I will be using the "free hotel stay" next week in FLL at the Residence Inn - currently $169 U$ ($188 with tax) ie approx $253 Cdn.

[avcruz]

I let any charges that I know will be charged to my onboard account at the end of the cruise stay in USD and let my bank charge their exchange. In 20 years of cruising this has always worked best for me.

[snow bunny]

You can check what the OBC rate would be by signing into your personalizer and "fake" purchase some OBC. When we booked our cruise the rate was 1.20 so we purchased enough to OBC to cover all of our excursions and on board purchases. If you don't use it all, they will forward you a USD cheque in the mail. We found this beneficial due to the crazy exchange rate.

 

snow bunny

[Logger1]

credit card made money off me but the Cruise line just robbed me. You know out front what the CC company charges, so don't roll the dice. I since have learned all cruise lines are similar. Stay with CC company and no surprises. You will know out front what you are paying for. I learned the hard way. Guess what cruise line I was on?? Look below

Edited March 8, 2016 by Logger1

[avcruz]

You can check what the OBC rate would be by signing into your personalizer and "fake" purchase some OBC.

 

 

 

snow bunny

 

 

Given that the OP just booked, the exchange rate will be quite high for OBC.

[hansi]

Hi all, first time cruising, and am booked on the Regal for March 20th. In setting up my online profile they ask us if we want the final charges on board to be billed in USD to my credit card, or use their currency conversion. Has anyone done any research on which is the better option? I don't have a USD credit card. Or does it make sense to do exchange on shore at bank from CDN to USD and just pay it on the OBC account when boarding?

 

Any insight or experiences would be great. Thanks!

 

Don't know how it works with US/Canadian citizens, but here in the UK I use a credit card which does not carry a loading in foreign currencies and which I use for Princess cruises. Then I always alllow my bank to do the conversion as Princess add a 3% surcharge. As I say, may be different for you.

[snow bunny]

Given that the OP just booked, the exchange rate will be quite high for OBC.

 

 

Yes but not as high as at their financial institution. We did have a credit card attached to our room and I chose to have them charge through my financial institution rather than their exchange. I think the rate was pretty decent but we didn't need to find out!

 

 

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[mmckm]

We book and pay in Canadian. Princess will have a Canadian price where you pay no conversion for you cruise price it is in Canadian dollars. For on board credit find out the rate there charging you. It's different depending when you booked. We have a cruise coming up in Apr. and our rate is 10% and another at 20%in Nov. for on board credit, so we purchased the booze package at 10% will pay for our tips and specialty meals, UBD, put extra down for spending and withdraw from OBC. Once on board if OBC runs out your back to the going rate of the credit card company. These cruises were booked the day they came available. Princesses rate as of a few weeks ago was 35% which is slightly better then the bank or credit card company.