Foreign exchange on shore excursions

[thyludz]

I live in Canada and have booked a Solstice cruise to Australia and New Zealand for Oct/Nov 2016. For booking the shore excursions ahead of time online through Celebrity I've noticed that the prices have fluctuated due to the exchange between USD and CAD.

 

My question is does anybody know that if I book now and the price decreases before my cruise am I able to get the lower price?

[Sean McKay]

I live in Canada and have booked a Solstice cruise to Australia and New Zealand for Oct/Nov 2016. For booking the shore excursions ahead of time online through Celebrity I've noticed that the prices have fluctuated due to the exchange between USD and CAD.

 

My question is does anybody know that if I book now and the price decreases before my cruise am I able to get the lower price?

 

Yes, if the price goes lower you should be able to cancel and re-book at the lower rate. Have notice this too for a upcoming Alaska cruise and have had the same benefits

[ScubesDad]

Yes, if the price goes lower you should be able to cancel and re-book at the lower rate. Have notice this too for a upcoming Alaska cruise and have had the same benefits

 

No this is not the correct answer. If you book today and the rate moves to a more favourable rate three months from now, you will not be able to get the "lower" rate because the rate really is not lower, it is just a foreign exchange move.

 

"X" conducts all their transactions in US$, however, the different country websites will present the costs in local currency, so in the case of Canadians we can see the price in CDN$ and pay appropriately. So assume a shore excursion is US$100. They expect to be paid US$100, so they adjust by the exchange rate and post that value on the website for Canada. They generally only adjust their exchange rates periodically, something like once every quarter or so.

 

At today's closing rate of approx .79 that would be about CDN$126.50. So if you purchase today that would be the price you pay. Three months from now the CDN$ has continued to strengthen against the US$ and the exchange rate moves to .85 that same $100 excursion becomes CDN$117.65, or $8.85 cheaper in Canadian $, but it is still US$100. If you called and asked for a refund of the excursion they would refund US$100 at the current rate for that day, which would be $117.65; resulting in you receiving less than you paid as a refund.

 

This is a very simplified example, as in fact the buying and selling rates are always a few points either side of the spot rate so that the traders/banks/credit cards can make a profit on the spread between buying and selling. Trying to guess where the rate will be sometime in the future is quite risky.

 

The current exchange rate reflected on "X"'s Canadian website is .75 or about 1.33 depending which way you want to look at it. What I can't tell you is when that rate was set. It is about 4% different than current exchange rates or $4 on every $100.....

 

So I guess the above was a long answer to a short question; once you decide to purchase the shore excursion you have locked in the price.

[Project_gal]

ScubesDad

 

Everything you write is correct except that it is wrong - at least in the UK.

 

If you pre-purchase any cruise add-on in pound sterling and then cancel, you will be refunded what you paid in pound sterling. You may then re-book at the current price in pound sterling.

 

However, it is quite rare for the price of an add-on to change once it has been posted on the website. The only time I can recall seeing a price change is when something such as specialty dining increases in US$ when, of course, the UK price also increases. Different processes apply to Gifts by Celebrity [such as pre-purchased OBC].

 

It is possible to see the same excursion on the website at one pound sterling price for once cruise and another for a different cruise because the exchange rate used was different at the time posted.

Edited April 21, 2016 by Project_gal