Canadian payment methods?

[Eggfrmr]

I have a cruise booked and tried to pay the gratuities with a pre paid USD Visa. Unfortunately Carnival will not accept it. I do not want to pay the 2.5% fee my CDN Visa charges for foreign transactions. Neither Carnival, nor my TA (based in the US) seem to be able to help. 

 

What do you use to pay your Carnival cruises with?

[rodndonna]

We have a US dollar VISA credit card through TD that we use for all of our US dollar based purchases like this.

[Eggfrmr]

1 hour ago, rodndonna said:

We have a US dollar VISA credit card through TD that we use for all of our US dollar based purchases like this.

So its an actual visa not a pre paid one? Do you have problems with having a Canadoan address attached to it?

[lasekeye]

I have used my CIBC pre-paid USD VISA to pay for excursions and pre/post cruise transportation with no problems....done on-line.

Our actual cruise has been put on our CDN VISA, and had the Carnival agent convert the amount to CDN funds, to save that way....next time I will try to pay for the whole cruise on our pre-paid USD VISA.

Did u try to pay on your Carnival account on-line or by phone?

if it was by phone, did u mention it was a pre-paid VISA?  If that was the case, call back and don’t say anything about pre-paid....just say my VISA.

I’ve worked in banking for many years and found many vendors don’t think they can process these pre-paid VISA cards from Canada....it’s usually a matter of “don’t tell the vendor and everything works as it should”.

[Eggfrmr]

20 minutes ago, lasekeye said:

I have used my CIBC pre-paid USD VISA to pay for excursions and pre/post cruise transportation with no problems....done on-line.

Our actual cruise has been put on our CDN VISA, and had the Carnival agent convert the amount to CDN funds, to save that way....next time I will try to pay for the whole cruise on our pre-paid USD VISA.

Did u try to pay on your Carnival account on-line or by phone?

if it was by phone, did u mention it was a pre-paid VISA?  If that was the case, call back and don’t say anything about pre-paid....just say my VISA.

I’ve worked in banking for many years and found many vendors don’t think they can process these pre-paid VISA cards from Canada....it’s usually a matter of “don’t tell the vendor and everything works as it should”.

I did not tell them it was a prepaid. It was done on line but they wanted an address and I am guessing the canadian address messed it up, but not sure. Thanks for the help!

[eltigre]

We have used both CDN & USA funds to book, pay deposit & make final payments for cruises. When booking in American dollars we use our American RBC Visa & then pay off the statement in American funds that we have put into our American RBC bank account.

My rule of thumb is whenever I can get .75 cents or more on the dollar (after any bank fees) I buy & put it in the USA bank account for travel. Hope this helps for your future cruises.

Edited November 23, 2018 by eltigre

[rodndonna]

9 hours ago, Eggfrmr said:

So its an actual visa not a pre paid one? Do you have problems with having a Canadoan address attached to it?

 

It is a US dollar based Visa - not a prepaid Visa card.

 

We keep a US dollar account (generally we treat as our 'vacation' account) that we top up from Canadian funds regularly when our dollar has a good day - and a US dollar based Visa that is  then paid from that US dollar 'vacation' account.

 

It can be useful if you are doing a couple of holidays or more a year in US based currencies.

 

The accounts are held at a Canadian TD bank- so no issue with a Canadian address associated with the card.

Edited November 23, 2018 by rodndonna

[Eggfrmr]

Thanks everyone! You have been a great help. I will go in and see about getting a VISA in USD. Also going to try and get my reservation switched to CDN$$, if they can.

 

[Electricx]

Hello Eggfrmr, 

 

The only issue with having a VISA in USD, you need to pay it in USD. When you put $$ in a US account you are getting charged the Foreign Transaction fee and the exchange rate to deposit the funds. 

 

There are a few CDN Credit Cards that do not charge foreign transaction Fees (Scotia Passport Visa Infinite, Home Trust Preferred Visa, Rogers World Elite Mastercard). There is Rogers Platinum and Fido Mastercard that charge the 2.5 Foreign transaction fee, but then give 3% in rewards for foreign funds (so really you are getting a 0.5%). Previous to some of these cards was the Amazon Card, before Chase discontinued that in Canada. 

 

I use my regular rewards Visa for my Flights, Hotel, etc...and then use my card that doesn't charge Foreign Transaction Fees for my actual Cruise, Shore Excursions, and the Sail and Sign Bill at the end of the cruise. It works out quite well. 

 

I hope this helps!

[Nic6318]

On ‎11‎/‎22‎/‎2018 at 6:52 PM, Eggfrmr said:

I have a cruise booked and tried to pay the gratuities with a pre paid USD Visa. Unfortunately Carnival will not accept it. I do not want to pay the 2.5% fee my CDN Visa charges for foreign transactions. Neither Carnival, nor my TA (based in the US) seem to be able to help. 

 

What do you use to pay your Carnival cruises with?

Hi

 

If you want to pay everything in CDN$, you might be better off booking with a CDN travel agent and paying in CDN$. Even then you need to be careful, you really have to compare the cost if you pay in US$ vs. CDN$. Also sometimes people have complained when currency changes against their favor between the time they booked and final payment.

 

Having a credit card that doesn't charge currency exchange fees is a good other choice. Of course you are spending money, and the company is making their money on the transaction. If you will travel a lot and need US$ often a US$ savings account and credit card are convenient. If you aren't spending money (with your credit card) and you just want to exchange money, you will always be paying an exchange fee as well as the currency exchange. It will be built into what you pay for the currency. Banks don't charge the current currency exchange rate, the add a fee. That's why if you go to your band with money in your hand and make an exchange and later change your mind, you won't end up with what you originally started with.

 

I see no benefit trying to change your current booking to one that is being paid in CDN funds. I would imagine this would confuse, and likely get any request for adjustments due to a price drop, refused. Plus, why would a US based TA accept CDN funds? 

[hockeyluver]

We booked and  paid for our cruise in Canadian funds ( I was lucky enough to book this coming cruise and one in  2020 before our dollar tanked) on our Amex card directly through Carnival .  I just call and make the payments till it was paid off.  I called last week and put our gratuities on my U.S  visa with no problems.   I also use the U.S visa to pay for things from the bon voyage dept.   I've had no trouble doing this at all. 

Edited November 24, 2018 by hockeyluver

[Squirly1]

the last time I asked Carnival for the Canadian vs the US total and worked out the math it was cheaper for me to pay in US and that included the 2.5% transaction fee.  I honestly think you are on the hook either way.  As long as you don't mind doing the math every time to figure our who is coming ahead with each charge depending on the cost of currency exchange on that particular day vs the transaction fee once it hits your credit card.  I personally just slowly move Canadian funds into my US account on a regular basis when the timing is right.  I put cash into the machine before we leave the ship and then I don't get a bill afterwards.  Just my 2 cents