Paying in US Dollars

[cruisetimeusa]

Can anyone tell me if Canadians book a future cruise while on the ship,  can they pay the deposit and final payment in U.S. dollars if they don't have a U.S. address.

 

Thank you.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I can't imagine why not.  Why not ask your TA to find out?

[cruisetimeusa]

3 minutes ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

I can't imagine why not.  Why not ask your TA to find out?

Hi Wendy,

 

I asked Viking and they told me it was not possible, but I thought I read somewhere that it was.  Wanted to know if anyone recently was able to do it.

 

Thank you.

 

 

[Wendy The Wanderer]

19 hours ago, cruisetimeusa said:

Hi Wendy,

 

I asked Viking and they told me it was not possible, but I thought I read somewhere that it was.  Wanted to know if anyone recently was able to do it.

 

Thank you.

 

 

 

That's weird, but anything's possible with Viking corporate (no actual experience myself, just reading about it.)  It would be strange if the demanded that Canadians can only pay in Canadian dollars.  In the past I've done lots of cruises on other lines in USD. 

[Peregrina651]

21 hours ago, cruisetimeusa said:

Hi Wendy,

 

I asked Viking and they told me it was not possible, but I thought I read somewhere that it was.  Wanted to know if anyone recently was able to do it.

 

Thank you.

 

 

 

 

Who exactly did you ask at Viking? If you haven't already, try e-mailing the folks at tellus@vikingcruises.com. They have a more comprehensive knowledge of the system and the time to research answers.

Edited January 23, 2019 by Peregrina651

[cruisetimeusa]

1 hour ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

 

Who exactly did you ask at Viking? If you haven't already, try e-mailing the folks at tellus@vikingcruises.com. They have a more comprehensive knowledge of the system and the time to research answers.

I asked customer service and a supervisor.  Thanks for your suggestion,  I will try that.

[Cienfuegos]

Viking Ocean made a point of reminding me that they offer a 3% discount for payments made through their electronic banking system.  My guess is the 3% is the vigorish they have to pay MasterCard or Visa.

 

The US and Canadian banking systems have cross payment capability, so it would seem reasonable that Viking should accept a transfer from a Canadian bank, adjusted for the amount in US$

[cruisetimeusa]

Thank you to all that have answered.  We will be checking out your responses.

[Heidi13]

8 hours ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

 

That's weird, but anything's possible with Viking corporate (no actual experience myself, just reading about it.)  It would be strange if the demanded that Canadians can only pay in Canadian dollars.  In the past I've done lots of cruises on other lines in USD. 

Wendy - can't comment about booking on board, but online and during calls with Viking, all pricing is quoted in CAN $. I tried to view the US site, but without a VPN, it picks up our IP address and only gives access to VikingCruisesCanada. 

[Wendy The Wanderer]

16 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

Wendy - can't comment about booking on board, but online and during calls with Viking, all pricing is quoted in CAN $. I tried to view the US site, but without a VPN, it picks up our IP address and only gives access to VikingCruisesCanada. 

 

Yes, but could you have asked them to quote you in USD's?  I realize that about the websites, same with Regent and other lines, but surely they'd give you the choice? My TA usually asks me which currency I want to book in (they're in the States.)

Edited January 24, 2019 by Wendy The Wanderer

[Heidi13]

46 minutes ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

 

Yes, but could you have asked them to quote you in USD's?  I realize that about the websites, same with Regent and other lines, but surely they'd give you the choice? My TA usually asks me which currency I want to book in (they're in the States.)

Using a US TA, I suspect you will have a US$ option.

 

We took a bit of a hit on our last WC, which we paid in US $, as the Princess exchange rate wasn't favourable. However, by the time we paid, the exchange rate had dropped. We could have paid earlier, but you always hope for a recovery.

 

Therefore, with Viking we were happy to deal with CAN $ pricing and never asked about a US $ option. While we use a US$ account, we don't keep anywhere close to sufficient funds to pay for a WC.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

With the Canadian dollar so low the last couple of years, with no real hope of short-term recovery, I've been happy to book in CDN too, but in the intervening decades, I often booked in USD and speculated on the dollar going up before final payment, which it did.  So I entirely understand--it's nice to have the option so you can make your own decision.

 

Plus some Canadians have US assets. If we decide to sell our Florida condo, for example, we'd be wishing we'd booked our WC in USD so we could pay it off directly.  But we hope not to have to do that, of course.

[isbclarin]

I may be missing something here.  Using a credit card with no foreign transaction fees will insure you get close to the current official exchange rate for your home currency.  So it shouldn't matter what the dollar cost is for the transaction; you'll not lose 

out.  If the discussion is focused on debit card transactions then you do have an issue because you are at the mercy of the cruise line exchange rate.  Of course currency exchange fluctuations between booking and final payment cannot be predicted but using a credit card insures you won't have a usurious exchange rate at either time.

[Cienfuegos]

Are US credit cards now accepted in Cuba? 

[Pushka]

7 hours ago, isbclarin said:

I may be missing something here.  Using a credit card with no foreign transaction fees will insure you get close to the current official exchange rate for your home currency.  So it shouldn't matter what the dollar cost is for the transaction; you'll not lose 

out.  If the discussion is focused on debit card transactions then you do have an issue because you are at the mercy of the cruise line exchange rate.  Of course currency exchange fluctuations between booking and final payment cannot be predicted but using a credit card insures you won't have a usurious exchange rate at either time.

 

Often the pricing is very different from country to country and which can’t be explained by current exchange rates. For instance, we are in Australia and we only see AUD. If we pre pay for the SSP it works out about $120 cheaper than if we wait to pay for it onboard. And currency fluctuations don’t explain that gap. 

[Peregrina651]

2 hours ago, Cienfuegos said:

Are US credit cards now accepted in Cuba? 

 

 

Good question. My guess is that it has been asked and answered in the Ports of Call section of these boards. If it hasn't been, I would ask there as well.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

13 hours ago, isbclarin said:

I may be missing something here.  Using a credit card with no foreign transaction fees will insure you get close to the current official exchange rate for your home currency.  So it shouldn't matter what the dollar cost is for the transaction; you'll not lose 

out.  If the discussion is focused on debit card transactions then you do have an issue because you are at the mercy of the cruise line exchange rate.  Of course currency exchange fluctuations between booking and final payment cannot be predicted but using a credit card insures you won't have a usurious exchange rate at either time.

 

As the poster from Australia pointed out, this isn't really the point.

 

Example: Let's say I am quoted $10,000 for a cruise in Canadian dollars (CDN).  That cruise might be quoted today at $7500 USD.  But six months or a year from now, the Canadian dollar might have increased in value so that you could then "buy" $7500 USD for $9000 CDN, say.  So, having some flexibility in what currency you book in *can* be relevant.  Of course, this is fairly unpredictable, but worth considering when booking, if you have that option.

[isbclarin]

9 hours ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

 

As the poster from Australia pointed out, this isn't really the point.

 

Example: Let's say I am quoted $10,000 for a cruise in Canadian dollars (CDN).  That cruise might be quoted today at $7500 USD.  But six months or a year from now, the Canadian dollar might have increased in value so that you could then "buy" $7500 USD for $9000 CDN, say.  So, having some flexibility in what currency you book in *can* be relevant.  Of course, this is fairly unpredictable, but worth considering when booking, if you have that option.

OK   I believe I'm beginning to understand the point.  If you book and pay for the trip completely in Canadian or Australian dollars and both the foreign dollar price and the US dollar price remain the same but the foreign dollars go down relative to the US dollar in the meantime then you've won and Viking loses.  But if the foreign dollars go up relative to the US dollar then Viking has won and you've lost.  So the exchange rate fluctuations become a player.  

[Wendy The Wanderer]

1 hour ago, isbclarin said:

OK   I believe I'm beginning to understand the point.  If you book and pay for the trip completely in Canadian or Australian dollars and both the foreign dollar price and the US dollar price remain the same but the foreign dollars go down relative to the US dollar in the meantime then you've won and Viking loses.  But if the foreign dollars go up relative to the US dollar then Viking has won and you've lost.  So the exchange rate fluctuations become a player.  

 

Yes, exactly.  The last couple of years I've been booking in CDN because our dollar seems to be on a long-term downward trend because of our dependence on oil revenues.  Before that for a few years I booked in USD, and won big when our dollar went up to par with the USD (that's when we bought our condo here in Florida, during the real estate slump.)