Purchase cruise USD or CDN?

[C 2 C]

I booked a number of cruises over the last month all in Canadian funds.  I believe that the cruise lines hedge their dollar and pricing in CAD was about 1.27 vs the 1.37 going rate.

I also use a Rogers credit card and they give 2% back  for US purchases.

[Fouremco]

20 hours ago, C 2 C said:

I also use a Rogers credit card and they give 2% back  for US purchases.

I have a Rogers World Elite MasterCard that pays 3% in unlimited cash back rewards on all eligible purchases made in U.S. dollars. But it also charges a 2.5% foreign transaction fee on top of the going exchange rate, which means that I'd only get 0.5% back for US purchases. Which of their cards do you have that gives you a 2% cash back?

[C 2 C]

22 hours ago, Fouremco said:

I have a Rogers World Elite MasterCard that pays 3% in unlimited cash back rewards on all eligible purchases made in U.S. dollars. But it also charges a 2.5% foreign transaction fee on top of the going exchange rate, which means that I'd only get 0.5% back for US purchases. Which of their cards do you have that gives you a 2% cash back?

Rogers Connections Mastercard | Rogers Bank

[trinigal]

Hi, on HAL cruise, if I wanted to book excursion and be charged in CAD, to avoid 2.5% conversion fee, how do I do that as it seems only possible in USD?

[Ex-Airbalancer]

6 minutes ago, trinigal said:

Hi, on HAL cruise, if I wanted to book excursion and be charged in CAD, to avoid 2.5% conversion fee, how do I do that as it seems only possible in USD?

Might be better to ask on the HAL forum 

[trinigal]

thanks. i'll do that.

[Fouremco]

1 hour ago, C 2 C said:

Rogers Connections Mastercard | Rogers Bank

With the Rogers Connections Mastercard, while they give you 2% cash back on US purchases, they also charge you a 2.5% foreign currency transaction fee, so you are effectively out of pocket an additional 0.5%. At least with the World Elite card, the 3% cash back more than offsets the transaction fee and leaves you 0.5% to the good.

 

Better yet for US purchases are cards such as the Home Trust Visa that charge no foreign exchange transaction fee at all and give you 1% cash back.

 

15 minutes ago, trinigal said:

Hi, on HAL cruise, if I wanted to book excursion and be charged in CAD, to avoid 2.5% conversion fee, how do I do that as it seems only possible in USD?

As noted above, there are Canadian credit cards that charge no conversion fee. Home Trust Visa is one of several, and there is no annual fee, making it ideal to have simply for US purchases. 

[trinigal]

Hi, thanks for response.  I want to avoid having another credit card although it might be worth it in the long run. Thanks again.

[gnome12]

1 hour ago, Fouremco said:

Better yet for US purchases are cards such as the Home Trust Visa that charge no foreign exchange transaction fee at all and give you 1% cash back.

Home Trust Visa no longer gives 1% back on any purchase made in a foreign currency. They haven’t for quite some time. 

[Fouremco]

20 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

Home Trust Visa no longer gives 1% back on any purchase made in a foreign currency. They haven’t for quite some time. 

Thanks for the reminder. Old age and the lack of a morning coffee clearly affecting my memory. 🥴

[LHT28]

3 hours ago, trinigal said:

Hi, on HAL cruise, if I wanted to book excursion and be charged in CAD, to avoid 2.5% conversion fee, how do I do that as it seems only possible in USD?

Do you have a "no foreign transaction credit"   CAD card?

We use Home Trust Visa   but there are others

Or  get a USD VISA  from  a Canadian Bank & just be billed in USD from the cruise line

[gnome12]

14 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Or  get a USD VISA  from  a Canadian Bank & just be billed in USD from the cruise line

If you don't have a source of US$ income, or a reason for exchanging large amounts of currency at a time, you will be paying fairly expensive retail rates to buy US$ to pay the bills. It certainly has never been worth it for me; in addition, my foreign spending is in other currencies besides US$.

[SkiPro62]

Even with a no transaction fee card, you typically pay a 3% premium over the midpoint of the bid/ask spread, which is the number you see if you google US$/C$.  You can typically move money from C$ chequing to US$ chequing at a 2% premium, and then pay your US$ credit card.  Or you can use a site like XE.com and pay around 0.5%.  I've used them, but they are not regulated like a bank so do your own research.  If you are booking a suite on a round the world cruise, you can get a quote from the trading desk at your bank that will likely be less than 1% and will be valid for 30 minutes.  Or if you really want zero cost foreign exchange, you can go down the internet rabbit hole of Norbert's Gambit which may be legal but I'm really not sure.

[gnome12]

1 hour ago, SkiPro62 said:

 

1 hour ago, SkiPro62 said:

Even with a no transaction fee card, you typically pay a 3% premium over the midpoint of the bid/ask spread, which is the number you see if you google US$/C$.

I have done transactions and immediate reversals to correct an error and the difference was minuscule. I have also compared my rate to the rate shown for xe.com and they were very similar. 

[C 2 C]

On 6/12/2023 at 12:28 PM, Fouremco said:

With the Rogers Connections Mastercard, while they give you 2% cash back on US purchases, they also charge you a 2.5% foreign currency transaction fee, so you are effectively out of pocket an additional 0.5%. At least with the World Elite card, the 3% cash back more than offsets the transaction fee and leaves you 0.5% to the good.

 

Better yet for US purchases are cards such as the Home Trust Visa that charge no foreign exchange transaction fee at all and give you 1% cash back.

 

As noted above, there are Canadian credit cards that charge no conversion fee. Home Trust Visa is one of several, and there is no annual fee, making it ideal to have simply for US purchases. 

I used to have home trust card but they stopped giving 1% cash back several years ago.

[Fouremco]

2 hours ago, C 2 C said:

I used to have home trust card but they stopped giving 1% cash back several years ago.

Fortunately, there are other cards with no annual fee, no foreign exchange fees but still paying 1% cash back.