FCD for non dollar bookings

[hkymre]

We’ve got a cruise coming up next month & I was thinking about buying some FCDs

But I’m in the UK so any future bookings will be in GBP & the FCDs will be in USD

 

Do you know if you get a decent exchange rate or isn’t it worth doing?

[Nodakboiler]

You can get the FCDs in GBP I believe. If not it’s still a much reduced deposit for a future cruise.

[rodndonna]

29 minutes ago, hkymre said:

We’ve got a cruise coming up next month & I was thinking about buying some FCDs

But I’m in the UK so any future bookings will be in GBP & the FCDs will be in USD

 

Do you know if you get a decent exchange rate or isn’t it worth doing?

 

Not sure about GBP, but as a Canadian booking in CDN, it works in our favour as the same FCD number is just applied in Canadian dollars - so instead of say $100 USD FCD, we would buy $100 CND FCD and that would be our deposit against a Canadian dollar based fare (so with our crappy dollar about 30% reduction in deposit required).

 

I know there is also just a fixed number for GBP, I expect someone can chime in and say what it is.

[Crew News]

I am looking at the FCD Order Form and it provides a category in GBP with $100 US equivalent to 60 GBP.  Is that a good exchange rate for you?

[Petronillus]

1 hour ago, rodndonna said:

 . . . , we would buy $100 CND FCD and that would be our deposit against a Canadian dollar based fare (so with our crappy dollar about 30% reduction in deposit required).

i'm old enough to remember when the Canadian dollar was at a premium relative to the U.S. dollar, and that cause mountains of heartache for suppliers to the auto industry, notably including the second- and third-tier suppliers.

[rodndonna]

16 minutes ago, Petronillus said:

i'm old enough to remember when the Canadian dollar was at a premium relative to the U.S. dollar, and that cause mountains of heartache for suppliers to the auto industry, notably including the second- and third-tier suppliers.

 

I was around.then. but too young to know/care in the timeframe you are likely referring to ..but we also had a brief resurgence in 2007-2008?? that I recall very well ..it was super exciting and quite a novelty to be worth more than USD. Like a lot of Canadians .. we bought a lot of USD to stockpile for travel during that timeframe ... but it is all long spent now 😐

[Petronillus]

13 minutes ago, rodndonna said:

 

I was around.then. but too young to know/care in the timeframe you are likely referring to ..but we also had a brief resurgence in 2007-2008?? that I recall very well ..it was super exciting and quite a novelty to be worth more than USD. Like a lot of Canadians .. we bought a lot of USD to stockpile for travel during that timeframe ... but it is all long spent now 😐

2007-08 is probably the right time frame. I remember there was lots of talk about government bailouts, which likely came to naught. But at the consumer level it was clever to store up nuggets while it lasted. As for me, too often I've been the guy catching the falling knife. 

All in all, I can't see FCDs as the way to play the currency markets.

[rodndonna]

3 minutes ago, Petronillus said:

2007-08 is probably the right time frame. I remember there was lots of talk about government bailouts, which likely came to naught. But at the consumer level it was clever to store up nuggets while it lasted. As for me, too often I've been the guy catching the falling knife. 

All in all, I can't see FCDs as the way to play the currency markets.

 

For sure - the FCD level each currency pays is intended to just be vaguely equivalent  to that $100 USD FCD. In then end - it is just a "deposit" and they (HAL) are just trying to equalize what we pay as a deposit without having to update against varying exchange rates. If our dollar is low, my deposit might be less, but it  still inevitably costs me more for the full cruise payment 🙃

[Stpatsirish]

[msjb22]

That's a really bad exchange rate for the euro!!! 100$ is currently at nearly 90€...

[hkymre]

Thanks for all the responses 

 

 $100 is currently nearer to £75 than the £60 quoted above so I think we'll be giving it a miss

 

[luv2cruisenz]

As it’s just a deposit I don’t see why the exchange rate comes into it.
You by the FCD in the same currency that you buy the cruise in. So if you buy your cruise in £ then you’d buy a FCD in £ and use it to take advantage of the reduced deposit and some OBC when you book. 
 

You can’t use a FCD that was bought in USD for example and apply it to a booking sold in a different currency. That’s what a future cruise consultant told me.

[rodndonna]

10 minutes ago, luv2cruisenz said:

As it’s just a deposit I don’t see why the exchange rate comes into it.
You by the FCD in the same currency that you buy the cruise in. So if you buy your cruise in £ then you’d buy a FCD in £ and use it to take advantage of the reduced deposit and some OBC when you book. 
 

You can’t use a FCD that was bought in USD for example and apply it to a booking sold in a different currency. That’s what a future cruise consultant told me.

 

That is correct, As a Canadian, we mistakenly were sold/bought USD$ FCD's on our first HAL cruise and were unable to use them towards a Canadian fare booking. It can only be used against a fare in USD.

 

Also, your first comment is correct. If the exchange is not favourable for your FCD, it just means your reduced deposit is a little more than a US deposit. It is still reduced from what you would pay normally for a deposit in your currency. It has no impact on how much you pay for your cruise.

Edited August 28 by rodndonna

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

1 hour ago, luv2cruisenz said:

As it’s just a deposit I don’t see why the exchange rate comes into it.
You by the FCD in the same currency that you buy the cruise in. So if you buy your cruise in £ then you’d buy a FCD in £ and use it to take advantage of the reduced deposit and some OBC when you book. 
 

You can’t use a FCD that was bought in USD for example and apply it to a booking sold in a different currency. That’s what a future cruise consultant told me.

That makes sense.

[VMax1700]

5 hours ago, hkymre said:

Thanks for all the responses 

 

 $100 is currently nearer to £75 than the £60 quoted above so I think we'll be giving it a miss

 

The exchange rate does not come into the equation.

Our cruises are priced in Euro and the FCD that we purchase are paid in euro.  Only other currency relates to the OBC, which is US dollars as that is the on board currency.

When you purchase FCD's onboard, they will be charged to your credit card in £ stg so £60 each. When you look at cruises they are priced in £ stg. Book a cruise between 2 and 21 days and the FCD becomes the total deposit and nothing more to pay until final payment date.

The other big PLUS is that we can cancel the booked cruise (during the cancellation period) and there are no charges and the FCD is credited back to our account.  This happens in EU so check if it works for STG currency too.

'You know it makes sense' 😉

[hkymre]

Thank you!

I was looking at it the totally wrong way

 

In fact, £60 is a bargain if the usd equivalent is closer to £75

[Ken the cruiser]

If I might ask a FCD related question. If we each purchase a $100 FCD, can we use them on a cruise that is over 22 days? If so, what is the additional cost to us if the advertised deposit is say $1,500?

[Alberta Quilter]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

If I might ask a FCD related question. If we each purchase a $100 FCD, can we use them on a cruise that is over 22 days? If so, what is the additional cost to us if the advertised deposit is say $1,500?

Yes, you can use them.  You'll just have to "top up" the FCD with an additional payment.  I just booked a 28 day cruise using FCDs and had to pay an additional $200 per person.  Total deposit was $300/person.  According to the screenshot posted above, the $300 deposit is good for cruises up to 50 days.

Edited August 28 by Alberta Quilter

[Ken the cruiser]

2 minutes ago, Alberta Quilter said:

Yes, you can use them.  You'll just have to "top up" the FCD with an additional payment.  I just booked a 28 day cruise using FCDs and had to pay an additional $200 per person.  Total deposit was $300/person.

Perfect! Thank you so much! 😁