First and Last Cruise - Never Again

[hawt1]

Dearheart,

 

Since we leave on a cruise in 10 days and are also Canucks, I am just curious what rate RCCL is using for conversion right now. I note that to book in CDN dollars now is much better than USD bookings so their online conversion rate is old and advantageous to us Canucks.

 

Thanks.

[Langley Cruisers]

Cruising is just not for us. The islands were beautiful, and we're likely to return, but not via a ship.

 

And you know what? You've realized that now. You're right, cruising is not for everyone. For instance, my hubby and I would be thrilled to death just to be at sea and have what most people would consider a miserable cruise. We're just happy to be away, to be travelling, to experience on-board life. We love cruising - but not everyone else does. I'm sorry you had a disappointing experience, but please know that Royal Caribbean has always treated us well and we have not one disparaging word to say about the cruise line.

 

Congratulations on your marriage and may you have many happy years together. :)

[nosmothj]

We just got back from a cruise Dec 1 2006 on the Empress. Several excursion were canalled as they did not have enough people signed up. It was an elven day cruise and to wait until the nite before or the day of is not acceptable. If they do not have enough people advise ahead of time that numbers may not be there and maybe look for another.

 

 

I'm sorry to hear that your Honeymoon was not all that it should have been. The flight situation seems a bit out of line but the other two situations seem covered clearly in RCCL's documents. I have seen in many places in writing that RCI converts the charges to the guest's native currency. A good rule of thumb (not just in cruises but in general) is trust what you read; thats what is binding. As for the shore excursions, the only time I've ever seen them cancelled is because of weather which doesn't seem to be RCI's fault. That nothing else was available is unfortunate but not unusual. Shore excursions fill up fast.

 

I'm not sure that you want RCI to do about the shore excursions or following their written policy about charges. The flight situation I don't have experience with because I never book flights through the cruise line as I can always get better prices and times on my own.

 

It is a shame that your honeymoon was not as special as it should have been. I wouldn't turn off to cruises overall though just because you had problems this time. Try a different line. Book your own flight and your own shore excursions.

[terri23]

I agree w/ mrdood. Why is everyone trying to convince them to cruise again when they couldn't find any enjoyment in their honeymoon cruise??? Some people are just better suited for other kinds of vacations. "Not that there's anything wrong with that" ;)

[pxy cda]

we did request that Guest Relations change our billing back to US dollars...FIVE times while on board, including the last night of the cruise. When we got our final bill in the morning, it said "US dollars," so we figured they had finally figured it out. Not quite, apparently. Like I said, we got home and it had already been converted by RCI on our Visa bill.

Hi Dearheart.

 

I suggest you supply a copy of your US dollar bill to VISA and instruct VISA to adjust the charge using their exchange rate based on this information.

 

Additionally, I would write a letter to RCI (with a cc to VISA) with a copy of said bill together with a summary of your instructions to VISA.

 

If you indeed can show the exact amount of how much interest would have been yielded had the excursion payments been in said account from date of prepayment, I suggest you provide the information to RCI and seek for reimbursement for same in your letter.

 

I am sorry the cruise was a disappointment. Clearly you have decided cruising is not for you - this is unfortunate as there are many other cruising options that might change your mind.

 

In any event, congrats on the nuptuals and I hope your issues are resolved expeditiously.

[ciderapple]

We used a Uk credit card for our seapass account. We carefully read the form and specified that we did not want RCI to convert the US dollars into sterling the currency of our credit card.

 

Well, they did. I think they do ignore whatever you put and it is ridiculous to give someone the choice and then ignore it!

 

I am not particularly bothered as the UK/US exchange rate is fabulous at the moment anyhow, and did not bother to complain. We would not have had time anyhow as the seapass bill turned up on the last morning and we had to meet for our excursion at 6.30am. Our seapass bill was 1280 US dollars which RCI converted into 682 pounds sterling. I believe my credit card company would have converted it into 666 pounds sterling.

 

We were on to a winner with the exchange rate anyhow, I was not going to make a fuss over 16 us dollars.

 

But, this could and obviously has made a huge difference to someone's finances. i don't think RCI should convert anyones foreign credit card charge into the currency of the card unless someone specifically asks. I use our UK credit card alot in the US and this has never happened before.

 

I truly feel for the OP.

[balconyonly]

Every single one of our cruises RCI has converted the amount to Cdn$ when I have ticked the do not convert box. It adds up big time. I have never seen the money they have made on the exchange be less than $50 - $60

 

Take that and multiply it thousands of times a week and your left with a major scam thats making them millions over the year. Thats why they ignore all requests to leave the currency in US dollars. They have to be doing it deliberately, counting on the fact that the late bill arrival will mean only a few out of every hundred they try to rip off will even bother with the line ups to correct the fiasco. The fix is simple. There simply is no incentive to fix what they don't perceive as a problem.

[nrdsb4]

Cruising is just not for us. The islands were beautiful, and we're likely to return, but not via a ship.

 

Sorry your honeymoon did not go as smoothly as you had hoped. I like to cruise, but it would not be my recommendation for a honeymoon.

 

My husband is not crazy about cruising, but he does agree to go every few years and manages to have a good if not great time.

 

If you loved the Caribbean, you might consider doing the private villa experience. My husband and I both love this option. There are many villa companies that will book you into beautiful private homes. Most have private pools and hot tubs and just incredible views. The great thing is that you can find lovely villas to rent at just about every price point.

 

Good luck in your marriage. I hope your next vacation as a married couple goes better.:)

[Inshape]

Sorry that your special time was ruined. BUt first mistake was to book with RCI --heard horror stories --if you book your own you fly at an earlier time and no problems. It seems like they always book flights late in the day and people are near missing the ship or luggage never makes it .,....

 

You should be able to get the money issues straightned out.

 

Did you hate being on the ocean?

The ship itself?

The shows?

The entertainment all day?

The dining experience?

 

So many factors make up a cruise.

[Kelynj]

The British debit card that i have use the business exchange rates when converting dollars to £'s so twice during our recent cruise i checked to make sure that we would be billed in dollars. when we recieved the final bill it had been converted to British pounds.

On the debarkation morning I went to reception and had them change it back BUT the lad dealing with us didn't have a clue. He asked for help and got shouted at by his colleague.

The amount in question is not the end result for me it is the principle that I expect RCCL to get it right. I sent them a letter together with my bank statement showing what exchange rates we were having within the same period and they sent me a cheque for £25 to cover their mistake - I was happy with the way that they rectified it.

well worth a letter

[jdeatsch]

Don't put up with this from RCI.

 

Change to another cruise line.

 

That's absurd. They obviously don't want your business.

 

Jim

[TOCruisers]

Our final bill in Dec. also showed the convertion in CAD. Since I gave the US$ credit card No. to settle, I ran to the CS desk before the breakfast to confirm that they did follow my instruction - non conversion. He did confirm that the charge went through in USD although the statement said that the charges were converted to CAD. (if they charged the converted CAD to my USD Visa, then I would be charged two conversions). :(

 

I was not lucky about the deposit of on line bookings though. The C&A lady tried to put through the deposit in CAD (converted from USD) to the Seapass account (she said the system will not accept USD deposit from CAD residents) so I had to run back to the room to get my CAD credit card so I only got hit with one lousy conversion and not two.

 

I normally take no charge USD TCs as I have a USD account. I cash my USD TC as needed at the CS desk.

 

On our last cruise in Carribeans, we took USD out from the Scotia and TD bank machines (I think in St. Marrtan) from our CAD bank accounts. I was told that we could not do this (using CAD ATM card) from the ship's ATM machines, which I confirmed.

[CaesarsNcruisin4me]

Thats odd. I have booked online and had no troubles paying my deposit in US without having them convert it to Canadian. There is a drop box that you use to choose to have the price quote in US or CAD dollars but once you choose the currency to be quoted in then you cannot switch later. Also when booking online then all shore excursions must be paid for in the same currency as the currency that the cruise was purchased with.

 

It seems that RCI defaults the billing to the currency of the card that is used to secure the set and sail card:confused:.........so why give a choice on choice of currency? My biggest beef is that why should I have to pay more for the same services than my US friends. As far as I'm concerned they should always bill in US funds and let me worry about the rate that Visa uses for the conversion. I find that RCI uses a 5% increase on top of what I would pay if Visa had converted it. If you read the fine print it does say that RCI will charge an additional fee for the conversion which is why I choose to be billed in US. Now if ONLY they would follow their own policies!

 

Again..........why give the option if they ignore what you choose. Seem to be a price grab for additional cash from non-US citizens. I already pay premium dollars to fly from Canada and have never seen residency specials offered to Canadians........not even from cruises leaving from Vancouver. I accept this but don't need them to steal additional money from me on my final bill for no other reason but that they can. This won't turn me off cruising but I've gotta say that its definately a pet peeve!:rolleyes::D

 

Sandie

 

Sandie

[CVU]

We had the same conversion problem and made many visits to the desk, finally on the last day they fixed it.

We even said on the form in big letters, not to covert it to CA funds.

 

The same thing happened with our in laws on the same cruise.

Just have to settle it before you disembark I suppose.

 

Thanks to Cruise Critic we had a heads up before our cruise about this matter.

[broberts]

. . . I already pay premium dollars to fly from Canada and have never seen residency specials offered to Canadians........not even from cruises leaving from Vancouver. . . .

 

Don't know if they've been offered in the past but there were residency specials recently offered for Ontario, don't know about the rest of CAN.

[Tra4]

All 4 excursions were cancelled due to lack of guests????? Which ones were they? That seems odd, especially since there are so many passengers. We had a catamarran trip with only 17 out of 75 possible, and it did not cancel. I am curious to find out which ports and which excursions they were!

[Erie Dave]

Was your stateroom bill already converted to CAD, or did it show up on your credit card as CAD? I know when we travel to Canada, all purchases show up on our credit card in US dollars. Your credit card is in the currence of where you live and they convert foreign purchases. The credit card does the exchange at their rate and a lot of them have a foreign currency exchange fee as well.

How much can the difference be?

[Erie Dave]

Was your stateroom bill already converted to CAD, or did it show up on your credit card as CAD? I know when we travel to Canada, all purchases show up on our credit card in US dollars. Your credit card is in the currence of where you live and they convert foreign purchases. The credit card does the exchange at their rate and a lot of them have a foreign currency exchange fee as well.

How much can the difference be?

[CaesarsNcruisin4me]

Was your stateroom bill already converted to CAD, or did it show up on your credit card as CAD? I know when we travel to Canada, all purchases show up on our credit card in US dollars. Your credit card is in the currence of where you live and they convert foreign purchases. The credit card does the exchange at their rate and a lot of them have a foreign currency exchange fee as well.

How much can the difference be?

 

Its the stateroom bill that they convert to Canadian and one of my cruises they converted the bill at an exchange rate of $1.22 when my visa would have converted the US amount at an exchange rate of $1.1625. As my seapass account balance was $1657.82 this made a difference of $95.33.:mad: I let it go because the lineup at the pursers desk was wayyyyy too long and I didn't want to end my vacation by standing in line to complain but that doesn't mean it didn't bother me. I don't appreciate having to pay almost $100 extra just because RCI wants to take it from me for no good reason.:rolleyes:

 

As far as I'm concerned it would be much simpler to bill everyone in US funds and let the passengers own credit card company convert it. Afterall RCI does give you this option but just don't follow through with your choice of billing currency.

 

Sandie

[cdncruiser907]

My family and I resently returned from a christmas cruise on the NOS. I had read many posts of the conversion problem. When I filled out the form, I noticed it only applies to Visa and Mastercard. I was paying with American Express and all charges were in US funds, and I got Air Miles too! lol. Not sure why, but it almost seems as it has something to do with those credit card companies and RCI. Therefore, if you are Canadian, and have a credit card other than Visa or Mastercard, use that and you won't have a problem at all. We had one excursion cancelled due to weather and not being able to tender in Georgtown, a little disappointing, but it was no big deal. All in all we had a fantastic time. Sorry to hear you had so much trouble...hope your next vacation is better!:)

[broberts]

Was your stateroom bill already converted to CAD, or did it show up on your credit card as CAD? I know when we travel to Canada, all purchases show up on our credit card in US dollars. Your credit card is in the currence of where you live and they convert foreign purchases. The credit card does the exchange at their rate and a lot of them have a foreign currency exchange fee as well.

How much can the difference be?

 

When I make US$ purchases my cc statement shows the charge in CA$, but it also shows the original US$ amount and the exchange rate used. For US$ purchases my cc does not add a currency conversion fee. They make their money on the exchange rate, which is typically 1-2% higher than currency market rates. This is typical.

 

If you examine many of the posts in this thread you will see that on the SetSail Pass contract RCI "offers" Canadian and other residents the option of having their cc billed in US$ or their local currency. Unfortunately it appears that without a lot of badgering RCI refuses to honor the contract.

 

Past experience of many of us has shown that cruise lines and other companies tend to use an exchange rate that is exceedingly generous to them while Canadian cc tend to use a fairly competitive exchange rate. Further, according to the SetSail Pass document, RCI adds a 'currency conversion charge' - something that most Canadian cc do not add for US$ purchases.

 

As to how much the difference can be, it depends on a number of factors, but I would expect it to be in the range of 3-10% of the billed amount. On 2,000, that's anywhere from 60 - 200 dollars.