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Canadians: Pay off cruise now or wait?

rinse82

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rinse82

rinse82

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This is actually more of an economic-related question than a cruise question, but I'm sure others are in the same boat as I am. I have a cruise booked for March 2009 and I don't have to make final payment till December.

 

As you all know the Canadian dollar has fallen hard recently against the US greenback, so my cruise has become over $200 more expensive since I booked a month and a half ago!

 

So my question is, do I pay it in full now, or hope the dollar recovers a bit between now and December?

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KAWS

KAWS

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I am waiting till the last second and hoping that the dollar recovers a little by then.

 

Also, I see you've listed some recent cruises, but if you've ever sailed Carnival before or you're over 55, go to the home page on Carnival and check for pricing on your cruise. Check the little green box where it says special rates.

 

We did that for our March 15th sailing on the Victory and wound up with a two category upgrade AND a substantial reduction in cruise fee. I was amazed that they would do this for March Break but it's there. My friend checked hers for February and wound up with a savings too. So it doesn't hurt to check, if you haven't recently.

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LHT28 Holiday Sharing Rare

LHT28

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My TA suggests paying it off as soon as you can if it is booked in US dollars. Fortunately my March cruise was booked in CAD and so don't have to worry that much.

 

Be sure to check if they are doing the CAD conversion at the cruise line rate which is usually a lot more than the bank or CC companies charge if you pay by USD.

 

Unless you are booked with a Canadian cruise line...not too many I know of though

 

Lyn

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ger_77

ger_77

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I'm really hoping the Canadian $ is going to spring back - we're taking our whole family to the Mediterranean next October and it's going to cost a fortune at this rate! The dollar is floating like a rock at this point; I'm just glad we don't have to make final payment until next July.

 

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

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Lynnees

Lynnees

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WAIT!!!!!It will come back. Oil is on the rise...

 

 

I believe your correct with that, for those who are not within a month or so of final payment, just hang tight.

 

Now me, I've got to pay for our Australia cruise next week. :( We have a group of 10 and this is going to hurt. :(

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M&A

M&A

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Yes, I wish we knew the answer when to buy when to sell.

I kick myself for not paying our cruise in full last spring when the C$ was at par witht the $US. I'm going to wait it out now until Jan - that's when the credit card payment comes off for our April cruise.

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Canuker

Canuker

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We're in what I would call a financial storm. Do you think the financial weather will improve by your December deadline - stay the same - or get worse?

 

Answer this and you answer your original question.

In the end, it's all a crapshoot.

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pete_coach

pete_coach

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This is actually more of an economic-related question than a cruise question, but I'm sure others are in the same boat as I am. I have a cruise booked for March 2009 and I don't have to make final payment till December.

 

As you all know the Canadian dollar has fallen hard recently against the US greenback, so my cruise has become over $200 more expensive since I booked a month and a half ago!

 

So my question is, do I pay it in full now, or hope the dollar recovers a bit between now and December?

I understand the falling Canadian dollar and all that but, I believe that if you had already made you deposit on a cruise, that you will be paying whatever you made the deposit on, regardlesss of whre the dollar goes. If you paid a $500 deposit a month ago on a cruise that was costing you $3000, then your final payment will be $2500, not some other amount because the dollar fell. This is if you used a Canadian travel agent and agency.

If you used an American online agency,well, then you are at the mercy of the monetary exchange pirates. This is what my travel agent explained to me.

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LHT28 Holiday Sharing Rare

LHT28

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If you paid a $500 deposit a month ago on a cruise that was costing you $3000, then your final payment will be $2500, not some other amount because the dollar fell. This is if you used a Canadian travel agent and agency.

You are still at the mercy of the Canadian exchange rates set by the cruise lines.

Sometimes higher than paying on your CC in USD.

You have to check with your TA as to the cruise lines exchange rate for CAD it is usually set for 3-6 months.

 

EG: one year when the banks daily rate was around .45 on the $$ we paid .65 through the cruise lines creative conversions rates

 

Lyn

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Lynnees

Lynnees

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I understand the falling Canadian dollar and all that but, I believe that if you had already made you deposit on a cruise, that you will be paying whatever you made the deposit on, regardlesss of whre the dollar goes. If you paid a $500 deposit a month ago on a cruise that was costing you $3000, then your final payment will be $2500, not some other amount because the dollar fell. This is if you used a Canadian travel agent and agency.

If you used an American online agency,well, then you are at the mercy of the monetary exchange pirates. This is what my travel agent explained to me.

 

 

Yes, that's true to a point. However the problem in the conversion rate. Right now it's sitting at over 22% and as such the cruise will be that much more. The only way it won't change is if the poster had US dollars bought prior to the fall and pays in cash.

 

And it doesn't matter if they used a Canadian agent or US agent. That only matters for insurance purposes.

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M&A

M&A

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It's a very tough call, and we are waiting it out. There was a 3 cent jump in the $C today, this was due to the US cutting interest rates.

If the US cuts rates and there's a rise in the price of oil our dollar will soar again - I'm waiting. We have to pay for our April cruise by January.

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Lynnees

Lynnees

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It's a very tough call, and we are waiting it out. There was a 3 cent jump in the $C today, this was due to the US cutting interest rates.

If the US cuts rates and there's a rise in the price of oil our dollar will soar again - I'm waiting. We have to pay for our April cruise by January.

 

It's now up nearly 5 cents. We have to pay by Tuesday so we don't have too much time.

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Miss Jolly

Miss Jolly

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We are in the same position in Australia. A few weeks ago our dollar was worth 98c. Last week it was worth 60c!. Today it is 66c. Our media "financial experts" are giving such varied predictions. Some say it will drop to 40c others say it will recover to 70-75c. We think we will pay at 66c because at 40c we cannot go. We are a family of 4 booked on a 32 Asia-Alaska cruise with balance due at the end of January. The stress is really getting to us as the difference is literally many thousands of dollars.

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CowPrincess

CowPrincess

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One thing we did to "hedge" the exchange rate was to purchase onboard credits for our cruise whenever the dollar was at a level we were comfortable with. So we purchased $100 OBCs every few weeks, averaging out to about $0.90 or so. Some weeks the exchange rate was better, some weeks not so good. But at least this way we aren't at the mercy of the exchange rate when it comes time to settle our onboard account. Every little bit helps -- how PO'd would I have been had we had to settle our onboard account at $0.75??

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Val S

Val S

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We live in St.Catharines ON, our business is 95% from the USA from our website-we have a very hot product that teenage girls are buying like Crazy. So we were very happy that 10 days ago, we got 1.28% for US $

now its down to 1.18 approx. We booked a HAL cruise today, Nov 16. I asked if I could pay in US funds, by sending a US money order overnite on Mon. they checked & said no Problem. Our southwest flight we were able to pay for with our Paypal account that is in US $. (if we convert to Can $ we loose a lot) A lot of Canadians do not know the the Credit card co

charges the higher cash sell rate as opposed to the lower non cash rate, plus they add 2-5% more, (read the fine print for international purchases) So you will save an easy 5% on the exchange if you purchase a US Money order at your bank or Credit Union & mail it in for your balance. Also if you get a special US $ account, like at TD -borderless $3. per month-you get a much better exchange rate.

Good luck

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