Warning about Canadian dollar conversion - Did not ask for it, but it was done

[gemz]

We are fresh off the Liberty of the Seas 03/28 sailing and had a fabulous time. I just wanted to warn other Canadians about something that I noticed on my onboard account invoice this morning.

 

I would never have really paid attention to the US-Canadian dollar conversion but I read on CruiseCritic another member's warning.

 

When I input my US Dollar credit card into the Set Sail Pass information online, I elected NOT to have RCI convert to Canadian dollars because I have a US Dollar credit card (I purchase US Dollars at a better rate than what they convert to and pay it off that way).

 

I woke up this morning to go have breakfast at the Windjammer to read my invoice saying Royal Caribbean was going to convert my total to Canadian dollars. I was rather miffed at this since I had specifically not selected that option when I filled out the information before sailing and this could potentially result in converting twice (if they charged that converted amount on my US Dollar card I would be paying the conversion twice).

 

Beware that if you choose not to have you charges converted they may quite possibly convert it. I had to stand in the line up at Guest Relations this morning to settle an issue that should not have become an issue.

[madforcruising]

It is unfortunate that they can´t get their act together on this.

 

I´ve been lucky enough that they did it the right way for me in the past few years, but I´ve had them doing it wrong some years ago as well.

 

I´m not sure who is responsible for entering this information in their system, if it´s done by the check-in people I can see how this is easily been done wrong. Maybe they need to ask this question during the online-check-in and have it in the system already instead just having it on the print out Set Sail Pass to check manually when signing it.

 

To save myself from the hassle the last morning I get a printout from the Pursers desk the last full day of the cruise to see if they got it right or not.

[waky]

Thanks for the info Gemz - just wondering how you managed to get a U.S. credit card as a Canadian. I was very disappointed that I could not get the Royal Caribbean mastercard as it is not given to Canadians. thanks for any info.

[buckanear]

 

I´m not sure who is responsible for entering this information in their system, if it´s done by the check-in people I can see how this is easily been done wrong. Maybe they need to ask this question during the online-check-in and have it in the system already instead just having it on the print out Set Sail Pass to check manually when signing it.

 

Thank you! I have been saying this for two years now. The check box for denying the conversion is tiny in our system and most US ports don't process a lot of non-US people, so if the agent is in a groove, it's sooooo easy to miss. If they made it so, like the rest of the information, it was automatically entered in with the setsail info, it would save a lot of frustration.

[madforcruising]

Thank you! I have been saying this for two years now. The check box for denying the conversion is tiny in our system and most US ports don't process a lot of non-US people, so if the agent is in a groove, it's sooooo easy to miss. If they made it so, like the rest of the information, it was automatically entered in with the setsail info, it would save a lot of frustration.

 

So it´s in fact the check-in agent to enter this information. I was just wildly guessing here. Thanks for confirming this. :)

[gemz]

Waky: I have a BMO US Dollar Mosaik Mastercard

 

http://www3.bmo.com/mosaik/perform_othercards?&PUID=360

 

TD also offers a Visa but they implemented a surcharge for the card so we canceled it and got the BMO.

[lovemylab]

Thanks for the info Gemz - just wondering how you managed to get a U.S. credit card as a Canadian. I was very disappointed that I could not get the Royal Caribbean mastercard as it is not given to Canadians. thanks for any info.

 

All of the major Canadian banks have credit cards that are in US dollars. Mine is through Bank of Montreal (no fees) but the other banks have them as well. I just picked up an application at one of their branches and applied for it the same way I would any other credit card.

 

 

To the OP - the same thing happened to me on my Serenade cruise. Only problem was my invoice made no mention of them making the conversion so it wasn't realized until I checked my credit card statement online once I was home. The cruiseline said it was Mastercards error - Mastercard stated it was the cruiselines error. It was corrected when my husband called RCCL and emailed the agent a PDF copy of the mastercard statement that clearly showed the cruiseline had billed us in Cdn dollars. He did all this with her on the phone and two days later our credit card statement showed a credit.

 

We could have had Mastercard correct it as well but it would have taken several weeks.

[gemz]

I am glad that we are getting the warning out there because I would not like to have to deal with this when I got back.

 

I would think it's RCI's error since they are the ones posting the amount to the card?

[signman]

It is NOT done by the check-in agent!!!! The check-in agent is only responsible for insuring that a non US cardholder has selected either option A or option B and affixed their signature.

[anijac1412]

Thanks for the heads up! I might be cruising on the Serenade later this year... Is it possible to pay off your onboard account by cash?

[madforcruising]

Thanks for the heads up! I might be cruising on the Serenade later this year... Is it possible to pay off your onboard account by cash?

 

Yes you can do that.

[signman]

Thanks for the heads up! I might be cruising on the Serenade later this year... Is it possible to pay off your onboard account by cash?

 

Yes, you can just select the CASH option, or go to Guest Relations and pay your account in cash, thus leaving a zero balance to be charged to any card you may have registered.

[lovemylab]

I am glad that we are getting the warning out there because I would not like to have to deal with this when I got back.

 

I would think it's RCI's error since they are the ones posting the amount to the card?

 

It was definitely the cruiselines error. However if the cruiseline gives you a hard time you can have the credit card company correct it. You just fill out the forms to report an unauthorized charge and the credit card company looks into it. Only problem with that route is that it can take several weeks.

 

Unfortunately you may not have a choice but to deal with it once you get home.

 

As I stated, my invoice made no mention of anything being converted. When the RCCL rep we were speaking with looked at our invoice she was 100% certain that we were billed in US dollars. It was only after she saw our credit card statement that she could see the error.

 

Other CC members have reported highlighting that area of the seapass, having the check-in agent inital the seapass (and also asked for this to be photocopied) and the conversion still took place.

 

Due to this, I am stongly considering setting up a cash account for our next cruise.

[jaynne2001]

Thanks for the heads up! I might be cruising on the Serenade later this year... Is it possible to pay off your onboard account by cash?

 

Yes, and I plan to do this on my Med. cruise in a couple of weeks. You can set up a cash account, but you can also pay it off with a credit card at the end of the week, you just go down to Guest Relations and close out your SeaPass account.

After having them (and other cruise lines) convert my account to US$, when I specified that I did not want it converted, I've vowed to never set up my SeaPass on a credit card again. I will set it up with cash, and pay it off with my credit card.

[Tinkerbellcgy]

This topic has been discussed many times on this board. It's unfortunate, but one has to practice due diligence and buyer beware when dealing with cruise lines if you are not a US citizen. Hmmm, I guess that's why we are referred to as "aliens", eh! LOL

 

 

Is it possible to pay off your onboard account by cash?

 

As others have said, it is possible. What I do is secure my Set Sail Pass with my credit card on departure and on the final evening of the cruise, I settle my account with cash at the Purser's Desk and ensure that I am given a "zero balance" receipt. I'm not a big spender, so I don't usually have a very high balance on my shipboard account It works well for me and there are no surprises when I get home.

[madforcruising]

This is not to excuse the cruise line, they should get it right the first time.

 

However when it happened to me that they already converted the amount instead of charging me in USD like requested I made the math and figured the difference in bottom line was so minor that it wasn´t worth to even get it sorted out with them.

[Hart10]

Hi All.

 

I have never had this problem with my credit card until our last cruise on Monarch of the seas. On the Sail and Sign is always asked do you want your Cardit card provider to convert or the Royal. I always ask that it be the credit card company. On the last crusie I asked a guest relations as I had lso noticed on the bill that it said the cruise line would do the exhange. I was told that as long as I ticked the correct box I would be fine as the bill always showes this. Well they were wornge and they did the conversion.

if they give you this option why don't they floow through?

Disapointed

[dirtgirl]

My own nightmare back in '07.:rolleyes:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=664731&highlight=canadian+credit+card

[Ephraim]

Thanks for the info Gemz - just wondering how you managed to get a U.S. credit card as a Canadian. I was very disappointed that I could not get the Royal Caribbean mastercard as it is not given to Canadians. thanks for any info.

 

BMO has a USD credit card. It used to be issued by Harris, but they converted a few years back. In fact they issued me three different cards in about 18 months as they did the conversion.

 

We ran into a problem with the USD card and trying to use their travel insurance. They have a great annual travel insurance plan, but it gets a little wonky when it comes to travel charges and coverage. So you likely have to charge all travel charges to the account with the travel insurance to get coverage... and if some of the charges are in one currency versus the other, you get hit with the exchange premium.... or pay the exchange premium when buying the insurance, since it's priced in CAD.

 

Also, when I last used my card you had to ask them to manually pay the card from a USD account because their online system wasn't able to handle it. (But maybe they fixed that, already.)

[buckanear]

So it´s in fact the check-in agent to enter this information. I was just wildly guessing here. Thanks for confirming this. :)

 

Yes, contrary to what Howard said, the check in agent is the one who selects the option when they are scanning the credit card in. I know this, because I did it five times today with non-US cards.

[signman]

Yes, contrary to what Howard said, the check in agent is the one who selects the option when they are scanning the credit card in. I know this, because I did it five times today with non-US cards.

 

 

Did you just start keying in the selection starting with Voyager's return to Galveston in December, becuase I'm speaking from even more years of doing it than you. Or, maybe different class ships have different procedures.

,

[buckanear]

It's been that way for at least three years at our terminal (both the rhapsody and voyager). It's a small checkbox on the lower left hand side of the CC screen Although it wouldn't surprise me if it weren't different on other ships.

[signman]

We'll just have to agree to disagree then, becuase there's no little box to check on my screen.

[buckanear]

Yup, guess so. It's not unusual to have inconsistencies fleet wide

 

There are screen shots in the training manual that show where it should be if you're interested.

[Quickcanuck]

Surprised that nobody has mentioned the obvious: the reason the cruise lines get this wrong is because it is to their advantage to get it wrong - they get to pocket an extra 3% on your onboard charges. Do you think if they were loosing 3% because they failed to follow your specific directions that they would fix their process in a hurry?

 

I have been watching this for years and it happens far too often to be random. They count on the fact that you don't want to go and line up at guest Relations on the last day of your cruise.