Exchange Rate Adjusted for Canadian Bookings

[ChattyC]

Just got off the phone with Princess as I noticed a price drop on my booking. Was advised that today Princess adjusted the rate of exchange for Canadians from $1.25 to $1.15.

[Cruise Junky]

Just got off the phone with Princess as I noticed a price drop on my booking. Was advised that today Princess adjusted the rate of exchange for Canadians from $1.25 to $1.15.

 

Good on them!!! But damn, that means I have to stop deducting 25% from the Canadian Prices I'm seeing for 2011 :)

[TorontoTL]

Thanks for the information. At least they are reacting a bit more quickly than they used to.

[sloney]

Just got off the phone with Princess as I noticed a price drop on my booking. Was advised that today Princess adjusted the rate of exchange for Canadians from $1.25 to $1.15.

 

Thanks for the info.

 

My cruise rpice is still the same, but I take it that 1.15 would apply to the OBC as well. Is that correct?

[taxmantoo]

Thanks for the info.

 

My cruise rpice is still the same, but I take it that 1.15 would apply to the OBC as well. Is that correct?

 

Taking 1st Princess cruise in October. Do they actually charge your onboard expenses to your credit card in CAD?

Other lines charge in USD and the credit card company does the exchange at a much better rate than 1.15. Today's rate is 1.11

[caribill]

Taking 1st Princess cruise in October. Do they actually charge your onboard expenses to your credit card in CAD?

Other lines charge in USD and the credit card company does the exchange at a much better rate than 1.15. Today's rate is 1.11

 

 

You have a choice of having Princess do the conversion (poor exchange rate + 3% service charge) or your credit card company doing the conversion charge.

 

Need to check the box on the correct form to indicate that you want the credit card company to get the bill in US $. Highlight that on the form and make a copy of it. Verify with the Purser's desk that the computer system says it will be in US $ on the credit card.

[katiepe]

You have a choice of having Princess do the conversion (poor exchange rate + 3% service charge) or your credit card company doing the conversion charge.

 

Need to check the box on the correct form to indicate that you want the credit card company to get the bill in US $. Highlight that on the form and make a copy of it. Verify with the Purser's desk that the computer system says it will be in US $ on the credit card.

 

This didnt happen for us(see another thread about this very thing) on our last cruise with Princess. Has this happened for you? The US right to CAD from your credit card company? I even called Princess after we got our bill and the woman in Princess accounts told me for it to be US on our credit card our credt card itself had to be a US Dollar credit card. So now I am really confused! I had checked off US on our boarding pass and Princess did show that I had. My call to them was because I thought that was the whole reason for the very high exchange. That they had made an error.

[ceilidh1]

We have a Canadian credit card and always get billed in US dollars. Our bank handles the conversion and it's never been a problem. I believe the form says that it will be charged in US but there is a check box if you want it in the currency of your credit card (I could be wrong on that, though!)

[MGAfhc]

With regard to onboard charges, you do have to insist. On our February cruise I ticked the box to be charged in US dollars and struck out all other options. I was told on check in, when giving my charge card number, that they couldn't do anything about it and that I should see the customer service desk onboard. The answers I got at the desk onboard were absurd, "I would have to make a special arrangement with my bank" and "I would have to instruct the person making each charge that it not be CAD" amongst others. When I asked to see someone who actually knew what they were talking about, I was told that they were not available and that they would call my cabin. That never happened, but the final charges were in US dollars. The person at the desk had no interest in finding out how it actually worked, but with one exception, that has always been my experience at the onboard customer service desk.

[sp2]

ChattyC, when is your cruise? I just looked on the Cruise Personalizer for our upcoming cruise on the Ruby Princess Dec 4/09, and there is no price reduction. I know it was at 1.25 when I booked.:(

 

Did you book through a TA or online? I booked it online directly with Princess.

[jasl]

When you go to the purser's desk you will get many different answers, depending who you talk to. We go to the customer service desk the night before disembarkation around 10PM and pay our bill, making sure it is in US funds. As someone pointed out already, when you tick off the "pay in US", it is often hit and miss and you may end up with a charge in Canadian thereby paying the 3% service charge, PLUS the conversion.

[ChattyC]

ChattyC, when is your cruise? I just looked on the Cruise Personalizer for our upcoming cruise on the Ruby Princess Dec 4/09, and there is no price reduction. I know it was at 1.25 when I booked.:(

 

Did you book through a TA or online? I booked it online directly with Princess.

 

I'm booked on the Star Princess in January '10. I booked with Princess directly. I've been watching for price drops and noticed a change and called Princess right away. I was told that they had just updated their database yesterday (June 11th) to reflect the new currency rate and that was the explanation for the lower price. They had trouble applying the new price to my booking and so they had to cancel my booking and then re-booked the cruise at the lower price. I was able to get the same cabin back. I would assume that this should apply to all Canadian $ bookings. If you have any difficulty, ask to speak to a Supervisor and maybe they can help you out. Good luck!

[sp2]

I'm booked on the Star Princess in January '10. I booked with Princess directly. I've been watching for price drops and noticed a change and called Princess right away. I was told that they had just updated their database yesterday (June 11th) to reflect the new currency rate and that was the explanation for the lower price. They had trouble applying the new price to my booking and so they had to cancel my booking and then re-booked the cruise at the lower price. I was able to get the same cabin back. I would assume that this should apply to all Canadian $ bookings. If you have any difficulty, ask to speak to a Supervisor and maybe they can help you out. Good luck!

I will give them a call today and see if they can reduce it. Thanks for the info!

[City_Woman]

Just got off the phone with Princess as I noticed a price drop on my booking. Was advised that today Princess adjusted the rate of exchange for Canadians from $1.25 to $1.15.

 

Based on what I paid yesterday for my Fall 2010 cruise I am still paying $1.25 on the dollar.

 

I will watch carefully for a price drop.

 

Judy

[koolforkatz]

Just got off the phone with Princess as I noticed a price drop on my booking. Was advised that today Princess adjusted the rate of exchange for Canadians from $1.25 to $1.15.

 

Thanks for posting this, ChattyC :p the price for my cruise in Canadian $ has dropped also. I will get this adjusted ASAP!

[ehogan]

I recently had my TA price a Princess cruise and he stated that he had to book in Canadian dollars - I figured out the rate they were using was 1.28 when the dollar was around 1.15!

 

On a fairly receint cruise on Princess, I put my U.S. dollar Visa (issued through TD Canada Trust) down as my onboard credit card and indicated that it was a U.S. dollar card.

 

Upon returning and receiving my Visa statement, Princess had converted my ship account into Canadian dollars and charged it to my U.S. visa. I was, therefore, hit with an exchange fee twice (plus Princess used their higher exchange rate for the Canadian conversion). After a long process with Princess, the extra costs were refunded to me.

 

I now book any Princess cruises through a U.S. agent and put a U.S. cash deposit down for my Princess on board account.

 

In my experience, no other cruise line treats its Canadian guests this way.

[Ironhorseafire]

I just phoned Princess to ask about the exchange rate based price reduction discussed in this thread. I was told that, as I had booked a BG guarantee and already received an upgrad to BA, there would be no price reduction. I also asked if there had been a general price reduction for this reservation type. Again, the reply was no reduction and same exchange rate ($1.25 CAD/USD).