Like to hear from the Canadain "Deal" makers !

[papaoma]

Hello fellow Canucks. Would like to get a little something going here in terms of your experiences in finding the best deals for cruises or cruises/flights out of Canadian locations. Ideally out of Winnipeg, (for the flight portion of course) but not limited to. In most cases, the cruise would commence in Fort Lauderdale or Miami or somewhere on the U.S. west coast. Do you have a favorite TA to recommend or a favorite web site? Naturally always looking for a great deal but at the same time looking for a user friendly site or a knowledgeable and pleasant TA. :confused:

[jtl513]

Do you have a favorite TA to recommend or a favorite web site? Naturally always looking for a great deal but at the same time looking for a user friendly site or a knowledgeable and pleasant TA. :confused:Sorry, but the board rules prohibit discussing TAs. If anyone does mention one it will probably get bleeped with ******s!

[fann1sh]

I think I can give a tip or 2 which don't violate CC rules.

You need to price any deal in both C$ and US$. Sometimes, cruise lines have unfavorable exchange rates for Canadians; other times, it's the complete opposite. In May, I priced my Ryndam Alaska cruise with my usual online discount TA and got an outstanding price. However, I also checked the HAL website. The C$ price was much lower - better deal than the "official" exchange rate on HAL's US$ pricing, perhaps an incentive for Canadian bookings.

Most online TA's will only quote in US$, so to get that C$ quote, you need a local TA or to make contact with HAL direct. However, it's much more pleasant to deal with the same person all the time at HAL, a personal cruise consultant. There was a recent thread recommending PCC's:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=950133

For my upcoming cruise, final payment date was almost immediately. Little chance exchange fluctuations would affect whether US$ or C$ continued to be the better deal. If you're booking way in advance, you need a crystal ball, or financial advisor, to help you predict where the loonie is going vis a vis the greenback. On a prior cruise, I bet on the US$ outstripping the Canadian one. Booked in US$, and saved over $1000.

Exchange fluctuations seem to trump discount online pricing as the most important factor in long range, more expensive cruises.

P.S. - I don't think it's forbidden to mention kayak dot com as the best database for finding air deals, because it's not a travel agency.

[sunviking90]

I agree with fann1sh. On our recent cruise, the best pricing was the Canadian $ pricing through HAL. It was much better than booking US$ and calculating exchange. We ended up paying less in Canadian dollars than was being quoted in US dollars. You also don't have to worry about exchange fluctuations. Do you have Mariner status? We found that this also gave us the best rate.

[kiberkid]

I usually book thru the cruise line. The few times I have booked thru a TA is when we do the CAA President's cruise & then also the very 1st cruise I booked as I was not sure of the ropes. We usually do alright thru the cruise line in Cdn funds. If you book your cruise in one calendar year & cruise in the next, i.e. book in November & cruise in January, check with the cruise line to see what the exchange rate is in the new year. I did this & the exchange rate had dropped & we saved over $500. If it has gone up, they cannot increase the cost as you booked at the lower rate.

As for air fare out of Wpg, we have done it several ways, but one of the most economical way was to use Air Miles or Aeroplan pts from YWG to Mpls & then paid air fare from Mpls to FLL or MIA. We have also done air miles to Toronto and then paid the fare from Toronto to FLL. Play around with it to see what your best deal is.

[Been There, Planning That]

We've booked our Alaskan 2010 cruise through our Canadian TA which was priced in Canadian dollars. When I go to the HAL site it somehow knows I'm in Canada and prices accordingly.

But once we begin to book tours these will be priced in American dollars and charged to our Visa.

If our dollar climbs again we plan to open an American account which could later be used to pay the on board portion. We always buy American travellers' cheques when the exchange is favourable or at least not horrid to settle things on board.


My question: is there any way to pay for tours in Canadian dollars or by cheque on an American account at the time of booking. It seems that once you finish booking things are charged to your Visa account immediately.
I know this would be easy if we left things until we board but I gather from other threads that Alaskan tours are popular and often book up before sailing.

We'd like to book when the exchange rate is favourable but it takes time for Visa to process and do exchanges.

Since this will be a group of 16 and we'll be paying for two or three tours charges could mount. We're travelling steerage in 7 cabins, but our tour costs could be more than the cruise portion.

I appreciate your initiative papoma in starting this thread. I've given up on the Canadian version of CC.

[pipedreams62]

http://www.curtalliaume.com/Hall.jpg

[fann1sh]

Pipedreams, how perfect! You must know that Monty Hall was Canadian born (in fact Manitoba born) very appropriate for this thread :D