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Canadian Princess Cruisers

Gunner22aa

By Gunner22aa,
in Princess Cruises

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snoodqueen

snoodqueen

Posted
Posted

This certainly changes my plans for another Princess cruise or two in 2016. I'll be looking around at other cruise lines to see how much they've jumped up the exchange rate. I have been finding Princess prices are not that great compared to other lines which offer BOGO on already lower prices with more interesting itineraries. I like Princess but they are going to lose a few Canadian cruisers with their greed.

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NickAndysMom

NickAndysMom

Posted
Posted

Just this past weekend I booked a cruise directly through Princess for my husband & myself (US residents) and our relatives (Canada residents). We are on 2 separate reservations.

 

The Princess agent asked if the Canadians would prefer to book in Canadian dollars. The fare in Canadian dollars was at 1.2 times the rate in US dollars. This definitely seemed favorable to the prevailing bank rate, so I booked their reservation in Canadian dollars. (Wish I could have booked our cruise in Canadian $s as well - - - my VISA card does not charge to do the currency conversion, so we would have been ahead of the game, I think!)

 

I'm wondering if the 1.2 rate might have been because our cruise is fairly soon, so we had to pay in full at the time of reservation.

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Steelers36

Steelers36

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Posted

 

I'm wondering if the 1.2 rate might have been because our cruise is fairly soon, so we had to pay in full at the time of reservation.

 

The rate had been 1.20 since back in the spring of this year and was in effect through end of December cruises.

 

When the new 1.30 rate was announced in mid-August, it was applicable from JAN 2016 forward. That is why you were able to book for your friends in CAD. (Or maybe they should have booked for both of you).

 

Just this week, Princess changed the 1.30 to 1.35 for 2016 as of yesterday. As of this morning they made a further change and applied it to remaining NOV & DEC sailings.

 

Remind your friends to use Cruise Personalizer and pre-pay gratuities or excursions and so forth at the booked 1.20 rate and they can save further.

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NickAndysMom

NickAndysMom

Posted
Posted

Thanks, Steelers36. Now I understand.

 

They were indeed very lucky! We were going to hold off booking for another week, but decided that the fares for our cruise probably weren't going to decrease at all, so we went ahead with the booking. None of us were even aware of the whole Canadian $ conversion issue. We had all thought they would book in US $ & the conversion would be made by their credit card company.

 

I will definitely recommend to them that they pre-pay their gratuities.

 

Beverly

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sueandkent

sueandkent

Posted
Posted
I would like to see the USD rates on the Princess website but everything is quoted in CAD on my computer. How do you check the conversion rate charged by Princess?

 

Most TA's and cruise brokers can see both prices. I know the cruise broker we use can book us in either and quote in either. Even Princess should be able to give you this info.

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Smitty251

Smitty251

Posted
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The rate had been 1.20 since back in the spring of this year and was in effect through end of December cruises.

 

When the new 1.30 rate was announced in mid-August, it was applicable from JAN 2016 forward. That is why you were able to book for your friends in CAD. (Or maybe they should have booked for both of you).

 

Just this week, Princess changed the 1.30 to 1.35 for 2016 as of yesterday. As of this morning they made a further change and applied it to remaining NOV & DEC sailings.

 

Remind your friends to use Cruise Personalizer and pre-pay gratuities or excursions and so forth at the booked 1.20 rate and they can save further.

 

 

 

So I booked my cruise for Feb 2016 - back in June - I booked in CDN dollars - I have to pay the final payment in November - just wondering if I will be paying my quoted rate for the balance or will there be a new rate at 1.35? When I look at my cruise personalizer I am at the 1.20 rate - I will pre pay gratuities this week along with some excursions - maybe get some spending money in the way of casino credits.

 

Any info is appreciated.

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Steelers36

Steelers36

Posted
Posted
So I booked my cruise for Feb 2016 - back in June - I booked in CDN dollars - I have to pay the final payment in November - just wondering if I will be paying my quoted rate for the balance or will there be a new rate at 1.35? When I look at my cruise personalizer I am at the 1.20 rate - I will pre pay gratuities this week along with some excursions - maybe get some spending money in the way of casino credits.

 

Any info is appreciated.

 

You are good to go at the 1.20. If it makes you nervous that Princess might change another practice, then go ahead and pay now, but you will be fine.

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h-sar

h-sar

Posted
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Yes just a couple weeks ago on the Grand. You can also buy casino credit at that same rate and just cash in the certificates for them that will be in your stateroom in the casino for US cash.

 

Thank you to my fellow Edmontonians! Does anyone have any information on what the limit is that Princess will allow you to cash out from the casinos? Want to buy some OBC at 1.10 to use toward a watch that my son wants to get (expensive style, but the rates on board have been better than any other place). However if they do not have it this time or if he changes his mind, I want to be able to cash out. Thanks

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Steelers36

Steelers36

Posted
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It's kind of ironic now that Princess just upped the 1.30 exchange rate earlier this week to 1.35 (they had just set it to 1.30 in mid-August). The CAD has been rising steadily this week and today the wholesale rate is just UNDER 1.30.

 

So the 1.35 is certainly a bad deal and should be sending Canadians to be booking in USD now. But, the CAD could fall off again as well. Never know, but it pays to check the rates and shop around for sure.

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Kamloops50

Kamloops50

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Posted
It's kind of ironic now that Princess just upped the 1.30 exchange rate earlier this week to 1.35 (they had just set it to 1.30 in mid-August). The CAD has been rising steadily this week and today the wholesale rate is just UNDER 1.30.

 

So the 1.35 is certainly a bad deal and should be sending Canadians to be booking in USD now. But, the CAD could fall off again as well. Never know, but it pays to check the rates and shop around for sure.

 

What would you do it the dollar fell below 1.35 . Suddenly it was 1.40. I hoping the dollar will stay around 1.30 until I cruise in Oct 2016. Once booked at 1.30 or 1.35 you know what will cost you for the cruise. Exchange rate can change 4 percent in a few days like it did this last week.

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Steelers36

Steelers36

Posted
Posted
What would you do it the dollar fell below 1.35 . Suddenly it was 1.40. I hoping the dollar will stay around 1.30 until I cruise in Oct 2016. Once booked at 1.30 or 1.35 you know what will cost you for the cruise. Exchange rate can change 4 percent in a few days like it did this last week.

 

Like I said, things can change, so you are right.

 

But if you found a better deal in USD, you could assuage your desire to know the future costs by either paying in full, or just buy the amount of USD you need to cover the future final cruise cost. The latter is the better strategy and works well if you have a USD credit card - an invaluable asset for anyone who travels south.

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Kamloops50

Kamloops50

Posted
Posted
Like I said, things can change, so you are right.

 

But if you found a better deal in USD, you could assuage your desire to know the future costs by either paying in full, or just buy the amount of USD you need to cover the future final cruise cost. The latter is the better strategy and works well if you have a USD credit card - an invaluable asset for anyone who travels south.

 

A little hard to pay for a $15 cruise at one time. With a USD CC ,you still are at the mercy of exchange rates. I get around the exchange rate on board by pre buying OBC .

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madeph

madeph

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Posted

Wow...1.30/35 in November and on? I've already pre-purchased some OBC but my cruise will not be until next month. Does anyone know if they will go by the rate at the time I bought the OBC or the time I get on the ship? :confused:

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Steelers36

Steelers36

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Wow...1.30/35 in November and on? I've already pre-purchased some OBC but my cruise will not be until next month. Does anyone know if they will go by the rate at the time I bought the OBC or the time I get on the ship? :confused:

 

Your question is not clear. If you've already purchased OBC, then you know where you stand because it's paid for.

 

If you are asking what about on board charges, well those are in USD and you should charge them (1) to a USD CC if you have one or (2) to your CAD CC without asking Princess to do the conversion to CAD - it will be worse.

 

You can buy more OBC at whatever the rate was when you booked the cruise if you don't think you have enough to pay expenses.

 

Otherwise, please re-state your question.

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madeph

madeph

Posted
Posted (edited)
Your question is not clear. If you've already purchased OBC, then you know where you stand because it's paid for.

 

If you are asking what about on board charges, well those are in USD and you should charge them (1) to a USD CC if you have one or (2) to your CAD CC without asking Princess to do the conversion to CAD - it will be worse.

 

You can buy more OBC at whatever the rate was when you booked the cruise if you don't think you have enough to pay expenses.

 

Otherwise, please re-state your question.

 

Sorry for being unclear. Yes, I've already paid for the OBC in Canadian. In that I have never done that before, I thought they would just convert the CAN into USD with whatever the current rate is once on board. I would hope that, for example, $30 CAN for $25 US when I bought it, it would be that once the ship sails.

 

All that said, you pretty well answered my question. So thank you! :)

Edited by madeph
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jascal

jascal

Posted
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When making a purchase of casino credits or onboard credits, it quotes the price in Canadian $$. I assume my credit card will be also be billed in Canadian $$. How do I know how much I will actually get in US $ once I am on board??

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Steelers36

Steelers36

Posted
Posted
Sorry for being unclear. Yes, I've already paid for the OBC in Canadian. In that I have never done that before, I thought they would just convert the CAN into USD with whatever the current rate is once on board. I would hope that, for example, $30 CAN for $25 US when I bought it, it would be that once the ship sails.

 

All that said, you pretty well answered my question. So thank you! :)

 

When making a purchase of casino credits or onboard credits, it quotes the price in Canadian $$. I assume my credit card will be also be billed in Canadian $$. How do I know how much I will actually get in US $ once I am on board??

 

Casino and OBC are sold in $25 / $50 / $100 value certificates. You are always buying USD for OBC/Casino, regardless of which currency you booked the cruise in.

 

So, you are not picking any old CAD amount - you are being billed in CAD for the equivalent of what Princess offers in USD. The rate used will be the same rate in play when you booked the cruise in CAD.

 

If you are never sure of what you are buying, call Princess and do the transaction with one of their reps. They will tell you.

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avcruz

avcruz

Posted
Posted
When making a purchase of casino credits or onboard credits, it quotes the price in Canadian $$. I assume my credit card will be also be billed in Canadian $$. How do I know how much I will actually get in US $ once I am on board??

 

 

It's based on the exchange rate in place when you booked your cruise. For example, I booked at a 20% exchange rate. So when I purchase a shipboard credit that costs me $30, it shows up in my personalizer as USD $25.

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