Foreign Transaction Fees

[LHT28]

TD Bank is touting their 'Travel "visa which incredibly has a foreign transaction fee. Did I mention it is called a Travel card? If I buy from O and it is in USD even if they do NOT run it through a bank in Ireland it seems to me this TD card would charge a fee. Ridiculous BUT they are successful with selling this card so who am I to say they are wrong. As a consumer i have to be more aware.

 

 

We just use the TD USD VISA card for our cruises

We do not get any points or cash back but no FTF if billed in USD either

It is a trade off

 

Lyn

[StanandJim]

 

As stated and quoted earlier on this thread, yes, the use of US crew is one of the reasons however, even if a cruise line chose to use a US crew, the ship still could not be US flagged as NO cruise ships have been built in the US in many many years and highly doubtful any more will ever be built due to the costs to build as well as no US shipyard capable of building a modern cruise ship!!!

 

Great Britain had very similar registry regulations, but waived them for Cunard (for the same loss of industry reasons as you cite) ....in fact, the British Royal Family still christens Cunard ships, even though they are built elsewhere in Europe with Carnival (i.e American) capitol.

The staffing issue is much more of an impediment in todays World.

Edited July 31, 2014 by StanandJim

[hondorner]

The so-called Jones Act is one of the leading examples of poorly written, ill conceived and useless pieces of legislation. It was designed to protect the jobs of American seamen and promote American ship building, but in a nearly perfect example of un-intended consquences has accomplished the exact opposite.

 

There are American built ships, financed, flagged in America with mostly American crews (that restriction was eased, but not eliminated, years ago), but they make a smaller impact on the industry. Examples are American Queen and American Cruise lines, among others.

[rallydave]

The so-called Jones Act is one of the leading examples of poorly written, ill conceived and useless pieces of legislation. It was designed to protect the jobs of American seamen and promote American ship building, but in a nearly perfect example of un-intended consquences has accomplished the exact opposite.

 

There are American built ships, financed, flagged in America with mostly American crews (that restriction was eased, but not eliminated, years ago), but they make a smaller impact on the industry. Examples are American Queen and American Cruise lines, among others.

 

 

Absolutely correct regarding unintended consequences Don. Knew about the two cruise lines you mention above but, those are river cruises and perhaps I wasn't clear but, was talking about ocean cruises and ocean going ships of which believe there is one with an exception doing the Hawaiian Islands. Believe the last ocean going cruise ship built in the US was the Spirit of America which plies Hawaii but, is a total finalncial disastor. Prior to that believe the last ship built in the US was back in the 1950's or before. No way to be financial viable with building and crewing with and in the US.

 

The river cruises you cited are doing OK but, only because foreign flagged ships cannot do the same cruises as they have to make at least one foreign port each cruise and difficult to do that on Mississippi and Columbia river cruises.

[hondorner]

It's interesting there are significant rumors Viking will construct and operate European style river boats on the Mississippi. They will have to comply with the Jones Act.

 

I was aware you were referring only to Ocean shipping, but in my best butting-in-with-trivia-style was reminding others that some American passenger cabotage does exist. :) I have a nasty habit of doing that while appearing to be directly responding to another poster, something that sometimes bites me in the butt.

Edited July 31, 2014 by hondorner

[kiawahdon]

I believe American a Cruise Lines has at least 3 ocean going ships built in the US. These are small ships plying fairly protected waters such as Alaska inside passage, North east coast of US, Puget Sound, etc. On second thought, "ocean going" may be a stretch.

[jeffreys1]

Cunard is no longer registered in Britain. Starting in 2011 they were reregistered in Bermuda. This is as a result of an EU law called the 2010 Equality Act which says that ships registered in Britain are required to pay all staff from European Union countries wages equal to those of British citizens.

 

For more details see this story.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/cruises/8838472/Cunard-to-register-ships-in-Bermuda.html

[StanandJim]

Cunard is no longer registered in Britain. Starting in 2011 they were reregistered in Bermuda. This is as a result of an EU law called the 2010 Equality Act which says that ships registered in Britain are required to pay all staff from European Union countries wages equal to those of British citizens.

 

For more details see this story.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/cruises/8838472/Cunard-to-register-ships-in-Bermuda.html

 

Yes, Cunard did make a switch in 2011, but because Bermuda is a British Dependent Territory, even after the change, Cunard ships still fly the Red Ensign.

[Hawaiidan]

Do final payments made to Oceania by a US customer using a US credit card ever result in a foreign exchange fee being imposed by a bank because Oceania processed the payment offshore? I understand the issue with respect to settling a cruise account balance, but I am curious about final payments specifically.

 

 

Oceana bills in dollars from a Miami address...in Florida. Nothing foreign on any ship or Oceana charge whether before, during or after. ALL USD's charged in the USA

[Hawaiidan]

It's interesting there are significant rumors Viking will construct and operate European style river boats on the Mississippi. They will have to comply with the Jones Act.

 

I was aware you were referring only to Ocean shipping, but in my best butting-in-with-trivia-style was reminding others that some American passenger cabotage does exist. :) I have a nasty habit of doing that while appearing to be directly responding to another poster, something that sometimes bites me in the butt.

 

 

It is between" any port in the USA

 

OSHA, Fair Labor standards act, Obamacare, EPA, US Unions and lets not forget the politicians from New Orleans to Louisvillle.

 

The jones act was and is a VERY lucrative proposition for Hawaiian senators and Matson and ( Matson is Hawaiian for "monopoly")

And why things cost 40% more in Hawaii!

[rallydave]

Oceana bills in dollars from a Miami address...in Florida. Nothing foreign on any ship or Oceana charge whether before, during or after. ALL USD's charged in the USA

 

What you are missing Dan is that it is not necessarily where the money is charged, it is where it is processed and in the past, some US housed cruise lines based in the US and charged in the US in US dollars have processed the charges thru a banking company not in the US resulting in foreign transaction fees. That is what the OP was asking about

 

This is a rare occurrence but, has happened in the past and is likely to occur in the future if a company can find a processing bank the is less expensive.

[hypercafe]

Cunard is no longer registered in Britain. Starting in 2011 they were reregistered in Bermuda. This is as a result of an EU law called the 2010 Equality Act which says that ships registered in Britain are required to pay all staff from European Union countries wages equal to those of British citizens.

 

For more details see this story.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/cruises/8838472/Cunard-to-register-ships-in-Bermuda.html

 

I thought I read the switch was so they could preform weddings onboard because of a change in the law in Britain.

 

Sent from my XT1032 using Forums mobile app

[turnip eater]

I thought I read the switch was so they could preform weddings onboard because of a change in the law in Britain.

 

Sent from my XT1032 using Forums mobile app

 

Not because of a change of English law,

as the public have a right to attend any marriage in the UK.......could get crowded on a ship:D

Carnival changed the registration to Bermuda so that weddings could take place on board Cunard.