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Ourusualbeach

Ourusualbeach

Posted
Posted
I booked my parents cruise in USD since I am in US. Will my parents who live in Canada be able to buy OBC with their Canadian credit card?

 

No. If the cruise is booked in US$ then they will not be able to purchase US$OBC in CDN. Royals system can not process 2 different currencies on the same booking.

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mapleleafvoyage

mapleleafvoyage

Posted
Posted
I booked my parents cruise in USD since I am in US. Will my parents who live in Canada be able to buy OBC with their Canadian credit card?

 

 

Nope!!!

 

Trust me, I have tried to give them my money for OBC and they just don't want it, lol

 

I got the same song and dance about 2 different currencies--- puuleeazze-- as if??? I didn't realize the Canadian dollar and US dollar were such rare currencies! Hahaha...

 

Such is life. Saves us money ;)

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P&O Lynn Knickers

P&O Lynn Knickers

Posted
Posted (edited)

I have enjoyed many evenings in the restaurants with Canadians.

What charming company they are.

I once got very close to a very nice gent from Vancouver.

To this day, we often keep in touch.

His Wife is nice too.

 

It was in the restaurant, at dinner one evening. We chatted, and it continued over drinks.

The memories of it all.

Edited by P&O Lynn Knickers
Lynn loves Canadians
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goodml

goodml

Posted
Posted (edited)
Nope!!!

 

Trust me, I have tried to give them my money for OBC and they just don't want it, lol

 

I got the same song and dance about 2 different currencies--- puuleeazze-- as if??? I didn't realize the Canadian dollar and US dollar were such rare currencies! Hahaha...

 

Such is life. Saves us money ;)

 

It's time to let it go. It makes perfect sense. From a customer service standpoint we're lucky to have the option at all to book in our own currency from a US based company. It's a courtesy. If they let you choose your currency for every transaction then every booking becomes that much more time consuming and complex because everyone will want to access whichever currency is most favorable at the time. You made the choice to book in US funds; as you said previously the currencies were close when you booked. That's perfect if you're paying in full but if not then when they're very close you should book in CDN and lock in your rate. Next time you'll be better informed. Companies are absolutely allowed to make policies based on whatever criteria they choose.

Edited by goodml
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Ourusualbeach

Ourusualbeach

Posted
Posted
Just phoned to purchase another $200 and the rate I was given was 1.26!:eek: Has anyone else tried today to purchase some onboard credit today?

 

Monica

 

A couple of months ago when I purchased mine is was quoted a rate similar to that. It was only after they pulled up my reservation and went to process the transaction that the lower 1.10 rate appeared. Not sure if the same thing is happening or if they have really adjusted the rate.

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WifeofZeusse

WifeofZeusse

Posted
Posted

Thanks guys for your replies....just phoned back and got a different agent and she gave me the correct rate of 1.10. I told her about my previous call and the other agent quoting me a rate of 1.26 and she didn't know why. Now I can book our excursion for St. Kitts when we board the ship. All is good!:D

 

Monica

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Mousy

Mousy

Posted
Posted

I am going to be booking today with a US TA, and the agent is VERY sure I can not book in CAD since they are a US company, I asked her many times and she is sure that I can't. I want to book with them because they are offering me 10% off the posted rates due to another issue with another agent before so they are attempting to get me back with a discount and I am dealing with a supervisor this time. I am trying to do the math to see if booking in USD is better with the 10% (plus OBC) or going with another company that will give me CAD?

However if they can do Canadian dollars and give the 10% I might come out ahead. ouch my head hurts thinking about it.

ok- I guess my question is can all US agents book in CAD or just some?

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hancogran

hancogran

Posted
Posted
I am going to be booking today with a US TA, and the agent is VERY sure I can not book in CAD since they are a US company, I asked her many times and she is sure that I can't. I want to book with them because they are offering me 10% off the posted rates due to another issue with another agent before so they are attempting to get me back with a discount and I am dealing with a supervisor this time. I am trying to do the math to see if booking in USD is better with the 10% (plus OBC) or going with another company that will give me CAD?

However if they can do Canadian dollars and give the 10% I might come out ahead. ouch my head hurts thinking about it.

ok- I guess my question is can all US agents book in CAD or just some?

 

I don't think ANY U.S. agents will allow you to book in CAD.:confused: If you booked direct with RCI, then you'll have a choice but I'm pretty sure you'll have a hard time finding a U.S. travel agent to agree to accept Canadian dollars.

 

I can understand it's mind boggling trying to figure out the best way to book. I always book direct with RCI .. no perks but I have control over my booking and don't have to deal with a middle man when I see a price drop, etc. (and got the great exchange rate for buying OBC). Good luck and I hope it all works out for you. :)

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Mousy

Mousy

Posted
Posted

Thanks for your advice. I *think* is is better to book with them because of the 10% off and the 500 obc. We really don't spend much on the ship and it is just the 2 of us so I am sure that 500 is more than we will need on OBC - we don't drink or gamble so after crunching numbers I am almost sure this is the better way to go.

Thanks again for your quick response.

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hancogran

hancogran

Posted
Posted
Thanks for your advice. I *think* is is better to book with them because of the 10% off and the 500 obc. We really don't spend much on the ship and it is just the 2 of us so I am sure that 500 is more than we will need on OBC - we don't drink or gamble so after crunching numbers I am almost sure this is the better way to go.

Thanks again for your quick response.

:eek: Well now that you post the $500 OBC --yes I'd definitely book with them! I didn't realize you were getting so much. If it were me, that's the way I'd go. :)

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robtulipe

robtulipe

Posted
Posted (edited)
I am going to be booking today with a US TA, and the agent is VERY sure I can not book in CAD since they are a US company, I asked her many times and she is sure that I can't. I want to book with them because they are offering me 10% off the posted rates due to another issue with another agent before so they are attempting to get me back with a discount and I am dealing with a supervisor this time. I am trying to do the math to see if booking in USD is better with the 10% (plus OBC) or going with another company that will give me CAD?

However if they can do Canadian dollars and give the 10% I might come out ahead. ouch my head hurts thinking about it.

ok- I guess my question is can all US agents book in CAD or just some?

 

Make sure you also consider the port fee/taxes and prepaying your gratuities in $CAD as these should show savings when paid in Cdn. The 10% discount likely only applies to the commissionable fare, the portion of the fare that the agency makes money on and not the total cost, which includes the non-commissionable fare, gratuities and port fees/taxes.

We booked all five of our RCI cruises we did this winter season directly with RCI in $CAD as the exchange savings far out weighed any discounts or OBC the US agencies we normally deal with would give. Since we know of no Cdn TAs that offer substantial discounts nor other benefits like OBC other than maybe a bottle of wine I prefer to book direct in order to have complete control of our booking and the flexibility of making changes during non-business hours of most Cdn Agencies. The latter has gotten us low cost paid for upgrades that were only offered for a short time online and we wouldn't have gotten if we had to wait for a agency to open and follow up on this for us. To those who say all you have to do is a screen shot of the special price to get it later, that only works if a cabin in the category you want to upgrade to is still available.

Also by having our booking in $CAD we were able to purchase pre-cruise $1000USD OBC for $1100CAD on the Oz cruise we return from last week. With the OBC we had from booking this cruise onboard a previous cruise we ended up spending only a quarter of this onboard and we were able to get $750USD in cash form the service desk on the last evening to settle up our onboard account.

Edited by robtulipe
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mackfam

mackfam

Posted
Posted

For our last cruise, I booked online on the RCCL website in Cdn $ then I transferred the booking to a U.S. online travel agent who gave me OBC. My booking stayed in Cdn $.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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robtulipe

robtulipe

Posted
Posted (edited)
For our last cruise, I booked online on the RCCL website in Cdn $ then I transferred the booking to a U.S. online travel agent who gave me OBC. My booking stayed in Cdn $.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I did a similar thing with the last cruise we did last Spring, our Serenade eastbound TA in an E1 balcony cabin. We did an onboard booking in $CAD and had it go to the US TA that we had booked, in $USD, the current cruise we were on. When I contacted that US TA they weren't very happy with our $CAD booking as their computer system wasn't set up to handle a booking in that currency thus gave us very little, an OBC of $25US, as a perk for them having our $2000CAD booking.

I even told them to just to transfer it back to RCI so it would a direct booking which is what I preferred since they were giving us so little. As it turned out because it was after final payment when booked onboard and I had paid it in full when booked it couldn't be transferred to RCI so the US TA was stuck with our $CAD booking.

Edited by robtulipe
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Chris Copeman

Chris Copeman

Posted
Posted
I don't think ANY U.S. agents will allow you to book in CAD.:confused: If you booked direct with RCI, then you'll have a choice but I'm pretty sure you'll have a hard time finding a U.S. travel agent to agree to accept Canadian dollars.

 

I can understand it's mind boggling trying to figure out the best way to book. I always book direct with RCI .. no perks but I have control over my booking and don't have to deal with a middle man when I see a price drop, etc. (and got the great exchange rate for buying OBC). Good luck and I hope it all works out for you. :)

 

I use a very common online TA on these boards. When the Canadian dollar started to drop last year I emailed them and asked about booking with them in CDN$.

 

The response was it would depend on the promotion and sail date. Since I have booked multiple people with this US based online travel agent for a group cruise this coming August and everything is in Canadian dollars.

 

HOWEVER if the TA had pre-booked rooms on their own hoping to sell them and they did that original booking in US dollars they were not able to convert that to Canadian. They can only give you whatever the current rate is on royals website plus any perks for booking with them.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Funbobby68

Funbobby68

Posted
Posted

Just made the call 10% exchange rate reason they can do more than 490.00 is they would need a faxed copy of the card front and back and all so faxed copy's of other ID as well , .....who still owns a fax machine I'm super happy to get the rate , makes the overpriced drink package easier to take

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