Canadian to US

[Bornbeau]

Has any one heard that it is cheaper to change Canadian tu US on board the boat or is it even possible. Am hearing a rumor about this but figure thats what it is a rumor.

[If only]

Have not actually gone to guest relations & tried to convert it, but what we have done is bought ourselves a OBC gift to our cabin much cheaper you pay in units of $30.60 CDN & get an onboard credit of $25.00 US. Works great & if you don't use it all it will go back to your credit card. You can buy 9 units at a time.

[drakes2]

Does anyone know if that rate is going to change for 2016? I have a Scandinavia/Russia cruise booked for next summer and want to purchase additional OBC closer to the date.

Have not actually gone to guest relations & tried to convert it, but what we have done is bought ourselves a OBC gift to our cabin much cheaper you pay in units of $30.60 CDN & get an onboard credit of $25.00 US. Works great & if you don't use it all it will go back to your credit card. You can buy 9 units at a time.

[If only]

Does anyone know if that rate is going to change for 2016? I have a Scandinavia/Russia cruise booked for next summer and want to purchase additional OBC closer to the date.

 

Celebrity normally adjust the CDN/US rate every 3 months but with our dollar this low they may not do anything in order to attract moe Cdn's.

[cl.klink]

Can't believe it'd be likely to be a better deal on board.

 

- Joel

[az_tchr]

Agree - changing $$ on onboard is almost always a VERY bad deal. Canadians can buy OBC ahead of time and it often works out to your benefit.

[afto]

Agree - changing $$ on onboard is almost always a VERY bad deal. Canadians can buy OBC ahead of time and it often works out to your benefit.

 

Yes, buying OBC is the way to go. We found it quite worthwhile to buy enough to balance out our on-board charges on a cruise earlier this month.

[vanman]

I have done this a few times but if you have booked the cruise in US dollars it will charge the OBC in US dollars to your card. I made that mistake earlier this year. Even though the website gave me the price in CAD it charged my credit card in USD. Called customer service and they said you can only buy gifts or packages in CAD if you booked the cruise in CAD. Just bought some credits for an upcoming cruise(booked in CAD) and at 1.22 CAD to USD it's a good deal.

[Cruisennerable]

I booked in CAD with a travel agency in the US. Can I book the OBC with Celebrity directly as I'm concerned with a US agent it could get confusing

[az_tchr]

Excellent question and one you will need to ask your TA and/or Celebrity. Seems than vanman might already have the answer of - Yes.

 

Celebrity exchange rates on board are truly awful. The use the buy sell rates for a Miami bank that has a spread of 6% if my memory is correct so buy your OBC ahead if possible.

[If only]

I booked in CAD with a travel agency in the US. Can I book the OBC with Celebrity directly as I'm concerned with a US agent it could get confusing

 

As long as you booked in CDN $ you can purchase units of $30.60 & receive $25.US onboard at least that was the price yesterday. You just go to gifts by Celebrity at the bottom of Celebrity Cruises put in your booking code & make sure you have Canada as the country & you can do it yourself. Works great, you cruise has to be booked in Canadian $.

Edited December 30, 2015 by If only

[gold1953]

As long as you booked in CDN $ you can purchase units of $30.60 & receive $25.US onboard at least that was the price yesterday. You just go to gifts by Celebrity at the bottom of Celebrity Cruises put in your booking code & make sure you have Canada as the country & you can do it yourself. Works great, you cruise has to be booked in Canadian $.

 

Good deal!!/... so can we withdraw as cash??? in US$$$ and have cheap money for the rest of our stay in the US. Time to investigate!!

[gold1953]

Good deal!!/... so can we withdraw as cash??? in US$$$ and have cheap money for the rest of our stay in the US. Time to investigate!!

 

Research done!! WOOHOO ..a savings of $17.00 on 100. after paying 5% to cash out at the casino

Off to spend some money!!!

Still have to drive to Canada after we arrive in Miami so cash will work and love to save$$$

[If only]

Research done!! WOOHOO ..a savings of $17.00 on 100. after paying 5% to cash out at the casino

Off to spend some money!!!

Still have to drive to Canada after we arrive in Miami so cash will work and love to save$$$

 

If this is for your Jan 5/16 on the Eclipse you had better do it soon as I believe there is a 4 or 5 day before the cruise cut off date.

[Max Bet]

Have not actually gone to guest relations & tried to convert it, but what we have done is bought ourselves a OBC gift to our cabin much cheaper you pay in units of $30.60 CDN & get an onboard credit of $25.00 US. Works great & if you don't use it all it will go back to your credit card. You can buy 9 units at a time.

 

I tried this by purchasing OBC online and even though it did say $30.60 CDN my credit card was charged the amount in US funds equalling basically 40% exchange. I waited on hold for 45 minutes and they refunded it without explanation. In the meantime the exchange rate had changed and I lost $25 in the process.

Edited December 30, 2015 by Max Bet

[Bornbeau]

was your cruise paid for in American

[Max Bet]

was your cruise paid for in American

 

We are Blue Chip Club VIP's and they do everything in US funds.

[winnipegmanitoba]

Research done!! WOOHOO ..a savings of $17.00 on 100. after paying 5% to cash out at the casino

Off to spend some money!!!

Still have to drive to Canada after we arrive in Miami so cash will work and love to save$$$

 

You don't have to pay to cash out at the casino if you buy the OBC. It will be refundable OBC. We just finished B2B2B and we bought OBC in CAN for each leg of the B2B2B. When we arrived at the pier we switched our account to a cash account. Then, at the end of each leg of the B2B2B, we went to Guest Relations and they gave us US cash for the balance of the credit remaining. Make sure to switch it to a cash account so that they give you cash at the end of the sailing, otherwise it goes to the credit card and defeats the purpose.

[gold1953]

I tried this by purchasing OBC online and even though it did say $30.60 CDN my credit card was charged the amount in US funds equalling basically 40% exchange. I waited on hold for 45 minutes and they refunded it without explanation. In the meantime the exchange rate had changed and I lost $25 in the process.

 

Our cruise was in CA$ so this OBC came up at $30.60 CA . We bought 18 units. If we don't cash out we get the CA$ back on our CC that we spent. The page where I bought the obc states that it can be withdrawn at a 5% penalty so if this is what I get it is still a great deal.

I will check my CC though.

[homers mom]

Our cruise was in CA$ so this OBC came up at $30.60 CA . We bought 18 units. If we don't cash out we get the CA$ back on our CC that we spent. The page where I bought the obc states that it can be withdrawn at a 5% penalty so if this is what I get it is still a great deal.

I will check my CC though.

 

We r fellow Canucks also crying over the plummeting CAD. So this seems a brilliant idea. Even by drawing money at the casino it still works out at about 77cents as opposed to 71cents. Are you sure that this will definitely be doable. I don't want to be refunded on my credit card because they have this nasty little 2.5% charge on foreign currency exchange.

[homers mom]

You don't have to pay to cash out at the casino if you buy the OBC. It will be refundable OBC. We just finished B2B2B and we bought OBC in CAN for each leg of the B2B2B. When we arrived at the pier we switched our account to a cash account. Then, at the end of each leg of the B2B2B, we went to Guest Relations and they gave us US cash for the balance of the credit remaining. Make sure to switch it to a cash account so that they give you cash at the end of the sailing, otherwise it goes to the credit card and defeats the purpose.

 

We have a non refundable OBC from Celebrity for a few hundred dollars. We know that we will lose what we don't use. But once we add a refundable OBC to this to get the much better exchange rate to use in ports, etc, who is to say that they won't apply our expenses to the refundable OBC and then say we cannot get a refund on our non refundable OBC. I'm always looking for a good deal, but I don't want it to come back to bite me!

[lovemylab]

We have a non refundable OBC from Celebrity for a few hundred dollars. We know that we will lose what we don't use. But once we add a refundable OBC to this to get the much better exchange rate to use in ports, etc, who is to say that they won't apply our expenses to the refundable OBC and then say we cannot get a refund on our non refundable OBC. I'm always looking for a good deal, but I don't want it to come back to bite me!

 

Charges are applied to the non-refundable credits first. At least that is how it's always been on the cruises I've taken.

[homers mom]

Charges are applied to the non-refundable credits first. At least that is how it's always been on the cruises I've taken.

 

Thanks for your response

We have had a really tough time booking this cruise as we had originally booked our next cruise to the Baltics while we were on our last cruise exactly a year ago. I didn't know we could book in CAD and even though they knew we were Canadians they didn't mention the option. so when the dollar started plummeting and we knew we were going to be paying way more than we had expected we cancelled and looked for another option. I booked our new cruise and got a new reservation number so they made an awful fuss about transferring the deposit and ultimately they gave it to us in the form of an OBC.

My brother and his wife were in the same position and between the two of us we spent hours emailing and calling to resolve the issue. Hence my reluctance to buy OBC and then lose the money because of their strange rules. I think probably the best solution is to actually email Celebrity and get written confirmation, in the event that we are denied a refund, should we have any remaining USD.

[If only]

We r fellow Canucks also crying over the plummeting CAD. So this seems a brilliant idea. Even by drawing money at the casino it still works out at about 77cents as opposed to 71cents. Are you sure that this will definitely be doable. I don't want to be refunded on my credit card because they have this nasty little 2.5% charge on foreign currency exchange.

 

We have done this many times no problem. If you don't use it, it will revert back to your credit card that purchased it but you lose changing back to CDN, what we did was to go to the casino & pay the 5% to take out the rest of the cash.

[Solution]

We have done this many times no problem. If you don't use it, it will revert back to your credit card that purchased it but you lose changing back to CDN, what we did was to go to the casino & pay the 5% to take out the rest of the cash.

 

If this is refundable OBC, you can go to Guest Relations to cash it out in USD without any charge.

 

Simple rules:

 

Non refundable OBC (OBCN): use it or lose it

Refundable OBC (OBCR): use it or withdraw it (or back to CC)