Low canadian dollar

[poutanen]

I am sorry for the loss of value in the Canadian $. But I am confused over the pitch that Europe is a better option. Maybe those people don't know how expensive Europe is regardless of the value of the $, American or Canadian. Maybe I am missing something.

 

Check my post above re: Caribbean islands. St Martin is Dutch/French, many others are English, French, etc. For us it might be cheaper to convert to Euros and travel to a Euro friendly country vs USD

[DanJ]

Totally true. This was a big factor when we booked our Royal cruise over Disney cruise (and so glad we did).

 

What other lines let you book in CAD?

 

Sent from my ONE E1005 using Tapatalk

 

The Princess website gives me prices in CDN as well.

[Cruise Junky]

We booked a Panama Cruise in USA dollars for April. Paid the deposit & gratuities, air is on points BUT the balance owing of $6,080 due the end of the month is going to cost an additional $2,000+.:eek: What to do???? We just retired and the dollar does this...Gee :mad:

 

Check to see what the price would be to book it now in Canadian. You've probably made some money on that deposit. You might be better to book it in Canadian as Princess is still giving a bit of a deal.

[Cruise Junky]

I am sorry for the loss of value in the Canadian $. But I am confused over the pitch that Europe is a better option. Maybe those people don't know how expensive Europe is regardless of the value of the $, American or Canadian. Maybe I am missing something.

 

Europe isn't that expensive if you get out of the big cities. I spent my afternoon checking out Villas in Southern Spain :). Much cheaper than a med cruise in US $.

[calliopecruiser]

Europe isn't that expensive if you get out of the big cities. I spent my afternoon checking out Villas in Southern Spain :). Much cheaper than a med cruise in US $.

 

I agree - one can still vacation relatively inexpensively in some places in Europe, but it does cost more to get there and back ;)

My preference is Portugal, though.

Edited January 6, 2016 by calliopecruiser

[Cruise Junky]

I agree - one can still vacation relatively inexpensively in some places in Europe, but it does cost more to get there and back ;)

My preference is Portugal, though.

 

Yeah, I want to do Portugal too. To be honest from Vancouver it's neither cheap nor quick to get to Ft Lauderdale. We get some ok deals to Europe as we're getting more competition. We also can't make it same day so you must add a hotel in US $ x 45% :eek:

[Cruise Junky]

I agree - one can still vacation relatively inexpensively in some places in Europe, but it does cost more to get there and back ;)

My preference is Portugal, though.

 

Further to my response, just got a seat sale email from Air Canada $760 to Paris including all taxes. Wish I could fit it in :)

[LHT28]

Also, this is another reason to book in CDN $$$ instead of USD. We booked in CDN, paid our deposits, then watched the Loonie fall as our cruise price stayed the same. If we had booked in USD we'd likely have cancelled and done something else.

 

What was the exchange rate they used for booking in CAD ?

[terri-eddie]

We like to take a vacation to get away from our Canadian winter, to someplace warm and sunny. We will continue to do so in spite of the poor performance of our dollar. It hurts to be paying so much more than we used to, but we just can't give up our get-away trips.

 

When the dollar is doing better, we buy American currency and keep it in our safe box, to use on trips. We've saved enough that way to cover spending money on our next trip, so that won't hurt so much.

[Karysa]

This gives us Canadians traveling to the US and beyond the opportunity to use all the hotel points and air mile points that have been sitting there unused. We booked a cruise for May and I booked according to my dates and where I could use my frequent flyer points. I booked a pre cruise stay and post cruise stay at really nice hotels using hotel points that have been collecting. Driving to a port instead of flying to the cruise is also a way to save money and still cruise. My sister is doing just that for march break. Driving to Florida and staying in a hotel on points and using points for an amusement park and then going on a 5 day cruise. Saving your points and using them at the times when the dollar takes a hit is the same as saving for a rainy day. :)

Edited January 6, 2016 by Karysa

[poutanen]

What was the exchange rate they used for booking in CAD ?

 

Not sure as I didn't check the USD prices at the time. We booked Feb 5th 2015 for a cruise coming up next week (and the next) and we ended up paying about $750 cdn per person, per week including taxes an fees, less gratuities.

[Karysa]

Not sure as I didn't check the USD prices at the time. We booked Feb 5th 2015 for a cruise coming up next week (and the next) and we ended up paying about $750 cdn per person, per week including taxes an fees, less gratuities.

 

The Canadian $ was better last Feb though.

[poutanen]

The Canadian $ was better last Feb though.

 

Yeah that's what I meant when I said if you book in CAD (when the CAD is higher) it doesn't matter what the currency does. We book, paid our deposit of $1000, and then watched the USD climb with no worries. Paid off the balance in Nov in CAD...

 

We just looked at cruise pricing for April, as there's a seat sale on some airlines right now, but the pricing was too high. We'll probably go to St Martin again instead. :D

[cbr663]

Totally true. This was a big factor when we booked our Royal cruise over Disney cruise (and so glad we did).

 

What other lines let you book in CAD?

 

Sent from my ONE E1005 using Tapatalk

 

HAL & Celebrity also allows you to book your cruise ticket in CAD$, but all other spending tends to be in USA$.

 

About a month ago HAL adjusted its cruise prices in CAD$. Most cruise prices increased dramatically. I noticed that the same Alaska cruise that we did on HAL in the Spring of 2014 has more than doubled in price for the same time 2016. The Canada / NE cruises have also greatly increased in price for 2016.

 

You pay more CAD$ for the cruise ticket and you pay more for onboard spending that is in USA$. :(

[Karysa]

Yeah that's what I meant when I said if you book in CAD (when the CAD is higher) it doesn't matter what the currency does. We book, paid our deposit of $1000, and then watched the USD climb with no worries. Paid off the balance in Nov in CAD...

 

We just looked at cruise pricing for April, as there's a seat sale on some airlines right now, but the pricing was too high. We'll probably go to St Martin again instead. :D

 

Well St. Maarten is a wonderful place for a vacation. Still US dollars though at the restaurants and hotels or do you have a timeshare or go to an AI?

[poutanen]

Well St. Maarten is a wonderful place for a vacation. Still US dollars though at the restaurants and hotels or do you have a timeshare or go to an AI?

 

We stayed on the French side last spring and paid for almost everything in Euros. Most places had two price lists, one for Euros, one for USD... We're likely to stay on the dutch side this time which tends to do more in USD, but the accommodation is paid for by a friend of ours time share! Flight is in CAD, so it would just be food and fun paid in USD or Euros. We prefer the French side beaches anyway. Further from those damn cruise tourists!!! lol

[Karysa]

We stayed on the French side last spring and paid for almost everything in Euros. Most places had two price lists, one for Euros, one for USD... We're likely to stay on the dutch side this time which tends to do more in USD, but the accommodation is paid for by a friend of ours time share! Flight is in CAD, so it would just be food and fun paid in USD or Euros. We prefer the French side beaches anyway. Further from those damn cruise tourists!!! lol

 

We always pay in US. Try to avoid credit cards as well. I don't see how Euros helps you though. Many places are euro =US or 1:1 and the euro is still more than the US dollar is it not?

 

I hear you with the beaches. Although we do love Mullet so we just go to the opposite end of the beach. No facilities but a wonderful spot for a swim.

[Extra Kim]

We are likely to go on land based trips to Asia next time we book a vaccation that´s far from home. We love to cruise but the U.S $ have gone up 27% since 2013 compared to the Swedish Krona.

 

But Thailand is nice so I think that we will survive living on land instead of onboard a ship :D

[poutanen]

We always pay in US. Try to avoid credit cards as well. I don't see how Euros helps you though. Many places are euro =US or 1:1 and the euro is still more than the US dollar is it not?

 

We found that most of the shops on the french side were less in Euros than they were in USD by a fair amount. The USD is worth 0.93 Euros today. Also our accommodation was in Euros last time as well, quite reasonable too! :D

 

I think most tourist spots are USD=Euro, but the prices are jacked up there. The little restaurants, shops, etc. all seem to prefer the Euro. Maybe that's changed with the USD getting better? In which case it would make sense to bring that instead.

[Karysa]

We found that most of the shops on the french side were less in Euros than they were in USD by a fair amount. The USD is worth 0.93 Euros today. Also our accommodation was in Euros last time as well, quite reasonable too! :D

 

I think most tourist spots are USD=Euro, but the prices are jacked up there. The little restaurants, shops, etc. all seem to prefer the Euro. Maybe that's changed with the USD getting better? In which case it would make sense to bring that instead.

 

I did notice a lot more 1:1 offerings this summer compared to ever before.

[montana200024]

wow..i heard on the news today that we could see the dollar going to 60 cents..

My first cruise in 2000 , i thin we were 64 cents...and I said never again...so I guess i will sit and wait it out ...

 

thanks everyone for your imput..appreciate it

[kathywin53]

Had booked in USD on board 18 months ago for March from Newark. When $ started to drop last Fall, cancelled and rebooked better cabin in Cdn &. Since $ continues to slide decided to cancel the 12 night cruise and focus on Alaska for May, also booked in Cdn a year ago, thinking better to enjoy one cruise as likely the last for a while.

[Ykgorbie]

:( Well, I am one sad girl - no cruises in our future because of the tanking Cdn dollar (or the strengthening U.S. dollar, tomato, tomotto, lol).

I just cannot stomach flushing $.41 out of every dollar I earn down the toilet. Because of where we live, airfare is always a huge ticket item anyway, albeit in Cdn funds, so the added burden of the exchange rate for spending $$ etc is sickening to me

[DanJ]

:( Well, I am one sad girl - no cruises in our future because of the tanking Cdn dollar (or the strengthening U.S. dollar, tomato, tomotto, lol).

I just cannot stomach flushing $.41 out of every dollar I earn down the toilet. Because of where we live, airfare is always a huge ticket item anyway, albeit in Cdn funds, so the added burden of the exchange rate for spending $$ etc is sickening to me

 

I'd take 41 cents right now. I paid a shade over 46 cents at the currency exchange on Wednesday and it's dropped since then a bit more. I just take solace in the fact I got a good deal on the cruise and that most of it was paid for in the 30 cent range.

[squadron]

Check my post above re: Caribbean islands. St Martin is Dutch/French, many others are English, French, etc. For us it might be cheaper to convert to Euros and travel to a Euro friendly country vs USD

 

Have just priced a Ireland Coach Holiday in Cdn dollars but because hotels etc were booked by company in euros and pound sterling it is still more expensive than a cruise booked in Cdn dollars. Also have to pay for some meals. Generally Ireland is 2 times more expensive for things than in Canada - or so I was told.