The Canadian $ is up. Do I pay more now??

[canadaman111]

We are booked on a cruise in Feb. 2018 so our final payment is not due until Dec 2017. We booked with the $ 5 cents or so lower then it is right now. I see so much on these forums about not paying anymore then you have to until you have to. My question is, in this case with the $ being up 5% I can actually save a bit of money. Problem being if it continues to go up I could have saved even more, but of course it could crash back down....

 

Any other Canadians with experience with this??

[richmke]

Looks like the USD peaked in January. IMHO, the trend is your friend with currencies. However, watch it closely for a sign of reversal.

 

Maybe pay some now (25%, or exchange some CAD for USD), and continue to watch it for the rest.

[canadaman111]

Looks like the USD peaked in January. IMHO, the trend is your friend with currencies. However, watch it closely for a sign of reversal.

 

Maybe pay some now (25%, or exchange some CAD for USD), and continue to watch it for the rest.

 

I was thinking that. Pay some more, and just wait and see for the rest....

[supercanadian]

It might be better if you cancel, then re-book in CDN. We booked through an Expedia Cruise center and got the pricing in Canadian dollars, paying only the deposit. Meaning that no matter what the exchange rate was, it wouldn't change the original Canadian dollar pricing we were quoted.

 

Then our dollar was worth about .10 less towards the end of last year, but we saw on Carnival's site that the fare per person dropped about $50 (USD). We had our agent price adjust and even WITH a lower Canadian dollar, she was able to refund us a little less than $200 (Canadian) total for the 5 of us.

Edited March 9, 2016 by supercanadian

[canadaman111]

It might be better if you cancel, then re-book in CDN. We booked through an Expedia Cruise center and got the pricing in Canadian dollars, paying only the deposit. Meaning that no matter what the exchange rate was, it wouldn't change the original Canadian dollar pricing we were quoted.

 

Then our dollar was worth about .10 less towards the end of last year, but we saw on Carnival's site that the fare per person dropped about $50 (USD). We had our agent price adjust and even WITH a lower Canadian dollar, she was able to refund us a little less than $200 (Canadian) total for the 5 of us.

 

interesting...

[1midsun]

We have a USD credit card, as well as a US account.

 

We book our US travel on the US card, and when the rate is good, convert Canadian to US and put it in the US account.

 

Then pay the US credit card from the US account.

[maggie0057]

I was just talking to hubby about the same thing tonight and we are going to wait it out for a while longer. Our cruise is February 11, 2017 and at this point I am going to continue paying about $200 per month on our cruise and leave the money we have been saving for our vacation sitting in the bank

Edited March 12, 2016 by maggie0057

[canadaman111]

I was just talking to hubby about the same thing tonight and we are going to wait it out for a while longer. Our cruise is February 11, 2017 and at this point I am going to continue paying about $200 per month on our cruise and leave the money we have been saving for our vacation sitting in the bank

 

 

We have decided to wait it out as well. Our cruise is a year after yours so we have lots of time.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[maggie0057]

I think that is the right choice especially when you aren't cruising until 2018.

[nc350]

We leave next Sunday on the Imagination.... Unfortunately the exchange rate was near the highest in January when we booked however the positive was we got an AMAZING deal (IMHO) for the 4 of us for the cruise. I'm watching the rate daily right now before I exchange for our spending money I'm hoping its better this week as last week was so great!:D

[Kel040]

We have 2 cruises booked for this year - one next month which we had no choice but to pay at the high US $ - but we are going to wait a while before we pay off the later cruise (that isn't till October) the final payment is due in July... :)

[Lenliner]

We are booked on a cruise in Feb. 2018 so our final payment is not due until Dec 2017. We booked with the $ 5 cents or so lower then it is right now. I see so much on these forums about not paying anymore then you have to until you have to. My question is, in this case with the $ being up 5% I can actually save a bit of money. Problem being if it continues to go up I could have saved even more, but of course it could crash back down....

 

 

 

 

 

Any other Canadians with experience with this??

 

 

 

We booked a year in advance for our Sunshine 13 day Journeys Cruise last month. Then we watched nervously while our dollar started to slide, so we paid it off in full last summer to stop the bleeding before it sunk to 70¢ last month, just as we were leaving for Orlando. We saved about 15% - 20%, by doing this. Also, by pre-paying our onboard gratuities we were charged $12, instead of 12.95 P.P., per day, another small way of saving. 😎

[maggie0057]

I have heard some talk that our dollar should stabilize and go up after the US election but our final payment date is November 28th so don't expect it to change that fast but hopefully it will go up before we cruise in February so we have more spending money when we convert our vacation fund money to US currancy. Based on today's bank of Canada exchange rate Cheers will cost us $66.01 per day if we purchase it prior to our departure date. Ouch no wonder I keep telling myself not to do this makes $49.95 per day sound cheap lol

[canadaman111]

We went ahead and paid 20% of our remaining balance yesterday since the $ hit 77 cents US. The highest it has been in quite some time. We are just going to keep watching it and if it keeps creeping up we will just keep paying small amounts until it is paid in full

[maggie0057]

Was thinking the same yesterday but haven't paid anything yet

[richmke]

Looks like the USD has peaked (at least against the Euro). I expect the value of the USD to slide all year.

 

That and $5 will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks.

[rok233]

Looks like the USD has peaked (at least against the Euro). I expect the value of the USD to slide all year.

 

That and $5 will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks.

 

And what makes you an expert on the value of the USD?

[canadaman111]

And what makes you an expert on the value of the USD?

 

Who knows, but I hope he is right!!

[freagan]

As long as there is talk of, let alone an actual OPEC freeze, the Canadian dollar will continue to rise against the USD.

 

I'd wait, whilst keeping an eye on the gas and oil market news.

[richmke]

And what makes you an expert on the value of the USD?

 

I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

 

Even if I was a Currency Trader, my opinion about where the USD/CDN is going more than an hour from now, is worthless.

 

All I know is that currencies tend to have long trends. The USD has had a long run since 2011. Could the USD reach the 1997 highs? Nothing is impossible. If you look at the trend line of the declining peaks since then (1997, 1999, 2010), the 2016 peak is in line with the long-tern trend.

 

If the Trend is your friend, the USD will decline for a year or two before rallying to another lower high. There will be short-term peaks and troughs in the meantime.

[crewsweeper]

While all currencies will fluctuate in relationship to internal and external events and relative to each other, you're never going to accurately time those movements. All forecast models will fail. Period. Especially those dealing in financial and climate forecasting. Too many variables--known unknowns and unknown unknowns--too many differing interactions.

All currency trading desks have offsetting hedges, limits their upside but protects their downside.

In many ways, buying now or waiting with non-US currency, is analogous to buying your airline ticket today for travel next month. Heuristic to use is (or should be): If the price at current levels is in your mind a fair price or a reasonably valued price based on prior experience or other recent data, go ahead and book/buy/sell. If you have credible information of potential significant price reductions(buys)/increases (sales) coming up within a short time frame (30-60 days max), wait. Want to gamble, keep checking, maybe you get lucky, maybe not. Your call.

 

Yes, there may or may not be a better deal down coming down the pike. Just like you think you got a good price on your last air flight that you bought 10 days before traveling and come to find out your seat mate booked 2 hours ago over Priceline and got his ticket $100 cheaper.