seeking advise - cdn vs USA pricing

[xjust4fun]

Need advise, we have 3 cruises booked with HAL for Oct. to the med back to USA. Since we live in Canada and have a Canadian ISP address all the pricing we get directly from HAL is in Canadian dollars. Do you think it is more economical for us to get the pricing in US dollars from them considering the exchange rate is going down at this time. What do other Canadian residents do or is that not a feasible option. Thanking you all in advance for your suggestions.

[kazu]

Need advise, we have 3 cruises booked with HAL for Oct. to the med back to USA. Since we live in Canada and have a Canadian ISP address all the pricing we get directly from HAL is in Canadian dollars. Do you think it is more economical for us to get the pricing in US dollars from them considering the exchange rate is going down at this time. What do other Canadian residents do or is that not a feasible option. Thanking you all in advance for your suggestions.

 

You can easily get US $ pricing by going to a US website (there are several big companies that are not hard to find) or calling a US TA.

 

What it comes down to is the exchange rate and where you think the Cdn $ exchange rate will be at final payment time and/or being prepared to pay early if you "like" the going rate if you are booking in U.S. $

 

I used to book in US $ a lot, but the recent volatility has thrown me off and made me want the security of Cdn $ pricing.

 

There are lots of TA's or PCC's that will let you book in Cdn or US $. It's not a problem.

 

HAL only changes the pricing in Canadian dollars so many times a year, so yes, it could be more economical to book in US $ now, but you need to determine how much the exchange rate can change without you losing and be prepared to move. ;)

[xjust4fun]

good point, makes sense, one way or another it is a gamble then. Just wondered if HAL would cost the cruise in US dollars for us rather than Canadian but then it would make it harder to track if any reduction in price.....since our IP only shows the Canadian pricing. Thanks Jacquie for the insight, much appreciated.

[kazu]

good point, makes sense, one way or another it is a gamble then. Just wondered if HAL would cost the cruise in US dollars for us rather than Canadian but then it would make it harder to track if any reduction in price.....since our IP only shows the Canadian pricing. Thanks Jacquie for the insight, much appreciated.

 

You are most welcome. There is site where you can track both Canadian and US sites if you elect for that.

 

They will also notify you of price drops at a grand cost of $1 per cruise.

 

think 'cruise' and 'fish' and you should be able to find it.

 

And you can see the regular pricing in Canadian and US $.

 

HAL does not care if we Canadians book in US or Cdn $. That is one thing they are very good about ;)

[VennDiagram]

good point, makes sense, one way or another it is a gamble then. Just wondered if HAL would cost the cruise in US dollars for us rather than Canadian but then it would make it harder to track if any reduction in price.....since our IP only shows the Canadian pricing. Thanks Jacquie for the insight, much appreciated.

 

Yes we Canadians can request pricing in US and Cdn, and figure out which works better. Call HAL - I've never had a problem getting prices in both currencies.

 

edited to add unless you have used Cdn $ FCDs as your deposit. If that's the case I think you are stuck with Cdn pricing.

[Kamloops50]

Need advise, we have 3 cruises booked with HAL for Oct. to the med back to USA. Since we live in Canada and have a Canadian ISP address all the pricing we get directly from HAL is in Canadian dollars. Do you think it is more economical for us to get the pricing in US dollars from them considering the exchange rate is going down at this time. What do other Canadian residents do or is that not a feasible option. Thanking you all in advance for your suggestions.

 

I've never book in US dollars. The exchange is to volatile to depend on it.

What I would is call HAL and ask what the exchange rate on the bookings are.

 

For example (my cruises on Princess) the exchange rate is 1.25 for everything I buy and book pre cruise.

[*Miss G*]

edited to add unless you have used Cdn $ FCDs as your deposit. If that's the case I think you are stuck with Cdn pricing.

 

HAL will do the conversion if you choose to pay in US.

[kazu]

HAL will do the conversion if you choose to pay in US.

 

Indeed they will :). I had FCD's in US $ (see?, I really did used to book in US $) and when I realized that Cdn was better, I called the Mariner Society and they kindly converted them and even credited me with the exchange rate :D

[xjust4fun]

You are most welcome. There is site where you can track both Canadian and US sites if you elect for that.

 

They will also notify you of price drops at a grand cost of $1 per cruise.

 

think 'cruise' and 'fish' and you should be able to find it.

 

And you can see the regular pricing in Canadian and US $.

 

HAL does not care if we Canadians book in US or Cdn $. That is one thing they are very good about ;)

 

Thanks alot, did it it, much appreciated....yipeeeeee

[xjust4fun]

Indeed they will :). I had FCD's in US $ (see?, I really did used to book in US $) and when I realized that Cdn was better, I called the Mariner Society and they kindly converted them and even credited me with the exchange rate :D

 

Thanks alot for all the wise advise. We had always booked in US funds when dealing with travel agents in the states, but now we've been dealing directly with HAL in order to ensure when there is a reduction in price as we had one bad experience with a big box retailer in the States..... We did have one FCD which was Canadian and we used it for the cheaper cruise.... Great information and thank you so much for sharing your wealth of knowledge.....

[SilvertoGold]

I see some HAL cruises out of Vancouver or Montreal have a better CND price than the USD price converted to CND. Actually much better.

 

You have to compare carefully, as HAL doesn't apply their exchange across the board.

[iancal]

We live in Canada. We often book in the US because we get much better OBC's etc from our on line agent. We also use a credit card that does not charge the usual 2.5 percent adder to foreign currency transactions.

 

You do need to consider currency fluctuations if you are booking far in advance.

 

Not certain about HAl but once in a while we get a promo for pricing CAD at the same as USD. We got this offer on our last Princess cruise to SA. And we recently had another similar offer but did not open it up. I did notd check whether it was the 'real deal' or some promo jazzed up to look like special pricing. The last offer we had was a direct email offer and it only lasted for 24 hours. Not certain if others do the same from time to time.

[iancal]

We live in Canada. We often book in the US because we get much better OBC's and pricing etc from our on line agent. We also use a credit card that does not charge the usual 2.5 percent adder to foreign currency transactions.

 

You do need to consider currency fluctuations if you are booking far in advance. Cruise lines set their exchange rate in advance. When there are market currency fluctuations in between these settings the CAD price vis a vis the USD price can work for or against you. It can happen that the cruise line CAD rate is much better than their USD rate converted at bank rate to CAD on your Visa.

 

Not certain about HAl but once in a while we get a promo for pricing CAD at the same as USD. We got this offer on our last Princess cruise to SA. And we recently had another similar offer but did not open it up yo double check whether it was the 'real deal' or some promo jazzed up to look like special pricing.