Credit card charges on a cruise?

martyn82

In November I am going on a cruise with Royal Caribbean.
I will be using my Saga credit card, so they can charge my expenses to it.
Can anyone advise me whether to choose A or B?
This is a extract from the cruise ticket contract...

FOR NON-US CREDIT CARDS ONLY CURRENCY CONVERSION AUTHORIZATIONIf you use a MasterCard or Visa Card issued outside of the U.S. which is billed in the following currencies: AUD, CAD, CHF, DKK, EUR, HKD, JPY, MXP, NOK, SEK, GBP, Royal Caribbean International offers a service where the full amount of your charges are converted, at your election, to the currency of your card by our conversion agent, Global Card Services, Inc., using the exchange rate in effect at the time the amounts are charged to your card.


A I choose to pay my onboard charges in the currency of my card. I choose to use Royal Caribbean International's currency conversion program. This currency conversion transaction is based on wholesale exchange rates collected from Bloomberg plus a 3 percent international currency conversion fee. My choice to have charges billed in the currency of my card is final. I accept that the exchange rate used will be the rate in effect at the time the amounts are charged to my card.


B I choose to have my credit card issuer convert my onboard charges to the currency of my card in lieu of participating in the Royal Caribbean International currency conversion program.


If I opt for my charges to be converted by my credit card issuer, or if my card is not billed in one of the billing currencies listed, my charges will be processed in the onboard currency (USD) and the issuer of my card may charge a service fee for currency conversion.


Hopefully someone will be able to advise me?
Martyn

lisyloo

You shoudl go for B.

A says that royal Cariibean will convert from USD to GBP.
They will charge a fee for this.

B says your card company will convert. This will be anything in the range of 0% - 3% depending on which card you have.
If you have time you would do well to apply for a card that's 0% on currency like post office, halifax clarity etc.

A will almost certainly be more expensive than your card company.

JohalaReewi

Def B with the Saga card. You will get 0% commission on the conversion which will be a lot less than option A where RCL convert to GBP for you.

luci

Absolutely do not let RC do the conversion. You will get a better rate if your bank/credit card company does it.

JumpJet

I agree with the others here. I've been on several Royal Caribbean cruise, included one a couple of weeks ago. I was very pleasantly surprised with my credit card bill when it arrived. I'd insisted that I was be billed in US dollars and to then let the cc company do the conversion. Royal Caribbean will press to get you to allow them to do the conversion, simply because they'll make a fortune out of it! So beware.....

ryantcb

i guess it depends on whether or not your CC company charges extra for international usage. Everything on board is in US dollars.

Remember cash for the casino though.

I used to work for RCCL :-)

lisyloo

i guess it depends on whether or not your CC company charges extra for international usage.

Even if your CC card charges then there is a very high chance indeed that it is less than RCCL.
CC charges tend to be max 3%.

jchmds

Thanks for all the information, this has been very useful!:j

moonrakerz

Another little trick to watch out for on cruise lines, is the "double conversion" trick.
I wanted to convert some Norwegian Krona to Sterling for a tip for our (English) cabin stewardess - I was informed that the Krona would be converted to US dollars first, then to Sterling.
I am afraid the lady got her tip in Norwegian Krona !