AP Miles for 3 cents
 

Not sure if it's a deal or not, but on a cruise last week, I noticed (and took advantage of, due to a tough dealer at the Caribbean Stud table LOL) in the casino that you can take a cash advance against your shipboard account. This isn't billed to your credit card as a cash advance, but rather as a purchase on the ship. Therefore you would earn points from it. They charge a fee of 3%, so it works out to 3 cents per mile, whereas AP charges 4. It's definitely not a good way to rack up mega miles, but it could help if you need some smaller amount of miles.

Royal Caribbean
 

I noticed this too on a recent RCI cruise - except that as far as I can tell, there isn't a fee (but it could only be for 100$+?)

the problem is that my onboard account was in US$, and billed to a Canadian$ card (Aerogold), which I believe charges a 3-4% currency spread, so you lose out on the exchange rate...

Otherwise it'd be nice to take out a few $,000 and grab a bunch of points... and NOT spend it at the casino, right... :)

Not to speak ill of AP, but I've noticed from my email inbox that several U.S. based FFP branching out offering miles for cruise products. I know AP miles are earned on ACV product which can include cruises, but I wonder if AP going to partner up with any of the big cruise companies.

Just a thought...

That is a creative way to earn some points.

Actually though, you can earn AP points on Royal Caribbean/Celebrity (200 points per person per night). I'll agree that it would be nice to see that list expanded though.

Princess did the conversion and billed my card in CDN, and as near as I can calculate, they used slightly over $1.18.

Also, I put a deposit down on a future cruise while on board, and the choice was to pay $100US or $125CDN. I told them to bill my card in US.

FX conversion charge
 

The cost of 3% is not necessarily a real cost to you if you can convert the USD back to CAD at a rate equal or better than the one charged to you by the cruise.

Suppose the cruise billed you $100 X 1.15 = $115 CAD on your Canadian CC. You now have $100 USD cash on your hand that if you can sell it for equal or more than $115 CAD, after adding the interest earned during the wait time compared to what you would have earned had it always been $CAD, then there will be no real cost to you. Plus, the grace period on your CC will act as an interest freebie for you - essentially, the bank was lending you money for free. To make this really simple, let's use our $100 example as follows:

You now have $100 USD in cash given to you by the cruise, charged to your CC. Once you get off the ship, you deposited into a $USD saving account (which earns about 5% currently). You are waiting for FX fluctuations when and if you can sell your $USD at equal or greater than $115 CAD. Meanwhile, there is no effect on your $CAD deposit since you haven't paid anything yet to the bank. Hence, your liability of $115 is still earning interest for you in a Canadian savings account (assumend a current rate of 4%). Suppose your CC grace period is 30 days and for simplicity, assume you have 30 days between depositing the $100 USD into a bank and the day you have to pay your CC in $CAD for $115 CAD. If you can sell your $USD within 30 days, there is no doubt you will be at least even. On Day 30, your USD balance will grow to $100.42 USD and you need $115 CAD so the effective FX rate that will make sure you'll break even is 1.1452. You will therefore exercise this "option" if the FX rate is equal or greater than 1.1452 Beyond Day 30, you will need to start consider the interest rate differential between $USD and $CAD and look for opportunity to get out of the USD position in consideration of your interest earnings in USD vs. that of CAD.

Long story short, the cost may not be real, in fact, you can even make money with it if your bet turns out to be right given some time and market volatility.

You are not buying an "option" on the US/Canadian exchange rate. You have paid 2.5% interest conversion fee to gain ~1 month free interest. Some time before your account comes due, you WILL have to convert the US funds back to Canadian (with probably another 2.5% fee). If the exchange rate fluctuates in the right direction by over 5% over those 30 days, yes you can make money. If It stays the same or goes the other way, you are on the hook for a REAL loss.

If you want to play the currency options or futures market, there are much cheaper ways of doing it!

A few years ago one of the Post Offices here in Fredericton allowed you to buy Money Orders using Visa. I think the charge was only $2 for a $999 Money Order.

Unfortunately they stopped taking Visa for Money Orders now...

Was this an actual Canada Post facility or a privately-operated branch? Unless the service fee is high enough to absorb the retailer discount on credit cards, I would doubt any CP substation would accept them for money orders. Canada Post does accept Visa, Mastercard and Amex, as well as direct debit for stamps, XpressPost and PriorityPost, and other things on offer.

If you review your CC agreeement, many are making amendments such that gambling type purchases no long accrue points and will be treated as cash advances. Citi MC is one of them I believe, I used to get points on Paradise Poker transactions, as of Aug 1st, it will now be treated as cash advances, as opposed to purchases.

This sounds like my investments 101 course from university! c'mon lets start working with real dough. You ain't going to get rich that way! Get in the game and invest in the commodities! or did you miss the boat on that one?

It was a sub post office in the Atlantic Super Store on Smythe Street. They accept Visa for everything EXCEPT money orders now.

Was great while it lasted....

I use William Hill in the UK. I have a Canadian Dollar account with them and deposits through CIBC Aerogold Visa are free of commission and still earn points.

Withdrawals cannot be done back onto Visa - stopped about a year ago. Now deposited directly into my bank account.