Coinciding with Canada Day, Windstar Cruises has unveiled a new Canada-centred booking process designed order to provide better service and value for Canadian guests and the travel advisors who serve them. Canadians can also sail on select cruises for up to 30% off in Iceland, the Mediterranean, and French Polynesia.

Windstar’s new online booking features that allows Canadian travel to search and book in Canadian dollars. All Canadian travel agencies will automatically default to CAD when the booking process begins, and any additional pre-cruise purchases associated with a CAD booking will be in Canadian dollars. Agencies and their clients, however, may request the pricing to be in USD as was previously offered.

To celebrate its system upgrade allowing bookings to be made in Canadian dollars, Windstar is offering Canadian residents a chance to save up to 30% off select sailings. The offer is only for travelers with a Canadian residential address on new bookings. Popular destinations such as Greece, the Mediterranean, Iceland and French Polynesia are included in the select sailings. The offer is available until July 31.

“Canada is one of our most important markets. We view it as a part of our primary North American business. But while Canadians are similar to our American guests in many ways, currency is one major difference,” says Windstar VP of Sales Dianna Rom. “We’re very glad to provide information on our cruises with Canada-centric pricing to make it easier for Canadians to calculate the cost and value of their Windstar cruise experience.”

Currencies can be adjusted up until a payment is made. Once a payment is made, it will be set to that designated currency and the currency exchange rate is locked. The exchange rate will be reviewed monthly and updated accordingly.

“If a booking is changed from CAD to USD, the price of the booking will not change with fluctuating bank exchange rates,” says Rom. “Once locked in, that will be the price of the booking in the selected currency.”

Rom says the change will help advisors provide better value to their Canadian clients. Along with the booking shift, Windstar Cruises will be creating CAD-priced flyers and other marketing materials. Travel advisors can access these through Windstar’s online Advisor Hub or request them via their Windstar Canadian regional sales manager Andrea Mendelsohn-East at andrea.mendelsohn@windstarcruises.com.