US Dollars or British Pounds?

Hello, first post here.

I am travelling on a Baltic Cruise with Princess this summer. I am completing the guest details, and on answering the question on what currency I'd like to use, I have a choice between US dollars and my home currency, British Pounds.

I did try searching these forums but couldn't find anything, so any thoughts are welcome!

Will the ship give you a better exchange rate or will your credit card company give the better exchange rate?

That would be the first thing I would research.

I think this is a subtle way the cruise line is asking you whether you want to be billed in Dollars and your bank/credit card company to do the currency exchange or billed in Pounds with the cruise line doing the currency exchange. My personal opinion is it is better for your bank credit card company to do the exchange rate i.e ask to be billed in US Dollars. This is in relation to your On Board Cruise Account and Cruise Card/Door Key.

Incidentally if you like Princess and end up requesting a Future Cruise Deposit, which is payable separately from your On Board Account and directly from your credit card not cruise card. This should be requested in Sterling as that is the currency which you use to pay your travel agent or direct with Princess on an actual cruise booking.

Regards john

This results from a cruise we took a number of years ago (10 to 12), when they charged the entire ship in the currency of their card rather than US dollars. For the privilege they also charged a commission. The queue at customer service was extensive, with many irate passengers.

Your bank will most likely give you a better exchange rate than Princess, Always remember, Princess and many other cruise lines provide this service so they make additional money.

I always opt for charges in the ship's currency and my bank does the exchange without fees and normally a superior rate than Princess gives.

Hi, and welcome o Cruise Critic,

Heed the words of John & Heidi.:)

In any circumstances - cruise ships, hotels, restaurants etc, decline all offers to convert the charges to the currency of your card, instead allow it to be charged as billed, in local currency. On Princess & all other American cruise ships the "local currency" is the US dollar.

Your credit card issuer will convert at or close to wholesale exchange rates, whereas cruise ships & other outlets will convert at the poorest exchange rate that they think they can get away with. :rolleyes:

Your credit card issuer will probably charge a currency exchange fee.

But it's nothing like as much as the difference in exchange rates, and there are credit cards which don't charge a forex fee - for example Halifax Clarity, Capital One, Post Office credit card, and - for customers only - Nationwide Flex.

If you're likely to travel abroad quite often it's well worth getting one of those cards

JB :)

^Agree with all the above. Whenever we're given the opportunity to pay a bill in our local currency I decline - I used to take note of what the rate quoted was, then check when back home what we actually paid, and found it was consistently a 4% bump for the privilege of paying in your home funds. Even the crappiest credit card I've ever used has never charged more than 2.5% for currency conversion - and as mentioned by JB, there are plenty of zero charge credit cards that work really well for travel.

Thanks so much for your replies. Looks like I will stick to local currency. My father in law reckons I will save more if I pay for things in US dollar cash

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Thanks so much for your replies. Looks like I will stick to local currency. My father in law reckons I will save more if I pay for things in US dollar cash

 

 

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If you change your pounds into USD cash, the exchange rate given by the usual suspects - Tesco, M&S, Sainsbury, on-line, etc will be poorer than the rate that your credit card uses. Better than cruise lines' exchange rates, but poorer than cards' exchange rates.

And you won't know in advance how many USD to get.

Different card suppliers give different benefits such as cashback or points or insurances or ........... fee-free forex.

Check whether your card charges a forex fee - if it does, consider getting one that doesn't and use it just for spending abroad.

JB :)

Just remember onboard ship it is a cashless system, you "pay " for purchases onboard with your sign and sail card so it uses whatever form of payment linked to uour account be it credit card, debit card or cash account. Happy cruising[emoji4]

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Yes that’s what I thought, shadow8800. I also have experience of being charged highly for using GBP abroad. Will def look around for a suitable credit card!

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