Currency

All good points, we are new to international travel and I don't have a debit card for the very reason that Mura states about draining one's checking account. And I agree w/ her about not accessing any financial sites using the ship's wifi. I have an account at a national bank that offers foreign currency, the rate is a little higher than the official rate but I just get the euros or other currency that I may need for the trip. We only use the cash for tipping the guides & drivers. I try to charge everything on the cc (no foreign transaction fee). Since Oceania's currency is in dollars, I plan to do any additional tipping in $$ to ship staff. I had not thought of creating a travel checking account. Keep a limited amount of funds in it & have a debit card for that account only? We may look into that for our Australian New Zealand Indonesia cruise.

I always use a debit card for cash myself (credit card for real purchases) but I can understand the concern about a thief gaining access to your checking account. When someone gets your credit card information you are limited to $50 in damages, but someone with access to your debit card COULD drain your account.

Easy fix. I have a separate bank account which is only used for ATM withdrawals and has a low balance.

We do the same. It is also not linked to any of our other accounts.

I had a problem with my debit card being copied while in Europe. It was used in Brazil 3 times in 1 day. I learned about it upon my return to the US. My bank, Cap 1, had cancelled the card and the funds were returned to me within 15 minutes of my contacting them.

I try to charge everything on the cc (no foreign transaction fee). Since Oceania's currency is in dollars, I plan to do any additional tipping in $$ to ship staff. I had not thought of creating a travel checking account. Keep a limited amount of funds in it & have a debit card for that account only? We may look into that for our Australian New Zealand Indonesia cruise.

I have had a separate bank account /debit card just for travel for a number of years works fine if I need to get extra cash in a port

I also live on the wild side & do online banking from the ship when we are away longer & need to pay bills so far I have not had a problem

Here in Canada CC with no FTF are very rare

we had one with Sears/Chase but they have pulled out of Canada

Recently I found another Canadian card that has no FTF but was too late to get one for our cruise in July ...so we have it now for our April cruise

Will see how that goes

am sure your bank can set up a separate account for your travel needs

I had a problem with my debit card being copied while in Europe. It was used in Brazil 3 times in 1 day. I learned about it upon my return to the US. My bank, Cap 1, had cancelled the card and the funds were returned to me within 15 minutes of my contacting them.

Was it a CHIP card requiring a PIN? Not nearly as easy to copy/misuse those than the older magnetic strip cards.