Necessary to take Pesos??

[imwmn913]

Is it really necessary to take pesos for Cabo, PV, and Mazatlan? When we were in Cozumel US dollars were accepted. I know many of you will suggest to use an ATM machine once in port - but I do not want to use ATM's. We will only be spending minimal money in each port (lunch/t-shirts, etc.) so I really do not want to go to my local foreign currency exchange to pay fees, etc. So, my question is - can we pay for this stuff in USD?

 

Thanks!

[pulledporky]

Yes.

[lovevacadays]

Absolutely you can pay in US $. I've been on 8 Mexican Riviera cruises and never taken pesos. You will be fine. Have a great time!

[MSN-Travelers]

Is it really necessary to take pesos for Cabo, PV, and Mazatlan? When we were in Cozumel US dollars were accepted. I know many of you will suggest to use an ATM machine once in port - but I do not want to use ATM's. We will only be spending minimal money in each port (lunch/t-shirts, etc.) so I really do not want to go to my local foreign currency exchange to pay fees, etc. So, my question is - can we pay for this stuff in USD?

 

Thanks!

 

... you may be giving away 20-30% of your USD's buying power.

 

If it doesn't bother you, it won't bother the local vendors.

[CRUZIN TOM]

go old American cash. Just try and remembeer the exchange rate for peso's. Currently 13 peso equals $1.00. If you are a local store with prices tags on the items, you will usually getthe proper exchange rate. Dealing with the locals, it will be about a 10-1 ratio. Not woth the hastle usless you were doing $1000 or more shopping.:)

[arlodog]

Yes you can use USD. You probably will get the 10-1 exchange rate but if you are okay with this your dollars will be accepted. We have never changed our money and have never had a problem buying anything we wanted.

[Smartraveler]

As of my own experience, you do not need to exchange your dollars into pesos. Dollars are accepted in most places; just make sure you check the

exchange rate when you get off the ship. The exchange rate fluctuates daily from $11.50 to $12.50 per $1.00 US Dlls. To make it easier, first calculate at 10.00 pesos for one dollar and this way you can have an idea

of the price. For example 100.00 pesos is 10 Dlls. 250.00 pesos is $25.00 dollars, just take one cero off. You know that you will be paying less than

that amount. I hope this helps. Have a nice cruise.:)

[quincytoo]

... you may be giving away 20-30% of your USD's buying power.

 

If it doesn't bother you, it won't bother the local vendors.

 

LOL I wonder if this is why are the vendors seem eager for USD ???

 

Twice now we have come to Mexico through the States and we have leftover USD we used that to pay Taxi drivers if we have no pesos and yes they charge 10/1 Using Pesos saves us 20-30%... now we just keep that leftover USD in with our leftover Pesos for our next vacation......USD is not as pretty as Pesos or Cand

 

If you must then use USD in a large store, taxi drivers, bigger or more upscale restaurants or chains or OXXO. Most of those places charge the 10/1 or close to it as they would lose money if they took USD at the current rates.

 

Everyone else (vendors, servers) they are going to have to find a bank that will exchange USD to pesos then stand in that long line up to exchange it over to pesos.

 

Outside of PV in the small towns and villages where the locals live, they can't use USD for their day to day living.

 

For me at least I couldn't live with myself knowing that I was forcing someone to do that. We always use Pesos.....WE are the ones on vacation it is easy to get Cand money exchanged over to pesos.

[oceanaddict4life]

Please read over this thread before making this kind of financial decision for your vacation. You will lose a lot of money if you use your American Dollars.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1138443

[Nancyquilts]

The only place we feel we need pesos is for local bus rides. We exchange some money for those, but do not use them otherwise (and most of the goods for sale are priced in $US.)

[igraf]

They will not lose a lot of money because the OP made it clear that their purchases would be small. For limited purchases, it is not worth the bother to exchange currencies. It is OK if the vendor makes an extra dollar for my convenience.

 

One could also negotiate prices per a more realistic rate if the 10:1 ratio bothered one.

 

igraf

 

 

 

 

Please read over this thread before making this kind of financial decision for your vacation. You will lose a lot of money if you use your American Dollars.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1138443

[DRMizzou]

We just returned from a MR cruise on the Sapphire Princess. I did exchange US $$ for pesos outside the port terminal at PV when we returned from the the Malecon because we had two more port stops to come. The exchange rate that day was $12.25 to $1. We did use US $$ for the taxi back to the terminal as the rate was quoted in US $$. We actually found that US $$ would have worked fine through the whole cruise. We used the pesos because we had them; but almost every price quoted to us in shops was in US $$. When we inquired as to the cost in pesos, the vendors seemed to be disappointed. We did notice the exchange rate is Cabo (2 days later) was $12.75 to $1 -- so the rate does fluctuate.