How much in Euros to take??

[kcbmarek]

Being a novice as traveling internationally, I am stressing about how much money we need to take with us. DH does not want to use the credit cards as he does not want the international fees that we will be assessed. So, can anyone help me ...

 

1. What are we looking at for an average meal cost in Rome? We are not into big fancy places. We are laid back and want to relax.

2. What is a good amount of euros to take with us? We plan on eating on the ship for 90% of all meals. We will have paid for most everything already in advance (with the exception of the hotel in Rome).

 

Sorry if this seems lame, but we leave the US in 79 days and I am beginning to stress :confused:

[paul929207]

A couple of points to consider:

Everyones spending is different. What I spend may be of little help to you.

Whenever you convert money, you lose money. Getting to many Euros and then reconverting the leftovers, may be more expensive than using a credit card or ATM

[beancounterbeth]

I'm more stressed about what is the best way / cheapest way to obtain Euros. I came across your thread because I keep looking at all threads that are talking about Euros. I also plan on trying to take with me all the Euros that I plan on spending while on my cruise instead of trying to stop at ATM's.

[kcbmarek]

paul929207 - I realize everyone's spending is different but I am trying to just get a basic cost of some things, i.e. food, in Rome and such. Thanks for the insight on the loss of money though as you change back to USD as I had not thought about that.

 

beancounterbeth - I am with you. It is so stressful!!!

[aquilegia]

I'm more stressed about what is the best way / cheapest way to obtain Euros. I came across your thread because I keep looking at all threads that are talking about Euros. I also plan on trying to take with me all the Euros that I plan on spending while on my cruise instead of trying to stop at ATM's.

 

There are ATMs all over the place in Europe. You won't have any difficulty finding them. As for not using credit cards, I'd stress a lot more about carrying large amounts of money around than I would about any credit card fees.

[paul929207]

We had a ham & cheese sandwich and coke each in Venice a couple of years ago for about US$27.

 

A nice dinner there was about US$150.

[kcbmarek]

There are ATMs all over the place in Europe. You won't have any difficulty finding them. As for not using credit cards, I'd stress a lot more about carrying large amounts of money around than I would about any credit card fees.

 

Good point. I am not a fan of carrying lots of cash either and would like at all costs to avoid this, but at the same time it is a catch 22 situation. Carrying cash vs. credit card fees of 3% of USD per transaction. Not really sure which is better right now.

[kcbmarek]

We had a ham & cheese sandwich and coke each in Venice a couple of years ago for about US$27.

 

A nice dinner there was about US$150.

 

This is great info! I doubt we will spend $150 either but this is a good point of reference for what I need to know.

[starwhite3]

In October of 2011 I spent 4 days in Rome with my S.O. I paid for dinners. We don't drink wine, and we're very economical, i.e., we don't eat in fancy places

Night 1: salad with chicken and pizza; coke and fizzy water, 21 Euros total

Night 2: 2 mixed salads and 2 baccala (fish); bread cost 2 euro, fizzy water and coke 26.50 Euros

Night 3: 2 mixed salads, 2 roast chickens (1/4 chicken), coke, fizzy water 23.00 Euros total

Night 4: 2 spaghettis with olive oil and garlic, 2 mixed salads, 2 fizzy waters 25.00 Euros total

I tipped a couple of Euros each night.

You don't have to order a bunch of courses. This was plenty of food.

[kcbmarek]

In October of 2011 I spent 4 days in Rome with my S.O. I paid for dinners. We don't drink wine, and we're very economical, i.e., we don't eat in fancy places

Night 1: salad with chicken and pizza; coke and fizzy water, 21 Euros total

Night 2: 2 mixed salads and 2 baccala (fish); bread cost 2 euro, fizzy water and coke 26.50 Euros

Night 3: 2 mixed salads, 2 roast chickens (1/4 chicken), coke, fizzy water 23.00 Euros total

Night 4: 2 spaghettis with olive oil and garlic, 2 mixed salads, 2 fizzy waters 25.00 Euros total

I tipped a couple of Euros each night.

You don't have to order a bunch of courses. This was plenty of food.

 

Perfect!!! This is exactly what I was looking for and for us, that is about what we eat for dinner here in the states. I budgeted $100 USD for dinners per night so it seems like I am on the right path. Thank you so much!!

[zqvol]

Being a novice as traveling internationally, I am stressing about how much money we need to take with us. DH does not want to use the credit cards as he does not want the international fees that we will be assessed. So, can anyone help me ...

 

1. What are we looking at for an average meal cost in Rome? We are not into big fancy places. We are laid back and want to relax.

2. What is a good amount of euros to take with us? We plan on eating on the ship for 90% of all meals. We will have paid for most everything already in advance (with the exception of the hotel in Rome).

 

Sorry if this seems lame, but we leave the US in 79 days and I am beginning to stress :confused:

 

Apply for and get a Capital One Credit Card, they do not charge fees on international transactions.

[rebeccalouiseagain]

First... you can change money in the international terminal in most US cities. The rates are very reasonable- if you get a certain amount and they will buy the unused bills back for a good rate. Check this out in the US terminal because when you get to Europe you are tired and it may be more confusing with the language barrier. I get the minimum that is required (about 200 Euros).

 

I take two credit cards with me. I write the 1-800- numbers for them in a separate place in case they get lost or stolen. I call both my credit card companies to let them know where I am going in Europe because they can be declined if you don't. I use my ATM card for cash as needed.

 

There is no reason to take wads of cash. You can't get back stolen money and even though I have only been pickpocketed once in Europe- it is a very real possiblity and that would make your vacation much worse than paying a service fee.

[rickdent]

Also consider transport costs, e.g. taxi, private transfer, and entry fees, tips, souvenirs. These things add up, and in many cases, the vendor will charge a premium to use a credit card(to offset the bank fee). This is in addition to whatever foreign transaction fee you might pay by using cc.. The little things add up! I'll admit to carrying a "wad of cash (Euros)" with me, having gotten them at my bank, and using ATM infrequently.

Rick

[Langoustine]

I also plan on trying to take with me all the Euros that I plan on spending while on my cruise instead of trying to stop at ATM's.

 

This is in MHO a huge mistake. You will pay more for the Euros here than you will by withdrawing them from an ATM in Europe using a debit card linked to your checking account. Bancomats (ATMs) are everywhere in Europe, just as they are here. As for the prices, if you go to the tourist-friendly restaurants with menus in 5 or 6 languages, you will spend a fortune for very mediocre food. If you go to places where the locals eat, it will be much cheaper and better. I've been doing this for over 40 years. Relax. Europe is much less foreign than you think.

[Nebr.cruiser]

I was exactly the same on our first cruise to Europe: tried to figure out how many Euros we would need, ordered them from our bank, pd. too big a fee, carried them on the ship, etc.

 

Once we found out how easy it is to use ATM's in Europe and how prevalent they are, we now confidently go with little or no Euros along, maybe just what small amount we had left over.

 

As to food prices, of course you can spend almost any amount; we just wanted simple meals and found sidewalk cafes in the 7-10 Euro pp range all over the place. Not gourmet, but perfectly fine for a pick-up meal. Beware drink prices though! In one place the pizza we had was only about 3 Euros, the bottle of water was 7 Euros! (We forgot to ask.)

 

We actually found one sidewalk cafe near our B&B that had no service charge and provided free water and decent food, so we ate there several times.

[sing]

This is great info! I doubt we will spend $150 either but this is a good point of reference for what I need to know.

 

We had no problem getting money out from ATMS - they were many many ATMS in Barcelona, Rome, Florence etc, and we had no trouble getting between 400 and 600 euros at a time.

 

We spent 4 days in Venice in May 2012 - we were pleasantly surprised by how inexpensive food was, especially for take-away (take-out). For example we regularly paid 1.6 euros for a cappucino, 1.5 euros for a huge slice of excellent pizza, 1.8 euros for a large beer (700 ml). Gelato in a cone was often between 1.5 to 3 for one very large scoop. Perfect for a family on the go. A sit-down meal is definitely more, but no more than twice that price in our experience. We only had light lunches, not a 3-course meal which we got plenty of on the ship.

 

In Rome and Florence the prices were not much different. Again talking about takeout - a ham and cheese panini right at the Uffizi cafeteria was only 5 euros each, and water 1.5 euros.

 

Sorry to confuse you further!

[chipmaster]

I'm a big believer in using credit card when you can. Get one like Capital One with no exchange fee. You get good rates for Euro conversion, fraud isn't your issue.

 

Euros, take what you think for pocket money like bottled water, small vendor purchase and private tours. Whatever else you run short there are ATMs at airport and in town. In general ATMs are the best exchange but everytime you use them you pay a little in both out of network fees and "their" exchange fee.

 

The last thing you want to do is end up with a lot of extra euros and than suck conversion fees both ways.

 

IMHO what I choose to take could and will be different than you depending on how our tour.

 

I say CC and ATM card and a couple hundred euros when you land is a good starting point, unless you are paying for private tours with Cash.

[D4]

...I take two credit cards with me. I write the 1-800- numbers for them in a separate place in case they get lost or stolen. I call both my credit card companies to let them know where I am going in Europe because they can be declined if you don't. I use my ATM card for cash as needed....

 

Be sure to bring the international phone numbers for your credit cards and ATMs also. The 800 numbers are for use within the USA.

 

I also recommend bringing multiple ATM cards. A bancomat in Greece once ate my card near the beginning of a cruise. Luckily we had other ATM cards with us.

 

I had an international cell phone with me and all my bank international contact information, but I went to the main desk on the Celebrity first. They were very nice and let me use their phone to call my bank which was great because I was on hold for long periods of time. They also let me send a fax to my bank for free.

[CathyCruises]

You are going to pay more in fees buying your euros before you leave than you will getting them in Europe! But you need to use a debit card, NOT withdraw cash from your credit card. You can even get a preloaded ATM card from home--this is way better than carrying all that cash around. There are ATMs everywhere--we have spent a ton of time in France, Italy and England and never ever had trouble finding one. You WILL spend more than you think you will--no question. Please do yourselves a big favor. Get a debit card if you don't have one, deposit at least $1000 in the account and use ATM's--and STOP STRESSING!! It is very simple and easy and not worth a minute's worry!

[luckybecky]

Apply for and get a Capital One Credit Card, they do not charge fees on international transactions.

 

You can also open a Capitol One checking account and get a debit card. This is what we did. Pull cash out of the ATMs as needed with no foreign transaction fee.

 

We are leaving in a few days. We did order some euros to get us started. I know everyone says to just use the ATMs, but I didn't feel comfortable landing in Spain with no cash at all. However, we will withdraw more as needed during the trip, rather than trying to carry large amounts of cash with us.

 

Have a great trip!

[Karennella]

You should take more than one credit card; our friends' card was swallowed last year in Rapallo by an ATM at 10pm one night. When we were in Sardinia we found we had to go to several ATMs before we found one that was compatible with our card.

We do take a wad of cash as off the beaten track, cash is often preferred in Italy. We use a credit card from a credit union not linked into our major accounts.

[ksps cruise fan]

Being a novice as traveling internationally, I am stressing about how much money we need to take with us. DH does not want to use the credit cards as he does not want the international fees that we will be assessed. So, can anyone help me ...

 

1. What are we looking at for an average meal cost in Rome? We are not into big fancy places. We are laid back and want to relax.

2. What is a good amount of euros to take with us? We plan on eating on the ship for 90% of all meals. We will have paid for most everything already in advance (with the exception of the hotel in Rome).

 

Sorry if this seems lame, but we leave the US in 79 days and I am beginning to stress :confused:

 

La Foccacia is a very delicious, very casual restaurant slightly north of the Piazza Navonna where my husband and I ate our least expensive meal in Rome. We shared a antipasto of octopus carpaccio (it wasn't really raw -- just sliced thinly like carpaccio) on top of arugula. Each of us ate a pizza, we drank a bottle of Merelino wine, and shared a dessert. Price: 50 Euro ($63)

 

This meal offers several strategies for keeping costs under control.

 

o Share courses: We like to eat a multi-course dinner because each course of an Italian meal has great appeal. We clearly can't eat full plates of each course, but we share several.

 

o Drink local: I've never heard of Merelino wine. I probably haven't heard of most of the wine my husband and I drank on this or any of our Italian trips. The local wines aren't the wines a serious wine enthusiast would order, but they are the wines to drink when when you simply want a nice glass of wine and want to be mindful of cost. The house wine is an example of this type of wine, but there are lots of bottles of wine that fit the description. Ask your waiter and trust his suggestions. Note: Most of the restaurants in Italy serve wine by the glass. Sometimes we ordered this way and sometimes the cost of a bottle was so low that we could leave some over without any guilt.

 

o Get away from busy locations: La Foccacia could not exist at those prices on the Piazza Navona itself. However, located two blocks away, opposite the Santa Maria della Pace church, the prices can be kept super low. Of course, you'll be eating on lightweight plastic chairs with little room between you and your neighbor, but that's what makes the low prices possible. (In colder weather -- or the mid-day sun -- the dining room is inside on the lower level in a room with an ancient wall. Very cool place in both senses of the word. I know because the last time I ate there was lunch in August and there was no way I'd eat outside in the direct sun.)

 

Other strategies: A pasta main course is always going to cost less than a meat or fish course. The Italians call their pasta/risotto course the primi and offer a meat/fish course to follow, but they'll happily serve you a meal in which pasta is the main course.

 

Our multi-course (non-pizza) dinners in Rome cost in the 80-100 Euro range ($100 -- $126).

 

We consider the meals in Italy to be part of the travel experience -- every bit as revealing of the country as a visit to the Forum/Vatican/Pantheon or any other destination.

 

Finally, my husband and I arrive in Europe with approximately 100 Euros. (We bring this home from earlier trips. This trip was kicked off by Euros we brought home from a previous trip and we're stocked with Euros for our 2013 trip. Some may shudder at the thought of having 100 Euros sitting in a drawer for a year or more, but the convenience makes this approach work for us.) We charge as much as we can while traveling because the issues of carrying cash are more stressful to us than the extra fees associated with charge purchases. We get any cash we need by using the ever-present ATM machines.

[AlwaysReadyToSail]

Does anyone know how well discover/diners club is accepted in Italy? I currently have a discover that has 0% international fees and is accepted anywhere diners club or discover is accepted but I didn't know if I needed to plan on having a backup with a low fee. I'm also looking for debit/ATM cards that have low fees so that I can withdraw some cash.

 

 

I know this is the wrong forum, but any suggestions on Turkey?

[cruisemom42]

Does anyone know how well discover/diners club is accepted in Italy? I currently have a discover that has 0% international fees and is accepted anywhere diners club or discover is accepted but I didn't know if I needed to plan on having a backup with a low fee. I'm also looking for debit/ATM cards that have low fees so that I can withdraw some cash.

 

 

I know this is the wrong forum, but any suggestions on Turkey?

 

Discover card is not well accepted internationally; I certainly wouldn't recommend taking it as your primary credit card. I don't have one, but I've read posts where others have described it as "fairly useless" in Europe.

[cruisemom42]

You should take more than one credit card; our friends' card was swallowed last year in Rapallo by an ATM at 10pm one night. When we were in Sardinia we found we had to go to several ATMs before we found one that was compatible with our card.

We do take a wad of cash as off the beaten track, cash is often preferred in Italy. We use a credit card from a credit union not linked into our major accounts.

 

I hope you meant to say debit card and not credit card!

 

I wouldn't ever recommend using a credit card to get cash from an ATM machine. Credit card companies consider this a cash advance and charge an astronomical interest fee starting from the moment of withdrawal (i.e., no grace period).

 

As for debit cards, I used to only travel with one (since I travel solo mostly, or with my son, I only had one!). Since I opened my Cap One direct banking, I now carry (and primarily use) that card while traveling, but I bring my regular card as a spare, after reading accounts like yours. Still have never had a problem, but I have a backup in case (left in my safe or kept in a hidden pocket, along with my spare credit card).