Carnival sunshine

[pf michael]

Going on sunshine June 16 can I exchange money to euros on board or best place to exchange

[jimbo5544]

Best to do it here before you leave (large commercial bank).

[wanderingjew]

Going on sunshine June 16 can I exchange money to euros on board or best place to exchange

ATM especially if your bank doesnt charge for foreign withdrawals

[Sargent_Schultz]

I get some Euros before I go and then get more at land based ATMs. NEVER the ATMs on the ship.

 

I don't recall seeing an exchange set up on Carnival Sunshine but they might have one or may add one. Exchanges rates on cruise ships is extremely poor.

[pcvtmom]

Going on sunshine June 16 can I exchange money to euros on board or best place to exchange

 

I'm on the same cruise. Check out our roll call!

We're taking some euros with us, and planning to use a no international fee credit card, whenever possible. I understand there are ATMs freely available in ports, but my bank said there would be up to 3 fees tacked on for using them. I guess it depends on your bank ATM card!

[D4]

We carry ATM cards for 2 different banks when we travel. Both banks refund any ATM fees, so it doesn't matter where we use them. The ATMs we've used in Europe (England, Greece, and Italy) haven't charged any fees, so the only fees we would have are ones that our banks charge to use an ATM that isn't theirs (but they refund those fees to us.)

 

Be sure to notify your banks and credit card companies before your trip of the countries you'll visit and the dates you'll be gone. Also bring the toll free and collect numbers for each card. On our first trip to Greece a few years ago, an ATM machine ate my card. The staff inside the bank did not have access to the machine to retrieve my card. Luckily I had planned ahead and we had multiple sources of money. I called the bank to cancel my ATM card.

 

You should ask your bank what the daily withdrawal limit and ask them to increase it if it's not high enough. Be aware that their daily limit is probably based on a USA time zone, so that might cause an issue if you withdraw money on consecutive days at the wrong times.

 

We bring enough euros for the first 24 hours so we don't have to deal with foreign ATMs when we're exhausted.

 

Hopefully you've already planned to carry your money, bank cards, and passports under your clothes so the pickpockets don't get them.

[Canclan]

I just asked this question! Thanks! I found my answer. To the bank I go tomorrow.

[Canclan]

I'm also on the 6/16 sailing. :)

[Essiesmom]

Please be careful to read the screens at the ATM machines. Some of the machines tell you you have so many seconds to retrieve you card/cash when it spits them out...If you are fumbling around and don't make the 20/30 second cutoff, it will eat them. EM

[ethereal65]

In the past in Europe, I have found it best to go to the exchange kiosks located around the cities. You can find them in souviner shops over just along heavy traffic areas around the cities. They don't charge a fee that banks or ATMs do and usually have the best exchange rates. We've even negotiated better rates with them. BoA charges a fee if money is taken out in a foreign currency (at least according to all the fine print and CS agents I have talked to when I notify them of my travel so they don't freeze my account for unusual activity) so I just take US dollars out and exchange in the country. You can do a search online to find locations via google maps.

 

Carnival also has a pursers office you can do this at on the boat.

[D4]

Please be careful to read the screens at the ATM machines. Some of the machines tell you you have so many seconds to retrieve you card/cash when it spits them out...If you are fumbling around and don't make the 20/30 second cutoff, it will eat them. EM

 

I agree they state that, but this is not the cause of why the ATM in Greece ate my card. In my situation, the machine did not spit enough of my card out for me to grab it; I would have needed tweezers. My first thought was that the machine had been tampered with, but the inside bank staff examined it and said the mechanism was ok. I called my bank and had them cancel my card.

[alpal1993]

We just ordered our Euros through our bank .They had to be ordered and sent Fed X so make sure you plan in enough time.They might also have a minimal amount that they will order for you.We leave tonight for Barcelona. So excited! First time to Europe/Western Med and first Carnival Cruise.

[EMMDM1]

We just ordered our Euros through our bank .They had to be ordered and sent Fed X so make sure you plan in enough time.They might also have a minimal amount that they will order for you.We leave tonight for Barcelona. So excited! First time to Europe/Western Med and first Carnival Cruise.

 

Have a wonderful time! Look forward to hearing about your trip.

[maitaiguy]

We were on Sunshine on May 5. They have a machine near Customer Service that will cough up Euros. I heard (but did not use this machine) that the exchange rate was not good. Use your judgment.

 

However, there is one problem we experienced in Florence. Make sure you use a SHORT password. The ATMs in Florence, at least, would only accept passwords that were six letters or digits long. We had 7 and it was a no go.

 

When we got back and talked to the bank the banker stated that we should have been told that we must have a six digit or less password. We were not told.

 

Before we left we established a new ATM account that is now our 'travel' account. We put some money in it specifically to be used on the trip so that if something went wrong, no one would have access to our regular account that was busy paying bills while we were gone the first half of the month.

 

Please use a short password. We heard from others that this was a problem in other ports, not just Florence. It just so happened that we wanted to get more Euros while in Florence.

 

One word of advice that we got from several of our friends that had been to Italy before. NEVER NEVER NEVER pass up an opportunity to try some gelato. You will have many options for gelato, just get a small cup or cone at each. BTW chocolate and lemon actually taste great together!

 

Anyway, thanks for letting me editorialize off topic. Now back to the question of exchanging euros.......

 

This was our first trip to Europe, who would have thought a 7 digit password would cause problems? I hate being a stupid American.:rolleyes: