Exchanging money onboard

[waterbabyfish]

Is princess still offering this service to get euros for dollars, just need a little walking around money.

[Lady Arwen]

Yes, they do but their exchange rate is extremely unfavourable to you.  Better to locate an ATM in town and get it there.

[ChattTenn]

Princess used to have a machine for you to exchange money (do it yourself) as other said it was not a good exchange however it is for the convenient.

[MustangGT]

We second hitting an ATM. It’s been our go-to plan for years.

[chrysalis]

42 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

Yes, they do but their exchange rate is extremely unfavourable to you.  Better to locate an ATM in town and get it there.

in the past year or so, we have been told a couple of times at the Guest Services Desk that they don't do that any more...so it might be hit and miss. I certainly wouldn't count on it.

[Thrak]

8 minutes ago, MustangGT said:

We second hitting an ATM. It’s been our go-to plan for years.

 

Nice if you can use a debit card. If you use a credit card to withdraw cash be prepared for charges.

[PacnGoNow]

4 minutes ago, chrysalis said:

in the past year or so, we have been told a couple of times at the Guest Services Desk that they don't do that any more...so it might be hit and miss. I certainly wouldn't count on it.

They did it on our last cruise (Nov/Dec) in the South Pacific, but they did say they had a limited amount of currency.  It was shown in the patter.  So, I think you’re right. It’s iffy.
 

[PacnGoNow]

2 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

Nice if you can use a debit card. If you use a credit card to withdraw cash be prepared for charges.

Definitely use a debit. That alerts your bank that you are in a foreign country.  
 

Make sure to notify your bank you’re traveling overseas, and which credit cards or debit card you will be taking with you.  Some do not require notice. But, others, if you do not notify, they may think it’s fraudulent. So, good to notify them.

[jeromep]

I agree with hitting a local ATM to get local currency. 

 

37 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

Definitely use a debit. That alerts your bank that you are in a foreign country.  
 

Make sure to notify your bank you’re traveling overseas, and which credit cards or debit card you will be taking with you.  Some do not require notice. But, others, if you do not notify, they may think it’s fraudulent. So, good to notify them.

 

I was going to give the same advice.  Depending on your bank, there are peculiarities and variability in how every bank handles debit card operations and transaction processing.   Providing your bank a travel notice is a must, and you need to do so long enough before your total vacation for them to place those dates in the system.  Most fraud monitoring systems on card processing networks are using a form of AI to make decisions about the legitimacy of each transaction.  Those systems take into account if there is a travel notice.  Some banks only want to know that you are traveling and a range of dates so that the system can stand down the fraud protections.  Some banks need to know all the countries you will be in because their system only stands down fraud protections for specific locations of card use.  Some banks have hard policies against card transactions in certain countries, typically countries which are on a U.S. black list of some sort and countries which harbor fraudsters and financial criminals.  A travel notice will not remove the block on transactions from these countries, and an institution is within its rights to not unblock for any customer countries they consider blacklisted, either by law, or due to unusual financial crime risk.

 

You will want to have a thorough talk with your bank about the travel notice, what it will allow while you are traveling and what limitations you can expect.

 

It is also important to note what your daily ATM transaction limits are for your card.  Those limits are enforced in USD.  Since the Euro trades higher than USD, plus any fees for the exchange, you need to have a high enough limit in USD to accommodate what you are withdrawing in Euros.

 

Time of day can also have an impact on international debit card and credit card transactions.  Most banks have downtime each evening on their various computer systems to accommodate regular maintenance and overnight data processing.  During this period there are "stand-in" transaction limits, which are usually very low, to allow some debit card transaction processing when the host computer is unable to tell the card network the actual available balance in the subject account.  If you are trying to use an ATM and it is late night or early morning in the U.S., you may be attempting to transact during the "stand-in" period and a large value cash withdrawal might be rejected.  You may want to ask your bank about their "stand-in" card limits when data processing systems are down overnight so you are aware of how much headroom you have when you may be transacting when the U.S. is asleep.

[PacnGoNow]

3 minutes ago, jeromep said:

I agree with hitting a local ATM to get local currency. 

 

 

I was going to give the same advice.  Depending on your bank, there are peculiarities and variability in how every bank handles debit card operations and transaction processing.   Providing your bank a travel notice is a must, and you need to do so long enough before your total vacation for them to place those dates in the system.  Most fraud monitoring systems on card processing networks are using a form of AI to make decisions about the legitimacy of each transaction.  Those systems take into account if there is a travel notice.  Some banks only want to know that you are traveling and a range of dates so that the system can stand down the fraud protections.  Some banks need to know all the countries you will be in because their system only stands down fraud protections for specific locations of card use.  Some banks have hard policies against card transactions in certain countries, typically countries which are on a U.S. black list of some sort and countries which harbor fraudsters and financial criminals.  A travel notice will not remove the block on transactions from these countries, and an institution is within its rights to not unblock for any customer countries they consider blacklisted, either by law, or due to unusual financial crime risk.

 

You will want to have a thorough talk with your bank about the travel notice, what it will allow while you are traveling and what limitations you can expect.

 

It is also important to note what your daily ATM transaction limits are for your card.  Those limits are enforced in USD.  Since the Euro trades higher than USD, plus any fees for the exchange, you need to have a high enough limit in USD to accommodate what you are withdrawing in Euros.

 

Time of day can also have an impact on international debit card and credit card transactions.  Most banks have downtime each evening on their various computer systems to accommodate regular maintenance and overnight data processing.  During this period there are "stand-in" transaction limits, which are usually very low, to allow some debit card transaction processing when the host computer is unable to tell the card network the actual available balance in the subject account.  If you are trying to use an ATM and it is late night or early morning in the U.S., you may be attempting to transact during the "stand-in" period and a large value cash withdrawal might be rejected.  You may want to ask your bank about their "stand-in" card limits when data processing systems are down overnight so you are aware of how much headroom you have when you may be transacting when the U.S. is asleep.

Excellent advise.  We do not carry a lot of   Cash.  Just enough for tips, walking around cash. There are some small places that only take local currency and not credit cards.  Sometimes it will be the taxi’s that only accepts cash. Just depends.

 

We prefer to use a credit card, if possible, in the local currency, due to better rates of conversion. 
 

You sound like a banker. 💰 


 

 

[Lady Arwen]

I understand that things are different with US banks and Canadian and European banks.  In Canada and Europe we use a chip and PIN system for all debit card and credit card transactions. My two Canadian banks do not require prior notice to travel anywhere in the world, because with no PIN, no transaction.  European banks are the same, so it’s very easy for us  to withdraw money from an ATM at any time of day.  

We also share the “tap and go” system with Europe.  No need to key in PIN.  Just tap the icon and it’s done.  This applies to transactions under a preset amount of cash or credit, prearranged by the customer and their bank.  The customer is not responsible for any fraudulent transactions.  

 

I’ve heard that US banks and credit card companies are working to catch up with this technology, so you may be able to do this in the US in the near future,

[DCThunder]

11 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

I’ve heard that US banks and credit card companies are working to catch up with this technology, so you may be able to do this in the US in the near future,

Believe it or not, all large American banks (and a great many smaller ones too) have been converting to chip and pin/tap systems on credit and debit cards.

[Lady Arwen]

1 minute ago, DCThunder said:

Believe it or not, all large American banks (and a great many smaller ones too) have been converting to chip and pin/tap systems on credit and debit cards.

Great!  Good to know.

[ChangeOrder]

You can go to your local bank a couple weeks ahead of time and order foreign currency. My bank charges a tiny admin fee for it, and I have the comfort of having my "walking around cash" already handled before I go. Other than that, I have a debit card from a bank with favorable foreign transactions, just in case I want to pull more cash out.

 

You're never going to get good exchange rates at the airport or on ship. Regular old ATMs in port are much better.

[MustangGT]

6 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Nice if you can use a debit card. If you use a credit card to withdraw cash be prepared for charges.

True - I should have mentioned that!  Thanks!

[waterbabyfish]

I was hoping to avoid getting a debit card!