American Express Travelers Cheque Card

[clem&donna]

Yesterday when I went to the Foreign Exchange (Money) office here in Las Vegas, I was told that my AMEX CHEQUE CARD would not be readily accepted, as would VISA CREDIT CARDS. I would like to know if this is true and if anyone has had this experience. My wife and I are doing a back to back BALTIC/Scandinavian cruise on HAL's Amsterdam. Then we will be flying to Amsterdam to board a Riverboat to cruise down the Rhine, Main, and Danube rivers into Budapest, Hungary. Would appreciate any feedback about this subject.

 

Clem and Donna

[Globaliser]

I don't know exactly where you're thinking of using them, but a Visa credit card will be very widely accepted all over Europe. Many shops will not take American Express because they charge merchants much higher fees, and it's possible that there could be additional issues with the Amex TCC even with the merchants that will take Amex. However, if you're armed with a Visa credit card you should be fine.

[clem&donna]

Thanks for the info about American Express Travel Card, and American Express in general. I have VISA cards, so I should be OK.

 

Clem and Donna

[mycruz]

We had no problems anywhere with our Visa. However, in St Petersburg we went to pay for our tour with RO and they did not accept our Amex.

[Sue G]

Hi Clem & Donna

We travel to Germany and Holland all time and have never really had any problems with using Visa although one place in Holland the shop only took Mastercard not Visa.

We always carry Visa and Mastercard - there have been occasions when for some unexplained reason one card won't work but the other does.

 

We did a Rhine/Moselle cruise a few years ago starting in Cologne to Cochem and back to Cologne - it is a lovely way to see the country so if you want any info on this part of the journey we go to that area quite a bit - so any questions you may have we will try and answer.

[clem&donna]

I want to thank you for your input. I applied for and got an AMEX TRAVEL FUNDS CARD and front loaded it with $1500 then I started hearing that the area where we will be traveling, American Express is not readily acceptable. I have decided to withdraw the funds back out and will be using my VISA

[clem&donna]

We are coming into the port of Dover on the Ms Amsterdam, and would like to

ask you if it would be worth our while to go into London, since we have such a short time (10 Hrs)? Or would our time be better spent staying in Dover for the day? If going into London, what is the best way to get there?

 

Clem and Donna

[Globaliser]

My personal view: No. It'll basically take you a couple of hours to get to London and a couple of hours to get back again, which wastes about half your day (because a 10 hour stay doesn't mean you get 10 hours ashore).

 

There are plenty of things to see in and around Dover. The castle is a top attraction. Canterbury is another option if you don't like the sound of Dover itself - the train there takes between 15 and 30 minutes, depending on which one you get.

 

If you go over to the Britain forum, there are quite a few threads about Dover and its sights.