Euros - where to buy

[Obie]

We're doing a transatlantic and then Med Cruise soon. Where is the best place to buy Euros? Here, at a bank, on the ship, or off the ship in our first port, Barcelona.

 

We're having our first rain since Oct 18th. Almost 2 inches in our rain guage. This has nothing to do with cruising, but I needed to tell someone.

 

Thanks

[nparmelee]

Many folks will tell you the best rate is at the ATM's. My bank has told me that with a weeks planning, I can buy them from them and they will charge me no fees, so we're going to do that with them and use the ATMs as needed for additional euros.

[Meribeth]

If you want to get euros before your trip, I've used My Travel Wallet -- google it for the web address. You order what you want online and they overnight it to you. I think if you get $750 worth of money, there's no shipping charges. If you don't care about having it before you get there, I'd use an ATM/Debit card. Sometimes you have to try a few before you find one that will work with your card. Make sure you have a 4 digit pin. European ATM machines only take 4 digits.

[ClaudiaF]

I usually get some before going from America Express..then ATM or from ship as needed.

[Lightpackers]

Our experience has been that unquestionably the best rate to be had is from an ATM machine. Having said that, you should use your bank ATM card, not a credit card, since use of the credit card would result in a cash advance and interest being charged. Be sure that the pIN number on your ATM card is four digits and it cannot start with a "0". And in addition, take as much money in Euros as you think you will ultimately need since banks (Wells Fargo in our case) will charge by the transaction and not the amount. We keep any left over Euros for our next trip. As a further suggestion, we notify our bank as what countries we will be visiting, as well as our credit card company. This avoids having a hold put on purchases, etc.

 

Buying Euros in the US or on the ship is not a good idea, and you don't need them on the ship. Wait until you get Europe.

 

We also got a welcome rain here in Marana, AZ.

[drwong]

If you're a Citibank Gold member or American Express Platinum card holder, the branch manager can arrange to have a bundle of Euros pre-ordered for you, without any service charges.

 

For smaller amounts, some AAA Travel Offices offer small packs of Euros which are enough to cover your first day's expenses until you can find a bank or ATM.