Currency while in Halifax and St. J

[tinykygal]

We will be on our 2nd Canada/NE cruise in September.  

We had no idea 20 years ago that we might need to consider Canadian currency.

Our plans are to take our excursions that are booked and walk around the charming communities, perhaps having a local beverage or a snack/lunch, shirt.

Do I need to order Canadian currency for these 2 ports?

Thank you.

[d9704011]

4 minutes ago, tinykygal said:

We will be on our 2nd Canada/NE cruise in September.  

We had no idea 20 years ago that we might need to consider Canadian currency.

Our plans are to take our excursions that are booked and walk around the charming communities, perhaps having a local beverage or a snack/lunch, shirt.

Do I need to order Canadian currency for these 2 ports?

Thank you.

If you think you'll be stopping for lunch and a beer and maybe a shirt, you'll be fine with a credit card.  Otherwise, Canadian currency.

[shipgeeks]

We got our Canadian currency at Guest Services on the ship. There is a fee, but it was convenient, and now we have what we want for our usual small purchases.

[tinykygal]

Did Guest Services exchange back for you?  

I don't want to bring home $ that I may not use again.

Thank you.

[Nitemare]

Guest services is convenient but won't give a competitive exchange rate.  They may or may not change back, it depends on if they will be doing another Canada cruise and expect to use the funds again.  You will lose $$ again on the exchange back.

 

Credit/Debit cards are going to cover most or all of your needs and you will get a much better exchange rate, even if your card charges fees for International transactions.

[LHT28]

If you find some Canadians on your cruise  I am sure they would exchange your  USD at par  😉

 

[shipgeeks]

2 hours ago, tinykygal said:

Did Guest Services exchange back for you?  

I don't want to bring home $ that I may not use again.

Thank you.

I haven't tried; I just keep our loonies and toonies in a drawer at home for our next trip. It's an itinerary that we like to repeat every year!

[GTJ]

1 hour ago, shipgeeks said:

I just keep our loonies and toonies in a drawer at home for our next trip.

Not much else to do otherwise: no one will take coins in exchange. Besides, one would not ordinarily have more than about 5.00 CAD in coins.

[BklynBoy8]

We were advised and used our Credit Cards and the CC bank on the next bill converts the value from Canadian to US currency.

 

You will see many vendors shy away using US money.

 

That is why we don't search for exchanging currencies.

[lissie]

4 hours ago, shipgeeks said:

I haven't tried; I just keep our loonies and toonies in a drawer at home for our next trip. It's an itinerary that we like to repeat every year!

I doubt they would change coins - mostly once you are out of a country the coins are souvenirs 

[TMLAalum]

If the cruise following yours is also a NE/Canada itinerary, leave your Canadian change for your room attendant.

[shipgeeks]

On 5/15/2023 at 5:30 PM, lissie said:

I doubt they would change coins - mostly once you are out of a country the coins are souvenirs 

Once I have them, I keep them for the next trip there.  

[neeuqdrazil]

On 5/15/2023 at 3:10 PM, GTJ said:

Not much else to do otherwise: no one will take coins in exchange. Besides, one would not ordinarily have more than about 5.00 CAD in coins.

 

With Canadian currency, you can very easily end up with significantly more than $5 in coins - I've thought I had no money in my wallet, then gone into the coin pocket and discovered $20 in loonies and twonies ($1 and $2 coins). 

 

One suggestion that I've seen, if you're a Starbucks consumer, is to swing by a Starbucks (if available) and put your remaining foreign currency on a gift card. The gift cards can be loaded into the app, and they are useable at (almost) all Starbucks, regardless of the currency put on them initially. (I'm not sure about the exchange rate, but if it's a choice between carrying home currency you're never going to use, and using it, it's almost moot.)  

[GTJ]

6 hours ago, neeuqdrazil said:

I've thought I had no money in my wallet, then gone into the coin pocket and discovered $20 in loonies and twonies ($1 and $2 coins).

And no holes in your pockets carrying that many coins?! I am attentive to the coins I carry, and in the United States I rarely have more than 1.00 USD in my pocket (and rarely more than four pennies), for I always try to use the loose coins when making a purchase. The only exception is if I am making a lengthy trip using local transit buses that require only coins in the farebox, in which case I will obtain a supply of coins in advance of such travel. Perhaps some Americans are not facile with using Canadian coins, so they're always paying with paper notes, and with the lowest value note being 5.00 CAD, one could fill pockets quite a bit if never using those loonies and twonies.

[neeuqdrazil]

9 hours ago, GTJ said:

And no holes in your pockets carrying that many coins?! I am attentive to the coins I carry, and in the United States I rarely have more than 1.00 USD in my pocket (and rarely more than four pennies), for I always try to use the loose coins when making a purchase. The only exception is if I am making a lengthy trip using local transit buses that require only coins in the farebox, in which case I will obtain a supply of coins in advance of such travel. Perhaps some Americans are not facile with using Canadian coins, so they're always paying with paper notes, and with the lowest value note being 5.00 CAD, one could fill pockets quite a bit if never using those loonies and twonies.

 

We've been using $1 and $2 coins for almost 3 decades now, so most Canadians have gotten into the habit of either using them each day, or emptying their pockets in the evening. Many businesses will also be quite happy to exchange bills for coins (if you've got $10+ in loonies and twonies, most convenience stores will be happy to give you bills in exchange for them.) And for those of us living in buildings with cash laundry (or who rely on laundromats), it's always good to have a stash. 

 

We also have gotten rid of pennies for cash purchases - your cash purchase is always rounded up or down to the nearest $0.05, which does reduce the number of coins overall. (Card purchases are still to the penny.) 

[marci22]

Use a credit card without a foreign transaction fee. The exchange is automatically done by your bank.

[mets123]

Keep in mind that the smaller vendors will accept US currency but give you change in Canadian without the exchange rate. You take a big hit on that.