Currency Exchange

[sabrefan]

Going on the Regal in August and was wondering if the ship has an ability to exchange U.S. dollars for Euros and British Pounds?

[cr8tiv1]

The Customer Service desk has no way to exchange US dollars for foreign currency.  Even their ATM is in US dollars.

 

They do have the ability to break down very large foreign/US bills but does not carry coins.  

 

I have not done this....but wondering if crew would be willing to swap out tips in foreign currency for US dollars.  

[Doug R.]

Use ATM at the port is your best bet for a better exchange rate. Using a card with no foreign transaction fees helps also.

Edited July 18, 2023 by Doug R.

[pompeii]

The only ship I’ve been on that exchanged dollars for euros at passenger services was the Enchanted TA this past March.  Other than that, I’ve never seen it so I wouldn’t count on it. 
 

My best suggestion is to open a checking account that has no foreign transaction fees and doesn’t charge for using an out of network ATM, like Schwab. My Schwab debit card has worked perfectly everywhere I’ve been.  

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, sabrefan said:

Going on the Regal in August and was wondering if the ship has an ability to exchange U.S. dollars for Euros and British Pounds?

You don't want to do that if you can because the exchange rate will be horrendous.

 

I get supplied at home before travel and take some cash with me.  Have both EUR and GBP bank accounts as well (no fees).  Prefer to use credit card with no foreign surcharges and keep cash requirements to a minimum.  Most cash I bring is already pre-planned to pay private tour providers for arranged tours.

[Jadn13]

⬆️⬆️ This 

[Thrak]

Cruising Australia/New Zealand this fall. Should be no problem getting AUD onboard as everything on an Australia cruise is charged in AUD. Pretty sure the exchange rate would be poor though. We use credit cards for pretty much everything but have run into instances where either Mexican Pesos or Euros were required. Ran into an instance in Canada where they wouldn't take Canadian money or a credit card. Zipped back to the ship for USD. Thought it was pretty "odd" they wouldn't take CAD when we were in Victoria.

[Guest ldtr]

1 hour ago, pompeii said:

The only ship I’ve been on that exchanged dollars for euros at passenger services was the Enchanted TA this past March.  Other than that, I’ve never seen it so I wouldn’t count on it. 
 

My best suggestion is to open a checking account that has no foreign transaction fees and doesn’t charge for using an out of network ATM, like Schwab. My Schwab debit card has worked perfectly everywhere I’ve been.  

I also use Schwab for international ATM withdrawals.

[Rick&Jeannie]

2 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

The Customer Service desk has no way to exchange US dollars for foreign currency.  Even their ATM is in US dollars.

 

They do have the ability to break down very large foreign/US bills but does not carry coins.  

 

I have not done this....but wondering if crew would be willing to swap out tips in foreign currency for US dollars.  

This surprises me.  While I've not tried to do an exchange on Princess, I *have* exchanged at guest services on NCL...US to Euros in the Med.  I just assumed that it was the same on Princess...especially if the itinerary is away from the US.

[sabrefan]

Thank you all for the replies. I have bought foreign currency from my local Chase bank. Since I don’t care to buy too much foreign money I was just interested if this was an option on Princess. Have been cruising with Viking recently and there is no foreign currency exchange on board.

[memoak]

We have found that by using bank ATM with out informationUS bank cards that we get pretty good exchange rates   We avoid the exchange booths at airports

[Steelers36]

GS will break bills for you, but only so much at a time as they only have so many small bills available and want to be fair to guests.  I was able to break some Euros and USD periodically last Fall.  

[Ombud]

There used to be an ATM on the Diamond Princess on Deck 4. Yes crew deck. Where I could've exchanged ¥ for $ but there was a 6% surcharge so I just went to a bank in Kagoshima

 

(It was 2017. I mistakenly took out $450 worth from a 7-11 ATM in Aomori when I meant to take out $50 worth. Oops)

[Tedferg]

17 hours ago, memoak said:

We have found that by using bank ATM with out informationUS bank cards that we get pretty good exchange rates   We avoid the exchange booths at airports

We used Tap Credit card even for a public toilet. We did get local money to tip our tour driver, in other cases we tipped in US$ but ran out of cash. The ATM we used in a small Scottish village had $10 - 15 fee for the transaction.

[Rick&Jeannie]

1 hour ago, Tedferg said:

 We did get local money to tip our tour driver...

That is my main concern...being able to tip tour operators or drivers in their local currency.  While I'm sure they would never refuse to "take" US dollars, I just prefer to make it as easy and painless on them as possible.

[Hello, Newman]

On 7/18/2023 at 2:32 PM, cr8tiv1 said:

The Customer Service desk has no way to exchange US dollars for foreign currency.  Even their ATM is in US dollars.

 

They do have the ability to break down very large foreign/US bills but does not carry coins.  

 

I have not done this....but wondering if crew would be willing to swap out tips in foreign currency for US dollars.  

Princess absolutely DOES provide this service.  On our recent transatlantic cruise on the Enchanted Princess we stopped by Guest Services and exchanged a few hundred US dollars to Euros.  

[Tedferg]

On 7/19/2023 at 12:00 PM, Rick&Jeannie said:

That is my main concern...being able to tip tour operators or drivers in their local currency.  While I'm sure they would never refuse to "take" US dollars, I just prefer to make it as easy and painless on them as possible.

Agreed, but we were using British Pounds, then Euro, then Pounds again and finally Euro again. So it was hard to juggle cash.

[Steelers36]

On 7/20/2023 at 4:04 PM, Hello, Newman said:

Princess absolutely DOES provide this service.  On our recent transatlantic cruise on the Enchanted Princess we stopped by Guest Services and exchanged a few hundred US dollars to Euros.  

Ouch on the exchange rate, though.

[cruisequeen4ever]

We used to be able to exchange money in European cruises pre-pandemic, but this month’s cruise, we were not able to. There was no machine onboard like they used to have, and Guest Services was out of Euros.

[Steelers36]

7 minutes ago, cruisequeen4ever said:

We used to be able to exchange money in European cruises pre-pandemic, but this month’s cruise, we were not able to. There was no machine onboard like they used to have, and Guest Services was out of Euros.

Out every day???  I would never elect to exchange currency on the ship, but I did break some bills a number of times last October.  They were out of certain denominations one day, but I was informed they would have more in a day or two (forget exact answer).

[memoak]

On 7/21/2023 at 4:09 PM, Steelers36 said:

Ouch on the exchange rate, though.

That is why we try to get the minimum we know we will need at our local bank and then use ATM’s if needed