Check cashing at Guest Services

[joetop2467]

We will be traveling on the Sapphire Princess in South America on February 5. We have a couple of tours booked on our own what want to be paid in American money after the tour. We generally don’t like carrying large amounts of cash and in the past have been able to cash a check at Guest Services.  Does anyone have recent experience doing this and do they give you American money?  

[JF - retired RRT]

They would likely say...no. No way for them to verify the funds?

To be safe, plan on cash in your wallet and keep it in the safe. We've brought as much as $600 cash to pay for various private tours.

[tulok]

We take about 400. in $1, $5 &$10’s for various tips. Seems like we are always tipping someone on the trip. Then we don’t have to worry about small bills availability.

[joetop2467]

They have always cashed checks on other cruise lines. But that was usually in the Caribbean where they have been to US more recently. They have our credit card so they know we are good for the money. I’m more concerned about availability of US dollars and current policy. We have one tour that wants to be paid $400 in US cash and another that wants US cash of $270. 

[Cruise Raider]

I don’t believe they do but they do have ATM machines onboard.  
 

[memoak]

I don’t think I have written more than 5 checks in the past 3 years. I was going to ask what is a check

[CC Rider 69]

Can you still buy the casino cash vouchers? We did that in 2019, when we got to our room the vouchers were there. You take them, a form or ID to the casino window and get your cash.

[Bizziecruzer]

Load the required amount as OBC, then just withdraw from Casino as you need the cash.

[Potstech]

2 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

I don’t believe they do but they do have ATM machines onboard.  
 

If they work.

[coo359a2]

Never cashed a check at Guest Services but have cashed a travelers check at GS some years ago.

[Thrak]

2 hours ago, joetop2467 said:

They have always cashed checks on other cruise lines. But that was usually in the Caribbean where they have been to US more recently. They have our credit card so they know we are good for the money. I’m more concerned about availability of US dollars and current policy. We have one tour that wants to be paid $400 in US cash and another that wants US cash of $270. 

 

That's less than $700. I have no issue carrying that much cash. Six $100 bills and some smaller stuff would cover it. Not an issue to tuck into a wallet.

Edited January 21 by Thrak

[Tonsoffun44]

4 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

That's less than $700. I have no issue carrying that much cash. Six $100 bills and some smaller stuff would cover it. Not an issue to tuck into a wallet.

Split between two people makes it even easier to carry that much cash. 

[joetop2467]

We hardly ever use cash any more. I get nervous if I have over $80 in my wallet. 

[2 cruises a year]

28 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

That's less than $700. I have no issue carrying that much cash. Six $100 bills and some smaller stuff would cover it. Not an issue to tuck into a wallet.

Even some $50 dollar bills for the in between $100 amounts  as you suggested.  It is easier to round up to the $50, as a little extra tip rather than trying to get change.

[2 cruises a year]

7 minutes ago, joetop2467 said:

We hardly ever use cash any more. I get nervous if I have over $80 in my wallet. 

I don't think that the tour guide cares if you are nervous, he wants cash.  He is nervous that your credit card will be rejected.

[cr8tiv1]

Wow, I haven't dealt with a tour company that wanted that much in US cash.  Interesting.  

[cr8tiv1]

After thought.  Frontier sent me a new modem a couple of months ago but I never had time to set it up.  Would that "solve" the corruption problem?

 

Same other problem.  Set up new modem....change/reconnect all of my devices (Alexa/firestick, etc).

[milolii]

Maybe get a money belt and put the cash in the safe when you get to your room. You can get  what you need each day.  

 

Argentina is experiencing significant devaluation of its peso against the dollar.  The new President is evidently trying to stabilize the economy.   NCL is refusing to exchange money onboard the Star.  American Airlines stopped offering fares departing Buenos Aires in pesos.   I’m guess one or more of the  tours involve Argentina?  
 

In California, I’m seeing more businesses; and particularly state or local governments charge service fees for credit or debit cards.  Also some services, lawn care, housekeeping and pool maintenance take checks or cash.  So we write a few checks a month.  Even our dentist now charges a fee and discourages credit cards. 
 

[Thrak]

7 hours ago, joetop2467 said:

We hardly ever use cash any more. I get nervous if I have over $80 in my wallet. 

 

I currently have $87 dollars in my wallet. If one were to "dig" behind the credit card holder areas one would find two $100 bills, one $50 bill, and one $20 bill. This is my "backstash" money that is always in my wallet in case of emergencies. Granted, it's mostly ended up being mailed to my daughter when we were on the road somewhere and she had another of her (all too frequent) "emergencies" brought about by her own poor decisions. For most "real" emergencies a credit card would suffice but I still keep cash on hand "just in case". (I'm old...)

Edited January 22 by Thrak

[cr8tiv1]

I was in Taiwan when the US dollar was devalued.  Cash was worthless and in limbo for 48 hours.  No one wanted to take a chance and/or exchange the US dollar.  Most interesting travel time.

[capriccio]

When we did around South America in 2016/2017 we only used Princess tours on 1 or 2 of the IIRC 17 ports.  Almost all the other tour companies wanted US dollars and in exact change.  We split the money between us for travel to the ship.  Before we left home I had labeled an envelop with each tour vendor's name, date of tour, and price plus tip (taken from a spreadsheet I had made to determine how much money to bring).  We divided most of the cash into the vendor payment envelopes and each port day just took out the envelope for that day.  Took some planning but never had to worry about having the correct amount of cash.

[Cruise Raider]

15 hours ago, Potstech said:

If they work.

 I had no idea!  To this date, I’ve never used an ATM machine.  I don’t plan on starting now.  😂 
 

[EatonDoolittle]

42 minutes ago, capriccio said:

  Before we left home I had labeled an envelop with each tour vendor's name, date of tour, and price plus tip (taken from a spreadsheet I had made to determine how much money to bring).  We divided most of the cash into the vendor payment envelopes and each port day just took out the envelope for that day.  

 

This is exactly what I do. It works very well, both for convenience and with budgeting.  I also make sure I bring plenty of small bills with me for miscellaneous tips. 

It would never occur to me to use Guest Service agents as bank tellers.  

 

[JF - retired RRT]

14 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

After thought.  Frontier sent me a new modem a couple of months ago but I never had time to set it up.  Would that "solve" the corruption problem?

 

Same other problem.  Set up new modem....change/reconnect all of my devices (Alexa/firestick, etc).

@cr8tiv1 oops! Different thread, but that may be what the problem is.

[Potstech]

1 hour ago, Cruise Raider said:

 I had no idea!  To this date, I’ve never used an ATM machine.  I don’t plan on starting now.  😂 
 

Tried to get some cash recently and both ATM machines on the ship did not work.  GS said they had been inoperative for a few weeks.