Question about credit card choices

[riversights]

We'll soon be joining the Nautica at Stockholm for our voyage of the Baltic and North Sea states.  Have you had good experience with particular credit cards in this region?  We are hoping to use Discover and American Express in addition to Visa and Master Card.  Your experience will provide valuable insights.  Thank you!

[gnome12]

35 minutes ago, riversights said:

We'll soon be joining the Nautica at Stockholm for our voyage of the Baltic and North Sea states.  Have you had good experience with particular credit cards in this region?  We are hoping to use Discover and American Express in addition to Visa and Master Card.  Your experience will provide valuable insights.  Thank you!

Not from personal experience, but I think that you will find Discover and American Express generally not accepted in Europe. Visa and Mastercard are accepted in most places. 

[CruiserBruce]

Agree with @gnome12, Discover and American Express are not going to be widely accepted, if at. MC and Visa are the way to go. There have been a few threads on the topic. 

[hallasm]

Yes, Visa and Mastercard.

Suggest contactless card/ chip:pin. 
Many small vendor terminals cannot read magnetic stribe. 
ApplePay on your mobile is widely accepted. 

[riversights]

Thank you for all of these knowledgeable replies.  You are the cognoscenti.  We are informed and made wiser!  These details made seem trivial to frequent cruisers, but being occasional voyagers, we must ask the question.

[gnome12]

6 hours ago, riversights said:

Thank you for all of these knowledgeable replies.  You are the cognoscenti.  We are informed and made wiser!  These details made seem trivial to frequent cruisers, but being occasional voyagers, we must ask the question.

If you don’t have one and have time to apply, a credit card with no foreign transaction fees is a really good idea for international travel. 

[riversights]

Do you know of any cards without these foreign transaction fees?  (I'm wondering about cards with no annual fee.)  Thank you for pitching in on this.

[Sarnia 432]

We use Wise - a multi currency debit card, works through the Visa system, gives us great flexibility.  DH and I have separate accounts, his “holds” the money and stays in the safe on the ship.  We transfer the daily “spending money” to my card which we take ashore (limiting any potential loss to what is on my card only).  Very easy to transfer funds between accounts, using the phone if we need more when we are out.  
 

https://wise.com 

Edited June 29 by Sarnia 432

[gnome12]

1 hour ago, riversights said:

Do you know of any cards without these foreign transaction fees?  (I'm wondering about cards with no annual fee.)  Thank you for pitching in on this.

I’m in Canada so can’t advise, but there should be some fee-free cards available where you are. 

[riversights]

These replies have been helpful in thinking through the matter of credit card use.  You have given us confidence!

[ontheweb]

I don't think anyone takes Discover. American Express is often not accepted, but larger museums for instance may. Visa and Master Card are generally accepted

 

And many places will not take cash including the local currency!

[gnome12]

I was in Oslo for 4 days, then a 2 week cruise all in Norway except I disembarked in Copenhagen yesterday. I am on the second of 4 days here. I have not changed any money, nor have I had any need for cash anywhere. 

[Joanne G.]

On 6/28/2024 at 11:56 PM, riversights said:

Do you know of any cards without these foreign transaction fees?  (I'm wondering about cards with no annual fee.)  Thank you for pitching in on this.

Capital One offers cards with no foreign transaction fees. 

[CruiserBruce]

47 minutes ago, Joanne G. said:

Capital One offers cards with no foreign transaction fees. 

Many issuers do. We have a Chase card and an USAA card that don't charge any foreign transaction fees.

 

No annual fee is an entirely different proposition, much rarer, but our USAA card doesn't charge an annual fee.

[riversights]

Thank you for these leads!  We'll check out Capital One and Chase, and other issuers.  You have provided short cuts.  Very helpful indeed.

[Thunderbird19]

I believe Costco credit card also has no forgein transaction fee.

[marys350]

We have a Capital One Quicksilver card with no annual fees, no foreign transaction fees, and 1.5% cash back on purchases.

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

On 6/30/2024 at 2:46 PM, Thunderbird19 said:

I believe Costco credit card also has no forgein transaction fee.

Correct, we don't have one but our neighbors use their Costco card all the time.  We have used both USAA and Well Fargo debit cards loaded into our Apple wallet with no issue.  AMEX only seems to be taken at major hotels.  

[CCJack]

one other credit card travel tip... we usually make sure I only carry 1 or 2 cards and my wife carries different 1 or 2 cards.  We  make sure we don't carry a card the other one has.  In this way if we lose a bag or wallet, one of us will have a card that has not been lost or compromised.

[ericosmith]

11 hours ago, CCJack said:

one other credit card travel tip... we usually make sure I only carry 1 or 2 cards and my wife carries different 1 or 2 cards.  We  make sure we don't carry a card the other one has.  In this way if we lose a bag or wallet, one of us will have a card that has not been lost or compromised.

I do the same although to be truthful I just spent 3 weeks in Europe and I don't think I ever pulled out a card (well maybe once or twice in for a sit down meal).  I paid with my watch or my phone everywhere.  

[Langoustine]

Discover is useless in Europe. Merchants hate AMEX because their transaction fees are higher than VISA or MasterCard.

[NightOne]

Went to London, Paris, and Norway with the expectation that American Express would not be widely accepted there. However, my experience was not that. I don't think a single place in London or Paris did not accept Amex. In Norway I would say approximately 1 in 5 did not accept American Express. 

 

Bring a Visa/Mastercard as a backup but you may find Amex is accepted in more places than you think.

[9265359]

On 8/12/2024 at 5:10 PM, CCJack said:

one other credit card travel tip... we usually make sure I only carry 1 or 2 cards and my wife carries different 1 or 2 cards.  We  make sure we don't carry a card the other one has.  In this way if we lose a bag or wallet, one of us will have a card that has not been lost or compromised.

 

Or just make contactless payments using your phone and leave the physical cards in the cabin safe.

 

On 9/4/2024 at 9:50 PM, NightOne said:

I don't think a single place in London or Paris did not accept Amex.

 

If you went back ten or twenty years things were very different, but Amex has made a big push for businesses in the UK and most places take it now - however never ever ask whether they take Amex as my experience is that if the staff member doesn't know then they just say 'no'. Instead just touch the card / phone to the screen and see if it works, and if not then just swap to a Visa/Mastercard instead.

[John Bull]

You've had some great advice on this thread 🙂.

 

As others have said, Amex & D/C aren't widely accepted anywhere in Europe other than in large cities. And I'd never heard of Discover.

Where places accept cards, it's a given that they accept both Visa & Mastercard.

 

Yes, absolutely get a card that carries no foreign transaction fees.

But do check what currency your card is being charged in, or your purchases will prove more expensive than you though and that no-foreign-currency-charges card will be a waste of your time......

 

Some outlets will ask if you want your card charged in USD "for your convenience" 🙄.

Decline that kind offer - always but always keep the transaction in local currency, because your card issuer will always give you the best exchange rate.

 

 Some outlets' card reader will give you a choice of local currency or your card's currency. Always but always select local currency.

Same applies to ATM withdrawals

 

But a big problem worldwide is that less-scrupulous outlets will present their card-reader with the charge already in your card's currency - and probably at a horrendous exchange rate. So before you sign, swipe, PIN or whatever, check the sum displayed. If it's not in local currency, insist that they change it to local currency before you approve it.  That also ensures that you've been charged what it says on the menu, price-sticker etc.

 

Same applies to any other foreign travel, and to your ship's on-board account if ship's currency isn't the same as your card's. Always but always keep to local (or ship's) currency

 

We use one card just for foreign travel. Makes it easier to figure what our trip has cost.

 

As @ontheweb posted, most places in Norway don't accept cash. We struggled to use up the Norwegian kroner that we'd bought !!

We reckon it always wise to have some local jingle in our pockets, but we won't bother if/when we return to Norway (and possibly Sweden)

 

JB 🙂

[gnome12]

1 hour ago, John Bull said:

You've had some great advice on this thread 🙂.

 

As others have said, Amex & D/C aren't widely accepted anywhere in Europe other than in large cities. And I'd never heard of Discover.

Where places accept cards, it's a given that they accept both Visa & Mastercard.

 

Yes, absolutely get a card that carries no foreign transaction fees.

But do check what currency your card is being charged in, or your purchases will prove more expensive than you though and that no-foreign-currency-charges card will be a waste of your time......

 

Some outlets will ask if you want your card charged in USD "for your convenience" 🙄.

Decline that kind offer - always but always keep the transaction in local currency, because your card issuer will always give you the best exchange rate.

 

 Some outlets' card reader will give you a choice of local currency or your card's currency. Always but always select local currency.

Same applies to ATM withdrawals

 

But a big problem worldwide is that less-scrupulous outlets will present their card-reader with the charge already in your card's currency - and probably at a horrendous exchange rate. So before you sign, swipe, PIN or whatever, check the sum displayed. If it's not in local currency, insist that they change it to local currency before you approve it.  That also ensures that you've been charged what it says on the menu, price-sticker etc.

 

Same applies to any other foreign travel, and to your ship's on-board account if ship's currency isn't the same as your card's. Always but always keep to local (or ship's) currency

 

We use one card just for foreign travel. Makes it easier to figure what our trip has cost.

 

As @ontheweb posted, most places in Norway don't accept cash. We struggled to use up the Norwegian kroner that we'd bought !!

We reckon it always wise to have some local jingle in our pockets, but we won't bother if/when we return to Norway (and possibly Sweden)

 

JB 🙂

I spent 2 1/2 weeks in Norway (4 days on my own before a Norwegian cruise). I never got any local currency, and I didn't miss it. I then spent 4 days in Copenhagen on my own; again never used or missed local currency.