Tahiti - Cook Islands - Marquesas Islands

[madaroch]

Going to do two 10 day back to backs at Christmas this year 2006. Need to know what kind of money is best to have and use. Anybody have suggestions? Anybody else out there doing the December 17 or 27 cruise?

[JLC@SD]

Going to do two 10 day back to backs at Christmas this year 2006. Need to know what kind of money is best to have and use. Anybody have suggestions? Anybody else out there doing the December 17 or 27 cruise?

We did this exact B2B and all we used were US$$$$$$.

[merrilyanne]

I would like to go to the Cook and Marquesas Islands and Bora Bora. May I ask what cruise line you are going with, as it seems there are not many cruises with that itinerary. I have already done Singapore, Asia and Thailand, so would just like to do the South Pacific Islands.

[Toto2Kansas]

I would like to go to the Cook and Marquesas Islands and Bora Bora. May I ask what cruise line you are going with, as it seems there are not many cruises with that itinerary. I have already done Singapore, Asia and Thailand, so would just like to do the South Pacific Islands.

 

Princess message board=Tahitian Princess for Tahiti. Yep, Princess is the one for the South Pacific. Check out www.princess.com for info and prices.

[stuandme]

There is already a "RollCall" for the December 17th cruise on Tahitian Princess, visiting Tahiti and the Cook Islands. Look for Roll Calls on this website. There you will find much information that has already been researched, and meet up with some "fellow cruisers". See you there...

Michelle "stuandme"

[kobecat]

I think as you are doing 20 days of cruising you are better to use the local currency. They will always take US$$ but will round it out very much in their favour. Take some money out of your ATM and you won't be sorry. Just check the fees your bank charges. We found if we used our Visa Account as a savings account, putting money in before we left and had the account in credit, it only cost $4 per transaction; therefore take out quite a bit in one transaction right at the beginning. Use your credit card for larger transactions and you can't go wrong!

 

Enjoy - fantastic part of the world.

[Lynnees]

I think as you are doing 20 days of cruising you are better to use the local currency. They will always take US$$ but will round it out very much in their favour. Take some money out of your ATM and you won't be sorry. Just check the fees your bank charges. We found if we used our Visa Account as a savings account, putting money in before we left and had the account in credit, it only cost $4 per transaction; therefore take out quite a bit in one transaction right at the beginning. Use your credit card for larger transactions and you can't go wrong!

 

Enjoy - fantastic part of the world.

 

We used US dollars only and certainly did not find ourselves being cheated in anyway. As a matter of fact, we did better using the US dollar. We had taken a bit of local currency that we got before we left, but certainly didn't need to.

 

The only place you will need other currency is the New Zealand island which requires it's own money.

 

Everyone on the islands will give you prices in US dollars first and local currency second.

 

$4 per transaction is too expensive when you don't need it.

[cmdchiefthom]

madaroch,

 

Check out the roll call for the 27. Looking forward to meeting you.;)

[madaroch]

Very much appreciate the information and I am going to go and check out the roll call. I had hoped to take just US$, even that can be a pain sometimes as a Canadian but maybe just taking a little extra out at an ATM isn't a bad idea either

[dog]

We are from Ont. We took U.S. money, but changed a little to Tahiti money at the LAX ATM just past security ( very poor rate ). We stayed a few days pre cruise in Tahiti and were glad we had a little of their currency upon arrival.

We used U.S. $ and our credit cards everywhere else without any problems, ( even in Rarotonga ).

[Verde]

You are going to have a wonderful time! I suggest that you get a little local money and use credit cards for the rest. I still have about $150 in French Polynesian Money that I can't get changed...no major problem... it provides a great excuse fo going back!

[irislady]

We just got back last week from a TP cruise to Tahiti and the Cook Islands. I know you'll love the islands. We felt Princess saved the best for last with Bora Bora and Moorea. We used mostly US dollars everywhere, but did exchange some for FP money on the ship which made it a little easier to shop at some of the smaller stalls on the islands since once or twice we found that the vendors couldn't (wouldn't?) make change for a US $20. All the stalls we visited were strictly cash only, and some of the stores had a minimum for using your credit card. I think it was 2,000 XPF. It was our experience that the exchange rate varied from vendor to vendor. For example on a 1000 XPF souvenir one vendor would say $10 US, another $11 and yet another would say $12. The only time we felt ripped off was by the taxi driver who took us from the airport to the Sheraton Tahiti. I can't remember exactly what he told us the fare was in XPF, but when we asked how many US dollars it was $38 US which was higher than we had calculated. On the other hand, the taxi driver who took us from the hotel to the ship gave us a US dollar price that was much cheaper than XPF.

 

Shae