Exchanging dollars for Euros

[BillK400]

Will be leaving later this week for the 14 day w. med cruise on the Jade. I was wondering whats the best method to exchange dollars for Euros? I wouldn't think I would get a good deal here at my bank in Atlanta (or would I?), would it be best to wait till we go to our first port or does the ship exchange euros for dollars? Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks.

[chrisbd1]

The ships will exchange dollars for Euros. You can also do it at the airport or at ports you visit. As for the best rate? I have no idea. It is painful, though.

[stunnedinva]

The ships will exchange dollars for Euros. You can also do it at the airport or at ports you visit. As for the best rate? I have no idea. It is painful, though.

 

Wherever you do your currency exchange, you might want to be armed with the actual rates, so you'll be able to see how much of a mark-up they're using. Try www.oanda.com.

[chrisbd1]

With the dollar so weak, it may be a bit before I have to exchange some for Euros.

[raudacruise]

Beleive it or not the ship probably is your best bet. The cambio's or exchange bureaus charge about 12%. The only other good option is to find out if your credit card issuer is affiliated with a bank in Europe and use their ATM. No matter what you are going to get dinged so try to use as little cash as possible.

[smeyer418]

Beleive it or not the ship probably is your best bet. The cambio's or exchange bureaus charge about 12%. The only other good option is to find out if your credit card issuer is affiliated with a bank in Europe and use their ATM. No matter what you are going to get dinged so try to use as little cash as possible.

the ships tend to be the worst including the cambios in my experience. Any ATM where you use your ATM card(not a credit card-the one attached to your bank account) will give you Euros in a Euro country at the wholesale rate for banks with about a 1-3% charge. Your bank in the US can probable do the same with about a 5.00 fee for the exchange. Airport exchanges are among the worst since they have to pay for the airport spot(high rent) and ships just are almost always the worst with fees and porr exchange rates.

You need a 4 digit code as most overseas banks only use 4 and you need to know the numbers not the letters of your code......

[Giorgi-one]

The ships will exchange dollars for Euros. You can also do it at the airport or at ports you visit. As for the best rate? I have no idea. It is painful, though.

 

The ships will not exchange dollars for Euros. I think best way is to get them from your bank. You will not get the exchange rate you see on the internet - this is only for large money transactions. I paid about 5% premium which is about what you will pay using ATMs etc. However, some people on our cruise had problems using ATMs. One less thing to worry about.

[missty1405]

We just went ahead and got it here. Glad we did, didn't have to worry about stopping anywhere. The days are so busy It was nice to pull out of the safe what we needed each day. We did go to the ship cashier a few times to breaik our bigger euros down to smaller billls.

 

missty

[lambs2]

We worked hard on this question before our first trip overseas and I will share my research.

 

An ATM debit card used at a bank operated ATM in Europe will give you the best possible exchange rate, but you need to have the right card and know in advance exactly what charges you will incur.

 

This web site will give you the best information on exchange rate and fees for many cards:

 

http://flyerguide.com/wiki/index.php/Credit/Debit/ATM_Cards_and_Foreign_Exchange

 

Also, don't just take my word on this, read what Rick Steve's advises:

 

http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/tips/moneytip.htm

 

On our Med cruise last year we got all our Euros from ATM's using our Paypal debit card which we pre-loaded with funds before our trip. We also called to tell them the exact dates we would be out of the country. We took our Bank of America card as back-up, but found no "partner" banks in Italy and the fee per use was $5., so never had to use it. Our best exhange rate, with absolutely no extra fees, was to use our Capital One credit card - for CHARGE items ONLY (never to get Euros). Ask to be charged in the local currency as you will get a better rate than having the merchant do the "exchange" for you.

[raudacruise]

the ships tend to be the worst including the cambios in my experience. Any ATM where you use your ATM card(not a credit card-the one attached to your bank account) will give you Euros in a Euro country at the wholesale rate for banks with about a 1-3% charge. Your bank in the US can probable do the same with about a 5.00 fee for the exchange. Airport exchanges are among the worst since they have to pay for the airport spot(high rent) and ships just are almost always the worst with fees and porr exchange rates.

You need a 4 digit code as most overseas banks only use 4 and you need to know the numbers not the letters of your code......

As you said - your experience. On celebrity the ships bank had very good exchange rates - don't know about NCL.

 

We did a lot of checking prior to our cruise out of Barcelona on getting Euros in the US. Everything stank. We tried our bank, AAA, you name it.

 

The exchanges at airports are exhorbitant as you noted but so are the ones you first see in ports.

 

And yes, you do need a 4 digit numeric code.

 

There has been a lot of discussion of this on a lot of boards and frankly you are going to hosed on the exchange pretty much whatever you do :( . Use credit cards for purchases as much as possible. And if you are purchasing anything expensive (about 100 euro+) in the EU try to get VAT refund receipts at the place you purchased things - don't even try to use your receipts later to claim a VAT refund.

[Doeymeister]

Has anyone tried using traveler's checks in various currencies? I see on the Bank of America website that I can purchase them at no charge, and, I assume, be able to cash them at the Pursor's prior to each port. I'm wondering if I'm still going to pay a conversion charge to BOA just as if I was exchanging dollars for each currency.

[davejohn]

Has anyone tried using traveler's checks in various currencies? I see on the Bank of America website that I can purchase them at no charge, and, I assume, be able to cash them at the Pursor's prior to each port. I'm wondering if I'm still going to pay a conversion charge to BOA just as if I was exchanging dollars for each currency.

 

We used T/C's in euros to pay for our private tours in Rome and Naples. We were also able to cash them at the purser's desk on the Gem.

[BillK400]

Thanks for all you help and insight. Wasn't loking for alot of euro's, just enough for small purchases where a credit card can not be used.

[smeyer418]

As you said - your experience. On celebrity the ships bank had very good exchange rates - don't know about NCL.

 

We did a lot of checking prior to our cruise out of Barcelona on getting Euros in the US. Everything stank. We tried our bank, AAA, you name it.

 

The exchanges at airports are exhorbitant as you noted but so are the ones you first see in ports.

 

And yes, you do need a 4 digit numeric code.

 

There has been a lot of discussion of this on a lot of boards and frankly you are going to hosed on the exchange pretty much whatever you do :( . Use credit cards for purchases as much as possible. And if you are purchasing anything expensive (about 100 euro+) in the EU try to get VAT refund receipts at the place you purchased things - don't even try to use your receipts later to claim a VAT refund.

 

 

the worst I ever saw on a ship was on Cunard. Not only was it a poor rate but they charged an exorbitant fee for a small transaction.

[roboref]

NCL charges a $5 dollar service fee to exchange USD and the local currency, and the rate was between the rate we got on an ATM card and the airport rates.

 

The best exchange is through ATM's that are within your network (Cirrus, Star, pulse, Plus, Co-op) to name a few.

 

Several times on the Baltic cruise had to resort to NCL purser's desk due to needing money for trai, bus or cab and ATM unavailability.

 

A good hint here is make some friends and have one exchange money at the desk and split the service fee. Example, 5 CC members each put in $20 and paid $1 service but it was enough to get us into town to an ATM.

 

However, ATM's are plentiful throughout Europe.

[chasetf]

Thanks for all you help and insight. Wasn't loking for alot of euro's, just enough for small purchases where a credit card can not be used.

Go with the ATM. That is the easiest and most convenient. Plus the cheapest. They are all over Europe.... even in the airports.

[Caroldoll]

not too expensive, if you have a Platinum Card and I know there is no charge with a Centurion card.

[lincslass64]

Change your money into euros ,at Travelex either@the port or the airport ,you do get a gate rate of exchange there, you actually can order it onlin to be picked up at the airport or port.

[kodos]

We used T/C's in euros to pay for our private tours in Rome and Naples. We were also able to cash them at the purser's desk on the Gem.

 

Really? That makes me a little mad. We went the T/C in Euro route as well. Two of our three private tours took them no problem but one did not. I figured no problem the ship says they cash T/C's so I will just do that. The Gem would not cash them. I asked for the supervisor, nope. I asked for the manager, nope. I said I would pay a fee, nope.

 

I ended up cashing them at the Amex office in Rome which is at the Spanish steps so it was no big deal but I was going to post about the T/C in euro issue and no there is conflicting info.

[davejohn]

Really? That makes me a little mad. We went the T/C in Euro route as well. Two of our three private tours took them no problem but one did not. I figured no problem the ship says they cash T/C's so I will just do that. The Gem would not cash them. I asked for the supervisor, nope. I asked for the manager, nope. I said I would pay a fee, nope.

 

I ended up cashing them at the Amex office in Rome which is at the Spanish steps so it was no big deal but I was going to post about the T/C in euro issue and no there is conflicting info.

 

When did you sail? We sailed last October.

 

We made sure the tour company (RomeInLimo) took T/C's before purchasing them. No problem with them.

 

We cashed T/C's at the purser's desk twice. The first time there was no problem. The second time they wanted a $5 fee to cash a 100 euro check. I told the clerk there was no charge last time, but he insisted it was their policy, so I had to run back to the room to get $5. After we got back from our tour there was a phone message waiting, it was the clerk apologizing for the mix-up and asked me to stop by the desk to get my $5 back.

 

We only tried cashing the checks because we had extras, when we originally bought them we planned on taking the tours ourself and later we added people through the roll call so it was cheaper per person. I wouldn't take T/C's as a main source of cash, I'd use ATM's.

 

I've heard that ships sometimes run out of cash on longer cruises, I wonder if this is what happened to you. But it would have been easier for them to tell you that.

[kodos]

When did you sail? We sailed last October.

 

We made sure the tour company (RomeInLimo) took T/C's before purchasing them. No problem with them.

 

We cashed T/C's at the purser's desk twice. The first time there was no problem. The second time they wanted a $5 fee to cash a 100 euro check. I told the clerk there was no charge last time, but he insisted it was their policy, so I had to run back to the room to get $5. After we got back from our tour there was a phone message waiting, it was the clerk apologizing for the mix-up and asked me to stop by the desk to get my $5 back.

 

We only tried cashing the checks because we had extras, when we originally bought them we planned on taking the tours ourself and later we added people through the roll call so it was cheaper per person. I wouldn't take T/C's as a main source of cash, I'd use ATM's.

 

I've heard that ships sometimes run out of cash on longer cruises, I wonder if this is what happened to you. But it would have been easier for them to tell you that.

 

We sailed May 25th. I agree that ATM's are the way to go. I asked for email verification from each tour operator about the T/C's so I knew I had to pay one in cash before hand. They weren't out of money on the ship since they were willing to change dollars for Euros and to cash T/C's in dollars. I posted a very positive review of the cruise so this really was not a big deal to me I just wanted to warn people. The sign at the purser's desk said we cash T/C's and did not specify a currency nor did my pre-cruise info packet so if it is a policy it should spell out "dollars only".