Currency

My wife and I are sailing from Sydney to Fiji and Neumea etc, I was wondering what currency we would be best taking for shore excursions,in the ports, obviously Australian dollars for Sydney but what would be best for Fiji and the other ports.

I would suggest:

1) your credit card

2) the ship will carry local currency, if needed.

3) Most of the world takes US dollars (bills, not change) wherever there are tourists.

My wife and I are sailing from Sydney to Fiji and Neumea etc, I was wondering what currency we would be best taking for shore excursions,in the ports, obviously Australian dollars for Sydney but what would be best for Fiji and the other ports.

We have always used Australian dollars in all south pacific ports, except Noumea. Noumea will only accept their currency of French Pacific Francs, also known as XPF on conversion sites. Some of the smaller islands prob won't have credit card access. Islands like Isle de Pines, Mystery Island, Lifou, Vila etc. Vila is the cheapest spot by far to do any duty free shopping....even general souveniers. Noumea is very expensive.

If you need local currency in Noumea, there is an atm machine located at the 'Casino' supermarket, which will give you some XPF. This supermarket is opposite the main wharf (not the container wharf), facing the city turn right. Can't miss it. btw it is not a casino. All the shops within the main wharf building take aussie dollars, and also credit cards. This is also the best place to find your cheap excursions for Noumea.

For the smaller islands, take small notes, as you will be given all change in their currency. They do not accept coins, as their banks will not change back for them. We usually take $5 and $10 aussie notes. Fiji also accepts aussie notes.

Realise you are English, but seeing you are needing aussie dollars suggest to get extra for the South Pacific Islands (bar Noumea).

Thanks for your advice

It was so funny to read bobhsv's description of the Casino in Noumea -- my husband loads vacation photos for our screen saver, and as I was checking Cruise Critic a few minutes ago there was a photo of Noumea, with the Casino right in the middle of the photo, taken from our balcony while docked at the downtown terminal.

Last fall we did a transpacific which included several port calls in French Polynesia, so we obtained our French Pacific Francs while at those ports. That cruise (first leg of a B2B) ended in Sydney so we hit an ATM machine while on our turnaround day. The next cruise was a twelve night South Pacific cruise, which included Noumea (we had also stopped there on the TP), Champagne Bay, Mystery Island, Isle of Pines, and Luganville. Once we exhausted out supply of XPF we had no problems using Australian dollars.

Some tourist shops in Noumea will take AUD, and many of the smaller islands accept AUD as well but, naturally, the exchange rate is weighted heavily in their favour. ;)

In Noumea our first stop is the ATM at the Casino Supermarket, mentioned above, and in Fiji we also head for the nearest ATM to get some Fiji Dollars - although Fiji ATMs all seem to charge an extra fee for currency if you are not using a local card.