Currency of tips onboard

Heading out soon for Australia then a cruise around New Zealand.

I am bringing very little local currency ($50 USD for each country) as my plan is to charge everything.

At the end of the cruise we usually like to give cash tips to the crew for exceptional service. Can I give them USD or should I get extra NZD for that?

The Sun Princess is booked thru Princess Australia so the onboard currency is the AUD dollar. In addition the fares may include what US cruisers know as the autotip. You cannot opt out as it is part of the fare, not an add-on.

Tips that you would give to onboard personnel will be appreciated and most useful if offered in AUD dollars.

Please verify this thru more official channels than posting on CC.

They’ll take anything.

We just returned from a cruise to New Zealand from Sydney on Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Seas and used USD for our extra cash tips on the cruise ship.

This is the first trip where we did not exchange USD for any foreign currency, as we prepaid all of our tours in advance (and points for our Sydney hotel) and did just fine with using our credit card (with no foreign conversion fee).

The only time we had an issue was at a local outdoor farmer's market if a vendor would not take a credit card.

Was happy not to take the hit on the exchange, both in buying and then selling. We felt our credit card company did a great job on the exchange rate.

Have a fantastic vacation.