Euro travelers checks

[dotshub]

This is our first time crusing in europe and wondering if we should buy euro travelers checks or just use cash. Hate to run around europe with lots of cash in hand. Any suggestions? We will be traveling in Germany for 2 weeks before we sail May 1st. Sure could use some help here. Thanks, Dot

[black forest]

Hi,

 

I am from Germany and I have never heard about Euro Traveller Cheques. Depending where you are, you can pay cash (most common here) or with Credit Card. VISA and Mastercard are the cards which are accepted mostly. You may get difficulties with AMEX and DINERS. We do have ATM machines at banks to get cash. You might get difficulties paying with Dollar Traveller Cheques, that is unsual, too. Does this help? I hate to travel with a lot of cash, too. But here I can pay with my bank account card almost everywhere.

[cruisinthemed]

When we cruised the Western Med, We had american travelers checks (that was how I chose to save for our cruise, I would buy a hundred everytime I went to the bank...so I wouldn't spend them) and cashed them onboard. We did buy some euros. We had a difficult time with ATM's...contact your financial institution. They are different in some countries. Visa & MC are accepted, the conversion was the hardest for me to get use to. Our dollar was really low at the time we were there.

[hubofhockey]

Use ATMs in Europe and get cash. It is hard to cash euro travelers cheques and they are expensive as well. I got a PayPal debit card and they don't charge fees for ATM use (as opposed to my home bank :mad:). We pick up enough in euros (cash) for the first couple of days of our trip. But, for the most part, we get euros in cash when we are in ports. We need it because we don't do ship tours and either do roll call excrsions with private vendors or just do the ports on our own.

 

Yikes, I just noticed all of your Caribbean cruises. Get ready for a totally different experience.

[CruzVinnieCruz]

We convert U.S. Dollars into Euros before we leave at the bank. That way we do not have to worry about the exchange rate or finding an ATM. On our cruise we did a lot of private excursions from the roll call and the last thing we wanted to worry about is getting the amount of Euros we would need from ATMs.

 

Vinnie

[kicia]

Don't take travelers' checks. A lot of places won't even take them anymore. Don't exchange money on the ship or use the ship's ATM because the prices are way too high. There are ATMs everywhere in Europe and easy to use. Make sure your pin is only four digits long and let your bank/credit card companies know you are leaving the country. We got some Euros from our bank before we left home the last time and that was a waste with the fees being so high. We just did a little and even that was too much.

 

We had to pay for our apartment rental in cash and we got Euros at the Paris airport ATM with no problem. We also got Euros (or whatever we needed) from ATMs all over Europe with ease.

 

Other than the apartment rentals and off ship shore excursions we used very little cash and just used credit cards everywhere.

 

It's easy and you don't have to carry a lot of cash.

[redskin80]

What we did was to make sure that our Visa/ATM card was good in Europe, made sure the bank knew we were traveling out of the country and the dates. we used the ATM's when we hit the ports. we found the exchange rate was the best at the ATM's and not what the ship offered. We also found that a lot of place gave you a discount if you used cash and not a credit card. WE traveled for 12 days and had no issues.

 

Good luck and have a great trip

[CruzVinnieCruz]

I would not use the ship to exchange money their rates are way to high. Our bank did not charge that much over the actual exchange rate and I just looked back at the spreadsheet for that cruise and we would have needed nearly 3800 euros from ATMs.

 

Vinnie

[hubofhockey]

Don't get euros in the US. Your rate will be higher than the ATM rates in Europe. The ATMs give you the actual rate. US banks bleed you. For more information, please go to the ports of call boards for Europe. It is explained well there.

[PhxRain]

This is our first time crusing in europe and wondering if we should buy euro travelers checks or just use cash. Hate to run around europe with lots of cash in hand. Any suggestions? We will be traveling in Germany for 2 weeks before we sail May 1st. Sure could use some help here. Thanks, Dot

 

Hi Dot!

 

We too are on the May 1 sailing of the Magic and we are going to do the ATM thing. If our bank can give us a deal, then we'll go that route too, but I'm not counting on it. From recent Europe cruisers on our roll call, we've been told that finding an ATM in the ports is not a problem anymore and the exchange rate most times is much better than going into a bank. Just let your bank or CC company know you'll be in Europe so they don't freeze up your card when you try to use it. We will be getting a few Euros before going to Venice for tips once there, but just some singles, maybe $20-30 worth, then hitting ATM's as we go.

 

If you haven't already, feel free to join us on the roll call for May 1, 2011 Magic sailing: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1124771

[luckycruzer]

and wait til it gets very low..june it was 1.19..when we were in Spain ect. But did order E's from bank . just a $10 USD chg for $2,000 worth of E's..we did days in Barcelona as well. Was careful w/cash also. 26 days on or 2 cruzes and landcation

[KFinTx]

Forget the traveler's checks. Use your ATM card from your bank or a credit card. You should let your bank & credit card companies know you are planning to go to Europe. If you want, ask your bank if you can set up a separate account to put your vacation money in. That way, if the card is lost or stolen, you won't lose everything in your main account. If they won't do that, then go to another bank or credit union, & open a "mad money" account there. :)

 

You'll get a better exchange rate at the ATM than you would using traveler's checks. Ideally, you should have some "walking around" money with you before you leave, but since this is your first time in Europe, you can either get some Euros from your bank at home or exchange them at the airport before you leave the US if you want Euros in your pocket before you get there.

 

Edited to add: you can get Euros at ATMS in the airport once you land, at least enough to get you where you are going. You can then use "holes in the wall" to get Euros as needed since the exchange rate at the airport might be worse than what you can get on the street. Many of these "holes" are now secured, letting in only one person at a time & locking the door. You can also use ATMs in bank lobbies, if the banks are open, so you're not standing there on the street with your wallet open, etc. Use the same common sense you use when getting money from ATMs in the US & you'll be fine.

[rkacruiser]

The only time I tried to use my Euro Travelers Checks was in Rome. No restaurant would take them and I could only cash them at a bank. My hotel would have cashed them, but the fee that they wanted was too high in my opinion.

 

Check with your bank about whether they charge a fee for obtaining foreign currency before you leave. My bank does not charge any fee and their exchange rate is competitive.

[StillPooh]

There are ATMs everywhere in Europe and easy to use. Make sure your pin is only four digits long and let your bank/credit card companies know you are leaving the country.

I am curious about the number of digits in the PIN. Ours is longer than 4 digits, and DH has used it on numerous trips to England and Germany without a problem. :confused:

[kicia]

Our pin is only 4 digits long so we've never had a problem. The advice to have a pin no longer than 4 digits came from other posts and from reading about travel in Europe but I don't have any first hand knowledge of this. Maybe it's not even true since you're using a longer one or maybe it's only true in certain countries.