Currency Question - Advice?

[Choinski]

I'm going on the Venice / Istanbul Nieuw Amsertam trip in May. We will be spending alot of time in Eurozone countries (Italy, Greece) but we will also be spending short periods in non-Euro countries (Croatia, Turkey)

 

What's the best strategy for currency exchange in these countries? Croatia in particular is the most interesting challenge. We're there for only 8 hours, most of the attractions and restaurants I'm researching do not appear to accept credit cards. I also don't want to be stuck with unexchangeable cash at the end of the day. (We get two and a half days in Turkey, so I'm not as concerned as I am about Croatia).

 

Does the ship offer exchanges?

[catl331]

Does the ship offer exchanges?

You can exchange money on the ship but the rates will not be great. You can exchange "left over" bills back to $US at the front desk after leaving a country, but no coins.

 

We were supposed to do the same itineray as you, but missed Split, so I can't tell you about money there. We were planning to get just a small amount from an ATM and return any excess at the front desk.

 

We got no Turkish Lira for either Istanbul or Kusadasi, and had no trouble using just the Euro we got from an ATM in Venice. IIRC we also used some $US in the Grand Bazaar. Of course all the stops in Greece took Euro.

[Harry1954]

We found Croatia to be problematic if one did not have local currency and we have been there many times. We generally buy a small amount from ATM with others on the ship and split it up so we each have pocket money. Credit Cards are accepted at some places, but that is less than 50% ..

 

Turkey we used credit card everywhere each time we went.

 

harry

[Host Hattie]

We used euros in Dubrovnik last Summer

[Arlendius]

The will accept euros in every store/cafe/etc, so no problem there.

 

The exchange rate will however be quite horrible (I can't remember the exact rate we got 2 years ago, but I think it was 6 kuna for 1 Euro, while the going rate should have been 7).

 

But for a 8 hour stop we didn't bother to exchange money, and for larger purchases we used a credit card (I got some waistcoats and cravats from the little store near the church, expensive but well worth the cost, they look amazing!).

 

Arlendius

[Gonzo70]

In Europe the best way for someone from U.S. to obtain currency is using a Capital One ATM card at an ATM machine. Most European ATM machines do not charge any fees, Capital One does not charge any transaction fees, and you end up receiving very close to the spot rate in the conversion of U.S. Dollars to the local currency. Capital One savings accounts also offer very competitive interest rates to boot. Also, Capital One credit cards charge no foreign transaction fee, so they are great to use when in Europe to pay for shopping, hotels, museum entrance fees etc.

[RuthC]

I took a HAL tour in Split, and was able to use Euro to purchase snacks. I seem to remember using Euro to make a purchase in Kusadasi, Turkey.

Both in Split, and in all the Turkish ports I was in (4 on two different cruises) I took HAL tours and used Euro to tip the guides. No tip was ever refused. ;)

[jtl513]

I took HAL tours and used Euro to tip the guides. No tip was ever refused. ;)

We took a private tour in Istanbul (arranged by another CCer) and the guide requested the we pay in Euro. He took us to a restaurant for lunch where we given menus with all the prices in Euro.

[cruisemom42]

In my experience, you need Turkish lira only if you plan to use public transportation (e.g., the tram in Istanbul) or if you are touring on your own and need to pay admission to certain sites (which will only accept lira). Most other places will willingly take euro (and somewhat less willingly, dollars) -- although I strongly agree with others that the rate of exchange is pretty unfavorable.

 

In Croatia it's similar, although I'd say there are a few more places that will not accept euro/dollars.

 

I find it easy enough to withdraw a small amount from a local ATM; just enough to see me through a day of small incidentals, tickets, etc.

[kazu]

We did take a bit of their currency to Dubrovnik, but could have used euros (the exchange would have been down a bit). You can get a bit at an ATM or from the ship most times, but, if you want the ease of not having to have other currencies, Dubrovnik seemed quite happy to take the euro.

[NMLady]

In Dubrovnik euro were accepted but the exchange rate wasn't as good as we would have gotten from a bank. However, it was much better than the rate offered on the ship.

[jtl513]

Dubrovnik seemed quite happy to take the euro.

Merchants in all tourist areas know if they don't take plastic or the kind of currency you have, they don't make the sale. We bought trinkets with $US at a kiosk at Catherine's Palace in Pushkin Russia. :)

[m steve]

Thru Travelwallet at my bank's web site. I am sure that they will be taken everywhere although our Turkist Guide wanted US$. I bet that the exchange would go up and it did.

[Softball20]

In Europe the best way for someone from U.S. to obtain currency is using a Capital One ATM card at an ATM machine. Most European ATM machines do not charge any fees, Capital One does not charge any transaction fees, and you end up receiving very close to the spot rate in the conversion of U.S. Dollars to the local currency. Capital One savings accounts also offer very competitive interest rates to boot. Also, Capital One credit cards charge no foreign transaction fee, so they are great to use when in Europe to pay for shopping, hotels, museum entrance fees etc.

 

Agreed on Capital One, but you will get charged transaction fees if you take your money as a cash advance at an ATM. We did not think that this was the case, but found out the hard way. When I called Capital One afterwards, they explained that it was a fee for using the cash advance feature. It is very true that Capital One is the only card out there (at least that I know of), that does not charge foreign transaction fees on purchases. For our daily supply of Euros, we opened a Capital One money market account and got the debit-type card that attached to that. We put our travel money in there, and then we got our Euros out of the ATMs in Europe as needed. There are no additional fees associated with this!

 

Back to the original question - I believe that we just exchanged a small amount in Dubrovnik so we had some pocket money for the day. In Turkey, we didn't exchange any - the vendors I dealt with were happy to take euros.