Euros available from front desk in Europe?

[sapper1]

As a matter of fact, .... :D

 

European chocolate is the best in the world.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Your best rate is still to use an in port ATM, but the purser will have Euros and, possibly, other local currencies (especially if its a port that ship frequently visits).

But some ATM cards charge a fee Like HSBC

[RuthC]

See you onboard soon, Ruth. Am packing the BBC version of Frozen Planet if you still want to borrow and watch.

 

Laura

Thanks, Laura. Yes, I am very interested in watching it some time. But if you end up needing the space in your suitcase, and have to remove it, I understand.

I'm on Lower Promenade, so am probably very convenient to you.

[twodogmom]

Thank you all who replied regarding Travelers Cheques.

 

I wanted to come back and report success and a bit of additional information I learned regarding Travelers Cheques and Bank of America.

 

I spoke with no less than 5 individuals at my local branch on different occasions. All said BofA no longer sells Travelers Cheques and has not for the past 2 years. In checking BofA's website, it gives a tab titled "Travelers Cheques" but the content on the webpage is all about purchase of foreign money. When I contacted BofA via chat, I was told they DO sell the TCs via that webpage when you are logged into your account.

 

Well, I found that if you put in US as the currency you want to buy, the option to purchase Travelers Cheques becomes available. My TCs arrived at my local branch bundled with my foreign currency. It would have been nice if the website explained that! {and if the employees knew it also}.

 

And several of the options offered locally by the AMEX site only sell the cards, not Travelers Cheques.

 

~TC

 

I know last year I tried to get TC, finally called Robo Bank, and they had them, if you had an account at no charge. I hope they still carry them. If not I'll go through B of A, thanks for the info on going on line. I know they used to not charge for TC, do they now?

 

For Euros I found I could get a better exchange rate going through Merrill Lynch. Not sure whether the funds were taken out of my Merrill or B of A account. It was very smooth process, I just called my broker and told him what I needed. They were delivered to my local B of A branch within a couple of days.

[TiogaCruiser]

I know last year I tried to get TC, finally called Robo Bank, and they had them, if you had an account at no charge. I hope they still carry them. If not I'll go through B of A, thanks for the info on going on line. I know they used to not charge for TC, do they now?

 

 

I was not charged for the travelers cheques. I was charged for the foreign currency. I found a $10 credit on the same date ( with no transactions for several days around it) so I don't know what that was about and I think a boo boo. I'll follow up this week.

[GeezLouise1]

While it may be possible to purchase Euro from the front desk, Turkish Lira were not available in September of '12. We saw that larger shops did sometimes accept credit cards, but the smaller shops required local currency. Although our tour guide did request payment in USD, it would not have been possible possible to buy tram passes, etc. in Istanbul without the local currency. We purchased TL before we left home, this transaction took about a week because we just required a small amount. In Istanbul, we noticed an ATM just around the corner from the ship's port, at the start of the Galeta Bridge.