Med, Greece and Turkey cruise - are my credit cards going to work????

[jkgourmet]

We are leaving on a 21 day cruise that departs on Jan 8th. We are spending 5 days ahead of the cruise in Rome. The cruise goes to various ports in Italy, France, Monaco, Greece, Spain and Tunisia.

 

At a dinner party last night, someone mentioned these credit cards with chips in them, and told me that if my credit card did not have a chip, I would find that "most places" won't take it.

 

I called my main cc company (USAA) and I do not have a chipped card. It is too late to get us one now. I am going to call the other card companies, but expect the result to be the same.

 

Are we going to have BIG problems with this? We have debit cards, but I hate the idea of carry so much cash. . .

[johnql]

Here's a good article on using non-chip credit cards abroad:

 

http://www.bankrate.com/finance/credit-cards/will-your-credit-card-work-abroad-1.aspx

 

It looks like you might encounter some problems but it's not a given.

[gra2172]

Good post. I've been wondering this as well.

[Cubechick]

Here's a good article on using non-chip credit cards abroad:

 

http://www.bankrate.com/finance/credit-cards/will-your-credit-card-work-abroad-1.aspx

 

It looks like you might encounter some problems but it's not a given.

 

That article mirrors my experiences. In most circumstances you can still use your swipe card.

 

I was concerned on our recent trip to Norway as I had read that they are more strict about using chip and pin cards, but as long as I stuck to more "touristy" venues and not smaller shops, I was able to use my card without incident.

[voyager70]

I've never had any trouble using my credit cards in Europe. Just make sure you call your bank/banks before you go to inform them of your travel plans.

[Demonyte]

Here's a good article on using non-chip credit cards abroad:

 

http://www.bankrate.com/finance/credit-cards/will-your-credit-card-work-abroad-1.aspx

 

It looks like you might encounter some problems but it's not a given.

 

That info is already three years old and things here have changed rapidly since then - nowadays pretty much all cards in SEPA area are equipped with a chip (only 62% in the article) and hence cards without one are really rare occurances, also most terminals are updated to have chip-readers and therefore one might bump into a merchant not willing to take non-chip card as payment.

 

The second page on that article (tips on how to prepare) is pretty good though - although our Visa/Mastercard/Amex cards have always had only one PIN that goes everywhere, things might be different in US. Before my Amex had chip (about 2 years ago), I could use what was then called an "ATM PIN" to confirm the payment at gas stations here (only place where PIN could be used to pay before EMV came along). Now that Amex cards issued in SEPA area also have the chip, the "ATM" part was dropped from the name and the exact same PIN is used with POS terminals in grocery stores etc.

Edited December 30, 2013 by Demonyte

[johnql]

That info is already three years old and things here have changed rapidly since then - nowadays pretty much all cards in SEPA area are equipped with a chip (only 62% in the article) and hence cards without one are really rare occurances, also most terminals are updated to have chip-readers and therefore one might bump into a merchant not willing to take non-chip card as payment.

 

The second page on that article (tips on how to prepare) is pretty good though - although our Visa/Mastercard/Amex cards have always had only one PIN that goes everywhere, things might be different in US. Before my Amex had chip (about 2 years ago), I could use what was then called an "ATM PIN" to confirm the payment at gas stations here (only place where PIN could be used to pay before EMV came along). Now that Amex cards issued in SEPA area also have the chip, the "ATM" part was dropped from the name and the exact same PIN is used with POS terminals in grocery stores etc.

Sorry, I missed the date of the article. But despite what you point out (which I don't deny), common sense tells me that if we're talking about tourist destinations, the OP still should not encounter too many problems. American tourists do represent a significant segment of the European tourist industry, so I doubt if most merchants in these destinations would, as a rule, reject all non-chipped credit cards. That wouldn't make much business sense to me. If I were the OP, I wouldn't worry too much but I would be prepared with some local currency available as a back-up. Or even travelers checks - do people still use those and do merchants still accept them?

[Cloudyrain]

Sorry, I missed the date of the article. But despite what you point out (which I don't deny), common sense tells me that if we're talking about tourist destinations, the OP still should not encounter too many problems. American tourists do represent a significant segment of the European tourist industry, so I doubt if most merchants in these destinations would, as a rule, reject all non-chipped credit cards. That wouldn't make much business sense to me. If I were the OP, I wouldn't worry too much but I would be prepared with some local currency available as a back-up. Or even travelers checks - do people still use those and do merchants still accept them?

 

Just remember that most tourists are from Europe where all new cards are chip and pin. New style chip and pin machines only accept chipped cards - these machines are a lot cheaper for merchants to have compared to the old style payment machines. This has resulted in a massive increase in card machines now in things like taxis and small shops. That being said, merchants that have kept their old machines (who are also generally being ripped off for having these) will still accept signature and card payment, as will most larger chain stores.

 

However, it's always a good idea to carry local currency as a lot of places don't accept any kind of card payment: especially museums, cathedrals, and other sites of interesting (including Pompeii etc). Also, be careful with Amex - they are often not accepted (we have one and have this problem a lot in anywhere other than large chains).

[johnql]

Just remember that most tourists are from Europe where all new cards are chip and pin. New style chip and pin machines only accept chipped cards - these machines are a lot cheaper for merchants to have compared to the old style payment machines. This has resulted in a massive increase in card machines now in things like taxis and small shops. That being said, merchants that have kept their old machines (who are also generally being ripped off for having these) will still accept signature and card payment, as will most larger chain stores.

 

However, it's always a good idea to carry local currency as a lot of places don't accept any kind of card payment: especially museums, cathedrals, and other sites of interesting (including Pompeii etc). Also, be careful with Amex - they are often not accepted (we have one and have this problem a lot in anywhere other than large chains).

Understood. I agree that it should be a concern. I just don't think it's a universal problem as long as you stay on the beaten path - at least not yet. As chipped cards become more readily available here in the U.S., it will become much more of a problem for Americans.

[xenagurl]

I've been nearly all of those places and haven't had any issues with vendors in the recent or distant past. I did have an ATMs not take my card in Spain and Morocco, but I looked for a different bank and was able to pull money out of my account.

[jdvmd]

We are leaving on a 21 day cruise that departs on Jan 8th. We are spending 5 days ahead of the cruise in Rome. The cruise goes to various ports in Italy, France, Monaco, Greece, Spain and Tunisia.

 

At a dinner party last night, someone mentioned these credit cards with chips in them, and told me that if my credit card did not have a chip, I would find that "most places" won't take it.

 

I called my main cc company (USAA) and I do not have a chipped card. It is too late to get us one now. I am going to call the other card companies, but expect the result to be the same.

 

Are we going to have BIG problems with this? We have debit cards, but I hate the idea of carry so much cash. . .

We've never had a problem with them. I tell whomever is swiping the card that there is no chip or pin. They seem to understand and run it a different way.

[jkgourmet]

We've never had a problem with them. I tell whomever is swiping the card that there is no chip or pin. They seem to understand and run it a different way.

 

This is EXACTLY what our credit card companies and bank told us on the phone today. If the merchant doesn't want to take our non-chipped card, we'll just go elsewhere. Too late to get a chipped card for this trip.

 

And we always carry cash, using the ATM to get it.

 

thanks for the helpful links and suggestions!

[em-sk]

This is EXACTLY what our credit card companies and bank told us on the phone today. If the merchant doesn't want to take our non-chipped card, we'll just go elsewhere. Too late to get a chipped card for this trip.

 

And we always carry cash, using the ATM to get it.

 

thanks for the helpful links and suggestions!

 

Canada transitioned to the Chip + PIN system over the last couple of years. During the transition I still had an an older card without the chip. The main problem I had during the transition back then when traveling in Europe were train ticket vending machines. I had to go and purchase the ticket from a ticket agent and they would need to do something special to make the credit card work.

 

As a Canadian traveling in the US I always have the problem of gas stations requiring a zip code to authenticate the card. We don't have numeric zip codes in Canada. In some cities it takes some work to convince the gas station attendant to hold on to your card while you fill your tank and then manually process your card.

 

It would be good if Visa and Master Card standardized theirs systems a bit more across different countries.

Edited January 1, 2014 by em-sk

[Sauer-kraut]

As a Canadian traveling in the US I always have the problem of gas stations requiring a zip code to authenticate the card. We don't have numeric zip codes in Canada. In some cities it takes some work to convince the gas station attendant to hold on to your card while you fill your tank and then manually process your card.

 

We ran into this problem this Autumn, my friends from Germany and I did a road trip following the Mississippi River and I ended up mostly buying all the gas because their credit card wouldn't work in the pumps without a zip code. We tried pin numbers and MY zip code and also taking it into the station to have the attendant hold the card. It was quite frustrating!

 

Anyways, I have only had a problem using my U.S. credit card in Mallorca trying to pay at the parking garage automat, otherwise there has never been a problem in Malta, Germany, Spain, Croatia, Austria, Switzerland and several other European countries.

[illiniwahoo]

I've traveled in Italy, Greece, and France. The only problems were with automatic machines - like automated ticket or parking sales (but not even all of those). We always kept some cash on hand, but only had to use it twice in over a month of travel.