How much US cash to bring on cruise?

[splash0306]

We are taking a Royal Caribbean Mediterranean cruise in August. First time cruisers. We will have our credit and debit cards for ATMs in ports, and will get some euros before leaving the NY. In reading info on this forum I see that everyone tips "special staff" at the end of their cruise beyond what is included in the cruise gratuity. This leaves me with the problem of how much American cash to bring. Our cruise is 7 days. We also have a $400 credit, whatever that means.

Suggestions?

[NorbertsNiece]

There is no requirement to tip above and beyond the automatic gratuities which will be charged to your account daily. It would appear you have been given $400 On Board Credit..... that will go towards your daily gratuities assuming you've not prepaid. You can use the remainder to offset purchases you make on board.

 

If you use room service the crew are grateful to be tipped a $ or 2. There will be an ATM on board from where you can withdraw US $$ but there is a charge to use the service plus any imposed by your CC company.

Edited June 1, 2014 by NorbertsNiece

[-Lew-]

You'll need US cash only for onboard tips in excess of the tips automatically added to your cabin folio. Tipping is a very personal decision and I would never advise anyone when or how much to tip.

 

Having said that, for European cruises I usually bring $50 - $100 in $1s for room service tips and another $100 for our cabin steward if we feel it's deserved. We usually tip $20 in cash for meals in specialty restaurants for outstanding service.

 

Enjoy your cruise...

 

Lew

[knittinggirl]

You'll need US cash only for onboard tips in excess of the tips automatically added to your cabin folio. Tipping is a very personal decision and I would never advise anyone when or how much to tip.

 

Having said that, for European cruises I usually bring $50 - $100 in $1s for room service tips and another $100 for our cabin steward if we feel it's deserved. We usually tip $20 in cash for meals in specialty restaurants for outstanding service.

 

Enjoy your cruise...

 

Lew

 

We also tip our shore excursions in US funds and save the local currency for purchases.

 

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[-Lew-]

 

We also tip our shore excursions in US funds and save the local currency for purchases.

Personally, we always tip in the local currency when onshore in Europe? Although the recipient will gracefully accept a tip in US currency, your decision to use US funds requires time and expense to convert that tip to a form the recipient can use.

 

Lew

Edited June 1, 2014 by -Lew-

[Bigtex1622]

We also tip the bartenders, then you get great drinks.

Tip them enough, and I have had some let me " Try " different drinks for free !

I also give a $20 to the room steward and wait staff on the first day.

If they know you are a tipper, then you get better service, well I think so.

 

:D

[MardiGras316]

I always have a few ones for room service in my cabin. And we have a child so I do tip the children's activities staff at the end of the cruise because they are NOT included in the daily gratuities and they work their butts off. They are always very appreciative because most parents/guardians don't think to tip.

Tricia

[Guest maddycat]

We are taking a Royal Caribbean Mediterranean cruise in August. First time cruisers. We will have our credit and debit cards for ATMs in ports, and will get some euros before leaving the NY. In reading info on this forum I see that everyone tips "special staff" at the end of their cruise beyond what is included in the cruise gratuity. This leaves me with the problem of how much American cash to bring. Our cruise is 7 days. We also have a $400 credit, whatever that means.

Suggestions?

 

After your second day on the ship ask at guest services about you $400 OBC (onboard credit). Find out if it is non-refundable or refundable. If it is non-refundable it must be used on the ship. If it is refundable, any OBC remaining on your account at the end of the cruise will be credited to the credit card that you used during registration. If it is non-refundable, you can cash out the balance in the casino for a 5% fee.

 

As far as extra tips to the staff that you think deserve it because they provided exceptional service, some on these boards are very generous. We are not that generous. If we are extremely pleased with our cabin attendant &/or wait staff we will give each staff member an extra $20. Do what you feel comfortable with.

[splash0306]

Another question from a novice: we have booked all our excursions through the cruise line. It's customary to tip those who run the excursion also? If so what is appropriate?

[John&LaLa]

Need cash for casino. :o

 

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[JamesEM]

I take alone a prepaid debit card for a couple of reasons, cuts down on fraud the amount of cash that you need to carry for off ship purchases .

[Scratch12]

We only take a certain amount of money with us off the ship and leave the rest in our room safe. We usually take around $100.00 depending on what we are going to be doing for the day.

 

Happy cruising,

 

Katmama

[caribbean sailor]

We are taking a Royal Caribbean Mediterranean cruise in August. First time cruisers. We will have our credit and debit cards for ATMs in ports, and will get some euros before leaving the NY. In reading info on this forum I see that everyone tips "special staff" at the end of their cruise beyond what is included in the cruise gratuity. This leaves me with the problem of how much American cash to bring. Our cruise is 7 days. We also have a $400 credit, whatever that means.

Suggestions?

 

Tips are up to you.You can remove all of it or some of it.You can also tip in cash.This can be done at Customer Relations.

We carry what we plan to tip also $19 a day for parking.And five Hundred for spending Money.Any purchase on ship can be put on sea pass,and onto credit card at the end of your cruise.Have a great cruise.

Edited June 3, 2014 by caribbean sailor

[cb at sea]

Your $400 OBC is simply a CREDIT against any CHARGES you make...up to $400. In essence, the first $400 you spend is taken care of by the onboard credit..... Suggested gratuities (if you haven't pre-paid them) will take up a chunk of that OBC...and,no....not EVERYONE tips additionally.....so don't feel pressured to do so!

 

If you feel it's needed (and you will know!), then you can give cash to those you feel deserve more than the standard amount. $20-$30 is a nice amount, if you feel it necessary.

[pdbcruisers]

 

There will be an ATM on board from where you can withdraw US $$ but there is a charge to use the service plus any imposed by your CC company.

 

As I recall, on our last Mediterranean cruise, the ATM on the Navigator gave out Euros. Two important things about ATM's in Europe. Your pin has to be 4 digits and ATM's give the best exchange rate.

 

You can also tip in Euros. When the crew has time off in port, US dollars will do them no good. If you do tip in US dollars, we were told that the ship exchanges it for the crew.

[Havingfun2010]

Another question from a novice: we have booked all our excursions through the cruise line. It's customary to tip those who run the excursion also? If so what is appropriate?

 

Depending on where you are, and how extensive a tour is, many if not all tour operators will have their hand out. There is no appropriate amount, but only what you desire. Some people will hand out 20's, while others will roll a few dollars up, and drop in bucket, and for those that don't get bothered, will just walk bye!

[DCPIV]

We brought very little US cash with us when we cruised the Mediterranean, and nearly all of that was for the casino. We did have the healthy handful of singles for small tips, and another handful of $20s for larger tips.

 

Other than the casino and the odd tip, there really is no need for cash while onboard.

 

I wouldn't get many (if any) Euros on this side of The Pond, either. As mentioned, you can hit an ATM at the destination airport and get a much better exchange rate than you can get in the US.

 

Tipping an excursion operator (whether booked through the ship or not) is entirely up to you, but it is not expected (especially when booked through the ship). We tend to tip only those that we feel go above and beyond the normal call.

 

 

D

[MAHA]

When we did our Med cruise in 2012, the best exchange rate was at ATM's in Europe. We tipped our shore excursion guides in euros as well as our waitstaff and cabin steward (before automatic gratuities put on seapass). We used US dollars for the casino.

 

Make sure you know your ATM limits and contact your bank/credit cards to let them know you will be out of the country and using the cards in europe. That way you won't have a purchase or ATM withdrawal denied.

 

Mary Anne

[Sitzmark]

We are taking a Royal Caribbean Mediterranean cruise in August. First time cruisers. We will have our credit and debit cards for ATMs in ports, and will get some euros before leaving the NY. In reading info on this forum I see that everyone tips "special staff" at the end of their cruise beyond what is included in the cruise gratuity. This leaves me with the problem of how much American cash to bring. Our cruise is 7 days. We also have a $400 credit, whatever that means.

Suggestions?

 

 

I took a couple hundred on our cruise. I asked a similar question in advance last time and I wish you luck getting a straight answer, I sure didn't. I think I had 300 in cash on our trip and that turned out to be ok for us for a Caribbean cruise.

[steveru621]

My first suggestion is put as much as you can on your seapass card. That is billed in Miami, in dollars, so there is no conversion or foreign transaction fees. Second use your credit card for port purchases. It's just a personal preference on our part, but any additional bar staff tips always go on our seapass. On the ship we only carry our seapass card and no cash. If you use an ATM overseas you may get a great exchange rate, but most times you'll pay $5 to your bank as a foreign transaction fee.

 

On our last 3 Med cruises we brought 200 euros and probably $100 dollars. We flew in the day before, and the 200 euros covered cab fares and tips in Barcelona. We used euros to tip the tour guides on excursions, sometimes, 5 or 10 euros per couple. I did notice many offered the tour guide nothing. At the end of the cruise we gave out appropriate extra staff tips in euros making sure we had enough for the cab ride to the airport.

 

You can buy euros on the ship, but the exchange rate is around 7.5%

 

I think I ended up with 1 or 2 euros.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

[beshears]

I did not read all your posters, but I brought more cash than what I needed this time. Sometimes I pay off my credit card before I get off the ship, so I don't have that bill when I get home, but I didn't this time.

 

We were to be crusing in areas where some bargaining was going on, so I took cash for that. Cash for a Taxi to take us around or to the beach, etc. If you want to do additional tipping for the people who take care of you on the ship, you can get envelopes at the Purser's Desk, and put the cash in an envelope and give it to the person when you see them last. This does not have anything to do with the tipping that is on your credit card for each day you are on the cruise.

[knittinggirl]

Personally, we always tip in the local currency when onshore in Europe? Although the recipient will gracefully accept a tip in US currency, your decision to use US funds requires time and expense to convert that tip to a form the recipient can use.

 

Lew

We thought long and hard about this, and finally decided that we wouldn't be the only people tipping in US. The tour guide would probably wait until he had a stack of US currency, then convert them at once. Also, we worried about running out of local currency.

[knittinggirl]

Another question from a novice: we have booked all our excursions through the cruise line. It's customary to tip those who run the excursion also? If so what is appropriate?

Yes, they expect tipping. I print out a envelope along with the tour description, then insert the tip I plan to use. If they do a good job, then they get it all, if not, a token. Bus driver always gets tipped. I couldn't believe how the bus driver in Bayeaux managed all those narrow streets without hitting anything.

 

Also, tip the porters at the cruise port. Especially the Royal staff.

[-Lew-]

 

We thought long and hard about this, and finally decided that we wouldn't be the only people tipping in US.

You very well could be. In all our European cruises and land trips we've never seen anyone tip in US currency.

 

The tour guide would probably wait until he had a stack of US currency, then convert them at once. Also, we worried about running out of local currency.

He or she will likely have a long wait.

 

Bringing or getting enough local currency from an ATM will solve the possibility of running out. You just need to plan ahead.

 

Do yourself a favor and ask on the roll call of your next European cruise whether anyone tips in US currency while in Europe. You may be surprised at the answers you receive.

 

Happy cruising…

 

Lew

[knittinggirl]

thats a little excessive in the tipping isnt it?

I don't hand them the envelope, just the money. I like being able to read the tour description to see if they left anything out. For example, on a recent tour, we were stopping at a church, and I assumed we'd be going in. But consulting the description, I realized it only said stopping at the church.