How much cash

[Tee & Chilli]

Any idea how much cash a person should bring. I'm traveling to Seattle and Vancouver prior to sailing Northbound.

 

Cash needed for airport baggage tips, snacks, housekeeping, public bus and taxi.

 

Am I missing anything which might be best to pay for in cash.

 

Thanks

[judynorth]

Any idea how much cash a person should bring. I'm traveling to Seattle and Vancouver prior to sailing Northbound.

 

Cash needed for airport baggage tips, snacks, housekeeping, public bus and taxi.

 

Am I missing anything which might be best to pay for in cash.

 

Thanks

 

We've found that you can pay for almost everything even a taxi with a credit card. However, you should have a supply of $5 and $1 for tipping and such. Public transportation will require cash and in Canada you will need Canadian money for busses and such. for almost anything else you can use US money.

[CowPrincess]

We figure about $50 a day for "walking around money" for each day we spend on land .... pre-cruise, ports and post-cruise. That'd be spent on tips, coffee (some days LOTS of coffee :D ), the occasional snack, public transit. Possibly on cab fare if the fare is $20 ish or less.

 

If you think you might want to provide cash tips on excursions or onboard, increase that.

 

That $50 a day is for a couple, and usually turns out to be slightly more than we need.

[zqvol]

Once you sail, you can always go to the ATM in every port. It's not like you will be in a foreign country, at least the last time I looked Alaska was still a state.

[agabbymama]

On a 7-12 day cruise, I usually take 100 $1 bills for tipping, and my friend does likewise. So that's $200 in tips. And that's besides the DSC automatically added to your on-board account.

 

When I first started travelling, my travel agent told me to plan on spending whatever my tickets cost. Thus if my cruise/landtour was $700, then I took an additional $700 for spending. Sometimes I'd come home with money left over, sometimes not.

 

It really depends on what you are doing. If you do a lot of expensive excursions, that cost could go up dramatically.

[xlxo]

You might not get the best exchange rate at the airport or the bank.... but at least the Canadian currency is in smaller bills. I don't think you plan to be tipping in $100 bills and taxi's don't like to give more than $20 in change.

 

If you do get a $100 bill. Take a good inhale... you might find maple syrup.

http://www.thestar.com/business/2013/05/26/do_canadas_new_plastic_bills_smell_like_maple_syrup.html

Edited May 9, 2015 by xlxo

[Tee & Chilli]

Thanks so those who replied nicely unlike the poster "zqvol". I went to my credit union and they did not have Canadian currency. I'll try the airport for good exchange rates. Out of state ATMs provide cash but there are fees associated.

[judynorth]

One way to get a little Canadian currency is to buy something small with US money and get change in Canadian money. Since we charge everything that we can, that worked well for us. But then we aren't big spenders. :)

[judynorth]

Once you sail, you can always go to the ATM in every port. It's not like you will be in a foreign country, at least the last time I looked Alaska was still a state.

 

Amazingly, there are a lot of people who don't know that. A frequent question is, "Can you use American money in Alaska?" :eek:

[chipmaster]

Beside tipping almost everything in US can be done cashless. Only time you need a few bucks is for valet, street stands.

 

I do know that some of the most popular food holes in the wall often only accept cash. Never hurts to have a 100 bucks emergency reserve in the wallet/purse ;)

 

Also ATMs really are everywhere these days as well so easy to top off if you run low.

[agabbymama]

Don't know where you live, but here in Southern California where I live, ATMs have become great targets for hacking people's accounts. I have started using my Bank credit card instead of my Debit card for purchases and only use my Debit card at the Bank for withdrawals.

 

That aside, I had a little incident on a Friday night, that the ATM kept my debit card. I was banking at my credit union at work. The actual office was closed, so I had to wait until Monday morning to go in and retrieve my debit card. I had no access to my account except by check. I may have a pessimistic view, but I wouldn't want that to happen on a cruise away from home and have my card retained in the ATM. I don't even take my Debit card with me when I travel.

 

I prefer to have cash and if need be will exchange for currency of whatever country I'm travelling in. On our Alaska & Pacific Northwest cruises (ports of Naniamo, Victoria, and Vancouver) all accepted US $. They did give change in Canadian.

 

Everyone has to do what meets their needs. We aren't all the same, nor have the same travelling habits. Happy travels to all!

[CowPrincess]

>SNIP<

 

That aside, I had a little incident on a Friday night, that the ATM kept my debit card.

 

>SNIP<

 

Until you mentioned that, I had forgotten about my debit card being kept by an ATM while on vacation. It does happen. Thanks for the reminder!

[xlxo]

A few tips I'll share

• think about have more than one credit card. If one is compromized you have a backup card.
  
• think about having different credit card companies. Costco only accepts Mastercard in Canada. Some smaller retailers only accept Visa because it has the lowest merchant fees. Yes, many smaller retailers do not accept American Express.
  
• if you have a rental car... parking meters accept credit cards. However some meters are vandalized.... you can now pay for your parking with a phone when meters are not working.
  http://vancouver.ca/streets-transportation/pay-for-parking.aspx
  

[Northern Aurora]

Thanks so those who replied nicely unlike the poster "zqvol".

...

 

TeeChi: I interpreted the comment as light humor. We live in Alaska, and, given the odd and strange questions we are asked,there are times when we are on cruises I really don't want to admit where we live. The amount of misperceptions and misinformation about this state are rampant, and the current proliferation of the Alaska themed "reality" TV shows don't help. For example, on our last cruise, which was a B2B2B series, on three separate occasions we met Canadians who thought that they were talking to fellow countrymen.

 

We need $1 bills for tips at a evening cocktail gathering on our favorite cruise line and never take a large number of $1 bills on our cruises -- just have Guest Relations break a larger bill into the denominations we desire.

[lovetotraveltx]

Some private excursions ask for final payment in cash or check. I'm trying to figure out cash we need for our long trip as well.