Ports & Cash-Please Give Your Experiences

[CaliT]

We are going on the 10 day cruise on the Rhapsody leaving in two weeks! This may be a stupid question but I do need an answer. Our ports are Costa Maya, Cozumel, Grand Caymans and Montego Bay. Do you use U.S. currency at the ports or do we need to get local currency?

 

Please provide input and thank you in advance for your help.

[FrogCruiser]

Your US currency will be gladly accepted in all those locations....generally only bills, though not coins...and you can expect more often than not to get change in the local currency.

[davidaperryman]

I have been to all of those ports and they took US dollars with no problem. Their prices may be posted in local dollars so be sure to ask what the US dollar amount is.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

We were in all of those ports except Montego Bay in May. The above posters are right. They all take US dollars, and yes, double check whether prices posted are US $. The only advice I can add is that when you visit Costa Maya be sure that you take plenty of CASH with you. When we were there we found that the port vendors would not give you the negotiated lower price on an item if you wanted to use a credit card. (At least the ones we ran into). Also, when you are at Costa Maya be sure to get out of the port area, go straight to the back of the shopping area & take a cab to the little fishing village of Majahaul. Then you can spend your day on a delightful beach. Our favorite day of the cruise. However, there are no phone lines in town so you must have cash - no credit cards are taken! Also, they do not like Traveler's checks. The place we were at took ours, but charged us a steep fee for the privilege. Otherwise, a perfect day! You can see our entire review of the ship and ports here::)

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=11125

 

Enjoy your cruise!:cool:

[CaliT]

Thank you all for the information. It was very helpful in our planning.