Paywave/debit card use Alaska ports

[Sallyandtex]

Hi there,

We will be doing a HAL Alaska cruise next year and also will be in Canada for 2 weeks.

We will be exchanging our AUD for CAD , but I am hoping we are able to use our debit card for incidentals like lunch and gifts in Alaska to avoid exchanging some USD also.

Many thanks (:

[martincath]

Hi there,

We will be doing a HAL Alaska cruise next year and also will be in Canada for 2 weeks.

We will be exchanging our AUD for CAD , but I am hoping we are able to use our debit card for incidentals like lunch and gifts in Alaska to avoid exchanging some USD also.

Many thanks (:

The US may be freakishly backward in some aspects of personal banking, but Debit cards are pretty widely accepted - it's even becoming normal to have Point of Sale terminals which accept Chip cards! That said, the US remains by far the most cash-focused 1st world nation - around half of all personal transactions still use cash, so it's much more common to find small 'mom & pop' stores that will not take any kind of card south of the border than in Canada.

 

Personally I'd use Credit rather than Debit - extra protection for you against fraud, and more likely to be accepted if your Debit is not linked to the serious biggies of the Credit world (MC & Visa) for processing. Unless you plan a lot of <$5 purchases, I wager that you'll actually find cash more useful for 4-5 port days in Alaska than your 2 weeks in Canada which has dang near universal Debit acceptance...

[Lulubelle45]

Being Canadian, my debit cards wouldn't work in most US stores in Alaska. Cash or credit

 

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[Keith1010]

Yes you could use a debit card in most places.

 

Keith

[AussieGypsie]

Hi there,

We will be doing a HAL Alaska cruise next year and also will be in Canada for 2 weeks.

We will be exchanging our AUD for CAD , but I am hoping we are able to use our debit card for incidentals like lunch and gifts in Alaska to avoid exchanging some USD also.

Many thanks (:

Won't your bank still slug you with extra fees?? Overseas transaction plus exchange conversion. I usually have cash plus travel debit card then credit card as a back up

 

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[Sallyandtex]

My debit is a Visa and has only 2% transaction fee at the current exchange rate. I have a separate account than my usual one especially for travel I have used it all over the world no problem.

 

I get so used to using it like cash I never carry much, but thanks for the feedback I think I will get USD exchanged too. Given that we could make purchases in larger stores and tour operators with our card, how much cash would be enough do you think $50 per day for lunches and coffee?

[Coral]

I live in the US and I never have cash with me. I use cards everywhere.

 

That being said, I remember being on a trip about 10 years ago with half the trip being Australians and you guys were so ahead with your chip and pin credit cards. We are more of a chip and signature type country and it was rare back then to have chip cards for us. Even now, only half my cards have chips and half the merchants I go to don't have chip readers so we just slide them.

 

When I do go to Alaska, I do carry cash but I really don't use much of it.

 

Hopefully some of your fellow Australians will comment. Hope you enjoy your trip.

[thinfool]

Paywave is not common in the US.

[martincath]

My debit is a Visa and has only 2% transaction fee at the current exchange rate. I have a separate account than my usual one especially for travel I have used it all over the world no problem.

Separate travel account at least ring-fences your main bank account - but you still miss out on all the free insurance that credit cards all offer. No idea if 'zero foreign transaction fee' credit cards are common in Australia, but they're not hard to find over here (Canada or US) or UK/EU so shop around - you've got at least 6 months before you can cruise Alaska!

If it's a Visa-issued Debit then you will be able to swipe it even at old-school POS terminals - and every new terminal I've come across in the last two years has been enabled for 'tap' technology (from the name, I'm guessing Paywave means you can 'wave the card at the terminal' for small purchases?). Since the US finally went to Chip tech, though they're still rolling it out, all the businesses who have waited this long to upgrade their POS are getting 'tap tech' even if they don't request it - it's the norm at the manufacturer end of things. I've had to explain what it is to every single checkout clerk as I've used it (we have MC's equivalent) but it has worked 100% of the time - if you see the little WiFi-esque logo on the POS terminal, just try tapping your card and watch the look of amazement on the clerk's face! Even our local Trader Joe's, who got their new terminals almost 18 months ago, still has staff that have never seen a card tapped until we do it.

I get so used to using it like cash I never carry much, but thanks for the feedback I think I will get USD exchanged too. Given that we could make purchases in larger stores and tour operators with our card, how much cash would be enough do you think $50 per day for lunches and coffee?

Even in Alaska, if it's a sitdown resto for lunch you should be good without cash. It's things like the reindeer sausage stalls, other fast-but-not-big-chain-resto food options, and small purchases like coffee, water that are common to be cash-only options (I see a minimum of $5 for debit/credit purchases often) plus of course tips for things like bag-handling. The totem museum in Ketchikan was cash or cheque only when we last visited (3 years - hopefully no longer the case!) and a couple of other small places were entry by donation (so cash again) - but I don't think we've ever had to burn more than $20 cash on any given day in the US.

[SuperCrewBear]

Hi there,

We will be doing a HAL Alaska cruise next year and also will be in Canada for 2 weeks.

We will be exchanging our AUD for CAD , but I am hoping we are able to use our debit card for incidentals like lunch and gifts in Alaska to avoid exchanging some USD also.

Many thanks (:

 

Your first stop in Alaska walk up to an ATM and withdraw some U$D cash with your debit card for while you're in the state - you might can do that on the ship. That's what I do when I visit Canada. Very easy and [on my debit card] the exchange fee isn't much - much less than a currency exchange office. Depending on how long I'm going to be in Canada I'll get 200-300 CAD. If I run out I can do it again.

[Sallyandtex]

Thanks everyone! VERY helpful.

I was forgetting about tips!

That's a whole new forum question 😉

Looks like we be fine with our Visa Debit plus ATM withdrawals.