Guest services for euros?

[rubytue]

I found an old post about this, from 2013. Is it still accurate?

 

We have one stop in Martinque, and from what I read euros are highly preferred. We have a paid excursion, so I’d really just was the equivalent of about $20-30 euros. My bank only lets me order a minimum of $100. An ATM is an option, but we wouldn’t have time before the excursion, so no euros for tips. 

[Clarea]

 

You may be able to get a limited amount of Euros from Guest Services, but I would not count on it.  I'd try early in the cruise.

[rubytue]

Thanks for the super quick response! Good info. 

[Thorben-Hendrik]

16 minutes ago, rubytue said:

I found an old post about this, from 2013. Is it still accurate?

 

We have one stop in Martinque, and from what I read euros are highly preferred. We have a paid excursion, so I’d really just was the equivalent of about $20-30 euros. My bank only lets me order a minimum of $100. An ATM is an option, but we wouldn’t have time before the excursion, so no euros for tips. 

You should be fine with $ aswell!

[rubytue]

So neat trick I'll share for anyone else who stumbles on this: I put out a call on FB and managed to find the equivalent of $30 in spare change Euros among my friends and coworkers.

[SRF]

1)  Even if they have them, the exchange rate will be horrible.

 

2)  They will gladly take dollars.

[mugtech]

Don't know about Royal, but on NCL Spirit in 2014 they charged a $10 fee plus a bad exchange rate.

[champagne123]

Thank you for the info.  Visiting Guadeloupe  in two months and according to the "ports of call" threads, only euro's are accepted. 

[Ourusualbeach]

We are only talking 30 Euros, not 3000.  Even with a crappy  exchange rate it's only going to add an extra couple of $ to the cost. You'd spend more in time, effort and gas trying to get a better rate beforehand. 

[rubytue]

5 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

We are only talking 30 Euros, not 3000.  Even with a crappy  exchange rate it's only going to add an extra couple of $ to the cost. You'd spend more in time, effort and gas trying to get a better rate beforehand. 

Exchange rate wouldn’t bother me at that level. But a $10 charge to change $30 would! Luckily, my friends don’t have an exchange fee. I’ll just pay whatever google tells us the equivalent is  😊

[rubytue]

8 hours ago, SRF said:

 

2)  They will gladly take dollars.

 

According to the Martinique board, dollars are not widely accepted. Sometimes begrudgingly, but sometimes refused. Anything pricey I could put on a credit card. But having cash to buy a soda or pay for a tour of the fort (€8, no cc) would be good. I would like to work in the currency that is preferred, and not presume that the US$ is wanted and welcomed everywhere. Most of the islands do work in USD without issue (some its more common than the local). 

[SRF]

It sounded like the OP wanted tip money.

 

If they won't accept USD for a tip, they can do with a tip.

[3monkeys4me]

Have you googled to see if there is a money exchange near where you live? Airports usually have them, sometimes even outside of security. The island I live on is small but we have 4 money exchanges plus a couple in the airport. We do get a fair amount of tourists though.

[SRF]

Most money exchange places make money two ways, on each transaction.

 

1)  They charge a fee.  Sometimes a percentage, but many have a minimum charge and can make changing small amounts very high.

 

2)  Buy versus sell rates.  If you convert dollars to Euros, and the official rate is $1.20 per Euro, they will charge you, say, $1.25 per Euro.  If you turn around and sell those Euro back to them, they will only give you $1.15 per Euro.

 

These two charges can really add up.

 

And BTW, some of them advertise NO FEE, but check their buy/sell rates, in the above example, there may be no fee, but they sell at $1.30 per Euro and buy at $1.10.  They WILL get their money.

 

When you get money from an ATM, the ATM owner charges your bank in the Currency you got out of the machine.  Your bank converts it to your currency, at the bank rate, which is pretty much the official exchange rate.

Edited December 8, 2018 by SRF

[boscobeans]

Were in Martinique earlier this year and used US currency at about a dozen places with no problem??  Saw the warnings about them only accepting Euros on line but saw no places that required Euros only. Maybe just lucky in our choice of shops and food places.

 

 

boso

[3monkeys4me]

5 hours ago, SRF said:

 

When you get money from an ATM, the ATM owner charges your bank in the Currency you got out of the machine.  Your bank converts it to your currency, at the bank rate, which is pretty much the official exchange rate.

 

Yes, I do agree that the ATM is the best way when possible, but it didn't sound like that was an option for the OP. I know it isn;t always an option for us.  My daughter needs Yen for a school program she is in, generally small amounts, like 1,6000 Yen or similar. We can't order Yen from our bank since they can't mail it to us, the ATM's here only have USD's of course. Luckily we have been able to scrounge up enough Yen from friends most of the time and have only had to go to the exchange place once, the fee wasn't too horrible, $3 and the exchange rates wasn't terrible. Thankfully, the program ends in March and we have leftover YEn from our vacation in Japan so hopefully it wont be an issue any longer.

 

Anyway, sometimes as much as it sucks you just have to bite the bullet and pay a bit more.

[pcur]

 I prefer to get Euro's from the ship's Customer Service.  It's much more convenient to walk up anytime before you reach the port, get the the Euros, and be done with it.  I don't like getting off the ship and hunting for a money exchange desk or kiosk, along with a LOT of other people.  I find the fee worth the convenience, and I've never had an extra service charge added.  For small amounts of Euros, it's well worth the extra few dollars.

 

RCCL does not provide Euro coins, so they round up or down.  I actually gave a guy in front of me a $1 bill so he could complete his transaction on one cruise:  a la the person in front of you at the grocery store whose caught short.

Edited December 9, 2018 by pcur

[sdsseattle]

My credit union doesn't charge an ATM fee.  So I have used the ATM on the ship, with the bank exchange rate and no ATM charge. This works better for me that Royal Guest services.  If your credit union offers the same perk that would be the way to go in my opinion.

[Clarea]

3 hours ago, sdsseattle said:

My credit union doesn't charge an ATM fee.  So I have used the ATM on the ship, with the bank exchange rate and no ATM charge. This works better for me that Royal Guest services.  If your credit union offers the same perk that would be the way to go in my opinion.

 

Does the Royal ATM onboard dispense Euros?

[sdsseattle]

14 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

Does the Royal ATM onboard dispense Euros?

I have only used it in TA's to Europe and yes it had Euros as well as dollars.  If it is to/from other countries I'm not sure what currencies would be available.