Australian & New Zealand money exchange

[DianneNE]

Where is the best place to exchange American dollars for Australian and New Zealand dollars? 

[skynight]

4 hours ago, DianneNE said:

Where is the best place to exchange American dollars for Australian and New Zealand dollars? 

When we flew to Australia we got AUS$ at an ATM at the bank near our hotel.

[MrPantsOz]

Usually you can order them from your bank. I'd just get a small amount and withdraw from ATM's as required. Just make sure you have a 4 digit PIN for your card.

[GKR]

We bought NZ dollars through our local AAA office last winter.  Decent exchange rate and very quick delivery.  When the ship arrived in AUS we used an ATM to get cash.

[DianneNE]

Thanks everyone!

[frugaltravel]

I use an ATM with a card that reimburses any ATM fees. Very competitive rates, even at airport ATMs. 

 

Took a round New Zealand cruise followed by a round Australia cruise last spring. Only used ATM machines and it worked great.

[triple7tahoe]

I wish to add my comments regarding ships sailing from Australia. We are on the Majestic for a couple of cruises in March/April this year. Daughter and her family just got back from a similar cruise. All charges on board are in AUD and are, at least in the bars, approximately 130% higher than they would be if the ship were using USD. I was told that drinks that would normally be $9.50 if using US dollars are priced at A$13.50. That would be fine EXCEPT we have OBC for things like CCL stock, FCC. ,military which should have come to over $800 US. We are being told that all OBC will be in $A but at same amount of over $800A. That seems ot me that the OBC is being devalued and I will be getting about 70% of the value. Does that sound right?

[OzKiwiJJ]

Remember that the drinks prices on the Australian cruises include the gratuity, which on USD cruises is added on to the listed price.

[rentlady]

When using the atm in Australia/New Zealand, can I get small bills for tips or is it in larger denominations ? I like to carry smaller bills for tips as soon as I arrive in a country.

[satxdiver]

I always use a local bank ATM to get cash in a foreign port.  If I have to use one in the airport, I only get enough money to get me to a bank due to the usual high charges.  Most of the time I use a credit card making it not necessary to carry around a lot of cash. 

[Westskip]

ATM's in Australia will only dispense $20 and $50 notes.

[GUT2407]

3 hours ago, rentlady said:

When using the atm in Australia/New Zealand, can I get small bills for tips or is it in larger denominations ? I like to carry smaller bills for tips as soon as I arrive in a country.

You don’t need to tip.

[emmak8]

No tipping in New Zealand and Australia!!

[DianneNE]

No tipping? Even on excursions that you book through the ship? Or how about on the ship? Normally on a cruise everyone is looking for a tip.

[GUT2407]

10 hours ago, DianneNE said:

No tipping? Even on excursions that you book through the ship? Or how about on the ship? Normally on a cruise everyone is looking for a tip.

On the ship they’ll add gravities daily, if you want to tip extra they really won’t care what currency it is.

 

On land, no tipping required (they’ll probably take it, but don’t expect it) workers in Australia are well paid, minimum wage is now around $18 per hour.

 

if someone goes above and beyond sure feel free to giv3 them a couple of bucks, but a smile and “Thanks Mate” goes a long way.

[ilikeanswers]

23 hours ago, rentlady said:

When using the atm in Australia/New Zealand, can I get small bills for tips or is it in larger denominations ? I like to carry smaller bills for tips as soon as I arrive in a country.

 

The smallest bill in Australia and NZ is $5 which ATMs would be rare to dispense. Smaller denominations are in coins which you definitely can't get at an ATM. If you really want to you can take a $20 to a shop ask to if they would be willing to break it into smaller denominations. 

[GUT2407]

I was working in the bank when ATMs hit Aus, even then no $5, just $10 and 20s. (But $50 notes were still brand new)

[hoopslover]

On 1/3/2019 at 6:04 PM, triple7tahoe said:

I wish to add my comments regarding ships sailing from Australia. We are on the Majestic for a couple of cruises in March/April this year. Daughter and her family just got back from a similar cruise. All charges on board are in AUD and are, at least in the bars, approximately 130% higher than they would be if the ship were using USD. I was told that drinks that would normally be $9.50 if using US dollars are priced at A$13.50. That would be fine EXCEPT we have OBC for things like CCL stock, FCC. ,military which should have come to over $800 US. We are being told that all OBC will be in $A but at same amount of over $800A. That seems ot me that the OBC is being devalued and I will be getting about 70% of the value. Does that sound right?

We were on the Majestic in October and I was concerned about how they would handle the US OBC.  It was from our travel agent.  Princess converted it to AUS funds and I used some for purchases is the gift shop and got cash in the casino.  At the end of the cruise there was money remaining.  Princess sent me a check in US funds after converting it from AUS and we received it in 5 weeks.

[MicCanberra]

On ‎1‎/‎4‎/‎2019 at 5:50 AM, skynight said:

When we flew to Australia we got AUS$ at an ATM at the bank near our hotel.

Often the cheapest and easiest way especially if using a debit card with no international fees so it is not a cash advance like on a credit card attracting fees.

[triple7tahoe]

13 hours ago, hoopslover said:

We were on the Majestic in October and I was concerned about how they would handle the US OBC.  It was from our travel agent.  Princess converted it to AUS funds and I used some for purchases is the gift shop and got cash in the casino.  At the end of the cruise there was money remaining.  Princess sent me a check in US funds after converting it from AUS and we received it in 5 weeks.

I believe that money credited by a TA in US $ will get converted to AUD. I think he sent $42.50 for each of us. What concerns me is the large amount we should get from FCC ($150) Military $250 and CCL-($250). Over $600 in US dollars which, if converted to Australian dollars, at one for one, makes it lose about 30% of its value. Then the ship raises the prices from what they should be in US dollars to a higher price in Australian dollars. To me it looks like I am losing twice. It does look like specialty restaurants keep the same price ($29) in either currency;  If so the meals there will be around $20 US. and a bargain 🙂

 

[MicCanberra]

You will not lose even the once, the only exception is on the ship's currency conversion rate which may or may not be worse than the daily rate.