Buying Euros on board?

[Fouremco]

4 minutes ago, catl331 said:

No, just convert from CAD to Euro.  If $100 US gets you 80 E on the ship, then to get that same 80 E with CAD it would be 120.65. Or 100 CAD gets you 66.30 E. 

That works if K'dam uses the same rate for conversion as xe.com, but I don't think that's the case. For example, per VMax1700, K'dam's conversion is 100 USD = 80 EURO, whereas xe.com's conversion is 100 USD = 88.57 EURO.

[Hawaiidan]

23 hours ago, catl331 said:

I'm talking about Martinique, St Martin, Guadeloupe, and St Barthelemy that use the Euro as their official currency, just as in Europe. No exchange loss.

Spending money is not necessarily wasting money. You can buy things that you need or want anyway ... toiletries, wine, clothes, gifts for friends/relatives, etc, etc, etc   Buying them on land usually costs less than on the ship.

 

BTW  I save the 1 and 2 Euro coins, not just the bills.  Some helped pay for our taxi when we landed in Barcelona a couple of years ago.

 

Yes....thats good if you want to spend cash......I try not to in order to get a great rate  and earn FF miles on ever penny. Almost every cab  I have taken in Europe in the past 4 years  takes credit cards.....   I have the same 100 euro in cash for over  4years.... In truth, today almost everyone  even small vendors take cc.     .....     Earn something extra from spending is my motto...  you can too.     As an aside   many countries  the US included is rapidly turning to a cashless society with in the next few years.    Just try to buy a drink on an airline !

[Mary229]

I refuse to use ATMs so I use credit card for purchases. When traveling country to country with different daily change in currencies I might use HAL for a small amount of pocket change. I don’t worry about exchange rate. 

[Fouremco]

6 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

I refuse to use ATMs

In general or just when travelling? Any particular reason?

[Mary229]

Just now, Fouremco said:

In general or just when travelling? Any particular reason?

I don’t use ATMs anywhere.  I am so adamant about that that I have filed paperwork on each and every bank account that debit nor ATM cards are to be issued and ATM use is not allowed.  Some credit cards do allow you to get a finance-fee-free cash when you purchase, notably Discover card but there are others. 

[VMax1700]

5 hours ago, Fouremco said:

As OP is Canadian, do you have the CAD rate?

Ok i asked and get this!

Front desk says the system is american so for 100 cad i would get 55 euro and 76 cents american.

Multi currency in a multi cultural world!

[Fouremco]

1 minute ago, VMax1700 said:

Ok i asked and get this!

Front desk says the system is american so for 100 cad i would get 55 euro and 76 cents american.

Multi currency in a multi cultural world!

LOL. Thanks for asking. FWIW,  the XE currency app is currently giving a rate of $100 CAD = £66.36, significantly better than HAL's £55 (plus $0.76 USD)! Personally, I'll stick to ATM withdrawals ashore.

 

Espero que hayas tenido un buen paseo.

[VMax1700]

16 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

LOL. Thanks for asking. FWIW,  the XE currency app is currently giving a rate of $100 CAD = £66.36, significantly better than HAL's £55 (plus $0.76 USD)! Personally, I'll stick to ATM withdrawals ashore.

 

Espero que hayas tenido un buen paseo.

It's a bit looney (and tooney!).

Muchas graçias y buenas tardes/noches!

[*Miss G*]

XE only quotes mid-market rates.  Transactional rates will be higher.

[*Miss G*]

On 4/14/2019 at 10:53 PM, jkrislc said:

I've been cruising in Europe twice a year for the past few years. Almost everything can be purchased with a credit card; just make sure that you have one that does not charge foreign transaction fees. For Euros, which are useful for street vendors, small items, etc., your best bet is to use an ATM to withdraw the money as the exchange rate will be better and you won't need to pay any transaction fees. An alternative is to check with your bank or local AAA to pick up a small amount of money, but note you'll pay a 10-20% charge in conversion costs.

 

Canadian banks do not charge a conversion fee.

[catl331]

On 4/16/2019 at 12:04 PM, Hawaiidan said:

Yes....thats good if you want to spend cash...... Earn something extra from spending is my motto...  you can too. 

Yes, we use a credit card as much as possible both at home and when traveling ... but what I am talking about is what to do with "left over" Euro.

[Mary229]

1 hour ago, catl331 said:

Yes, we use a credit card as much as possible both at home and when traveling ... but what I am talking about is what to do with "left over" Euro.

 

That is when the ship conversion comes in handy.  If you have no use for them and couldn't find a chocolate bar to buy with them it really doesn't matter what the conversion rate is, right?   I can usually buy a lot of good Euro chocolate, I convert euros to fat😁

[catl331]

6 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

That is when the ship conversion comes in handy.

We often give them to stewards. Since the Euro is 12% higher than $US, even if they have to pay a 5% to 10% exchange premium at some time, they're still ahead getting 20€ instead of $20.

[iancal]

We don't buy currency at home from a bank or on the ship.  Our best rates have always been to take our currency and exhange it in country...but never at an airport or train station.  Sometimes we buy a little from a foreign exchange store at home prior to leaving.

 

For very small amounts the differences can be minor.  It really depends on how much you need.

[Cruise-Crazzy]

I always try to have left over Eros at the end of my trips to Europe.  Then I have an excuse to return.