How Much Cash To Bring

[clo]

8 hours ago, MissP22 said:

If you take larger bills ($20) never take them out if your bargaining for an item.

They'll never come down in price if they see you have enough money.

We spend time in Rio and I mostly only bargain if I'm buying more than one thing.  A volume discount.  These people aren't rolling in the bucks.

[jimlouisesophie]

Could I not go to the casino, get some of my OBC and use it for a few minutes in the casino and then cash out, and keep the US$ to use later, perhaps for port visits.

[cb at sea]

We never travel ANYWHERE without an ample amount of cash...if it's not used, it's put back in the bank when we return home.  better to have MORE than not enough!  We don't take it all ashore...it resides in the cabin safe, but we have it, if we need it!  We use a credit card (not the one attached to our shipboard account) for most purchases ashore....unless it's just a small purchase, or a beachside rental (chair/umbrella, etc.)

[MissP22]

2 hours ago, cb at sea said:

We never travel ANYWHERE without an ample amount of cash...if it's not used, it's put back in the bank when we return home.  better to have MORE than not enough!  We don't take it all ashore...it resides in the cabin safe, but we have it, if we need it!  We use a credit card (not the one attached to our shipboard account) for most purchases ashore....unless it's just a small purchase, or a beachside rental (chair/umbrella, etc.)

We do the same thing and when going ashore we only take enough cash for what we want to buy that day. We also never take a credit card off the ship since it's only used for large purchases anyway & our days of spending lots of bucks are past. 

[clo]

1 hour ago, MissP22 said:

We also never take a credit card off the ship since it's only used for large purchases

Our new card - Chase Sapphire Reserve - gives us 3X points for all travel and dining.  So we charge every meal we can - even drive-thru McDs 🙂  And some years ago we made an unexpected LARGE purchase of art while traveling.

[Warm Breezes]

On 7/23/2019 at 12:08 PM, shanecindy21403 said:

I always go with 100 per day. Then split that amount between my DH and I. That way neither one of us carrying all the money. Once onboard I put it in the safe and take out daily what we may need. Usually I have left over at end of cruise but I'd rather have extra then not enough.

We do the exact same thing.  I always end up bringing home at least half of that but I would rather have an emergency stash of cash just in case there are issues with the credit card (although I do always bring at least 2 different credit cards as well...just in case) or any other emergency that may come up where we would need it.  It's easy enough to put the money back in the bank if we don't use it.  We use the cash for tips, taxis, non-prepaid excursions, and small souvenirs at the ports.

[Warm Breezes]

1 hour ago, MissP22 said:

We do the same thing and when going ashore we only take enough cash for what we want to buy that day. We also never take a credit card off the ship since it's only used for large purchases anyway & our days of spending lots of bucks are past. 

I always make sure to take my credit card that doesn't charge foreign transaction fees with me at the ports.  While I normally pay for everything at the port in cash, you never know when/if an emergency could arise and you need to have one because the cash you have on hand just doesn't cut it.

[clo]

2 hours ago, Warm Breezes said:

I always make sure to take my credit card that doesn't charge foreign transaction fees with me at the ports.  While I normally pay for everything at the port in cash, you never know when/if an emergency could arise and you need to have one because the cash you have on hand just doesn't cut it.

We don't have a card that DOES charge a foreign transaction fee.  And we have a USAA debit card that rebates us up to $15/mo for any ATM fees anywhere in the world.  

[MissP22]

3 hours ago, clo said:

Our new card - Chase Sapphire Reserve - gives us 3X points for all travel and dining.  So we charge every meal we can - even drive-thru McDs 🙂  And some years ago we made an unexpected LARGE purchase of art while traveling.

That sounds good until I saw the $450 per fee plus $75 per person charge.

No thanks.

[clo]

12 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

That sounds good until I saw the $450 per fee plus $75 per person charge.

No thanks.

But you get a $300 credit plus the bonus (currently 50k) plus admittance to over 1200 lounges worldwide.  And more and more. I didn't put Bob on my account.  He got his own to get the bonus which we won't renew after the first year.  And we can transfer points between our accounts and use them on about ten different airlines worldwide.  And, of course, you have to pay it off every month cause the interest is very high!  

[clo]

3 hours ago, clo said:

And more and more.

And here's more.  Once we did the research it was kinda a no-brainer.

https://www.chase.com/card-benefits/sapphirereserve/travel?jp_cmp=cc/113356/ema/EM10495/Body_Textlink_3