USD on Panama Canal Cruise?

[tropicalkerry2002]

We will be in Mexico,Costa Rica and Colombia on a Panama Canal cruise. I feel pretty sure that all 3 countries accept USD, but is it a GOOD exchange rate, or is it better to get local currency?

[clo]

delleted

Edited August 24, 2019 by clo

[Twibes]

Being a visitor to Panama City, Panama myself, I can assure you the USD is utilized everywhere.  You will have no issue using US currency there.

[DeeniEncinitas]

When we did our South American cruise from San Diego to Lima and back USD was the favorite to use! We bought everything with our dollars no problem! Check out onboard if they do an exchange rate. It will be more expensive but for us we didn’t want to hassle with it! Our friends had been on the same cruise and did the same thing! Mind you it was on HAL, but will be doing the same thing on our next 2 cruises with O!

Enjoy your cruise

Denise😊

 

[njhorseman]

46 minutes ago, Twibes said:

Being a visitor to Panama City, Panama myself, I can assure you the USD is utilized everywhere.  You will have no issue using US currency there.

I think the question is about the use of US currency in Mexico, Costa Rica and and Colombia, which are the ports of call on the OP's cruise. Many Panama Canal full transits do not even make a port call in Panama.

 

Although the official currency of Panama is technically the Balboa the US dollar is also official tender and the Balboa and dollar are on par with business being transacted in dollars.

 

 

[njhorseman]

1 hour ago, tropicalkerry2002 said:

We will be in Mexico,Costa Rica and Colombia on a Panama Canal cruise. I feel pretty sure that all 3 countries accept USD, but is it a GOOD exchange rate, or is it better to get local currency?

Of the three I only bother to get Mexican pesos but in may cases the places where US tourists will spend money in Mexico would prefer dollars anyway.

 

I never have spent enough money in Costa Rica or Colombia to warrant trying to hunt down their currencies and dollars are likely going to be accepted everywhere you go regardless . I just learn the approximate exchange rates so that I can make sure I'm not getting ripped off.

[tropicalkerry2002]

Thanks everyone! Travelling with only USD makes life easier! Apologies again for all the repeats, and thanks for the replies!

 

[clo]

44 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

Of the three I only bother to get Mexican pesos but in may cases the places where US tourists will spend money in Mexico would prefer dollars anyway.

 

Ah, therein lies the rub for us 🙂  We almost never go where 'Americans' go - lol.  If they don't take credit card we can hit an ATM for a small amount.

[DeeniEncinitas]

2 hours ago, tropicalkerry2002 said:

Thanks everyone! Travelling with only USD makes life easier! Apologies again for all the repeats, and thanks for the replies!

 

No worries! Enjoy your cruise!

Denise😊

[Shawnino]

We were actually caught out in Santa Marta, Colombia.

 

We wound up at a shopping mall for lunch (we also needed to go to a drug store). Nobody in the food court wanted US dollars, Canadian credit cards didn't work at point of sale, and the only ATMs we could find were white label (no thank you). 

Our tour guide made change for us out of his own pocket.

 

The next day, in Cartagena, everything was fine. USD no problem, credit cards no problem.

[tropicalkerry2002]

Thanks for the warning. We do have a US based credit card if needed, but really hope to just be buying refreshments!

[ORV]

1 hour ago, Shawnino said:

We were actually caught out in Santa Marta, Colombia.

 

We wound up at a shopping mall for lunch (we also needed to go to a drug store). Nobody in the food court wanted US dollars, Canadian credit cards didn't work at point of sale, and the only ATMs we could find were white label (no thank you). 

Our tour guide made change for us out of his own pocket.

 

The next day, in Cartagena, everything was fine. USD no problem, credit cards no problem.

I'm not familiar with the "White label" designation. What is that? 

[RJB]

USD and credit cards are all anyone needs.   Have fun. 

[LHT28]

3 hours ago, ORV said:

I'm not familiar with the "White label" designation. What is that? 

I am guessing it is an ATM  not affiliated with a bank maybe??

[Shawnino]

17 hours ago, LHT28 said:

I am guessing it is an ATM  not affiliated with a bank maybe??

Correct.

 

Something that just says 'ATM'/similar on the side.

Often times fees are not clearly marked.

There are occasional reports that they trap/steal your data. 

 

We were surprised that we were stuck in Santa Marta, but everything worked the next day in Cartagena. 

[clo]

On 8/26/2019 at 6:07 AM, Shawnino said:

only ATMs we could find were white label

Deleted.

Edited August 30, 2019 by clo