Port stops in Israel and Egypt

[papaflamingo]

We will be stopping in both Israel and Egypt on our Oct. cruise.  Since we'll be heading directly out on shore excursions, there is no convenient time to exchange money at an ATM.  We are boarding in Athens, so we won't be traveling through an airport in either country.  Has anyone been to either country and  know if the ship can exchange money into local currency for shore excursion tips?  Or does anyone know if there's an ATM at the port? 

 

Thanks. 

Edited September 13, 2023 by papaflamingo

[Lonedaddy]

We are on that cruise but doing the 3 day pre cruise.  I hadn’t planned on exchanging into scheckle but instead tipping in dollars .  I’ll get some euros when we get to Crete and we are in Italy for 14 days after so no issue getting euros.  decent article on tipping in Israel and indicated that the service industry accepts euros dollars and others.
 

https://slavaguide.com/blog/tipping-in-israel-information

[papaflamingo]

10 hours ago, Lonedaddy said:

We are on that cruise but doing the 3 day pre cruise.  I hadn’t planned on exchanging into scheckle but instead tipping in dollars .  I’ll get some euros when we get to Crete and we are in Italy for 14 days after so no issue getting euros.  decent article on tipping in Israel and indicated that the service industry accepts euros dollars and others.
 

https://slavaguide.com/blog/tipping-in-israel-information

Thanks... Have fun on the pre-cruise.  We're going 3 days early but touring on our own.  See you on board. 😎

Edited September 13, 2023 by papaflamingo

[forevertravel]

I would love your experiences since we are booking a similar cruise (Israel to Barcelona) for Oct 2025. We plan to go early to Israel. Thanks and have a wonderful cruise.

[Tnkbstr55]

We will be on this cruise as well, along with the pre-cruise land tour.  We were last in Israel and Egypt 16 years ago (very interested in seeing how Cairo may have changed) and I recall tipping with dollars.  I’m sure euros will be fine as well.  We did buy some souvenirs with dollars and always got change back in local currency.  Hope you all have a good trip over.

[edgee]

Having just returned from a land trip to Israel, I can tell you that dollars are just fine for tips in Israel...widely accepted and used. I ordered shekels from my bank prior to leaving (Slightly worse exchange rate than ATMs in Israel, but I wanted a few for convenience) but ended up tipping in dollars sometimes and Shekels sometimes, depending on bills I had in my pocket.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I can't answer since I did Egypt from another direction, but I will say that an ATM might not help much since what you need in Egypt is small currency, as small as you can get. For tipping, which is ubiquitous, and for bathrooms. But getting small bills in Egypt is difficult, and an ATM won't likely help. American dollar bills are overkill for such things, but a good backstop, and much appreciated, so I would take a bunch of those.

[Jim Avery]

Can't speak to Israel yet but twice in Egypt at both Alexandria and Safaga ports we have never had anyone or any restaurant refuse US $.  In fact they seem to really appreciate it.  One caveat, they need to be bills in good condition.  No tears, no wear, no writing on them.  Otherwise, no problem at all.

[robbie21]

We were is Israel in June of the Vista.  3 days of private tours with a group of 6.  We paid and tipped our guide and driver in dollars.  We used credit cards everywhere else including fast food restaurants and more formal restaurants, supermarkets and for souvenirs.  CC's had a provision for tips in restaurants.  Our guide would have found an ATM but advised against it.  He was right.

[RachelG]

We have been both to Egypt and Israel and just used US dollars.  They seemed happy to take them. 

[papaflamingo]

Thank you all.  That is great to hear!  Looks like dollars it is. 😎

[papaflamingo]

On 9/13/2023 at 8:41 AM, forevertravel said:

I would love your experiences since we are booking a similar cruise (Israel to Barcelona) for Oct 2025. We plan to go early to Israel. Thanks and have a wonderful cruise.

I'll be doing some reporting on it. Are you on Facebook?