Getting cash on a Grand Voyage

[carnivaljunkie]

We are on the 94 day Grand Australia cruise and are wondering how you get cash needed for off ship activities.  Does Guest Services give cash advances on your Sail and Sign account?

 

 

 

[The-Inside-Cabin]

8 minutes ago, carnivaljunkie said:

We are on the 94 day Grand Australia cruise and are wondering how you get cash needed for off ship activities.  Does Guest Services give cash advances on your Sail and Sign account?

 

 

 

Yes - there is a 3% charge.   

 

There are plenty of ATMs ashore in Australia - that is your cheapest bet   But, you will be hard-pressed to find a vendor in Australia that doesn't take credit cards and most prefer credit cards.   

[SusieKIslandGirl]

Also, check with your home bank that issued your ATM card. Many have partner banks in other countries so you can avoid extra charges. I know Bank of America has one in Australia. We used it quite a bit.

[Mary229]

We have never owned an ATM card.  We bring some currency and use credit cards.  We have never had a problem on a cruise.  

[Canadaclyde]

I purchased onboard credit prior to our 2023 world cruise. When I needed some cash, I was able to get it from the front desk. There was no service charge.

[WriterOnDeck]

You also can consider getting foreign currency before you go from your bank. I usually do that. But these days not much is needed, as credit cards work pretty much everywhere. I just like to tip tour guides in their currency, so I try to have some.

[alwaysfrantic]

Get a debit card free from foreign transaction fees.  Schwab is great.  They also reimburse any atm fee the bank you are using charges.  So easy. 

[Heidi13]

Time in port is short, so we have no wish to spend valuable shore leave looking for an ATM. Will never use 3rd party ATM's, only ones from an accredited National Bank.

 

Therefore, we bring a small amount of local currency for each country visited. Mostly use credit card.

[colbe]

On 10/3/2023 at 3:25 PM, Canadaclyde said:

I purchased onboard credit prior to our 2023 world cruise. When I needed some cash, I was able to get it from the front desk. There was no service charge.

What currencies were you able to get from the front desk?

[Canadaclyde]

2 hours ago, colbe said:

What currencies were you able to get from the front desk?

I got US $ and Euros. I didn't ask about any other currencies. It worked out great for us. We didn't have to travel to Ft Lauderdale with a lot of cash. In addition, we had problems with one of our credit cards, so the ability to get cash easily helped to make up for that issue. At the end of the cruise, we still had money left over in our onboard account, and HAL issued a refund very quickly.

[lyndarra]

On 9/25/2023 at 2:57 AM, carnivaljunkie said:

We are on the 94 day Grand Australia cruise and are wondering how you get cash needed for off ship activities.  Does Guest Services give cash advances on your Sail and Sign account?

 

 

 

There is almost no need for cash in Australia off ship . Card use is almost universal and some retail businesses are cashless. Also, you wont need cash for tipping. Tipping is not expected but is appreciated.

I use my Visa card for everything.