Check cashing at Guest Services

[Lady Arwen]

I would be lost if I had to write a cheque (check in US)! It’s literally been many years.  I use E-Tranfers a lot.  In Canada we have Tap and Go technology and it literally takes three seconds to cash out in any establishment that takes debit and credit cards.  I never carry more than $20.00 in cash.  The same $20.00 bill has been in my wallet for years.

 

We always book cruiseline excursions so paid in full before we leave home.  We do take US $ for tips.  We utilize ATM machines in the ports if we require cash, but that’s a rare event.

 

I do like the idea of pre filling envelopes with appropriate amounts for private tours.  Great idea that I’ll keep in mind should we decide to go the route in the future.

[DCThunder]

2 hours ago, capriccio said:

When we did around South America in 2016/2017 we only used Princess tours on 1 or 2 of the IIRC 17 ports.  Almost all the other tour companies wanted US dollars and in exact change.  We split the money between us for travel to the ship.  Before we left home I had labeled an envelop with each tour vendor's name, date of tour, and price plus tip (taken from a spreadsheet I had made to determine how much money to bring).  We divided most of the cash into the vendor payment envelopes and each port day just took out the envelope for that day.  Took some planning but never had to worry about having the correct amount of cash.

This is exactly what I did for a South America itinerary last year.

[sandyoftheseas]

2 hours ago, capriccio said:

When we did around South America in 2016/2017 we only used Princess tours on 1 or 2 of the IIRC 17 ports.  Almost all the other tour companies wanted US dollars and in exact change.  We split the money between us for travel to the ship.  Before we left home I had labeled an envelop with each tour vendor's name, date of tour, and price plus tip (taken from a spreadsheet I had made to determine how much money to bring).  We divided most of the cash into the vendor payment envelopes and each port day just took out the envelope for that day.  Took some planning but never had to worry about having the correct amount of cash.

We now do the same thing.  My husband LOVES his spreadsheets!  I would not trust that the ATM or Guest Services would be able to give me US dollars.  Years ago we went to an ATM in a bank in Peru and it did not have English translation we had to have a bank employee help us to translate to withdraw money.