Changing Money

[Cruise Dragon]

Can I exchange money at the Purser's Desk. This will be our first cruise to ports that don't except US $. I don't want to have to get all kinds of currency before I leave if I don't have to.

 

 

Here are the ports we visit:

 

Sat- Leave Dover, England

Sun- At Sea

Mon- Copenhagen, Denmark

Tue- Warnemunde, Germany

Wed and Thurs- Stockholm, Sweden

Fri- Helsinki, Finland

Sat and Sun.- St. Petersburg, Russia

Mon- Tallinn, Estonia

Tue- Klaipeda, Lithuania

Wed- Riga, Latvia

Thu and Fri- At Sea

Sat. Disembark Dover, England

 

[kitty9]

You generally cannot exchange money at the purser's desk. It's best to use local ATM machines in each city because they have a better rate of exchange. If you want to start out with a little of the local currency, you can go to the exchange desks at the airport from which you'll be flying.

 

You really won't need much in the way of local currency because it's better to use a credit card for purchases, and your tour guides will take US dollars as tips. You need just a small amount of local currency if you want to make very small purchases.

[Lotsacruising]

Actually that is incorrect, I have always exchanged money at the pursers desk

 

:)

[cruisintwinsmom]

When we were on Millie in June, they exchanged USD for Euros, however, the exchange rate was high, IMHO.

[wv4891]

As stated above, IMHO, the local ATMs have the best exchange rate, if you can find one. Be aware that in a lot of places your ATM card requires a 4 digit pin number to work.

 

 

Bill

[Stanley]

From what I've read and understand, we are able to get cash in the casino by charging the amount to our ship account and there is no exchange fee. You have to be sure you do this when not in port because the casino will be closed then.

[theawesome1]

Not sure of X but Princess in Med had exchange machines that you fed USD & received Euros, etc with USD change. Then when we were departing you put back in the strange money for USD, so hopefully by now X has it also on their ships.

[wv4891]

Stan,

 

I am not sure I am reading your statement properly but I seem to remember the casino only dispensing USD currency and not Euros or other foreign currency. I could be wrong though.

 

Bill

 

 

From what I've read and understand, we are able to get cash in the casino by charging the amount to our ship account and there is no exchange fee. You have to be sure you do this when not in port because the casino will be closed then.

[gailoterson]

On the Constellation last May the ATM's only gave you US dallars. You can get euro's at an OK exchange rate at the pursers desk. The rate was better than the hotel's were giving. We got $100.00 dollars worth of euro's. It probably cost us about $5.00.The casino only gives US dollars.

[Cruise Dragon]

Thanks everyone. I'll remember to change my pin to a 4 number/letter pin.

 

 

Walter

[Stanley]

I don't think I read anything about being paid out in US $ in the casino when you took cash on your account. If this is how it is then I'm warned. We will be spending English Pounds because the pound is stronger than the USD at the moment. I guess we'll be sticking with the ATMs. Thanks for this info.

[wv4891]

Stan,

 

 

I am only relating my experience, which was on a Caribbean Cruise, in the currency that the casino would give you. Perhaps things are different on the European cruises???? If you can call Celebrity where you are, I would ask them this question. Unless someone can answer it for sure. :confused:

 

Bill

[bob278]

I've only cruised once in Europe. That was last year. The casino dispensed all cash to me in dollars, but I'll admit, I never asked for anything else so don't know for sure that it is impossible. I also changed some small amounts of money at the purser's desk, but noticed the rate was high.

 

Everything I have ever read says the ATMs give the best rate around. I use a plain ATM card and have not seen any fees on the receipts. I would not use a credit card because that would be considered a cash advance and would definitely have a fee I wouldn't like, even if you pay it off when you get home.

 

I would look for an ATM in the airport when you arrive, but don't get too much because you won't have a lot of use for pounds sterling. And for goodness sake, avoid the money exchange in the airport unless you want to pay a LOT for the service.

[Shirley and Les]

My DW and I are on our 3rd Harry Potter novel and we haven't read a single word about how to change money. I have a huge pile of $1 bills that I am desperately trying to change into $5's, $10's or $20's. $50's would also be great but that is a bit of a stretch. If you find out how to do this on your European cruise, please post it here. Thanks!

Les

[Stanley]

Bob, we won't being using paper money when I spoke of spending British Pounds. It's a credit card associated with an English bank so when ever we use it (usually only when we travel) the exchange rate is made comparing pounds to whatever. In this case it will be Euros. If we take money from an ATM machine they told me that there will be a 1.5% service fee.

 

If we can't get Euros in the Casino then we'll be paying a fee when we change dollars to Euros. However you look at it, it seems we'll be paying one way or another.

[gailoterson]

our cruise was a transatlantic. We were with friends from England. At the purser's desk the only way they could get euros was to change their pounds to dollars and then change their dollars to euros. They got hit with service fees twice. The casino only gives out US dollars.

[kilted scout]

Just a tip. without wishing to upset any particular nationalities.

 

I would not use my credit card in Russia or any of the former Comicon countries if I can help it. We are finding in the UK that these, along with the far east are the main sources of card cloning and fraud.

 

On the basis of other cruises I have been on the pursers normally carry a stock of local currency, which they also buy back after the excursion. Despite the exchange rates, for the small amounts I need, it's not worth counting.

 

Another con is that people hang around the shipd with wads of money offering to exchange your dollars. What you end up with are curreny notes that have been out of circulation for a while- they look ok, but you can't spend them.

 

Just some obs, but I would imagine a qucik call to celebrity should be able to answer the purser question.

 

Rodney

 

Lowestoft england

[smeyer418]

LOL I found the best place to use a credit card was in Russia the bill never came in!

[bob278]

I didn't know you could get a credit card based on a currency outside your country of residence. Did you get it through your bank's relationship with the one in England or simply apply to the English bank?

 

If the fee for using the ATM is only 1.5% and the rate is close to the published exchange rate (I guess you could consider that "prime rate"), then it beats what I've been quoted by my bank and American Express.

 

They run about 5% over the minimum published rate plus my bank wants $15 for delivery. American Express will MAIL it to be for free (yeah, I'm going to have 3-400 of my cash going through the mail) or UPS it next day late afternoon delivery for $4.00.

 

I'll get enough to last me the first 2-3 days of anticipated cash expenses and fill in with ATM hits to compromise between having a lot of cash on hand and not having enough to do something we want to do at any time.

 

Bob

[wv4891]

Bob, I went the bank route last trip and thought what they charged was extremely high for the exchange. The service was very convenient but expensive, i had my currency at my local branch the day after I ordered it.

 

I am in agreement with you, the ATM is the way to go. I had no addon charges from my bank for using the ATMs...perhaps I was lucky on that one????

 

Bill

[Stanley]

Bob, the spouse is English and we left an account open over there for times like this. I don't believe you can just open up an account in England if you just want to from here. Besides it's not worth the taxes you would have to pay on the interest.

[Deb C.]

You say you have a pile of one dollar bills and wish to change them into 5, 10, etc. dollar bills---right?

 

Are you on the cruise ship right now?

[Shirley and Les]

You say you have a pile of one dollar bills and wish to change them into 5, 10, etc. dollar bills---right?

 

Are you on the cruise ship right now?

NO, we said cautiously. WHY DO YOU ASK?

Since there were several serious posts on exchanging money, I thought it was time for one in a lighter vein.

Please tell me what you were going to say. Thanks.:cool:

[pcur]

I called our bank before our Mediterranean and Transatlantic cruises 2 years ago (Bank of America) and THEY told me to use an ATM wherever we were. The only fee is the ATM out-of-network fee, which is $1.50 US, and they calculate the exchange rate internally by computer when the transaction goes through.

 

The bank also told me to get the maximum withdrawal allowed if I was going to several countries that accepted Euros, because then I only paid the $1.50 US fee once. We used a walk-up ATM at a bank in Florence, got 350Euros, and used them for several days. All our other purchases were with our regular Visa credit card.

 

If you're in a country that doesn't accept Euros, then use an ATM there for your immediate needs. My son just got back from a 2 week trip to England, Belgium to Germany, and back to England, and that's what he did, too. He used the ATM in Heathrow Airport, and then another in the train stations in the Netherlands and Germany.

 

Any other way of getting foreign currency (purser's desk, exchange booth at the airport, etc.) just pays the middle-man's fee, and it's unecessary. And, yes, the casino pays in US dollars (at least on Royal Caribbean).