Money Suggestion for San Juan

[farjar]

On our cruise in February, San Juan was our first port. Since it is part of the United States, there are several banks across the street from the cruise terminal. We changed many of our large denomination bills into very small denomination bills there. This made our shopping, paying cab drivers, etc. at the rest of the non US ports much easier. Many vendors in these other ports either don't have change in US money, or will only give you change in their own currency. (We heard of one passenger pay $5 for a $1 item because the passenger had no small bills and the vendor had no change.) Our cruise ship would not break bills. We just left the smaller bills in our safe and then took out enough each day for that port. It just made it easier for us to fly to Puerto Rico carrying only a few larger bills and exchanging them there than trying to take a large stack of $1's, $5's & $10's with us from home. Just be sure you'll be docked on a day and time the banks will be opened.

[gtaylor]

I highly recommend having a lot of small bills on hand for smaller charges, but I would suggest just carrying a large assortment of small bills from home. Even a bundle of $100 in singles doesn't take up much space, I'm not sure what you're saving by waiting until San Juan to break the bills. If your bag happens to be stolen, it wouldn't make any difference if it holds the many singles or the few hundreds that you're carrying.

 

Yes, there are several banks, but the only bank there I am familar with is CitiBank, as I had to go there (across from the cruise piers) to resolve a problem with my card.

 

We were in San Juan pre-cruise, and upon checking into the Caribe Hilton, there was a block on my card. The Hilton called CitiBank and resolved the block, but I had to go to the local branch and show ID to make sure that it wouldn't be necessary for every other vendor to call in and verify with CitiBank during the rest of our trip.

 

For me, it took an hour that I would have been glad to spend elsewhere.

 

Two additional suggestions:

 

1) Tell your credit card company that you are traveling.

 

2) I suspect that your bank's lines at homes are shorter and/or quicker.

 

gary

[Kaye from Chicagoland]

DITTO!!!

 

We always take lots of smaller bills (esp. singles) from home - makes life a lot easier for tipping, small purchases, taxis, etc.

 

My credit card co. always thanks me for letting them know when I'll be out of town and where. Extra protection never hurts in this day.

 

Kaye

[suzeyQ]

Are the banks open on Sundays? We're from Toronto and most banks don't carry much in the way of small bills in US currency so it would be easier for us to get larger bills here and get them broken down once we arrive.

[CPT Trips]

The purser on board will make change . . . don't fret about the bank hours.

[suzeyQ]

Good point... I just don't like having to worry about stuff like that once I get on board... I like having it all done beforehand!