Currency

I am sailing on the Costa Serena from Dubai next January. We will be visiting Abu Dhabi in the UAE and a couple of places in Oman. As they have different currency what is the best way to deal with this? I have never been on a cruise before where we visit countries with different currencies. Is it best to use ATMs or take a small amount of each currency?

Unless you are intending to do extended tours in each port by taxi then we allow roughly £25 per day in local currency for coffees HOHO buses and the like, the good old yankee dollar also works well.

You can book taxi tours before going and pay in Sterling if you must see something, other than that you can purchase small amounts of local currency on the ship. or use ATM's although they normally charge a fixed rate for each transaction.

Costa's ships tours are good value mostly as you get a very detailed account of places you visit. Beware though you may end up with two or even more languages on the coach, but English grouping when walking about is normal.

Make sure you can return any unused money when buying, without a charge. Post Office is a good standby, but a look around will get you better deals on anything over £250.

We have used Costa for small amounts but do not recomend them for your main holiday spending. Most Taxi's now take cards but ask before getting in about costs.