USAToday → Currency exchange 101: What to know before you go

Here's a USAToday article on a topic of interest to international travelers: Currency exchange 101: What to know before you go

Enjoy...

Thanks for sharing.

Of course exchanging currency on board a Princess ship is not covered in the USA Today article.

Here is how it was done on Princess this spring on the CB (this was before Brexit caused the British pound to lose value):

There are two currency exchange machines, both on deck 6 near the center elevators. The one on the starboard side is for buying/selling British pounds. The one on the port side is for buying/selling Euros.

These are not ATM machines. You put currency in to get currency out. There is a limit of inserting ten bills per transaction. There is a service fee of $4.50 per transaction. It is obviously better to insert ten $20 bills than twenty $10 bills as the latter transactions would require paying two service fees.

The Interbank rate that day for selling British pounds was $1.45352 for one British pound.

The Interbank rate that day for selling Euros was $1.13204 for one Euro.

ATM debit cards used on shore will usually have a foreign transaction charge from your bank of from 0% (CapitalOne, for example) to 3% (Bank of America, for example).

So if your financial institution charges the full 3% rate, one British pound would cost $1.4971 and one Euro would cost $1.1660.

This compares (as shown below) to the Princess rates: one British pound would cost $1.5454 and one Euro would cost $1.2046.

The Princess currency exchange machines had the following rates that day. (I do not know how often they may change.)

To purchase British pounds, you will pay $1.5454 for each pound. Compare this to what using your ATM debit card might cost. To sell British pounds back to Princess, the machine will give you $1.3217 for each pound, 14.47% less than you paid for them. Of course you will pay the $4.50 Princess transaction fee for both buying and selling the pounds. If you converted $100 into pounds and then back into US $, including the transaction fees you would end up with $77.18.

To be noted is that the machine does not say you are paying $1.5454 for each pound. It shows the rate as $1 buys you .64708 of a pound. Unless you have a calculator with you or are a certified MENSA member, you will not know that .64708 translates to paying $1.5454 for a pound. Many people see the $1.3217 value and assume they are getting a great deal on purchasing pounds.

To purchase Euros, you will pay $1.2046 for each Euro. Compare this to what using your ATM debit card might cost. To sell Euros back to Princess, the machine will give you $1.0306 for each Euro, 14.44% less than you paid for them. Of course you will pay the $4.50 Princess transaction fee for both buying and selling the Euros. If you converted $100 into Euros and then back into US $, including the transaction fees you would end up with $77.21.

To be noted is that the machine does not say you are paying $1.2046 for each Euro. It shows the rate as $1 buys you .83015 of a Euro. Unless you have a calculator with you or are a certified MENSA member, you will not know that .83015 translates to paying $1.2046 for a Euro. Many people see the $1.0306 value and assume they are getting a great deal on purchasing Euros.

Of course you can buy Euros with pounds or buy pounds with Euros. I did not look into those rates, but you should expect a loss of value of 14.44% plus the transaction fees.

The machines do not accept coins. I do not know if they dispense coins when you buy the currencies, but I suspect they do.

You are not limited to making these transactions with US $. The machine also accepted the currencies of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Japan.

Here is how it was done on Princess this spring on the CB (this was before Brexit caused the British pound to lose value):

The machines do not accept coins. I do not know if they dispense coins when you buy the currencies, but I suspect they do.

 

You are not limited to making these transactions with US $. The machine also accepted the currencies of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Japan.

On the Emerald last May, we exchanged on the machine our US$ for Euros. Only bills were dispensed. No coins for the small change.

I learned the hard way about money changing machines when we were in France. I made the mistake of getting Euros at the airport instead of waiting until I could use a bank ATM (of course there were probably bank ATMs at the airport but I thought I was using one).