Currency on Tahiti cruise?

On our Tahiti cruise on Pacific Pearl , we have time in Tonga (Tongan $), Cook Islands (NZ$), Fiji (Fiji$) and New Caledonia/French Polynesia (XPF). We are intending this time to take "local" tours offered at the destination ports. I have read the blogs of people who went to some of these places on Dawn Princess World cruise last year - and they said they got local tours in Tahiti area but quoted their cost in $AUD. I am wondering what currency to take with us - no prob taking Aussie $ but should I get any UD$ or XPF before departure?? I hate arriving in places with no local currency at all - can't even buy a beer, etc.

We will have 2 days in Tongan ports, 4 days in Fijian ports, one in Cook Is, and 6 in XPF ports. We will be taking a ships tour in Raratonga , Cook Is (as it will be a Sunday) - so probably don't really need any NZ currency, but if we do and have some left over , that is OK. I don't know that Tongan currency is available here in Brisbane - possibly it is through Travelex. In Fiji, we should be able to get local currency through Westpac bank ATM's?? XPF is the big question - because we will have quite some time in XPF ports and I am unsure of whether they will accept AUD or is it better to have XPF?? Not really concerned about exchange rates - just want to ensure ease of use and time efficiency.

Any advice much appreciated.

Barry

On our Tahiti cruise on Pacific Pearl , we have time in Tonga (Tongan $), Cook Islands (NZ$), Fiji (Fiji$) and New Caledonia/French Polynesia (XPF). We are intending this time to take "local" tours offered at the destination ports. I have read the blogs of people who went to some of these places on Dawn Princess World cruise last year - and they said they got local tours in Tahiti area but quoted their cost in $AUD. I am wondering what currency to take with us - no prob taking Aussie $ but should I get any UD$ or XPF before departure?? I hate arriving in places with no local currency at all - can't even buy a beer, etc.

 

We will have 2 days in Tongan ports, 4 days in Fijian ports, one in Cook Is, and 6 in XPF ports. We will be taking a ships tour in Raratonga , Cook Is (as it will be a Sunday) - so probably don't really need any NZ currency, but if we do and have some left over , that is OK. I don't know that Tongan currency is available here in Brisbane - possibly it is through Travelex. In Fiji, we should be able to get local currency through Westpac bank ATM's?? XPF is the big question - because we will have quite some time in XPF ports and I am unsure of whether they will accept AUD or is it better to have XPF?? Not really concerned about exchange rates - just want to ensure ease of use and time efficiency.

 

Any advice much appreciated.

 

 

Barry

It's so expensive in Papeete you'll probably not buy much... They'll take USD or AUD.

Jilly:)

We try to avoid changing any money into French Pacific Francs as if you have any over they wont change it back for you when you get home.

We got by with US dollars.

Just print out a cheat sheet before you leave with the local currency conversions.

Heres a site you can get one from.

http://www.oanda.com/currency/travel-exchange-rates

Thanks for that information David as I will be visiting Tahiti on my Radiance of the Seas cruise.

I will have to see what I have in my foreign currency stash.

I have a daughter in the Navy and when she returns from her deployments (to annoy her I call them cruises;))instead of cashing her foreign currency in I buy it off her, no interest of course.This money is handy even for stopover in Airports.

Regards Elaine.

I will have to see what I have in my foreign currency stash.Regards Elaine.

Might pay to throw in a few Euros , if so have some. I am sure I saw some prices in Euros last time , as its a great destination for the French. However with the horrendous prices up there, I did not see too many people coming back with shopping bags:eek:

We try to avoid changing any money into French Pacific Francs as if you have any over they wont change it back for you when you get home.

I realise you're in NZ, but Barry's in AU, and you can change it back if so desired at CBA. You can also purchase it there for that matter (but would need to order in advance given its low demand locally).

Not sure about which ports Barry's going, but most ports that have XPF as their currency also readily accept AUD and as you say you're not too worried about the exchange rate. Noumea has a lot of shops that are XPF only, but then you can usually use credit card as well if you wish, although in the inland markets and for smaller amounts it may be less an option. You could then use an ATM for exchange if it came to it.

Bazzaw,

When we cruised French Polynesia last year on the PG, the prefered currency is XPF or US curency. Most do not accept Aus currency. Patrick's tour only accepted US, which is more favourable for us at the moment anyway.

We were in French Polynesia last fall on the Royal Princess. Half of the private tours we took required payment in local currency - XPF (Marc's in Huahine and Keishi in Bora Bora) and the other half took USD (Bruno in Raiatea and Leon in Rangiroa).

Some private tour operators will be asking to be paid in XPF if the USD continues to slide. I have this information first hand when making a booking with Patrick on Bora Bora for next year.

It might pay to check .

Barry,

We did the same cruise last year on the Pacific Sun and at each of the ports P & O had organised for the locals to be on board for currency exchange at quite good rates. They stayed on board for most of the day and would buy back the currency when you returned to the ship.

Barry,

We did the same cruise last year on the Pacific Sun and at each of the ports P & O had organised for the locals to be on board for currency exchange at quite good rates. They stayed on board for most of the day and would buy back the currency when you returned to the ship.

Thats a very good idea...:)

Good to see the cruise lines looking after passengers needs in ports of call.

It's been a while since we were last on P&O Aust in "foreign" waters - but I can't say that I noticed that then

Barry

We were in Papeete, Bora Bora, Moorea and Raiatea last year and we could pay for anything in Euros or US dollars. We only had AUD and US so it was US...at every place we shopped we got our change in XPF, even though they had US change in their tills :(