breaking large bills - casino or purser desk

[mermaidIamNOT]

Which would be best to break large bills if we don't want to carry a thick wallet full of $20s

[Skier52]

Which would be best to break large bills if we don't want to carry a thick wallet full of $20s

Why do you want a wad of $20 bills ?, you can't use them on the ship, except in the casino, as everything is charged to your cruise card as the ships are cashless societies.

 

If you are paying your account with cash then large bills will be OK for the pursers.

 

A small amount of cash for going ashore and extra tips (if deserved) above and beyond the daily amount added to your account, with at least 2 credit cards(1 spare in case of hiccups with the first card or in case you lose one) as the main money source is considered to be the best option. It saves queueing on the last day to settle your account as well.

 

If you are using the cash ashore then small bills in several different pockets is the safest way to carry cash.

 

 

Pete

[mermaidIamNOT]

Why do you want a wad of $20 bills ?, you can't use them on the ship, except in the casino, as everything is charged to your cruise card as the ships are cashless societies.

 

If you are paying your account with cash then large bills will be OK for the pursers.

 

A small amount of cash for going ashore and extra tips (if deserved) above and beyond the daily amount added to your account, with at least 2 credit cards(1 spare in case of hiccups with the first card or in case you lose one) as the main money source is considered to be the best option. It saves queueing on the last day to settle your account as well.

 

If you are using the cash ashore then small bills in several different pockets is the safest way to carry cash.

Pete

 

I know oboard the ship its a cashless system but off the ship is cash or credit card and even here at home we've recently had credit card fraud issues cleaned up with the bank, we'd rather not risk dealing with it from other countries.

 

Our somewhat expensive private tours are all "cash requested" and some have even requested no large bills as well.

[Skier52]

I know oboard the ship its a cashless system but off the ship is cash or credit card and even here at home we've recently had credit card fraud issues cleaned up with the bank, we'd rather not risk dealing with it from other countries.

 

Our somewhat expensive private tours are all "cash requested" and some have even requested no large bills as well.

Sorry to hear of your credit card fraud, I've had the same thing happen to me,somebody bought a lap top computer and $750 worth of LEGO using my credit card. They even had the cheek to have the computer delivered to my house (with the name they were using on the packaging) and phoned up saying it had been delivered to my house in error and could the come and collect it. Luckily i had detected the fraud myself and told the police who dealt withthe the matter.

 

Have you considered a pre-loaded payment card.

Here in the UK one of the best is CAXTON, I'm sure you have the same or equivalent where you are.

I always take mine with me and never had a problem with using it.

 

 

As for changing the bills on the ship the choice between Pursers' desk and casino may come down to "opening" times, and the length of any queues, I imagine queues will be shorter in the casino when it's open, so a little bit of preplanning and reading the daily program to find out the opening times with save you a lot of time in queues.

 

 

Pete

[Rinderoo]

Be wary of pre-loaded MasterCard and Visa cards. In the fine print of the agreement, only 80% of the balance is available for travel related expenses and the rest is held back for 'incidentals'.

 

I got stuck with one of these on a trip and it takes about 30 days to have all of the money released. They're great for retail but not great for restaurants and hotels because of the 20% hold.

 

(At least that's how they work here in the USA; if you buy one outside of the USA check the card agreement.)

[AmoMondo]

Be wary of pre-loaded MasterCard and Visa cards. In the fine print of the agreement, only 80% of the balance is available for travel related expenses and the rest is held back for 'incidentals'.

 

I got stuck with one of these on a trip and it takes about 30 days to have all of the money released. They're great for retail but not great for restaurants and hotels because of the 20% hold.

 

(At least that's how they work here in the USA; if you buy one outside of the USA check the card agreement.)

 

Some Australians also had bother with these types of cards on our crossing from Venice to Rio. Theirs were classed as debit cards and they'd intended using them to pay their cruise bills. However MSC only accepts credit cards or cash and they had an awful problem (for days) trying to get in touch with the issuer to get the cash transferred back to their accounts, so they could then transfer to a credit card account. Think they Medes up having to get relatives to send them an emergency Western Union or Moneygram payment, so they could put a lump sum of cash down with the accounting desk until it was all eventually sorted out.

[Skier52]

Be wary of pre-loaded MasterCard and Visa cards. In the fine print of the agreement, only 80% of the balance is available for travel related expenses and the rest is held back for 'incidentals'.

 

I got stuck with one of these on a trip and it takes about 30 days to have all of the money released. They're great for retail but not great for restaurants and hotels because of the 20% hold.

 

(At least that's how they work here in the USA; if you buy one outside of the USA check the card agreement.)

Thanks for the warning:- so now I've carefuly checked the T&Cs of my Caxton fx currency card (issued in the UK) and clearly says all the available balance can be used for purchases, no mention of 20% held back for "incidentals"

I have used it repeatedly when abroad with no problems, in restaurants, paying for transport tickets and entrance fees to sites of interest, but never tried to use it for an MSC account. I still advocate it as a safe way of carrying currency whilst abroad, obviously there are drawbacks with the US equivalents.

 

pete