Mastercard Charges

[Open sea]

Two questions:

Do establishments in New Zealand and Australia charge a fee for use of a credit card? (in this case MasterCard)

 

Does anyone know how far it is from the Crowne Plaza in Sydney to the cruise terminal? Walkable?

 

Cruising back to back in November - NZ and AUS. Thanks.

[The_Big_M]

Two questions:

Do establishments in New Zealand and Australia charge a fee for use of a credit card? (in this case MasterCard)

 

Does anyone know how far it is from the Crowne Plaza in Sydney to the cruise terminal? Walkable?

 

Cruising back to back in November - NZ and AUS. Thanks.

 

Not all charge a fee, but a fair number do. It's usually in the order of 1-2% though, so not great.

 

Which Crowne Plaza? The one in Coogee? If so, no., you wouldn't want to walk from there to the cruise terminal. Your only real option from there is a taxi. (There is public transport, but it involves connections and is a fair distance so with luggage not appealing.)

[dancinman66]

Only crowne plaza in Sydney is coogee which is a good 20 minute taxi ride to the quay depending on traffic

 

Unless you are talking intercontinental which is same group and is walking distance with bags

 

Most places are tending to charge a few percent for credit cards now

 

 

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[Cruise_me_Crazy]

Hi open sea. Welcome.

 

Public transport in Aus unless on a direct train line can be a bit muddly. Although Sydney has a great network.

 

Love to hear more about your trip. :) please post your crow plaza address (suburb is fine) to give us a better idea of options. If you could change within the hotel group to somewhere closer that may suit your needs better.

 

We stay with IHG as hubs gets points with work. Great network to choose from! :)

[Docker123]

Crowne Plaza Coogee is definitely a taxi ride.

 

I have stayed there often on business. The location is great, especially if you have time to walk along the coast a little. Hopefully you will have an ocean view room.

 

There are some really nice little restaurants and cafes on the main strip. Turn left at the beach and about 300 metres along.

[goodycruising]

What sort of shopping are you looking at with the MasterCard? Accommodation and flights etc. do attract fees as others have said, but smaller retail shops and food places often don't.

 

I think of it as the more someone wants my business the less likely they are to charge a fee that used to always be included in the price (until the regulations changed). I find it crazy that companies where it is hard to pay any other way besides credit card are the most likely to be putting the fee on.

 

Also from 1st August here in Aus the signature has been phased out and you must have your pin, or use the tap/paywave for less than $100. Although not all places have the tap terminals yet.

[Cruise_me_Crazy]

What sort of shopping are you looking at with the MasterCard? Accommodation and flights etc. do attract fees as others have said, but smaller retail shops and food places often don't.

 

I think of it as the more someone wants my business the less likely they are to charge a fee that used to always be included in the price (until the regulations changed). I find it crazy that companies where it is hard to pay any other way besides credit card are the most likely to be putting the fee on.

 

Also from 1st August here in Aus the signature has been phased out and you must have your pin, or use the tap/paywave for less than $100. Although not all places have the tap terminals yet.

 

Good pick up goody. I still have the signature one. Need to pull my sox up with one!!

[The_Big_M]

Also from 1st August here in Aus the signature has been phased out and you must have your pin, or use the tap/paywave for less than $100. Although not all places have the tap terminals yet.

 

That doesn't apply to foreign cardholders. As the poster is a foreign cardholder they don't need to worry about that and can sign away.

[goodycruising]

Good pick up goody. I still have the signature one. Need to pull my sox up with one!!

 

That doesn't apply to foreign cardholders. As the poster is a foreign cardholder they don't need to worry about that and can sign away.

 

Cruise me crazy - if you have online banking you can set up your pin online on some banks' sites. I was reading yesterday some convoluted instruction on it (at work) that if the card is just the old magnetic strip then signature will still apply. We are to let the customer try their card and then see what the relevant bank authorises. So there is not a hard and fast cut off just yet, and Big M, I honestly have no idea about overseas cards, and that is very good information. Thanks!

[Bizziecruzer]

Your bank may also charge you a currency conversion fee - depends what rate your bank operates on. I have a card that uses best rate of the day in favour of the customer.

[cassamanda]

Two questions:

Do establishments in New Zealand and Australia charge a fee for use of a credit card? (in this case MasterCard)

 

Does anyone know how far it is from the Crowne Plaza in Sydney to the cruise terminal? Walkable?

 

Cruising back to back in November - NZ and AUS. Thanks.

 

There is no Crowne Plaza in Sydney. Do you mean the Park Royal at Darling Harbour which was renamed from the old Crown Plaza at the bottom of Bathurst St.?

 

We also need to know which cruise terminal your cruise departs from but in either case, no it is not walkable.

[fishtaco]

That doesn't apply to foreign cardholders. As the poster is a foreign cardholder they don't need to worry about that and can sign away.

 

Problem is many sellers will not use the old paper swipe way when there e system is down so I presume they will do similar when a person who doesnt have a PIN and just forego the sale in the name of security?

[The_Big_M]

Problem is many sellers will not use the old paper swipe way when there e system is down so I presume they will do similar when a person who doesnt have a PIN and just forego the sale in the name of security?

 

Noo... they don't need to pull out the paper imprinters.

 

The electronic card readers recognise that the card is a foreign card when you swipe/insert, so provision for signing at the bottom of the receipt, exactly the same as at present. No extra hassle for the merchant.

 

However, if you insert an Australian sourced card, they recognise that so you are required to enter a PIN.