Getting Euros on Oceania

[Paulchili]

1 hour ago, rallydave said:

Mura's rates are accurate if you use an ATM to get cash or use credit cards to pay.  Both give you the million dollar exchange rate and thus are why many of us strongly recommend as much as you can to pay with a credit card, if you need cash use ATM's when you arrive in the foreign country and NEVER agree to make your purchase in your home dollars when charging something and the clerk offers as those exchange rates are as bad as they get.

Exactly.

One additional caveat - NEVER use CCs to get cash advances at ATM or anywhere else. They charge high interest rates for these transactions FROM the date of cash advance.

[rallydave]

18 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

Exactly.

One additional caveat - NEVER use CCs to get cash advances at ATM or anywhere else. They charge high interest rates for these transactions FROM the date of cash advance.

And one additional reason to not use a credit card to get a cash advance.  Quite often a cash advance from a credit card also includes a transaction fee of several percent so even if you are using a credit card with a promotional zero percent interest rate, your cash advance will not be "free".

[CintiPam]

When I travel in the Eurozone, I use bank ATM machines (with the same ATM card I use at home) and no fee credit cards for transactions just like I do at home.  If I am taking or sharing private tours, I tend to use more Euros, which I get from bank ATM’s in the cities I am visiting.  Whatever I have left at the end of the trip (usually around 50 or 75 Euros), I bring along to start the next trip.  No hassle, no fuss, and no extra fees.  

 

If if I am in non-Euro countries, I pay a little more attention to my ATM withdrawals so as not to have too much of that specific (UK or Scandinavian) country currency in my wallet at the end!

Edited April 23, 2019 by CintiPam

[Hawaiidan]

I travel for business and pleasure to Europe more than a few times a year,  What I have found is the ATM's by baggage claim may give you a OK rate ( Not as good as at a bank in town) .....BUT  they have high minimum draws  starting at 200+ euros.    CDG is a good case in point...    As in realestate  ATM's  its Location-location-location

As a general consideration I have found ATM's giving better results the further you get from points of arrival.     The CDG which I mention was positioned to snag travelers, arriving jet lagged and confused.   Don't get panicked...  ATM's are plentiful.

[Hawaiidan]

19 hours ago, CintiPam said:

When I travel in the Eurozone, I use bank ATM machines (with the same ATM card I use at home) and no fee credit cards for transactions just like I do at home.  If I am taking or sharing private tours, I tend to use more Euros, which I get from bank ATM’s in the cities I am visiting.  Whatever I have left at the end of the trip (usually around 50 or 75 Euros), I bring along to start the next trip.  No hassle, no fuss, and no extra fees.  

 

If if I am in non-Euro countries, I pay a little more attention to my ATM withdrawals so as not to have too much of that specific (UK or Scandinavian) country currency in my wallet at the end!

This is even more true in Asia..... where dozens of currency can pile up...yen, bahat Rupia, JpY, SPF, NSD  AuD, Ringets.... and the list goes on ( I have a stack of 10,000 Rupiah bills worth around .20 cents @)

[pinotlover]

 We always avoid the atms at the airports. We likewise always use the atms of the major banks. Since CDG was just mentioned it’s a great case in point. Some of the atms at CDG are not bank atm but from other entities. Those all come with service fees for use. We had arrived in CDG, and made our way over to the tgv tracks for our train to Avignon. Since we had a couple of hours to kill, I decided to pickup additional Euros there. It took awhile walking around to find a machine that was a bank atm without the service fees . A hurried tourist could easily get hung with unnecessary fees by using the wrong atm!

[Paulchili]

2 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

We always avoid the atms at the airports.

This blanket statement is misleading. As you state later, one needs to avoid “independent” ATMs but there are almost always bank ATMs at the airport as well - one just has to pay attention and look for one. Once found, those bank ATMs at the airport are no different than those in town (of the same bank).

[clo]

On 4/20/2019 at 9:00 AM, Hawaiidan said:

Money rule #1    use a debit card in an ATM ashore, or in airports or banks.   Never use a credit card in an ATM because its a "cash advance "  at a high interest rate and fee.     Your tour operator will  stop by an ATM for you if asked.

Money  rule#2    In foreign  places  use a Credit Card as much as possible with a no charge conversion  Book as many tours as possible with the card if you have to cancel, or like the ship misses the port.    A real possibility you need to consider.

Money rule#3  remember that you will get charged a3-5% commission  to convert any  un spent foreign bills back to your home currency....... no one will convert coin.. if you dont use it  it becomes an expensive fishing weight.

Cash in Europe  today  is not your friend   even taxi's take  credit cards.

We have an account with USAA (husband former military) and they reimburse ATM fees up to $15 a month. I believe there are others like that.  We really mostly use that account when we're traveling.  And make sure your credit card doesn't charge foreign transaction fees.  Oh, one other thing.  If it's a non-Euro country try to have as little local currency as you can get away with...unless you plan on visiting that country again.