post card stamps

[racnwdow]

Can we use USA postage stamps for post cards mailed in other places besides the states?  Or do we need to buy local stamps?  Greece/Italy/Cypress/Italy.  How about if I drop them in the ship postal slot?  Rotterdam out of Italy.

[YXU AC*SE]

One must use locally denominated postage. Front desk / guest services usually has a supply on hand.  Scott. 

 

 

 

Edited August 15, 2019 by YXU AC*SE

[Cruising-along]

I agree with the above poster, we have done it many times. 

[catl331]

39 minutes ago, racnwdow said:

How about if I drop them in the ship postal slot?

You must use local postage, and I recommend that you mail them on shore. I've had postcards "mailed" on the ship not reach their destinations for several months, or sometimes never.

Edited August 15, 2019 by catl331

[jhannah]

The dhip will charge a premium, so if you can find a post office convenient in port that would be your best bet.

[catl331]

4 minutes ago, jhannah said:

if you can find a post office convenient in port that would be your best bet.

We've found that shops that sell postcards often sell stamps too, and have a mail drop slot.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Since I usually had only 1 or 2 postcards to mail home, I didn't mind buying them on the ship.

 

But I always mailed them when we got ashore.

[3rdGenCunarder]

1 hour ago, catl331 said:

You must use local postage, and I recommend that you mail them on shore. I've had postcards "mailed" on the ship not reach their destinations for several months, or sometimes never.

 

1 hour ago, jhannah said:

The dhip will charge a premium, so if you can find a post office convenient in port that would be your best bet.

 

I don't know if HAL does this, but some ships will take your unstamped card and mail it for you. Cunard will do this, for considerably more than the cost of the stamp. And then the card could be mailed a month later from somewhere you didn't visit. Our Med cruise stamps were mailed from Germany, probably because Cunard had some kind of bulk mail rate.

 

Longest time lag I had was 6 months, from St Maarten, and that wasn't the ship's fault. I mailed the cards myself in a mail box in the port area. 

 

I know OP isn't going to the Caribbean, but here's a hint for Carib cruises. If your ship stops at St Thomas or San Juan, your US postcard stamps will be good there.

 

 

[catl331]

44 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

If your ship stops at St Thomas or San Juan, your US postcard stamps will be good there.

Also St Croix

[PSR]

7 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

Longest time lag I had was 6 months, from St Maarten, and that wasn't the ship's fault. I mailed the cards myself in a mail box in the port area. 

 

HA! Love St. Maarten, but about 10 years ago we mailed a postcard from the St. Maarten POST OFFICE and it has never appeared!!! Now, one from a Bonaire post office was received just fine. 😊 

[DeeniEncinitas]

For me I always go to front office and buy my stamps from them. The last thing I want to do is find a post office in port! 

Yes you pay premium price but  for me 

it works out perfectly!

Denise😊

[tuolumne couple]

i feel as though the postage the ship offers for any letter or postcard is going rate and very convenient , reasonable, and such a relief to not have to mail it myself. i usually send them at the start of the trip and they always make it home soon enough with pretty stamps on them etc. the front desk can even give you a quote on postage prior to mailing. thank you, front desk staff for making my life easier to correspond while on board. 

[Cruising-along]

1 hour ago, DeeniEncinitas said:

For me I always go to front office and buy my stamps from them. The last thing I want to do is find a post office in port! 

Yes you pay premium price but  for me 

it works out perfectly!

Denise😊

I'm the same, the convenience is worth it for me.  

[Storylady]

Sometimes the shops selling the cards have stamps. Since post card postage is expensive in Europe. You might not want the added cost that the ship charges. Plus, postcards I sent from the ship didn’t arrive. So check the shops to see if they have postage to US.

[ski ww]

We mailed a bunch of post cards from Bora Bora on the ship in Mar and they have yet to arrive.

[whogo]

Foreign post offices can be a frustrating experience. I waited a long time in a French post office. They were handling everything except mail. Large amounts of cash changed hands, I thought people were paying utility bills and collecting their pensions or something.

 

A Spanish post office had about six different windows labeled A through F and no way for this guy to know which one sold stamps.

 

I have heard that in some countries you should watch the postal employee affix postage to the card, otherwise he may pocket your payment.

 

All the postcards I mailed at the front desk on a Royal Caribbean transatlantic were mailed from the last port, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The first postcard arrived six weeks later. I still mail from the front desk when they say they will be mailed from the current port.

[caribill]

On a recent cruise the last USA port was in Alaska and the ship went on to Japan.

 

A number of people paid HAL for USA stamps and gave the mail to HAL to send out.

 

But the last USA port was cancelled due to weather. There were a number of unhappy people who were told that they would now have to pay for postage a second time to get Japanese stamps.

[Lovely other]

On 8/15/2019 at 3:21 PM, racnwdow said:

Can we use USA postage stamps for post cards mailed in other places besides the states?  Or do we need to buy local stamps?  Greece/Italy/Cypress/Italy.  How about if I drop them in the ship postal slot?  Rotterdam out of Italy.

 

🙄

[rkacruiser]

You MUST provide the proper local postage on whatever mail you send during a foreign trip.  Don't depend, unless you absolutely must, whatever postage is required (and sold) by the Front Office.  Once, I was told by the Front Office what the postage was to mail an absentee ballot to my Ohio location from Hong Kong.  It was the same price for a post card.  I didn't believe it and took the Star Ferry to the Island where there was a Post Office within easy walking distance of the landing.  The cost to send that ballot back to the USA was significantly different from what I had been told at the Front Office.

 

Good luck finding post cards.  They have become an endangered species--near extinct--in some ports.

 

I found a few at Ushuaia, Argentina at an exorbitant cost with even more expensive postage.  I chose to mail them when the Zaandam was in Montevideo where the postage was much less.  They did arrive, but I had been home for quite some time with luggage unpacked and laundry done before the post cards arrived.

[3rdGenCunarder]

1 hour ago, rkacruiser said:

You MUST provide the proper local postage on whatever mail you send during a foreign trip.  Don't depend, unless you absolutely must, whatever postage is required (and sold) by the Front Office.  Once, I was told by the Front Office what the postage was to mail an absentee ballot to my Ohio location from Hong Kong.  It was the same price for a post card.  I didn't believe it and took the Star Ferry to the Island where there was a Post Office within easy walking distance of the landing.  The cost to send that ballot back to the USA was significantly different from what I had been told at the Front Office.

 

Good luck finding post cards.  They have become an endangered species--near extinct--in some ports.

 

I found a few at Ushuaia, Argentina at an exorbitant cost with even more expensive postage.  I chose to mail them when the Zaandam was in Montevideo where the postage was much less.  They did arrive, but I had been home for quite some time with luggage unpacked and laundry done before the post cards arrived.

 

It's true that the ship doesn't always know. Before there were "forever" stamps, I was in San Juan when I realized that the price had gone up a day or two before and I needed new stamps or 1-cent stamps to add to what I had. Got to the post office 2 minutes after closing, so I asked on the ship. They had the old stamps, but told me that it was OK because the post office would "grandfather" stamps mailed by the ship. Yeah, right.  (This was Princess, where the front desk told any lie that came to mind rather than deal with anything.) 

 

I've noticed that it's getting harder to find post cards in some places. Probably because people text selfies, which I WILL NOT DO. I like to send post cards, and my friends appreciate getting them. Whenever we traveled with our friends, we would send post cards to each other. It was fun to get home and find a card that said "Having a wonderful time with great travel companions" or something like that. 

 

 

[rkacruiser]

37 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

They had the old stamps, but told me that it was OK because the post office would "grandfather" stamps mailed by the ship. Yeah, right.  (This was Princess, where the front desk told any lie that came to mind rather than deal with anything.) 

 

My recent experience with the Front Office on Coral Princess was a bit different.  I had a major concern about disembarking the ship in Vancouver for the Direct to USA Bus Transfer.  The form I turned in for that said that that option was not available for those needing wheelchair assistance.  After turning the form in, I suffered an injury that did require such assistance.  When I approached the Front Desk to ask about this, it was my good fortune that the Hotel Director was present and asked me what they could do for me.  I explained my situation and he assured me that wheelchair assistance was available and to report to the lounge where such would be provided rather than my "assigned lounge".  It worked like a charm.  The only time where a wheelchair could not have been used was at YVR's entrance where one transfers from the Bus up an escalator to the departure area.  An escalator, I can manage.  Many staff, on the ship, at the pier, and at the airport kept quizzing me about my ability to use an escalator.  I do wonder, however, if the regular staff member at the Front Office would have given me the correct information.

 

Kudos to Hotel Director Paden!

[sail7seas]

On 8/15/2019 at 10:33 AM, Cruising-along said:

I agree with the above poster, we have done it many times. 

You normally can buy

 

 local postage stamps at front desk and deposigt   your mail for port agent to collet and mail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cruising-along]

15 minutes ago, sail7seas said:

You normally can buy

 

 local postage stamps at front desk and deposigt   your mail for port agent to collet and mail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, that's what I do.  Never had a problem (yet) with the post cards taking any longer than when we've sent them from port.  My port time is too precious to spend it looking for a post office so I take the easy way. 😄

[JustinPlusLauren]

I'd buy stamps from the port you're in AND mail the postcards while in port. I've mailed postcards through cruise ships before (not HAL, but other cruise lines) and they've never showed up. The safest bet is to throw them into a mailbox in port (with a local stamp on it, not a USA stamp!).

[shipgirl56]

I use an app on my phone.  I snap a few pictures with my phone during the day.  At night I have fun using the app to make a postcard with my picture.  I can write a message, address and send it all from my phone.  Family and friends get the card a few days later.