European cruise tipping.. bring euros or dollars?

[cruisin from florida]

We're getting ready to go!! Woohoo!

Do you recommend dollars or euros for tipping (diamond drinks, suite drinks, extra cash here and there) on European (Greek Isles out of Ravenna) cruises? 

If dollars, we need to pack small bills, if euros, we'll get them after we arrive (got a zero fee debit card just for such things).

Thanks!!

[Norwich Cruiser]

I’m sure in the Mediterranean they’ll be delighted with either.

[grapau27]

11 minutes ago, cruisin from florida said:

We're getting ready to go!! Woohoo!

Do you recommend dollars or euros for tipping (diamond drinks, suite drinks, extra cash here and there) on European (Greek Isles out of Ravenna) cruises? 

If dollars, we need to pack small bills, if euros, we'll get them after we arrive (got a zero fee debit card just for such things).

Thanks!!

The onboard currency is dollars so the crew will prefer them.

Guest services will usually change $20 notes for $1 notes just tell them it is for tips.

Once you are off the ship you can use your card or € Euro's in shops,bars or restaurants.

[Norwich Cruiser]

1 hour ago, cruisin from florida said:

We're getting ready to go!! Woohoo!

Do you recommend dollars or euros for tipping (diamond drinks, suite drinks, extra cash here and there) on European (Greek Isles out of Ravenna) cruises? 

If dollars, we need to pack small bills, if euros, we'll get them after we arrive (got a zero fee debit card just for such things).

Thanks!!

When we talked to a bar tender a few years ago on a cruise from Venice ( the proper Venice ) he said that euros came in extremely useful for when they went ashore.

[klfhngr]

On the ship, either will work. While on land, Euros are preferred. We just got back from a 10 day Med cruise, I was SHOCKED that no one wanted USD! A few shops in Greece took our dollars, but in Italy, Croatia, Montenegro, and Italy, ALL wanted Euros! We were  there in May of THIS year, so trust me on this!

 

EDIT: We took a boatload, no pun intended, of smaller USD bills and $2 bills, we came back with a bunch! 😉

Edited August 16, 2022 by klfhngr

[Kezzie62]

2 minutes ago, klfhngr said:

On the ship, either will work. While on land, Euros are preferred. We just got back from a 10 day Med cruise, I was SHOCKED that no one wanted USD! A few shops in Greece took our dollars, but in Italy, Croatia, Montenegro, and Italy, ALL wanted Euros! We were  there in May of THIS year, so trust me on this!

 

EDIT: We took a boatload, no pun intended, of smaller USD bills and $2 bills, we came back with a bunch! 😉

We were just as SHOCKED that for some reason nobody in the USA wanted tips in € or £ strange!!!

[little britain]

17 minutes ago, klfhngr said:

On the ship, either will work. While on land, Euros are preferred. We just got back from a 10 day Med cruise, I was SHOCKED that no one wanted USD! A few shops in Greece took our dollars, but in Italy, Croatia, Montenegro, and Italy, ALL wanted Euros! We were  there in May of THIS year, so trust me on this!

 

EDIT: We took a boatload, no pun intended, of smaller USD bills and $2 bills, we came back with a bunch! 😉

Please tell me what shops in SoCal will be very happy to accept my ££ 🤷‍♀️?!

[klfhngr]

@little britain and kezzie: To my defense, the last time we were in Europe, everyone, outside of the UK, were happy to accept USD! Not this time. That explains my shock. Sorry for shocking you!

[PompeySailor]

25 minutes ago, klfhngr said:

On the ship, either will work. While on land, Euros are preferred. We just got back from a 10 day Med cruise, I was SHOCKED that no one wanted USD! A few shops in Greece took our dollars, but in Italy, Croatia, Montenegro, and Italy, ALL wanted Euros! We were  there in May of THIS year, so trust me on this!

 

EDIT: We took a boatload, no pun intended, of smaller USD bills and $2 bills, we came back with a bunch! 😉

I was extremely upset that Papa John’s on international drive in FL didn’t take my UK £ 

Makes me laugh when some people think that USD can be used everywhere

Like it is the ONLY currency in the world.

 

God forbid that my local Publix don’t accept my Danish Krone 😳

 

Happy Days!

 

fact 

Only 44% of Americans have passports 

scary 🤣

 

[DCPIV]

USD always are perfectly fine on the ship, but you also could ask if they would prefer euros.  You never know the situation.  Some crew may be in the area for a while and appreciate having some walking around money.  Others may be on another contract on the other end of the world in a couple weeks.

 

I do everything I can to use local currency on shore unless I'm in an area where other currency is readily accepted and traded (like USD in the Caribbean).  ATMs are just too easy to come by (especially in airports and tourist areas), and foreign transaction fees have been largely elimated (and typically are nominal if they are not).  I would never expect a merchant in Europe to take USD.  Hell, most of them don't even take cash anymore.

 

As for tipping a European guide in USD, that's pretty much saying "I appreciate your time and work so much that I couldn't be bothered to go to an ATM. Instead, I expect you to make the effort to go to a bank and turn this into something you can use after you take a hit on the exchange rate."  You may as well give them something they can pawn.

[cruisin from florida]

We definitely be getting euros to pay, and tip on land!😄 I guess we'll get some ones in case anyone on the ship prefers them.

Does the casino take/and pay out dollars or euros ?

[DCPIV]

6 minutes ago, cruisin from florida said:

Does the casino take/and pay out dollars or euros ?

 

They pay out in USD for certain.  That's the coin of the realm on board.  I don't know if they take euros or other currency, but I doubt it.  If you were to come with something other than USD, I expect they would just have you draw on your shipboard account.

[darthvadrouw]

1 hour ago, klfhngr said:

@little britain and kezzie: To my defense, the last time we were in Europe, everyone, outside of the UK, were happy to accept USD! Not this time. That explains my shock. Sorry for shocking you!

I've lived in mainland Europe all my life and have never witnessed any shop accept dollars. (maybe the odd tourist shop and even then the conversion rate would be atrocious). I mustn't be going to the right places
tip : if paying by card, some machines will ask you of you want to pay in the card's currency or the local currency, always chose the local currency and let your bank do the conversion, the machines usually take a > 3% rate to do the conversion. (Dynamic Currency Conversion) - same with royal for the onboard account, if you use a card that isn't in USD opt out of the DCC that royal proposes, they take 3%.

Edited August 16, 2022 by darthvadrouw

[steamboats]

USD are the onboard currency and the crew will be happy to get USD. On a TA we gave our cabin steward Euro as he had some time off in Malaga (the first port). He was happy as he didn´t need to spend any time to change money.

 

On land - sorry, forget about your USD. Euro is the way to go.

 

On board - USD come in more convenient as the smallest Euro bill is 5 Euro. USD start with 1 USD... Makes tipping for a drink easier.

 

steamboats

[Ashland]

Just back from RCI Jewel out of Amsterdam and once onboard USD was the preferred gratuity...we asked our cabin steward.

[LinRon3]

While on a Baltic cruise on the Voyager, we asked our room attendant which he preferred, and he told us euros [even though the Scandinavian countries ported to on this cruise mostly used Krones].  Except on ship, we didn't sense there was much appeal for the USD$ places we visited in the Baltic.  It's not like in the Caribbean where USD is pretty much universal.   Speaking of Krones [ha], we learned that Norway, Sweden and Denmark Krones are different currencies each nation with different exchange rates etc.  IOW, Danish Krones are no good in Sweden or Norway and visa verse in each.  Just a note of interest really.  We were told euros are not appreciated in the Scandanavian countries either, though some retailers will begrudgingly accept euros.  

 

Wow, just occured to me though, I traveled through europe [pre EU] back in the 1970's and each country one visited, one had to go to a nearby bank to get currency exchanged.  How so much easier things are now; just find the nearest atm, slap the debit card in and Wala...good to go [often with a choice of currencies even].  I had forgotten how so slow and troublesome things were back then to travel.  This thread made me remember.  

[Joseph2017China]

2 hours ago, klfhngr said:

On the ship, either will work. While on land, Euros are preferred. We just got back from a 10 day Med cruise, I was SHOCKED that no one wanted USD! A few shops in Greece took our dollars, but in Italy, Croatia, Montenegro, and Italy, ALL wanted Euros! We were  there in May of THIS year, so trust me on this!

 

EDIT: We took a boatload, no pun intended, of smaller USD bills and $2 bills, we came back with a bunch! 😉

You know, being shocked that no one wanted USD outside of the USA?  You know, the money is like monopoly money, it has no value, can't be used.  To accept it, the shop, must first, figure out the conversion, and add 10% to it for fees, and than some more for processing it.  

 

Your credit card is charged in Euro's and the bank (note I said bank) converts it.  Some cards will not charge for this, but others will give you at least a 3% fee to exchange it.  But again, the merchant is not doing it, your bank is. 

 

$2 bills, is the worst thing you can try to use, especially on an international trip.  The $2 has no purpose but to be "cute" and the adult, does not want cute, they want cash, and they don't want currency that most people don't even know it's real outside the USA, and who were born after 1976.  

 

As far as tipping on the ship.  Crew leave the ship and shop locally so Euro's are good for them.  However, the ship is USD so on the ship USD is good for them.  Bottom line is, this.  The ship has a banking system for crew, and whatever you give them, they will be happy, except for the annoying $2 bill.  

 

I have watched many people get ripped off because they wanted to use USD outside the country, and I always find it humorous how many times it happens.......I have loads of stories.  Don't be that person and use currency of the country.

[darthvadrouw]

24 minutes ago, Joseph2017China said:

 

Your credit card is charged in Euro's and the bank (note I said bank) converts it.  Some cards will not charge for this, but others will give you at least a 3% fee to exchange it.  But again, the merchant is not doing it, your bank is. 

 

 

That's not always true, if the merchant has a contract with a DCC provider and the customer allows the merchant to do the DCC then the conversion will be done by the merchant and his provider at a fee. (generally more than 3%). On top of that DCC fee the issuing bank can also add an extra fee for a foreign transaction (Think carefully before accepting DCC 🙂 )

Edited August 16, 2022 by darthvadrouw

[Joseph2017China]

2 hours ago, klfhngr said:

@little britain and kezzie: To my defense, the last time we were in Europe, everyone, outside of the UK, were happy to accept USD! Not this time. That explains my shock. Sorry for shocking you!

For your defense, I sat on a park bench, outside the ship, with small merchants.  One merchant was selling cold drinks.  I bought a can of Beer for approximately, $1.80usd.  Now I did not use a trusty $2.00 bill, but rather paid, for id local money.  I watched someone else buy one for Euro's.  The price they paid was about $4.00usd based on the time conversion rate.  But two others paid with $5.00 bills.  They each bought a can for $5 and said it was cheaper than on the ship.  The menu board said 5.00 with no sign in front of it.  

 

So in your defense, you got robbed each time you spent money......and others laughed at it.  The merchant really laughed because all day long, he sold drinks for 150% profit.  People are just shocked that you actually think that other countries should take your cash

[little britain]

I would also be mindful of tipping in Euros if your cruise is one of the last ones of the season and the ship is about to head back to the USA; as the crew will then have little opportunity to spend those euros ashore. 

Edited August 16, 2022 by little britain

[klfhngr]

2 hours ago, PompeySailor said:

I was extremely upset that Papa John’s on international drive in FL didn’t take my UK £ 

Makes me laugh when some people think that USD can be used everywhere

Like it is the ONLY currency in the world.

 

God forbid that my local Publix don’t accept my Danish Krone 😳

 

Happy Days!

 

fact 

Only 44% of Americans have passports 

scary 🤣

 

You must be having a bad day! Sorry for being SHOCKED!!!!!!!!!!

I'll say it again, I WAS SHOCKED!!!!!

 

Actually, I'm not SORRY for being shocked, I have no reason to apologize. Stating my PERSONAL experience. So be it!

[PompeySailor]

3 minutes ago, klfhngr said:

You must be having a bad day! Sorry for being SHOCKED!!!!!!!!!!

I'll say it again, I WAS SHOCKED!!!!!

 

Actually, I'm not SORRY for being shocked, I have no reason to apologize. Stating my PERSONAL experience. So be it!

Ok

You shock easily 

Remember the world is bigger than the US

🥶

Edited August 16, 2022 by PompeySailor

[pcur]

Depends on how long the European cruise is, and how many ports/opportunities the crew have to get off and shop.  What I do at the first port is find an ATM and get Euros.  Then, as the cruise goes by I ask the crew I'm going to tip extra.  I'm not a believer in waiting until the last day/night.  So, if my cabin steward says they are getting off in so-and-so port, I give them some Euros.  Otherwise, it's USD if they prefer that.

 

Keep in mind where the next cruise is going, too.  Especially on repositioning cruises, it can be problematic.  Leaving Australia, stopping in Honolulu, and ending up in Vancouver, for instance.  AUD, then USD, then CAD.  

Edited August 16, 2022 by pcur

[Joseph2017China]

10 minutes ago, klfhngr said:

You must be having a bad day! Sorry for being SHOCKED!!!!!!!!!!

I'll say it again, I WAS SHOCKED!!!!!

 

Actually, I'm not SORRY for being shocked, I have no reason to apologize. Stating my PERSONAL experience. So be it!

At least you now know that money is only good in the country that made it......

 

[TeeRick]

On European cruises, there are at least two ATM's on board the ship.  One dispenses $Euro's and one dispenses $USD.