O. Riviera Any Money Exchange or ATM on board

[MSEm]

We will be sailing on the Oceania Riviera in March 2024 for the Japan cruise.  Is there any money exchange or ATM on the ship. We are doing the pre-stay with Oceania. Is there an ATM in the hotel that I can use the get Yen?

Thanks for any info on Japan.

[Hlitner]

2 hours ago, MSEm said:

We will be sailing on the Oceania Riviera in March 2024 for the Japan cruise.  Is there any money exchange or ATM on the ship. We are doing the pre-stay with Oceania. Is there an ATM in the hotel that I can use the get Yen?

Thanks for any info on Japan.

You can certainly find some interesting online info about ATMs in Japan, but you might want to consider that many Japanese ATMs do not work with our ATM/Debit cards.  This is certainly changing, but can still be problem.  However, there is a saving grace in Japan and it is called 7-11.  There are 7-11 stores (just like the 7-11 stores in the USA except they have even more stuff) everywhere in Japan.  And those stores have decent ATMs which do generally work fine with our North American ATM/Debit cards. Just a tip :).

 

Hank

[MSEm]

Thanks Hank

I will definitely read up on the Japanese ATM's.

Good to know about the 7-11 ATMs.

[AMHuntFerry]

1 hour ago, MSEm said:

Thanks Hank

I will definitely read up on the Japanese ATM's.

Good to know about the 7-11 ATMs.

Look on the back of your card to ID the network (e.g., Cirrus). Go to that network's website and use their find-an-in-network-ATM locator. Assuming you have one of the large networks, there will be ATMs all over the place if you are in Tokyo or other tourist cities (it gets harder as you go to more remote or Japanese-tourism-centric areas).

[osandomir]

I just recall that when we were in Japan on the cruise and lengthy pre- cruise stay on our own we hardly needed any cash at all. Credit cards are excepted everywhere. Also the front desk in the hotel will probably do an exchange for you if it’s needed.

 

The cruise to Japan is great. Enjoy your trip.

[clo]

5 hours ago, Hlitner said:

many Japanese ATMs do not work with our ATM/Debit cards. 

I'm really shocked by that. Japan is so forward in so many things. We were just chuckling that over 30 years ago in Santiago Chile they had ATM machines.

[Hlitner]

9 minutes ago, clo said:

I'm really shocked by that. Japan is so forward in so many things. We were just chuckling that over 30 years ago in Santiago Chile they had ATM machines.

We also were surprised when we were planning our recent trip (last March - May) to Japanl.  For whatever reason, many of Japan's banks (both major and smaller) have never tied their system into the various worldwide nets (i.e. Visa, Plus, Cirrus, etc).  That does seem to be changing (we did see some bank ATMs that had network stickers) but slower than most of the world.  On the other hand, we had few issues using Visa/MC credit cards in many places.  

 

Another strange issue are SUICA Cards.  These are one of the two, very common pre-paid cards used for transportation (i.e. metro, buses, etc) in many parts of Japan.  Those of us who like to do independent travel should really look into getting a Suica or Pasmo (a competitor) card.  SUICA cards can be charged up with extra Yen at terminals found in many places (such as train stations and 7-11s) but this can only be done with cash (yen).  You would think that these high tech systems would be credit card friendly, but that is not the case.\

 

On the other hand, Japan can be very high tech almost to an extreme.  We went into one restaurant in Tokyo that did not use any waiters to take orders or hand out menus.  On each table was a QR code and one used that code (with a working Smartphone) to pull up the menu (this is not uncommon in our own country).  However, one had to than use the phone to order the food (there were no available waiters).  A waiter did bring the food to the table.  By using this method, some restaurants can really reduce the number of needed staff.  A week later we ran into the same format at a nice restaurant in Kyoto.  What do folks who do not have Smartphones do?  I imagine they dine elsewhere or quietly starve :).

 

Hank

[clo]

2 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

On each table was a QR code and one used that code (with a working Smartphone) to pull up the menu (this is not uncommon in our own country).  However, one had to than use the phone to order the food (there were no available waiters).  A waiter did bring the food to the table. 

Our favorite dim sum place in Seattle has used that set up since covid. They lost a lot of workers.

 

[Hlitner]

1 minute ago, clo said:

Our favorite dim sum place in Seattle has used that set up since covid. They lost a lot of workers.

 

Not surprising in a city known for its relatively high minimum wage.  Economics was one of my majors and also a lifelong obsession.  While higher minimum wage does help increase the standard of living for some folks, it also encourages businesses to look at innovative ways to reduce jobs.  These days, high tech and robotics offer many options.  In our free society folks are also making decisions to move to places with lower cost of living, lower taxes, more safety, etc.  Another economic impact is that businesses simply close, because they no can no longer get a decent return on their investment.  

 

Some cruise lines are also implementing lots of changes such as fees for room service, increased tips (with such exotic names as "crew appreciation"), revised itineraries and shorter port times (to reduce cruise miles and slow down speeds for fuel savings), etc.  One line is experimenting with robotic bar tenders and at some point, there will likely be robotics used for many onboard functions.  Some changes are good and others....not so good.

 

Hank