Still Confused about Money

[Rallo]

I know there have been several threads before about money and how much to take etc. I know this is a personal decision and everyone is different but I am a bit confused :confused: and was wondering do most people take some foreign currency from home or just get it onboard? How much Francs would a family of four need in Noumea for an afternoon? In Lifou for a day and how much Vatu in Vila for a day? I am only planning on buying our allowance of booze in Vila nothing else dutyfree and will probably use Australian dollars for that. Also are the arcade games on the ship free or do you swipe your cruise card? Any help and advice would be much appreciated as always.:)

 

Sherrie

[maf101]

How much Francs would a family of four need in Noumea for an afternoon? In Lifou for a day and how much Vatu in Vila for a day? I am only planning on buying our allowance of booze in Vila nothing else duty-free and will probably use Australian dollars for that. Also are the arcade games on the ship free or do you swipe your cruise card?

We changed our Francs onboard at the Pursers office. I did 2 tours and had a quick look around market area in the cruise terminal. The amount of money you need for Noumea really depends on what you plan to do with your afternoon. Are you going shopping or are you going to get a bus or cab and go somewhere?

I went to Lifou a few years ago. I think they have very cheap tours which will take you around to the sights such as the church etc. I can't remember what currency we used. I think it was Australian dollars.

I usually don't take much money to the Islands. I don't like leaving money un-attended when I'm on the beach. I usually take around $50 to $70 with me. Remember to only take small notes to the Islands.

I love Vila! There's cheap brand name clothing and lots of souvenirs. Vila is Island night. Most people buy sarongs, grass skirts and lays etc ready for the deck party. They have little Island dolls in hula skirts. The kids will love them. You'll need to take some spending money to Vila. I always spend at least $100 on stupid things and then spend more on baileys and duty free. I always use Australian dollars.

The arcade is fun. I'm in my 20's and I played in the arcade. There is a machine in the arcade to get the tokens from. You need $5 notes to buy them. Your cruise card will not work. You get 10 tokens. The buggy racing game is fun and so is the air hockey!! The air hockey takes 4 tokens and I believe the buggy racing game took 3.

Money is always difficult. The more you take, the better. At least you can bring it home with you. I didn't want to spend big so I took $100 per a day. I also had my credit card in case I needed it. I spent about $1000 in 2 weeks. I thought I'd spend double that. I haven't got a clue how much you'll need for a family of 4. I'm a low spender. I don't like wasting money. I spent most of my money on tours, photo's, alcohol and souvenirs.

[maf101]

Sorry. I just read you're going on the Star. I don't know about the arcade on this ship. The information I gave you is from the Sun.

[Skyrules]

I know there have been several threads before about money and how much to take etc. I know this is a personal decision and everyone is different but I am a bit confused :confused: and was wondering do most people take some foreign currency from home or just get it onboard? How much Francs would a family of four need in Noumea for an afternoon? In Lifou for a day and how much Vatu in Vila for a day? I am only planning on buying our allowance of booze in Vila nothing else dutyfree and will probably use Australian dollars for that. Also are the arcade games on the ship free or do you swipe your cruise card? Any help and advice would be much appreciated as always.:)

 

Sherrie

 

Noumea - it really depends what you are doing. On our last cruise - where we were only there from 6pm - 11pm the only money we spent was on a drink at a small convienience store and some food at McDonalds (which was expensive - the equivalent of $15 aussie dollars for a toasted sandwich, a thickshake and a serve of fries). On Pacific Star they have a machine like an ATM that takes Aussie Dollars and changes it to Central Pacific Francs (and vice versa) that's easy.

 

Vila - again depends what you are doing. Most places will take Australian dollars or credit cards, so there's not a lot of need for Vatu. Remember that purchases made on credit cards will be charged in Vatu and later converted to AUD. It was amazing the number of people I heard trying to insist that shopkeepers charge the credit card's in Australian dollars. You WILL need Australian dollars for the buses/taxis between the wharf and town ($2 per person if you use a bus or $10 per taxi (4 people). They don't sell, or buy back, Vatu on board the ships.

 

Islands - take Aussie Dollars, but small denominations. If you are going to Wala and plan on doing the walk around the villages - go to the casino and get plenty of gold coins to drop in their donation boxes.

 

Arcade games - I don't recall seeing arcade games on Pacific Star - but they might have been away in the kids/teens clubs. Someone with kids who's been on Star might be able to help with this.

 

Kym

[frog cruiser]

I know there have been several threads before about money and how much to take etc. I know this is a personal decision and everyone is different but I am a bit confused :confused: and was wondering do most people take some foreign currency from home or just get it onboard? How much Francs would a family of four need in Noumea for an afternoon? In Lifou for a day and how much Vatu in Vila for a day? I am only planning on buying our allowance of booze in Vila nothing else dutyfree and will probably use Australian dollars for that. Also are the arcade games on the ship free or do you swipe your cruise card? Any help and advice would be much appreciated as always.:)

 

Sherrie

 

You can get any currency you need on board so you get only what you need that is not much.

Villa take dollars no worries I only buy my grog allowance, and silly gifts for friends as Villa is cheap

Games are not free and I think that you need coin to play them the same as the poker machines but I could be wrong as I onle play pokes;)

[mystte]

I changed $70 into Pacific Francs for the islanda of Lifou and Ouvea - I was told 100 would be sufficient for the 2 of us.

 

I bought some jewelry in Lifou with franca but they also take dollars and only used money for cab and a bear in Ouvea, returned and exchanged back to 12 dollars, so we spent 55.

 

Next time I might tale $20 worth of francs just in case but both islands expected to use dollars so it would not have been a problem.

 

Vila duty free was on credit as much easier. All prices displayed both ways.

 

You do need vatu if you want to shop outside the main shopping centre as I tried to pick up a local paper in supermarket on way to ship but we ran out of vatu, Ross had a few coins from last trip otherwise we used $ for everything!

[karmac]

As for the video arcade, there is a machine in there & you put $5 note in & it gives you tokens. Depends on what game as to how many tokens you need.

 

Karen

[aussiedisneyfan]

The kids clubs usually have a free arcade game activity at some stage during the cruise. So the kids might be happy with just that one time.

 

The ships exchange rate is pretty good. I don't remember how much money we got. The ship doesn't carry vatu. You will need to either get some here or use an atm over there, but as everyone has said most places will take Aussie dollars.

[suey]

.

 

 

Islands - take Aussie Dollars, but small denominations. If you are going to Wala and plan on doing the walk around the villages - go to the casino and get plenty of gold coins to drop in their donation boxes.

 

Kym

it is also good to take small notes ($5 & $10) to Wala as when we were there they wanted to change their coins to notes as they cannot change the coins into local currency later only notes so many times we were asked if we would exchange their coins for notes if possible.:)

[Rallo]

Thanks everyone for your replies as always you've put my mind to rest and I now have a better idea of what and how much to take. Still a bit confused about arcade games on the Star though. Never mind I'm sure all will be revealed very quickly once we are onboard.

 

thanks

Sherrie