US $$ is Vancouver

[Outofhere]

This may be a silly question, but we will be spending one day and night in Vancouver before our cruise and will be taking taxis and having meals. Is it necessary to convert to Canadian dollars or will our US money be acceptable?

[Putterdude]

This may be a silly question, but we will be spending one day and night in Vancouver before our cruise and will be taking taxis and having meals. Is it necessary to convert to Canadian dollars or will our US money be acceptable?

 

 

No it is not a silly question at all, in fact it gets asked quite often.

 

99.7% of the merchants and services in Vancouver will accept US dollars. As of this morning the US dollar was worth 1.5 cents more than the CDN dollar but don't expect any exchange from merchants. You will also get your change in CDN cash. What is often a good idea is to go to a bank upon your arrival in Vancouver and use your ATM card to get some CDN money. If you have any left over you can exhange it at the pursers desk on the ship.

One final note about using your credit card, your bank or credit card company may charge you a fee of up to $3 for each transaction you use it for outside of the USA.

[Yukon]

US$ are accepted at many places (most places that rely on visitors) but you may well have to pay a surcharge - I've seen signs saying up to 10% (some places do accept at par).

[gazingm42]

If you can prepay your hotel I would.

[judynorth]

When we investigated converting US$ to Canadian$ through our bank we found that it cost more than we would lose in the exchange rate so we didn't bother. With an almost equal exchange rate it hardly seems worth it to pay the bank to get Canadian$. However, if merchants charge a 10% fee for taking US$ we might have to reconsider for this trip.

[jhinjhin]

If you have credit cards from several different places call them before your trip. Different issuers charge different fees for using outside the country. We did this for Europe. Also call you bank about ATM fees. This is usually the best way to get cash.

 

One other thing - if you plan on using your credit card outside of the country call the companies first and let them know you will be traveling. They will note the account and will not put a hold on your card if they see activitiy in another country and they can not get a hold of you to verify.

[Ephraim]

Looking on Google today, the USD is worth ½¢ more than the Canadian dollar. But don't expect that many merchants will give you a rate of PAR. In Montreal, most of the businesses are offering rates of 5% to 10% discount for USD. In other words, you get 95¢ to 90¢ per dollar. (The worst rate is generally at American fast food joints.... you have been warned!

 

I checked with the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) today and their rate for US cash is CAD$98.81 for USD$100.00. The opposite rate, in other words if a Canadian wanted to buy USD$100.00 would be CAD$103.80. The spread is the bank's profit

 

The US credit card that offers the best rate is usually Capital One. Most other cards charge a fee of 3% for foreign currency transactions based on the cheque (ie better) rate at the bank and the credit card central charges banks 1% to 1.25% as their profit on the transaction and to cover foreign currency risk.

 

Ask your bank if they have an associated bank in Canada. This will allow you to use an ATM in Canada without extra charges. Your bank will usually give you an exceptionally good rate at the ATM for withdraws because it's done at the bank's cheque rate.

 

Expect that all merchants in Canada will give you change in CAD and that coins will be dealt with at par. (Not bills, just coins are at par).

[sarbah77]

Generally when I travel to Canada, I just hit up an ATM for cash. Turns out, my bank even recommended this to me, rather than exchanging cash before we left... it was cheaper. They charged us a 1% fee, which wasn't bad at all. (For some reason, whatever ATM we used didn't charge us a fee and our bank allows us two "foreign" - meaning non-home bank - ATM withdrawals a month)

 

But then we always try to charge nearly EVERYTHING because you get the best exchange rate for the day. When we were in Toronto in September, we took out more cash than we needed, knowing we'd be in Vancouver VERY briefly this June, from the time we get off the train until we get on the ship. But we have that luxury - we live 45 minutes from Canada, we know we'll be back to spend the money!

[Mid-Age]

Generally when I travel to Canada, I just hit up an ATM for cash. Turns out, my bank even recommended this to me, rather than exchanging cash before we left... it was cheaper.

 

My bank recommended to use my ATM when I travel to Canada. Use cash transaction if possible. Anything you can prepaid in US$, just do it.

[Putterdude]

My bank recommended to use my ATM when I travel to Canada. Use cash transaction if possible. Anything you can prepaid in US$, just do it.

 

You have received very good advice.