Experienced foreign cruisers: how much US cash do you normally bring?

[Impromark]

Newbie question: as a loose minimum, how much US cash ought we to bring for the cruise? Given that we expect to use our credit cards when possible.

We know that little cash will be needed, or even wanted, aboard; but we’re thinking of cash needs when in port and before we actually set sail. Is it safer to use cash in Caribbean ports of call?

In our case, we’re arriving from Canada two days prior to embarkation and heading back to the airport directly. Thoughts?

Mark

 

[Starwind]

There are a lot of variables.

Which ports ? what excursions do you plan on doing ?

Do you pan on ordering from room service ? What form of transportation to and from the port are you using ? How many bags will you have ?

What I do is basically walk through the trip and make a list of each 'event' that could result in tipping (e.g. tip porter at airport, tip magical express driver, trip bell services, ...) and calculate out how much each is likely to be. Then add a reasonable buffer to the total to account for things I did not think of.

We stay at WDW resorts before and after our cruise and charge things to our magicband (and therefore credit card), so thee only cash needed is for tips for bell services and porters/bus driver.

 

[Girl of the South]

I am bringing about $10 a day in US cash - 5's and 1's. Tips for on the cruise and for the transfer driver and porters . . . I assume you can get US cash from an ATM with a Canadian card? I just saw that the domestic flight I am taking on Wednesday - a 2 hour flight - was delayed for SEVEN HOURS today. In that case I would want to buy a couple magazines and some chocolate to make the time go faster. Maybe even a beer. So an extra $20 might be helpful on top of that? Also a lot of flights might be affected by Tropical Storm Gordon which is causing some delays. Are you sailing soon? Don't know about US dollars in the Caribbean, it's been a while since I was there.

AND you can add tips to your room service bill, but I think cash is best and would like some extra in case of exceptional service. I like to know it is going to the person I mean it to go to. Room Service tips MIGHT be pooled????

 

[NZMUM]

We usually stay at WDW before our cruise, so everything gets charged to the credit card. I have a few dollars for tipping mousekeeping/porters. I usually bring cash for our transport to the port but I already know the amount for that before we leave.
We probably take $100 with us for ports. We generally don't do excursions. If we shop it is usually charged to the credit card if we spend a lot. If we buy food (snacks) or drink off the ship we use cash for that.
We don't use cash at all on the ship - 11 cruises and never done room service . And if we increase the tips, we get guest services to do it, so on the credit card.

 

[DCLPrincess]

I take $40 cash at each port. The excursions are charged to the room. If you are going to do big shopping most stores accept credit cards. The only cash I take for the ship is about $10 for room service.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

We're also Canadian and I would say that we bring about $100 per port and then an extra $100 in $1, $5, and a couple of $10's for tips.

If you have a continental currency exchange near you (which just about everyone does - or they will deliver US cash to your home), they have a better exchange rate than the bank.

I'm not keen on using my credit card at most ports (some more Americanized places like Margaritaville at Grand Turk is fine, Key West is fine but Tortola, Belize, etc...not a chance).

 

[Impromark]

We don't live near the centre of the universe (we're in Calgary) so we don't have Continental near us, I'm afraid.

Still, good advice! We're doing Western Caribbean next month and it's been a good decade since our last cruise, but I recall going mostly plastic on our shore time (or that it was accepted). We won't be using debit if it kills us, that's too much of a risk.

As cash is king for tipping, we'll be definitely bringing enough to cover porters and snacks/souvenirs/incidentals in ports (we're not big shoppers). I guess any particularly extraneous US cash can be left in the envelopes people tell us we'll have at the end of the cruise. Or kept for the next cruise, if that bug ends up biting us as is has for so many people here!

Mark

 

[lilsonicfan]

If you end up with a lot of US cash that you don't want to bring home, you can also pay it toward your account at Guest Services. I think we took somewhere in the range of $100/day for our trip and ended up with quite a bit leftover, some which we took home (we are in Vancouver so travel to the US frequently) and some which I put on my account.

 

[darnheather]

Only enough for tips. Maybe a couple of ones for bottles of water or something. Credit cards are the norm in Europe.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

We don't live near the centre of the universe (we're in Calgary) so we don't have Continental near us, I'm afraid.

Still, good advice! We're doing Western Caribbean next month and it's been a good decade since our last cruise, but I recall going mostly plastic on our shore time (or that it was accepted). We won't be using debit if it kills us, that's too much of a risk.

As cash is king for tipping, we'll be definitely bringing enough to cover porters and snacks/souvenirs/incidentals in ports (we're not big shoppers). I guess any particularly extraneous US cash can be left in the envelopes people tell us we'll have at the end of the cruise. Or kept for the next cruise, if that bug ends up biting us as is has for so many people here!

Mark

Continental delivers all over Canada and you can select the exact denomination of your currency (how many $1s, $5s, etc.) and you get a discount for ordering online.

I recommend getting mostly all smaller denomination bills - you can always give someone 4 - five dollar bills, but too many times I've heard, "Sorry, no change - why not just get something else too?" when handing over a $20.

 

[kiford]

It depends on what you're planning to do in the ports in terms of purchases. We usually use DCL port tours so that's paid for already. We rarely purchase anything in port; if we did, it would probably be something that we'd use credit card for. We've used US cash for the occasional tip in the islands and they'll take that no problem. If I was buying lunch, I'd probably be using credit card. But if we were buying lunch or some other purchase, we'd probably be going to some place that is either suggested by the cruiseline, in the port area, or is a larger and well-established shop (i.e., not a small kiosk or something on the street). So I'd be OK with using credit card. We always have US cash on hand at home since DH travels to the US a few times a year on business and we just keep whatever is left over. When we cruise (other than in Europe), we probably don't bring much more than about $20-40 in US cash between the two of us.

 

[starvenger]

What I do is basically walk through the trip and make a list of each 'event' that could result in tipping (e.g. tip porter at airport, tip magical express driver, trip bell services, ...) and calculate out how much each is likely to be. Then add a reasonable buffer to the total to account for things I did not think of.

This is what I do. I add this to my budget sheet, so I have a list of what the excursion costs and what the expected tip should be. For example, in Cozumel I went to Nachi Cocum. It cost $148USD for 2A, 2C, so at 20% the expected tip would be $30.

Speaking of Cozumel, I'm attaching a photo of the taxi price list (taken last week) in case anyone is going their own way on the island and needs to figure out prices.

(And no, I haven't written up Cozumel in my cruise recap yet.)

We don't live near the centre of the universe (we're in Calgary) so we don't have Continental near us, I'm afraid.

I'm from Toronto and live in the GTA, and this always gets a laugh out of me.

 

[TortoiseTaughtUs]

Speaking of Cozumel, I'm attaching a photo of the taxi price list (taken last week) in case anyone is going their own way on the island and needs to figure out prices.

We're also going to Nachi Cocom. Did you tip the cab driver on top of the price listed?

Also, whom did you give the tip to at Nachi Cocom, and at what point during your visit?

 

[DisneYE]

We're also Canadian and I would say that we bring about $100 per port and then an extra $100 in $1, $5, and a couple of $10's for tips.

If you have a continental currency exchange near you (which just about everyone does - or they will deliver US cash to your home), they have a better exchange rate than the bank.

I'm not keen on using my credit card at most ports (some more Americanized places like Margaritaville at Grand Turk is fine, Key West is fine but Tortola, Belize, etc...not a chance).

This. Rule of thumb reply, almost. Canadian here also btw.
$100 cash per port is perfect imo.
We bring $200-300 extra in cash for tips aboard the ship. (tips not charged to your KTTW card - room service, cove cafe, club hosts/councillors, etc.)
For a 7 night cruise we usually bring about $1,000 usd.
Have fun in your cruise!

 

[starvenger]

We're also going to Nachi Cocom. Did you tip the cab driver on top of the price listed?

Also, whom did you give the tip to at Nachi Cocom, and at what point during your visit?

I went by the 20% rule of thumb, so it was either $3 or $4 tip for the taxi. If you gave your driver a $20 and that was the end of it it’s about right.

I tipped my server at the end, in cash. Again at around 20% which is about $22 for 2 adults. I think the tip is pooled though. If you wanted to do it on your card at the beginning I think they can work that.

 

[mousefan73]

We come from Europe and usually bring about $1000 cash for our trips. Mainly because that is our safety net in case our credit cards for some reason do not work or get lost or stolen. Plus we travel in August and September so if a hurricane were to come we would have cash on hand in case ATMs are not working.

We also do WDW before our cruises and after. We travel with about five or six large suitcases in between bellboys at resorts bellboys at port tips room service I would say we need about $80 in cash. We have yet to have a real port day as our only cruise we were in Nassau and I think I brought $20 with me and didn’t even spend it. But on the fantasy this year I am bringing about 100 to 150 cash as I do not want to take my credit card off the boat.
We plan in those ports to have a light meal and buy some souvenirs.

I almost forgot we also gave cash tips as an additional tip to our cruise people.

 

[hcox31]

We bring about $100USD in cash per day. Given that most days on the cruise we only need small bills for room service tips, this allows for the extra tips for the servers etc., the money needed to feed the fam before and after the cruise and any other little tips (bellmen, porters etc.)

 

[DWillowBay]

Most of our cash goes to tip porters or tour guides or various & sundry other 'helpers'.

 

[lorenni]

American living in Canada here.

For us it depends on the cruise. For Vancouver/Alaska we just brought the USD singles and fives we accumulate in a jar leftover from other trips home and used those for tipping room service onboard. For literally everything else we knew we could use a CC because it was all US/Canada. (We were also traveling with my parents who insisted on tipping all tour guides, as we had treated them to the cruise - but they live in the US so there was no planning required for them to have USD on hand!).

For cruises to the islands, we bring the same stash of singles and fives (still for room service) and we bring another few hundred dollars in 20s for taxis at the port. We don’t do excursions anymore on island ports - we go to the taxi stand and ask the driver to take us to the least crowded beach he knows. There was one island (st Martin maybe) where we actually brought Euros that we had leftover. If you are going to an island with euro currency I definitely recommend bringing Euros, as anyone will accept USD, but no one will give you anything resembling a good exchange rate.

As for where to get your USD - the spread on $300 is not worth my time to go anywhere other than the main BMO at First Canadian Place right next to my office in Toronto.

 

[MichelleCanada]

We don't live near the centre of the universe (we're in Calgary) so we don't have Continental near us, I'm afraid.

Still, good advice! We're doing Western Caribbean next month and it's been a good decade since our last cruise, but I recall going mostly plastic on our shore time (or that it was accepted). We won't be using debit if it kills us, that's too much of a risk.

As cash is king for tipping, we'll be definitely bringing enough to cover porters and snacks/souvenirs/incidentals in ports (we're not big shoppers). I guess any particularly extraneous US cash can be left in the envelopes people tell us we'll have at the end of the cruise. Or kept for the next cruise, if that bug ends up biting us as is has for so many people here!

Mark

We are also from Calgary and just did the Western this past summer.

I found it was at the ports that we need cash. In Grand Cayman we took a cab to a beach (cash - $5/person) It was cheaper to buy beer from some of the guys on the beach - they would take your cash and go to the local store for you.

Any souvenirs at the ports were cheaper if you bartered with cash.

My DH bought 6 beers at each port to bring back on the ship - we used it cash for this as well. The $100/port in smaller bills is a good guide I think.

Have a great time!! Make sure to try the mixology class with Valda!!