H35
New member
Those of you who have been around. How do you manage your money on a long trip, for intance in the Carribeans? I suppose there aren't cash machines readily available on remote islands around the world...
Cash or debit card in the Carribeans?
- Thread starter H35
- Start date
geem
Well-known member
We take US dollars in cash, Euros in cash and use cash machines. There are lots of cash machines in the Caribbean
H35
New member
And they accept ,European visa debit cards
GHA
Well-known member
Little backup cash in dollars/euros. A place with no cash machines is unlikely to anywhere to spend money either.
scottie
Well-known member
If you tell your bank first where you expect to use your card I t makes things easier don't ask how I know
Budgieboy
Member
That was my plan until the collapse of sterling , going to use the hole in the wall until the pound finds its feet again .
BobnLesley
Well-known member
Come on, the £'s not that bad, I heard a rumour that it'd recently gained a couple of cents againts the Matabelan Gumbo Bead and if you start to get too depressed about your shrinking cruising budget, find a few South Africans to discuss it with, they really do know about falling currency value.
Back to the OP, we've found ATMs most everywhere plus carry £, US$ & €uros; don't let your cash level drop too low just in case you do get any hiccoughs with the ATMs or your own cards. The only place we've been for which you really do need cash-in-hand was Cuba; you can get cash from their banks on your debit/credit card, but its a slow (think several hours, not minutes) process; also have £/€ to exchange there, because I believe, the Cuban's are still applying a 10% levy/penalty on US$.
Final Tip: Most of the Caribbean is directly or inderectly a US$ economy, so if (miracles do happen) the £ ever does get strong against the $ again, it's worth loading up on US$ cash to exchange later.
Back to the OP, we've found ATMs most everywhere plus carry £, US$ & €uros; don't let your cash level drop too low just in case you do get any hiccoughs with the ATMs or your own cards. The only place we've been for which you really do need cash-in-hand was Cuba; you can get cash from their banks on your debit/credit card, but its a slow (think several hours, not minutes) process; also have £/€ to exchange there, because I believe, the Cuban's are still applying a 10% levy/penalty on US$.
Final Tip: Most of the Caribbean is directly or inderectly a US$ economy, so if (miracles do happen) the £ ever does get strong against the $ again, it's worth loading up on US$ cash to exchange later.
TQA
New member
- Joined
- 20 Feb 2005
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- 6,815
- Location
- Carribbean currently Grenada
ATMs everywhere in the Carib. Do not expect them to work everyday with every card [ although recently this has improved ] I have a Visa and a Mastercard from different banks one usually works.
Regardless of the official currency almost everybody will take US $ PROVIDING THEY ARE SMALL BILLS MAX $ 20.
Don't take travelers cheques. Even American Express travelers cheques are getting harder to cash.
Regardless of the official currency almost everybody will take US $ PROVIDING THEY ARE SMALL BILLS MAX $ 20.
Don't take travelers cheques. Even American Express travelers cheques are getting harder to cash.
KellysEye
Active member
>Regardless of the official currency almost everybody will take US $ PROVIDING THEY ARE SMALL BILLS MAX $ 20.
Agree that's what we found.
Agree that's what we found.
phanakapan
Well-known member
just a quick added note, I took a second too long taking my cash from a machine in Grenada, and it SUCKED it all back in again! Anti theft apparently. Had to wait till the end of the day when the bank staff had counted the money in the machine to get it back. Delayed my next leg by a day and got hit by some quite nasty winds
temptress
Well-known member
We found Cash machines/ATMs available across the Caribbean, Australia, Indonesia and SE Asia. Even the in the Pacific Islands were not a problem. Just have more than one card as sometimes your bank block the card for you without telling you. The most difficult place we found to get cash was Turkey, mind you that might have change din the last 10 years or so.
blenkinsop
Member
One caution if you change countries frequently, even if you have told your bank, their computer system may automatically suspend a card due to 'unusual spending patterns'.
KellysEye
Active member
>Regardless of the official currency almost everybody will take US $ PROVIDING THEY ARE SMALL BILLS MAX $ 20.
That's what we found they prefer dollars to any other currency including their own.
That's what we found they prefer dollars to any other currency including their own.
geem
Well-known member
We found you usually get stung on the exchange rate if you don't use the local currency
KellysEye
Active member
>We found you usually get stung on the exchange rate if you don't use the local currency
That's strange we never found that they were always grateful to get US dollars.
That's strange we never found that they were always grateful to get US dollars.
