Cash? Debit? Visa? Travelers cheques?

[mshanson3121]

What do you take with you? What do you use the most when down there? If you take cash, how much do you take? Do people still accept travelers cheques?

 

[Ima Disnewby]

Last time I went (2013) we brought about $500 USD and used our MC for everything else. We had the DDP so we didn't have major food expenses or anything.

This time, we're staying offsite, for longer and also doing USO and no DDP, so I'm also trying to figure out how to do this in the most cost effective way....

 

[minnie56]

I take cash but charge everything to my room and credit card.
Cash is for whatever..sometimes I apply what's left to my rwsort account prior to departing.

 

[Kogo Shuko]

I take cash, but use my credit card for most things.

 

[trivial]

I was planning to rely entirely on credit card, but I'm thinking I will need some cash to tip baggage handlers and room service. Is there anything else I won't be able to charge?

 

[thebigman65]

I would use cash and my Visa debit card....credit cards charge an extra 2.5% on top of the exchange rate so unless you have a US card.... The only thing I use a credit card for is the car rental

 

[slusher]

I would use cash and my Visa debit card....credit cards charge an extra 2.5% on top of the exchange rate so unless you have a US card.... The only thing I use a credit card for is the car rental

Visa charges 2.5% overtop the central bank to bank exchange rate - that's the rate that you get if you're exchanging five million dollars or more.

Buying cash from the bank gets you the bank retail rate: That's the central bank rate same as what Visa uses plus a percent premium for the service of exchanging cash.

They work out to almost the same. Unless you're flipping five mil in which case quite a few government agencies would like to talk to you.

Bank employees get the bank to bank rate as their employee rate. The best scenario is to have a bank employee relative.

 

[Canadian Harmony]

I've put the majority of our spending money onto a prepaid MC. When we arrive, I'm going to use that to purchase gift cards - one for each of us for souvenirs (4), one for the Boutiques we're doing (1), and one for meals including tips (1), for a total of 6. The money is CAD, so I've included the exchange rate plus the percentage of exchange I'll be charged (can't remember that off the top of my head) when I use it. I'll also be adding to it from now until we go.

I've also budgeted how much cash to carry for tips (bell, transport and Mousekeeping), as well as for airplane food for the way there and back, and for the places that will only accept cash (sillhouettes, names unraveled, etc) with a bit of extra in case (about 5%). I'm taking that cash out probably the Friday before we leave, unless our dollar rises dramatically before then (har har).

Finally, before we go, I'll be transferring funds from our joint account into a savings account where if it's hacked, it won't affect the majority of our money, and bringing only that debit card with me.

 

[trivial]

I've put the majority of our spending money onto a prepaid MC. When we arrive, I'm going to use that to purchase gift cards - one for each of us for souvenirs (4), one for the Boutiques we're doing (1), and one for meals including tips (1), for a total of 6.

Is there any particular advantage to using a prepaid credit card, and in using it to purchase gift cards, or are you just going that route to organize spending?

 

[bcwife76]

Cash, my new amazon.ca Chase visa and my debit card. I haven't used travellers cheques since 1993 when I went to Europe with my parents.

 

[pigletto]

We aren't sure what we're doing but I think it will likely be mostly cash. We're not doing Disney this time. We'll use our Visa for the car rental hold (car is prepaid) and the hotel holds (we're staying in 3 different places) but hopefully cash for everything else. I even want to do a daily spending amount and leave the rest in the safe to stay in budget. We've done offsite trips with credit card only and it gets confusing. Some charges don't post right away, others change when exchange and fees are figured in, holds are on the card, holds fall off... you get the idea. I don't like having to track it and figure out where we are. If we just bring $200 a day with us (an example) we won't go over or pay even more fees and can just roll whatever is left into the next day.
Might not work for everyone but seems to work for us for offsite trips.

 

[Canadian Harmony]

Is there any particular advantage to using a prepaid credit card, and in using it to purchase gift cards, or are you just going that route to organize spending?

Mostly to organize spending. I didn't want to carry a bunch of cash down, and I didn't want to pay fees, but my credit union would charge me a slightly higher fee to use the debit card to purchase the GCs than the prepaid would, so I went that route. Plus, this way the money is already on the prepaid and I can't spend it as easily before the trip.

 

[Best_Vacation_EVER!]

We tend to use cash (we usually take about $2500 for a 11 day trip) for most meals, gas, etc... (we don't do meal plans so all our meals are out of pocket.) Since we stay at Disney or Universal we tend to charge to the room and have a credit card on file to cover general spending and souvenirs. By using cash we're able to avoid the credit card surcharge for foreign transactions. We use a local Currency Exchange place that offers better than bank rates. We also try to dollar cost average our currency purchases over time. When the exchange rate is great we buy extra, when it's not so good we scale back.

We've had good luck with using cash machines with our debit card at WDW but zero luck using it at bank machines at Universal (in spite of the logos displayed on the machines.)

 

[hockeygirl14]

Cash and Credit Cards - travellers checks are still accepted but not used that much anymore. I also use my visa debit if I'm stuck - its accepted anywhere in the US (they just process it as a visa). Your card must be an Interact + to use in the US if you don't have a visa debit.

 

[rjan67]

Around 200-300 cash and U.S. Visa card for most things.

 

[pigletto]

Just thought I would follow up with what we ended up doing. I made an itinerary of what we'd be doing each day, a budget for the day based on the restaurants or activities to pay for that day, and put each days money in a separate envelope. We will use the credit card for car rental hold, and any hotel holds we have to pay, and for anything unexpected that may come up.
I'm fine with using the hotel safe for the envelopes, and will take one out each day. Anything leftover gets rolled into the next day, and surplus will come home or be used for last day souvenirs.

The extra fees on the credit card drive me nuts and this will keep the budget on track.

 

[bankr63]

Just got back. I used a total of about US$80 in cash - topped up my wallet with a $100 withdrawal from the TD Bank on Kirkman Rd about halfway through the 12 day trip - no extra fees for Cdn TD Customers. EVERYTHING else went on our two Amazon.ca Visa cards. This saves us 2.5% exchange over the bank counter rate for cash, plus gives 1% cash back. Checked the balance online occasionally to watch our spending, but I track all that anyway as I have to keep the receipts for customs for our purchases (we enjoy our retail therapy!).

I do use my usual Canadian CC's for hotel/rental holds, as there is no exchange charged for a hold. This keeps the room open on the amazon card. I flip the final balance over to the amazon card when settling up the bill.

 

[BLAZEY]

I will be taking Disney gift cards I have earned from rewards, probably some Starbucks GC too, Cash and then using my Sears mastercard as the is no foreign exchange fee, and earn sears rewards.

 

[pigletto]

Thought I would update as well. I'm pleased we went with as much cash only as we could. Our credit card was compromised (charges originate in Canada and were made today). Our bank was great and the charges are being reversed but the card had to be cancelled and we won't have access to it for a few weeks. We go home the day after tomorrow and have all the cash we need and we do carry another low balance card so we can use that to put on file with with the airport hotel our last night. But what a giant pain.
I don't even want to think what a nightmare this would have been had it happened at the start of the trip and we charged 3 hotel stays, and our rental car hold went on that card.
As it stands I am not sure whats going to happen when the hold for the rental car falls off.. they can't put it back on a cancelled card and I didn't think to ask. I'm just thankful I said all along I didn't want charging privileges so there are no holds from the 3 hotels, and I paid the balance on check in at all 3. Rental car was prepaid too. It could have been way messier if A) I had waited until the end of our stay at Portifino to pay and B) if I didn't check the card every night before bed.

 

[lizzyb]

I take cash, but use my credit card for most things.

This is us also.