Paying for purchases on the islands

[praisehisname]

What are the accepted forms of payment on St. Maarten and St. Thomas? Is it cash only or will we be able to use our credit card?

Thanks!
Denise

 

[Jamashp]

Cash is preferred, and will be able to make your best deal with.

Stores will accept credit cards, but prices will tend to be higher.

 

[jrabbit]

Being paranoid I would only use cash. But being paranoid - I NEVER carry a lot of cash on me (usually under $50) so for me BIG ticket items would never be purchased on the islands. I go snorkeling anyway - can't do that at home and I can shop at home.

 

[Disneybridein2k3]

What are the accepted forms of payment on St. Maarten and St. Thomas? Is it cash only or will we be able to use our credit card?

Thanks!
Denise

Denise - Hey! I thought to just tell you this onboard, but I didn't want to forget We paid with credit cards when we went on the 7 night Western in May 2003 and in Cozumel, the amount they said we were charged on the card ended up being MORE on our credit card statement. Apparantly, the exchange rate made a change from when we made the purchase to the time the card was charged. If you are going to use your credit card, you may want to call your bank and ask them if they will honor your receipt (our bank did but I had to dispute the charges for them to correct it) AND let them know you are going out of the country so they don't think someone stole your card and cut it off -- that is VERY inconvenient (although nice that they are looking out for the customer - unfortunately, I only brought the one card!)

HTH,
Stacy (and DH Ken, DD Morgan)
ps - Morgan is looking forward to meeting Sarah - it looks like we are on the same deck!

 

[WDWLVR]

A couple of things:

1. St. Thomas is a US port so no problem there at all
2. Letting your card holder know you are going out of the country and might have more frequent or higher charges is a good idea
3. Discover is not accepted outside of the US (at least that's what they told me when I tried #2
4. If you go over your duty amount that has to be paid in Cash. Customs does not accept credit cards.