Paying in US dollars
 

Hi
I am due to go on the sea princess in June leaving Southampton, I have
just received some info on the cruise and I notice when the cruise
ends I will have to settle my account using US dollars, it also states
that if I use UK pounds I will be charged 3% as well as a commision
depending on the exchange rate.

When I went with P&O I just settled with my UK visa card.
I had thought about getting travellers cheques in US dollars and doing
it that way.

Does anyone know a way round these charges?

Paying in US dollars
 

We're taking a cruise out of Southampton (not Sea Princess) and have a
similar issue. We've decided to take $ cheques and $ cash (together with
Euros). FWIW - Tesco (Extra Stores) have an exchange bureaux and yesterday
the rate for the $ was 1.922.

HTH - Dave


"speckled hen" wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi
I am due to go on the sea princess in June leaving Southampton, I have
just received some info on the cruise and I notice when the cruise
ends I will have to settle my account using US dollars, it also states
that if I use UK pounds I will be charged 3% as well as a commision
depending on the exchange rate.

When I went with P&O I just settled with my UK visa card.
I had thought about getting travellers cheques in US dollars and doing
it that way.

Does anyone know a way round these charges?

Paying in US dollars
 

"speckled hen" wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi
I am due to go on the sea princess in June leaving Southampton, I have
just received some info on the cruise and I notice when the cruise
ends I will have to settle my account using US dollars, it also states
that if I use UK pounds I will be charged 3% as well as a commision
depending on the exchange rate.

When I went with P&O I just settled with my UK visa card.
I had thought about getting travellers cheques in US dollars and doing
it that way.

Does anyone know a way round these charges?


Get a Nationwide Visa card and pay your account with that. They charge no
commission at all on "foreign" transactions.

JohnT

Paying in US dollars
 

JohnT wrote:
"speckled hen" wrote in message
ups.com...

Hi
I am due to go on the sea princess in June leaving Southampton, I have
just received some info on the cruise and I notice when the cruise
ends I will have to settle my account using US dollars, it also states
that if I use UK pounds I will be charged 3% as well as a commision
depending on the exchange rate.

When I went with P&O I just settled with my UK visa card.
I had thought about getting travellers cheques in US dollars and doing
it that way.

Does anyone know a way round these charges?



Get a Nationwide Visa card and pay your account with that. They charge no
commission at all on "foreign" transactions.

JohnT



I just checked the website, and Nationwide now charges 3%, or maybe I
missed something?

Paying in US dollars
 

"Edward" wrote in message
. ..
JohnT wrote:
"speckled hen" wrote in message
ups.com...

Hi
I am due to go on the sea princess in June leaving Southampton, I have
just received some info on the cruise and I notice when the cruise
ends I will have to settle my account using US dollars, it also states
that if I use UK pounds I will be charged 3% as well as a commision
depending on the exchange rate.

When I went with P&O I just settled with my UK visa card.
I had thought about getting travellers cheques in US dollars and doing
it that way.

Does anyone know a way round these charges?



Get a Nationwide Visa card and pay your account with that. They charge no
commission at all on "foreign" transactions.

JohnT

I just checked the website, and Nationwide now charges 3%, or maybe I
missed something?

All I can find on their website is the Comic Relief card, but all the cards
are the same re Foreign charges. Look at
http://www.nationwide.co.uk/creditca...re-details.htm and nil
commission is stated near the end. I use my Nationwide card regularly and I
get an exteremely good rate when being charged in US $.

JohnT

Paying in US dollars
 

JohnT wrote:
"Edward" wrote in message
. ..

JohnT wrote:

"speckled hen" wrote in message
groups.com...


Hi
I am due to go on the sea princess in June leaving Southampton, I have
just received some info on the cruise and I notice when the cruise
ends I will have to settle my account using US dollars, it also states
that if I use UK pounds I will be charged 3% as well as a commision
depending on the exchange rate.

When I went with P&O I just settled with my UK visa card.
I had thought about getting travellers cheques in US dollars and doing
it that way.

Does anyone know a way round these charges?



Get a Nationwide Visa card and pay your account with that. They charge no
commission at all on "foreign" transactions.

JohnT

I just checked the website, and Nationwide now charges 3%, or maybe I
missed something?


All I can find on their website is the Comic Relief card, but all the cards
are the same re Foreign charges. Look at
http://www.nationwide.co.uk/creditca...re-details.htm and nil
commission is stated near the end. I use my Nationwide card regularly and I
get an exteremely good rate when being charged in US $.

JohnT



http://www.nationwidebank.com/credit...A05F1D70530 E


It may even be a different company, or maybe the difference between U.S
and UK.

Paying in US dollars
 

"Edward" wrote in message
...
JohnT wrote:
"Edward" wrote in message
. ..

JohnT wrote:

"speckled hen" wrote in message
egroups.com...


Hi
I am due to go on the sea princess in June leaving Southampton, I have
just received some info on the cruise and I notice when the cruise
ends I will have to settle my account using US dollars, it also states
that if I use UK pounds I will be charged 3% as well as a commision
depending on the exchange rate.

When I went with P&O I just settled with my UK visa card.
I had thought about getting travellers cheques in US dollars and doing
it that way.

Does anyone know a way round these charges?



Get a Nationwide Visa card and pay your account with that. They charge
no commission at all on "foreign" transactions.

JohnT

I just checked the website, and Nationwide now charges 3%, or maybe I
missed something?


All I can find on their website is the Comic Relief card, but all the
cards are the same re Foreign charges. Look at
http://www.nationwide.co.uk/creditca...re-details.htm and
nil commission is stated near the end. I use my Nationwide card regularly
and I get an exteremely good rate when being charged in US $.

JohnT

http://www.nationwidebank.com/credit...A05F1D70530 E

It may even be a different company, or maybe the difference between U.S
and UK.

You are referring to a Bank in the USA. My reference was to a UK Building
Society. The OP appears to live in the UK.

JohnT

Paying in US dollars
 

When I used an ATM in London last fall I was charged a "Conversion fee" also
by Visa. I think it was only 1% though.


"JohnT" wrote in message
. uk...

"Edward" wrote in message
. ..
JohnT wrote:
"speckled hen" wrote in message
ups.com...

Hi
I am due to go on the sea princess in June leaving Southampton, I have
just received some info on the cruise and I notice when the cruise
ends I will have to settle my account using US dollars, it also states
that if I use UK pounds I will be charged 3% as well as a commision
depending on the exchange rate.

When I went with P&O I just settled with my UK visa card.
I had thought about getting travellers cheques in US dollars and doing
it that way.

Does anyone know a way round these charges?



Get a Nationwide Visa card and pay your account with that. They charge
no commission at all on "foreign" transactions.

JohnT

I just checked the website, and Nationwide now charges 3%, or maybe I
missed something?

All I can find on their website is the Comic Relief card, but all the
cards are the same re Foreign charges. Look at
http://www.nationwide.co.uk/creditca...re-details.htm and
nil commission is stated near the end. I use my Nationwide card regularly
and I get an exteremely good rate when being charged in US $.

JohnT

Paying in US dollars
 

"Leland F. Dumas" wrote:

When I used an ATM in London last fall I was charged a "Conversion fee" also
by Visa. I think it was only 1% though.

I have been calling my different credit cards to check on this. One
VISA, a debit card and one Mastercard charges 1% my AmExp charges 2%
another VISA and one Mastercard charges 3%. Guess which ones I'm
going to take?

"JohnT" wrote in message
.uk...

"Edward" wrote in message
. ..
JohnT wrote:
"speckled hen" wrote in message
ups.com...

Hi
I am due to go on the sea princess in June leaving Southampton, I have
just received some info on the cruise and I notice when the cruise
ends I will have to settle my account using US dollars, it also states
that if I use UK pounds I will be charged 3% as well as a commision
depending on the exchange rate.

When I went with P&O I just settled with my UK visa card.
I had thought about getting travellers cheques in US dollars and doing
it that way.

Does anyone know a way round these charges?



Get a Nationwide Visa card and pay your account with that. They charge
no commission at all on "foreign" transactions.

JohnT

I just checked the website, and Nationwide now charges 3%, or maybe I
missed something?

All I can find on their website is the Comic Relief card, but all the
cards are the same re Foreign charges. Look at
http://www.nationwide.co.uk/creditca...re-details.htm and
nil commission is stated near the end. I use my Nationwide card regularly
and I get an exteremely good rate when being charged in US $.

JohnT

Paying in US dollars
 

Capt Mary Kidd wrote:

The message
from Rosalie B. contains these words:

"Leland F. Dumas" wrote:

When I used an ATM in London last fall I was charged a "Conversion
fee" also
by Visa. I think it was only 1% though.

I have been calling my different credit cards to check on this. One
VISA, a debit card and one Mastercard charges 1% my AmExp charges 2%
another VISA and one Mastercard charges 3%. Guess which ones I'm
going to take?

To make a fair comparison you should have asked what exchange rate they
were charging at that time. If they all gave you the exact same rate
then of course you would take the 1% one, but that may not be the
cheapest overall if the others have a better exchange rate.

When I called all the cards, I asked them what they would charge for
transitioning between Bahamian or Bermudan $$ and US$$ and that's what
they said they would charge. There is NO DIFFERENCE between what a
Bahamian or Bermuda dollar cost would be and a US dollar cost as the
currencies are on par with each other. Actually one of the cards said
they charged no fee.

I first ran up against the difference in charges when I was in the
Bahamas. One card still charged me 3% on each transaction, while one
card charged nothing for the transactions. It took me awhile to
figure out why there was a difference between the charge slip I signed
(which was for the cardiologist and the ICU), and the amount that I
was charged. When I asked, that was the answer given.

For the different currencies (like the Euro or the UK pound) hey all
AFAIK charge the bank rate that is in effect when they get the charge.
I've never found any difference between cards for the rate.