Credit Cards, Pesos or American?????

Hey All!!
We are in the middle of planning our trip to Temptation for mid-February and the question of currency has been brought up, and to be honest we have no clue!! Should we bring Credit cards, pesos, American currency, OR all three? We are hoping to get to enjoy the Boobs Cruise and we know that you get some time to visit some shops and local bars, now do these places prefer pesos? And when it comes to booking excursions and tipping the staff at the resort which way should be go? As always thanks for your help!!

-Kells

 

Being Canadian like myself, pesos is a better deal. If you get American you're going to lose on two conversions, not just one. For simplicity I'd bring $100 or so USD to pay Steve for the Boobs Cruise, other than that a mixture of credit cards and pesos should cover everything else. And the ATM's will work with canadian bank cards, just call your bank before hand so they don't freeze your account because you are trying to withdraw in Cancun!

 

If I were you I would bring down a big wad of 20-peso bills, they are perfect for tipping, and somewhat waterproof. The front desk has a very fair exchange rate as well. I wouldn't use your credit very often however.

 

Thank you guys so much!! Its a great thing we asked cause we were just going to bring American with us but great points on the being hit with the two conversions as well as the 20 peso bill being some what waterproof hahaha. Thanks for the great advice:wink3:

 

Im different. I like the pesos idea, but I use my credit card a lot too.

gives me some protection in case of an issue.

most cards will charge you a small fee (ie 2%) but some dont.

 

Cash is king, and I wouldn't use a credit card unless you know for sure you won't be charged international fees. Also, people have posted stories about their numbers being stolen when they used cards there. ATM is also risky, can be charged crazy fees if not careful. We brought a few hundred one dollar US bills for tips all three times we were there, and at least $500 cash to do stuff like Chichan Itza, wave runner rental, etc. The hotel lobby typically gives 11-12 pesos per US dollar, and the earlier advice is accurate - use pesos to buy stuff from the locals as much as possible or you will get boned with a lower exchange rate. It starts to add up if you buy a lot of souveniers. How much you bring kind of depends on how long you will be there and what you want to do - if you stay on the resort, you won't really need any money other than for tipping, and of course your Boobs Cruise balance (or just pay it all on PayPal before you go). We kept our money in the safe in the room and only brought what we needed with us. Pesos are also better if money is in your pocket in the pool, and $20 peso bills are perfect for tips.

 

I have been to all parts of Mexico, over the last 15 years, and the one piece of advice I can give you is only use credit cards when you have to. I have come home and found that merchants make up their own exchange rates, international fees from card companies and all of a sudden you paid $50 for a t-shirt you thought was $5. I always carry cash. Small denominations, that way you get as few peso's back as change as possible. Nothing larger the $20 American

 

And also never let your credit card leave your sight. I paid with a credit card at a ''fancy'' restaurant, and came to find out after getting back home, when they took my card, they made a magnetic copy and starting charging stuff. I wasn't responsible for the $14,000 credit card bill thankfully.

 

credit cars or others

my 20 trips to mexico i wpould have one credit for emgerency only dollars for tipping,, but bring 100 of $2 dollars for tipping reason is they look at the bill as a good luck bill they will give you very good service around the pool and waiters use americian $ for shopping for best deals
hope this will help :lotsofmichaelfs::lotsofmichaelfs::lotsofmichaelfs:l

 

...we chose to not use a credit card and took a ton of 1 dollar bills for tipping, and basically tipped a dollar for every single drink we got. Pretty soon they were bringing us our drinks to our specifications without us even having to move from our chosen spot!

For any purchases, each vendor can choose their exchange rate, so it's wiser when buying items (souveniers, etc.) to have peso's...plus when drinking that much...you don't have to do the math! They will definitely try to trip you up...

Don't forget sunscreen! I went to buy 2 average size bottles of sunscreen in the gift shop and they wanted $40 US dollars! I said NO WAY! There is a Wal-Mart not far away that sells it for normal dollar amounts!