TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Money Money Money

Hi all,

Just want to check with all of you on this one. Pretty much set on bringing USD to the Island. How much do all of you normally bring initially? Secondly, I heard that ATM's are few and far between (how's that situation in Grand Case where we are staying? Lastly, credit cards I've also heard can be an issue. Whats your experiences trying to use them at restaurants etc???

Thanks!

We try to bring whatever cash we think we are going to need and avoid the ATM issue. We haven't stayed in Grand Case since 2014 but I don't recall there being any ATMs in Grand Case. The one time we had to go to one, we had to go to Marigot.

Many businesses and restaurants take credit cards (Visa/Mastercard primarily) - just make sure that you contact the credit card company before you go so that they won't deny charges.

I usually bring $500 to start. I use the credit mutual ATM in Hope Estates (just down from where you will be) to get more money. The ATM there gives Euros or USD. If you take USD, there is no currency conversion. You take $500 and it takes $500 out of your account. If you take Euros, then you have the conversion to USD taken out.

We usually bring $500 or so for a 10 day stay. $50 of that is in ones and fives for tips and small purchases. We usually run out of small bills but end up bringing a couple hundred back home. We make most of our purchases on credit cards, just like home.

Keep in mind that restaurant tips are cash; you can't charge those.

As far as tips in cash, it depends where you are. Many places on the Dutch side now have a 15% auto tip built into the bill, so the tips there would be included on the credit card slip. I would agree that on the French side you should definitely leave the tip in cash, although the amount would be a question.

As far as cash, we always take the amount of cash we think we will need, as I am somewhat leery of ATM machines away from home--and frankly, guess we don't use them at home either! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" /> Regarding credit cards, M/C and Visa are fine. AMEX is often not accepted, here at home. Discover, I'm not sure of, as we've never had one. Keep in mind that many credit card companies do charge a currency conversion if the charge is in Euros, so you need to check with your credit card company to see if they do. To me, it's not a huge deal, but a lot of people really object to that and only use cc's that don't charge that fee.

We only use a credit card for the car rental (the CDW is covered that way), then it's all cash the rest of the way. Maybe not so big a deal this year, given the exchange rate of Dollar vs. Euro, but a lot of Grand Case restaurants do USD = to Euro when paying cash. As far as $, we do $500 per day if going to a casino after dinner, $300 if no casino. That said, we eat out ALL meals, with dinner being at higher-end restaurants ($100-200 per dinner for 2)and rent chairs and buy drinks at the beaches. You can spend a lot less per day or a lot more, depending on what floats your boat. Have a great time. Regards, Phil

Also, be careful of "foreign transaction fees." We were surprised by these on our Bank of America Visa. Will use a different card next time.

Thanks all,

Great advice. I have a capital one card with an ample limit for the credit card side of things and to avoid those nasty fees! Good to know about Hope Estates as well.

Different strokes for different folks...

For our two weeks we take a few hundred in cash and get the rest (dollars) from an ATM...CC only for car rental and TS tax...

We bring around $1000 cash/week. While I try to use the credit card as much as possible for those 2% rebates, many places have offered a slightly favorable exchange rate for cash, so I use cash there.

And, I always carry enough cash, even if I know I'll pay with a credit card, because you never know when their card processor is down (anecdotal evidence says it's due to rain storms).

I also take $1,000/week and pay cash for just about everything except car rental. I also take about $200 in $2 bills to use for tips, which seem to be really appreciated by the islanders. Several have told me they keep the $2 bills rather than spending them.

We use our Capital One credit card for everything, the only exception being the very few places that don't take a card. We bring $1,000 in cash for our three week stay, and always bring over half of it home.

I am always amazed at how much cash I go through even though I charge almost everything. The big wild card is 1:1 dollar for Euro which used to be hard to pass up but now the difference is reduced. In any event I manage to drop $1,000 in two weeks. I think it is mostly in tips and the odd drink after dinner. We are 100% Frence side.

We plan $100 per day. Some meals over and some go under. For a particularly expensive place we use a credit card with no transaction fee no conversion fee, Capital One like GaKaye. And the card for any extra charges when we stay at Grand Case Beach Club because we charge meals & drinks to the room.

We pay cash for most everything including diving except car rental. I take around 4-5 grand with me for four weeks and usually have plenty to bring home.

We take cash for everything except the hotel and car. Calculate what we think we will need and then add about 20% to that. In 25 years we've never used an ATM on the island. It is nice knowing they are there though, in case of an emergency.

We figure $200 per day for the two of us - we stay two weeks, and last year went home with $500. We charge lodging, car rental, and there's usually either a jewelry or handbag purchase for Mrs. B (I get a tee-shirt). Also, when we stay at Club Orient, we usually have several meals at Papagayo, which we charge to the room. I've never used an ATM on the island. We used to use TC's when they were easily available and universally accepted, but now they're neither, so we take cash and use the room safe.

Bank of America offers a "traveler rewards" card with no foreign transaction fees. They will transfer some of your available balance also.

I can't understand how you pass up 8-10,000 miles, or $160-$200 in CC rebates or miles. It's like free money or a free flight somewhere.

Not a concern of mine. I get plenty of miles through my other cc transactions in the states. I don't want a bill after a vacation to remind me how much it costs. I get better deals paying cash too. Cash is king.

We charge most everything and use our cash to pay the bill. We also bring about a 100 a day for gambling. Good years we bring back double, bad years we bring back half.

We bring about $500 cash to start (some small bills for tips), then use our ATM card at Scotia Bank as we need more. We use our credit card for car rental only. We also figure about $200 per day.

Might not be at all relevant but I thought I would repost my itemized trip report from last year where I tracked every penny(photos no longer work). We also stayed in Grand Case. We took 3,000 cash for our 10 day trip but ended up bringing back over 1k....we had plastic (ATM and Credit) for emergencies but never used it.

http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/s...rue#Post1588381

That is consistent with our experience.

We budget about $100 a day and manage to hit that average for 7 to 14 days. We bring $1000 cash to start and get the rest from ATMs. I withdrawal both euro from French side and dollars from Dutch as we need.
There is a bank ATM in Grand Case on the main road that dispenses Euros.