Best money options for Canadian Travellers

Hello to all. We are set to arrive in less than 2 weeks and am seeking advice from canadian boardies. Since our dollar has taken such a dive against the US dollar, what is the best way to get more bang for your buck when things are quoted in US dollars? Are establishments that quote in US prepared to take JA? Should I convert my CA to US prior to leaving home? Or just ask the merchants who quote US to tell me the JA equivalent and pay in JA? I had planned to take some US but only use it when I absolutely must.

Our experience has been that we take some US and then hit the Scotiabank ATM as soon as we get there and draw JA from it.

It will allow $30000 JA (approx. $300 CA) per day per account.

Remember to notify your bank that you will be in Jamaica, otherwise there is a chance that they will shut your card down because of suspicious activity.

This system works for us, and we don't end up having a big stash of cash to worry about.

Have fun

I just use my credit card for a cash advance in local currancy at the Nova Scotia bank machine. 30,000 j at a time - costs 253 j each transaction. Pretty easy.

Just bring $cad with you and exchange at the cambio.

All good advises. Any establishment will take Jamaican dollars, no exceptions. You can ask for a bill in JA$ in advance.
Have a great time !

always pay in Jamaican , soon come

I always ask our driver (Rocky) to give me a price in Cdn; everything else we pay in Jamaican dollars. Many places have their prices in both USD and JA, the JA is usually the less expensive option. We also withdraw at the ATM rather than bring a wad of cash with us to exchange at the cambio.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Beefer

Our experience has been that we take some US and then hit the Scotiabank ATM as soon as we get there and draw JA from it.

It will allow $30000 JA (approx. $300 CA) per day per account.

Remember to notify your bank that you will be in Jamaica, otherwise there is a chance that they will shut your card down because of suspicious activity.

This system works for us, and we don't end up having a big stash of cash to worry about.

Have fun

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Unfortunately you can not always get 30,000 JMD, as times it is limited. My last trip in Dec it was hit or miss, with several trips the ATM only dispensed 500JMD bills. So I had to do two transactions to get the money needed and paid the extra fees. could barely close my freaking wallet. I even tried multiple machines as well.

Take some Canadian for standby as the last thing you want to do is skimp by if the ATM's are not playing nice.

Take a bit of US, to pay for the drive back and forth from airport and the first few days. I withdraw JA from the bank machine and keep some Canadian that I can either change or take back with me.

Thank you everyone. Great advice as usual!

Really, just take Canadian and change it at the Cambio. You'll get a very good rate and then pay in Jamaican for everything.
Don't use U.S. currency. There's no need.

I would not take USD either. Transfer drivers have been willing to take CAD if I don't have JMD upon arrival.

I thought I'd read recently that ATMs dispense up to 30,000 per transaction, but you can repeat transactions until you reach your maximum daily withdrawal limit (provided there's enough cash in the machine). As mentioned, always good to take enough CAD cash to exchange for JMD at a cambio in case the ATMs have issues.

I've never taken any US before but the idea of going to the ATM and after several other travellers have taken out their money and there being nothing left, well I would kinda freak :rolleyes:

I guess I should have just asked the price in Canadian like 2Nutz said. Oh well all my bases are covered, can't wait to get there!!!

Exchange was 92:1 for CA$ and 105:1 for US$ last week

With those calculations if bank is giving you .88 us to 1 can it works out to only 40j ahead to buy us and than convert to j's. Altough when I went a few weeks ago I bought $1000us at my bank and converted that with china man down town, and used atm for rest. Used CIBC ATM's every few days. Could always get 30,000j, never line up, always full of money, always working.