Do you exchange money?

This will be our 10th trip to Jamaica and we have always exchanged money but the last couple years I see a lot of people using US . Which is better?

i exchange and also use a credit card where accepted

I am from Canada so I exchange my Canadian dollars for Jamaican. The only time I use US is to pay for my ride to and from MoBay and for the coffee I buy. Most places accept US but often give J change and the rate is low when they do.

It has been very common this trip for vendors to quote me a price in USD and when I ask for the price in JMD they say an even 100x the amount. For example, they ask for $7. and when I ask "How much in Jamaican?" the answer is 700 JMD, which is about $5.28 USD. So yes, I convert money (actually, withdraw Jamaican money from an ATM).

I avoid using a credit card because of foreign transaction fees and because when I do use one in Jamaica, it seems to be fairly common for my card to be blocked due to security alerts. This doesn't cost me anything except annoyance as I have to wait for a replacement card to arrive in the mail. Maybe I've just had bad luck, as it has happened 2 out of the past 4 years.

I carry some of each. If the price is listed in $J I pay that way. If the price is $US I pay that way.

We change USD to JMD, accepted everywhere. No short change issues.

Exchange money for what? :)

We do not. Mostly because we had a bad experience one time trying to get money from the ATM. I charge whenever possible, and I notify my CC companies when and where I will be traveling, and I use US$. It is better to pay with JA as far as the exchange rate goes most of the time though, so my laziness does cost me.

We always exchange $US for $JA ............ better purchasing power using $JA .................. plus when you use $US you will always get your change in $JA ............. now you have BOTH $US and $JA ........... good luck figuring out how to pay in both currencies at the end of your vacation.

We typically get JA $ out of ATMs, and use credit cards, as well. Have been told using JA $ will save you a little.

Likely save you a lot....

We always exchange US $$. This time we got $125/ $1.00 I believe . Can’t even remember where we stopped. I believe it was is Lucia.

Current exchange rate at FX Trader on the West End is $126.50J to $1us....the Golden Nugget across from Burger King was less

Cool Runnings, Marko

I exchange it. As I understand it, locals can't spend USD, so they have to take it to the bank to get it exchanged and as a Canadian, i think we do better on the exchange to JMD than USD. Best of all, I have a Scotiabank account so I can hit up the local ATMs for cash.