My driver is telling me that I should wait to exchange my money at the Cambio or The China Man Store. Which one is better ? Where is the China Man Store ? Will they have enough to exchange $2000 USD ? Thanks in advance !!
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My driver is telling me that I should wait to exchange my money at the Cambio or The China Man Store. Which one is better ? Where is the China Man Store ? Will they have enough to exchange $2000 USD ? Thanks in advance !!
I can't vouch for either place but you may want to pick the closest to you and exchange a few hundred USD to get you by until you get a better handle on the exchange rate. I'm always amazed by the huge wad of J-bucks I walk out with. Also some ATMs allow you to access your bank account with your debit card and choose USD or J-bucks for withdrawal. Fees vary from ATM to ATM but it's usually a few bucks as I recall and I'm willing to pay for the convenience.
Your driver is right. Don't exchange at home before you arrive or at the airport. Both give you substantially lower rates.
And don't ever be walking around virtually anywhere on this planet with US$2000 in cash on you. Just not a wise thing to do.
Thank you !!
Thanks Rob. I’m not going to be holding that much at one time. There are 6 of us going and last year we dealt with the atm being out of money a lot and the lines were long. We are trying to come up with a solution.
Maybe check with your bank first a see what kind of rate they could give. I've checked every bank and Cambio in Negril over a pried of time and now I deal with FX Trader exclusivley as they seem to always have a better rate. The rate as of today at FX Trader is 1 USD = 145Ja or 1CND = 103.1Ja You can use that as a benchmark and see If your bank can do better than that, I'd change before you come down but you do have to give your bank severals days notice.
The ATM lines at new NCB in Boardwalk Shopping Plaza are not that long, and it is across from Treehouse.
There is also a cambio with good rates in the pharmacy to the left of NCB when looking at NCB doors.
NCB is the bank ? Where is that ?Quote:
Originally Posted by Rob
There are two Chinese supermarkets downtown. In the front part of the store in both is a small desk up on a stand overlooking the store. You hand the money you want to exchange to the person in the booth. I usually ask them what their rate is before I hand them the money to exchange. Their rate is always very close to the bank and generally better than the cambio on the beach rd. I would not exchange more than a couple of hundred at a time. You will find the store and cambios are often crowded and many people are in them or just outside. Always be aware of your surroundings and exchanging $2,000 would draw a lot of attention if they even would do that much. You could also exchange at a bank but the wait times can be long. Cambios and banks will require your passport while the Chinese supermarket will not. The wait is almost always shorter at the Chinese Supermarket. In and out. Your other option is to just use ATM's, while they'll have a service charge you will get the going exchange rate. NCB is one of the banks in Negril. It's in the newer strip mall plaza on the main beach road. It is the most convenient for tourists and has multiple atms as well. There is also a Scotia Bank downtown.
Thanks for the info Corey helps a lot. I just left my bank here in the US and they will give me 140J to 1usd. Might be worth doing it here just to avoid all of that.
That's better than what the airport will give you but not great. You're losing about $10 JMD per $1 USD you trade at that rate as the internet rate is around $154.60JMD to $1 USD today meaning the banks, cambios, and Chinese stores should be around $147-151 JMD to $1 USD. So if you exchanged all $2,000USD at your bank at home then you're losing out on about $20,000 JMD which is a little over $130 USD. In all honesty if you have an account with an atm card then just save yourself the hassle and use that. I usually bring down about $500 USD to start out, exchange it at the Chinese store and then just withdraw cash at the atm as needed. They're widely available around Negril these days.Quote:
Originally Posted by NJRob