Q – We are kind of newbies to the idea of travel out of the country. We will be taking our first trip to Europe aboard a Celebrity cruise in July sailing the lower Med to Spain, Italy, and Greece. We couldn’t be more excited. One bit of advice we need concerns credit cards. We took out an American Express card because our travel agent said it was reliable. We also like the way American Express totals everything when you get your bill. Our agent, who works for Celebrity, also said we should pay for everything in dollars as it makes it easier. Also wondering about the dress for this trip. The agent said it might be warm and to bring some summer clothes but not shorts. Any comments about this would be appreciated. As I said, this is all very new to us.
A – You want “comments” – we’re going to give you comments:
01 – No Travel Agent works for Celebrity. Since it would appear that you have only made deposit and not a final payment, take the booking away from Celebrity and sit down with the best local travel agent in your town. Have them take over your booking. You’ve been dealing with a reservations staff member who works on commission and knows nothing about worldwide conditions, credit cards, or much of anything else that will be useful for you to know. The job of someone in reservations is to secure your booking.
02 – You haven’t told us which type of American Express card you took out. There are several different cards and each one carries different benefits and features. It is likely that the one you chose does carry a foreign transaction fee which normally is 3%. This is a total rip-off. You should always travel with a card that has “No foreign transaction fees”. Amex has some co-branded cards that carry this benefit. We do agree that Amex is “reliable” and they are aggressive about fighting fraud. They are also less readily accepted by merchants abroad than Visa or Mastercard.
03 – You always want to pay in local currency using your US bank credit card. That will assure that the currency conversion is done by your bank utilizing the official rate. This will negate costly commissions and conversion fees abroad.
04 – Finally, your “agent” seems to be underestimating the heat issues. July has seen heat waves with temps reaching 100 degrees for the past two years. You can wear shorts in that weather but it would be better to wear lightweight slacks given the likelihood that you will be touring churches and buildings of historical importance. Discuss this with your real “agent” once you convert the booking.
