Linda & Steve, Love your site…We’re planning a 1 to 1.5yr cruise, starting next year. No definite destinations yet except East Coast of US & the Caribbean Islands.
I have not been able to find any info on handling finances while cruising. Budgets for cruising, yes, but none on how efficient mail forwarding is, paying bills for land homes, how to arrange to get money while cruising, cashing checks in foreign countries, etc.
Do any of your books cover mail & finances while cruising? Any sources of info covering these subjects would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Claire
Hi Claire: You will find some data in our Offshore Cruising Encyclopedia–and we’ll ask our SetSail correspondents for some comments which will be up to date. Few brief comments right now:
1-For mail, we have it sent to us periodically via courier–usually every three or four weeks–with magazines and catalogs left out. We use e-mail so much now that there is a lot less personal correspondence than in the olden days–so it is mainly bank and credit card statements plus a few family photos coming to us.
2-You can get cash advances on credit cards almost anywhere. Probably best to have both Mastercard and Visa as some islands work with one or the other. There is some friction–typically a couple of points, so having a bit of cash along helps too.
3-We pay many of our bills (mortgage, power and water) via direct transfer— so the funds are drafted from our bank. Most credit cards can now be paid this way, after reviewing the actual credit card statement on the web at Internet cafes.
4-Cashing checks (except for Traveler’s Checks) is next to impossible–but as I said, credit card cash advances are easy. Regards–Steve Dashew
Posted by Steve Dashew (November 30, 1999)
