A new report from travel debit card provider Currensea reveals that cruise passengers are turning their backs on cash and embracing card payments which offer more convenient and better value spending options.
Around 49 percent of travellers who went on cruises in the past five years say that they’ll reduce the amount of cash they bring on holiday on their next trip.
That said, cruise passengers are becoming increasingly reliant on card payments, as well as digital payment systems.
Bucking a long-standing habit
Cruise passengers previously relied heavily on cash, given how they were likely to visit several countries often requiring different currencies.
However, juggling multiple currencies and opting to spend in cash rather than card is not only expensive but can also cause confusion, seeing how up to 28 percent of former cruise passengers admit they find it confusing to switch between currencies.
Once back on dry land, 18 percent of cruise passengers think they waste a lot of money on fees exchanging holiday cash back to their home currency.
Also, 31 percent of travellers say that cruises offer less value for money than in previous years, making it more important that cruise passengers increasingly maximise holiday budgets.
This perceived reduction in value for money is in part down to the high exchange rates charged on cruise ships with 50 percent of those who have been on a cruise in the past five years saying the fees are ‘extortionate’.
At the same time, cruise passengers face additional challenges when managing money on-board.
Just 27 percent say they always have enough mobile signal to top up prepaid cards or transfer money between bank accounts, often leaving them with no choice but to exchange cash on-board even if they had not originally planned to do so.
Although the cost of cruises has become more expensive, there is high demand for them amongst travellers, with up to 42 percent saying that they would prioritise going on cruises ahead of other holidays no matter the cost.
According to Currensea co-founder James Lynn: “Cruise passengers are beginning to turn their backs on cash and relying more on the convenience, reliability and value of card payments. Many passengers depend on mobile signals to transfer funds or top-up accounts, when this fails, they are forced to turn to expensive ATMs on-board ships and lose out to poor rates and high fees. By using a travel card that links automatically to a current account, and eliminates the costs levied by banks, travellers can be confident they will have instant access to their holiday money without having to pay more in extortionate exchange rates.”
