In six weeks will have our first trip to Bonaire. On our other travels we could take minimal cash and use the CC for purchases and eating out. What is the accepted method in Bonaire?

most of the bigger restaurants (not the snacks) accept credit cards. some have a minimum charge before you can use them

We try to use our credit cards as little as possible because of the fees imposed on the retailers by the CC companies. We start with a small amount of cash and then use a debit card at the ATM. At the ATM you can choose US dollars or the local currency. Be aware that when paying in cash you will get change in the local currency.

Just returned from Bonaire on January 3rd. Used my MasterCard and American Express for most everything, including the two grocery stores (Cultimara and Warehouse) and many restaurants, Buddy Dive (where we stayed), the stores downtown, etc. All of the merchants rang up the credit card statement in U.S., so did not pay a penny in "fees." There have been other BT threads that have hashed this "fee" issue over ad nauseum. Just wanted to tell you, Barton, that we paid NO fees -- as was the case my previous two visits to the island (December '05 and December '06), and credit cards are readily accepted.

Barton, we do what Sue does. Keep in mind that some establishments do not accept CC's...Bongo's off the top of my head...I know there are more but right now, can't think of them...lol...

Barton, we just returned last week and used CC for all dinners. VISA and Mastercard are accepted everywhere, some will not take Amex. We were not charged any CC fees because everyone posted the transaction in US dollars.

We usually get fl from an ATM upon arrival and tip with them. It seems your wait staff really appreciates this, also our housekeeper at Divi was tipped in fl. If near the end of your stay you have an excess of fl there are 2 things you can do, First, you can pay your departure tax in fl. By the way, they also accept VISA or Mastercard. Second, you can donate them to the Donkey Sanctuary. Remember, there is a distinct possibility that fl will be replaced next year so do not save them as we have done in the past.

Steve, I think what Susan meant was the fees charged to retailers by the CC companies, NOT the fees charged to cardholders. I know Visa/MC takes 4%, and Amex is higher (7%?). I think she was saying that she knows alot of the businesses are mom and pop operations and the banks are taking 4-7% of their credit card sales! I don't mean to put words in her mouth.

Ah, so -- I did misread that. Indeed that is what she said. Mea culpa. Sorry!

SRJ

Kate ... you did not put words in my mouth -- that was exactly what I meant! Thanks for clarifying it for others and thank you for including the figures for folks to see.

Do local businesses which are paid by us in $ end up paying an 'exchange' fee to the banks to settle their accounts in fl? Are the businesses best off if we pay in fl?

Do we pay an 'exchange fee' if we use an ATM or a bank to get fl?

I think a few of the posters above may be in for a surprise when they get their credit card bills. From the apparent dates of travel, I doubt they have received their statements yet. Most credit card issuers are now charging fees for out of country charges regardless of the currency in which the charges are denominated. From recent posts on this board, the only reported issuer that is not charging the fees so far is Capital One. Also, the fees that the merchants pay are not unique to Bonaire, merchants in the U.S. are charged similar fees.

As a merchant I pay a fee and also an exchange charge for $ to fl.... Just another cost of doing business.

I use my AMEX and Citi MC here all the time, and as of my latest check on-line, neither has charged me fees. For the Citi card it's most likely because the charges are in Dollars. I do get charged fees if I use the Citi card in a place where the native card billing currency is in something other than U.S. dollars.

AMEX never charges me foreign transaction fees but when I can't use that, I use a Capital One card when charging in a foreign currency, though.

One new change is that my U.S. bank has now started charging me 3% to get NAF from an ATM here. That sucks. They also charge a foreign ATM fee if I take out dollars. Very annoying. It was a 2% fee for NAF starting early last year, and as of January 1st it went up to 3%.

And as a merchant on Bonaire, yes - we pay both types of fees, although even with a moderately low volume, our credit card fees are in the 2-3% range, not the 4-7% someone posted above. And while we (Bonaire Creations/Richter Art Gallery) do a NAF/$ conversion at 1.78 (as all of our prices are based on a dollar number), just about all Bonaire merchants use a ratio of 1.75 if their base prices are in NAF, which covers the 1% US$ currency deposit/transaction fee, so really all they are out of pocket is the credit card fee, which is simply the cost of doing business, IMHO (hey - Michael and I agree on something ;-) ).

Jake

I was in Bonaire December 27th - January 3rd, and have reviewed my statements -- Citi Mastercard and Citi AMEX -- neither of which had a fee assessed for any of my Bonaire transactions -- which were many and all charged in U.S. dollars.

I have Chase Travel Rewards and have never be charged a fee for out of country charges. I was charged a fee for out of country charges by my US Air Mastercard but they removed the charges after I threatened to close the card.