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Dining: Cash or Credit Card?
Bonaire Talk: Dining: Archives: Archives 1999 -2003: Archives - 1999-05-07 to 2002-08-02: Cash or Credit Card?
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By adam stelmach on Thursday, July 11, 2002 - 3:14 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

My family and I will be arriving in Bonaire in the end of July and were wondering what to pay with for the restaurants? Is it a better idea to pay with US cash or a Credit Card? Do most restaurants prefer one? How will i know they are being honest with the exchange rate. Are the menu prices in both US and the Island money? Thanks for any help you can give

adam

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jake Richter - NetTech on Thursday, July 11, 2002 - 3:59 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Adam,

Menus outside the resorts are usually in NAFl., while resort restaurants are usually in dollars (or both).

For places which calculate the bill in NAFl., the exchange rate to dollars should be 1,75 NAFl. to $1, whether you pay in dollars cash or on credit cards (all credits cards are processed in US Dollars here). I live here and usually pay by Credit Card because I find it more convenient.

The bank rate of cash to cash exchange is 1,77 NAFl. to $1, so you do loose about one penny per dollar when paying in dollars at a restaurant - not enough in my mind to make a difference. Others may disagree.

Jake

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By herman mowery on Thursday, July 11, 2002 - 4:19 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Hello Adam,

I tend to use both cash and credit cards. Most places take credit cards but not all, esp the smaller places. Almost all of the restaurants have the prices in USD and Guilders. 1 Guilder= $0.57 USD (about). I use 1 Guilder= $0.50 for my price guestimations, that's close enough for me. I have not had any trouble with people trying to short change me and if they do, it's not by much as I can figure 2/1 pretty fast. DO expect to get most of your change in Guilders. Also, there are 1 and 5 (about $2.80 USD)Guilder coins, that kind of took me by suprise the first time I went to Bonaire, these add a lot quicker that our quarters. By far the easiest way is to go to the bank and exchange your cash for Guilders and work in Guilders totally, it adds to the fun of being on the island. By the way, there are several ATM's on the island at which you can use your ATM card to get either USD or Guilders, they do charge a small fee but not bad. There are a lot of great places to eat on the island and don't overlook the small local places, great food at good prices.


Herman

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Dan Goff on Wednesday, September 4, 2002 - 12:38 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Hope this helps. I saw a website where one can obtain a cheat sheet for money conversion.
Go to http://www.oanda.com and follow the traveler's link.

 


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