budgeting

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alcina

Missing Diva.
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Scuba Instructor
Divemaster
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Location
Western Australia
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I'm a Fish!
Ok...we are getting pretty excited about all of this...only 63 days to go!!

We are trying to finalize our budget since we have to deal with changing currency before we leave. Any input on recent costs & more or less budget figures for the following are great (US $$):

2 of us - DH has a healthy appetite. Three meals/day $?
2 of us - DH likes Mexican beer, I prefer Margaritas! I think I have read about $2 - $6/drink, is that about right?
bottled water...not sure if Caribe Blu supplies any? Cost and where to buy if not?
maids - tips per day or at the end?? I have read some bring little gifties - like what?
taxi - tips? amount?
dive crew - again, at the end? each day? how much? I personally prefer to give the tip to the person who I believe deserves it, but don't know the protocol there.
hire car - book ahead of time or when we arrive? where? how much/day more or less?

Can you get $1 and $5 notes in Mexico or do I need to deal with that before we get there?
 
You can use US Dollars just about everywhere in Cozumel!!! No need to exchange ahead of time. Make sure to take plenty of ones and fives as taxi drivers never seem to have change.
 
When you arrive at the Cozumel airport you will be mobbed by brokers for hotels and auto rentals.

Our Family went last year, but landed in Cancun, and the smartest thing we did was to book rooms and a van ahead of time. The rental driver met us at the terminal doors, brought the van to us and then at the end, we delivered the van to the terminal doors and he drove it away. (there were 7 of us traveling).

We stayed in Playa Del Carmen, Food was priced accross the board, you can dine for as little at $4 on up. We ate at "local" eateries, but did not order anything uncooked. We purchased bottled water at the grocery store, not the little vendor shops. We did take bottle water liters into the restaurants. They did not seem to mind, as the locals do it all the time.


We tipped the dive master at the end, we had 2 open water (ocean) and 1 cavern dives, each 2 tank. 6 divers, and the price was reasonable, the service was great. We tipped at the end, probably 15% because we were so impressed. Our 14 year old was a new diver, and he acted more of an instructor with her than a dive master, really helped her confidence level.

There was a dive master that, if I could remember his outfit, I would mention it, but he was so angry and rude that I told him if we had scheduled with him, I would have cancelled all the dives. I could not imagine putting my life in the hands of someone so "ugly" and uncaring.

So your budget is what your pocket book can handle. 8-)
 
alcina:
Ok...we are getting pretty excited about all of this...only 63 days to go!!


We are trying to finalize our budget since we have to deal with changing currency before we leave. Any input on recent costs & more or less budget figures for the following are great (US $$):

2 of us - DH has a healthy appetite. Three meals/day $?
2 of us - DH likes Mexican beer, I prefer Margaritas! I think I have read about $2 - $6/drink, is that about right?
bottled water...not sure if Caribe Blu supplies any? Cost and where to buy if not?
maids - tips per day or at the end?? I have read some bring little gifties - like what?
taxi - tips? amount?
dive crew - again, at the end? each day? how much? I personally prefer to give the tip to the person who I believe deserves it, but don't know the protocol there.
hire car - book ahead of time or when we arrive? where? how much/day more or less?

Can you get $1 and $5 notes in Mexico or do I need to deal with that before we get there?

Eating hard to say what you will spend here is a website that will give you a clue. http://www.cozumelmycozumel.com/Pages/Restaurants.htm Your about right on beer etc.

Most hotels provide bottled water. You can also buy it and beverages at the local Mexican Wal-Mart (Chedraui). It will probably be the cheapest place. It is across the street from Plaza las Glorias.

Tipping maids 1-2 bucks a day. Do not tip cabbies and have exact change. DM's 5 bucks per tank per day you may not have the same crew each day. I usually pay in fives so they can split it up between them and they will. If you feel like only certain ones deserve a tip. Make it known to the person you are tipping. Just make sure you have a lot of small bills fives and ones.

Reserve a car ahead of time if it is peak season. Nov-May.

Not sure about changing currency. If you want to change US to Pesos you will get a better rate when you get on the island.
 
alcina:
Ok...we are getting pretty excited about all of this...only 63 days to go!!
2 of us - DH likes Mexican beer, I prefer Margaritas! I think I have read about $2 - $6/drink, is that about right?
bottled water...not sure if Caribe Blu supplies any? Cost and where to buy if not?
taxi - tips? amount?
hire car - book ahead of time or when we arrive? where? how much/day more or less?
Can you get $1 and $5 notes in Mexico or do I need to deal with that before we get there?

Caribe Blu has one of those large water bottles in a dispenser in the corridor out front of the rooms on each floor.

You can get beers cheap at Chedraui, and they are a buck fifty to two bucks in restaurants, IIRC.

Taxi to town from CB is 35 pesos, and 40-50 pesos to most restaurants. I usually don't tip them.

I'd hire a car there. You can call around from the room to get prices, and after they tell you, be sure to ask, "Is that your best price?" That question immediately got me 30% off last month. Most places will come get you.

I wouldn't rent a car except for an excursion around the island; there's really no parking at CB except on the curb in front of the hotel. Taxis are cheap, and my one unusually long wait for a cab on my last trip was about 2 minutes; more commonly there was one pulling up to stop when the driver saw me emerge from the hotel.

You are from Australia, right? I don't know that your native currency will work like US$ on Cozumel. I always have a stack of $1's when I hit the island for tips to grease the process of getting to the hotel.

Enjoy your trip!

Cheers,
 
That's what I need - I needed to know if I need to take the $1 and $5 notes with us into Mexico or if I can change them there.

I have to change the Aussie dollar to US dollars - but I usually get all traveller's cheques. I can change some tc to "real" money when we stop in Dallas on the way through - just want to know how much and what denomination I need to deal with as I hate to carry cash (tcs are so much safer!)
 
alcina:
That's what I need - I needed to know if I need to take the $1 and $5 notes with us into Mexico or if I can change them there.

I have to change the Aussie dollar to US dollars - but I usually get all traveller's cheques. I can change some tc to "real" money when we stop in Dallas on the way through - just want to know how much and what denomination I need to deal with as I hate to carry cash (tcs are so much safer!)
You might be better off using an ATM card to get cash in Mexico rather than to carry Traveller's checks---you will get a better rate of exchange using the ATM.

AZ divers
 
azsilver:
You might be better off using an ATM card to get cash in Mexico rather than to carry Traveller's checks---you will get a better rate of exchange using the ATM.

AZ divers

... which may be offset by hefty ATM access fees. I like TC's, myself; the exchange rate diff usually doesn't amount to much unless you're planning to buy a car or real estate. If you use the ATM exclusively, you're either having to go to it daily (and paying an access fee every time), or you're having to carry great wads of cash around.

Additionally, if you cash TC's at a bank (as opposed to in a restaurant or one of the money exchange booths), I'm pretty sure you get the same rate as at an ATM, and there's no fee.
 
ggunn:
... which may be offset by hefty ATM access fees. I like TC's, myself; the exchange rate diff usually doesn't amount to much unless you're planning to buy a car or real estate. If you use the ATM exclusively, you're either having to go to it daily (and paying an access fee every time), or you're having to carry great wads of cash around.

Additionally, if you cash TC's at a bank (as opposed to in a restaurant or one of the money exchange booths), I'm pretty sure you get the same rate as at an ATM, and there's no fee.

I guess it depends on your bank or Credit union and ATM access fees...I know there are transaction fees on the Credit Cards, which is why we did not use them...but none on our ATM/Debit card transactions. We did multiple transactions at different ATM's downtown during our stay the end of April.

Check with your bank about your ATM fees prior to your trip!

AZ Divers
 
alcina:
Ok...we are getting pretty excited about all of this...only 63 days to go!!

We are trying to finalize our budget since we have to deal with changing currency before we leave. Any input on recent costs & more or less budget figures for the following are great (US $$):

2 of us - DH has a healthy appetite. Three meals/day $?
2 of us - DH likes Mexican beer, I prefer Margaritas! I think I have read about $2 - $6/drink, is that about right?
bottled water...not sure if Caribe Blu supplies any? Cost and where to buy if not?
maids - tips per day or at the end?? I have read some bring little gifties - like what?
taxi - tips? amount?
dive crew - again, at the end? each day? how much? I personally prefer to give the tip to the person who I believe deserves it, but don't know the protocol there.
hire car - book ahead of time or when we arrive? where? how much/day more or less?

Can you get $1 and $5 notes in Mexico or do I need to deal with that before we get there?

I suggest you change some dollars into pesos when you get in since it makes a diference. Most people will take the dollar as if was worth 10 pesos when it's actually close to 11.50 pesos per one dollar, which means if you change 200 dollars you will end up with 300 more pesos then if you paid in dollars (since most people like taxi drivers take the exchange rate at 10) which for us meant 10 taxi rides from the Hotel Cozumel into Town since it was $30 pesos or $3 dollars for the fare.

I exchanged dollars into pesos at the Mall where Carlos & Charlies is located, right before you get to Burger King, but I think the super market Chedraui can exchange them aswell.
 

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