Should I get Pesos in Cancun? Or wait till Cozumel?

[deepsea21]

Not to highjack the thread, re: Canadians and currency, what is the service charge to withdraw from an ATM.
Should I bring pesos or just withdraw as much as I require.

It's hardly worth worrying about... The fee is fixed regardless of how many pesos you withdraw. Looking back at our December trip... the fee was $1.52 USD per withdraw in Pesos using our Schwab Debit Card. If I recall, when we withdrew Pesos form the ATM the ATM tells you "A $31.50 transaction fee (in pesos) will be charged... Do you wish to proceed?". or something like that. When you insert your card it asks English/Spanish and then USD or Local MX Currency. We select English and Local MX Currency so the $31.50 fee quoted is in Pesos and we are withdrawing Pesos.

 

[deepsea21]

Chalk up sub-optimal exchange rates and "gringo" prices to the overhead costs of having an enjoyable, less stressful vacation.

I couldn't agree more Lorenzoid which is why we ALWAYS fly direct to CZM instead of CUN. Yes, it costs more but the convenience is worth it to us.

With regard to withdrawing Pesos, I say withdraw the maximum you can if you're staying a week as you'll burn through them much faster than you think. I think the maximum withdraw at the one ATM machine I used at the MEGA was 6500 or 7000 pesos or something. That seems like a lot of Pesos but when it was 20:1 that was about $325! When you're carrying a big wad of Pesos it seems like you have far more than you really do as they go FAST and when you start leaving tips here and there the 20's, 50's and 100's all just vanish. You're almost always left with just 200's and 500's scrounging around for smaller denominations to tip elsewhere. I'm actually tempted on our next trip to bring $100 USD in $1 bills so we always have some smaller denomination currency to tip here and there because, as I said, the small peso denominations just seem to vanish and it's not cool to ask for change when you just want to tip someone!

 

[Lorenzoid]

I couldn't agree more Lorenzoid which is why we ALWAYS fly direct to CZM instead of CUN. Yes, it costs more but the convenience is worth it to us.

Funny--my wife and I, being sorta thrifty, did the bag drag for our first couple of trips. Last trip we flew directly to CZM on airmiles. Now we're spoiled. Not sure if we will let ourselves pay the price of convenience next time.

 

[ggunn]

I couldn't agree more Lorenzoid which is why we ALWAYS fly direct to CZM instead of CUN. Yes, it costs more but the convenience is worth it to us.

Agreed. We did the bag drag a couple of times. We saved some money but in the grand scheme of things it really wasn't worth it, especially on the return trip.

 

[deepsea21]

Funny--my wife and I, being sorta thrifty, did the bag drag for our first couple of trips. Last trip we flew directly to CZM on airmiles. Now we're spoiled. Not sure if we will let ourselves pay the price of convenience next time.

There are sooo many other places to save money when at home... Sacrifice a few of those pricey dinners out and put a few steaks on the grill at home instead (Grab a 6-pack of Sol beer and a lime to enjoy as well) and have a great meal at home while telling yourselves the $ you're saving by not going out is gonna eliminate that lousy bag drag and you'll spend it flying direct to CZM. It's an easy decision when ya look at it that way. I'd much rather eat a few steaks off my grill at home and fly direct to CZM than have those dinners out and look to save on airfare flying into CUN.

Oh, both our cars were fully paid for years and years ago. 2002 and a 2005 with about 140K on each. They may not look so great anymore but new cars would = $1,000+ per month in car payments! Who needs that??? I enjoy travel and dive time far more than I care about a new car every 3-5 years!

 

[Streydog]

My Uber driver wasn't real thrilled getting tipped in Peso's when I got back last trip, it was that or nothing. I told him to sell then to the next passengers he had going to Mexico!