Quote:
Originally Posted by Tingum
Yes! For a while the lovely First Caribbean Bank had programmed their ATM to eat foreign cards! Dealing with any Bahamian bank is an experience, to say the least!
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First Caribbean is wholly owned by CIBC, a Canadian bank. But if you're a loyal CIBC customer, don't expect any benefits or a break on the rates. The other common banks are Scotiabank and Royal Bank, also Canadian - I understand they are somewhat nicer to their Canadian customers. All of these will tack a fairly sizeable transaction fee onto any withdrawals, and usually have a low limit, $3-400 iirc. We much preferred the BOB (Bank of Bahamas) - no withdrawal limit, and no transaction fee from them; still had the transaction fee from my home bank. Only downside was $B only. The others generally offer $US withdrawals from their ATMs. The only other bank we saw was Commonwealth bank, but their ATMs did not accept any other cards.
Didn't use CC often - only at marina, higher end restaurants and maybe the liquor stores, and don't
recall them adding a surcharge. Kept a couple hidden stashes of cash on board, including a few hundred in the ditch bag. It's true that the networks will "go down" frequently, but only needed to access the
emergency cash once -
power outage on Providence on Friday, and even when
power came back, the ATMs at all the banks stayed down all weekend, as no-one comes in to reset them - it's a Bahamas thing, so roll with it.
Don't need a stupid amount of cash with you, just enough to cover you for any eventualities. Just about anywhere you can spend
money, there is an ATM not far. If you want to carry a stash of anything, make it
beer, or paper towels and TP.