Florins or US dollars?

[JohnG]

Originally Posted by Andrea J.

. . . respectfully i disagree.
but if you feel paying in florens is appropriate for you, than who am i to disagree . . .

Disagreements are always welcome in thoughtful discussion

I wasn't trying to be critical, it was just something that I had been thinking about for a while.

[Andrea J.]

:-) and i have been misspelling FLORINS (florens) for HOW long now?

either way, FLORINS or US $, aruba WILL take your money gladly.

[corona]

Originally Posted by JohnG

I figured bringing my observations and comments of this old thread back to life was more appropriate than starting a new one . . .

I see posts where people seem to be picking using dollars over florins while in Aruba and I was curious as to why that is? Can you imagine if someone visiting the US from China tried to pay their dinner bill at Texas Roadhouse with yuan? YIKES talk about an international incident

I would think that if you are travelling in a foreign country, no matter how culture-centric to that particular visitor it might be, that using that country's currency whenever possible would be the appropriate thing to do (plus in all our travels over the years, I've always believed using foreign currency was always part of the adventure).

A caveat to my rambling is that the Aruban casinos almost always deal in US dollars (I believe this is primarily because all the slot machines are setup to accept US dollars so it's easier just to standardize on that currency) so that is the major exception.

I realize that the Aruban economy depends alot on US dollars and that they go out of their way sometimes to accept them but it certainly isn't difficult to get florins before you travel from most banks (of course there is a minimal service fee) and you can certainly get florins from Aruban ATM machines so I say when in Aruba, use florins when you can ! ! !

John, I never thought about using florins since USD's are so widely accepted. I was wondering if you've ever had a retailer thank you or comment that they appreciate you using florins rather than USD. I generally only use cash for purchases under $10 and taxi's, and I use my CC for everything else (so, mostly CC ).

[Arubalisa]

I have been giving this some thought through out the day and wonder how the accumulation of US dollars on the island assists or affects the balance of payments for imports, if at all.