USA travel money.

You need to let your bank know where you'll be. Otherwise, for security, they can stop your card and their fraud dept. will try to contact you at home!

Of course, Hetty, we will go in to the bank and advise them of our travel arrangements. DH is very good about that.

We do a fair bit of travelling and always use existing cards - mostly debit one. Ours is Visa debit. Use for paying for things directly and also withdrawing money. Depending on country, it sometimes works out cheaper to withdraw a reasonable amount at a time then pay for things in cash, as there may be charges involved. Best to check with bank anyway.

I think you need to use a combination of credit card and dollars. I have always used money to pay for meals as there is a risk that the credit card could be cloned if out of your sight. Any other purchases have been by credit card, but ask for the transaction to be in dollars as there will be a better exchange rate. Make sure you have some 1 dollar bills as these will be needed for tipping.
When on the Queen Mary you will need to register either your credit or debit card, as this is what it used for all transactions instead of cash.

I have a son living in USA so have been a number of times. We use our normal credit card as we have one which does not charge commission on foreign use. When I was talking to a man in the bank before one of our trips and mentioned using a debit card he nearly had a fit and said that was the riskiest thing to do as that is the card which could be used to access all your money. He said it was far better to pay any charges on a credit card for taking out cash.
I normally get a fair amount of dollars before leaving U.K. and use it anywhere necessary - normally for small purchases and of course DGS are always pleased with any extra pocket money.
My advice would be to buy dollars if the exchange rate gets more advantageous for a while and if you do not have one get yourself sorted with a credit card which does not charge for foreign use. I keep an eye on our account on line and can pay the bill should the payment date come up.

Try a Caxton pre-loaded credit card. We have family all over the world and it’s cheaper and safer than using your own credit card.

We opened an online account with Starling Bank just for travel. You get a debit card with no charges for use abroad (unless an ATM charges for cash withdrawals) and excellent exchange rates. No need to advise them on travel arrangements either as you are notified on every spend and can stop card immediately.
A little bit of cash is always necessary but it is far more unsafe to carry lots of cash than to worry about card cloning.

When we visit our son in America we take some dollars and use a credit card for bigger purchases.

On a recent trip to Australia we used Aus $ and a Post Office money card. It was very simple to do. You load money onto it and use it like a debit card.

The benefit of the PO card for us is that any money left on it can then be converted to US$ without first having to be changed into sterling and then dollars.

Always pay in local currency , too, to save on exchange rate charges.

Thank you everyone. It's a long time until December, but we want to start saving now. You've given me plenty to think about, I think a pre loaded money card might be a goo idea. I'm going to talk it all over with DH when he comes back from work.
Thanks again.

I travel to the USA most years to visit family.

I take a combination of cash (dollars), a pre-loaded Sainsburys Cash Passport, a credit card which doesn't charge any currency exchange fees and my own debit card.

The pre-loaded card is great as once you've run out you can easily top it up using online banking.