Why International Fee Free Credit card for international travel?

[PLANT]

Had 28 degrees card.
Family member now on allocated pension.
Have Citi premier, cba credit card, Ubank debit, Citi/Nab debit card.

If travelling and on cruises why would they need international fee free credit card as pay cash or use fee free debit card for payments?

I only remember car hire holding fee on credit card.... what are the purchases and benefits over debit card?

 

[Chicken]

I only remember car hire holding fee on credit card.... what are the purchases and benefits over debit card?

Hotel deposits
When the card is compromised and takes however many months to investigate and wait for reversal, it is the bank's money which is compromised, not your own cash / cash flow which is compromised.

 

[Seat0B]

Depending on what you want to do, some places will not accept debit cards (presumably as they can't tell if you have enough actual money deposited to the card to cover your expenses). Recent examples I have personally had for this was registering for road tolls in Portugal, and paying for long distance bus tickets in Japan. Both times, debit card declined but credit card worked.

Plus, as mentioned by @Chicken and OP, sometimes those deposits taken by car rentals and hotels take a long time to clear once you check out, leaving you without access to your cash. This may not be a problem if you have plenty of excess cash on your debit card. But probably easier to have a credit card as well for the odd occasion when you don't want to or can't use your debit card.

 

[Seat0B]

Of course, one advantage of credit card, that I forgot to say, is you will likely earn FF points on your credit card spend, which may be quite significant on a long trip. You won't earn FF points using a debit card, at least none that I know of.

We have a Macquarie Debit card which is really excellent - uses an exchange rate that is all but identical to the "official rate" you hear on news bulletins and absolutely no fees at all. Also have a U Bank one with the same benefits. We prefer Macquarie because that's where our other accounts are, so it's easy for us to top up the card as we travel to avoid issues of having a big balance on the card in case it is lost, stolen or eaten by an ATM. Plus their app is virtually instantaneous notifying us of the exact converted amount spent.

Also, I'm sure you know this, but always select to pay in local currency over AUD if offered a choice (in some places it just defaulted directly to local currency) as this is a significantly better rate in your favour.

 

[RB001]

Of course, one advantage of credit card, that I forgot to say, is you will likely earn FF points on your credit card spend, which may be quite significant on a long trip. You won't earn FF points using a debit card, at least none that I know of.

The Bankwest Qantas Transaction Account appears to be the only "general public" option (for QFF). The earn is miniscule, but not zero!