I've never had trouble with either using a VISA or Mastercard, it's good to have both. But more important is figuring our whether or not the issueing card's bank charges a fee. I know for sure that MBNA and some citi and chase cards do. The only major bank i know for sure that doesn't charge a fee is capital one. There are several banks that issue visa and mastercards, that aren't quite as big as the above, but that don't charge a transaction fee for international charges.