Currency Exchange on ship/terminal?

Hello all! I've never done a European cruise. We will be doing the Baltic Capitals in Aug on the Regal Princess. We will be visiting Copenhagen, Oslo, Warnemunde (Germany) Tallinn, St. Petersburg, Helsinki and Stockholm....so many places and so many different types of currency (do ANY use the Euro?).

I was wondering...I will mostly be using a credit card...but would like to have some small change for tips and small purchases. I have a few questions:

Can I tip tour guides in US$ or do they like local $?

How is the best way to convert my money? Am I able to do this on the ship?

Do the cruise ship terminals provide exchange stations?

Not sure what my options are.

Thank you for any advice! --Michelle

A little reading down the board would reveal many discussions on this topic.

Other than St Petersburg you will not be using USD anywhere. You might not use dollars in St Petersburg if you aren't using a private tour vender.

Otherwise you will be using local currencies. Your local businesses don't take euros, right? Germany uses euros...most Scandinavian countries do not.

Most ships do exchanges, at poor rates, but OK for small amounts. ATMs are almost always the best place to get local currency.

CruserBruce has given you excellent advice.

Use Credit Cards where you can.

Tip in local currency with the exception of Russia where they do like USA currency.

Exchange rates at better in an ATM but at the end of the day if you are not getting much local money don't lose sleep on it. (eg., if you got $300.00 in local money and paid 5% are we are only talking about $15.00.

Keith

You can use USD in St. Petersburg, but from what I have been told (including by a tour operator in St. P regarding tips) the USD bills must be in mint condition, so you may want to go to your bank and request some new bills. This, however, depending on the bank may take a few days.

Copenhagen--Danish krone

Oslo -- Norwegian krone

Warnemuende -- Euro

Tallinn -- Euro

St. Petersburg -- Rubles and US Dollars

Helsinki -- Euro

Stockholm -- Swedish krona

1. Except in St. Petersburg, tip your guides in the local currency. If you tip in U.S. dollars, they have to pay a fee to exchange it to a currency they can use.

2. The best way to convert money is to go to an ATM after getting off the ship. We were in all but one of these ports (Oslo) last summer and had no problem finding ATMs. While the ship may offer currency conversion, the exchange rate is not going to be beneficial to you. You will get a much better exchange rate at an ATM.

3, As you can see, 3 of your ports use the Euro. I recommend getting a bunch of Euros from an ATM at the first port stop that uses Euros and then you don't have to go to an ATM in the other two ports.

4. It is absolutely correct that US dollars must be in good-to-mint condition for use in St. Petersburg. And your tour company will probably say that if you pay cash for your tour/tips, you need to use $10 or $20 bills in--nothing smaller.

As Keith's post, use plastic wherever you can.

The ship will give you the worst possible exchange rates.

But if they change-back unspent money at the same rate (some do), for one-port currencies it's a way of putting plenty of local currency in your pocket without wasting un-spent bills. NB, they'll probably only change-back bills.

Local currency in Warnemunde, Tallinn & Helsinki is the Euro. Well worth getting cash from an ATM at your first Euro port.

In Oslo, Copenhagen & Stockholm you will find vendors who accept Euros but it's better to have local currency, via an ATM or (perhaps) the ship. At a guess the minimum from an ATM would be around $30-worth. All their currencies are called Kroner, but they're all different.

In St Petersburg I'm guessing you'll be taking a visa-free tour (either ship's or an approved local tour operator - see other threads), in which case you'll not need Roubles. We like to have some local currency wherever we go, so we took enough Roubles for the guide's tip - the restaurants for our (included) lunch didn't accept foreign currency or plastic for beers etc so we used some of our Roubles for that, and at the end of the tour we made up the tip short-fall with Euros - a good way to have local cash without having any left0-over.

Shops you'll be taken to, and street traders, accept Euros, some may even price in Euros. Shops you're taken to also accept plastic. I don't know how acceptable USD.

For tips, in all of your ports Euros are much more acceptable than USD.

For tips on the ship, either USD or Euros - a good home for your un-spent Euros.

Remember to tell your card provider about your up-coming trip.

For card purchases, decline any offer to charge your card in USD - your card supplier will convert at a much better rate.

JB :)

Copenhagen--Danish krone

Oslo -- Norwegian krone

Warnemuende -- Euro

Tallinn -- Euro

St. Petersburg -- Rubles and US Dollars

Helsinki -- Euro

Stockholm -- Swedish krona

 

1. Except in St. Petersburg, tip your guides in the local currency. If you tip in U.S. dollars, they have to pay a fee to exchange it to a currency they can use.

 

2. The best way to convert money is to go to an ATM after getting off the ship. We were in all but one of these ports (Oslo) last summer and had no problem finding ATMs. While the ship may offer currency conversion, the exchange rate is not going to be beneficial to you. You will get a much better exchange rate at an ATM.

 

3, As you can see, 3 of your ports use the Euro. I recommend getting a bunch of Euros from an ATM at the first port stop that uses Euros and then you don't have to go to an ATM in the other two ports.

 

4. It is absolutely correct that US dollars must be in good-to-mint condition for use in St. Petersburg. And your tour company will probably say that if you pay cash for your tour/tips, you need to use $10 or $20 bills in--nothing smaller.

Great advice, but I would say the best way, is to have those currencies, before you travel. We exchanged some money before we went as we didn't want to spend time looking for an ATM when we disembarked the ship. I know they are all over the place, but certain ports, like Helsinki, doesn't have one right by the dock. (This may have changed, but they didn't a few years ago when we toured).

I guess I'm a bit anal, in that I like to be prepared in advance.

I also recommend you use a credit card for all necessary purchases. Just find a card with no foreign transaction fees. The average card has a 3% extra fee for using it out of the country but there are many cards, like the CapitalOne card, that has no such fee. I understand it may not amount to much in the grand scheme of things, but at the end of the day all these little fees add up.

Cheers

Len

I grappled with this same question before our Baltics/TA last fall, and in the end it was very easy. I wouldn't bother exchanging any money before going because your bank will add on a fee; just use an ATM when you get there. I opened a Schwab checking account before I went because they do not charge any ATM fees no matter what ATM you use, even the ship's. Before we left I deposited whatever I thought I would need plus a little extra just to be safe, then used that account for cash and didn't have to worry about extra ATM fees anywhere. All the ATMs had an "English" button, so we had no problems using any of them. If I needed a certain currency to pay for a tour, the guide was always more than willing to run us past an ATM. I always told them at the beginning of the day so they could stop where convenient and not have to go out of their way. I also used my no-foreign-transaction-fee CC for store purchases.