Paying for private tours SPB

The tour company we were considering, SPB Tours, only has two options for payment, cash or credit card which comes with a 3% surcharge. We're not too happy about carrying hundreds of dollars in cash as we travel and will not pay a cc surcharge on principal which leaves us wondering how others have handled this situation. If you would advise, we'd be most grateful. ATM's are an option but there are daily limits and again, we would be accumulating cash beyond comfort limits!

The tour company we were considering, SPB Tours, only has two options for payment, cash or credit card which comes with a 3% surcharge. We're not too happy about carrying hundreds of dollars in cash as we travel and will not pay a cc surcharge on principal which leaves us wondering how others have handled this situation. If you would advise, we'd be most grateful. ATM's are an option but there are daily limits and again, we would be accumulating cash beyond comfort limits!

My advice would be to use a tour company that does NOT require a credit card surcharge. JMHO

We used ALLA Tours last summer. Alla does NOT require any credit card surcharge and our tours of both SPB and Berlin were absolutely outstanding.

jill

My DH is a retired banker and is still one of the few who will take travellers cheques on cruises. Our local bank does not charge a fee. We use these only on cruises, and cash them on ships for shore excursions and paying our final bill.

This is not a popular option, but it works for us.

To pay for our tour, we just took the cash out of the ATM at the cruise terminal and handed it over to our guide, so we were never walking around with a bunch of cash. (She did have to convert the USD price to Rubles.)

It also goes against my grain to pay the surcharge but, for me, it's better than carrying the cash. There are fees for using a foreign ATM with my bank card.

I've been able to justify the surcharge, in my own mind, with the fact that I will earn air miles, by using my credit card, towards my next long haul flight! Our business class flights to Europe this year are all through air miles collected.

We brought the cash. I had cash in all sorts of currency for that trip. USD, Euros, and DKK.

We brought cash in an envelope for that tour. Some cc charge a foreign transaction fee as well. We used spb-tours and were very happy.

We brought cash in an envelope for that tour. Some cc charge a foreign transaction fee as well. We used spb-tours and were very happy.

Yes, you are correct...most credit cards do charge a foreign transaction fee. There are many posts on this board about which card(s) do not charge a foreign transaction fee (I think Capitol One may be one which does not charge a fee). The OP stated that the company they are considering is charging a 3% surcharge for use of credit card payment and that she is unwilling, on principle, to pay the surcharge. I am in complete agreement with Mrs. Jones. Paying a 3% surcharge to the tour company AND a foreign transaction fee would be something I would not, on principle, be willing to do. I would choose a private tour company that does not charge a surcharge (there are several out there with excellent reviews both on Cruise Critic & Tripadvisor) or I would use cash. JMHO

jill

We used TJ Travel and also took the correct amount of US cash (good condition bills) in an envelope and received a discount for paying in cash...We were on a private tour with just us and our guide & driver so I had no problem carrying that amount of cash on our 2nd tour day as we met up with Tatiana the owner early...We also had no fees using our Capitol One credit card in larger shops and a supermarket and used US $'s for small purchases to tent market vendors with no problems..Our guide paid for lunches and we just reimbursed her at the end of our 2 day tour so we didn't have to exchange any money..Everything was done to make sure it was easy for us..An amazing tour company..Enjoy this amazing city and all it has to offer..

We used SPB Tours and we also had that same exact question. We didn't like the idea of having that much cash for many parts of our trip, but we also didn't want to pay more for not paying with cash. so we chose to take the cash and use the hotel safes and ship's safe whenever possible. It worked out great. The only time we needed to carry the cash was on the second day of the tour when we had to pay. It was really no big deal. We also used cash to tip our driver and guide.

I know when we toured we were informed that it was more of a discount for using cash instead of a service charge for using a CC. I know, out of the 5 or six families that were on our tour, all paid with cash and no one ever thought it wasn't the right way to go.

As was said, if you are going to use cash, they want fairly new bills that are still crisp.

Cheers

Len

Thanks everyone. Looks like we'll go the cash route. Comparing prices with other companies that don't charge for credit cards I've found that their tours are slightly higher leading me to believe that they simply roll the processing cost into the prices.