One cruise FIVE currencies.....one question

Hello fellow cruisers - I have searched the boards and have not found an answer so thanks for any help.....We are traveling from the US and including departure port we will be dealing with five European currencies. We plan to use credit cards and have an ATM card for emergencies but know that we will need some cash for tips, incidentals etc. at each port. I also have learned, thanks to these fabulous boards, that we can purchase port currencies on the ship at guest services. Here's the question - if I add money to our onboard account before we leave, may I withdraw and use that to purchase the foreign currencies as we need them? I know the exchange rate isn't so good but I am willing to trade that for convenience. Again - many thanks!

What countries are you visiting?

Where are you going? Been in all of the European countries and have never needed to get currency from the ship. Bank ATMs are readily available and most places welcome US Dollars. Visa is widely accepted, but not AMEX. I only get Euros from bank ATMs.

My experience is same/similar to Orator. Even when I go to Spain or Italy (for a pre-cruise stay), I do not get Euros in advance of the trip.

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Where are you going? Been in all of the European countries and have never needed to get currency from the ship. Bank ATMs are readily available and most places welcome US Dollars. Visa is widely accepted, but not AMEX. I only get Euros from bank ATMs.

My experience is same/similar to Orator. Even when I go to Spain or Italy (for a pre-cruise stay), I do not get Euros in advance of the trip.

 

 

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Same here.

I just returned from a Baltics cruise. I bought some euros and some GBPs, but did not buy rubles, Norweigan krone, or Danish krone. I had no need for the latter three; I used my credit card in those countries and tipped my Russian tour guide in euros, which the company said was acceptable.

We've found that it's hit or miss whether or not the ship will have foreign currency to sell us. Depending on what our excursion plans are, we either purchase currency before leaving home or use ATMs in port for local currency. If you're planning to use ATMs, be sure to check with your bank to be sure your card will work and what will be the best ATM to use for lowest fees.

The ship does not necessarily have the currency for the ports it visits. I know they did not carry any rubles because we asked. We also needed several different currencies for the Baltic cruise we took last year. You can pay for many things with a credit card, but the tours we took wanted cash on the day. Most of the tours in the Baltic will accept euros but we wanted to pay for and tip in their local currency.

We ordered all of our money from our bank a few weeks before our trip. It was good that we did as we could not find anywhere that we could get rubles. Not at Ohare or at Schipol Airport in Amsterdam. The only problem in getting rubles at the bank is that you can't choose your denominations and they send what they have. We ended up with large denominations which we want to break into smaller bills but weren't able to do that until we got to Russia.

Also, worry wart that I am, I didn't want to use an ATM machine in Russia.

Do not get currency from the ship, if they even have it as the rates are terrible. Our tour company in St Petersburg accepted a credit card and for incidentals our guide paid and we reimbursed her in USD. I will say that there were only 4 of us on the tour so she was not out of pocket for incidentals for 12-16 people.

We found that a credit card worked for most everything

Excellent, excellent information. We don't use ATMs at home so abroad isn't a first choice either. UK car service should be tipped in British pounds so will at least try to get some before we leave. It's mostly tipping - always so grateful for good service.

Excellent, excellent information. We don't use ATMs at home so abroad isn't a first choice either. UK car service should be tipped in British pounds so will at least try to get some before we leave. It's mostly tipping - always so grateful for good service.

The reality is that ATMs are where you always get the best rates (they use wholesale rates of exchange). Here in the US we have many ATM and credit cards that assess no extra fees. If you want to live in the last century you are going to pay the price. I should add that some of the Northern European countries (especially Finland and Sweden) now encourage everyone to use less cash and rely on credit cards. In Finland many folks do not even bother to carry cash and rely on their credit/debit cards for everything from a simple cup of coffee to using local transportation. One museum we visited in Helsinki still had the old fashioned lockers (for purses and packs) that needed a coin to be locked. Since few (including Finns) had coins they actually gave out free coins (to be returned) so that folks could use the lockers :).

Hank

More great info - thanks, Hank.

For a Baltic cruise take Dollar and Euro (but I´d use an ATM for that). No crowns of any country needed as Denmark, Norway or Sweden accept credit cards even for small amounts. Sweden recently thought about getting rid of cash anyway. Finland is Euro as well as Estonia (Tallinn). No need to get Rubles for Russia as all souvenir shops accept Dollar, Euro or British Pounds. With organzised tours you hardly have a chance to spend money anyway in Russia. Even on the Market & Metro Tour folks paid with credit card in the market. The souvenir market they brought us did accept every money.

I only got Rubles for our river cruise from St. Petersburg to Moscow. But then I had to get a visa too.

steamboats

In 2015 I got € for our Baltic cruise and used my credit card for everything else.

This year (11 days time) I will also use my credit card in Sweden for a bus from the port to the ABBA museum. I have read on the Northern European boards that they only use credit card not cash.

Excellent, excellent information. We don't use ATMs at home so abroad isn't a first choice either. UK car service should be tipped in British pounds so will at least try to get some before we leave. It's mostly tipping - always so grateful for good service.

You don't use ATM's ever? No debit card with your bank?

You don't use ATM's ever? No debit card with your bank?

I won't use an ATM either! I also never hand over my card for a payment unless I can see the transaction in front of me.

On my many cruises to non-dollar countries, I always obtain the local currency because

a) I like to use some of the left-over notes/coins in my photo albums

b) I like to tip in the local currency. I have been a tour guide in the past and yes, tips are tips ----but I much prefered to receive GB£. Go to the Valley of the Kings in Egypt: the locals have plenty of change in pounds and dollars; however, they can't use the money because the banks won't accept coins.

c) I watched an American pay $16 for a can of fizzy orange near Port Said, Egypt... I had the local money and paid about 30 cents.

Each to their own, I guess!

in 2016 we did a B2B2B starting in Ft Lauderdale, did transatlantic, Norway and then Baltic cruise for 34 nights. I went on line with my bank and ordered local currency for all countries we were stopping in. I looked at the stops and we figured out what we were going to do, so if we had a planned excursion with the ship, we only needed tipping money, for the stops we were planning to use the hop on hop off bus, we had more, so that we could pay in local currency. I remember when we were in Oslo we went into a coffee shop, and only local currency or credit cards were allowed, anyone with euros could not buy. At the end of the cruise, we gave extra tips to our room steward and he got all the left over monies.

Hello fellow cruisers - I have searched the boards and have not found an answer so thanks for any help.....We are traveling from the US and including departure port we will be dealing with five European currencies. We plan to use credit cards and have an ATM card for emergencies but know that we will need some cash for tips, incidentals etc. at each port. I also have learned, thanks to these fabulous boards, that we can purchase port currencies on the ship at guest services. Here's the question - if I add money to our onboard account before we leave, may I withdraw and use that to purchase the foreign currencies as we need them? I know the exchange rate isn't so good but I am willing to trade that for convenience. Again - many thanks!

Euros work in almost all of Europe, only ever had problems in Croatia where some of the cafes want their own local currency.

If you are doing private tours, I often ask ahead of time if the guide would be able to stop at an ATM at the end of the tour. If there is shopping involved I ask if they will stop before the shopping. There has never been a problem doing this. I know the OP doesn’t use ATMs, but others may like to do it this way sometime.

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GBP for the UK & N Ireland, Jersey and Guernsey, and Euros for the rest. I get the impression that the Russians like Dollars more than Euros, but I doubt they would refuse either.

We are going on a Baltic cruise and I plan to get a few (100) Euros and some Dollars (mainly for tips on board). I will also have two credit cards from different providers and a debit card for ATMs should the need arise. I don't gamble, so any left-over Dollars will be used to pay off our account at the end.

Note that if you use a CC for any significant purchase, make sure that you pay in local currency and let the CC issuer do the exchange.

I just returned from a Baltics cruise. I bought some euros and some GBPs, but did not buy rubles, Norweigan krone, or Danish krone. I had no need for the latter three; I used my credit card in those countries and tipped my Russian tour guide in euros, which the company said was acceptable.

This is exactly what I did during my Baltics cruise! I brought Euros because everyone takes them and I used my Visa card, which has no fees, everywhere. If I needed more Euros, I hit up the ATM machine which has a great rate.

You may need to be cautious about the type of pounds you receive as change in Guernsey & Jersey, as they have local currencies that may not be well-received by shops in the UK.

We usually leave the us with exactly zero in foreign currency on hand. ATMs offer the best exchange, and Visa without a foreign transaction fee is used as much as possible, definitely in the local currency as Bob mentioned above.

Local banks and post offices are often good options for exchanging currency if necessary.

Anyone with currency exchange suggestions for travel to Japan, Shanghai, Singapore, Vietnam?

Euros work in almost all of Europe, only ever had problems in Croatia where some of the cafes want their own local currency.

In Dubrovnik you have to pay to use public toilets and they won’t let you in unless you pay in local currency. We only had euros. Not a happy situation.

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Anyone with currency exchange suggestions for travel to Japan, Shanghai, Singapore, Vietnam?

Can’t help with the first 2 but when we visited Singapore and Vietnam we ordered currency from the bank before we left home. I should add that on the same cruise we also needed money for Indonesia, Malaysia and Hong Kong. I put each type of currency into an envelope with the type of cash written on the outside along with the dates we would be using it. At the end of the cruise I just gave all the leftover money to our cabin attendant.

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