Currency Exchange on Insignia

[Bob and Peg]

We will be on the August 3 cruise in the Baltic on Insignia. Since we will be visiting several countries, can anyone tell me whether there will be currency exchange available on the ship? This will be especially important for Russia, since we can't get rubles before we leave home.

 

What currency do Latvia and Estonia use? Do they use Euros? or their own?

[Liv4cruzin]

Both countries have their own currency (Latvian Lat & Estonia Kroon). I don't know if the Euro is widely accepted. Recently, on Regatta the ship had representatives onboard selling local currency for countries that did not use the Euro. Whether they do this everywhere, I don't know. One could purchase Euros at the Reception Desk for a 5% service fee, which was acceptable for buying small amounts. Using an ATM card to purchase local currency is still the most cost effective way to go.

[drwong]

When we visted St Petersburg and the Baltic States aboard the Insignia, we didn't find a single merchant who refused to take US dollars or Euros. And most of the merchandise at the tourist-oriented stalls was priced in Euros and Dollars ($6 USD/5 Euros, $10D/8E, and so on) anyways.

 

It was only when we went off the beaten track that we found items priced in the local currencies, but make sure you go to www.oanda.com before you leave and print out the conversion rates for the various currencies so you don't get swindled by a slick merchant and his calculator!

[kadsd]

Drwong.

That oanda website is the best!! I plan to take several "cheat sheets" with on our cruise.

Kathy

[drwong]

Oanda really came in handy on our Baltic cruise - of all the countries, only Finland(!) was on the Euro. Norway, Sweden, Estonia, Russia, Denmark, and the UK all had their own currencies. Having the cheat sheets didn't give us any negotiating leverage with the merchants, but it certainly let us know we were paying a lot of money - Scandanavia has a very high cost of living!!! :D

 

I'm printing cheat sheets tonight for the Black Sea cruise - only Greece is on the Euro. The rest - Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, and Rumania all have their own currencies. But as we found out in Russia, they'd rather take dollars and Euros than rubles anyways.

[mike35]

We were in Tallinn, Estonia, last year. VERY few shops took anything but the Kroon and credit cards, and none of them wanted the American dollar. One shop in the main part of town agreed, after much discussion, to take Euros or credit cards, but emphatically refused to take US dollars.

 

Mike

[LHT28]

We were in Tallinn, Estonia, last year. VERY few shops took anything but the Kroon and credit cards, and none of them wanted the American dollar. One shop in the main part of town agreed, after much discussion, to take Euros or credit cards, but emphatically refused to take US dollars.

 

Mike

 

Yes we found the same problem ..DH had to go to the Money exchange near Mac Donalds to get Kroons.