Currency in Northern Europe

[runboy]

What is acceptable currency in Oslo, Copenhagen and St Petersburg?

 

Is the Euro widely accepted in Oslo and Copenhagen, the dollar in St Petersburg?

 

Off there later this year and not sure what to take!

 

Thanks.

[cberge]

What is acceptable currency in Oslo, Copenhagen and St Petersburg?

 

Is the Euro widely accepted in Oslo and Copenhagen, the dollar in St Petersburg?

 

Off there later this year and not sure what to take!

 

Thanks.

 

The Euro is not accepted in Denmark or Norway as far as I know..it is the Krone.Can't answer for St.Petersburg,but I think either the dollar,Euro or Ruble is accepted.I am sure you will get a more direct reply.

[LHT28]

Copenhagen is Danish Krone DKK

Oslo is Norwegian Kroner NOK

St Petersberg will take USD in most places but you may need some Rubles which you can buy in Russia sometimes the ship with exchange dollars for you

[PTC]

Go to the Baltics forum here on CC and you'll see many posts about what was accepted and what wasn't. 99% of the passengers reported that the $ and euro were accepted at many places.

We had no problem either when we went.

 

PTC

[runboy]

Thanks for the replies. I asked the question because someone told me the Euro would be accepted in Norway/Denmark, even though it is not their normal currency. I suppose tourist areas may do this.

[spearmint]

Don't forget credit cards. Many posters have given this advice. Many more have suggested using an ATM as the best and cheapest way to get local currency. Check out the boards for currency topics. There is a lot of information . Hope this helps.

[LHT28]

The places we tried in Bergen, Oslo, Copenhagen and Tallin only took local currency.

We did have some Danish Krone with us but had to get money exchanged in Tallin & Norway.

[virgenia]

We had luck with exchanging money on the ship (Constellation) for Norway and Denmark. They do not carry rubles at the ship's bank, so you will have to get them in Russia. Russia will take US$ (new, not wrinkled) and Euros also. The ATM is a good way to go, especially if you have a card like Capital One that does not charge a transaction fee.

[itsjb1]

This was our experience in July 2006. Most of the stores that cater to tourists took US Dollars or Euros, but not at the best exchange rate. Larger souvenir stores that we went to in St Petersburg had the prices actually listed in Euros(mos often) or US Dollars. Local currency was necessary in some places. For example, we could not buy a soft drink from a cart in the gardens of Peteroff or anything from the cafe in the Hermitage without roubles.

 

We took about $50 to$100 in each local currency so that we would have money for immediate needs, such as a snack or postcard without having to look for an ATM. Not sure about the US but in Canada my bank was able to get me all of the currencies, including Russia, Poland and Estonia.

[Dbedros]

Bank of America in the US was able to get me currency for all of the countries including Russian Rubles for our trip and the exchange rate was reasonable. We will be on the August 23, 2006 sailing of Star Princess. We are doing as itsjb1 did. We got at least $50 in all local currencies and in some cases more such as for Stockholm. In addition we got the desired currency for the Private Tours such as Euros in Gdansk.

[alabama ghost]

No one has mentioned this, but in 2003 we needed coins for bathrooms in many countries in the Baltics. I'll be sure to have some when we go back in September although I'll have to get the change over there since my bank doesn't get coins. Anyone else experienced this?

[Deloresgardella]

When I went to Europe with a tour grop a few years ago we had to have a few coins for the bathrooms. They were all different. Some were over 1 euro some just a couple of coins if they were too high we looked for another. Went to MacDonlds one time and they didn't charge anything but of course we bought something.

[LHT28]

No one has mentioned this, but in 2003 we needed coins for bathrooms in many countries in the Baltics. I'll be sure to have some when we go back in September although I'll have to get the change over there since my bank doesn't get coins. Anyone else experienced this?

 

Yes in Athens & St Petersberg you needed coins for the attendants.

At the Acropolis they had the lady in the doorway handing out toilet tissue for a fee.

She was only giving a few squares to each!;)

[Balliett]

norway, denmark, sweden, russia all have their own currency. ATMs are one way to get some, except, for my bank, not in russia. All big hotels have currency exchange. certainly poor exchange rate on the ships. get a little money shipboard and do better in town. cabs in denmark take credit cards. it is true capital one charges no extra for foreign credit card transactions. It is true many europe countries have pay toilets needing coins, like 5 kroners. some pay toilets in russia have attendants who can make change.

[tclowe]

There is a public restroom at the base of Nyhavn in Copenhagen (near sightseeing canal boat kiosk). They require danish kroner (I think 5 Kroner coin). It was very clean and a female attendant was present to collect the money and keep the restrooms clean. You had to walk down a flight of stairs from the street and was surprised to see a glass door to the ladies' restroom.

 

In St. Petersburg, our great Denrus guide took us to souvenir shops for clean restroom breaks without having to pay for the use of the restroom. I am pretty sure that Denrus or its guides get a commission for any purchases but we are okay with that because the selection and quality was good. It is hard to really shop and bargain in the streets for souvenirs because we were always on the go to the next sightseeing destination. It was a little unnerving have a russian shopgirl trailing your every move in the souvenir store. At the first store, I was walking fast around the store to try to lose the girl "assigned" to me. By the third souvenir stop, I found my "personal shop assistant" very helpful in holding my purchases, explaining the history or use of some the items in the store, and she kept my little girl occupied so I could shop freely.

 

Going back to currency, our ship didn't have Russian currency in the machines. The souvenir shops took USD, Euros, and Roubles and Credit card. Ask because our first souvenir store had prices marked so that a $7 nesting doll was the same whether you paid $7 USD or $7 Euro. Of course, we paid in USD. Our second souvenir store, we saw $8 on a nesting doll and didn't know until at the cash register that the $8 was in Euro and would be more if paid by USD. We went to a dance store to make some purchases and they required roubles. Our guide went to a nearby money exchange store and couldn't change all of our USD because some twenties had a pen mark, were faded or crinkled-looking. They want crispy and clean dollars at the money exchange places.

 

We went to the restroom at the Oliwa Church in Poland with the 8,000 pipe organ and had to pay with a polish coin. Princess also didn't have Polish currency in their ship machines. I was able to get about $50 USD worth of Polish currency ahead of time at our headquarter Bank of America.

[Balliett]

This particular credit card has no fee for foreign transactions. (most do, ask your credit card company) Comparing my credit card bill which came today to my checking account records (ATMs) I find that charging on this card gave me the best exchange rate, by far. (Russia, Denmark, Sweden) ATMs tacked on fees of 2-3%. Yes, ATMs were better than the hotel exchange desk. The ship had the worst exchange rates.