Paying with Credit in St Pete

We are using TJ travel for a two day tour while in St. Petersburg in August. They say they take US cash or credit card based on the exchange rate through the Russian national bank. Which is the best way to pay? The tour price is in US dollars. There is no service fee for using a credit card.

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I did a 3 day tour with them in SPB last July/August and paid by credit card. I have a card that carries no fees for using abroad or for withdrawing cash from ATMS worldwide. I can't remember what the actual rate of exchange was now but it was based on the Russian bank rate and actually worked out a little in my favour rather than paying by £ or $. I also used my cc for all souvenirs, drinks etc purchases over the 3 days.

The tour with TJ Tours was really good and the restaurants they took us to for our lunches were excellent. You have a stop at a large souvenir shop were you'll pay your tour fee. The prices for souvenirs aren't too bad at all. Near the cash desk are postcards that you can buy for a dollar (I think they were only $1). They include the postage for you to send home. The shop posts them for you. I sent 3 home to family and they did all arrive!

Our experience with TJ Travel was great. Used a credit card too and if memory serves correct the exchange rate worked in our favor. Used them in May 2016.

We'll be using TJ Tours as well this summer. Did you have any need for rubles? It would be great not to have to exchange money, but are there incidentals that you needed local currency for?

We bought some incidentals at a stop the guide made and used US dollars. On a side note, we had a great time their. One of our favorite ports an TJ was great.

We bought some incidentals at a stop the guide made and used US dollars. On a side note, we had a great time their. One of our favorite ports an TJ was great.

You can use your card in the shops. We also used ours in one of the restaurants we lunched in to buy a couple of Russian beers to take home. We did have about £10 in Rubles but didn't need them

Thanks for the info. I think we'll try to get by with our credit cards.

I think we'll try to get by with our credit cards.

Sounds like a plan. As a reminder - make sure your CCs of choice are either Visa or MasterCard. You'd have a hard time finding a place in SPb that would accept Amex or Diners, for instance.

We also used TJ and there was no problem at all paying by credit card. They tell you what rate they are using that day, and you can double-check if you want (there is free wifi in the tour van). But their prices are high enough that they don't have to resort to cheating you that way :D

I don't see any advantage in using cash: Why risk carrying around several hundred $ (plus they say they only want crisp new bills) if you don't even get a better deal paying that way?

If you have a no-fee credit card, maybe you even earn points by charging stuff to it, it's a no brainer.

For small purchases during your tour, souvenirs etc., all vendors will accept euros and dollars, and they will often round down to the nearest €/$, so it can actually work out cheaper than if you paid in rubles. For larger purchases, you can probably use your credit card, with the usual risks (TJ Travel is a reputable outfit, the same cannot be guaranteed for every other vendor you encounter in St Petersburg).

We also had a great 2 days with TJ Travel...last August. On the 2nd day, when they picked us up in the morning (for a full day of touring) the driver took us to their small office and large gift shop in town. The gift shop was actually quite nice and they gave us free vodka and other goodies (at 9:30 am) while we were waiting for everyone to settle their accounts. At that time we could pay with cash or credit card...and they were able to tell us the approximate current exchange rate. We paid in US Dollars (they will only accept clean bills) rather then use our credit card...but others in our small group (10 people) did use credit cards. We cannot say enough good things about TJ. Personally, I am pretty well known on CC as disliking tours/excursions.....but would book again with TJ in a heartbeat. We talked to others on our cruise who used Alla....and they were also very happy with their tour company.

Hank

TJ Travel says they will accept VISA, MasterCard, and AMEX.

I really don't remember using cash at all on our Baltic cruise. We used our CC for everything, even the smallest purchases, even a bus ticket in Stockholm.

Just received an email from TJ saying that they no longer accept cash other than ruples. They said they would assist with converting your cash into ruples for payment. CC's are the way to go in my opinion.

Just received an email from TJ saying that they no longer accept cash other than ruples. They said they would assist with converting your cash into ruples for payment. CC's are the way to go in my opinion.

Right - only rubles are accepted when paying with cash in Russia. It should be no problem when paying via credit card - I have visited Russia multiple times and use my credit card almost exclusively (no foreign transaction fees on either of my credit cards that I use when traveling, and, bonus, I like the points that I amass to use for future travels). One simply needs to inform their credit card company of plans to visit and pay in Russia, just the same as you would need to do for your other Baltic ports of call.

I always carry an additional credit card in the unlikely event that one of my credit cards is declined (this happened to me in Italy - even though I had notified my CC of plans to visit Italy the card was declined - took only a day to fix the problem but in the interim, I had to use my "back-up" CC).