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Money for Baltic Cruise


Kansas Gal
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We have booked a Baltic cruise for next June and I am wondering if we will need the different currencies for each country. We no longer buy a lot of souvenirs so it would mainly be if we would be buying a meal, which of course wouldn't be for every port. Also for St. Petersburg, we probably wouldn't need any unless they charge for toilets as we have found in some European countries.

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We took about $20 in each currency, used it mostly for ice cream. If you buy a meal, a credit card will work better. In St. Petersburg the guide took us to places with free restrooms. Note that they were either in museums or shops.

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You will probably need a variety of currencies for a Baltic cruise.

 

Denmark - Danish krone

Sweden - Swedish krona

Norway - Norwegian krone

(Note: All of the above currencies are different despite the similarity in names.)

Russia - Rouble (but U.S. dollars and Euros were widely accepted in SPB)

Germany, Finland and Estonia - Euro

 

Some people like to buy currency before a trip such as this, but it can be a costly endeavor depending on your bank and the amount of foreign currency you are buying. We found it easy (and cost-effective) to just get money from an ATM in each country we visited.

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We have booked a Baltic cruise for next June and I am wondering if we will need the different currencies for each country. We no longer buy a lot of souvenirs so it would mainly be if we would be buying a meal, which of course wouldn't be for every port. Also for St. Petersburg, we probably wouldn't need any unless they charge for toilets as we have found in some European countries.

 

Over the years, we've found that we've been able to use our credit card in more and more places traveling in Europe. As a result, we rarely get country-specific currencies for one-day port calls. We always have plenty of Euro and GBP with us and, since we have a cash-only problem so rarely, we're prepared to use them and pay any surcharge the merchant/restaurant may require for using the "wrong" currency.

 

This may not be the system that makes you comfortable, but I can't recall having any issues. That said, my husband and I tend not to take the subway or buses on one-day port calls. We either walk or take a taxi. I'm happy to report that an increasing large percentage of taxis in Europe carry devices for charge cards.

 

If I'm staying overnight in a country pre- or post-cruise, I get the official currency, although typically never more than the equivalent of $20. As I'm leaving the country, I look for the charity drop boxes in the port or in the airport and deposit any unspent currency. (I always bring home unspent Euro and GBP.)

 

You specifically mention the possibility of buying a meal in port. I'm don't recall eating a single meal during our Baltic cruise where I've had to use cash. I just did a search on Den Okologiske Polsemand , the fabulous hot dog stand located near the Round Tower in Copenhagen (also known as DOP). I thought if any place would require cash, a street food place would.

 

Checking the web site and reading a few of the reviews on Trip Advisor, I don't see any mention of cash only. Out of curiosity, I put did a search of Trip Advisor using the key words "Cash only" in the restaurant listing for Copenhagen. About six names came up. The first restaurant was an Italian restaurant that was rated #15. The remaining names were rated starting in the 200s. Oddly, I read a couple of reviews for some of those places and not a single review mentioned cash only so I have no idea why they came up in the search.

 

St Petersburg is a unique situation. If you'll be touring with a private guide, chances are your guide will either take you to wash rooms where there are no charges or will be able to help you by providing rubles if there are charges. (You can always settle up later in the tipping process when you'll likely be using US dollars.)

 

If you're still inclined to get money in each currency, the equivalent of $20 ought to work.

Edited by Pet Nit Noy
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This question is asked here time and time again.

 

We always have a supply of Euros, so took those with us on our Baltic cruise, but never needed to use them. We paid for everything by CC, including our bus ticket at the machine at the bus stop in Stockholm.

 

Make sure you have a CC that makes no charges for foreign transactions.

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We got rubles on the ship, and used them at gift shops and for lunch. We could have used CC's. I needed Swedish Krona for a public restroom. I used Danish Krona for a hotdog stand. We got the Krona from ATM's each time, small amounts. Every other place and circumstance, credit cards worked just fine, including the street vendor selling crepes in Copenhagen.

 

The days of needed lots of cash in each currency are dwindling.

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We definitely feel more comfortable with some local jingle in our pockets.

 

There seems to be consensus on this thread that $20-worth of each per port-of-call day is about right - we tend to go for about $40-worth between the two of us, not sure if that's the same thing. That's without taking tours, but we do use local public transport.

 

We take more euros as a reserve - they're a second currency for cafes, bars & tourist outlets in the non-Euro ports, far more widely accepted than USD or GBP - except in St Pete's where euros and USD are equally acceptable / unacceptable. Not best value, but useful as a reserve - and better to go home with euros than with country-specific currencies.

 

We certainly agree with the other comments about the use of plastic, and if you have a card which doesn't charge a foreign-transaction fee it gives you much better value & flexibility than foreign cash, and better value than even buying local currency. But if your card/s do charge foreign-transaction fees, do check out those fees - there's usually a minimum fee, which makes for an expensive beer or coffee.

 

Take just enough roubles to pay the guide's tip, that ensures you don't go home with left-over roubles.. Street traders & stalls in St Pete's usually don't accept plastic, & there are plenty of places that accept neither plastic nor foreign cash. For example, the restaurants we were taken to for lunch - the meals were included in the tour price, but if we wanted to wash them down with a beer instead of water we needed those roubles. At the end of the tour, use left-over roubles to pay the tip, making up any shortfall in Euros or USD.

 

JB :)

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There have been articles that Sweden for sure and somewhat less so Denmark are becoming no cash societies. Want a coffee in Stockholm? Credit card please. There's some thought Sweden will no longer be printing currency. Denmark, like I said, is not there yet. At the Wasa Museum, customers are given coins for the checking lockers and I presume toilets are free. St. Petersburg as noted is a completely different situation if you are on an arranged tour; you will not need Russian currency most likely except perhaps at the included lunches in a restaurant if you want anything to drink. Souvenir shops, a left over from the Soviet era, want western currency (USD, Euro, GBP (at least in the past before Brexit)). Other places on most Baltic cruises are in euroland and ATM's will be readilly available.

Edited by MATHA531
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There have been articles that Sweden for sure and somewhat less so Denmark are becoming no cash societies. Want a coffee in Stockholm? Credit card please. There's some thought Sweden will no longer be printing currency. Denmark, like I said, is not there yet. At the Wasa Museum, customers are given coins for the checking lockers and I presume toilets are free. St. Petersburg as noted is a completely different situation if you are on an arranged tour; you will not need Russian currency most likely except perhaps at the included lunches in a restaurant if you want anything to drink. Souvenir shops, a left over from the Soviet era, want western currency (USD, Euro, GBP (at least in the past before Brexit)). Other places on most Baltic cruises are in euroland and ATM's will be readilly available.

 

We always have a small amount of local shrapnel - for buying a transit ticket or pass, maybe a coffee, public conveniences, etc... I'd agree though that from our experience of Stockholm, plastic is the preferred method of payment - this isn't to say that cash is frowned upon or not accepted - but even using public transport plastic was the way to go (we finally blew our Krone in a cafe). Everywhere else (Denmark, Norway, Germany, Estonia) we used a mixture of local currency and CC. St Petersburg is a strange beast - we paid for our tour in crisp large denomination dollar bills and our lunch in Rubles.

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We were in Stockholm, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Tallin, Berlin & St. Petersburg (and Moscow pre-cruise) this past summer. We did get Rubles in Moscow & St. Petersburg from ATMs, but had no problem using cards for most meals, etc. We had Euros from a previous visit (and got more from ATMs) and used those to pay our tour guide in Berlin. Didn't really need them in Helsinki & Tallin (used credit cards). We had no Danish or Swedish currency and didn't bother getting any. Everyone (even ice cream vendors) take credit cards. Sweden is basically going cashless via mobile phones and credit cards.

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  • 3 weeks later...

We went to the Baltic a few years ago and only took some euros. I did have to exchange a small amount of money in Poland (zloty) to take a local train from Gdynia to Gdansk and then a tram, but otherwise we did fine without. I usually plan what I want to do and unless I'll be taking a local bus, I don't worry much about local money. I imagine things have only gotten better in the Baltic in terms of credit card acceptance and ATM availability since we were there.

 

The Baltic is a great place to visit, but the variety of money (and the frequent time changes) made our heads spin. I decided I was NOT going to get zloty, rubles, Latvian lats, kroner from 2 countries, and euros. It worked out fine.

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We got rubles on the ship, and used them at gift shops and for lunch. We could have used CC's. I needed Swedish Krona for a public restroom. I used Danish Krona for a hotdog stand. We got the Krona from ATM's each time, small amounts. Every other place and circumstance, credit cards worked just fine, including the street vendor selling crepes in Copenhagen.

 

The days of needed lots of cash in each currency are dwindling.

 

Can you get all currencies on board ship? Seems more easy if you only need a few "dollars".

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If you don't mind being extorted...

 

That kinda sums it up nicely

For any cruise line.

Though if your home currency & ship's currency are both the same, I guess that ship's exchange rate is about the same as your home bank's rate for selling euros plus the Danish / Swedish cafe / bar's rate for accepting euros.

(did you understand what I just said - cos I'm not sure that even I did

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That kinda sums it up nicely

For any cruise line.

Though if your home currency & ship's currency are both the same, I guess that ship's exchange rate is about the same as your home bank's rate for selling euros plus the Danish / Swedish cafe / bar's rate for accepting euros.

(did you understand what I just said - cos I'm not sure that even I did

 

Well you confused me!! Love your Quote at the end. So true!

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Well you confused me!! Love your Quote at the end. So true!

 

Yep, confused myself too :rolleyes:

That's why I edited it out. :D

 

But just to confuse you more............ if you're on a US ship & change CAD to kroner I think you get a double-dose of rotten exchange rates - CAD to USD to kroner.

And if you change CAD to euros on the ship, and use those euros in Sweden or Denmark, you might get a triple dose of rotten exchange rates.

 

Got to go now, nurse is telling me to get back to bed :D

 

JB :)

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Yep, confused myself too :rolleyes:

That's why I edited it out. :D

 

But just to confuse you more............ if you're on a US ship & change CAD to kroner I think you get a double-dose of rotten exchange rates - CAD to USD to kroner.

And if you change CAD to euros on the ship, and use those euros in Sweden or Denmark, you might get a triple dose of rotten exchange rates.

 

Got to go now, nurse is telling me to get back to bed :D

 

JB :)

 

Thanks so much for all the info. Good things to know!

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  • 2 months later...
I hear that in Europe, they prefer a CC with a chip & code. I have CCs with chips but no codes. Will I be able to use those cards?

 

The short answer is "yes." What the European merchants/banks prefer and what they have learned to accept from American visitors are two different things. Rarely, you'll find a merchant who will not accept the American Chip & Swipe Card, but you'll be successful most of the time.

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I hear that in Europe, they prefer a CC with a chip & code. I have CCs with chips but no codes. Will I be able to use those cards?

 

 

The overwhelming majority of the time the answer is yes, your card will work. Every so often, you will come across an unattended kiosk type set up where the card will not be accepted. Such places are few and far between but exist. If it's any consolation, it is against visa and mc policy not to accept a valid card lacking ability to use a pin but there's nothing one can do about such things but again it's very rare these days.

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I hear that in Europe, they prefer a CC with a chip & code. I have CCs with chips but no codes. Will I be able to use those cards?

 

Generally any bank that issues you a credit card with a chip in it will also issue you a PIN code. They intend it for use in ATMs for cash advances, but the same PIN works fine for credit transactions internationally. You just need to contact your bank to request one, and then you won't have to worry about whether you can use your card.

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Generally any bank that issues you a credit card with a chip in it will also issue you a PIN code. They intend it for use in ATMs for cash advances, but the same PIN works fine for credit transactions internationally. You just need to contact your bank to request one, and then you won't have to worry about whether you can use your card.

 

Not quite true. Yes your bank will almost always issue you a pin upon request. In many if not most cases, that pin will only be asked for when trying to make a cash advance either at an ATM or perhaps in a bank branch which in general although not always is not a good idea.

 

However, with most USA issued credit cards for purchases, the pin will be worthless. The terminal, based on the programming of the chip for what is called the card verification method (cvm) will not ask for a pin or recognize a pin. It can get somewhat more complicated than that as there indeed are different kinds of pins which it is not worth going through here. In general, almost all USA issued credit card today will have emv chips but will be what the industry calls signature preferred. A few of these, very few, may have pin capabilities for kiosks and things like that but according to current mc/visa rules, it is not within the agreement not to honor a valid card just because it lacks pins for cvm's for purchases. While one might run into a few kiosks which will insist on a pin, these are few and far between.

 

But if it makes you feel better to have a pin, by all means ask your bank. In almost all cases, it will never be requested.

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