Advice from those who have cruised to St Petersburg

I'm going next year on NCL and wondering how much I should bring in cash if I'm bringing a cash card? Could you use other currencies or only Rubles? I want to do Christmas shopping while in port and I'm confused on how much to plan for. Plus I know I also have to have Euros, Kroner and Kronas for the other ports. I think I've got those correct.

Thanks in advance!

How much to take? How long is a piece of string? Only you know your budget and what you are prepared to pay. We were there in June. We used Rubles for most things. The bigger souvenir shops and the ones at the port will take US and Euro ask well.

I didn't think anything was particularly good value, very geared for the fixed tourist market. I ended up buying the Russian dolls on the ship as they were cheaper and better quality.

Unless you have a visa you cannot go off and look at other shops. You are pretty much limited to tourist stop shops.

My opinion may be biased, shopping is an after thought to me, I spend my time and money on sights and experiences.

I also bought some beautiful painted gift boxes, very inexpensive but pretty.

I'm going next year on NCL and wondering how much I should bring in cash if I'm bringing a cash card? Could you use other currencies or only Rubles? I want to do Christmas shopping while in port and I'm confused on how much to plan for. Plus I know I also have to have Euros, Kroner and Kronas for the other ports. I think I've got those correct.

 

Thanks in advance!

Take 1000 euros to pay for Approved No-Visa-Required Tours to see nice things and Buy nice things. April 2016 we 2 spent $350/pp for 2 superb Full-day Tours of St.Pete which included excellent meals, Vodka and ALL museum fees etc. Then we spent $300 on some nice Knick-nack souveniers for friends at home. Any less would be asking for a skimpy 2 days in St. Pete. I only exchanged Euros/Dollars for Rubles so the Grandkids could see them. LocoLoco1

Your shopping is going to be limited to the tourist kiosks in the port area, the tourists shop(s) they take you to on your tour, and maybe the gift shops in the museums if your tour guide allows any time for that (but don't count on it). You aren't going to be able to just wander around and browse stores.

Having said that, we didn't bother with exchanging for rubles. All of these shops accept dollars and euros. Although I did not buy much, you should find plenty of Christmas gifts in the port shops and the tourist shop where the tour guide will take you. There were several kiosks in the port area, for example, with Christmas trees loades with ornaments for sale.

You will not need any rubles as dollars and euros will be taken by the vendors you will come into contact with. As to the other countries on your itinerary you should be able to get currencies as needed in port or use credit cards.

Thank you everyone for the great advice and tips. I'm so use to being able to explore a city on my own and just stop and shop. Russia is the first place I've gone where you need a visa. I've only cruised the Caribbean before and past two years my time has been spent in London, Salzburg and through out Germany. I enjoy bringing back gifts from my adventures for my family & friends.

I'm just back from St Petersburg. I took just a small amount of rubles (£20) but I needn't have bothered. The gift shops, restaurants etc all take $ and €, and credit cards too.

I'm going next year on NCL and wondering how much I should bring in cash if I'm bringing a cash card? Could you use other currencies or only Rubles? I want to do Christmas shopping while in port and I'm confused on how much to plan for. Plus I know I also have to have Euros, Kroner and Kronas for the other ports. I think I've got those correct.

 

Thank you everyone for the great advice and tips. I'm so use to being able to explore a city on my own and just stop and shop. Russia is the first place I've gone where you need a visa. I've only cruised the Caribbean before and past two years my time has been spent in London, Salzburg and through out Germany. I enjoy bringing back gifts from my adventures for my family & friends.

 

Currency: We used credit cards everywhere possible(including souveneir kiosks and flea market type purchases) saving Rubles for things like tips and "street purchases" (ice-cream, pretzels, subway). I have a Capital One card that I use only for travel because there's no foreign transaction fee. There are now several other credit cards that have no fee as well. AMEX, Discover and Diner's Club cards are generally not accepted in many countries.

 

You mention needing a Visa....if you're on NCL you should not need one unless you're planning to go off on your own. If you are, and you do, be advised that it will cost about $200+ per person. We needed them because we were on a river cruise that stayed in hotels in Moscow and in St. Petersburg. If getting one on your own, Generations Visa (Genvisa) is reliable and trustworthy. Figure on applying 90 days prior to departure and pay the extra for FedX delivery....You will have to send them your passport. Check them out on line...things change so rapidly these days that you might be able to do the whole process on line.

I'm going next year on NCL and wondering how much I should bring in cash if I'm bringing a cash card? Could you use other currencies or only Rubles? I want to do Christmas shopping while in port and I'm confused on how much to plan for. Plus I know I also have to have Euros, Kroner and Kronas for the other ports. I think I've got those correct.

 

Thanks in advance!

First of all, welcome to Cruise Critic and the Baltic Boards in particular. You have asked a question that has been asked many times before with all sorts of info in response.

Changing money to have some 'local' currency is up to you. Some people just go with a Credit Card and US Dollars and they just don't care about any exchange rate, they just want the convenience of using one currency. Ourselves, when we went, we wanted to feel as if we were part of some of the cities and countries we visited, so did exchange money for Denmark, Sweden and we had euro's for some of the other places. We NEVER got any Rubles, as our tour with SPB Tours covered everything. We did buy a lovely music box at a street vendor but used US Dollars to pay for it and we used a few Euros to buy a magnet off another vendor. ANY purchases in any stores should be made with a CC, so you do have some way to fight any charge or defective wares.

We had about $50 in several currencies which we got at our local bank before we left.

Cheers

Len

You mention needing a Visa....if you're on NCL you should not need one unless you're planning to go off on your own.

 

Just a bit of clarification because the phrase "on your own" can be confusing. If you're thinking of touring with a private St. Petersburg tour company -- when as part of a small group or just your family/husband and you -- you will get a tour ticket from the company. That will take the place of a Russian visa. You will need a visa if you intend to leave the ship and travel around the city with no escort from a tour group.

 

Hydrokitty is right when she says that visitors traveling on a river cruise will need regular Russian visas. Happily, visitors arriving by ocean-going cruise ships do not need a personal visa if touring the city with a ship-sponsored excursion or a private tour company. There is no legal difference between the ship's tours and private tours no matter what scary things the cruise line writes to you.

 

If you get a letter/email from your cruise line about the need for visas when visiting Russia, please copy what has been written and post it here. There are plenty of experienced St Petersburg visitors on this board who will tell you whether the cruise line is speaking truthfully or leaving out important chunks of information. (Usually, the latter!!!!)

We are onboard the Oceania Insgina right now just about to end a Baltic cruise. We spoke with many people who sadly did not know about CC and therefore believed the many emails from Oceania stating that you would need a visa in SPB unless you booked a tour with them.

The many tour companies in SPB will get your visa as part of the tour you book with them.

You will need to send your passport information when booking.

We used Best Guides and had a great tour.

I will write a more detailed review when we get to London as the ship's wifi is terrible.

Kathy

Thank you everyone for the great advice and tips. I'm so use to being able to explore a city on my own and just stop and shop. Russia is the first place I've gone where you need a visa... I enjoy bringing back gifts from my adventures for my family & friends.

If you like shopping, consider arranging a private tour with a licensed St Petersburg tour company that includes a chunk of shopping time. You won't be turned loose from your tour guide to wander at will for long stretches of time, but your guide can plan a bit of additional time in each of the gift shops of the places you'll be visiting and/or plan for some shopping time on street markets or even department stores. Depending on the style of your guide, he/she probably won't hover over your shoulder as you visit the booths on a market street, although their presence may be useful in some transactions. Many guides feel they are staying within the rules of the tour ticket by simply saying to meet him/her at the end of the market in 30 minutes. This difference in approach is something you should ask about when you make contact with the many excellent licensed tour companies that get praised on this board.

If you're particularly interested very specific Russian items like Matryoshka dolls or miniature replicas of some simple Faberge Easter eggs, you'll probably have to do your shopping in SPB. (Again, that's entirely do-able if you make arrangements for a private tour or find some like minded shoppers via your roll call.) However, if you're interested in amber jewelry or woolen items and more, you'll find appealing examples at many of the ports which present no problem being completely on your own. Tallin is a particularly impressive shopping port.

We did a private tour with TJ in St. Petersburg and did not ask for shopping time, but we could have. There were few shopping options, all of them for trinkets like dolls, magnets and more expensive religious items in one church.

Lithuania and Estonia use Euros. I bought a linen dish towel and a finger ring in Lithuania at reasonable prices. The same dish towel with a different pattern was 3 times the price in the Vasa museum in Stockholm. I found that the Lithuanian port Klaipeda and Tallinn in Estonia had better and more convenient shopping than St. Petersburg. Tallinn especially has plenty of stores right in the old town where everybody goes.

By the way, amber is expensive. My ring from a street vendor is pretty but no way is it genuine amber set in silver for Euro 23. We used credit cards in Stockholm, Euros in Estonia and Lithuania, bought nothing in Gdansk and St. Petersburg.

We are just back (yesterday) from a Baltic cruise (not our first) and we did not use any Rubles. Like many, we booked a 2 day (and one evening) private tour. Our tour actually had a 2nd day lunch where our small group simply chose the restaurant while walking near Nevsky Prospekt (the main street of St P). While strolling through the area (with our guide) our small group (10 persons) simply chose a restaurant that looked decent and had a menu to please all in our group. Like nearly all St P restaurants, ours happily accepted MC/Visa. Some restaurants and vendors will also accept US Dollars or Euros, but this is not the norm....and exchange rates used by many places is not the best. At to obtaining Rubles, there are plenty of ATMs around St P.....if you would truly want to get Rubles. But since our Visa and MC do not access any foreign exchange fees....using the cards makes a lot of sense.

As to tipping guides, they are happy to accept US Dollars or Euros....although they do appreciate that the bills be in very good condition (worn or dirty bills can be hard to use or convert in Russia).

Hank

Hank....by any chance did you eat at the Soviet Cafe? This is the place that I so want to have dinner at again since we fell in love with it when we were in St. Pete several years ago.

Get some rubles for small stuff. We did the 2 day ship tour and I didn't have any rubles. I could not buy water anywhere because everyone took rubles.

Only complaint about the tour.

Next day I told guide please tell me where to buy water with euros.

Honesty tour bus should have handed out water... 2 full days.

Kerri

Get some rubles for small stuff. We did the 2 day ship tour and I didn't have any rubles. I could not buy water anywhere because everyone took rubles.

Only complaint about the tour.

Next day I told guide please tell me where to buy water with euros.

Honesty tour bus should have handed out water... 2 full days.

Kerri

We've all just discovered a previously unknown strike against taking a ship's excursion. Whether that means paying for the guests' water themselves and settling afterwards or some other system, no one dealing with Alla, Best Guides, SPB, TJ, White Nights would ever go thirsty with a small group, private tour.

Luv2gonow, did you ask someone on on your bus if you could borrow some rubles?

our private guide showed us the ATM in the cruise terminal where we withdrew £50 of Rubles

We actually only used them for a snack in the Peterhof gardens café and gave the rest back as part of her tip

one interesting[to us[ part was when she showed us the local currency in coins-may be weird but I am interested in the look of "foreign " coins

Get some rubles for small stuff. We did the 2 day ship tour and I didn't have any rubles. I could not buy water anywhere because everyone took rubles.

Only complaint about the tour.

Next day I told guide please tell me where to buy water with euros.

Honesty tour bus should have handed out water... 2 full days.

Kerri

That's yet another reason not to take a ship's tour. Our group tour with Alla included bottled water--and it states that on their website.

We did a combination of ship's tours as we thought the others were too crowded and intensive, same as princess 2 day tours. We used rubles for small purchases like water. Interesting on a 4 hour tour our guide handed out a large block of chocolate to each passenger.

For longer tours I saw crates of bottled water ready to be put on board the busses.

TJ Tours gave us water. We had also booked lunch with them. We gave dollars as tips for guide and driver, never needed rubles.

We could also have taken the free water from the ship ashore.

We never changed any currency at all on our Baltic cruise and we had overnight stops in SPB and Stockholm. We always have a supply of Euros, but we just used our CCs that has no foreign transaction fees.

In SPB we did 2 day tours with Alla and lunch both days was included and we were given water and coffee in the restaurant.

I found Gdansk to be our cheapest port of call. We don't bother buying souvenirs as we have enough junk at home already. TBH I don't think I saw anything in any of the ports that I can't buy in London.

I did the Baltic in 2010 and had Rubles and all the other currencies on the trip. I always order $100 per currency so I have walking around money and to tip the tour guides. I usually end up with a very small amount left over and put it in my photo album/memory book of the cruise. I've done this on land tours in Europe (pre euro) and a South American cruise. So convenient and easy.

As others state, most tourist shops will take plastic (MC or Visa) so it should really not bean issue

As always budget ahead add 10-20% based on your own proclivities, monitor exchange rates

You will love the Baltic cruise. Best part of St. Petersburg was the evening at the Catherine Palace. Favorite port: Tallinn

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We brought euros, krones, and kronas with us. No rubles. Should have skipped the Krones and Kronas. We not only could have used our credit cards EVERYWHERE.....many places also took euros. In St Petersburg, most places took credit cards, euros and dollars.

The only times we needed cash was:

1) in the Market Square in Estonia where we wanted some souveniers (euros)

2) in Helsinki, we got on a public bus near the dock and bought an all-day pass from the bus driver. We needed euros for that.

3) the unmanned ticket machine in Travemunde for train ticket to Lubeck

4) restrooms almost everywhere except restaurants you've patronized

If you plan on shopping at some "markets", it wouldn't hurt to bring some euros. And if you plan on buying a train/bus ticket from an unmanned ticket booth and you have a US credit card - there is a high probability it wont work. Most US credit cards are not true chip-PIN cards....they are chip-signature cards. If the PIN is not embedded in your chip (true chip-PIN card), then it wont work in the unmanned ticket machine and you will need cash. If there is a manned ticket window, you can use your credit card there. But if not, you're out of luck without cash. I saw this happen to countless people. They couldn't understand why their card that worked in the restaurant wouldn't work in the ticket machine.

I never worry about bringing home extra euros. Gives me an excuse to go back to Europe..... I'd skip krones, kronas, and rubles.

We've all just discovered a previously unknown strike against taking a ship's excursion. Whether that means paying for the guests' water themselves and settling afterwards or some other system, no one dealing with Alla, Best Guides, SPB, TJ, White Nights would ever go thirsty with a small group, private tour.

 

Luv2gonow, did you ask someone on on your bus if you could borrow some rubles?

No I probably should have. Honestly I don't know why the tour bus didn't have cooler where luggage goes. Even if they charged. Ridiculous actually.

Kerri