chris43

Thank you everyone.

We have put some US dollars onto a prepaid visa debit card and will sort out anything else with a Halifax Clarity credit card.

Just booked Alla grand tour for SPB.

We have a Halifax Clarity card.

Thank you for the comments. I am surprised that nobody else has had problems using a UK credit/ debit card in Europe. In the Netherlands last year no supermarket would accept either, we could not top up the public transport travel card, and self service garages refused both. Fortunately bank cash machines were fine.

It appears that we were unlucky so needn't be concerned.

This will be our first cruise so please excuse our ignorance. We do not want to find that despite our best plans we cannot access our money.

We are cruising on Regal Princess. We are from the UK and we have the UK pound. We have UK pound credit & debit cards and we also have a Euro prepaid debit card which we will top up before we go. At this stage we do not have any US dollars.

We are looking to buy some US dollars to cover excursions (including a private tour in St Petersburg), ship expenses, etc but are unsure of the best way to take them.

We have the choice of cash or prepaid Visa US dollar debit card. We have found in some European countries that it is not easy to use credit & debit cards that are not issued by a bank in the country visited.

For security reason we would prefer to have most of the money on a prepaid debit card but are unsure how easy we will find it to access that card.

Will we have a problem using a prepaid Visa debit card issued in the UK?

What is considered the best way to take dollars?

Thank you everyone. I have joined our cruise roll call & am getting down to some planning - all part of the fun.

That is exactly what I wanted to hear. Thank You

What is the best way into Stockholm from Stadsgarden S167?

Now I am really confused. North-Bound says Stockholm & Hallasm says Nynashamn!

I am hoping Hallasm is reading the cruise ininerary rather than a port listing of some sort.

Regal Princess 15th July at Stockholm.

I cannot get the port information site to give me any details about where we are expected to berth.

This matters because the cruise says we will berth at Nynashamn and as I understand it the railway line between there & Stockholm is going to be closed for trackwork for most of July & August.

I very much hope that it is Stockholm as I would gladly swop time in the city for the trip through the islands.

Thank you.

We start and end our cruise on Regal Princess in July at Copenhagen. I understand that there are several port areas in Copenhagen and that transport is obviously different depending on which dock.

We arrive & depart from the airport and need to get to/ from the ship.

Which dock will the ship use?

If it is Ocean Quay - which I understand is very new - is public transport now a possible option?

Thank you for that. You area absolutely correct that I had realised about the significance of the roll call section.

This is our first cruise and we have booked Regal Princess for July 2016 with a 2 day visit to St Petersburg.

I have been looking at the forum and web pages and I am a lot confused about the visa free tours that everyone seems so keen about and the guides that they recommend.

As the heading says we are a couple - 2 people - and as such a private tour is horribly expensive if you look at the price for 2 people - many seem reasonable at 16 people!. We are hoping to find a tour that is not price dependent on the number of people that we book.

The place we would like to go that do not seem to be on all tours include the Faberge museum, the Hydrofoil & the Railway Museum. If we cannot find a reasonable price tour that includes them we would happily consider a standard tour.

Advice please.

Thanks for the replies.

As I live in Europe the summer flight prices had not occurred to me as being significant. If purchased in the UK a Danube cruise including flights/transfers, for example, is about 20% cheaper in July/August than in May or September.

We are looking at a river cruise for 2016 and are a little mystified about pricing. We are used to holidays where the July August school holiday period carries a premium price but in River cruises the price goes down for these months & then back up again.

I have read that it is about travellers wanting to avoid the high summer heat but is that the full explanation? As the ships have air conditioning is it such a big deal?