Money for shore excursion tips

I always like to carry enough cash so that I can tip our tour guides and bus drivers. On our next cruise to the Baltic it appears that we will be visiting countries that use five different currencies. Would it be appropriate to universally use Euros? Would that be better than U.S. dollars?

Yes. Always use Euros in Europe, if you can. That said, most tour guides and bus drivers will gladly that dollars too, if that is all you have. The ship front desk (Purser) has Euros you can exchange or put on your on board account. I think they charge about a 3% discount rate.

J

If you are visiting Russia, they take USD crisp new bills.

Agree that Russia likes USD. Personally, I would not use Euro's unless the country you are visiting is on the Euro. It seems that USD and Euros are the most widely accepted "foreign" currency with the British Pound following so I don't see a reason to change money unless there is an ATM and you just want to get a small amount for shopping at places that do not take credit cards. Unless we are going to be in a port for more than one day, we tip in U.S. currency.

Yes. Always use Euros in Europe, if you can. That said, most tour guides and bus drivers will gladly that dollars too, if that is all you have. The ship front desk (Purser) has Euros you can exchange or put on your on board account. I think they charge about a 3% discount rate.

 

 

J

Cc

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Jackie is right. Just use US. Our dollar is not as weak as it has been right now. Fairly strong. Not worth the cost to change to Euros.

When getting cash, I always order new bills. Some countries other than Russia prefer them. They stick together, but they take up less room. LOL.

Some time ago when we were on the Voyager in St Petersburg we arranged for a private tour guide (fabulous woman!) She insisted on being paid in USD. Didn't say anything about new bills though... I would have preferred to use Swiss francs but apparently that was not acceptable. So I ordered the USD from our bank here. Then I discovered an ATM in one of the hotels in St. P (used by Regent for lunches when on tour) which offered the chocie of roubles OR USD: Wish I had known that!

Otherwise - even in countries which are not part of the Euro zone (Sweden, Denmark, Norway and here in Switzerland) Euros will be gladly accepted.

Some time ago when we were on the Voyager in St Petersburg we arranged for a private tour guide (fabulous woman!) She insisted on being paid in USD. Didn't say anything about new bills though... I would have preferred to use Swiss francs but apparently that was not acceptable. So I ordered the USD from our bank here. Then I discovered an ATM in one of the hotels in St. P (used by Regent for lunches when on tour) which offered the chocie of roubles OR USD: Wish I had known that!

 

Otherwise - even in countries which are not part of the Euro zone (Sweden, Denmark, Norway and here in Switzerland) Euros will be gladly accepted.

Gerry

Was that Victoria of SPB Tours? If so, she guided us in St. Petersburg and Berlin in 2008.

Sheila

I haven't found a country yet that didn't take USD. You can go to the far corners of the world and they know what it's worth.

I haven't found a country yet that didn't take USD. You can go to the far corners of the world and they know what it's worth.

Basically agree except for an excursion in Africa. Someone on the bus handed a dollar bill to a young man. The man held it up to the light, looked at the back and front as well as holding it upside down. He had no clue what it was.

In the UK, $US are not really acceptable. I am always amazed by the number of Americans who think they can pay with $ . Unless you are travelling to the states soon they are not very convenient, as the exchange costs are astronomical for$20 / $30. Tour guides are well paid, don't hanker for tips and outside London if you decide to tip ( a most un-British custom now ) to give $US is almost an insult as it's not really much good.

In the UK, $US are not really acceptable. I am always amazed by the number of Americans who think they can pay with $ . Unless you are travelling to the states soon they are not very convenient, as the exchange costs are astronomical for$20 / $30. Tour guides are well paid, don't hanker for tips and outside London if you decide to tip ( a most un-British custom now ) to give $US is almost an insult as it's not really much good.

I had no idea that it was that difficult for tour guides to exchange US $'s and that tipping was considered insulting for some. Traveling to the UK in the recent past, our tips were graciously and often enthusiastically accepted.

We will be traveling to the UK, as part of our upcoming cruise and am concerned about making others uncomfortable while I show my appreciating for their services. However, I do not want to deprive hard working people of income based on one opinion.

I am interested in the opinions from other Britons?

Tipping is not done in several countries. It is always a good idea to check what the culture is in different countries (not only for tipping but to learn what is considered impolite which in many cases in different than in the U.S.). I Googled "which countries do not tip" and found quite a few results. One of them was on Wikipedia which included the following:

"In Japan, tipping is not a part of the culture. It is not expected and can cause confusion. Like many other countries in East Asia, Japanese people see tipping as insulting."

Here in Scotland we do tip. Amount will vary from person to person but it’s customary here in £ sterling. Jean.

Gerry

 

Was that Victoria of SPB Tours? If so, she guided us in St. Petersburg and Berlin in 2008.

 

Sheila

No - Galina of Galina tours. She was the guide for the US Consulate in St P and took Bill Clinton around. She is amazing and a lovely person.

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I haven't found a country yet that didn't take USD. You can go to the far corners of the world and they know what it's worth.

Then I suppose you have not been to Switzerland where we know full well what the USD is worth and would prefer not to have it.

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Agree with last post, US $ are not really used in UK, you might have a degree of acceptance in London, but not in the sticks. Costs now for foreign exchange with the decline in rural banking are very high, most younger people are increasingly not using cash even GB£, contactless is the new king. Tonight even bought fish and chips in my local village prior to the football and the two people in front paid with contactless cards, same in Costa's, Starbucks and coffee shops even for a coffee and a cake.

One thing that some of us may not be considering is that we are discussing tipping tour company employees that are likely used to getting tips in all types of currency. I'm sure that they would rather receive a tip in a foreign currency than receive no tip at all (unfortunately, we have witnessed too many Regent passengers not tipping tour guides or bus drivers).

I doubt if any well traveled individual would try to pay for something in their local currency as we know better. We always have USD, Canadian Dollars, Euros and GBP on hand at home. For other countries, IF we are staying there longer than a day, we purchase the currency of that country before we leave home.