ATM's in St Petersburg

[crazy4cruisn]

I was wondering about trying to use an ATM to withdraw the 2 days tour fee for our guide in St Pertersburg. Is this a good idea? I was concerned about carrying so much cash.

[saw17752]

I was wondering about trying to use an ATM to withdraw the 2 days tour fee for our guide in St Pertersburg. Is this a good idea? I was concerned about carrying so much cash.

 

Different banks have different limits on how much you can withdraw daily. Some banks limit the amount you can withdraw to the equivalent of $300 USD per day, some go as high as $2000. Contrary to popular belief, the bank will not increase your daily limit just because you ask -- keeping daily limits is their way of minimzing risk. Also, just calling customer service to say you will be traveling may not prevent your card from being frozen when you try to use it overseas. Some banks are better than others. Speaking to the Fraud Control Unit usually does more good to prevent a frozen account than a customer service agent, some banks, Chase for example, has a dedicated department. The more countries you use your cards in, the harder it is to avoid a problem having your account blocked sooner or later. Also a withdrawl on Friday (sometimes Saturday) does not clear until after midnight of the next business day, in the clearing center (usually NYC), so if you withdraw the maximum on Friday you may not be able to use the ATM until Tuesday as Monday evening is when the transaction will clear. You can of course carry multiple cards, but remember Credit Cards, versus debit cards that carry a MasterCard or Visa logo, charge interest from the moment you take the advance, plus they charge a transaction fee of 1 to 3 percent. A debit card does usually not carry a transaction fee, but there will be a 1 to 3 percent increase in the conversion rate that you pay from the official interbank rate that is quoted on currency rate exchange sites of on television shows or the NY Times.

[Princess Di]

My sister in Oz would say: It sounds a bit dodgy.

Crazy,

Why don't you just bring cash? In SPb, Our Tour Provider lets us know the exact amount we need and I will get near-new bills at my bank before I leave.

I divide up my cash into envelopes before I leave with the tour name on the envelope, another for tips on the ship. I like $2 for room service.

Put it in your waist pouch on the airplane and then into the ship's safe as soon as you board.

I have never lost anything (except a piece of laundry - another funny story).

I have 5 different currencies for this cruise and I keep them in my 5 zippered wallet. I think the different currencies are quite fun.

 

When I call the 800 number on the back of my cc for Citibank, I ask the rep to NOTE HISTORY of the dates of my trip and countries and days of my visits to each. I have never had trouble with my cc internationally.

[dbh62ark]

I also have a journal note to post a thread asking for casino check cashing limits on my ship so that I don't have to carry as much cash over the pond to pay for my private tours in St. Petersburg.

 

When I notify my bank and AmEx about my travel plans so that my card won't be suspended by security at the banks, I also ask for an international phone number to call the bank while overseas, if needed.

 

Happy travels to all,

Donna

 

(P.S. Hi Princess Di!)

[alpal1993]

Thanks for reminding me to call my cc company to tell them I will be in Europe.

[Princess Di]

Hi, Donna Also,

I had forgotten about the International telephone number for my bank. Thanks for the reminder. ;)

I did that in Oz and NZ and, thankfully, never needed them. It IS different for each country.

Kathy, please put that on our List of things to do. :D

[gnarfle23]

Just back from St p. and got the bills to prove it

 

The ship casino will let you sign for cash on your ship account. This varies by ship but there was a 2,000/day limit on Constellation. When I needed cash to pay for our Russian tours, I got it out of the casino.

I saved the ATM fees (can be up to 9.00/transaction

I saved the 5% conversion fee (and this is being charged on both ends)

My card, which was linked to the credit card was billed in dollars saving the 5% credit card foreign exchange fee which went into effect on most us cards in march.

You cannot pay restaurants in dollars, they are cracking down on that practice. Pay the bill with the credit card and tip in dollars or euros. All street vendors want dollars.

Your guide should have roubles for things like the bathroom and the metro.

 

Have fun

deb

[dbh62ark]

Thank you so much for leaving that information for all of us, and it is very helpful. I know that you're just back from your cruise and are very busy, and we'd love to hear more when you have time. We were thinking about you while you were gone and sending our best wishes for a great traip. We greatly appreciate this information in the meantime.

 

:)

Donna

[dbh62ark]

I've already had several e-mails about this and did not realize that my post on this subject was buried so far in my post history (I was trying not to repeat myself for those who had already read it). Anyway, here's what works best for us regarding foreign currency as posted on the thread http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=3617908#post3617908.

 

After many European cruises, we've found that the following works best for us because we are very active in port (first off the ship and last back on although we do wind up the day near the ship so that we don't take a chance on missing all-aboard) and want to maximize our time.

 

Yes, it is a pain to keep up with all the currencies, and the Baltic cruises are the worst (we did itinerary this in 2003 and also have done the Norwegian fjords cruise in that area) because there are so many different currencies. However, we find that we usually need a small amount of local currency to pay for local transportation such as trams, buses, etc. and for public toilets, sandwiches and drinks, street vendors, etc. Also, some merchants have a minimum charge of the equivalent of about 10 Euros to run a credit card charge. Thankfully, it seems that practice is being eliminated in most stores.

 

We always get about $50 in U.S. value of the local currency for each port so that we don't have to worry about money matters when we hit the ground and can concentrate on seeing the sights. Our local bank does not charge a fee, so it is very convenient for us. We frequently use some of that money in the first 5 minutes off the ship. We use credit cards during the day as much as possible. Although not as widely accepted in some European countries, we like AmEx because they give us different account numbers so that we can still use the account if something happens to my card or his card. Check the conversion fees though because our MasterCard charges 1% less in conversion fees than AmEx. No big deal to us because we get miles (we cashed in frequent flyer miles for our airfare for this trip), but that might matter to others.

 

Toward the end of the day, we review our cash situation and then start paying cash for entrance fees or whatever if it looks like we have extra. Giving the leftovers to the crew is a great idea, and you can always buy postcards or small items. Many of the ports such as Oslo and Copenhagen have a shopping terminal right by the cruise berths. Exchanging small amount of money usually doesn't work because it gets eaten up in transaction fees.

 

We also use the currency exchange cards (they especially came in handy prior to the Euro conversion for multiplying 1,800 lira in Italy, etc.), but we finally just started dividing everything by 6 because that was the average for most of the Baltic currencies and was quick and easy.

 

Be careful at the ATMs because my husband was talking to about 8 people and took out $700 in Bergen instead of $70--LOL! Find a bank to exchange that much. The WORST rates and highest transaction fees are on the ship.

 

Happy travels to all,

Donna

[crazy4cruisn]

Hi Deb,

It looked like a great solution of getting money from the casino to pay the Red October tour. I called Celebrity today to check to see about the situation on the Century. The first person said I couldn't do it. The second time I called back I got someone who said there was a $500 total limit. Wonder what gives?

I also had read that sometimes they are really picky in Russia about the condition of the bills (wanting crisp bills only). Did you have any problem with this. I really like your idea but I am a little hesitant to depend on it. Wonder if anyone else has had experience with this.

Nan

[PacificCruiser]

Hi Deb,

It looked like a great solution of getting money from the casino to pay the Red October tour. I called Celebrity today to check to see about the situation on the Century. The first person said I couldn't do it. The second time I called back I got someone who said there was a $500 total limit. Wonder what gives?

I also had read that sometimes they are really picky in Russia about the condition of the bills (wanting crisp bills only). Did you have any problem with this. I really like your idea but I am a little hesitant to depend on it. Wonder if anyone else has had experience with this.

Nan

Yes, Nan, money exchanges and banks inspect bills carefully. Any tear, any ink or stain, indications of having gotten wet, such as in a wallet on a humid day leaves a clean water stain might make the bill very hard to exchange or spend. I've had that problem many times so if I have a bill I offer it to another traveler if they are leaving before me so I get their cleaner bills and they have no problem spending stained, creased and tattered bills back home. I normally call my bank and tell them I am coming in on a slow day and want to pick out the best of bills. My bank is used to that by now. I did that last week and it took 30-40 minutes to go through the pile of bills picking out the 50 best $100 bills. I keep them unfolded in an absorbent envelope so they will stay nice even on hot days before arriving in Russia.

It is dumb to reject bills with wear but Russians beleive they are more likely to be counterfeit which is just the opposite from reality, US bills are the strongest currency in the world so wear and tear on bogus bills would be so obvious from 30 feet.

 

As far as daily limits, take a few different cards and get to amount needed over a period of days.

[crazy4cruisn]

When you said to take several credit cards to get more money per day, did you mean from the ship? Deb has said in her post that she got money from the casino to pay for her tour. I am assuming that she got this with her credit card on file. Celebrity told me today that $500 per day is all they would give you, or actually they said a total of $500.

I guess I am making a pain in all of this, but it sure would be nice not to have to carry that much money!