Viking Homelands Tipping for Local Guides

[va2pa]

On previous Viking River Cruises, we always tipped our local excursion guides in the local currency, which was usually the Euro. However on this cruise, in addition to the Euro, we will be dealing with the Swedish Krona, the Russian Ruble, the Polish Zloty, the Danish Krone and the Norwegian Krone.

 

What is the best way to tip the local excursion guides in these countries? Should we plan to take some cash from the ATM in each country? Or is there a better way to handle this.

 

Thanks!

[almelanson]

Last summer on our cruise I tipped in Euros and US $ with no problems. As long as you pay in bills they can convert with no problems.

 

 

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[BobbyBob]

On previous Viking River Cruises, we always tipped our local excursion guides in the local currency, which was usually the Euro. However on this cruise, in addition to the Euro, we will be dealing with the Swedish Krona, the Russian Ruble, the Polish Zloty, the Danish Krone and the Norwegian Krone.

 

What is the best way to tip the local excursion guides in these countries? Should we plan to take some cash from the ATM in each country? Or is there a better way to handle this.

 

Thanks!

Great question. We were wondering the same thing. Please let us know what replies you get. Thanks.

[jiminyC_fan]

Great question!

[algaes]

We tipped in Euros unless we ran out of small denominations then US $ (I always travel with singles and fives making sure they are in decent shape before leaving home).

 

Only exception was Russia where we were on private local tour and we tipped in rubles. Pre-cruise the tour operator, after much hemming and hawing as if to avoid problems for us, admitted rubles would be better for her guides. I was ordering rubles anyway as I did not want to use a credit card in Russia.

[Vineyard View]

We were quoted in USD for our private tour in Russia. We took the cash with us -'including tip - and it was no problem whatsoever. Just another option.

[va2pa]

Thanks for the helpful advice!

[gimp1956]

I just called Viking yesterday and they said the tips for the guides are included in the per person gratuity for your stateroom. They suggested 17 EU per person per stateroom. On the Princess cruise we took it was similar and just put on your credit card at the end of the cruise.

[Dauntless]

I just called Viking yesterday and they said the tips for the guides are included in the per person gratuity for your stateroom. They suggested 17 EU per person per stateroom. On the Princess cruise we took it was similar and just put on your credit card at the end of the cruise.

 

I haven't seen anything else about tips being automatically added to your daily gratuity. Has this been the case for anyone so far? I have seen a suggested amount for guide tips but I had assumed it was a guideline for you to use when the time arose. Any feed back?

[va2pa]

gimp1956 - I think you were given incorrect information. The tips for the local guides are NOT included in the daily gratuity for Viking staff. Yes, the daily gratuity per person per day is added to your bill and you can pay it off by credit card on the last day of the cruise. But the local guides are not Viking employees and they are to be tipped in cash.

 

I actually should have waited to receive my cruise documents, as this question was answered by Viking in those documents. It said that local guide tips are usually given in Euros at the rate of 2 euros for a guide and 1 euro for the bus driver (of course these are guidelines - you can tip more for exceptional service or less or nothing if you want).

 

Hope this helps!

[Jay Bee]

I actually should have waited to receive my cruise documents, as this question was answered by Viking in those documents. It said that local guide tips are usually given in Euros at the rate of 2 euros for a guide and 1 euro for the bus driver (of course these are guidelines - you can tip more for exceptional service or less or nothing if you want).

 

Do your doc indicate that the tipping of local guides in Euros is customary even in the countries that have a different currency? We had been planning on getting a small amount of local cash from ATMs at each port but would rather avoid the hassle if using Euros everywhere in the Baltics is ok.

[gimp1956]

Va2PA, when did you receive your documents? Did they come via e-mail or USPS?

[id4elizabeth]

On our cruise this time last year we tipped in Euros and the local guides seemed quite happy with them. Others on our cruise used USD and that was OK too. The only thing I would not do is tip in Krona where the local currency was Rubles for example. As a matter of fact, in St Petersburg, USD seem to be preferred - more stable than the Ruble.

 

In some ports you won't have time to get to an ATM before you have to give the guide a tip. And most ATMS won't give you small enough denominations of currency to tip with. You'd also be left with a bunch of misc bits and pieces by the end of the trip that you'd have a hard time converting back. Stick with Euros - much easier!

[Jay Bee]

On our cruise this time last year we tipped in Euros and the local guides seemed quite happy with them. Others on our cruise used USD and that was OK too. The only thing I would not do is tip in Krona where the local currency was Rubles for example. As a matter of fact, in St Petersburg, USD seem to be preferred - more stable than the Ruble.

 

In some ports you won't have time to get to an ATM before you have to give the guide a tip. And most ATMS won't give you small enough denominations of currency to tip with. You'd also be left with a bunch of misc bits and pieces by the end of the trip that you'd have a hard time converting back. Stick with Euros - much easier!

 

Thank you, that is very helpful. We have not cruised out of Eurozone countries in Europe so I was concerned. Once or twice in the Caribbean local guides have objected to USD tips, saying that it was a big hassle and cost for them to convert.

[va2pa]

gimp1956 - Our travel agent received our documents on May 5th for our cruise starting on May 29th. I'm not sure how they came to the TA but our TA sent them to us via FedEx and we got them the next day.

 

The documents are definitely not emailed. It's a whole packet of things, including a personalized cruise book that details all of the flights, times, ports, excursions you've selected, dining reservations - basically everything. There are other things in the packet - luggage tags, etc. You should get yours about 3 weeks prior to sailing.

[Lucky Granny]

We tried to tip local guides and bus drivers in local currency, but if we had spent all our local currency, we used Euros and/or USD. Euros and USD seemed to be acceptable everywhere. If you have local currency for shopping, you can just pay the price as marked. If you don't, you can pay in Euros or USD almost everywhere, but you will have to pay the conversion amount the seller arrived at by head calculations. A few used a phone converion app, but most did it in their heads, and who knows how correct they were. But for tips, they will take what you give them.