Money in St. Petersburg

[Pokey Jane]

We are taking the Norwegian Getaway nine day Baltic cruise in September which includes a two day stop in St. Petersburg. Wondering about the local currency - any tips on how much we might need. We are taking a tour so it would just be for incidentals, souvenirs and gratuities for the tour guide. Thanks.

[ron&lana]

We just did that itinerary last week! Gratuity to guide can be in USD. We brought CAN$50 worth of Rubles.

Most places take Credit Cards. Restaurants don't process any gratuity on the machine, you'll need Rubles for that. We tipped about 10% at restaurants.

 

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[ron&lana]

And that goes for all stops. I used a CC for purchases. Look for one that doesn't charge a foreign exchange markup. In Canada it's the Amazon Visa card, through Chase Canada.

 

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[John Bull]

On a tour you can get away with no roubles at all, relying on cc and euros. That means you don't end up with unspent roubles.

But we like the comfort of having some local money in our pockets, so we took enough for the guide's tip - knowing that we could pay that in roubles or euros or USD.

Those roubles came in handy in the lunch-time restaurants because altho the meals were included in the tour price, the restaurants accepted only roubles if you wanted to wash them down with a beer.

We made up that shortfall in the guide's tip with euros.

 

JB :)

[gkkapp]

Just one short note-

 

If you want to purchase guide books/books about a place (churches etc) or souvenirs in churches they often do not take cc's or other currencies. Having a few rubles in your pocket is a "good thing". There are ATM's at the port so you can get some there. I learned this the hard way on our first trip to St Pete. I wanted to buy something at Church on Spilled Blood and I had no rubles......

 

<<<Karen>>>

[kbarker68]

We just returned from a private 2 day tour and only used currency when the pay machine at lunch broke. We included the remainder at end of the tour in the gratuity to the guides (in lieu of USD).

[Pokey Jane]

We just did that itinerary last week! Gratuity to guide can be in USD. We brought CAN$50 worth of Rubles.

Most places take Credit Cards. Restaurants don't process any gratuity on the machine, you'll need Rubles for that. We tipped about 10% at restaurants.

 

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Thank you so much for your reply. Any additional tips on this cruise you might want to share would be greatly appreciated!

[OCruisers]

Both times we were in St. Petersburg we used the US Dollar without a problem buying things and even when doing tipping at restaurants (the actually cost of the meals were included in our shore excursion but still tipped our servers extra ) BUT we only did excursions with the ship so don't know how it works doing things on your own. Our excursion guides happily accepted the US Dollar for their tips.

[Thejuggler]

Just back and used credit card for all purchases. Not a problem, but being from the UK we aren't obsessed with tipping. I had a few dollars but never used them.

 

Our tour lunch included vodka and wine, beer or juice.

[PTC Babe]

We used TJ Travel in St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Tallinn, Berlin, and Oslo. We used a credit card to pay for the tour and for all purchases. Our guide gave us rubles so we could ride the subway. Lunch was included one day and the next we stopped at a little local restaurant that took credit cards (our guide knew they would.) We tipped our guide and drivers in all of those places with either US dollars or Euros.

[Pokey Jane]

Thanks everyone for all your advice, appreciate it!

[Travel R]

We were on the same cruise last month - we did not exchange any currency for the two days in Saint Petersburg.

 

Almost everywhere took credit cards, and even some of the street vendors took US dollars.

 

Caveat - the only time where rubbles were needed was when we made a rest stop at the metro station, which was a pay station. Our tour guide paid in rubbles and we paid her back in euros.

[Earl Rosebery]

you won't need any rubles. Tips in euros are probably preferred. . The only exception we had was the ladies guarding the toilets. . they wanted a ruble coin. If you don't have any, ask your guide.

[mrobstad]

Use credit card.

 

 

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[mpiazza]

Just back and used credit card for all purchases. Not a problem, but being from the UK we aren't obsessed with tipping. I had a few dollars but never used them.

 

Our tour lunch included vodka and wine, beer or juice.

 

 

 

Being a guide in St. Petersburg I always wondered what's the motivation for people to tip modest amounts of money.

We in Russia practically live on tips as our salaries are lower than 3$/hour. I guess one should do at least a little research before traveling to a destination never visited before and learn what's acceptable and what's not. In some cultures you offend people by touching a child's head or sneezing in public. In Russia you offend people when you don't tip.

Drivers, waiters & guides they all work hard to please you because they want to make you happy so we'd get a decent tip.

I suggest anyone coming from non-tipping countries should read this post carefully and come here knowing what's acceptable and what's not

 

 

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[gbits]

Thank you for educating us. Can you further advise if there is a preference for the local currency or if, indeed, tips in euros or dollars are also acceptable as others have suggested.

[mskaufman]

We went with $30 in local currency. Wound up charging everything except a small doll. I combined the rest with USD to tip the guide.

[mpiazza]

Thank you for educating us. Can you further advise if there is a preference for the local currency or if, indeed, tips in euros or dollars are also acceptable as others have suggested.

 

 

 

I'd say anything goes. Most people would tell you USD are more appreciated because local currency loses it's value every week so for those who save it's better to being tipped in dollars.

Euros are fine too. Pounds and Australian dollars are alright, but it's more difficult to exchange them. But as I said above anything goes. I know some people are having difficulty with exchanging used and tired bills as banks often refuse to accept them or pay half the price when you exchange them but ATM machines accept everything so used bills problem is becoming a thing of the past and I'd say don't bother going looking for new bills before your trip.

 

I was glad to help. If there's anything else that you'd like to know, ask away - I'd be happy to provide the information from a perspective of a "local" person

 

 

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[napoxoguk]

As a "semi-local" person, I generally agree with the purport of Mpiazza's statement, but I have an important qualification to add: while tips are indeed the primary income source for local guides, they are also an important feedback tool in a very competitive market. In other words, you only tip of you feel that the guide did an outstanding job. If you feel your guide was mediocre - nobody should be able to guilt-trip you into tipping, and soliciting for tips is unprofessional.

[mpiazza]

As a "semi-local" person, I generally agree with the purport of Mpiazza's statement, but I have an important qualification to add: while tips are indeed the primary income source for local guides, they are also an important feedback tool in a very competitive market. In other words, you only tip of you feel that the guide did an outstanding job. If you feel your guide was mediocre - nobody should be able to guilt-trip you into tipping, and soliciting for tips is unprofessional.

 

 

 

I 100% agree. I was talking about a scenario where you work hard (and I consider myself a hard working person), you also share a lot of personal stuff like your history, your family - it's very social after all and along comes a dude with a firm handshake and a "thank you, we had such a great time, we'll tell our friends about you!" after the tour and it's the only reward you get. It just makes you want to quit and the next time you do a tour you don't want to get personal because it might not get rewarded.

 

But I totally agree with what you're saying - it's the same when we go out for dinner. If the waitress is doing a great job, we tip good 15-20%, if she's not there for us, it's "sorry, that's all she wrote".

 

Thank you for your opinion

 

 

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