Homelands/Baltic Veterans Currency Advice

[duquephart]

Please pardon me if this has been beat to death elsewhere but I'm seeking advice on currency requirements on Homelands type itineraries which include multiple countries/currencies. I'm guessing that dollars (for Americans) will suffice for guide & driver gratuities on anything Viking related but how about independent excursions, small purchases and incidentals? I would appreciate hearing from the experts in regard to what currencies to bring and in what quantities. On Homelands, for example, there are five different currencies in play (six if you count Iceland).

[lkear]

This is our first cruise, but we are planning on getting local currency for each country.  Viking said to tip drivers $1 each person equivalent in local currency and tour guides $2 equivalent in local currency.  Difficult part is getting bills that small.  That seems like a small amount but I would love to hear other people’s thoughts. 

[WisRiver]

If your cruise stops in Germany, Finland, Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania, your currency will be the Euro.  Euros are easily obtainable at ATM's.  Denmark, Sweden and Norway use their own currency.  We travel a lot in Scandinavia.  We use our US credit card that does not have a foreign currency surcharge (Capital One) for almost all our purchases (Euro or non-Euro Country), even small purchases at convenience stores.    Sometimes we need to tip a tour guide in a non-Euro country,  so we will use Euros or as a fall back, US dollars.  

[Heidi13]

Personally, I tip guides for providing us with exceptional service. The size of the tip is commensurate with their level of service. The poor/mediocre guides get no tip.

 

If we are recognising the guide or driver for exceeding our expectations, I believe the least we can do is ensure we provide funds they can use without having to find a bank or currency exchange. Can't speak for the USA, but it takes us minimal effort to acquire local currency, for most of the ports we visit.

 

I note some private tour vendors provide guidelines that if you appreciate the services provided by the guide/driver they recommend tipping in a specific currency. In these situations, we follow the guidelines, ensuring we also order that currency.

[Mich3554]

12 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

Personally, I tip guides for providing us with exceptional service. The size of the tip is commensurate with their level of service. The poor/mediocre guides get no tip.

 

If we are recognising the guide or driver for exceeding our expectations, I believe the least we can do is ensure we provide funds they can use without having to find a bank or currency exchange. Can't speak for the USA, but it takes us minimal effort to acquire local currency, for most of the ports we visit.

 

I note some private tour vendors provide guidelines that if you appreciate the services provided by the guide/driver they recommend tipping in a specific currency. In these situations, we follow the guidelines, ensuring we also order that currency.

We had a hard time getting new US bills when we were traveling to an area where wrinkled notes were not acceptable (Dubai, Maldives, Turkey), so we have not tried getting foreign currency.  Locally, I think our banking options suck, but I think it’s our location and it might be better in a big city.  I only live about 60 miles from you, there is a difference as to things like this.  

That being said, there has always been a ATM on our way out of the airport, or on a layover and many times foreign ATMs contain multiple currencies (Turkish tour guide wanted more US $$ than we had on us and we found an ATM in Istanbul that gave lira, $$ and euros).  That gives us the option to get enough cash until we can find a bank ATM.  
We leave for our river cruise next week, and have enough euros between us until we can get to a bank ATM.  Both of us bank at USAA, which has been great for overseas travel.  There are a lot more options now than there were even 10 years ago.

[RedwoodGrove]

Currency is sure a quadry on the Homelands trip. We ended up making a game of finding an ATM in each port and pulling out the smallest amount of fast cash listed. Sometimes we could read or guess what the screen was telling us, and other times it was just a roll of the dice. We actually had a lot of laughs at those ATMs! A purchase at a souvenier shop would break the bills. We would tip the tour guide and driver from that money. Generally, all of the money in that port due to the itinerary. Sometimes it worked out neatly, and other times tour guides and bartenders just got a sweeter tip.

[duquephart]

Any reason euros or good ole American dollars can't suffice on Homelands? Gathering up small amounts of several currencies seems like a pain.

[Let Me Travel!]

I’m sure it is just polite to use the local currency for tipping…the challenge is to get small enough denominations! Typically I order currency at home and when I get to the airport, I buy mints! I pay in the 20 or 50 euro then I get the coins and smaller bills…be sure to get some coins…you may need them for bathroom stall access.

[duquephart]

3 hours ago, Let Me Travel! said:

I’m sure it is just polite to use the local currency for tipping…the challenge is to get small enough denominations! Typically I order currency at home and when I get to the airport, I buy mints! I pay in the 20 or 50 euro then I get the coins and smaller bills…be sure to get some coins…you may need them for bathroom stall access.

 

Maybe that will work for Sweden and Iceland but Denmark, Norway, Poland, Finland? Small denominations is the problem. There has to be all kinds of people here who have been through this.

[SM77]

I just checked my travel notes from our Viking Homelands cruise back in 2018.  We definitely used dollars in Poland, they were accepted.  For Denmark, we actually used euros for tipping.  For Norway we definitely got Kroners.   That was the only foreign currency we ordered for the trip.  

[Prost Seattle]

One thing also is if you have a small amount of a foriegn currency that you most likely won’t be using there are usually Unicef collections at international airports that will accept donations of all currencies.