How did you pay Alla?

[acruise4me]

We will be taking a tour of St. Petersburg with Alla. I notice there are various options for payment on the second day of the tour:

 

"Payment.

Payment could be made the following ways:

1. We accept credit cards: Visa and Master. Other types of credit cards are not accepted. We will charge the sum of payment for the tour from your credit card in Rubles. The currency exchange rate will be established according to the current rates of the Russian State Central Bank but please, mind that the exchange rate will be no less than 24.5 Rur for 1$.

2. Payment could be made in Euro, rubles or US dollar cash* on the morning of the second day of the tour.

*Please be aware – we won’t be able to accept foreign currency (euro or US dollar bills) in bad condition: bills should be clean (have no writings, stamps of any kind), crispy and new (have no slightest defects/damages). It is the requirement of our banks and we must follow their rules.If this requirement is failed, the bank commission for such bills will be 10% off their value."

 

How did you all pay? Credit cards seems easy, but she states the price is in Rubles. There are 4 of us, so carrying that much cash does not seem wise (through London and onto the ship). I could get travelers checks, but I am not sure the ship would cash that amount. What do you suggest?

Thanks!

[Mike073]

We used a combination of Euros and Dollars. Do note the bills all need to be in good shape. They do not take Dollars that are crumpled or marked. Their banks will not take them.

[sunandsalt]

We paid in cash. U.S. dollars. I made a point of getting clean bills from the bank before we left.

[Peregrina651]

If the price is quoted in dollars, then I pay in dollars. That is how we handled it when we toured last summer. We brought USD travelers cheques (we get them free from our bank) which we cashed on the ship to pay for the tour. That way, the price of the tour stays steady with the changing exchange rates.

 

Other folks on our tour decided that it was just simpler to pay with a credit card and didn't worry about what the exchange rate.

[MoBro713]

We were with Alla a couple of weeks ago and paid by credit card the second day of the tour. She took the dollar amount she had quoted us and converted it to rubles. The exchange rate seemed very reasonable.

[ontheweb]

We will be taking a tour of St. Petersburg with Alla. I notice there are various options for payment on the second day of the tour:

 

"Payment.

Payment could be made the following ways:

1. We accept credit cards: Visa and Master. Other types of credit cards are not accepted. We will charge the sum of payment for the tour from your credit card in Rubles. The currency exchange rate will be established according to the current rates of the Russian State Central Bank but please, mind that the exchange rate will be no less than 24.5 Rur for 1$.

2. Payment could be made in Euro, rubles or US dollar cash* on the morning of the second day of the tour.

*Please be aware – we won’t be able to accept foreign currency (euro or US dollar bills) in bad condition: bills should be clean (have no writings, stamps of any kind), crispy and new (have no slightest defects/damages). It is the requirement of our banks and we must follow their rules.If this requirement is failed, the bank commission for such bills will be 10% off their value."

 

How did you all pay? Credit cards seems easy, but she states the price is in Rubles. There are 4 of us, so carrying that much cash does not seem wise (through London and onto the ship). I could get travelers checks, but I am not sure the ship would cash that amount. What do you suggest?

Thanks!

 

We paid with dollars that we received on the ship by cashing traveler's checks on board. That way you get crisp new bills. We also get free traveler's checks from our bank.

 

You do not have to cash them in all at once if you think the amount is too large. You can cash a few hundred each day and keep it in your safe.

 

Don't worry about the ship not cashing your traveler's checks. As far as they know, you are getting money for the casino.

[Roses2]

We did a private two day tour for just the two of us and paid by Mastercard in dollars on the second day.

We have just gotten the bill and it was at the current exchange rate. For us this was much easier than dealing with cash in dollars or rubles.

[acruise4me]

Are you charged a commission to cash traveler's checks on the ship?

[hylasgirl]

We did a private two day tour for just the two of us and paid by Mastercard in dollars on the second day.

 

We have just gotten the bill and it was at the current exchange rate. For us this was much easier than dealing with cash in dollars or rubles.

 

Did this come out to about the same price as it states in US dollars? This seems so easy, but yet our dollar is crapping out everywhere and that makes me nervous:o

[Peregrina651]

Are you charged a commission to cash traveler's checks on the ship?

 

Call your cruiseline and ask them their policy.

[ontheweb]

Are you charged a commission to cash traveler's checks on the ship?

 

No, we were not. As far as I know, no cruise line charges a commission for cashing traveler's checks, but you could check with your travel agent or the cruise line you are using to confirm. (We were on Princess for our Baltic cruise and previously were on RCL and NCL. None of them charged a commission.)

[Roses2]

Hylasgirl,

Did this come out to about the same price as it states in US dollars? This seems so easy, but yet our dollar is crapping out everywhere and that makes me nervous:o

__________________

Yes, absolutely. It was the dollar cost convered to Rubles at the current rate of exchange and charged to our card in dollars.

Unfortunately the U.S. Dollar has become a third-world currency. It is virtually useless and accepted in very, very few places in most ports on the Baltic cruise. At least in Russia,it is accepted in many of the shops.

Plastic is accepted everywhere.

[hylasgirl]

Hylasgirl,

 

Did this come out to about the same price as it states in US dollars? This seems so easy, but yet our dollar is crapping out everywhere and that makes me nervous:o

__________________

 

Yes, absolutely. It was the dollar cost convered to Rubles at the current rate of exchange and charged to our card in dollars.

 

Unfortunately the U.S. Dollar has become a third-world currency. It is virtually useless and accepted in very, very few places in most ports on the Baltic cruise. At least in Russia,it is accepted in many of the shops.

 

Plastic is accepted everywhere.

 

 

Thanks for the reply... yeah, we never take USD with us anywhere out of the country, never have. I was just worried about what our exchange rate might be once we get to Russia, but... I called the bank today and they wouldn't guarantee me new bills. They could get me new ones or fives and possibly tens... but they don't get in new 100's unless someone is needing more than $10,000. SO... this will be easier to use the Mastercard. Even if it ends up being a little more, it will be better than carrying that much cash-o-la on us.

 

Thanks again:)

[janines]

We were quoted $300 usd pp for our 2 day Alla tour. If we pay by credit card, there will be an exchange rate cost added to that quoted price, is that correct? If we cash travelers' checks at the casino for usd, we can give this amount directly to the tour guide on the tour?

I don't mind carry some travelers checks if we can cash them for us in these cities.

janines

[westcoastmom]

In our tour group, only one couple paid in USD, all the rest paid with credit cards. I think Alla gave them a conversion rate that turned out to be exactly US$300 per person. Since I just came back several days ago, I am not able to see how much my cc comapny charged me after the conversion. The tour guides don't handle any money, Alla personally collects all money due at the beginning of the 2nd day tour.

[ontheweb]

We were quoted $300 usd pp for our 2 day Alla tour. If we pay by credit card, there will be an exchange rate cost added to that quoted price, is that correct? If we cash travelers' checks at the casino for usd, we can give this amount directly to the tour guide on the tour?

I don't mind carry some travelers checks if we can cash them for us in these cities.

janines

 

Yes, cash your traveller's checks at the purser's desk and get crisp new bills.

 

Our guide did collect on the second day. We then met Alla who greeted us. The guide turned over the money.

[CruiseProf]

Thanks to all for the info on how to pay Alla. Another related question:

how much does one tip the Alla tour guide and car driver? In what currency?

Thanks.

[CruiseProf]

How much is appropriate to tip the Alla tour guide and car driver? And in what currency?

[ontheweb]

Thanks to all for the info on how to pay Alla. Another related question:

how much does one tip the Alla tour guide and car driver? In what currency?

Thanks.

 

I had e-mailed Alla and asked about tipping. Her reply was that tipping was of course a personal decision. Her recommendation was for a total tip from the group of $100 for the guide and $50 for the driver. We had a group of 10, so that worked out to $10 + $5 each. Each family tipped separately, so I do not know if anyone went over (or under) that.

[hylasgirl]

Can we add the tips to the credit card amount? Or is this not a good thing to do???

[Peregrina651]

Can we add the tips to the credit card amount? Or is this not a good thing to do???

 

Probably not.

 

BTW, there is a lot of discussion in this forum on the topic of tips. Some people have followed Alla's guidelines while others have not.

 

It used to be that tips in US dollars were quite welcome. Now with the weak dollar, it might be useful to hear what the 2008 travelers have to say.

[ontheweb]

Can we add the tips to the credit card amount? Or is this not a good thing to do???

 

Off hand, I would say no, but you probably should ask Alla that question directly.

[hylasgirl]

Off hand, I would say no, but you probably should ask Alla that question directly.

 

Yeah, you are probably right. I will plan to bring a little cash in order to do this. I was hoping to bring little USD because it really isn't needed, but a few $20's won't be a biggie...

 

I am soooo ready!!!:D

[FloridaHockeyGuy]

We just returned from the Century Baltic cruise, and used Alla for a private tour for 4 of us.

 

We brought US$ in cash, for the simple reason that we thought that she would PREFER that. Although we had no problem paying with cash, she did confess to us that she now actually prefers credit cards, since she has been stuck with money that she can now use...either because they were conterfeit, or more likely of poorer quality or older notes that could not be verified by the banks, and therefore useless to her.

 

But I would double-check with her. In retrospect, if I knew that she PREFERRED credit cards, then I would have probably not bothered to bring the extra cash, although it was no problem just keeping it in the room's safe.

 

By the way, our tour was excellent, and I was glad we had a small group, as we were able to avoid all the long entrance lines and slip right in.

[emptyK]

Just back from Baltic Cruise. Used Alla for our family of four and paid by Visa. I checked my bill and with the exchange rate it came out about $25 more than I was originally quoted in USD. For me it was worth not carrying all the extra cash. I tipped in USD at the end of the trip.

 

Enjoy!