Scandinavia

[little star]

What's the most popular currency used in this area?

[nabby]

Credit Card :D

 

Seriously, many of these countries are not part of the EU so you will need to have some cash in their currencies. Denmark, Sweden, Russia, Poland, and Norway have their own currency and we purchased small amounts head of time, just enough to get us off the ship and around. Finland and Estonia use Euros, and I think Germany and the Netherlands do too if you are going to those countries. The best way to get local currency when you are there is in an ATM machine (best exchange rate).

 

I am also bringing American dollars, I've been told that many of the small street souvenier places take US$. Also we plan to tip our Russian guides in US$, as well as porters, room service, etc.

[kaisatsu]

Scandinavia technically only includes Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, all of which have their own currency (Danish kroner, Norwegian kroner, and Swedish kroner). I don't know for certain about the rest of the Baltic, especially in the smaller former-Soviet countries, but in Scandinavia cards really are accepted just about everywhere, and there isn't a stigma to using it even for "small" purchases, which is nice, since given the cost of living, small is certainly a relative term!

 

However, I just had some friends visiting from the US for the weekend, and they did have a few problems using their credit card, because some of the machines aren't equipped to take foreign cards. Notably, a McDonald's in a semi-touristy area couldn't accept their card. I wonder if they may have had better luck with their debit card, but it probably is a good idea to take a little local currency out of an ATM. Just be sure to use your debit card, since the transaction fees and finance charges on a credit card can drastically outweigh the benefits of the better exchange rate.

[cruisecountess]

The problem we encountered using our credit card was that we hadn't called the credit company in advance of our trip to get a pin number. The credit card machines in the Baltics needed that info. Our debit card worked fine, but the ATM was the best option. We did have a small amount in each local currency to get us started; we got that at our local Bank of America prior to leaving.

FYI--Norway was so expensive (i.e. $20 for one slice of pizza:eek: ) that we tried not to spend any money there.

[Lair Bear]

Finland and Estonia use Euros, and I think Germany and the Netherlands do too if you are going to those countries. The best way to get local currency when you are there is in an ATM machine (best exchange rate).quote]

 

Minor correction: Estonia still uses their own currency, not the euro.

Other than that I fully agree with what you recommend.

 

In addition, I might mention that Poland still uses their own, so does Russia. For our two week cruise to the Baltic we were in ten different countries with seven different currencies.