St. Petersburg shopping

[Dalidaligolf]

We will on a tour in July. When the tour company takes you shopping do you have to have rubles or will they take other currency - US dollar or Euro? Also do the bargin/barter with the cost?

[Ashland]

We will on a tour in July. When the tour company takes you shopping do you have to have rubles or will they take other currency - US dollar or Euro? Also do the bargin/barter with the cost?

When we were at any of the gift shops that our private guide took us to we used our Capital One credit card..Our guide paid for our lunches and at the end of our 2 day tour we gave her cash..So for us it wasn't necessary to convert any of our US $'s to rubles...However when we went to a street shopping tent area, the locals had NO problem giving you the price in US $'s or Euros and taking our used (not perfect condition) US bills, we did try to bargin and it worked somewhat, especially if you are buying more than one item from them...We found this really no different than many other ports we have been in..some may have but this was our experience this past August...

[Giantfan13]

I agree with Ashland. Whichever tour company you book with, be it independent or from the ship, they all have their own souvenir stops you will visit. I'm sure there is some sort of kick back, but who really cares.

 

We did an SPB tour and we stopped a few times for 'rest room' stops and wouldn't you know it, the rest rooms were in a souvenir store. We were also offered shots of Russian Vodka, or coffee or tea. I tried a few of the Vodka shots. These stores are regular, well maintained, shops, and they have a great selection of gifts at average prices. They will all accept Credit Cards, US Dollars and/or Euros. Like Ashland, we had no need to convert any money to Rubles.

When our group was visiting the Church of the Spilled Blood, we wandered away for a few minutes as we wanted to see what some of the street vendors were selling. My DW fancied a Russian music box and we saw it at one of the vendors. We asked the price, they quoted us one. We started to walk away and all of a sudden, we were hondling with them. We agreed on a price, we paid with US Dollars and got US Dollars back as change. To be honest, we paid maybe 1/3 less than what they were selling the exact same thing, on the ship.

I can't speak for the other tour companies, but I imagine they do NOT want you shopping at these vendors, as they are cheaper and they get no kick back if they let you shop there. They try and steer you away saying that they sell goods that are not really Russian. NOT TRUE.

 

Cheers

 

Len

[Ashland]

As always you are correct Len..The gift shops that we went to were "very" nice and some provided a personal shopper that walked with us and answered any questions and held our purchases for us as we shopped. One in particular was "Pushkin Art Gallery" they were wonderful,even after returning home I contacted them wanting to purchase something I had seen and they were so "very" accommodating with my purchase and shipping it to me.. Luckily our guide with TJ Travel had no problem with our wanting to also shop at the tent markets..Our favorite "restroom" stop was at the Palace Hotel..It was beautiful and we enjoyed the wall of pictures of the many celebrity and political guests they have had..This hotel is a must see !!

[dexddd]

As an FYI, in the new cruise terminal there was an ATM that would give you rubles as well as a machine where you could put in dollars and it would spit out rubles in case you want a small amount. We used some for lunch at the summer palace.

[Dalidaligolf]

Thanks everyone! This is a great help. I can't wait to go.

[Harry Cane]

We did an Anastasia tour and were surprised we had to ask (beg) to go to a souvenir shop! Our experience was the same--they all took dollars, even outside the shop when we stopped at the small vendors.

 

We lucked out in that we were on the last cruise of the season for the ship, so they were clearing all their Baltic merchandise. Pretty much everything was 50% off. WE even got some great quality tees and caps for $6.99.