Baltic - - Currency Questions

[bunnybear]

We are booked on the July 2015 - Treasures of the North trip. We visit 11 countries and there are quite a few that do not use the Euro. They have their own currency. Was this an issue with anyone that has made this trip before?

 

I know we can use ATM's just about everywhere to get some cash - but I read that Russia doesn't have them very accessible. Is that a correct statement? Since we are in St. Petersburg for three days I am sure we will be spending some money and will need some Rubles.

 

I would appreciate any information regarding people's experiences as it relates to the currency in multiple countries.

 

FYI - we always leave the States with a minimal amount of Euros in our pocket in case we need something upon arrival. With the Euro so low - we already ordered them and got a great exchange rate.

[LHT28]

We usually take a small quantity for each Country

we are not shoppers so just need some local currency for tours (if booked ahead) coffee/treat

 

SPB your guide will probably be able to direct you to an ATM or exchange USD for Roubles

[corpkid]

We did a similar cruise a few years ago and just took out a little money from each country at an ATM, Russia being the exception (we pre-purchased Rubles from our bank). Given the sanctions with Russia, I would be concerned about ATM machines working properly with US bank cards... We also had a small stash of euros and USD in our safe.

 

We found we primarily used our cash for things like gratuities for tour guides, taxi rides, lunches, etc. so about $200 USD worth per day was sufficient for each currency for two of us.

 

Make sure you notify your bank you will be traveling and are planning on withdrawing cash in said countries... Enjoy - the Baltics may go down as one of my all time favorite cruises/regions!

[StanandJim]

We did a similar cruise a few years ago and just took out a little money from each country at an ATM, Russia being the exception (we pre-purchased Rubles from our bank). Given the sanctions with Russia, I would be concerned about ATM machines working properly with US bank cards... We also had a small stash of euros and USD in our safe.

 

We found we primarily used our cash for things like gratuities for tour guides, taxi rides, lunches, etc. so about $200 USD worth per day was sufficient for each currency for two of us.

 

Make sure you notify your bank you will be traveling and are planning on withdrawing cash in said countries... Enjoy - the Baltics may go down as one of my all time favorite cruises/regions!

 

+1 This about covers it, well said, D :D

 

Pertinent to the Russian Situation, we've found that in Countries where the Currency is in crisis, the folks who are involved in tourist type businesses will usually prefer taking Euro's or Dollars to taking a chance on the local money.

 

When we were in Istanbul, about ten years ago, they were doing all their real business in Euro's, but even Fodors was recommending that one asked for restaurant receipts expressed in Turkish Lira as the numbers were so huge that they were Souvenirs unto themselves. :eek:

[bunnybear]

We did a similar cruise a few years ago and just took out a little money from each country at an ATM, Russia being the exception (we pre-purchased Rubles from our bank). Given the sanctions with Russia, I would be concerned about ATM machines working properly with US bank cards... We also had a small stash of euros and USD in our safe.

 

We found we primarily used our cash for things like gratuities for tour guides, taxi rides, lunches, etc. so about $200 USD worth per day was sufficient for each currency for two of us.

 

Make sure you notify your bank you will be traveling and are planning on withdrawing cash in said countries... Enjoy - the Baltics may go down as one of my all time favorite cruises/regions!

 

This is what I needed to know. We will watch the Ruble for awhile and then order some before we leave.

 

Did you get some for Sweden, Denmark, etc. that doesn't take the Euro? We are doing the pre-cruise in Stockholm and may need some currency for that part of the trip.

Edited January 9, 2015 by bunnybear

[Paulchili]

+1 This about covers it, well said, D :D

 

When we were in Istanbul, about ten years ago, they were doing all their real business in Euro's, but even Fodors was recommending that one asked for restaurant receipts expressed in Turkish Lira as the numbers were so huge that they were Souvenirs unto themselves. :eek:

 

I have a 20 Million Turkish Lira bank note from these days in my foreign money collection (was worth about $20 US)

It's the only way I'll ever be a multi millionaire :D

Edited January 9, 2015 by Paulchili

[Hambagahle]

In Russia cash machines can give you USD or Roubles (at least many of them can). However JimandStan are right - take USD cash and you will get a really good rate on purchases etc in St P. Even when the rouble was OK vendors (not in shops, but market stalls etc) preferred to take USD or EUR. I bought two lovely fur hats that way! Was going to get one, ended up with two for the price of one.

 

Denmark and Sweden - you can pay in EUR but you will get a bad exchange rate because the vendor/restaurant etc must then carry the EUR to a bank and change them. They charge you for providing a "service". I would have about $100 in SEK and DKK each for small expenses and then use credit cards for all other purchases. AND if you are asked if you want to be charged in USD or SEK/DKK ask them to use the currency of the country you are in. Otherwise you get a bad rate. Not all terminals have this feature but it is a real trap...

[corpkid]

This is what I needed to know. We will watch the Ruble for awhile and then order some before we leave.

 

Did you get some for Sweden, Denmark, etc. that doesn't take the Euro? We are doing the pre-cruise in Stockholm and may need some currency for that part of the trip.

 

 

Yes - we stayed in Stockholm for 4 days ahead and Copenhagen for 4 days after (Stockholm is so fantastic - make sure you spend more than 2 days there!!!). Anyways - we just clear customs, find an ATM at the airport and withdraw cash in almost every country we visit. Works every time. If not arriving via airport, you can still find ATMs everywhere. I think on our cruise we had six types of currency we used total... (Polish Slotsky, Danish Krone, Swedish Krona, Rubles, Euros, and USD). I also make a little chart on my cell phone with the exchange rates for each so I know how much that 1200 ruble lunch REALLY is! :D

 

Another tip is to find out from your bank what your ATM daily limit is - some are as low as $200 USD unless you request a bump up. Could leave you in a sticky situation! :)

 

And I agree re: unstable currency countries will want USD or Euros if you have them. When I was in Buenos Aires a few years ago our two tour guides (fantastic college age expats) practically begged for USD dollars over Argentine pesos! - and soon thereafter the economy did in fact almost collapse. We had quite the conversation with them about their economy and its problems.

[pinotlover]

Charge as much to your chip based credit card as you can. We did not buy any rubles, period. Our STP guides all gladly took US Dollars, even asked for them.

 

If you buy the Copenhagen pass. I think that is the right name. It will include entry to multiple of the museums, castles, the canal boat trip, passage on the subway system (we went all the way out to one of the castles on the Lake, at no cost). Food in Copenhagen is so expensive that using your credit card isn't an issue! If you use $100 of cash, that would be a lot. Expect to get nailed for converting it back to Euros or dollars.

 

We kept the use of currency down to buying pretzels, beers, and small food stuff and use of credit cards with no foreign transaction fees for most everything else.

[corpkid]

Charge as much to your chip based credit card as you can.

 

Ah yes - if you do plan on using your credit card try and get a chip and pin credit card (why we don't have these in the US is another topic unto itself).

 

We were stuck in a taxi at the port about 30 minutes before sail away in Stockholm because not one of our 4 credit cards would work (it wasn't chip & pin) and I was out of cash. I had to run up the gangway, run to my room (all the way foreword mind you) grab Euros from the safe (which he thankfully accepted), run back down, pay the guy and get back on the ship and I kid you not they began raising the gangway before I even got my backpack off to put through the xray machine! Wasn't fun.

 

Also, most automated machines (transit ticket machines, gas pumps, vending, etc.) overseas will ONLY work if you have a chip & pin. It's worth having at least one C&P card in your wallet when overseas. Barclay has a World Elite Mastercard that we like and works everywhere we've tried so far.

[4Lakes Lady]

We did Oceania's Baltic cruise in July of 2013. Had no problem finding ATMs.

In St. Petersburg there was a handy ATM right in the cruise terminal.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[arima22]

We did the Oceania Marina Baltic cruise Aug. 2014. Before the trip, we did buy a minimum amount of each local currency through Wells Fargo bank- seemed to be the best buy at the time with low service charge.

You will not need much cash for tours if you use one of the larger St. Petersburg based tour companies- like SPB-Tours, Alla Tours, etc. They arrange for tours through their central office for most of the Baltic ports. Payment is made for the entire multicity tour schedule the second day of tours in St. Petersburg, they did take credit cards except AMEX. So all you need is tip money for tours- usually they take US $'s or Euros.

If you do self guided tours, you can buy most attraction entry tickets on line ahead of your trip, individually or packages for each city. Even the train from Stockholm Arlanda airport to downtown. Use a credit card that does not charge an international fee.

As stated above, credit cards can be used a most major attractions and stores, signature type are OK where there is an attendant. May have a problem if not chip and pin type for automated machines in train stations, etc.- but then just go to a service kiosk.

Restaurants usually require local currency.

Edited January 9, 2015 by arima22

[PaulMCO]

I have a 20 Million Turkish Lira bank note from these days in my foreign money collection (was worth about $20 US)

It's the only way I'll ever be a multi millionaire :D

 

Maybe -- but it depends on whether you have new or old LIRA.. I still have some old lira and they have 000,000 in them .. Worthless. :D

Edited January 9, 2015 by PaulMCO

[Paulchili]

Maybe -- but it depends on whether you have new or old LIRA.. I still have some old lira and they have 000,000 in them .. Worthless. :D

 

I wish I had the 20 Mil. new Lira note :D (I am sure it does not exist).

It's the old one :) It's not entirely worthless though - it could fairly valuable (as in - hard to find).

I remember looking for an Irish 1 pound note (several years after Euro) and they wanted 20 Euro for it! :eek: (Did not pay it). Similar scams in Slovenia looking for their previous currency. The rarer it is, the more it will cost :)

At other times I got very lucky - visited Cyprus and Malta during their last year before Euro - no trouble finding their currency at normal rates.

Edited January 9, 2015 by Paulchili

[critics0001]

I agree with all of the advice you have gotten. We took the trip a year ago and got by with no rubles since tours took credit card in Russia but at their exchange rate. Tips were gladly accept in $ or euros. In Scandinavian countries you can buy almost anything with a credit card. Tours guides in those countries take $ or especially euros. Finland is a euro country. The only real issue is the use of public toilets that require payment. One approach is to get a group together and exchange some currency and split it among each. In most cases you will need coins. At most train stations the public toilets will have someone managing it and will give change.

In Stockholm be careful of taxi fares. You can goggle it to see the issues. I have traveled there countless times and knew of the problems but was still screwed. You need to negotiate the fare before getting in the cab. If they have a rate on the side of the cab take a picture of the amount to make sure it coincides with the quoted amount, pay with credit card and make sure their credit card receipt machine is working. Note cabs will state a fare from airport(Arlanda to Stockholm) and then claim it is more to go to cruise port or will claim that the fare from Stockholm to airport is higher than the fare from airport. If you have receipt or documentation then you may get a refund for the overcharge from your credit card company.

[Pet Nit Noy]

Maybe -- but it depends on whether you have new or old LIRA.. I still have some old lira and they have 000,000 in them .. Worthless. :D

 

The group that may still have the old lira are the taxi drivers in Istanbul. Here's our experience from a trip about eight years ago: After a trip from the Grand Bazaar, we paid our fare and started to exit the taxi. The driver yelled at us saying that we had given him too large a bill and that he couldn't make change. He returned a bill to us and when I saw it, the number on the bill was indeed very large. However, I was baffled since we were leaving Turkey the next day, we had been very careful to draw down our Turkish money. I couldn't understand how we could have had such a large bill in our possession. I simply paid since I felt there was nothing I could say with confidence, but I was mostly confused. When I went into the hotel, I went to the desk to ask about this large bill and the employee explained we'd just been scammed. The taxi drivers keep the money passengers pay the first time around, but return a worthless old lira claiming they don't have change. Tourists, like me, pay a second time.

 

We haven't been back to Turkey since that trip, but we'd like to. The next time, I will hand any taxi driver a bill and announce, "I'm paying X in New Turkish Lira." There's probably a new scam, but at least I won't get caught a second time in the old one.

[Mura]

We encountered a variation of that theme in Paris in the late '80s. I'd obtained french francs before we left (enough for the cab from the airport and a few extras) and the cabbie told my husband that he'd only given him a 5 franc note instead of a 10 franc note -- I have no idea of the exact values here, only that the driver claimed we hadn't given him enough. When DH told me what had happened (I'd already left the cab) I told him he'd been scammed because I knew we hadn't had any notes in the denomination the driver claimed to have been given.

 

(That was a business trip so we were staying at a very expensive hotel ... I always have wondered if that was a factor.)

 

Pet Nit Noy, a similar thing happened to us in Istanbul in 2000 as well, but the hotel doorman shooed the cab driver away.

 

Of course, Istanbul cab drivers are notorious for being untrustworthy.

 

 

 

As to rubles in Russia, these days with the lowered oil prices I don't think any of them want rubles. When we were in St. Petersburg with Renaissance in 2001 our guide specifically wanted U.S. dollars; so did the cab drivers. The same on our Black Sea cruise in August 2011 ... none of the guides in the various countries wanted their own currency.

 

But I don't suggest trying to pay in U.S. dollars in major cities in western Europe!

 

We have an upcoming Lima-NYC cruise on Marina and the few guides I've contacted for tours want U.S. dollars.

 

Mura

Edited January 10, 2015 by Mura

[Pet Nit Noy]

Pet Nit Noy, a similar thing happened to us in Istanbul in 2000 as well, but the hotel doorman shooed the cab driver away.

Of course, Istanbul cab drivers are notorious for being untrustworthy.

 

I'm glad to read this comment about your hotel doorman since it gives me -- and other readers -- a take-away lesson.

 

The taxi driver took advantage of where he dropped us off to pull his scam. The front of our hotel was surrounded by three streets: two along each of the sides and one across the front. Access to the front door -- from the hotel's driveway -- was from the one-way street across the front. Riding back from the Grand Bazaar, the traffic had been heavy and when the driver approached the hotel he was on one of the side streets. He said that if we wanted to be dropped off at the door he'd have to drive around the block to deal with the one way streets. Since the front door was no more than twenty feet away and since we'd run up the taxi meter sitting in traffic, we agreed to get out away from the front door.

 

Reading your comment about your hotel doorman's running interference when your taxi driver tried the same scam makes me realize that our driver's kind-seeming offer to save us some money was nothing more than a well-practiced detail in his scheme. Of course people are going to walk twenty feet rather than run up the meter. For the scam to work, our driver needed to keep us away from the hotel's protective doorman.

 

Of course, using a taxi to return to one's hotel isn't the only destination so I'll repeat my earlier recommendation that people hand over money and announce the amount using the phrase "new Turkish Lira." This suggests some familiarity with the currency and with the scams that are associated with the old lira.

 

Another strategy: Ask your shopkeeper or restaurant host or private guide to hail you a cab. Another day, when we finished our dinner, the host offered to hail a taxi for us. He said that he knew most of the taxi drivers in Istanbul and knew which ones were to be avoided. That ride back to the hotel was uneventful.

Edited January 11, 2015 by Pet Nit Noy

[roothy123]

We did a Baltic cruise on O a few summers ago. Yes, the currency, as well as the time changes, can be a little confusing and annoying!

 

We didn't get, want or use any money in Russia. We took a 2 day excursion with Alla and didn't need anything. We charged a few little things in the shop they take you to in order to pay for the excursion, but that was all we bought in Russia.

 

In one place, credit cards were not accepted at McDonalds when we wanted a snack to tide us over. Think that was in Riga, but now I forget. We did, however, manage to find enough change to buy a snack.

 

In another port, I think Riga, two bankers came on board to exchange money. They were actually willing to take back unused money between 2 and 3 that afternoon, but we didn't bother. We exchanged 20$ for local currency, ended up spending it on the HOHO bus, don't think we used it all, but didn't come back in time to "give it back." I don't remember what the exchange rate was for the bank reps who came on board. They would also exchange unused money for roubles, since our itinerary went to St. Petersburg!

 

I think I got some Danish kroner for our day and a half in Denmark, but now I forget. If you're planning to use the city services (water buses, or land buses) you may need a little in change there. Not sure what the cab drivers accepted, however, as I walked and took the city's water buses.

 

I think Tallinn is on the euro, so that was easy. So was Warnemunde/Berlin, except that our credit card wouldn't work for a train ticket as it was chipless and PINless and there were no attendants in the station on Sunday. In Stockholm, we simply took the train to the airport, which we charged at a counter, so that was easy. I had wanted to see their subway (beautiful artwork), but since I didn't have Swedish money, that became too much trouble to be workable.

 

If you use ATMs to get money, make sure you know your PIN in numbers, not just letters, as I've heard many ATMs don't have the numbers printed.

 

Baltic was fabulous. Enjoy!

[roothy123]

I forgot Poland. Are you going to Poland? There, I took a tram or train to Gdansk, and then took a boat ride and a couple tram rides. Once in the port (Gdynia, although I may have spelled that wrong) it was easy to find a bank to exchange $20 into zloty on the main street. I didn't even have to present a passport to exchange money there - was in and out in 5 minutes and on my way to the train station! Sorry, but I didn't go to any shops or restaurants that day, so can't say if euros or credit cards were widely accepted. Gdansk was lovely, by the way.

 

I think Helsinki is on the euro, so that's another easy city. I bought an all day tram pass there, but forget if I needed euros or could pay by credit card. I also took a ferry, but there was an attendant there to take my euros, so that was easy.

 

As you can see, I'm very independent, and not a shopper - your mileage may vary!

Edited January 11, 2015 by roothy123

[JMBobB]

:eek: If you are going to buy rubles for a visit there, try and buy the least amount you'll likely need. None of the international currency exchanges and no U.S. banks will buy back your unspent rubles. This applied long before the current Russian Economic troubles. :eek:

 

JMBobB