Cruising - Different currencies, advice needed

[leehal]

Cruising to the Baltic in June and have a question about currency, we don't plan on spending a lot of money ashore and will probably rely on a credit card in case we want to buy more than a snack/coffee.

 

Denmark - Danish Krone

Estonia - Euro

Russia - Ruble

Finland - Euro

Sweden - Swedish Krona

Germany - Euro

 

How have people managed on other cruises with different currencies needed? 4 for ours.

[Ayton lady]

We did in fact take all 4 currencies on our Baltic cruise. Euros will always be used later if necessary, but we did find we needed small amounts of both Kronas and Roubles for teas and coffees. In St Petersburg we were on a private tour and visited a pie shop for lunch. We had the cash but not sure if they would have taken a card there. We also needed American dollars to pay for that private tour ( unused ones at that). It was a fabulous cruise visiting great places.

[Cyclospora]

We loaded sterling onto an international currency card and then either used it like a credit card or went to a cash point and took money out. I can't for the life of me remember who it was with but we used it in Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand. They took the exchange rate on that day when the withdrawals were made. You can also have single currency ones but you load the card with that particular currency and not sterling.

[diane.in.ny]

You may get some additional replies if you post this question under Ask A Cruise Question or under the Northern Europe POC section

[DeeBee132]

We took a small amount of each currency for our Baltic cruise and in Sweden I only spent on a fridge magnet! They did accept euros in Sweden and Denmark though. Roubles are better in Russia as things are a lot cheaper there.

[roxievegas]

We were on a B2B2B for 34 nights, visiting 12 countries - mostly EU, but need some other currency. We did not want to use credit cards for small things so we got from our bank ahead of time, $25 - $50 worth of foreign currency for each country. We were in Oslo for two days and used the bus to go all over and also went to coffee shops and they refused to use any currency except their own. We used the county currency to purchase the hop on hop off tickets if we were not on a company excursion. At the end of the trip, we used any unused foreign currency for extra tips to ship crew

[villauk]

Cruising to the Baltic in June and have a question about currency, we don't plan on spending a lot of money ashore and will probably rely on a credit card in case we want to buy more than a snack/coffee.

 

Denmark - Danish Krone

Estonia - Euro

Russia - Ruble

Finland - Euro

Sweden - Swedish Krona

Germany - Euro

 

How have people managed on other cruises with different currencies needed? 4 for ours.

 

Took small amounts of each, but not Russia as they wanted US$ ;) - check with your tour operator on that one.

 

Funny story from our visit to Sweden: we only had enough change left for 3 coffees and 2 buns between 7 of us. When we got to our next port stop and visited a coffee shop, the kids were amazed and stated, 'What, one cake EACH! We are lucky today :D.' We still laugh about it now ;p.

[cobeck]

We also took a small amount of each country's currency when we did this cruise last summer. We purchased from our local bank branch and ended up spending it all in the appropriate country (except Euro's as we travel to EU countries often enough). Some we spent of coffee and treats, some on souvenirs and others for tips (Russia tour paid in US currency but tipped in Rubles). Enjoy your trip, this was an amazing itenerary.

[2onboardagain]

We too always get a bit of "pocket money" in the local currency. (Never know when you might need to use a local loo). The ship's crew is always appreciative of a bit of all the local currencies that would be useless to us once we return home.

[TeeRick]

We also took a small amount of currency obtained in advance from our bank for the countries not taking €. But really in fact they all did. Also we could get € readily on the ship or in ATM's. We really used mostly credit cards even in St Petersburg with the best exchange rate and no issues. Check with your credit card company and let them know in advance what countries you will visit - and about your card's usage in particular in Russia. One point about Russia - it is illegal to use any other cash but rubles. However I don't think this is really enforced.

[Keddy72]

I have a fee free credit card, no foreign currency transaction fees, that way I can get cash out in the country (interest is charged daily on cash) or card payments interest free until statement payment date. Would recommend, haven't used it for Baltics yet, but do plan on using it in July.

[mcrcruiser]

Many folks are comfortable when they have small amounts of local currencies . Imo ,I would take just euros & my no foreign transaction credit card .

 

Buying foreign money at a US Bank like Wells Fargo is expensive & if you have to sell it back they charge for that as well . Both ways they get you for commissions

 

We can pretty much estimate our need for euros & if we have left over ,we use that as extra tips . This simplifies our currency lives:)