Getting foreign currency prior to cruise to England, Scotland, Norway

[fourcruisesgoingonfive]

Although we can use credit cards and ATMs in various countries we visit on an Ocean Cruise, we'd like to have some amount of local currency for things such as tipping guides, small purchases, etc. Any thought on how much to purchase from our US back in advance? We'll be in England 2 days, Scotland 3 days, and Norway for about a week.

[SeaThruU]

For private tours we usually figure 10% of tour price for guide and if you have a separate driver 5% for them. If you're on group tours, $20-$30 USD (converted)/person for guide and $10-$15 USD for driver. I got the XE currency app to convert. It makes it easy to calculate what you'll need for each country's currency.

 

 

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[Peregrina651]

For private tours we usually figure 10% of tour price for guide and if you have a separate driver 5% for them. If you're on group tours, $20-$30 USD (converted)/person for guide and $10-$15 USD for driver. I got the XE currency app to convert. It makes it easy to calculate what you'll need for each country's currency.

 

 

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If you are thinking of how much to tip on the Viking shorex, Viking suggests 2 euro per day per person for the local guide and 1 euro for the driver (or the local equivalent). $20-30 pp for a group tour is way more than the 10% that you tip on a private tour --unless you've you chosen a shorex that costs $200.

[tubeamps]

Sounds like a Midnight Sun itinerary. I have a similar schedule and am planning on bringing about $125 in pound sterling and $150 in Krone.

[mhb1757]

Wow... $30/pp for a group tour guide?? That's some tip. Viking suggests 2euro/pp for guide and 1euro/pp for driver on their European river cruises. We are in Norway now and it is pretty much cashless. Even small purchases seem to be card preferred by the merchants. We did pay cash for bus tickets yesterday. If you order NOK from your bank be sure and tell them you want small denominations (like 50 and 100NOK). It is hard to find places that want to accept large denomination bills for small purchases. I would think $200-250 in kroner would be very adequate for a week in Norway and you could certainly get by with less.

[sitraveler]

Scotland is part of Great Britain, therefore Sterling for both. The smallest paper is 5 pounds, so you need coins for tips. You'll have to get change once you are there.

[roothy123]

I was just looking at this last night (and yes, we're on Midnight Sun). I know you get a haircut by buying money before you go, but we like to take small sums so we don't have to worry about anything. I'm also an independent sort of person, which means I might want to take a public bus or something like that - which usually requires local money, including sometimes local coins (ugh!)

 

Last night I figured out how many Icelandic krone, Norwegian krone, and GB pounds we might need. We aren't really shoppers, and only are doing one private tour payable in USD in our case, so I'm not planning on getting a lot of money. Of course, Norway's quite expensive, so perhaps I'm not being very realistic. However, everywhere I've been in Europe so far seems to readily take credit cards, so we plan to use those as much as we can.

 

I looked at getting money from Bank of America (where we have an account) and the American Automobile Association. They're both pretty similar in terms of what they charge, how fast they can get it and whether they have a minimum. BOA looked a little cheaper than AAA, but not by much. We'll probably just get small amounts from BOA. You can figure out how much you want online by entering target amounts in each currency and it will give you the price. The conversion rates are a little worse than what I imagine an ATM overseas would give you, plus you pay a $7.50 fee. With AAA, it's similar, except that they charge a $10 fee.

Edited June 2, 2017 by roothy123

[Vikingfan#1]

Wow... $30/pp for a group tour guide?? That's some tip. Viking suggests 2euro/pp for guide and 1euro/pp for driver on their European river cruises. We are in Norway now and it is pretty much cashless. Even small purchases seem to be card preferred by the merchants. We did pay cash for bus tickets yesterday. If you order NOK from your bank be sure and tell them you want small denominations (like 50 and 100NOK). It is hard to find places that want to accept large denomination bills for small purchases. I would think $200-250 in kroner would be very adequate for a week in Norway and you could certainly get by with less.

 

I'll be in Norway next month. Do we need their money for restrooms?

[mhb1757]

We have been in Norway touring for a week on our own. Just boarded the ship today... Haven't seen a single pay toilet yet. That doesn't mean there aren't some someplace but we haven't seen any. All of the restaurants, cafes, museums and galleries we have been in all had free restrooms. As well as bus and train stations, ferry stops and airports.

[roothy123]

I'll be in Norway next month. Do we need their money for restrooms?

Don't know about Norway, but just some trivia: Iceland accepts credit cards for bathroom use in at least one of the rest rooms in their national park (on the Golden Circle, a popular tourist destination from Reykjavik).

[cruzzzinma]

I'll be in Norway next month. Do we need their money for restrooms?

No.

As someone previously stated, Norway is mostly cashless and we didn't get any NOK. We tipped in Euros or US dollars. Since we were among the few that tipped, everyone thanked us profusely.

We did have a few British pounds, which we used in the U.K. Beware, the old £5 notes are expired and merchants won't accept them.

[Vikingfan#1]

I'll be in Norway next month. Do we need their money for restrooms?

 

That's good to know! I really don't want to change any money since we will be in Iceland and then in different countries daily on the Homeland cruise.

[Vikingfan#1]

Don't know about Norway, but just some trivia: Iceland accepts credit cards for bathroom use in at least one of the rest rooms in their national park (on the Golden Circle, a popular tourist destination from Reykjavik).

 

Thanks for telling me! Did you take another tour in Iceland besides the included one to the Golden Circle? We aren't sure what to do with our free time.

[Vikingfan#1]

No.

As someone previously stated, Norway is mostly cashless and we didn't get any NOK. We tipped in Euros or US dollars. Since we were among the few that tipped, everyone thanked us profusely.

We did have a few British pounds, which we used in the U.K. Beware, the old £5 notes are expired and merchants won't accept them.

 

Thank you! I wonder if I get by without any cash in Poland, Estonia, Russia, Helsinki, and Denmark!