Viking Homeland Local Currencies

[pineapple1176]

We are traveling in May on the Viking Sea Homeland Cruise. In a few of our ports we will not have time to get to a shore ATM for small tip $$ for guides and drivers prior to our excursions leaving the ship. Does the ship change currency with each different country? US banks that I have checked will not sell small quantities of currency.

[RJ2002]

There was no currency "exchange" on our recent Mediterranean cruise on the Star, but they did have Euros on hand for you to break down into smaller denominations.

[philw1776]

As stated above, viking does not do currency exchange. They DO provide coins when they have them for your euros.

I used AAA which uses Wells Fargo to get the smallest bills for each country visited on Homelands.

Made an envelope for each port with country's name on it and rough value for the bill. Kept it in safe and took out each day as needed.

Without a local currency your best next choice is to overpay in euros if credit card is not an option.

[geffric]

We are on Viking Homelands in May, we are bringing Euros, Dollars and Rubles...and credit card. I'll let you know how that works..

[Peregrina651]

Does the ship change currency with each different country?

 

I think this is what you are asking: NO matter where you are, the currency for all transactions that take place on the ship is the US dollar. All transactions will be charged to your ship board account which you then pay in full before disembarking either in cash or by credit card. Personal and travelers checks are not accepted.

[Nippy Sweetie]

I think the OP was asking about the local currencies for tipping or small purchases in the various different Baltic countries rather than on board expenses.

[pineapple1176]

I think this is what you are asking: NO matter where you are, the currency for all transactions that take place on the ship is the US dollar. All transactions will be charged to your ship board account which you then pay in full before disembarking either in cash or by credit card. Personal and travelers checks are not accepted.

 

I am aware of onboard $$ procedures and practices, but thank you.

[moatenote]

We were on this cruise last July and were told to give Euros to the local guides instead of trying to get local currency. They seemed happy to receive them. (we were amazed how many people didn't tip them at all). Credit cards were readily accepted in various ports, even for small purchases.

[Emptynesters38]

We went on this cruise last year. Prior to going I obtained $100 in local currency for Norway, Sweden and Russia and did not really need it. I only needed Dollars and Euros. We had a wonderful time.

[jiminyC_fan]

We were on the Homelands cruise last year. pinapple1176 if you have a local Wells Fargo stop by and speak to them. Our bank told us to go to Wells Fargo and get all currencies with the exception of Rubles as they said they were hard to come by. They don't have it at the bank but they order them. We probably got them in about a week. We told them that we wanted it all in small bills. I figured out what we needed in each port for tipping, private tours and some spending money just in case. We prefer to tip the guides in their local currency. A couple of times we encountered that a country's CC system was down so it paid off to have local currency. For us, it worked perfectly.

[Nippy Sweetie]

Tipping is not ubiquitous over here.

[pineapple1176]

Thank you, everyone, for the “tips!” Much appreciated!

[jiminyC_fan]

Tipping is not ubiquitous over here.

Viking's paperwork recommends tipping the guide and driver a given amount. I have no problem doing it.