All of the Currencies in your Baltic Cruise ! Take the Poll...

[Boo's Mom]

So, now that you have done the Baltic cruise...... what worked well?

 

What would you do different?

 

What recommendations would you give to those who are preparing to go?

 

Thanks !

[spearmint]

So' date=' now that you have done the Baltic cruise...... what worked well?

 

What would you do different?

 

What recommendations would you give to those who are preparing to go?

 

Thanks ![/quote']

 

Great questions! I want to know, too.

[Host CMLA]

So' date=' now that you have done the Baltic cruise...... what worked well?

 

What would you do different?

 

What recommendations would you give to those who are preparing to go?

 

Thanks ![/quote'] The Baltic itinerary is very port intensive. I was exhausted every day. If I had to do it again, and I hope to do it again, I'd spend less time doing activities on the ship and more time resting and preparing for the next day's port. I tried to do it all and I found myself tired every day. I'd skip more shows, eat earlier dinners or eat in the buffet for faster service, and make sure I had everything together the night before for the next day so I wasn't rushed. The Baltic cruise is the one cruise I took solely for the ports and the ship wasn't a close second. Of course, I like a nice ship and a good time onboard but on this cruise the ports were the main attraction.

 

For those preparing to go, pack comfortable shoes. Be aware of where you're going and wear appropriate clothes (some churches don't allow sleeveless arms or shorts on women, etc.). Bring extra batteries for your camera. If you're bringing a digital camera, find a way to down load the pictures every night or bring extra memory cards. Most important, be a traveler and not a tourist. Don't expect everything to be like what you're used to at home. ;) And have a great trip!!!

[Host CMLA]

Just realized I didn't write what I meant to write about the currency. Ooops...I got local currency from my bank before I left home. I guestimated what I'd need and got that much. You can't get rubles from banks in the U.S. so I used a credit card or US cash for things in Russia. I had no problem using larger US bills. Our guide told us the Russians liked getting larger US bills because when they exchanged them, the rate was very good.

[Betsy's Mom]

I am seriously contemplating this trip for 07 and eager for any and all information!

B.:)

[sunprincess]

For some reason years ago I stopped doing traveller's checks.

All I need is my VISA.

 

For the Baltic when I landed in Amsterdam enroute to Copenhagen I exchanged some money via the ATM to get some EURO to start out.

Did another exchange for EURO on the ship.

 

Credit cards are so easy to used & widely accepted. Even paid for soda in the Hermitage with my credit card.

Bring some smaller bills, singles and $5 for purchases & tips too.

Never had any trouble at all with currency.

 

The Baltic Cruise is awesome :)

Do hope you enjoy it as I did.

[Boo's Mom]

So, are there always long lines @ the Onboard Bank..... on the sailings with so many diffferent currencies?

 

Are the fees always a percentage?

So, it doesn't matter how many times you exchange, because it is always a percentage that you are paying?

Or...is it ever (bank, ATM, credit card) a flat rate?

[eldercruser]

Exchanging currency on board is not the most efficient. The ship's exchange rate is not as good as you will find at a bank ATM ashore. The ship also charges a fee for service on top of the not so good exchange rate. If you wish to change currency back to dollars, once again you will get a not so good rate plus another service fee. And, yes there can be lines although they usually move quickly; however the office hours are very limited.

 

Bank ATM's generally give you the wholesale exchange rate plus a percentage fee. I have always found the ATM's to offer the best deals.

 

Exchanging currency or traveler's checks ashore will probably find similar charges and exchange rates to those of the ship.

[JodiBB]

With the exception of Tallinn and Russia, we purchased currencies for all the other countries (about $50 USD worth) through AAA. With a AAA Mastercard Platinum, they would waive the cash advance fee if you're a AAA member, so it saved us some money and they got it to us within 2 business days. We purchased $150 USD worth of British pounds as we were staying there for 3 days pre-cruise.

 

We also brought a credit card for larger purchases and finally, we purchased the London Pass with travel card, the Oslo Pass and the Stockholm Pass ahead of time. This allowed us to explore on our own without having to shell out monies in these cities to get on the bus or to enter a museum.

[Lyn Mc]

Hi we have just completed our first Baltic Cruise and it was fantastic

 

We used local currency on our trips but credit cards when shopping. You can get most of the currencies from the ship but not the zloty (poland) and estonia kroon (Tallin).

 

We purchased our currency on board ship. NOTE: You cannot charge this to your shipboard account you have to take dollars/pounds etc to the onboard bank and exchange actual notes!! They will also exchange back notes but not coins.

 

However, having said all this we would not do this again the ships exchange rate is not that good and we lost out big time. We would use the local ATM's they are plentiful and only a small charge from your bank. There are banks that don't charge you and I would recommend looking into this if you are planning a trip could save you quite a bit on a Baltics cruise.

 

In Russia they will take dollars but the market and some small stall holders only take roubles but our tour guide helped us out there and we repaid her in dollars. In Tallin they took euros but the change came back in estonian kroons, we gave all our coins from all the ports to our room stewardess.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Lyn

[Boo's Mom]

Hi we have just completed our first Baltic Cruise and it was fantastic

 

We used local currency on our trips but credit cards when shopping. You can get most of the currencies from the ship but not the zloty (poland) and estonia kroon (Tallin).

 

We purchased our currency on board ship. NOTE: You cannot charge this to your shipboard account you have to take dollars/pounds etc to the onboard bank and exchange actual notes!! They will also exchange back notes but not coins.

 

However, having said all this we would not do this again the ships exchange rate is not that good and we lost out big time. We would use the local ATM's they are plentiful and only a small charge from your bank. There are banks that don't charge you and I would recommend looking into this if you are planning a trip could save you quite a bit on a Baltics cruise.

 

In Russia they will take dollars but the market and some small stall holders only take roubles but our tour guide helped us out there and we repaid her in dollars. In Tallin they took euros but the change came back in estonian kroons, we gave all our coins from all the ports to our room stewardess.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Lyn

 

Hi Lyn....

What ship were you on? (OK... I'm editing now. I see from your other post that you were on the constellation ! )

 

Did they tell you why they could not exchange money from Poland & Estonia? Did they run out....or was it something they just didn't do?

 

Thanks !

[dbh62ark]

We've been twice to the Baltics and used the same method of managing currencies both times. But what works well for you and what worked well for us will vary based on your plans in port. We are (very) independent travelers and have found that we always need some of the local currency in port, even if it's just to use the restroom by the ferry that goes to the Vasa Museum in Stockholm. So we order around $40-50 worth of the currency for each port from our local bank a couple of weeks before leaving for our trip. We were surprised that our local bank (we have accounts at Bank of America) was able to get Russian rubles and Tallinn currency for us in 2005 because we were not able to get that prior to our 2003 Baltics trip. While in port, we used our credit cards for entry fees early in the day and then used the cash that we had leftover toward the end of the day. There are usually convenience stores near the ship where you can buy postcards, etc. with leftover currency too. I don't like to be bothered with wasting time looking for an ATM--and then there's the time that DH got $700 equivalent U.S. instead of $70 in Bergen--so that's why we order in advance.

 

Since nearly all of the Baltics ports use a different currency, it's not fun to manage all that on a Baltics cruise, but we had to have some of each during our port visits (and had fellow passengers trying to buy some from us), so it was a necessary evil for us.

 

We used the ship's casino to get cash on board the ship, and this was especially useful in St. Petersburg where U.S. cash was king. Using U.S. cash got us major discounts there.

 

Have a great trip,

Donna

[Boo's Mom]

Hey Donna... Thanks for the reply.

 

I guess I hadn't heard that before...about US dollars in Russia.

What is the attraction to our dollars?

[dbh62ark]

Hey Donna... Thanks for the reply.

 

I guess I hadn't heard that before...about US dollars in Russia.

What is the attraction to our dollars?

I don't really know, but I know that it works! I know that in Turkey, the hotels and other businesses hold their U.S. dollars because the exchange rate fluctuates a lot, so they take the $$ in for conversion on the days that they can make the most.

 

Many of the stores in St. Petersburg gave us a better price if we paid in U.S. cash dollars. I didn't want to carry a ton of cash, so the casino on the Constellation would charge $300 (or whatever) to our American Express and then give us the $$. I paid for our St. Petes tour in U.S. cash from the casino because I didn't want to carry all that cash during our pre-cruise stay in the U.K.

 

Also, I was pleased to see that many of the stores on our private tour (we were on Denrus, and I note that because I think Red October uses mostly their own stores) would take U.S. dollars instead of Euros even if you used credit cards. So an item that was marked 34 Euros was $34 U.S. With the current exchange rates, that's over 20% savings. Also, our tour guide advised us to ask for a discount if we spent over $100 U.S., and the discount was nearly always 10%. I noticed that the discount over $100 was 10% in Tallinn too.

 

:) Donna

[spearmint]

I don't really know, but I know that it works! I know that in Turkey, the hotels and other businesses hold their U.S. dollars because the exchange rate fluctuates a lot, so they take the $$ in for conversion on the days that they can make the most.

 

Many of the stores in St. Petersburg gave us a better price if we paid in U.S. cash dollars. I didn't want to carry a ton of cash, so the casino on the Constellation would charge $300 (or whatever) to our American Express and then give us the $$. I paid for our St. Petes tour in U.S. cash from the casino because I didn't want to carry all that cash during our pre-cruise stay in the U.K.

 

Also, I was pleased to see that many of the stores on our private tour (we were on Denrus, and I note that because I think Red October uses mostly their own stores) would take U.S. dollars instead of Euros even if you used credit cards. So an item that was marked 34 Euros was $34 U.S. With the current exchange rates, that's over 20% savings. Also, our tour guide advised us to ask for a discount if we spent over $100 U.S., and the discount was nearly always 10%. I noticed that the discount over $100 was 10% in Tallinn too.

 

:) Donna

 

Great information. Thanks!

[SaylorGirl]

Since we were getting currencies in small amounts, other than the Euro which we used on our additional Europe travels, we had money exchanged at Wells Fargo before we left. That worked the best for us, we didn't have to take the limited time in each port to find a ATM or exchange place. If you plan to exchange a great deal of money you will get a better rate if you wait. I do have some left over currencies if anyone is interested.

[dbh62ark]

Great information. Thanks!

You're welcome. Have a great trip!

 

:) Donna