Yikes! - Northern European Cruise and Currency

[eva]

I was just wondering if all the countries on the Northern European cruises took the Euro. After as bit of investigating I discovered that there are 6 different currencies on the cruise. Here's how it looks:

England - Pound
Norway - Norwegian Krone (NOK)
Denmark - Danish Krone (DKK)
Germany - Euro
Russia - Ruble
Finland - Euro
Sweden - Swedish Krona (SEK)

Yikes! I wonder if we will be able to exchange small amounts of currency onboard. We had to order Euros for our trip to Italy. I can just see my credit union if I tried ordering small amounts of all these currencies. I know that a lot of people really advice using ATMs. But I do not want to waste my time trying to find one. On our ABD trip to Italy it became a real hassle for those who brought little money with them. For one thing, the tours go from early morning to late day. And the tour isn't going to stop to let you withdraw money. The main reason I want some local currency is that Europe is famous for pay toliets.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

I was just wondering if all the countries on the Northern European cruises took the Euro. After as bit of investigating I discovered that there are 6 different currencies on the cruise. Here's how it looks:

England - Pound
Norway - Norwegian Krone (NOK)
Denmark - Danish Krone (DKK)
Germany - Euro
Russia - Ruble
Finland - Euro
Sweden - Swedish Krona (SEK)

Yikes! I wonder if we will be able to exchange small amounts of currency onboard. We had to order Euros for our trip to Italy. I can just see my credit union if I tried ordering small amounts of all these currencies. I know that a lot of people really advice using ATMs. But I do not want to waste my time trying to find one. On our ABD trip to Italy it became a real hassle for those who brought little money with them. For one thing, the tours go from early morning to late day. And the tour isn't going to stop to let you withdraw money. The main reason I want some local currency is that Europe is famous for pay toliets.

Yes DCL convert local current at a coroprate exchange rate on these cruises but local ATM's are in abundance.

I would suggest taking 2>3 different credit cards ( one could get stopped for security or authorisations) and tell your bank in advance where you are going. toliets isnt as bad as its made out yes you pay at ome but there is also McD's or fast food places around.

An Idea would be to come to the UK and london first and go to our exchange places such as Thomas cook, and get the local currency there. Avoid ones in central London and airports in tourist areas but a lot of banks would also set you currency.

 

[eva]

Yes DCL convert local current at a coroprate exchange rate on these cruises but local ATM's are in abundance.

I would suggest taking 2>3 different credit cards ( one could get stopped for security or authorisations) and tell your bank in advance where you are going. toliets isnt as bad as its made out yes you pay at ome but there is also McD's or fast food places around.

An Idea would be to come to the UK and london first and go to our exchange places such as Thomas cook, and get the local currency there.

Andrew, I should have known you would have the answer. In Italy we encounter pay toilets quite a bit. Some were just a person with a basket. But they did want their money. Maybe other countries aren't so bad. We really just want about $20 or $30 in each currency. Normally we will use a credit card for most transactions. It will be kind of fun bringing back all the different currencies for the grandkids.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Andrew, I should have known you would have the answer. In Italy we encounter pay toilets quite a bit. Some were just a person with a basket. But they did want their money. Maybe other countries aren't so bad. We really just want about $20 or $30 in each currency. Normally we will use a credit card for most transactions. It will be kind of fun bringing back all the different currencies for the grandkids.

Toilets: Italy was bad particularly at the tourist places such as Pompeii and Pisa, but often there was a Mc'ds or snack bar you could use around, we had a private tour and the guides knew of the places. The Med in 2007 was fine as everything was Euro, This time in the Baltic you make a good point there is far more currencies.

Thomas cook in London would be a great place to buy these and I presume the port of Dover would have exchange facilities for the cruises, they would do Euros I am sure.

 

[jilljill]

Some of the places in each of the countries will also accept euros, british pounds or US$.

In Russia our tour guide took us to an atm to get out rubles. We were not able to convert $ to rubles in our area.

 

[OurDogCisco]

That's weird... On our Med. Cruise we never paid to use the bathroom except once in Monte Carlo (but I kinda expected it there)...

The tour guides knew where the good bathrooms were. And, I made my kids go even if they didn't need to go. I thought it would be a bigger problem than it was. But everyone was fine.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

That's weird... On our Med. Cruise we never paid to use the bathroom except once in Monte Carlo (but I kinda expected it there)...

The tour guides knew where the good bathrooms were. And, I made my kids go even if they didn't need to go. I thought it would be a bigger problem than it was. But everyone was fine.

Thanks for confirmation, I agree, its a bit of a misconception about paying, but I also can see how it comes about, in a few tourist places yes they charge or you tip, but as you say the tour guides know the places and there is places such as Mc'd's everywhere that you can use, my family didn't have any issue on the Med cruise in 07.

 

[jilljill]

Thanks for confirmation, I agree, its a bit of a misconception about paying, but I also can see how it comes about, in a few tourist places yes they charge or you tip, but as you say the tour guides know the places and there is places such as Mc'd's everywhere that you can use, my family didn't have any issue on the Med cruise in 07.

We had to pay at a McD's in Amsterdam this past summer. We were very surprised at that.

 

[eva]

That's weird... On our Med. Cruise we never paid to use the bathroom except once in Monte Carlo (but I kinda expected it there)...

The tour guides knew where the good bathrooms were. And, I made my kids go even if they didn't need to go. I thought it would be a bigger problem than it was. But everyone was fine.

That's true. The ABD guides usually took us to free ones and warned us when we would have to pay. The train station in Florence was one. And the funicular station in Orvieto was another. But on our ABD trip we had times we were on our own. This is when we always seemed to find a person with a basket. And when you need to go the last thing you want to do is spend a lot of time trying to find a free one. But like I said, Italy may be a bit different. When we lived in Germany 20 years ago, I don't remember it being a problem in Germany or Austria. But I do remember hitting a number of pay ones in Paris. One thing I should also say it that most of the pay restrooms are much nicer than the free ones. Unless of course you are able to sneak into a nice restaurant or hotel. And don't forget your hand sanitizer and some tissues. When we went to the Oktoberfest, there was a man outside the restrooms selling tissue by the square. And of course there was no toilet paper in any of the restrooms.

 

[Claire L]

True about Russian Rubbles you cannot take any in or out of the country, and the US$ is not really, if at all, accepted anymore.

I shall have to dig out some Euros that I have got left over from our trip to Lanzarote last year.

Claire

 

[eva]

Some of the places in each of the countries will also accept euros, british pounds or US$.

In Russia our tour guide took us to an atm to get out rubles. We were not able to convert $ to rubles in our area.

Do you know which of the countries on the Northern Capital cruise accept Euros besides Germany and Finland? About.com didn't explain that some of the others would accept the Euro too. We have some left from our trip to Italy. So that could be very helpful.

 

[Claire L]

Do you know which of the countries on the Northern Capital cruise accept Euros besides Germany and Finland? About.com didn't explain that some of the others would accept the Euro too. We have some left from our trip to Italy. So that could be very helpful.

I think it is hit and miss really. Some of our bigger shops here in the UK accpet Euros, but think you get local currency returned in change.

Claire

 

[jilljill]

Do you know which of the countries on the Northern Capital cruise accept Euros besides Germany and Finland? About.com didn't explain that some of the others would accept the Euro too. We have some left from our trip to Italy. So that could be very helpful.

It is definatley hit or miss and up to each individual shop.
For Denmark, I was able to get Danish Krones from my local bank. We just had to be sure to use them up before we departed. But I saw signs in some of the shops that they accepted other currencies.
The shops we went to in Russia would take rubles, US$ and euros. I ended up paying in rubles since I got them from an atm.
We haven't been to Norway or Sweden so can't help you there.

 

[NancyIL]

True about Russian Rubbles you cannot take any in or out of the country, and the US$ is not really, if at all, accepted anymore.

We had no trouble using US dollars in St. Petersburg in 2005. Our private tour was paid for in US currency, and many prices at outdoor shopping stalls were marked in $.

 

[cruellababy]

here is a dumb ques- how/who is going to know if you keep a couple of rubles to bring home? I don't want to get into trouble. But, I wanted a couple for souveniers