Cruise Baltic Capitals/St.Petersburg

The euro is the official currency of Helsinki and Tallinn. The others all use their own currencies. People have said that many street vendors take euros, dollars, or both (I haven't seen references to pounds being accepted). But, of course, you usually get the best rate, and certainly get the highest acceptance, using the local currency. For more information (including why you're better off booking a tour of St. Petersburg with a local company, instead of the ship's tour), see this thread, including my response with links to Cruise Critic: http://www.ricksteves.com/graffiti/helpline/index.cfm/rurl/topic/88969/baltic-cruise.html

When I did a similar cruise I withdrew a small amount of the local currency in each port to pay for lunch etc. I actually enjoyed getting these notes that I had never seen before. I turned in all the leftovers at a currency exchange bureau at the end of my trip. It seems slightly less than respectful to try to pay in a foreign currency, especially in a place that isn't a small border town. That said, there may be places in Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm that have no problem accepting euros, I don't remember. The euro in any case would be a much better choice than the USD.

We did a Baltic cruise last summer. Go to www.cruisecritic.com for a good place to get answers on these types of questions. Our experience was with a private tour in St. P, so our lunch was included. We only needed money for trinkets/gifts. We paid in US Dollars or Euros. Any tourist shop your tour takes you to will take Pounds as well. Other countries were dependent on what we were doing there (lunch gifts, etc.). We did not do any tours with the ship and got currency only with our starting (Oslo) and ending (Stockholm) locations as we were staying there a few extra days.

To make it easy, just pay with a credit or debit card.

I also used ATM's to get a small amount of local currency to pay for transportation, food, souvenirs, admissions and a little left over for an additional souvenir. The one thing I found was ATM's aren't as readily available around ports as they seem to be downtown. This was only a problem once, Helsinki, when our ship docked more than a short walk from the center. Stockholm also has docks that are far from the center but our boat didn't use those and docked close-in. I'd suggest finding out where the ship docks. If it's more than a casual walk from the center, you may want to use the on-board exchange service to get a little local currency before you debark (the night before would be best); that way you have money to catch a taxi or bus. In St. Petersburg, I recommend booking with a local tour. They're half the cost as well as smaller groups that move more efficiently. We booked with Alla tours and were well satisfied. Another choice is Red October tours. Bring the documents they list and you will have no problem getting through immigration visa-free. Ignore the boats warnings that you won't be able to get off the boat unless you are on a ship excursion. It was crass of them to be so dishonest. We went straight to the ramp (rather than where the tours gather) and were off the boat and leaving the dock area with our tour before the big boat tours even got organized.

Regarding your question, "Would euros be accepted?" the answer depends on where you are shopping. Some, maybe most, places will take them, but it will never be at a favorable exchange rate. The further you get from the tourist areas, the less likely they are to accept foreign currencies. We only booked the one tour in St. Petersburg and ended up paying them in US dollars - everything else we did on our own, in local currency.

Thanks everyone for your advice. I did want to book with Alla however as it was only 1 day and we had been the only people wanting to book them from our ship the cost was really high per person hence we booked with ship for Peterhof and St.Isaacs, lunch and panorama in St.Petes although we would have seen more with Alla. Saw an excellent video on You tube of a traveller who did St.Petes tour over 2 days and saw most of what I wanted to see and which helped me decide trip to choose although would have liked to see inside church of spilled blood, but never mind we will get photo opportunity outside. Will definately take credit card and Euros.