Going on a Celebrity Constellation Cruise in June 2009 sailing from Harwich in the UK to the Baltics?

What currencies would I have to take and what currency do they use on board? and do you recommend paying the gratuities before or to take them off and tip personnel who have looked after you. This is our 1st cruise. Going on a Celebrity Constellation Cruise in June 2009 sailing from Harwich in the UK to the Baltics?I took that cruise a couple years ago and have been on many cruises so I'll explain how it goes.



Once you board the ship everything is cashless. First about the tipping. When you check in at the pier to board the cruise ship the cruise line (all of them do this) will set up an on board tab for you and each person in your cabin. They will actually request that you complete a pre-cruise registration on line or by mail and give your credit card number for everything that you may buy on the ship. When you check in they will give you a "cruise card" (about the size of a credit card) that will serve as your pass to get off and on the ship, your room key, and your charge card for anything you buy on ship. They will add a gratuity (tip) charge to your on board account. That gratuity charge will be $10 per day per person and it covers your cabin steward, your waiter and assistant waiter, and the head waiter. In addition, each time you buy a drink (soft drink or alcoholic) on the ship they will automatically add a 15 percent gratuity to the tab which you sign. So tips are automatically added to your bill. You can give more than the standard if you want AND if you have a service problem you can request that they remove a gratuity. At the end of you cruise you pay your bill by the credit card you have provided, OR, you can arrange to pay your bill in cash.



As far as currencies, it depends mainly on what you plan to do at each port stop. First, if you plan to spend some time in England before or after your cruise then you will needs some British Pounds. They don't accept US currency, except maybe in the airport. Just two of the countries that you visit use the Euro; Finland, and Germany.



So the other countries on your trip, Eastonia, Russia, Norway, and Sweden and Denmark use their own currencies. But some of the street vendors will take Euros and/or dollars. If you plan to do some serious shopping in any of these places, like buying clothes and/or jewelry, you will need currency or just use a credit card. If you plan to buy small things, like maybe a "t" shirt, magnet, postcards, you can usually get a small amount of local currency from the purser on ship (you need to do this early as their supply is usually limited). Some places you can buy small things with a credit card if its at least $10 to $20. In some ports you can find an ATM that will dispense local currency.



On our cruise we did not get all of these currencies because we usually went on a tour and bought a few small things from vendors who accepted Euros or dollars. On other cruises where we were going to countries that did not use the dollar we would go to the purser's desk and get a small amount of the local currency; maybe $50. worth. Then we make sure that we spend it all or consider the remainder a souvenir, or give it to the cabin steward on the last day with out tip envelope.