St. Petersburg - Locally Booked Tour V Cruise Ship Booked Tour

Hi All,

I am wondering if anyone has booked a 2 day tour of St Pertersburg. I am looking at the Viator website and have found a few that look interesting, however I am unsure about the "Visa Free" phase. Can anyone please advise what this relates to as I did read you will not be able to get off the ship in Russia if you don't have a visa.

Thank you

Sharyn

We will be in St. Petersburg in May and have booked a two day tour with Alla Tours. We have friends who used them previously and were very happy and they get good reviews here on CC. The price includes the visa and lunch both days. Ask for the Cruise Critic discount. There is no payment due until the end of the first day of touring. The communication with them has been very good. You can send an email through their site and they always answer within 24 hours.

Hi All,

I am wondering if anyone has booked a 2 day tour of St Pertersburg. I am looking at the Viator website and have found a few that look interesting, however I am unsure about the "Visa Free" phase. Can anyone please advise what this relates to as I did read you will not be able to get off the ship in Russia if you don't have a visa.

Thank you

Sharyn

The private tours provide a group visa just like the ship tours do. Do not let your cruise line try to scare you by implying your only choices are their tours or getting a visa on your own. That is not true.

One suggestion---look in your roll call to see if anyone is looking to have others join them on a private tour. Or, if you find one you like, post in your roll call to see if others want to join you. We did the latter in 2002, and ended up with a nice group of 10 on a wonderful 2 day tour with Alla.

Hi All,

I am wondering if anyone has booked a 2 day tour of St Pertersburg. I am looking at the Viator website and have found a few that look interesting, however I am unsure about the "Visa Free" phase. Can anyone please advise what this relates to as I did read you will not be able to get off the ship in Russia if you don't have a visa.

Thank you

Sharyn

Rather than use Viator which is simply a booking agent you should consider going directly to, Alla, SPB or one or the other tour companies . If you go to the ports of call boards you will find many threads on this subject.

I can second all of the advice of the previous posters!

--you can book private tours as long as they provide a group visa

--check out your roll call for groups already formed

--private tours can be cheaper and better than the ship tours

--Viatour acts like a middleman--no need to go through them--look in the posts here on CC under "ports of call"

--highly recommended groups are numerous and will help you find the tour best for you (we wanted totally private last July--just the two of us--and got it--it was EXPENSIVE but we spent all the time we wanted at the Hermitage and the other palace that holds the Impressionists)

Enjoy it! Was one of our bucket list ports!:D

Hi All,

I am wondering if anyone has booked a 2 day tour of St Pertersburg. I am looking at the Viator website and have found a few that look interesting, however I am unsure about the "Visa Free" phase. Can anyone please advise what this relates to as I did read you will not be able to get off the ship in Russia if you don't have a visa.

Thank you

Sharyn

Sharyn,go to the"Ports of Call" board under"Northern Europe and Baltics." There is lots of information there about tours in St. Petersburg. We did a two-day tour with Alla and it was a great experience.

We got the SPB Tours for their 2-day Deluxe St. Petersburg tour. It was just our passport and tour voucher that we presented to the Russian Immigration Officer. Aside from being cheaper than the ship's shore excursion, we felt more comfortable in a van than a bus, and got better attention from the tour guide. We were just 12 in the group that only a maximum of 16 are accommodated, compared to the ship's maximum of 40 in a bus.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

We contacted most all of the private tour company by email that were suggested on these boards. We ended up using TJ Travel...just a gut feeling I got from our communication....I was so happy we used them...they were amazing and took care of everything needed for our arrival..We did a 2 day private tour for just my husband & myself with a guide and driver in a new Mercedes for just a bit more than our cruiseline wanted for a large group tour. We saw/did more in those 2 days than we thought possible and with the flexibility to add somethings as we toured that we decide we wanted to see/do. Don't make the mistake of limiting yourself to a cruise excursion...this is definitely one place you will be selling yourself short if you do...after all this can be a trip of a lifetime...Enjoy !!!!

Thank you everyone for your extremely helpful advic, I know what I will be doing for the next couple of day.:D:D