Russian port on Japan cruise

I was on a Princess cruise that stopped in Korsakov. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but....

 

1) It's a tender port, not docked. So there's a big production to even get off the ship.

2) AFAIK, you had to book a "tour" even to just walk around Korsakov.

3) There is absolutely nothing to see in Korsakov, unless you want to see what the wrong end of the Soviet Union looked like, in a town that time forgot.

4) The "big city", Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, is marginally better. Their big attraction is a giant Lenin statue. :) That requires an hour bus or train ride, though.

5) This port is clearly scheduled for legal reasons to make it an international cruise, not for any intrinsic appeal to the destination.

6) The majority of the cruisers simply stayed on board and treated it as a sea day. They must have gotten the memo that I missed.

 

2/10 would not recommend.

I haven't been myself but have been told by people who worked on the island that there is world class nature on the island. Were there no excursions to Lake Tyanacha or other wild areas?

I haven't been myself but have been told by people who worked on the island that there is world class nature on the island. Were there no excursions to Lake Tyanacha or other wild areas?

Not on our cruise. That's too bad, as the nature outings we took on Hokkaido were some of the highlights of the cruise.

Our options were:

1) Bus around Korsakov

2) Walk around Korsakov

3) Bus to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk

4) Historic Train to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk

5-8) The same options in Japanese

Keep in mind, the tourism infrastructure for this port is.... well, there isn't any. In order to have Japanese-speaking tour guides, they had to bring them in from Vladivostok specifically for our ship.

I am on the same cruise and started researching private tour companies in Petropavlovsk 12-18 months out. I finally settled on KAMCHATINTOUR http://www.kamchatintour.ru

 

We have selected our itinerary and they have answered all of our questions promptly (in English). We now have a tour ticket for the four of us, which is also called a blanket visa or booking confirmation. This should allow us to disembark the ship without delay or any bureaucratic delays with the customs officials.

How was it? We will be there in May 2018.

Also, this was the latest email I got back from the Russian Consulate in Washington DC:

If you spend the night on Board the cruise ship and go ashore only with the excursions organized by your cruise company and if you stay in Russia not more than 72 hours you don't need a visa.

If you want to go ashore by yourself or another tourist company or spend the night in hotel you need a tourist visa.

I was specifically asking about Petropavlosk in Kamchatka. While there are some countries that they allow free entry to this port the USA is not one of them at the moment.

How was it? We will be there in May 2018.

 

Also, this was the latest email I got back from the Russian Consulate in Washington DC:

 

If you spend the night on Board the cruise ship and go ashore only with the excursions organized by your cruise company andif you stay in Russia not more than 72 hours you don't need a visa.

If you want to go ashore by yourself or another tourist company or spend the night in hotel you need a tourist visa.

 

I was specifically asking about Petropavlosk in Kamchatka. While there are some countries that they allow free entry to this port the USA is not one of them at the moment.

That was not our experience at all. Passengers on ship's tours, private, local tours or just people without any tour at all were allowed to disembark. Russian officials only wanted to see our passports - nothing else.

This may be of interest to you: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=53486818&postcount=332

That was not our experience at all. Passengers on ship's tours, private, local tours or just people without any tour at all were allowed to disembark. Russian officials only wanted to see our passports - nothing else.

 

 

This may be of interest to you: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=53486818&postcount=332

This would seem to contravene the rules for visa free access. This is beyond a backwater port and the customs guards are probably more accommodating. Counting on that in Russia though could lead to disappointment. If you are neutral about getting off and just wandering around a bit it could be worth chancing it rather than spending the time and money to get a visa.

If you are neutral about getting off and just wandering around a bit it could be worth chancing it rather than spending the time and money to get a visa.

That is not really a practical option. The pier that the cruise ships use is a good hike from the center of town and anything of real interest. IMO, walking is not an option.

Based on my experience in May of 2017, a tour takes you to places you would not find on your own (e.g. snow dogs center). As such, it makes much better use of your time ashore. I dealt with a local company (Kamchatintur) and they did provide us with a "travel voucher" which documented all of the details of our tour. It looked very official. However, nobody ever asked to see it.

Traval voucher.pdf