St petersburg organised trips and russian visa

Hi can anybody pls give me and my friend advice on which tours are good to book,we have been told that its easier to book one,as it includes your russian visa..much easier than trying to get one yourself....we obv want to see the main tourist attractions,,but not too energetic,as steps are quite hard for us...we would welcome any advice and tips pls..we can then book them prior to sailing..we are on the brittania crise number b716...thank you in advance.

You will find lots of info on the ports of call section re St Petersburg. However, if you did book with a local tour company the Visa isn't an issue. You would only need to get your own visa if you wanted to just walk off the ship and get a taxi for instance, excursions, booked onboard or with local tour companies avoid the need for a full Russian visa.

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We're doing the Baltic on Britannia in June. Which ship are you on? I've got a useful booklet that someone produced specifically for the ports we're visiting and I can send you a copy if you're interested. We've booked with SPB tours and I'm not recommending them as we've never used them but we chose them because they're number 1 on Tripadvisor and they also offered a tour just enjoying the city at night which is what we wanted rather than the ballet etc. As the Baltic cruises are so port intensive we're doing 'Highlights' during the two days which certainly seem to cover the main sights

Cruise ship passengers staying for less than 72 hours do not need a visa if you are accompanied by an authorised tour guide, which can be either a ships tour or one from the local tour operators.

http://www.saint-petersburg.com/russian-visa/visa-free-travel/

It is therefore wrong of tour companies to say a visa is included as one is never issued.

If you book with a local tour company, they will email you a tour ticket which gets you through immigration.

Brian

HI TARTONEXILE...thanks for your reply...we are on the Brittania on the 4th june..calling at helsinki,,ST Petersburg,tallinn,,stockholm,,,copenhagen,,,Oslo,,,zeebrugge....the booklet you mentioned would be very helpful,and very welcome,,thank you.

We did ships tours in St Petersburg, I didn't realise you could book with any tour operator and it seemed the easiest thing to do, but it wasn't cheap. I recall we did a full day trip which went to two Palaces, I think if walking and steps are an issue this might be a bit too much, but maybe you could manage a trip which just does one, if you read the information it will help you decide which is most suitable. In the evening we went to the Hermitage museum which had a musical event (seated), so this may be good because there weren't too many crowds and you got to sit, again you would need to check the info. I don't think we did anything else. Watch your purse/wallet as organised pickpockets scout the crowds, create distractions and steal things as quick as a flash.

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HI TARTONEXILE...thanks for your reply...we are on the Brittania on the 4th june..calling at helsinki,,ST Petersburg,tallinn,,stockholm,,,copenhagen,,,Oslo,,,zeebrugge....the booklet you mentioned would be very helpful,and very welcome,,thank you.

Email me at:

tartanexile81 at outlook.com

and I'll send you it. No spaces and change at to @.

It's a pdf file

a few years ago we did a Baltics cruise and did a private tour through Red October. They were fantastic. Just a mini bus with about 12 people so we were able to zip in in front of the big busses. I would totally recommend them

We did SPB Tour's 2-day Deluxe tour of St. Petersburg. Very professional.

We are going to St Petersburg in May and having read lots of positive posts on here about shore based tour companies were going to book them BUT having looked at them all (and this may well be due to the plummeting value of Sterling) they are now eye-wateringly expensive, so we have reverted to the P&O trips which are far cheaper.

We used Alla Tours. The 2 day tour in a minibus was excellent.

We also used Alla tours, Fantastic. Check them out on trip advisor.

Local tour companies Such as SPB, TJ Travel and Alla Tours are all licensed, no visa required if you use them or ships excursions

Hi,we used SPB also,found them good.They also do tours in other baltic ports.Cheers,Brian.

We used Alla Tours. The 2 day tour in a minibus was excellent.

Totally agree. They also do a comfort tour which isn't quite so exhausting. Think there 16 in our minibus including a lady with MS who bought a lightweight scooter with her. The guide Alex gave us headsets which meant we could hear his commentary while being free to look around and not having to stick within 6 feet of him.

The one thing you have to take into account which has never applied before to those who have had great excursions with private companies in the past is if they are compatible in price because most if not all require payment in US$ and so because of the fall in rates due to the brexit vote the private tours will be more expensive so might be a big difference in P&O excursion prices.

The one thing you have to take into account which has never applied before to those who have had great excursions with private companies in the past is if they are compatible in price because most if not all require payment in US$ and so because of the fall in rates due to the brexit vote the private tours will be more expensive so might be a big difference in P&O excursion prices.

You are correct. I have looked at prices for private tours versus P&O for May and the difference, allowing for the plummeting value of Sterling, is now eye watering. So, having been tempted to go 'private' we are now back to P&O trips.

We did the 2 day Comfort Tour with Alla which was excellent. Yes, the prices are quoted in USD because that's where many of their passengers originate.

We paid with a CC with no foreign transaction fees. The CC machine quoted the amount in roubles and that's what was on the statement. Obviously, it is always best to pay in the local currency. I imagine the USD prices are quoted as a guideline.

Apart from Gdansk this was the only excursion we did in the Baltics. Everywhere else was easy to arrange ourselves.

Fantastic cruise and we hope to do another.

We did the two day PO organised tour in 2015 on our maiden cruise.

Didn't think to compare prices with local tour guides as we were happy to pay PO prices which then stood at 256.. It was a very full on trip which had our local guide cursing the number of sites she had to get us through!

The internet/alternate excursions might be cheaper even post brexit, but I doubt they are any better

I did a cruise to St Petersburg in 2012. It was a wonderful 2 days and I got to see loads - but I had prebooked with a local tour company called Alla Tours, rather than doing the cruise own tours.

The biggest advantage was the smaller tours were by minibus with only 11 other people, rather than a big bus that has 30+ people. The minibuses were able to go down side streets, get round the traffic easier, and as a result we had more time in the places we went to see.

Another advantage was being able to ask our guide questions and get the information we wanted on places.

It was more expensive to do the smaller tour, but it was also worth it as we saw so much more than the big buses, who had to wait for people who didn't get back on in time.

The final thing that made me laugh was the tour company had their own shop, a big shop where they ran from - and the ship tours went there for their shopping stops!!!

I should perhaps add in light of the previous reply, that the PO St Petersburg weekender that we did was also by minibus with the usual numbers, and we also had the headphone link with our guide throughout. Indeed they proved so useful that at no point did even the American family in our group get lost or detached from her :)

The one thing you have to take into account which has never applied before to those who have had great excursions with private companies in the past is if they are compatible in price because most if not all require payment in US$ and so because of the fall in rates due to the brexit vote the private tours will be more expensive so might be a big difference in P&O excursion prices.

We're going to the Baltic on Britannia in June and I've just checked my CP majortom and this certainly isn't the case with what we've booked with SPB. Also P&O's best deal is creating a package of 3 tours at a 10% reduction, none of which we particularly want to do. For us private companies offer a far better deal and suit our taste better.

We are going to St Petersburg in May and having read lots of positive posts on here about shore based tour companies were going to book them BUT having looked at them all (and this may well be due to the plummeting value of Sterling) they are now eye-wateringly expensive, so we have reverted to the P&O trips which are far cheaper.

We, too are in SP in May (Aurora).

I see, Selbourne, you are in the UK.

Perhaps it is the eye-watering drop in the value of the UK pound that makes the tours look so expensive?

As non UK residents, we too are finding that P&O, generally, is a good buy for us at the moment, with the pound being such a bargain.

Maybe see you on board.

We, too are in SP in May (Aurora).

I see, Selbourne, you are in the UK.

Perhaps it is the eye-watering drop in the value of the UK pound that makes the tours look so expensive?

As non UK residents, we too are finding that P&O, generally, is a good buy for us at the moment, with the pound being such a bargain.

 

Maybe see you on board.

Yes, it's exactly that - Sterling and the Pound are the same thing. We are looking forward to this cruise as the Baltic has been our favourite cruise destination to date and this itinerary is very interesting with Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia etc as well as the usual Baltic countries. Let's hope that there are no late itinerary changes, unless it's to add Stockholm as the long cruise in is spectacular as it passes hundreds of small picturesque islands. Still, the absence of Stockholm gives us a good excuse to go back again!

went on a Baltic cruise last year with another line, but we had 3 days in St Petersburg. We booked with Alla Tours who organised everything for us - www.alla-tour.com we did an intense itinerary which included the summer and winter palace, Faberge museum, church of the spilled blood and many other places, along with a very unique visit to the subway system which has to be seen to be believed.

One of our party was in a wheelchair so the company organised a minibus with lift to raise and lower the chair in and out.

Our guide was incredibly knowledgeable and headsets were provided so you could look at things as you wanted, whilst listening the guide talking about the history.

The company we used organised the visa's - you need to provide passport details, DOB, full names etc but you do need a visa to visit - although you wont actually receive the visa or passport stamp it is required. You have to have your passports with you when dis-embarking and returning and they are checked against a list to ensure you have the relevant visa 'paperwork'

On our cruise it was announced and also in the daily 'bulletin' that anyone without a pre organised tour or a ship tour, was not permitted off the ship without a prior arranged visa. Led to quite a lot of disappointment by some who had assumed it was like the Caribbean and you could just get on and off.

Interesting the company also cover many other destinations on the Baltic cruise, so we also used them for Stockholm trip and Berlin.

As stated in my post #4, no visa is required for tours, either from the ship or land based companies, as they are visa exempt. A visa is only required if you want to go ashore independently. However the cost is circa £100 which makes it not worthwhile.

Brian

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