Disembarking in St Petersburg on private tour

So I've seen where people have mentioned that some of the cruise companies make those on independent tours wait to disembark after the company run tours have disembarked. I've heard mention of Princess doing this and I say John Heald mention that Carnival does this on his blog today. My question is what has the experience been with Royal Caribbean? Should I expect to have to wait for the ship tour groups to disembark if I'm going on a private tour?

Hi Lindsey,

Haven't sailed there with RCI, but have followed with interest the various threads on this subject.

Posters who'd travelled with RCI, like most cruise lines, have reported that they had no such problem or restrictions. :)

They went ashore as soon as the ship was cleared & were into their vans & out of the port while ship's tour groups were still assembling aboard.

Hopefully you'll get confirmation from the horse's mouth if you post your question on the RCI cruise line board.

Don't know about the Carnival-named ships, but our P&O ship is part of the Carnival conglomerate and, like RCI, we had none of that nonsense - very quick & easy through immigration well ahead of the herd. :)

JB :)

Hi Lindsey

We just returned from our Baltic cruise a few weeks ago and very happy to report that we had NO issues disembarking in SPB from the RCI Brilliance. We got right off, waited a bit in line through immigration before meeting up with our Alla tour then we were whisked away to begin our adventure! No announcements on the ship about needing to wait for ship tours to leave first, no delay in getting our custom cards to complete (received them in our cabin 2 nights before we arrived), seamless process and no "scare tactics" whatsoever! Enjoy your cruise, it was fantastic! :)

Dolfans from Miami

No problems on Emerald Princess in June either --separate gangways for Princess and independent tours.

Thanks so much for the feedback

It seems as if the only cruise line to be doing this is Princess and we have heard varying ports of this. Some cruises, they do try and influence how cruisers are leaving the shop, and on others, nothing to even mention. We have not heard anything like what you said from any of the other cruise lines.

I do not think Carnival does a Baltic run.

Cheers

Len

I didn't think carnival did until heald mentioned it on his blog yesterday. He specifically said that some passengers were upset because they had to wait until the ships excursions were off before they could disembark

Hi Lindsey

What cruise are you on? We are on Vision of the Seas departing 7th July and are taking the Alla Tours Comfort Tour. I've been trying via the Roll Call to get our group together to depart the ship, but there's not a lot going on on our Roll Call.

Hazel

So I've seen where people have mentioned that some of the cruise companies make those on independent tours wait to disembark after the company run tours have disembarked. I've heard mention of Princess doing this and I say John Heald mention that Carnival does this on his blog today. My question is what has the experience been with Royal Caribbean? Should I expect to have to wait for the ship tour groups to disembark if I'm going on a private tour?

I think the info on Princess is old. I was in St Petersburg on Mon and Tuesday on the Ocean Princess. We were given the immigration info like everyone else and it was clear what you needed as an independent traveler. We were one of the first ones off the ship and while we waited in the line to enter the immigration area (we were at the Lt Schmidt embankment), a cruise excursion was called down. They got in line behind us. No problems.

It seems as if the only cruise line to be doing this is Princess and we have heard varying ports of this. Some cruises, they do try and influence how cruisers are leaving the shop, and on others, nothing to even mention. We have not heard anything like what you said from any of the other cruise lines.

 

I do not think Carnival does a Baltic run.

 

Cheers

 

Len

Carnival Legend is in the Baltic now with its first cruise out of Dover, England started on June 21. We will be doing B2B in August.

Carnival Legend is in the Baltic now with its first cruise out of Dover, England started on June 21. We will be doing B2B in August.

Thanks for the heads up. I know Carnival cancelled out of next year though.

Cheers

Len

I used the word disembarkation but actually meant leaving the ship for a private tour in St. Petersburg. We were on the Emerald Princess last summer - our group of 12 or so meet about 15 minutes before posted dockage time on floor 5 and were off the ship about 15 seconds after the ship was cleared. I think we were the first people through Customs and Immigration. While the Russian Customs people didn't smile they were very efficient and probably most happy to have you come to their country. Our private tour guide met us right outside customs and we were on our way before the ship's tours had even exited the ship.

SAS

I used the word disembarkation but actually meant leaving the ship for a private tour in St. Petersburg. We were on the Emerald Princess last summer - our group of 12 or so meet about 15 minutes before posted dockage time on floor 5 and were off the ship about 15 seconds after the ship was cleared. I think we were the first people through Customs and Immigration. While the Russian Customs people didn't smile they were very efficient and probably most happy to have you come to their country. Our private tour guide met us right outside customs and we were on our way before the ship's tours had even exited the ship.

 

SAS

My wife and I are going to St Petersburg out of Stockholm on May 28, 2015.

I admit to being worried that Celebrity might, like Princess has in the past, "redirect" those of us who are using private excursions.

We are with a fairly small group and we do intend to simply walk off the ship once the clearance has been announced. Does anyone think we might encounter any of the problems the Princess people have described?

I believe we are on the same sailing. Last year or and the end of the prior year, Princess incurred the ire of Russian Immigration Officials by holding back folks taking independent excursions in favor of those who were doing Princess Tours. In the real world, we all know that there must be quite a relationship between the Russian Bureaucrats and Russian Tour Guides and Agencies when there is money to be made. A few words with Immigration by the guides, after weeks and possibly seasons of this behavior resulted in a strong warning from Immigration to Princess. In addition, there was word of grave dissatisfaction and in some cases confrontation between passengers and crew members by Princess cruisers and passengers from other cruise lines regarding attempts by cruise line staff to prevent their disembarking before the ship's tours had gone. Princess had even resorted to directing passengers who were taking private tours to a remote lounge, only calling them after others had gone ashore.

It has been reported that these tactics were not used late in the last season by any of the lines. It has been suggested that private tours meet in an area near the steps or elevators to the gangway, and, as soon as they announce that the ship has been cleared, or if you see people going out, that you get off immediately. Be pleasant if staff hold you back but do not allow staff to tell you that you must wait for the other tours to proceed first.

Even as far back as 2010 Princess was not holding back passengers on private tours. We were on a Baltic cruise with them in 2010 and again in 2013 and had no problem getting off in a timely manner :D.

<<<Karen>>>

I believe we are on the same sailing. Last year or and the end of the prior year, Princess incurred the ire of Russian Immigration Officials by holding back folks taking independent excursions in favor of those who were doing Princess Tours. In the real world, we all know that there must be quite a relationship between the Russian Bureaucrats and Russian Tour Guides and Agencies when there is money to be made. A few words with Immigration by the guides, after weeks and possibly seasons of this behavior resulted in a strong warning from Immigration to Princess. In addition, there was word of grave dissatisfaction and in some cases confrontation between passengers and crew members by Princess cruisers and passengers from other cruise lines regarding attempts by cruise line staff to prevent their disembarking before the ship's tours had gone. Princess had even resorted to directing passengers who were taking private tours to a remote lounge, only calling them after others had gone ashore.

It has been reported that these tactics were not used late in the last season by any of the lines. It has been suggested that private tours meet in an area near the steps or elevators to the gangway, and, as soon as they announce that the ship has been cleared, or if you see people going out, that you get off immediately. Be pleasant if staff hold you back but do not allow staff to tell you that you must wait for the other tours to proceed first.

Agree with Knolmom, we're also on the May 28 sailing and I plan on asking my group to meet near the gangway so that we can disembark as soon as the ship is cleared. I haven't heard of any such issue wth Celebrity, even the Princess story goes back 2-3 years at least I believe.

I just came back from a sail on Regal Princess and thought I should provide my experience here. While Princess did not hold back independent passengers from getting off the ship, there were Princess staff directing independent passengers to a limited number (maybe 5 or so) of immigration counters for processing. On the other hand, folks on a Princess group tours (given stickers beforehand) were 'allowed' to go to the other (>30) counters.

This of course resulted in a long line up for the independent passengers, standing in the wind and cold. I confronted the Princess staff about why independent passengers had limited counters, and even show them the instructions SPB tours provided to me stating that I have every right as a group tour. I was rudely met with "this is how it works, and you have to line up". Luckily, after waiting for 5 mins or so, 'someone' (certainly not a Princess staff as he was not in Princess uniform) informed the Princess staff that those in line can use all available counters. I assumed by then all group tour passed immigration already, and the 30+ immigration officers who Princess reserved for their group had nothing to do. Therefore, the issue is STILL happening.

We are doing regal. What do we do? Just show up a little late? Defy the order and line up in a so-called "princess only" line?

Defy the order and line up in a so-called "princess only" line?

Too darned right!!!

cwsho8's report makes me so angry. :mad:

Back to your arrogant old ways, Princess - shame on you.

Princess have no right whatsoever to manipulate immigration lines to their own advantage.

I hope cwsho8 and everyone else who was manipulated in the same way at least made their feelings clear to their tour operators.

And to Russian immigration.

And a strong letter of condemnation to Princess, for what it's worth.

...............................................................................

And Princess are still telling lies to their passengers.

Other cruise lines use careful phraseology to make their passengers think that they need a ship's tour or a visa to visit St Petersburg, by simply failing to mention the visa-free status of local operators' tours.

Princess ain't so subtle.

They just tell a big fat lie.

This from the Princess website:

Guests who wish to sightsee without purchasing a Princess Cruises Shore Excursion must obtain an individual Russian Tourist Visa before leaving home; visas cannot be obtained during the cruise.

Not a mistake or an "oversight". They know they're telling lies.

And they seriously harm their reputation by persevering with unfair tactics and bald lies.

JB :mad:

Really what are they going to do, arrest you for not standing in their artificially long line? What I would do is make a big show of noting the names of crew who tried to stop me. And then tell them that if you are in the wrong line you are sure the authorities will send you back.

I agree with John. This has been going on way too long and it also makes me mad as hell.

Some one needs to take Princess to task and hopefully some one will. The best you can do is file a grievance against Princess for lying to their passengers.

Just line up where you want and dare them to stop you.

Cheers

Len

I am currently on the Serenade of the Seas waiting in a long line to get off the ship

and the lines are really long to go through customs. My advice is to get in line at least an hour before the time that the ship is to clear customs. It's a crazy long line.

and the lines are really long to go through customs. My advice is to get in line at least an hour before the time that the ship is to clear customs. It's a crazy long line.

Its a slow process first time you get off the ship there.

But if it's any consolation and you're in SPB for more than just today, subsequent disembarkations (this evening & tomorrow) are very very much quicker and virtually no lines cos the paperwork was all done today :)

JB :)

What Im wondering is whether princess has any jurisdiction there? Maybe princess cannot deny disembarkation, but maybe they can decide the order in which their passengers disembark...and maybe they can deny reembarkation if they remember who you are. But if the government has sole discretion, then we can say "screw you" and ask the customs directly.