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Passenger port of Saint Petersburg 2016 experience


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Dear cruisers,

 

Though there are still over two month left in terms of the Baltic cruise season, we would already like to start getting the feedback on different issues and problems faced by cruise tourists when visiting Passenger port of Saint Petersburg Terminals. Perhaps there are some items we can improve this year without waiting for the end of the season.

 

We did the summary for the 2015 here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2261960

 

and many of you helped us to find out about the problems experienced in our port that we can work on. So we would love to know if you still experience those from the link above, or you faced any new issues connected with any services provided in the port - work of Taxi, ATMs, Shops, Immigration and Customs issues etc. Or maybe you noticed the improvements from your last visit - any information would be helpful for us as our main aim is always to provide the best service level for our guests.

 

Thanks in advance!

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I was on Regal Princess in June this year. Princess very clear that you needed a visa unless you booked a tour with them or privately with visa arranged. No hold up getting off ship. Immigration lines not very long, processing very straightforward, not much of a smile from officer though.

Organisation of bus pickup was great, easy to access. Shops in terminal area sold lots of souvenirs at reasonable cost. Some staff a bit pushy, but hey that's what happens everywhere.

The cafe upstairs was a disappointment. I had about half an hour between tours and couldn't be bothered to go back onto ship. The only food offered was some very old sandwiches. Perhaps advertise this cafe more to attract more people and serve some snack type items.

Found this port/terminal easy to get through, people friendly. No problems. Now let me tell you about Singapore, no let's not go there.

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Can't help you with 2016, but wanted to tell you we had a wonderful time in St. Petersburg in 2014 with our 3 year old son. It was a very long trip from the US and everyone said we were nuts to take a toddler on this trip, but we had a wonderful time visiting your spectacularly beautiful city. The terminal employees were all very professional, and the terminal was well laid out and organized.

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We were on the Viking Sea and had no trouble at all at the port of St. Petersburg. There were NO lines on either day that we went through the immigration lines. It took less than 2 minutes. And I did get an actual smile from one of the agents on the 2nd day.

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We were there in June. Got off early and the lines at immigration were short. There was a young woman directing people to the shortest line, most helpful. The line we were in slowed down due to some problem with a person's visa/tour ticket. We asked her if we and several others could change to a different line and she said "sure" and directed us to another line. We were through the new line in no time while the original line was still not moving. My point is that it was great to have someone there directing people and keeping everything moving along. This was our third trip to St Petersburg and it gets better each time :D.

 

<<<Karen>>>

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Hi there,

 

We were in St. Petersburg June 22-24. We had Russian visas as we visited Moscow before our cruise. The staff at the port were very helpful in making sure that everyone got into the shortest line. They also assisted the border control officers when they were confused that we had a visa and not a tour ticket.

 

One criticism is the taxi price at the stand in the port. They charged us 1500 Rubles to get to Peter & Paul Fortress when Uber was only 300 Rubles the other way. Of course, it's hard to get Uber at the port so I get they have a monopoly there.

 

The shops are also much more expensive than what we found in town, but again, they have a monopoly and everyone is trying to get rid of their rubles on the last day.

 

Overall, it's an efficient, well-run operation considering the number of cruisers that pass through there on most days. Now if only you could do something about the mosquitos....

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We were on Eclipse in May. There were long queues to exit the ship, as expected. I would recommend people to get there early if possible. Once off the ship we were impressed with the operation in the terminal. Lots of lines were open, we were directed by a member of staff and the lines moved at a steady rate. I would say that the immigration officers were serious rather than unfriendly and indeed, on returning that evening, we got a smile!

The terminal was clean and tidy both inside and outside.

Day 2 there were very short lines. I appreciate that you have a difficult job, especially if there are numerous ships in port so I'd like to say well done and thank you .

We enjoyed your city too!

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July 2016:

Mein Schiff 4 berth. Short lines at immigration (early morning). My officer was clearly fascinated with the many visas and stamps in my passport and looked at them all. No lines at our return from privately organized excursion.

 

Shops: Our adult kid were looking at them all and could not find a t-shirt they liked. I thought that much of the stuff there was expensive kitsch. They would have liked a choice of interesting t-shirts and coffee mugs with St. Petersburg themes. They like to use them at home to be reminded of their visit.

 

Building: clean, modern.

Overall: Good experience comparable to other new port facilities around the world.

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We were in St Petersburg on the Regal Princess on May 18 and 19. We encountered a significant delay in clearing immigration on the morning of May 18. Most lines were open and moving smoothly but not ours. It took us more than 45 minutes to clear immigration - for no apparent reason other than the immigration officer seemed to be taking her time reviewing each passport/visa. [she would look at each passport, look at our face, look at the clock, look at her computer monitor, then repeat the process several times] We were not offered a chance to switch lines -even though a person monitoring the lines was well aware that our line was not moving along. The terminal was full.

 

By way of example, we were group 2 out of 7 groups on our particular tour, and we were sent to immigration at about 10 minute intervals. Two people from group 1 in our line missed their coach and joined ours. At least two people from group 2 missed our coach and were moved to group 3. In contrast, all members of group 7 were through immigration and on their coach long before we made it through.

 

It made for a stressful start to our visit. When we returned to the terminal around 5 pm, we again encountered a delay in proceeding through immigration, but at least that time we were able to change lines. Subsequent travels through the terminal, both on exiting and returning to the ship, were very quick.

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I was with Oceania in July 2016, the line go to immigration was long on the first day but on second and third was ok. We are with a family of 21, some are USA citizen and some are Thai citizen.

 

Thai citizen do not need visa or blanket visa from the tour company, they can enter Russia without any visa. USA citizen need VISA or must be with a group tour with Blanket Visa provide by the tour company to show to immigration authority. We found inconsistent knowledge with the officers. First day my brother (Thai citizen) enter St. Petersburg with no problem but on the second day the officer would not let him enter St. Petersburg the officer ask for blanket visa from the tour company, my brother does not have one and do not need one, so the officer took his passport away and call other officer to come meet him, then the problem solved (Thai citizen does not need any visa). This took time that other family members has to wait for him including our tour.

 

Beside the knowledge of the officer, all officers could be more friendlier, they all look too serious we feel unwelcome.

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Anyway, I don't find our own US immigration officers not very friendly either.

 

Nor do I. I also find our agents sometimes quite abrupt and one was actually yelling at foreigner visitors standing in the immigration line at IAD. Embarrassing to me as a US citizen to witness our agents treat our foreign visitors is such a disrespectful manner.

Anyway, culturally, a smile is meaningful to a Russian - they don't smile at strangers that way that is our cultural norm in North America.

Edited by dogs4fun
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  • 2 weeks later...
I was on Regal Princess in June this year. Princess very clear that you needed a visa unless you booked a tour with them or privately with visa arranged. No hold up getting off ship. Immigration lines not very long, processing very straightforward, not much of a smile from officer though.

Organisation of bus pickup was great, easy to access. Shops in terminal area sold lots of souvenirs at reasonable cost. Some staff a bit pushy, but hey that's what happens everywhere.

The cafe upstairs was a disappointment. I had about half an hour between tours and couldn't be bothered to go back onto ship. The only food offered was some very old sandwiches. Perhaps advertise this cafe more to attract more people and serve some snack type items.

Found this port/terminal easy to get through, people friendly. No problems. Now let me tell you about Singapore, no let's not go there.

 

Thank you for the information. We are on the Regal Princess at the end of the month and we have booked a tour for the two days in St. Petersburg with SPB.

 

Have you done a review of the rest of the voyage?

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Based on our most recent visit to St Petersburg (last month) we think all the issues mentioned in that 2015 thread (linked in the OP's thread) still exist. Just keep in mind that there are two separate issues. 1. Your own ship's policies and often lies! and 2. the Russian authority procedures. The 2nd issue is pretty staightforward (the queues in the terminal move slower the first time you go through). As to the first issue, it is totally unpredictable and depends on the individual ship, and whether the Excursion Lecturer (and sometimes Cruise Directors) decide to spread lies (some do and some do not).

 

In the case of HAL, there is major deceptive policies used by the cruise line prior to the cruise! We received carefully worded e-mails (direct from HAL) telling us (and all passengers) that in order to get off the ship....we would need to book either a HAL Excursion or have an "Individual Visa." With one exception, there was no mention of "private tours." This caused some folks (we talked to a few on our cruise) to be scared away from private tours....and book the expensive cruise line excursions. When we actually got to St Petersburg, the ship did have accurate info in their written procedures (not distributed to the day before arrival). To the ship's credit there was no attempt to delay the exit (off the ship) of those with private excursions. In fact. we were off the ship, and in our mini-bus (with 8 others) before any cruise line excursions had even departed the terminal. Large groups only move as fast as the slowest person...and since the Russian clearance procedures are simply done on a first come first serve basis..this can really cause delays. Our particular tour company (TJ Tours) sent us (at the time we booked) very explicit instructions to please get off the ship ASAP and dispute any attempt to hold private tour folks on the ship. As we have posted before, the Russian Authorities could care less if you are on a cruise line excursion, private tour, or have your own individual Visa. Everyone waits in the same queues, and gets processed the same (slow) way.

 

Hank

Edited by Hlitner
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