fiber artist

Shekon, that doesn't make sense at all. What if you are staying on the ship while it is in Russia? What if you want to purchase a NCL shore excursion to St. Petersburg? These are both reasons why you might begin your cruise without a visa or tickets for a tour. Did they, perhaps, mean that you can't get on the ship without a passport? If you get on the ship in Denmark and then get off in Russia for an excursion, it is up to the Russian agents, not the cruise line, whether or not you may enter their country. We had no trouble with TJ tickets.

It sounds as you are recommending a guide, not a company) I can imagine how Dina was perfect!

It seems that the guides are all really quite good. I know ours was. They were good enough that we remember his name and his occupation when he is not guiding. We saw where his office is at the Hermitage, and he led us to the best rooms and the best pieces of art. I have been to the Hermitage before, so I can make comparisons.

Since I had been to St. Petersburg before, but it was my husband's first visit, I wanted a tour that would cover the best of what I had seen for his enjoyment plus different sights so that I could increase my knowledge. The TJTravel All Highlights 2-day tour covered very interesting sights in an unusual way. Because we were a small group, we could take the hydrofoil to Peterhoff. (saved a lot of time stuck in traffic) We approached from the water, an obsession of Peter's that his guests arrive by boat. We saw the fascinating gardens instead of the inside. When you have seen 3 or 4 Russian palaces, they kind of run together since the decor is very similar. Michael positioned us on the first bridge at 10 min before the fountains began for the day. It was a perfect view! We were able to see and hear everything. I could go on with these little differences that made the visit extra-special compared to others if you like.

We saw more in one day with TJ than I had seen in two days with the Celebrity shore excursion. The sights were also more varied than the palace, museum, palace, statues tours I had done before.

What is the story about the Russian visa? Does the tour operator organise it or do we have to do our own.

We used TJ Travel for St. Petersburg. Tour guide Michael was top notch, and the 2 day All Highlights tour was soooo much more interesting than the ship's tour we had done on a previous trip. They can do more with a smaller group.

The visa is your ticket for the tour with TJ Travel. Basically, they are taking responsibility for you, and you cannot leave the group while ashore. There is no need to get your own visa unless you want to spend additional time ashore on your own. If you add the ballet to the tour we took, you will have every hour that the ship is docked covered by a tour guide. We were too tired from the full, full day to see the ballet.