Recent St Petersburg experience?

Several years ago we took a Baltic Cruise with NCL. In addition to just about every bad docking area at all the ports we also had to deal with their disembarkation procedure in SPB.

In short, if you were on a private tour like us, you had to wait until all the ship's excursions left. It was an extremely unpleasant experience. Even now, year later, it still grates on me!

Next year, we're doing a Baltic Cruise on the QV. I'm wondering what the experience this past year has been on Cunard. Did they allow people to disembark when they liked in SPB?

Thanks for your help!

I was in St. Petersburg on August 4 and 5 with Cunard on the Queen Elizabeth (Regular Old Britannia class). I had a private tour booked with TJ Travel and had no issues getting off the ship whenever I wanted. On the first day I disembarked in the middle of the ship’s tours, and on the second day i disembarked before any of the ship’s tours as there was a running race that day that my guide and driver were trying to avoid getting caught in. I was worried as I had heard I would have to wait, but no one batted an eye when I disembarked with only my daughter.

The dock is relatively new and very nice,but it was quite a long walk from the ship to the coach. It was quite slow when you first get off. You get a stamp in your passport so it makes the process quicker the next time.

The port regulations changed to allow cruise ships to allow passengers on ship tours to have priority in disembarking. Many other cruise lines adopted these regulations during the 2018 season (there are many threads about this on the Baltic forum). But it is up to the ship to decide if they will apply this rule, which appeared to be applied unevenly (there was less application in May, during the shoulder season). You might want to check the recent reviews people have written about Cunard's baltic cruises since I don't recall off the top of my head people describing this issue regarding sailing Cunard specifically. But honestly, all cruise lines now have the right to apply this rule so I'd be prepared for it to possibly be implemented again. Please note that if you book an independent tour with just your family you can absolutely start later on day 1 and earlier on day 2, so you will have exactly the same amount of time in St. Petersburg and can hopefully avoid the lines (some operators recommended this to us, since we were traveling with a 3 year old and it would be difficult to wait). You'd need to contact the tour operators, but I believe the baltic forum indicated some were willing to do this, but I'm not sure what will happen next year. Please note that the Baltic forums also discuss the effects of significant crowding in the major tourist spots now - SPB actually has pulled out of visiting Catherine's Palace due to excessive lines. On our private tour of 2 adults and one 3 year old, we were able to skip all lines. Best of luck to you.

Interesting. NCL told us that cruise tours had to go first (and inferred it was the port's rules) way back when...but in 2018 it became a rule?

We are considering touring with TJ as well. I hope you enjoyed the experience. We will be cruising early in the season so hopefully people can go when they want.

Thanks for the replies.

We had a wonderful experience on this trip.

4 years ago it was against port regulations to make independent travelers disembark later (that’s when I sailed and couldn’t accurately state what were the rules prior to that). There had been some reports of cruise lines lying to passengers in previous years to encourage people to sign up for cruise tours and to give their excursion passengers a better experience. But the rules absolutely changed for the 2018 season. Earlier in the season, cruisers reported very little enforcement of the rule (they announced it but didn’t check so people sneaked out early). Later in the season, they were checking and only allowing registered tour groups off first.

On ncl this year, please be aware of the fact that their cruises were originally scheduled to dock in Stockholm directly, and after final payment they switched the port to nynashamn. People on the Baltic were very upset about the amount of time they had in Stockholm, so that’s certainly something to consider prior to booking. You should be aware that all the larger ships (regal/Royal/breakaway and others) have very little clearance into Stockholm harbor and minor weather or wind will lead to a diversion to nynashamn

We had a wonderful experience on this trip.

 

4 years ago it was against port regulations to make independent travelers disembark later (that’s when I sailed and couldn’t accurately state what were the rules prior to that). There had been some reports of cruise lines lying to passengers in previous years to encourage people to sign up for cruise tours and to give their excursion passengers a better experience. But the rules absolutely changed for the 2018 season. Earlier in the season, cruisers reported very little enforcement of the rule (they announced it but didn’t check so people sneaked out early). Later in the season, they were checking and only allowing registered tour groups off first.

 

On ncl this year, please be aware of the fact that their cruises were originally scheduled to dock in Stockholm directly, and after final payment they switched the port to nynashamn. People on the Baltic were very upset about the amount of time they had in Stockholm, so that’s certainly something to consider prior to booking. You should be aware that all the larger ships (regal/Royal/breakaway and others) have very little clearance into Stockholm harbor and minor weather or wind will lead to a diversion to nynashamn

We'll be on the QV this time but on our previous trip with NCL we docked at Nynashamn for Stockholm. What a waste of time for everyone and the water was choppy as well. When we got back from our excursion (NCL) there was a long line for Swedish customs (which I didn't fully understand) before we could re-board the tenders. I will never go with NCL again for such a trip, we're glad to be on Cunard this time.

Four years ago, I was lucky that the NCL star followed its itinerary and booked directly in Stockholm, but the people on the 2018 cruises were understandably extremely upset to have booked the cruise when it was listed as sailing directly into Stockholm, and then found out after final payment the port had been changed to Nynashamn. I do hope things go more smoothly with Cunard for you. Their ships tend to be smaller than a megaship, so hopefully you won't have any problems.

I was in St. Petersburg on August 4 and 5 with Cunard on the Queen Elizabeth (Regular Old Britannia class). I had a private tour booked with TJ Travel and had no issues getting off the ship whenever I wanted. On the first day I disembarked in the middle of the ship’s tours, and on the second day i disembarked before any of the ship’s tours as there was a running race that day that my guide and driver were trying to avoid getting caught in. I was worried as I had heard I would have to wait, but no one batted an eye when I disembarked with only my daughter.

Same for us in May this year - friends were on a Princess ship last month and had problems getting off.

We did the Baltics on the Q.V. this summer. Booked our tours in SPB with Alla Tours and had no problem getting off ship.

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We did the Baltics on the Q.V. this summer. Booked our tours in SPB with Alla Tours and had no problem getting off ship.

 

 

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That's good to hear, thanks