St.Petersburg- Crime

An article in a National Newspaper poses the question "Is St.Petersburg Europe's new crime capital?"

Apparently,the Russian Police are reluctant to do anything about the increasing crime wave.

One of it's journalists was mugged mid-morning near the Hermitage twice in four days,and the police did not take details to file a crime report so that an insurance claim could be lodged.

In one tour group,21 out of 35 were robbed,or assaulted.The Travel Company in question is seriously considering not sending further groups.

Has anyone recently visited the city?

We know someone who visits the city every few weeks on business. He said it's only as dangerous as other European cities like London or Amsterdam. Usual tourist rules apply and you are far more lifely to be a victim of crime if you do not follow the rules. No flashy jewellery, take small amounts of cash spread in several places round your body, leave most of your cards on the ship, dress down and basically don't be a tourist. It's no more dangerous than other European cities and if you stay in a group and be careful you are unlikely to have any problems.

R&R

We were in St.Pete on May 14th & 15th on Celebrity's Constellation. We were warned by the ship's "tour guru" and the guides, we were with Red October, to be super careful, to do all the things noted by R & R in the previous post.

We heard very few instances of any "bad" happenings on our cruise. We've heard some really unpleasant reports, on cruises, when we've been to Rio, Buenos Aires, Naples, and a few of the Carib. islands.

Just moving!