Difficulty Disembarking in St. Petersburg?

[DiscoMom]

Thinking about booking a more private tour with Red October in St. Petersburg . My friends did this on the Princess Cruise Line and they wouldn't let them off the ship, then they finally let them off and all had lost two hours of tour time.It seems they only allowed passengers on "their tours" to disembark. Anyone had this on HAL? Going on the Kiel Canal and Baltic on Prinsendam.:confused:

[Mary Ellen]

Two summers ago, while on the Eurodam, we did 2 days of private tours with Alla. Those of us with private tours were the first off the ship. We just walked right off after the ship cleared. No problems.

[TahoeTraveler]

I had this same question last week. See the following thread for some very good information:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1202652

 

Good luck!

 

Tami

[drowelf]

Thinking about booking a more private tour with Red October in St. Petersburg . My friends did this on the Princess Cruise Line and they wouldn't let them off the ship, then they finally let them off and all had lost two hours of tour time.It seems they only allowed passengers on "their tours" to disembark. Anyone had this on HAL? Going on the Kiel Canal and Baltic on Prinsendam.:confused:

 

They have no right to prevent you from leaving the ship. If you have booked a private tour they (Private Tour Company) will provide you with your cruise visa to get you through immigration. Nor can they make you wait until their tours have gotten off the ship. I researched this quite extensively before booking my private tour in St. Petersburg. As soon as they announce that the ship has cleared immigration, then you should be able to leave the ship.

 

The following is a quote from the SPB Tours Website which is the private company we are using in June.

 

Not if you come with a cruise ship. Passengers who stay in St. Petersburg up to 72 hours do not need a visa, but a tour ticket which we will provide you in advance. There is no extra fee for a tour ticket if you book your tour with us. Tourists coming to St. Petersburg with other means of transportation should contact us to apply for a visa-support (official invitation).

 

The cruise line tells us that we can't leave the ship unless you book a shore excursion with them. Is that true?

Definitely not. We guarantee that you will be able to disembark in St. Petersburg in order to join an SPB-Tours excursion. Regardless of what misleading information the cruise line may provide, so long as all documentation is in order, all passengers will be allowed to enter Russia. The only required documentation is a valid passport, a photo copy of your passport, and a Tour Ticket – proof of your participation in an escorted tour arranged by a licensed and authorized operator, which we will provide for you. You do not need to wait to leave the ship and the entire disembarkation process should only take 20-30 minutes, despite what the cruise line will lead you to believe.

 

 

Cheers,

[treasure4two]

We were on the Azamara and they told us that we(on private tours-DenRus, we loved them) could get off but only after the cruise tour people. They told us that if we tried to get off before, we were taking a chance of the entire ship being prevented from going into St. Petersburg. With less than 700 people on the cruise ship, it still took us almost two hours before I got off the ship the first day. The next two days were quick, but that first day was a bummer.

[Harry1954]

Russia is the most difficult port we have ever experienced. Whether you are on ship's tour or private tour, it is still a pain in the behind. You can not get off ship to buy trinkets at the port vendors as the area is roped off. YOu have to go thru a passport type exit/reentrace each time you get off ship. The private tour co and ship tours take care of visas. Without same you can not get off ship.

harry

[TracieABD]

While I typically like to book my tours privately, I did use the ship's tour on SPB just for that reason. This has been a long standing concern for those who want to book privately.

 

I was not crazy about the ship's tour, and would take the risk and book privately in the future. I would just allot extra time to disembark.:(

[CtheW0rld]

Russia is the most difficult port we have ever experienced. Whether you are on ship's tour or private tour, it is still a pain in the behind. You can not get off ship to buy trinkets at the port vendors as the area is roped off. YOu have to go thru a passport type exit/reentrace each time you get off ship. The private tour co and ship tours take care of visas. Without same you can not get off ship.

harry

 

this is really no different than a lot of countries. each have their own rules. try getting into china :eek: a visa cost $160 - and it was required - plus processing costs.

 

other asian and middle eastern countries can be just as officious.

[Bill S]

We did a private tour with Red October from the Prinsendam. There were 6 of us. We assembled a on the pier side of the Promenade Deck above the gangway, and as soon as we heard the announcement that the ship had been cleared, we went right downstairs and exited the ship, without any hassle whatsoever. Our guide was Elen, and she was waiting for us outside the gate. She was an excellent tour guide.

I hope you enjoye the Kiel Canal transit. It is one of our most memorable "see" days. :)

[traveller123]

Three years ago on the Rotterdam they actually asked those of us on private tours to leave first thing so we wouldn't interfere with HAL's tours leaving after us.

 

Maybe now there are more people taking private tours and some of the ships are pretty large with lots of passengers to disembark, but I suspect you'll find that HAL is pretty good about letting people off when they ask to.

[jtl513]

The private tour co and ship tours take care of visas. Without same you can not get off ship.

Some people get their own individual visas and don't book any tours. I wouldn't suggest that anybody do it unless they were pretty fluent in Russian and had some arrangements to get picked up at the pier way out in that industrial no-man's land.

[Pam in CA]

I've been to St. Petersburg several times over the years, the most recent on a Princess cruise a couple of years ago. We booked a private 2-day tour with SPB Tours (http://www.spb-tours.com/ -- FABULOUS!). The owner, Viktoria, took all our information via email and arranged our visas. We were each provided a "Tour Ticket" via email which when presented to the Russian Immigration officials along with our passports, served as our visa and entry into Russia. We just walked off the ship and went on the shortest line, which happened to be the one that said "Ship's Tours." :) We were off the ship and through the line in about 15 minutes. Perhaps the difference is that we didn't ask permission and just walked off in the same line as those on tour. No one stopped us nor asked about which tour we were on. Others on our cruise who had also booked private tours did the same thing, i.e., got in the same line as those on ship's tours and walked off.

[DiscoMom]

Thanks Bill for your thoughts, and to all who responded. I noticed another thread posted about the same time as mine. The more knowledgeable we all are, maybe the cruise line tactics will change. It's a shame that they have been able to intimidate some. I plan to walk right off with my head held high and just enjoy. Super excited!

[bbwex]

This scare tactic has been going around for a couple of years. Some cruise line got the idea of telling passengers that there was a new Russian law that required cruise tour people to get off first. It simply isn't true.

 

The Russians are, however, sticklers for having everything correct.

 

If you book a private tour, the tour company will issue you a ticket (usually by email) and YOU MUST HAVE THAT WITH YOU WHEN YOU GET TO THE RUSSIAN IMMIGRATION people. That ticket assures them that the tour company that issued it has the visa for you. If you are there for 2 or 3 days, you will have 2 or 3 tickets -- one for each day.

 

It is no more complicated than that. You need your passport and your ticket (or coupon) for that day. The Russian Immigration officers will give your passport back (I cannot remember if they keep the ticket or not) and will put a small red piece of paper like a movie ticket stub in your passport. When you come back at the end of the day's tour, they will take back the little, red ticket stub. The next day, same routine.

[Mary Ellen]

We didn't encounter any "scare tactic" or intimidation on the E'dam. The only 'problem' we had was from another CC member. While waiting for the ship to get cleared our group was talking to the Hotel Manager. One of us had known him for many, many years - starting in childhood. This however was his first time in St. Petersburg as the HotMan. He wanted to learn what we had need to do to arrange the private tours and the documentation required. I thought this was a very good move on his part and I was impressed.

 

This other CC'er, eavesdropping on the conversation, butting in and starts waving a paper in the the HotMan's face, practically yelling at him about how 'he can't keep us onboard!!!'. Huh??? The conversation was NOTHING about that. Given her outburst, I was surprised at how he keep his cool. Up until that point the HotMan had been quite happy that we 'private tour' people were getting out of the way, as he said they would be basically disembarking the equivalent of an R or S class ship in the next few hours for those on the ship's tours.

 

Don't go looking for trouble when there isn't any. ;)

[Harry1954]

this is really no different than a lot of countries. each have their own rules. try getting into china :eek: a visa cost $160 - and it was required - plus processing costs.

 

other Asian and middle eastern countries can be just as officious.

We have been to China and I must say that they were very cordial and the whole entrance/exit was much simpler than Russia. Other regional countries such as Vietnam and Thailand were easy as well. Granted we had to pay for visas, but they were easy to obtain and never did we feel intimidated by the Chinese nor other Asian countries as we did in Russia the several times we have been there.

Sorry to disagree, but that is our personal experience.

harry

[westlab]

We used Red October about 7 years ago. Announcement was made that private tours would disembark last. We didn't listen to that. When we got near the "door", our tour guide got us through any problems with HAl instantly. Red October was wonderful. They took us right to the head of the lines while cruise tours waited.

[pinwillow]

We had no problem getting off the Eurodam on June 3. We just turned up at the gangway and showed our key card. We were not asked to provide any information as to where we were going. Our group of seven had a 2 day tour with SPB and we had to meet the tour guide at 7-30am on the first day. The Russian immigration thoroughly checked the Tour Ticket, passport and landing slip provided by HAL and as there were few people about at that time we were through in a couple of minutes,

 

Just wish to add that the Active tour to which we added some other interesting places was superb.

 

David

[mek]

We used Red October about 7 years ago. Announcement was made that private tours would disembark last. We didn't listen to that. When we got near the "door", our tour guide got us through any problems with HAl instantly. Red October was wonderful. They took us right to the head of the lines while cruise tours waited.

 

We did exactly the same thing 6 years ago on Princess using Denrus. No problems at all going through immigration. It does seem that the cruise lines have become more intimidating recently.