jtamchay Posted May 27, 2011 #1 Share Posted May 27, 2011 I know I saw this discussed in a thread but the question is. We are on Insignia Scandinavian Splendours, July 25-August 8th. We have grouped with three other couples for private tours in St. Petersburg and Berlin. Do we disembark along with other passengers or must we wait til the Oceania tours depart....my plan is to just gather and depart ...how much problem will that cause? I have a friend on The Celebrity Ecilpse right now and she has been told they must wait til the crusie line tours have disembarked before they can in STP...seems unreasonable to me. Any help here for me? jo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimandStan Posted May 27, 2011 #2 Share Posted May 27, 2011 I know I saw this discussed in a thread but the question is. We are on Insignia Scandinavian Splendours, July 25-August 8th. We have grouped with three other couples for private tours in St. Petersburg and Berlin. Do we disembark along with other passengers or must we wait til the Oceania tours depart....my plan is to just gather and depart ...how much problem will that cause?I have a friend on The Celebrity Ecilpse right now and she has been told they must wait til the crusie line tours have disembarked before they can in STP...seems unreasonable to me. Any help here for me? jo Unless you are one of those people who is intent on being one of the first two or three passengers off the ship, it is a non issue. Since the people on SPB tours are subject to a "blanket visa" obtained by the guide, the powers that be naturally want to keep those groups "together". If you respect that, you shouldn't have a problem. Within a half an hour of the gangway being opened, it will be a ghost town. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azam71209 Posted May 28, 2011 #3 Share Posted May 28, 2011 We were on Azamara 2 years ago. They also insisted that the cruise tours go first and also sent a memo to everyone that the Russian government demanded it and that failure to comply could mean that future passengers would not be able to go to St. Petersburg. We dutifully waited-and waited-and waited. We docked in town and there was another ship that came in at exactly the same time and the line through customs took forever. We were not able to meet our private guide until 10:30. After the first day there were no problems. Our guide said that we could have just walked off any time after the ship cleared. We didn't try it so I'm not sure what would have happened. At one of the ports in Norway last year on Oceania (I don't remember which one) we were told that we would have to wait until the ship tours left but we went to the gangway ahead of time and they let us off as soon as the ship cleared because the first ship tours weren't scheduled to leave yet. So it just depends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtamchay Posted May 28, 2011 Author #4 Share Posted May 28, 2011 thanks...we are not "firsters" by any means...just want to understand the process as we are new to Oceania and from what I can tell....many people have private tours...and we all have long days with our guides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pdangio Posted May 28, 2011 #5 Share Posted May 28, 2011 My experience on Oceania has been that if the ship is docked you may leave when you wish...if you need to be tendered you will wait until all the groups who have tours through the cruise line will depart first. When we stopped at Santorini all the ships tours departed, the private tour groups waited until the ship repostioned itself ..then we were tendered off.....Maybe an hour later.:( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Citizen Posted May 29, 2011 #6 Share Posted May 29, 2011 Often, we have tendered off with group 1 or 2 because the ship's tour group didn't fill up the tender. I don't think the ship wants to split their tour groups so they board each tour group together. That usually leaves some spaces for independent travelers. In other words, if a tender holds 75 passengers and tour groups A, B and C equal 90, they'll probably board tour group C on the following tender, leaving some room for independent travelers on the initial tender. We've never had to wait an hour after the ship is cleared to disembark, whether tendering or just walking off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted May 29, 2011 #7 Share Posted May 29, 2011 We have not done SPB with O but other ports you can walk off when the ship is cleared If tendering you need to go to the lounge & get a ticket, wait there until they call the ticket colour, sometimes if you are early you can get off with the first shore excursion group if the tender has room ( they keep count) You can wait for them to announce when all the shorex have gone & they open the tendering to anyone ... you do not need to got to the lounge after that point Lyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtamchay Posted May 29, 2011 Author #8 Share Posted May 29, 2011 all very good information....fortunately for us we do not tender at any port on this trip...thanks to all who contributed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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