Disembarking in St Petersburg on private tour

[tetleytea]

Also what about full suites? Does princess afford those passengers similar priority?

[John Bull]

What Im wondering is whether princess has any jurisdiction there? Maybe princess cannot deny disembarkation, but maybe they can decide the order in which their passengers disembark...and maybe they can deny reembarkation if they remember who you are. But if the government has sole discretion, then we can say "screw you" and ask the customs directly.

 

Princess are obviously engineering the immigration lines to give priority in those lines to their own excursionists.

 

The important factor is that by dictating who goes to which Russian immigration line Princess are exceeding their authority, unless they've been authorised to do so by Russian immigration. And I doubt that Russian immigration are complicit in this since Princess have in the past been hauled over the coals by them for holding privateers back on the ship for the same reason. And they had really wound-up immigration staff by untruthfully claiming, in writing, that they were instructed to do so by those immigration staff. :rolleyes:

cwsho8's post sounds very much like a different version of the same scam.

 

OK, Princess can - and do - make their own rules on priority for their own tenders, but this is very different to a tender operation. It's manipulating lines at Russian immigration on Russian soil, and they're treading a confrontational path.

Denial of re-embarkation would not be permitted by the Russian authorities - remember these are folk without visas.

And any other sanction would surely inflame the situation, dragging Princess's reputation deeper in the mire.

 

It's time folk stood up to them.

It's a shame I'm not booked for a Princess Baltic cruise, cos I surely would.

Fact is, I now have such a low opinion of Princess that I have no wish to spend any more money with them.

 

JB :)

[classicmovies]

I just came back from a sail on Regal Princess and thought I should provide my experience here. While Princess did not hold back independent passengers from getting off the ship, there were Princess staff directing independent passengers to a limited number (maybe 5 or so) of immigration counters for processing. On the other hand, folks on a Princess group tours (given stickers beforehand) were 'allowed' to go to the other (>30) counters.

 

This of course resulted in a long line up for the independent passengers, standing in the wind and cold. I confronted the Princess staff about why independent passengers had limited counters, and even show them the instructions SPB tours provided to me stating that I have every right as a group tour. I was rudely met with "this is how it works, and you have to line up". Luckily, after waiting for 5 mins or so, 'someone' (certainly not a Princess staff as he was not in Princess uniform) informed the Princess staff that those in line can use all available counters. I assumed by then all group tour passed immigration already, and the 30+ immigration officers who Princess reserved for their group had nothing to do. Therefore, the issue is STILL happening.

 

Thanks for the heads up. We leave on the Regal this Friday. I'll have to warn anyone else doing a private tour, of these tactics and we will have to put up a stink.

[pompeii]

I just came back from a sail on Regal Princess and thought I should provide my experience here. While Princess did not hold back independent passengers from getting off the ship, there were Princess staff directing independent passengers to a limited number (maybe 5 or so) of immigration counters for processing. On the other hand, folks on a Princess group tours (given stickers beforehand) were 'allowed' to go to the other (>30) counters.

 

This of course resulted in a long line up for the independent passengers, standing in the wind and cold. I confronted the Princess staff about why independent passengers had limited counters, and even show them the instructions SPB tours provided to me stating that I have every right as a group tour. I was rudely met with "this is how it works, and you have to line up". Luckily, after waiting for 5 mins or so, 'someone' (certainly not a Princess staff as he was not in Princess uniform) informed the Princess staff that those in line can use all available counters. I assumed by then all group tour passed immigration already, and the 30+ immigration officers who Princess reserved for their group had nothing to do. Therefore, the issue is STILL happening.

 

Wow, thanks for the head's up. Which sailing were you on? Were there other ships in port that day? I don't want to start off my days in Spb on a sour note but we have an independent tour booked and I hate being stuck in a long line. I'm trying to figure out the best plan of attack for that first morning!

 

Do ship's tours and independents all use the same deck(s) to get off the ship? I'm just trying to picture how Princess staff direct the traffic once in the immigration area (and how to avoid it, haha!)

[Carolla5501]

What Im wondering is whether princess has any jurisdiction there? Maybe princess cannot deny disembarkation, but maybe they can decide the order in which their passengers disembark...and maybe they can deny reembarkation if they remember who you are. But if the government has sole discretion, then we can say "screw you" and ask the customs directly.

 

LOL!

 

So if I don't get in the right line that they decided I should be in they won't let me back on the ship to spend money.

 

:D

 

Not happening. You have to do a lot more then line break to get thrown off a ship!

 

Not to mention the Russians would be very unhappy to discover they were stuck with the tourist due to a cruise line manager acting like a 2 year old!

[classicmovies]

Wow, thanks for the head's up. Which sailing were you on? Were there other ships in port that day? I don't want to start off my days in Spb on a sour note but we have an independent tour booked and I hate being stuck in a long line. I'm trying to figure out the best plan of attack for that first morning!

 

Do ship's tours and independents all use the same deck(s) to get off the ship? I' just trying to picture how Princess staff direct the traffic once in the immigration area (and how to avoid it, haha!)

 

I am posting what I just read from someone else. We are on this Regal Princess roll call boarding on Friday 6/26 and taking the SPB Deluxe tour.

[Carolla5501]

I think we may just wait a little while anyway. We aren't doing a private tour and most of the sights don't open until 10 or so... so we can have a nice breakfast and leave after the masses :)

[classicmovies]

I doubt Princess has any jurisdiction there. Just wondering what the private tour companies could do if they told their immigration officials.

[pompeii]

I am posting what I just read from someone else. We are on this Regal Princess roll call boarding on Friday 6/26 and taking the SPB Deluxe tour.

 

Lynne and John, I was asking cwsho8 who actually posted that story. Hopefully they'll chime back in. Be sure to let us know what happens on your sailing though, too!

[classicmovies]

If he doesn't see your post, perhaps someone else can respond. I am hoping it won't be too bad when we get there and not have to go through this. I will post again when we get back.

[cwsho8]

@tetleytea - the ship docked at 6:30am, and I got off the ship at 7am (my choice, Princess staff allowed people to get off starting at 6:30am) because my independent tour starts at 8am. It was by around 7:15am they opened up all the counters gather than directing independents to certain counters. I made it out between 7:30 - 7:40am (can't remember exactly). Note that this is only my experience that they opened up all counters around 7:15am - I doubt it is a rule for them. You can certainly defy the order and line up in any open counters, but be ready for a confrontation. I think Princess staff will try to scare you by saying it's the Russian law, or something to that effect.

 

 

@Pompeii - I was on the June 4th sailing out from Copenhagen, and there were other ships in port the day we were in SPB but each has it's own terminal building. Hence the >35+ counters were all for Princess. I got off at mid-aft where they had staff directing you as soon as you step off the gangway. But I did noticed that the back aft was available for guests to get off, and that didn't have staff monitoring passengers. So if you have a choice as to which aft to use to get off (listen to the passenger announcement to see which one is open), don't use the mid-aft.

[prish]

I doubt Princess has any jurisdiction there. Just wondering what the private tour companies could do if they told their immigration officials.

 

We were on the Celebrity Silhouette may 28 sailing and docked at St Petes on May 31, we were also booked with SPB Tours. Celebrity didn't try to stop us getting off the ship like Princess, we lined up (along with several hundred others:D) by 6.45 and were one of the first to get off the ship when it was cleared for disembarkation around 7.15. There were about 30 booths open for immigration but our line took longer than the others since the person manning it was rather slow IMO. We were through in about 35-40 minutes and found our SPB guide waiting for us outside, no problems at all except for the wait at immigration, from what I heard that was the same experience of the others on our sailing. Like everyone said Day 2 went much faster.

 

However, I do think Princess cruisers need to make a huge fuss about this and complain, the cruise line does not have the right to old back people from early disembarkation.

[Giantfan13]

I think we may just wait a little while anyway. We aren't doing a private tour and most of the sights don't open until 10 or so... so we can have a nice breakfast and leave after the masses :)

 

Unless I missed something in this thread, you know you can't just wander off the ship at your leisure without having your own visa.

 

Cheers

 

Len

[Carolla5501]

Unless I missed something in this thread, you know you can't just wander off the ship at your leisure without having your own visa.

 

 

 

Cheers

 

 

 

Len

 

 

I know. We have visas.