Visa required if you're NOT getting off in Saint Petersburg

[dheianevans]

I'll be contacting HAL about this but just wanted any anecdotal info on whether Russian authorities and/or HAL require you to have a Russian visa even if you have zero intention of getting off there.

[LHT28]

No VISA required

 

Even if you do get off with a ship's tour or a private tour with a pre booked licensed guide

[Brigbound]

Agree. We took a 2 day tour with Alla Tour. They take care of the visa requirements through their organization. As long as we had our tour tickets, it was no problem getting off the ship and through their immigration.

 

ETA: Though, come to think of it, I believe that a visa wouldn't be required as long as your visit didn't exceed 72 hours in country.

Edited May 24, 2014 by Brigbound

[John Bull]

Anecdotal is often more reliable than cruise line head offices on such matters :rolleyes:

 

Not HAL, but for our cruise no-one on the ship asked if we had visas or visa-free tour tickets (which we'd arranged with one of the local operators), and visa-free tours were still available through the ship during the cruise. The only time visas or visa-free tour tickets needed to be shown was at immigration in the terminal at SPB.

And I'm pretty certain no-one would have cross-referenced the various operators' lists with the passenger manifest - would've been much easier to require those visa-free tour tickets to be shown on boarding.

 

If they're as ill-informed as other lines' head offices, I wouldn't be surprised if you get the response that you'd not be permitted to board without a visa or tour ticket.

If that happens, very definitely query it with someone higher up the chain. Cos I'm 95% certain it's no problem if you stay on the ship.

 

Can I ask why you don't want to get off at what everyone reckons to be the jewel in any Baltic cruise?

 

JB :)

[Hlitner]

Going to join in with JB on the "why" issue. We find St Petersburg to be the most interesting of all the Baltic ports. DW and I will sometimes stay aboard in certain ports, but would never miss an opportunity to be off the ship at St Petersburg.

 

Hank

[dheianevans]

Let's just say for geopolitical reasons it's not currently on my to-do list of economic support. Would love if I could find a cruise that did Stockholm, Copenhagen, Helsinki and stops in Norway. Wouldn't have been too upset if the lines had to currently replace it with, say, Gdansk or stops in Latvia or Lithuania. Maybe one day, but not now. Not to mention that my country (Canada) has used some of the harshest language in condemning Putin. Anyway, this was not meant to be a political, but a technical thread. :-)

 

Did contact HAL and they said we were okay as long as we had no intention of disembarking.

[Joanandjoe]

Let's just say for geopolitical reasons it's not currently on my to-do list of economic support. Would love if I could find a cruise that did Stockholm, Copenhagen, Helsinki and stops in Norway. Wouldn't have been too upset if the lines had to currently replace it with, say, Gdansk or stops in Latvia or Lithuania. Maybe one day, but not now. Not to mention that my country (Canada) has used some of the harshest language in condemning Putin. Anyway, this was not meant to be a political, but a technical thread. :-)

 

Did contact HAL and they said we were okay as long as we had no intention of disembarking.

 

The closest we've found to the cruise you want is on Windstar, Edinburgh to Stockholm on 7/20, reverse direction on 8/16. The stops are Kristansand and Oslo, Norway, Skagen and Copenhagen (overnight), Denmark, Warnemunde, Germany, and Visby and Stockholm (overnight), Sweden. We're fully booked for this year and next; otherwise we'd consider this cruise and the one before Edinburgh to Stockholm or after the reverse trip: Dublin to Edinburgh.

 

Quite a few people are canceling any itinerary that includes Russia. We had a chance to add a Baltic cruise to this year's Norway cruise, at a bargain price; but declined the offer.

[Hlitner]

Let's just say for geopolitical reasons it's not currently on my to-do list of economic support. Would love if I could find a cruise that did Stockholm, Copenhagen, Helsinki and stops in Norway. Wouldn't have been too upset if the lines had to currently replace it with, say, Gdansk or stops in Latvia or Lithuania. Maybe one day, but not now. Not to mention that my country (Canada) has used some of the harshest language in condemning Putin. Anyway, this was not meant to be a political, but a technical thread. :-)

 

Did contact HAL and they said we were okay as long as we had no intention of disembarking.

 

Thanks for clarifying. You might also keep in mind that just booking (and paying) a cruise that stops at a Russian port will financially benefit Russia since they collect Port Fees based on the number of passengers/tonnage. Avoiding any cruise with a port call in Russia would send a better message :)

 

Hank

[diane.in.ny]

dheianevans isn't the only one feeling that way. Viking River cruises is offering ALL cabins on their St. Petersburg to Moscow itinerary (and reverse) at the very low price of $3999 INCL air from east coast gateways. I have to admit I was tempted but decided not to grab the deal for the same reason.