More Visa ?'s

[sue3689]

Who do I get my letter of invitation from, if I want a visa? I want to do some touring on my own without a tour group. I'm on a Princess cruise. Will they help me get a visa? I will probably tour on one of their tours, also. Will they refund me any $, if I already have aquired a visa on my own?

[cannonball]

sue,
One place to get the letter from is if you are using an independent tour company to arrange your tour in St. Pete. Another is when Princess sends out your pre-cruise docs there will be information in there regarding a visa support service who will take care of all your visa arrangments, for a fee of course. Finally, no Princess is not going to refund you for your visa cost if you take a tour with them.

Grand Princess 5/29/2004
Dawn Princess 3/7/2004
Dawn Princess 3/10/2003
Golden Princess 2002
Sea Princess 2001
Carnival Fastasy 1997

[KathyMG]

You need to get an invitation letter from an authorized Russian travel agency, like Red October, another is Arctur Travel. Both have websites. Princess really encourages doing their tours, and I wouldn't wait for them to send anything with your documents. You may not have enough time. In order to get the invitation letter you MUST do a tour with the Russian agency, because they have to send you a voucher showing that you are touring with them. That along with the letter should accompany your visa application. That's the only way it will work. Then you are free to get off the ship on your own. I'm going through it right now. They are really saying we'd love to have you visit, but we want you to spend some money, and not just walk around taking in the sights. So they require you take some tour in addition to roaming around independently.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Kathy

[alibee]

Kathy MG in her last post says that can use a visa obtained from Red October or Denrus or one of the other independent tour companies to tour on your own as well. Is this true? I thought you had to have an individual visa to get off the boat on your own even if you were doing a tour with one of the companies. Can someone set me straight on this?

Much appreciated.

[canyousayvacation]

As long as you are with an organized tour (cruise ship tour or Russian tour operator) you are covered under a group visa that is obtained by the tour operator for only your group. The tour operator must be with you at all times - you cannot go off on your own. If you want to go out on your own in addition to taking a tour, you will have to get your own individual Russian visa as well. You will not be covered under the tour operator's group visa. Your tour company can provide you a letter of introduction to include with your individual visa application. Depending upon the tour operator, they may charge you an additional fee for providing the letter.

Hope this helps!


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[alibee]

Thank you canyousayvacation.

That answered my question very succinctly.

[KathyMG]

I said you need an invitation letter from a Russian travel agency, which should accompany your Visa application. The travel agency doesn't issue the Visa.

Kathy

[dzcovery]

I'm still confused. I'm sailing in Europe and on Princess for the first time, so please pardon my ignorance on this subject. I've booked my Russia excusions with Princess because I want to go to Moscow. Does this mean that Princess will have a blanket visa for the tour I'm on, or that I apply for the visa on my own through someone Princess recommends. I'm starting to become a nervous wreck since I just found out a few days ago that my pre-cruise documents were mailed over 3 weeks ago and apparently got lost in the mail. I leave on 10 June for the pre-cruise part of my trip in London, am I going to have enough time to get what I need before hand?

[Andee]

If you are on the ship's tours, they will include you in the group visa. That will only cover you on the tour, and you will not be able to leave the ship on your own.

[John&Betty1539128129]

[size=3][font=Times New Roman]There is another tour company that will help you get a visa. [email="palladium@online.ru"]palladium@online.ru[/email][/font][/size]
[font=Times New Roman][size=3]Palladium does not provide one when you tour with them so you have to get your own. They will provide the necessary papers if you book any tour with them.[/size][/font]

[font=Times New Roman][size=3]The process is kind of complicated so it would be a good idea to get started early. We decided to go with DenRus. They do the same thing as Red October but are not as large.[/size][/font]