Crime in St Petersburg

[mrsbubs]

There is an article in the British travel Press today asking if St Petersburg is the new crime capital of Europe. Apparantly a lot of visitors have experienced muggings and the police turning a blind eye. This is the first i've heard of this, any one have any comments?

We're going on the Dream in ten days time and are booked on NCL excursions so cannot believe this will be a problem. Convince me!!!

 

Carol.

[mek]

Carol - I just returned from a Baltic cruise on Friday and was in St Petersburg one week ago. My husband and I did a tour with Denrus along with 4 other people. I never felt unsafe while I was at any of the major attractions. We were also out in public in several areas, and while we were not on our own, again I never felt threatened by anyone. Our guide took us to the flea market near the Church on the Spilled Blood and warned us that it is an area frequented by pickpockets, but it seemed perfectly fine to me and we never had any problems. I'm not sure I would run around St Petersburg on my own, but that is in part because of the verbal and written language problems. Either go on a ships tour or go with a private tour company and you will be fine and will have a wonderful, wonderful time.

[Mrs Seabird]

We, too just returned from a Baltic cruise with 2 days in St Petersburg. We were on a Red October tour. Our guide warned us where to watch for pick pockets. She also told us there was a lot of illegal activity in St Petersburg. We saw several young men throwing full 2 liter bottles of soda at each other and being generally obnoxious in a downtown area. Our guide quickly led us from the area. We also saw multiple car accidents including a dead person who had been struck by the trolley. Be very aware of crossing streets.

 

I felt generally safe but would never tour here on my own. The only theft I heard about on our cruise happened to a lady (who was with her husband) in Copenhagen. She lost all her credit cards, money etc in her wallet. I don't know where she was carring her wallet.

[mrsbubs]

Thanks for your replys. I thought if there had been a real problem there would have been postings on here.

 

Carol.

[lysolqn]

We returned from a Baltic cruise two weeks ago and didn't find St. Petersburg to be any more or less threatening than any large city in the US or elsewhere in the world. We did, however, hear about a fellow passenger who lost his wallet when his pocket was picked at the Hermitage.

[cannonball]

If you have one of those travel wallets that you can wear around your neck or waist underneath your clothes, then you'll be fine. Of course those are always helpful when traveling since pickpockets are worldwide. St. Petersburg is no different.

 

Grand Princess 5/29/2004

Dawn Princess 3/7/2004

Dawn Princess 3/10/2003

Golden Princess 2002

Sea Princess 2001

Carnival Fastasy 1997

[mek]

I did keep my money in a travel wallet around my neck and under my jacket or sweater in all of the ports. As long as you follow the rules that always apply to travel in any large city, you will be fine.