Russian Visa

[bspill]

Just booked a cruise on the Quest including three days in St Petersburg. Understand that Mr. Putin wants me to buy a Russian visa unless I participate only on Seabuorn tours. Do most passengers stick with the tours or apply for visas?

[jenidallas]

If you use a private tour company, they will apply for the visa for you. (We used SPB and they handled it.)

 

You won't be allowed off the ship however without a visa so be sure you apply if you do not plan to use a guide/book tours.

[Ravenscroft]

We booked ship's tours but only because we booked last minute and didn't have time to make other arrangements.

Ship's tours were fine, but if we go back we'd book with a private tour company such as the one jenidallas mentioned.

[markham]

We used Red October in summer 2014 when we were on Quest. They took care of all paperwork and we were very happy with our guide, Katrina.

 

Happy sailing!

[rafinmd]

Just curious, has anybody ever gotten a Visa and explored independently? What were your experiences.

 

My recollection (from HAL Prinsendam) was that there were no taxis at the port and probably not a location you could walk away from even if you had a Visa. I got the feeling that trying to explore independently would be very difficult.

 

One proviso to the OP: I think if you book a private tour you MUST have a printed confirmation, the agents do check all documents carefully and if you just tell them you have a tour booked with xyz tours without a printed confirmation you would be out of luck.

 

I'm still 8 months from my first Seabourn Cruise so can someone say how easy it would be to print an email from a tour company on the ship if somebody forgot to bring it from home?

 

Roy

[Emperor Norton]

...

 

I'm still 8 months from my first Seabourn Cruise so can someone say how easy it would be to print an email from a tour company on the ship if somebody forgot to bring it from home?

 

Roy

 

As that would be based on the satellite connection it could be easy to impossible depending on what the traffic bouncing off that satellite was that day. If you realize you forgot the form before you board that would be the ideal time to download/print it (or download it to your laptop and print it out on ship, or if you dont want to bring a laptop, download it to a USB stick that has been previously formatted in exFAT).

[pdx13]

Just booked a cruise on the Quest including three days in St Petersburg. Understand that Mr. Putin wants me to buy a Russian visa unless I participate only on Seabuorn tours. Do most passengers stick with the tours or apply for visas?

 

We are booked on an upcoming cruise and arranged for a three day tour with SPB. Downloaded all docs already. Seems like all of the major tour companies offer a comparable product.

[cruising kirby]

We used SPB Tours, they looked after all the Visa requirements. We printed off documents as per their instructions and presented them to the very stern border security people when we disembarked the ship. All was in order and SPB people met us immediately after that. Everything went smoothly, SPB took us to all the highlights over 3 days on a private tour. Definitely the way to go in my opinion. There are other tour companies that also get great reviews so plenty to chose from.

[Techno123]

We went to St Petersberg with Regent last year so the tours were included. We were docked in an industrial area that took 15 mins on coach to get into city, however, we saw a seabourn ship 'parked up' on the canal in the middle if the city so we were very jealous. St Petersberg is a stunning city but I would certainly hire a guide to take you around for at least the first day. I 'escaped' from the R guide as I hadn't managed to take any photographs of St Isaacs cathedral, however, we were told we had to stay in the vicinity of our tour guide so don't know what would have happened had I been 'caught'! Beloved only came a short way with me then chickened out 😁

[Emperor Norton]

Seabourn used (uses?) the English Embankment which is in town and what appeared to be a well traveled area.

 

<iframe src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d1998.9289594926445!2d30.28895105178486!3d59.93332096940055!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x4696311fa1032ee7%3A0x8d86eb90dde4d0b2!2sAngliyskaya+nab.%2C+Sankt-Peterburg%2C+Russia!5e0!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1459201663182" width="600" height="450" frameborder="0" style="border:0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

Doesn't seem to be a way to stick the map in here:rolleyes:

[jenidallas]

The English Embankment berth is in a great location although you will still fight some traffic getting around to the sights as a lot are not in easy walking distance.

 

The one ship tour I wish I had done was the evening event at the Palace. I heard great things about it - the ship was very quiet that even as many went to that event.

[Emperor Norton]

The English Embankment berth is in a great location although you will still fight some traffic getting around to the sights as a lot are not in easy walking distance.

 

The one ship tour I wish I had done was the evening event at the Palace. I heard great things about it - the ship was very quiet that even as many went to that event.

 

That was one of my favorite tours of the trip. It was the least crowded, the only real negatives were the poor quality vodka/champagne and getting stuck in weeknight party traffic. On the other hand we had the place to ourselves and were allowed to take photos in the Amber room which is normally against the rules.

[Williwannago]

Just curious, has anybody ever gotten a Visa and explored independently? What were your experiences.

 

Roy

 

My wife and I went thru the hassle of getting the Russian visa and we loved being on our own for a couple days, walking back at 11pm after an agreeable meal, taking our time at the Hermitage and other sites. I do not like tour busses at all. Plus the hotels concierge was an immense help.

We booked a room at a local hotel, and had them write us a letter, which we included in the packet. We used a visa service out of San Fran and it was a bit uncomfortable mailing our passports but we used fedex and we had no hiccups.

 

Have fun, it's an interesting city.

[claranda]

We're also booked in June for a three day private tour with SPB Tours, who arrange the visas and seem to be very efficient so far. However, we're looking for another couple to share the cost, so if you're on the 11 June sailing from Copenhagen and interested in this, please see my posting in Roll Calls!

[Ravenscroft]

The English Embankment berth is in a great location although you will still fight some traffic getting around to the sights as a lot are not in easy walking distance.

 

The one ship tour I wish I had done was the evening event at the Palace. I heard great things about it - the ship was very quiet that even as many went to that event.

 

I agree about the English Embankment, great location. Being so close in the the centre of the city it did feel strange not to be able to get off the ship and walk around the city whenever we wanted.

 

We didn't take that tour either, and really wish we had. As you say the ship was very quiet that evening. Everyone was raving about it when they returned.

 

Edited to add : I've just noticed the date of your cruise in your sig - we may have been on the same cruise as you as we took ours in June 2013 also.

Edited March 29, 2016 by Ravenscroft

[Thecat123]

We flew into St Pete July last year, so we had a visa, and our TA organised a driver and lady tour guide to pick us up from the airport for the 3 or 4 days we were there to take us around then return us to the airport when we left

The queues very very long so our little lady grabbed us and pulled us through the doors in front of everyone else saying she is working

If we had been on our own we would still be standing in the queue

After our tour for the day we were free to do what ever we liked

After this experience I would never think of doing St. Pete on our own