How much time does it take to get off the ship in St. Petersburg for a private tour?

[honeylaw]

In June 2016 it took us about one hour waiting in the Passport control lines in SPB to get through the first day. The following days are much faster, about 20 minutes.

[carfla7]

Just back from cruise and found that we were off the ship really quickly (we stood for about 15 minutes before the time we thought we could disembark) and as we were quite early the queue at immigration was only about 10 minutes. They were extremely thorough on the first day checking everyone's papers and, as others have said, the second day was very much faster.

 

I was surprised that on the first day there was also a queue to go back to the ship! Worth knowing if you are planning an evening event too. Not helped by the fact that I think all the tours arrived back at the same time.

 

My friend actually got a smile from the immigration lady - I think because her computer system had crashed and she had to do things manually. And our tour guide did comment that Russians are friendly but just do not smile very much! So our preconceived notions need to be set aside I guess.

 

For those who have yet to go the two day tour we did was just amazing. :D

[alicat58]

We were in SPB on 11 and 12 July on the Costa Luminosa. One our first day there were 3 other ships and on the second we had 6 ships in port ( plus the three in the centre of SPB).

 

We berthed at 8 am and was supposed to meet out guide from Alla at 08h30. Costa had 2 exits. One for people taking their excursions and other for the rest of us. We left the ship at probably 8.15 and waited for our guide. Found the passsport people very serious and unsmiling but through in next to now time. You just need your excusion ticket in your passport. Thye remove it and put a temporary paper visa in your passport which they take when you get off the ship the next morning.

 

At first there were only a few booths open but specially getting back they probably had 6 or more booths open and freindly yound staff directing you to available booths.

 

I was a bit stressed about the proposed wait but it was totally unfounded. If you want to have a long lie in on the mornings the situation might be a little different.

 

SPB was absolutely amazing and so was Alexandra from Alla tours. Be prepared for places to be crowded though. Have a wonderful time whem you go.

[makiramarlena]

depends on when you actually step off the ship, when you get in line for passport control, and how long it takes you to actually stand in line for passport control. And how many other ships are there at the same time, and if they are disembarking at the same time as you are.

 

If you can arrange it so you can walk right off the ship when it is cleared, you would likely be one of the first to be in line for passport control.

 

If you wait until the majority of passengers are disembarking or the ship tries to hold you for whatever reason, it is possible you may have to wait much longer for passport control.

 

I have been there twice and I think it may be a bit much to expect Russians to smile a lot.

 

This is all interesting - I see from another post that RCI ( Serenade of the Seas) have a leaflet saying that if you have booked a private tour you must wait in the lounge till the ship's tours have left. They even claim that "Russian immigration officials have advised that priority is given to those with RCI tour booked"

 

Russian immigration doesn't give a rat's butt who you booked your tour with. All they want is the paperwork.

 

RCI wanted to hold independent tour customers in the dining room but it became obvious that they weren't doing this in order to wait until the RCI tours had departed. They wanted to release them according to the time of their tours, apparently so everybody wouldn't rush the gangplank (they never said anything about waiting for the ship's tours and we definitely weren't held long enough for that.) But it was annoying to be told that we'd be held in the dining room. We were having nightmares about massive RCI tour busloads of people being let off ahead of us but that isn't what happened, we were only in line about 15 minutes. I suppose it could be worked differently on different ships even within the same cruise line. My first visit there was with Disney Cruise Line and we just walked right off as soon as the ship was cleared.

Edited July 27, 2016 by makiramarlena

[alicat58]

You made me have a giggle. Our guide said she thought those passport control people were specially thought not to smile!

 

I agree with you , if you wait till later in the morning to get off the ship you will find longer lines. The Tour companies seen to pick up early (our second morning was 07h25) and it is really quiet then. It was also a breeze returning and we diced to spend our roubles in those curio shops in the port last moment.

[Zappa]

Just back from a Baltic cruise today.

Massive queues on our ship, the Magellan, of folk waiting for CMV coach tours. (very expensive)

 

We were waved through to our internet booked Denrus mini-bus 2 day tour. From walking down the gangplank to passports being stamped was less than 5 minutes.

Day 2, about a minute.

[Floridiana]

Those large ships do not all go through the same immigration building in St. Petersburg. The port is a large square with one open side for entrance and the ships are inside the square along the three piers. (horse shoe shape) When we were there, our ship of 2 500 passengers took one pier, the Regal Princess docked at the pier across from us, the Sea Princess and a yacht were on the center pier. The three ships had already been there before us.

 

Each pier has its own immigration building.

 

While our ship was not yet cleared by authorities, excursion busses were already leaving on the Princess piers.

 

We left our ship as soon as it was cleared and met our TJ guide and driver right outside. Immigration had very short lines. Ship's tours started a bit later, but the large busses were already waiting.

[Tiggertastic]

We've done this trip twice and are doing it again soon. We were just discussing our plan of action. Both times we've got our group to meet together then head for the exit Asap as cleared. Having us together leaving the ship ensures that we don't have any extra waiting until the last stragglers arrive. Both times we've been through in less than 10 minutes but first time waited a long time on the stairwell as the ship kept insisting their tours go first but we still beat them off the ship. We plan to meet our soon to be tour mates at sailaway to say hi and plan a location for the morning meet.

Edited August 7, 2016 by Tiggertastic

[Pet Nit Noy]

... Both times we've been through in less than 10 minutes but first time waited a long time on the stairwell as the ship kept insisting their tours go first but we still beat them off the ship.

 

I think beating the cruise line tour groups off the ship is the best strategy for minimizing the wait in line. I'd rather sit calmly on the "city" side of passport control waiting for a guide to arrive than to stand anxiously in line on the "ship" side of the booths.

[kerryincork]

It took us 1 hour 30 min. We were unfortunate to get in a queue with the slowest boarder agent. Only processing 1 passenger in the time it took the others to process 3. Missed our tour, so they put us on a different tour.

[SailingShelley]

We were in St Petersburg for three days on July 27, 28, and 29th with private tours. We used TJ tours and it was an exceptional experience.

 

It took us 10-20 minutes to clear immigration, the longest time being the first day.

 

You do not have to wait until the ship's tours are off. Just leave when the announcement is made that the ship has been cleared. Just tell whomever tried to say different that you are getting off. There were 12 of us in the same tour and the first day we got off together but that is not necessary. we just figured "safety in numbers".

[Pugwash123]

I would appreciate some information--Does anyone have an approximate length of time it takes to get off a ship in St. Petersburg if not on a ship's excursion? Since the ship is not tendered I'm thinking there shouldn't be any hold-ups but with the visa requirements, I'm just not sure. Once the ship has cleared is it reasonable to assume you could be off in 1/2 hour or less? Thanks so much!

 

We are currently on board Viking Star and visited St Petersburg earlier in the cruise. We had absolutely no trouble getting off the ship on either day. The private tours start quite early so you tend to be one of the first to disembark the ship. I also noticed that on our cruise there were very few passengers taking private tours.

 

Pugwash 123