Russian Visa required?

[debdiva]

I just saw on a different board that NCL told someone that a Russian Visa was required to get on the ship for Baltic cruises. This is counter to what I was told. Does anyone know this for certain? Is it in writing anywhere?

 

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[CruiserBruce]

You only need a visa to get off the ship in St Petersburg to tour, not to board elsewhere.

[easyboy]

The tour voucher provided to us by the private tour agency in St. Petersburg served as "visa" required by the Russian immigration.

 

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[Earl Rosebery]

You do not need a Visa to tour St. Petersburg from a cruise ship. Period.

What you absolutely do need is a prebooked tour with one of dozens of reputable tour companies or with the cruise line. They send you a printable e ticket which ,with your passport, gets you through passport control.

This has been covered over and over. You cannot go off exploring on your own. If you want to go out in the evening, you have to book it in advance

You can find a reputable company here or on Trip Advisor. The top 10 or so all get rave reviews. We used Ulko (#7) and were very satisfied.

[spbstan]

There are evening programs with free time however, and also specific tours during the day that include a few hours of free time to do as you please but then meet up with your guide to return to the ship.

[John Bull]

In order to go ashore in St Petersburg you need either

 

- a pre-purchased visa.

This is expensive & complicated but allows you to go ashore & explore totally independently

 

- or a booking for a visa- free tour with an authorised tour operator.

This of course applies to ships' tours, but ALSO applies to tours pre-booked independently with one of the dozen-or-more local tour operators whose names litter the threads on this forum.

Cruise lines are rather coy about letting you know this, because it impacts on their own over-priced cattle-herding tours. Some travel agents say the same in order to generate ships' tour business, some simply don't know their stuff and are equally as mis-led as their clients.

You DO have to pre-book, because the tour ticket e-mailed to you gets you through immigration without a visa (print it off, don't rely on presenting it on the screen of your phone/tablet). But for most local tour operators you DON'T have to pre-pay, or even quote credit card details - they trust you, and you pay (cash or card) while there.

Be aware that tour tickets (ship's or independents') are only good to get you through immigration for the tour/s that you've booked. A tour ticket for Day One won't get you through immigration on Day Two - or even for the evening of Day One.

 

Those nationalities who need a Schengen visa for European countries (most nationalities don't) will need a multiple-entry Schengen visa, because the ship's visit to St Petersburg means leaving the Schengen area.

 

JB :)

[Regguy]

I just saw on a different board that NCL told someone that a Russian Visa was required to get on the ship for Baltic cruises. This is counter to what I was told. Does anyone know this for certain? Is it in writing anywhere?

 

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Just to be clear, that would be true if you were boarding the ship for embarkation in St. Petersburg. You would need a Visa to enter the Russian Federation in that case to get to your vessel -- just being on a cruise won't be sufficient. Very few cruises start in SPB for non-Russians, so I assume that is not what you are asking.

 

Otherwise, as others note, you would only need a visa if: (1) Your port stop in Russia is longer than 72 hours. Very rare. Usually reserved only for the certain rare expensive lines and they almost always help arrange your visa for you. (2) You wish to do independent touring in Russia for any part of your cruise stop, or to stay overnight off the ship, seperate from a sanctioned tour guide. Basically you need to stay with the tour and they bring you to and from port. (3) You disembark in Russia.

 

One exception would be if you are going in June or July 2018, have a ticket for the World Cup and have a fan id. But I'm guessing not. :)

[geminigem]

we recently returned from Baltic cruise and had no problems entering Russia (St Petersburg) as we had prebooked a tour with TJ Travel - who were fantastic.

 

We had looked at ship tours and also entering indepently which was very expensive from UK. So if you take a tour visa is sorted for you.

[hallasm]

No Russia visa required to board the ship.

Just a note for everyone who might need a visa to enter Schengen. You'll need a re-entry visa when visiting St. Petersburg. Single- entry visa is not sufficient since you do leave Schengen when entering St. Petersburg. I have seen several people leaving the ship in the last port before St. Petersburg and find their way to the following port - on their own expenses.

 

 

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[caripoo]

We needed a Visa because we did a private tour , not run by the ship........We did not need one to board the ship.......

[John Bull]

We needed a Visa because we did a private tour , not run by the ship........We did not need one to board the ship.......

 

:confused: :confused: :confused:

 

If your tour operator was SPB or Alla or Red Oktober or TJ Travel or Anastasia or Best Guides or one of a dozen or more approved tour operators on this forum you didn't need a visa - their tours have the same visa-free status as ships' tours.

 

But of course if it was a friend of a friend etc then you would need one.

 

JB :)

[caripoo]

We did not use any of those companies....Our travel agent had us with another company for 3 straight days...Private tour for a party of four, so our passports were sent to San Francisco for Visas....

[Nitemare]

You might be paying too much with an unknown tour company. The ones listed previously in the thread all provide Visas and excellent tours. Not sure why your TA would send you elsewhere and saddle you with extra costs . . . but I can guess!