Baltic Cruise June 2019

[cavviemum]

Is anyone on the Celebrity Reflections June 26 2019 to the Baltic? Need info on visas in Russia if we do our own tour in St. Petersburg

[jelayne]

You may want to post this on your Roll Call.

 

We did the Baltic cruise a couple of years ago. We took a tour with a St Petersburg tour operator and they handled the visa. Thea same if you do a ships excursion. If you plan to go without a licensed tour you will need to secure your own visa.

[Knolmom]

We, as well as thousands of other cruisers from all cruise lines, went on a 2 day tour with a private tour company. We chose SPB, others chose Alla , Anastasia or Denrus.

Our tour was fantastic. Our tour paperwork, which we received about a month prior to the excursion, contained our facsimile of what Immigration officers accept in lieu of a Visa. This paper will allow you to go on tour with a tour group, but you must remain with the group and not go off on your own. I don’t see why you would want to tour independently in St Petersburg unless you spoke Russian because the average Russian citizen does not speak English so you would need a guide anyway.

Russian Visas are expensive and troublesome to obtain. They require beackground and financial infothat you would not want to provide unless you were attending the university or taking a tour around Russia for a week or two.they are not necessary for cruisers or even for those independent travelers taking the ferries from Helsinki and other Baltic ports and who only intend to remain in Russia to 2-3 days.

For more information and to see how other Celebrity Cruisers likes their tour companies in the past, you should go to Cruise Critic, join the roll call for your sailing and go to the port of call forums to see what others have to say.

[1025cruise]

You have three options for St. Petersburg.

1. Ship's tour. No need to get a visa.

2. Independent tour with a company. Booked in advance, you will receive the visa from the tour company that you need to get through immigration.

3. On your own. Need a visa that you will be responsible for obtaining in advance.

[scarletlady]

Did this cruise 2 years ago and used TJ tours in St Petersburg for 2 days tours (we had overnight stop) they were brilliant.

 

 

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[Hydrokitty]

Is anyone on the Celebrity Reflections June 26 2019 to the Baltic? Need info on visas in Russia if we do our own tour in St. Petersburg

 

If you go out on your own you will need a Visa and the last time I got one it was about $400. If you go on a ship excursion you won't need a Visa because RCI gets a blanket Visa covering passengers. If you go with a licensed tour guide the Visa will be included in the cost of your tour and will cover you only when you're with the guide... this means you will not be able to go to dinner on your own in St P which is too bad because they have some wonderful restaurants but under no circumstances will you be allowed to leave the port area on your own without a visa. Check out some of the port sites on CC for reliable tour companies if you want a tour specific to your interests....there are many of them. Enjoy St. Petersburg I've been there several times and it's one of my favorite cities....so much to see and do and it's just stunningly beautiful....and the entire Baltic cruise was fantastic.

[cruisestitch]

I'm repeating what was said above -- it really cuts to the chase:

 

You have three options for St. Petersburg.

1. Ship's tour. No need to get a visa.

2. Independent tour with a company. Booked in advance, you will receive the visa from the tour company that you need to get through immigration.

3. On your own. Need a visa that you will be responsible for obtaining in advance.

 

 

You said that you want to do your own tour, but I'm not sure what you mean by that. If you mean a private (not ship's) tour, that's #2. You won't need to concern yourself with a visa.

 

 

But In case you are thinking of option #3, you need to know that the visa is expensive, and that going of on your own in St. Petersburg is fraught with difficulty. If you don't speak Russian, it's especially difficult. Cab drivers don't speak English, for the most part. Same with staff in most restaurants. Pickpockets abound.

[Knolmom]

We were able to have dinner after the tour and then tour the Faberge Museum. Several other couples were able to go out to dinner. We had a cab and a guide from the tour company meet us after the daytime tour was over. They drove us to the restaurant and then to the museum and then back to the ship. The cost was nominal..just about the price of the cab. Others went as a group to the ballet or the folkloric show at night, also under the group visa. Some even went in a ‘ white nights’ cruise. You just can’t go walking in the streets or head for the shops alone. Who would want to ? You are only in SPB for 2 days. I can do THAT at home.

[alcpa1]

Please also note that if you want a small group tour 1-4 passengers, the major recommended companies can also arrange this.

Most of the above recommended companies use small vehicles, not 46 passenger busses and are the most efficient way to see the most in such a short time.

If you have served in the military or police/fire departments, federal governments etc. a Russian Federation visa can also be problematic. These employments seem to be waived with the cruise tourist visas. No guarantee but I have never seen anyone on Cruise Critic or Trip Advisor or other sites denied entry using methods 1 or 2. I had a friend who was denied entry (land trip) on a regular Russian Federation visa a few years ago. He was an active officer in the state police with a military background.

The small group tours work well and some groups even meet up on their Roll Calls.

Enjoy St. Petersburg and your Baltic cruise.

[Atwell]

You have three options for St. Petersburg.

1. Ship's tour. No need to get a visa.

2. Independent tour with a company. Booked in advance, you will receive the visa from the tour company that you need to get through immigration.

3. On your own. Need a visa that you will be responsible for obtaining in advance.

 

Do #2, don't even consider the other options - #2 is less expensive and you will see much more. We used SPB but the other major tour companies are all good.

[NantahalaCruiser]

You have three options for St. Petersburg.

1. Ship's tour. No need to get a visa.

2. Independent tour with a company. Booked in advance, you will receive the visa from the tour company that you need to get through immigration.

3. On your own. Need a visa that you will be responsible for obtaining in advance.

Just to be clear, with both 1 and 2 you will be on escorted tours with authorized tour agencies to which the Russian Federation grants visa wavers for all of their participants as long as they are accompanied by the tour guide - you do not actually receive a visa. 2 is the better option because the independent tours are generally cheaper and smaller groups than the ship sponsored tours. And as others have said, you can add an evening tour with the same company that offers the tours during the day. In addition, most of the agencies offering tours in St.P also offer tours in other Baltic capitols and will offer discounts to those that purchase multiple tours through them.

 

Finally, if you make arrangements through the CC roll call to form a group to use the same independent tour agent, you will get a group discount.