St. Petersburgh

[Sootyjen]

Hi,

Going on a Baltic cruise in August and I'm getting conflicting views regarding Russian visas.

A fellow passenger on a recent cruise said that it's not worth getting a visa as if you book a ship excursion (Royal Caribbean) they tend to drop you off in town, on your own, for a few hours to enable you to shop etc.

"Official" advice is that if you get off the ship and are NOT on an guided excursion you will need a visa.

 

Has anyone any first-hand experience of what the situation actually is?

 

Thanks,

 

[Essiesmom]

This has been discussed many, many times here on CC.  Yes, you need a visa to get off the ship.  However, if you are on a ships tour, or have booked a tour with a reputable agency they will include the visa as part of the tour price.  It will be a group visa, so you cannot leave the tour to wander around in SPB.  If you choose not to go on an organized tour, but want to get off the ship and wander on your own (in which case you will need to read cyrillic and speak Russian, as signs are not in our alphabet) you will need to get the expensive visas.  This is detailed on the Ports of Call board for Europe that includes Russia.  https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/116-northern-europe-amp-baltic-sea/

[Velvetwater]

Any ship or reputable company that does tours will come with a Visa but the tour Visa means you stay with your guide. We did do some shopping in St Petes but our Guide was in the shop with us and we could not just wander around the streets.You can buy your own Visa through the official pathway but it is certainly a harder route.

 

We don't really like tours/excursions for the most part but when we priced up the costs of an Independent visa and tour price is was similar to a ship tour/private company.My advice is to book with a good company rather than the ship. We used TJ travel and they were fab. 2 days in Russia tour and we did a separate vodka tasting tour.

 

You will need a Visa to get off the ship and you need to buy it (or your tour) in advance.

Edited February 9, 2019 by Velvetwater

[Hlitner]

Beware that some cruise lines will do their best to convince passengers that they "must" book a cruise line excursion to get off the ship in St Petersburg.  The reality is that if you do not want to go through the cost and hassles of obtaining your own personal Visas, you can simply book either a cruise line excursion or a tour with any of the licensed shore-based tour companies.  We can personally recommend either TJ Tours or Alla Tours....both of whom have excellent web sites.  You can book tours with these companies (or others) online and they will e-mail you the necessary documents to get you off the ship.  In many cases the land-based tour companies will offer smaller group tours (compared to the large cruise line excursions) that are lower cost and often of higher quality then the cruise line excursions.  On our last visit we spent 2 days with TJ tours where we had a new Mercedes Van (with 20 seats) and a group of 10.  TJ provided us with a licensed guide (she was excellent) and a decent driver (who also spoke some English).  DW and I also decided to book an evening ballet with TJ Tours and they sent us a private car/driver to take us from the port to the theater (and return).  We had better seats then a similar cruise line excursion, paid less, and did not have to deal with being stuck on a bus with 60 souls.

 

Hank

[CPT Trips]

We toured with a private company on the visa they arranged. It was a full day with some free time built in

[cruisemom42]

3 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

If you choose not to go on an organized tour, but want to get off the ship and wander on your own (in which case you will need to read cyrillic and speak Russian, as signs are not in our alphabet) you will need to get the expensive visas.  

 

This isn't exactly true. In the city center, there is a fair amount of signage in English (and/or using Latin alphabet). There is English signage in the metro, as shown below, and the standardized metro maps have both languages. Signage at the Hermitage, for example, is provided in English both for explanatory signs and also for things like restrooms.

 

And in St. Petersburg a sizeable number of people also know some basic English (maybe 25 to 30%).

 

[Sootyjen]

Our ship’s excursion seems to include “free time for shopping”. Does this mean that our official guide will attempt to herd everybody on the excursion into the same shops so that they can keep an eye on them?

[ontheweb]

Our experience with this was in 2007. We used Alla; our guide Viktoria confided in our group that she was starting her own agency the following cruise season. I can recommend Alla and the agency she started SPB.

 

This was what I did. I looked at the websites of all the major agencies, and also e-mailed them. I liked the response best that I received from Alla. I showed DW the various tours she provided, and DW had a preference for one of them. I posted on our roll call, and we ended up with a group of 10 including us. We slightly modified the tour, which was OK with Alla as long as we all agreed.

[catsdinner]

This is second hand information. Last year on our Baltic cruise we used Alla.  Our tablemates did a St Petersburg on your own with Princess.  They were dropped off somewhere, not sure where, and they took a taxi to go to Hard Rock Cafe to buy a t-shirt.  So it can be done.

[dogs4fun]

It is against Russian regulations to wander about on your own without a Russian tourist visa. That said, interpretation of these rules differ from agency to agency. If an incident occurred and you were without the proper documentation (i.e., visa) I cannot imagine what you would do. This is one country where I would follow the rules.

Also, I have no problems navigating both St. Petersburg and Moscow on my own (I have a visa). Many Russians speak some to excellent English (particularly in the tourist areas) and metro signage as well as some of the main streets are also shown in the Latin script. So, if one really wishes to DIY, it is doable - check the cost of the visa to see if this might be a worthwhile option for you.

Personally, I find that booking with one of the excellent independent tour operators the best value and use of time for a short visit via cruise ship (unless you have previously visited or wish to see something other than the usual must see sights). Many of these independent operators have tours which allow for some free time if you don't stray too far afield.

Edited February 9, 2019 by dogs4fun

[Lovely other]

We used SPB tours in St Petersburg and it was the most miserable waste of money I’ve ever had. The guide obviously didn’t think to check the nationalities on her tour before making derogatory remarks about the Polish (me) which got us off to a bad start from get go. Despite informing them in advance I was a vegetarian I was told there was no option for my lunch once we were seated at the restaurant and our guide got very angry when I said I’d like to look in the Hermitage gift shop ... she was however keen to shepherd everyone into another very expensive tourist shop, in which I suspect she was getting kickbacks. 

 

Whilst at the hermitage being shepherded around like idiot sheep we asked if we could see the Asian art exhibits. She huffed and puffed before saying if you like but we’d not be able to feel find it as the map is in Russian ... I showed her the English map I had been given by an attendant and she got really stroppy. Sick of her attitude I threatened to phone her superiors so at that point she shrugged and said we had an hour and if we were late meeting them outside she’d leave us there. She and the rest of the group were nearly an hour late meeting us ! 

 

Next time I’ll be getting a visa ... 

[CPT Trips]

6 hours ago, Sootyjen said:

Our ship’s excursion seems to include “free time for shopping”. Does this mean that our official guide will attempt to herd everybody on the excursion into the same shops so that they can keep an eye on them?

 

That was not our experience. We had one "toilet/shopping" stop during the bus tour, and then a longer shopping on your own stop later in the day after a museum stop. This latter shopping was in an area with many options and an assigned meeting place for the short walk to our bus.

[John Bull]

6 hours ago, catsdinner said:

This is second hand information. Last year on our Baltic cruise we used Alla.  Our tablemates did a St Petersburg on your own with Princess.  They were dropped off somewhere, not sure where, and they took a taxi to go to Hard Rock Cafe to buy a t-shirt.  So it can be done.

 

Princess no longer offer what is effectively a "St Petersburg on your own" excursion, which was very popular.

 

Different local tour operators offer differing levels of independence, I believe that to be down to different interpretations of the Russian govt's regulations on "accompanied tours". For instance Alla gave us free time on a section of Nevsky Prospekt, the main shopping street.  And, as we were booked for the evening folklore show, we were dropped off at the end of the day tour at a bar near the theatre and left on our own for an hour or so for a rep to collect us and take us to the theatre. We were then left on our own at the theatre after the rep booked us in, and an Alla driver was waiting outside for us at the end of the show to take us back to the ship. All very smooth and efficient.

 

I'll offer an educated guess that Princess over-stepped the mark with their "on your own" excursion, got their knuckles rapped by the govt and had to stop offering that option.

 

I concur with those who recommend the visa-free tours offered by local tour operators - Alla, SPB (the post lambasting them on this thread is the only time I've seen anything negative about any local tour operators), DenRus,  TJ Travel, Anastasia and half a dozen others.  Small groups, usually a max of 16, more personal, more flexible, no waiting for 50 to board and alight at each stop, quicker thro the traffic, closer parking. But you do need to pre-book (but not pre-pay) in order to receive and print-off your tour tickets which get you thro immigration without a visa.

 

JB 

[Sootyjen]

Thanks to you all for your valuable experiences. Something to think about! I suppose another advantage of organised tours is that that entrance tickets are pre-purchased, so no queueing.

 

Thanks again,

 

Jenny

[Velvetwater]

3 hours ago, Sootyjen said:

Thanks to you all for your valuable experiences. Something to think about! I suppose another advantage of organised tours is that that entrance tickets are pre-purchased, so no queueing.

 

Thanks again,

 

Jenny

 

There is a bit of queuing as there are usually a few ships in on one day and lots and lots of tours. It's nothing like the crazy queues to get into sites in Italy but there is some.

 

There is especially a lot of crowds and queues in The Hermitage depending on your timing.