St Petersburg Russia

[CCFC]

It was on the radio but below is a link, Israel is removing the need to be vaccinated on March 1st

 

65 countries you can travel to unvaccinated - Times Travel (thetimes.co.uk)

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

We just deferred our Baltic cruise this year to the same time next year so that we don't have to worry about ports.  St. Petersburg is one of the main reasons we wanted to go so we will just wait another year.  And then we won't have to worry about the other ports either.  And yes, this year's Baltic cruise was a postponement of last year's Baltic cruise.  We will get there eventually!

[memoak]

2 hours ago, CCFC said:

It was on the radio but below is a link, Israel is removing the need to be vaccinated on March 1st

 

65 countries you can travel to unvaccinated - Times Travel (thetimes.co.uk)

Israel is not Princess cruises. As far as St Petersburg goes with Russia getting ready to invade Ukraine I really doubt cruise ships are going go to any Russian ports

[eclue]

4 hours ago, CCFC said:

It was on the radio but below is a link, Israel is removing the need to be vaccinated on March 1st

 

65 countries you can travel to unvaccinated - Times Travel (thetimes.co.uk)

Vaccination rules are definitely not being dropped on Princess anytime soon.  Maybe you could just fly to Israel if they are dropping theirs.

 

[spyro1952]

3 hours ago, memoak said:

Israel is not Princess cruises. As far as St Petersburg goes with Russia getting ready to invade Ukraine I really doubt cruise ships are going go to any Russian ports

Or any of the NATO countries that border Russia that make up the rest of the Baltic Itinerary.  Listen to what Putin said - he wants to return to the old Soviet Union and seems he’s quite serious about it.

[tkwbear]

I'm booked on the Enchanted Princess to the Baltic in late April. What I find surprising is most of the desirable shore excursions are SOLD OUT! In one case they added an afternoon option of a sold out tour and it has already sold out (in 1 day). There is a train option to Moscow that includes Red Square. That's pushing it, but yes it is sold out too.

 

I'm open to going because without St Petersburg, the Baltic cruise is not that great. I won't be waving an American flag while there though.

 

 

[Oceansaway17]

On 2/22/2022 at 2:52 PM, United_11 said:

We were also booked on a Baltic cruise for May on the Enchanted Princess but cancelled last week when final payment was due. Although I would enjoy any cruise and itinerary, we felt there could be significant changes (such as missing St. Petersburg) prior to sailing that would significantly alter the itinerary. This was going to be a celebratory cruise for my birthday and it was a lot of money to commit. I'd rather do the itinerary when things are safer and we are more assured of doing the itinerary as stated. As another person commented above, we're staying closer to home and booking an Alaska cruise for May instead.

wonderful choice in going to Alaska.  I am going twice but just not on Princess.

I have swapped out ALL of my European cruises due to testing issues and timing and also just did not want to deal with possible limits to excursions.  I will go in 2023 to Iceland, Norway and Greece. on three separate trips.

[milolii]

Folks on the NCL boards  are reporting the SBP stop has been eliminated for 2022.  The company is working on other ports. 
 

I haven’t heard anything about the Enchanted.  

[senior lady]

I had a June 6th Baltic on Princess booked, I moved it to end of August.  Hoping things are better before final payment the end of May.   If St Petersburg is canceled than we will cancel cruise.  I've been to the other ports.

[deliver42]

I can't see any cruise line going to St. Petersburg in the forseeable future. Nobody knows  what Putin will do next..

[piper28]

On 2/22/2022 at 11:46 PM, rj59 said:

I wouldn't do a Baltic cruise this summer, not only because of the uncertainty over the Russia situation, but because it visits so many countries with their own Covid/vaccine policies. It would just be a hassle of they're going to screen everyone in a port, particularly in a place where you have limited time, like Warnemunde where you have to take a train to Berlin and back. It looks like the Enchanted also has to dock at a city outside Stockholm that handles larger ships, which requires a bus ride to the city, and unfortunately you miss the truly amazing sail in and out of the Stockholm archipeligo. 

 

This was why we canceled our Princess cruise a couple of weeks ago even before the Ukraine stuff became an issue.  While europe is starting to open up more and more, there just hasn't been enough indication of how cruise ships are going to be handled on all these stops to make me feel it was worth the potential hassle.  Way too much to spend if we were going to have to deal with a lot of extra covid nonsense.  (And the problem is, that might not have been an issue, but we wouldn't have known by the time we had to pay - heck, the ship we were going to be on hasn't even restarted sailing yet.)

 

Switch to Alaska instead, trying Oceania because I'm not dealing with Princess' oversized ships in Alaska.  

 

But personally I'm guessing the odds that any cruises make it to SPB this summer at this point are all but non-existant.  Unfortunately, I'm not sure there's a lot of realistic choices to replace that as a port without having to completely re-order the rest of the cruise, which wouldn't make people happy either.  There's just a limit to how many places that they can visit in the eastern baltic, and in general, those cruises are already hitting a lot of them.

[rabin1]

I was on a RCCL cruise when Russia fired on Georgia several years ago. We were permitted to get off and do tours in St Petersburg but those of us like me who had booked to go on the second day anchored in St. Petersburg to Moscow our tour was canceled. There were also Russian troops guarding where we got off and standing and really checking when we got back on board.

[guy44134]

We're on the May 15 Baltic sailing. What alternate ports might realistically be added if St. Petersburg (and Tallinn) are dropped?

[ReligBookFreak]

On 2/22/2022 at 8:09 PM, matadams4u said:

My guess is that stops will go according to plan.  There might be a number of people that cancel but the itineraries will probably go as planned.

I respectfully disagree strongly. There is a full-scale invasion occurring, with plans to expand into former Soviet Union countries. With war in the Baltic and Eastern Europe, Princess will cancel the Baltic cruises. In fact, Oceania just canceled all their Baltic cruises for 2022.

Alan

[matadams4u]

14 minutes ago, ReligBookFreak said:

I respectfully disagree strongly. There is a full-scale invasion occurring, with plans to expand into former Soviet Union countries. With war in the Baltic and Eastern Europe, Princess will cancel the Baltic cruises. In fact, Oceania just canceled all their Baltic cruises for 2022.

Alan

In retrospect it may not have been one of my best forecasts. On the other hand if things expand to former USSR countries that are NATO members there might be much bigger consequences than worrying about cruises.

[caribill]

11 hours ago, tkwbear said:

 

 

I'm open to going because without St Petersburg, the Baltic cruise is not that great. I won't be waving an American flag while there though.

 

 

 

I am confused. "Open to going" because the cruise would be "not that great."

[merryjewelhound]

I got an email from Princess.....

INFORMATION REGARDING YOUR UPCOMING CRUISE

We understand that you may have some concerns regarding your upcoming sailing given the evolving events with Ukraine and Russia.

 

We are closely monitoring the situation as the safety and security of our guests and team members are our highest priority. Should we amend any of our published itineraries, we will promptly advise booked guests and their travel advisors.

 

Please note that our contact centers will not have any additional information at this time. We appreciate your understanding and patience.

[ontheweb]

29 minutes ago, merryjewelhound said:

I got an email from Princess.....

INFORMATION REGARDING YOUR UPCOMING CRUISE

We understand that you may have some concerns regarding your upcoming sailing given the evolving events with Ukraine and Russia.

 

We are closely monitoring the situation as the safety and security of our guests and team members are our highest priority. Should we amend any of our published itineraries, we will promptly advise booked guests and their travel advisors.

 

Please note that our contact centers will not have any additional information at this time. We appreciate your understanding and patience.

"We understand that you may have some concerns regarding your upcoming sailing given the evolving events with the Ukraine and Russia."  Well, isn't that big of them to notice that.

[NavArch64]

Just in .... Russia hits back at UK by banning British airplanes from entering its airspace ... one would guess that this will soon extend to UK (and Bermuda) flag ships with regard to Russian territorial waters. This would include Enchanted Princess. I also received the emergency notification from Princess ... Santa Clarita is way behind on this one.

Edited February 25, 2022 by NavArch64

[Lady Arwen]

I would think that in the coming days that all the cruiselines will be cancelling their Baltic cruises for 2022.  Even Northern Europe cruises could be in jeopardy.  We have a British Isles cruise booked for September and hoping the UK is a go.

[NavArch64]

This is the detailed statement ... Russia's civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia said: "This measure was taken in accordance with the provisions of the Intergovernmental Air Services Agreement between Russia and the UK as a response to unfriendly decisions by the UK aviation authorities regarding the restriction on regular flights of aircraft owned, leased or operated by a person associated with Russia or registered in Russia." If extended to ships and territorial waters / port calls in a similar way, all ships owned/operated/managed by Carnival PLC (DLC with Carnival Corp) will be affected. 

[rhino29]

22 minutes ago, NavArch64 said:

Just in .... Russia hits back at UK by banning British airplanes from entering its airspace ... one would guess that this will soon extend to UK (and Bermuda) flag ships with regard to Russian territorial waters. This would include Enchanted Princess. I also received the emergency notification from Princess ... Santa Clarita is way behind on this one.

This is a tit-for-tat measure because the UK banned Aeroflot.  There is no evidence to suggest shipping will be affected

[Sea Hag]

5 hours ago, caribill said:

 

I am confused. "Open to going" because the cruise would be "not that great."

I think this must be the "missing not" thing that I'm seeing so much of these days. They may have meant "not open to going." I don't know why those "nots" are going missing so much lately, but I'm seeing that all over the place.

[NavArch64]

It is hard to believe that Russian-flag ships will be allowed in UK ports under the current circumstances.

 

[wowzz]

11 minutes ago, rhino29 said:

This is a tit-for-tat measure because the UK banned Aeroflot.  There is no evidence to suggest shipping will be affected

What has not been mentioned is that as well as Aeroflot,  the UK has banned  flights of all Russian registered aircraft. This is aimed at causing travel complications for the many oligarchs living in London, who are pals with Putin, and have private jets in the UK. 

In the scale of things it is not much, but anything that erodes Putin's power base helps

Edited February 25, 2022 by wowzz