Back From Constellation Baltic Cruise

[spearmint]

We just got our cruise docs for our August sailing to the Baltics on Connie, and the text includes two prominent warnings:

 

(1) Unless you're on a Celebrity excursion, you need a visa to visit St. Pete.

 

(2) If you're not on a Celebrity excursion, you can "expect" to get off the ship in St. Pete around 9:30am - not sooner.

 

The first statement is a known falsehood. The second is an insult and affront to reasonable accommodations for all pax.

 

My understanding is that, with a little advance planning, neither of these "warnings" need affect those pax who are, in fact, touring St. Pete with other tour companies not affiliated with Celebrity. But shame on the cruise line, IMO, for this kind of written "bullying" of pax. And shame on the other cruise lines, too, because what I hear is that they all print this strong-arm crap.[/quote

 

I agree totally with you!

[GaryfmCol]

We just got our cruise docs for our August sailing to the Baltics on Connie, and the text includes two prominent warnings:

 

(1) Unless you're on a Celebrity excursion, you need a visa to visit St. Pete.

 

(2) If you're not on a Celebrity excursion, you can "expect" to get off the ship in St. Pete around 9:30am - not sooner.

 

The first statement is a known falsehood. The second is an insult and affront to reasonable accommodations for all pax.

 

My understanding is that, with a little advance planning, neither of these "warnings" need affect those pax who are, in fact, touring St. Pete with other tour companies not affiliated with Celebrity. But shame on the cruise line, IMO, for this kind of written "bullying" of pax. And shame on the other cruise lines, too, because what I hear is that they all print this strong-arm crap.[/quote

 

I agree totally with you!

 

Ohhhhhh wahhh...

 

Stop trying to make a problem where there

IS NO PROBLEM...

The cruise line is NOT trying to make it sound like

"strong arm crap"...YOU ARE!

 

I can tell you...Russia is STILL Russia.

 

When you get off the ship there will be

Russian authorities in booths you must

pass through. You will need your

passport EVERYTIME you go through there,

going and, coming, and, you will need a tour

ticket with your group. !

 

There is a souvenir shop there

(with nice things I might add.) but,

I dare you to just try to get off that ship, just to

go to the souvenir shop. Those Russians

jumped all over a couple from Scotland, for

wanting to do just that! Their response was:

"GET BACK ON YOUR SHIP!" Very sternly, I might

add...

 

We observed the private tours leaving at the exact

same time we were going and, in most cases

they were gone and, on the road before us.

 

Also, you must know that in St. Petersburg,

that shipyard is in a military base like situation

where the busses and, limo vans must pass through

SENTRIES to get to the ship...

 

Another note, we went on the Metro subway.

I was lectured about NOT taking photos in the subway

stations. That is forbidden! If caught you will be subject

to a fine and, your camera taken...don't EVEN

try to antagonize the Russians.

 

And, stop whining! The ship has too many as it is.

[BaltiGator]

 

Ohhhhhh wahhh...

 

Stop trying to make a problem where there

IS NO PROBLEM...

The cruise line is NOT trying to make it sound like

"strong arm crap"...YOU ARE!

 

(...some fairly irrelevant commentary about getting off the ship WITHOUT proper documentation - since when we were talking about that???)

 

And, stop whining! The ship has too many as it is.

 

In the first place, sir, if you want to disagree with me - fine. Leave the childish antagonism in some grade school playground where it belongs. (I'm assuming you're old enough to know better - am I wrong?)

 

In the second place, everything else in your thread refers to people who try to get off the ship WITHOUT proper documentation. That has nothing to do with people like me who are arranging non-Celebrity shore excursions and who therefore WILL have proper documentation for the Russian authorities.

 

In the third place, if you read my post completely, you would have figured out that I ALREADY KNOW THIS ISN'T LIKELY TO BE A PROBLEM IN REALITY, THAT PEOPLE HAVE ALREADY MADE IT CLEAR IN OTHER POSTS THAT, WITH PROPER PRECAUTIONS, YOU CAN GET OFF THE SHIP ON TIME ANYWAY.

 

My criticism of Celebrity is based on their choice of words in their cruise docs. The manipulative, calculated intention is very clear - you need a visa to leave the ship if you're not on one of THEIR excursions (***WRONG***) and if you're on SOMEBODY ELSE'S tour, you may have to wait until all the Celebrity excursion pax clear the ship first (***WRONG*** AND ***UNFAIR***).

 

My apologies to anyone else reading this for the "shouting" but I don't appreciate the tone of the post I'm responding to. People say let's have less negativity towards each other and then they go and post that way - not exactly taking their own advice, are they?

[spearmint]

In the first place, sir, if you want to disagree with me - fine. Leave the childish antagonism in some grade school playground where it belongs. (I'm assuming you're old enough to know better - am I wrong?)

 

In the second place, everything else in your thread refers to people who try to get off the ship WITHOUT proper documentation. That has nothing to do with people like me who are arranging non-Celebrity shore excursions and who therefore WILL have proper documentation for the Russian authorities.

 

In the third place, if you read my post completely, you would have figured out that I ALREADY KNOW THIS ISN'T LIKELY TO BE A PROBLEM IN REALITY, THAT PEOPLE HAVE ALREADY MADE IT CLEAR IN OTHER POSTS THAT, WITH PROPER PRECAUTIONS, YOU CAN GET OFF THE SHIP ON TIME ANYWAY.

 

My criticism of Celebrity is based on their choice of words in their cruise docs. The manipulative, calculated intention is very clear - you need a visa to leave the ship if you're not on one of THEIR excursions (***WRONG***) and if you're on SOMEBODY ELSE'S tour, you may have to wait until all the Celebrity excursion pax clear the ship first (***WRONG*** AND ***UNFAIR***).

 

My apologies to anyone else reading this for the "shouting" but I don't appreciate the tone of the post I'm responding to. People say let's have less negativity towards each other and then they go and post that way - not exactly taking their own advice, are they?

 

I totally agree with you, again!

 

It occurs to me that if Celebrity wants to gain in this situation, that they should either offer like-tours such as offered by Denrus and Red October at a comparible price, or they should contract with these companies or Alla etc. to offer their tours. The tours would not cost as much as Celebrity charges now so Celebrity would not make as much per tour, but I think that they would sell many more tours and so make or exceed what they take in now. It seems, from my reading of these boards at least, that Denrus and Red October must take a lot of St. Petersburg tours away from Celebrity, which probably explains the notations included in your documentation.

[BaltiGator]

It seems, from my reading of these boards at least, that Denrus and Red October must take a lot of St. Petersburg tours away from Celebrity, which probably explains the notations included in your documentation.

 

Absolutely. The cruise lines have probably been used to people doing non-line excursions in other parts of the world (Caribbean, for example) for a long time, but I'm guessing that until the late 90s or so, when the Internet really exploded, they had places like St. Pete more or less to themselves, and it was majorly profitable. Now that business is slowly being squeezed by outsiders. Too bad, right? Welcome to the free market world, which now includes St. Petersburg! :D

[nu2sea]

I think you may all be getting little more excited than you need to be over the words in the cruise documents.

What actually happens:

We were on the same independent tour that Lyn described. The independent tour operators (there are five licensed by the state) arrange group visas. So you do need a visa if you are on one of them - the tour operators get it for you. The Celebrity wording is actually correct. They only arrange visas for their own tour passengers. If you don't take their tour you are on your own. You must make sure that your independent tour operator provides you with the needed documentation to pass through the Russian controls before you board the ship in Dover. If it is emailed to you make sure you print a copy to bring with you.

When you get aboard your ship you will be asked to notify Guest Relations if you are on an independent tour. You will be assigned a time and place to meet and then will be escorted to the gangway. Three Russian immigration control booths were designated for Celebrity sponsored tours and one for independent tours on our trip. Depending on the numbers, it is possible for your departure to be delayed until 9:30. Ours wasn't. In any case, all five of the licensed operators know exactly how it works and will be waiting for you pierside until you get off.

I suspect that more than one cruiser has made arrangements online, paid their money and wound up remaining on the ship because they forgot to print the documentation provided by Alla's Tours, Red October or Denrus or one of the others. This warning is probably due to irrate cruisers who insisted they weren't told that they would need documentation or that they wouldn't be able to get off the ship within ten minutes of docking.

As for time of departure, I wouldn't get too worried. You will probably suffer more delays due to St. Petersburg traffic then you will due to Celebrity's fumbling departure process. And Celebrity can fumble with the best of them. (Gary is right about the atmosphere ashore, BTW. The Russians do not fool around.)

We had the most amazing time there, it was the highlight of our visit. And in spite of receiving the same warning, we spent two full days seeing some of the most awesome sights in the world. Hope you enjoy your visit.

Susan

[BaltiGator]

Thanks for the additional info, but this isn't about getting excited or worried about the wording in the docs! Please, people, read what is written in the posts! I fully expect to have no problems on the ship. However, I can and do still object to Celebrity using those words to begin with, because they can and do scare some people into buying their cruise-line sponsored excursions. Maybe not people around here, but lots of cruisers don't visit these web sites. It's an underhanded, manipulative tactic and I think it's shameful. That is all.

 

(And by the way, the wording in the document does NOT indicate that a private tour can get a group visa for you. We know that's so from our experience in this forum and by working with those private tour operators. But the wording in Celebrity's documentation is clear - each person needs to get their own personal visa through an embassy or other official office unless purchasing one of the Celebrity excursions!)

[CruisingChick]

Hi Guys, I have a totally different question.

 

I just got my cruise documents yesterday afternoon and for St. Petersburg, Russia they mention you have a diptheria vaccine. Now I haven't had one in years. Did you all get vaccines or had you previously had them?

 

Now I am starting to worry. There's only less than 4 weeks until I sail. I guess I will have to call my doctor tomorrow.

[bpolan]

Check the cdc website, http://www.cdc.gov/travel. All the necessary info regarding travel to St. Petersburg and the baltic ports is there.

bpolan

[nu2sea]

Hi Guys, I have a totally different question.

 

I just got my cruise documents yesterday afternoon and for St. Petersburg, Russia they mention you have a diptheria vaccine. Now I haven't had one in years. Did you all get vaccines or had you previously had them?

 

Now I am starting to worry. There's only less than 4 weeks until I sail. I guess I will have to call my doctor tomorrow.

 

Hi Anna,

No we didn't get a diptheria vaccine prior to the cruise. However, after taking a fall down the escalators in Paddington Station in London on the way home, I got a combo tetnaus and diptheria injection. :o :eek:

After reading the first 60 page excursion brochure that Celebrity sent, I went to the CDC website to find out if it was really needed. As I recall, you shouldn't need it if you are only going to do day trips in St. Petersburg. But you may want to check the CDC website for yourself.

Susan

[Sky Sweet]

Hi Guys, I have a totally different question.

 

I just got my cruise documents yesterday afternoon and for St. Petersburg, Russia they mention you have a diptheria vaccine. Now I haven't had one in years. Did you all get vaccines or had you previously had them?

 

Now I am starting to worry. There's only less than 4 weeks until I sail. I guess I will have to call my doctor tomorrow.

 

Hi Cruising Chick :)

 

When I saw that comment about diptheria in our cruise documents, I called my doctor and asked for his opinion. He feels that, aside from the CDC alert, any adult who has not had a tetanus shot within ten years should have one, and dipthera is part of the tetanus dipthera vaccine. Therefore, my husband and I both decided to get the vaccine.

[smvthecpa]

Will be on Constellation July 29. Who do you recommend for St. Pete tour not using Celebrity? How do I contact them?

I researched Den-Rus russian tours. They have morning Catherin Palace tour which ends at 12:30PM and afternoon tour leaving 1:00PM to Hermitage.

Is this feasible? 1/2 for lunch and back for next tour?

 

Please contact smvthecpa @ smvthecpa@yahoo.com

 

Thank you.:confused::confused:

[Lyn Mc]

Hi Susan,

 

Will check out the TA in November and let you know, it would be wonderful but not sure if it is possible, I didn't know about the fall - steps again you see!! Hope you are recovering OK.

 

Hi bpolan - taxis were plentiful in some ports and I am sure that they would be only too happy for you to hire them for a full or even half-day tour of the sites. Could work our to be a reasonable option if there were 4 of you, compared to a ships tour. Was there any port in particular that you were thinking of?

 

Smvthecpa - Have sent you an e-mail. We used Alla Tours (my review is on the Baltic Boards if you want to check this out) and we also did Catherine’s Palace followed by the Hermitage. However, no way would you make this in half an hour – the traffic is horrendous. We had lunch on our minibus to save time and were sitting in traffic for over an hour and a half. However, having said that, I am sure the tour operator (whoever you choose) would take you from one to the other, and make it a full day’s tour I don’t think you would have to get off one coach to transfer to another. (you could spend hours at both but definitely the Hermitage is a massive (3 into 1) building).

 

Balti – you are right in that Celebrity should give passengers ALL the facts not just what they think they need to have. We did go along with Celebrity as they gave us a good time (7.15 a.m.) to get off, so we all went up and met in the Bar At the Edge of the Earth (whole scenario is in my review). We in fact got off around 7.35 a.m. not too bad. However, if it had been much later things would have been very different. If I were to do this trip again. I would meet up with the group in a self-designated place on the ship and go down together at the time stated by the tour operator and just get off.

 

CruisingChick - we didn't have any injections but we do keep our tetanus uptodate anyway. Nobody else on our tour mentioned an innoculation, however, it is always best to be 'play' safe.

 

Hope you all have a great cruise.

 

Lyn

[CruisingChick]

Thank you all so much for your replies regarding diptheria. A year or two ago my doctor thought about giving me a vaccine since I hadn't had one in year, but then decided against it. Of course I wasn't traveling to St. Petersburg at the time. I will call him today and run it by him.

 

At least my son is safe. Luckily I keep a copy of all vaccines and he had his booster on 7/25/2003. I told my husband to call his doctor too.

 

Thanks again.