RCCL Russia and Scandinavia Cruise questions

[pepidog]

Taking RCCL Russia and Scandinavia Cruise on June 4, 2008. Tour operators in St. Petersburg say we do not need to get a Visa when arriving via ship and staying 72 hours or less. They say they provide a Guest Visa which is all we need. Anyone know whether this is correct or not? Any info about this cruise concerning tours, weather, clothing, etc. will be appreciated. Thanks. Milton Jensen

[Andrew9999]

Taking RCCL Russia and Scandinavia Cruise on June 4, 2008. Tour operators in St. Petersburg say we do not need to get a Visa when arriving via ship and staying 72 hours or less. They say they provide a Guest Visa which is all we need. Anyone know whether this is correct or not? Any info about this cruise concerning tours, weather, clothing, etc. will be appreciated. Thanks. Milton Jensen

 

Yes, that is correct. We were on Jewel in August 2007 and had no problems using a local tour company in St P. We used DenRus but I understand Red October and Alla and several others are just as good. IMO much better than the ship's tour. We did all the other ports on our own.

 

As you are a new poster here, you may not have found the Baltics board which has lots of threads on this topic. It's here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=192

 

Have a great trip!

 

Andrew.

[Panhandle52]

Hi Peppidog

 

We are also on this cruise with you, you are correct the Russian tour company's provide visa's for you. If you are quick and book your tour with denrus before the 1st of December they will guarantee 2007 prices. We are booked on the 2 day value excursion. Can't wait as we will be celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary on board, and will qualify as diamond on this cruise.

[critterchick]

Here's my review: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=600684&highlight=jewel

 

Information on the ports is in my second post.

 

We also used DenRus and it was a very good tour. But if you don't like to shop, make it very clear from the beginning that you don't want to. The guides get a kickback from the stores, so they are very interested in offering you a shopping experience.:rolleyes: They took care of the visa requirement. Also be aware that the ship's staff plays a little game to try to punish you for booking independently. Sometimes they will tell you that the Russian authorities won't let the private tours off until all of the ship's tours have gone. THIS IS FALSE. On our cruise, they simply didn't announce that the gangway was open, so we wasted about 20 minutes waiting for the announcement. We ended up in a huge crowd at our first stop (Catherine's Palace), although our guide was able to maneuver us near the front of the line. Just get up early, meet near the gangway and leave as soon as it opens.

 

The weather was overcast and/or rainy both days. Not too chilly, but we needed our rain gear. This was in mid-July, too.

[pepidog]

Hi Peppidog

 

We are also on this cruise with you, you are correct the Russian tour company's provide visa's for you. If you are quick and book your tour with denrus before the 1st of December they will guarantee 2007 prices. We are booked on the 2 day value excursion. Can't wait as we will be celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary on board, and will qualify as diamond on this cruise.

 

Thanks for your info. This will be my 25th cruise and am really looking forward to it. How do I contact Denrus?

[pepidog]

Thanks for the info. Can you tell me how to contact Denrus or any other Tour Operators in St. Pet.?

[little britain]

Thanks for the info. Can you tell me how to contact Denrus or any other Tour Operators in St. Pet.?

I contacted Red October today to ask about the visa situation - they replied within 10mins so I was very impressed ! No- you do not need a visa - their "tour tickets which will be your permit to come ashore without visas"

rols@redoctober.spb.ru

Red October are highly rated over on the Ports of Call board.

[Maya57]

Taking RCCL Russia and Scandinavia Cruise on June 4, 2008. Tour operators in St. Petersburg say we do not need to get a Visa when arriving via ship and staying 72 hours or less. They say they provide a Guest Visa which is all we need. Anyone know whether this is correct or not? Any info about this cruise concerning tours, weather, clothing, etc. will be appreciated. Thanks. Milton Jensen

 

Ships get a blanket visa for anyone taking an organized tour, but the key words are organized tour. If you decide to get off and go on your own you will definetly need a visa. Even when taking an organized tour you must stay with the tour guide. When we were in St Petersburg (2nd day) we had a private car, driver and tour guide. He let us know that he would take us anywhere we wanted but could not rome away on our own without a visa.

 

On the first day we took the ships excursion to Moscow, it was well worth it. But it is a FULL day excursion, 8:00am to midnight. Fly from St Petersburg to Moscow and back on airplanes that would not pass FAA safety in this country.

 

Have a good time

[cruisenfever]

We did the Baltic's cruise in August of 2005 and used Red October. We were able to plan our itinerary with them in February of 2005. You can give them an idea of what you want to see and then they will send you a list to select from.

 

One word of warning............once you have selected your itinerary, it is set in stone and you can not change it once you are picked up by your driver and guide. The guide calls ahead before each stop. It is a very intense two days of non-stop sights which usually start at about 8:00AM. I am sorry to say that after the first day the cathedrals, paintings, palaces and museums started to look the same.

 

The Russians are very proud of what they are showing you, but they are also very private...............just don't ask too many questions about other sights you might see along your route.............you probably will not get an answer.

 

They also wanted payment on the morning of the first day..........of course, we Americans like to pay after services have been rendered.........something that really upset the apple cart. After our tour guide got permission from her boss, we were allowed to pay after completion of the second day.