St. Petersburg Disembarkment issues?

[HRHMadonna]

Many thanks to all of you who responded!

 

Attn: JHuntGolf

Special thanks for the link to Exit/Entry info from the state.gov web page....That really put my mind at ease.

 

Attn Seminole Mom:

We will be on the May 20 sailing with you! I expected the letter from Princess too...It's just that the wording was far more extreme than I had imagined and the couple traveling with us had no idea that letter was coming so they were caught totally off guard & quite concerned. I received an email confirmation from Denrus....but no packet yet...How long have you had your Denrus documents? Looking forward to meeting you!

 

Bon Voyage to all!

Madonna

[Moeve]

Beware the Visa expemtion on the Website is indeed refering to cruise ship excursions ONLY!!!

 

If you want to go ashore without a guide etc. on your own like in many other ports around the world you DO NEED TO GET A VISA before you leave home.

 

If you are planning on using a tour company like Red October, Denrus, Alla etc. These are registerd with the Russian State and allowed to get cover Visas on your behalf. You will recieve Tour Tickets and sponsership letters from them - often via Email. These documents together with your passport (and a copy of it) are enough to go ashore.

 

Don't let the ship bully you around!!! Be at the gangway extremely early and get off as soon as the ship has been cleared.

 

PS. Like many of you we too are heading for St. Pertersburg on the 15 May 08 with the short cruise on the Jewel of the seas. We have already recieved our tickets and the sponsership letter.

 

Hope this has helped you ....

[lynncarol]

We dealt with this issue last summer sailing on the Celebrity Constellation to St. Petersburg. The ship's shore excursion director (who always provided info. the night before about upcoming ports) implied several times that a visa was required in St. Petersburg unless going with the ship tour. Since we were utilizing Alla Tours this made us very nervous. I subsequently went to Guest Services and reported her comments. Their response: "Really? She is not supposed to do that. We will be sure and tell her."

By the way...we had no problem getting off the ship but you must have the "invitation" from the Russian agency with you.

[jspirit]

It's beginning to sound like "much ado about nothing". Just get an early start!

[Peregrina651]

Unfortunately, in spite of the letters that we also receive prior to the cruise, the person giving the shore briefing must make it clear that a visa of one sort or another is required. There is always someone in the audience who hasn't read the memo. I suppose they assume when they make this speech that those who are going on private tours understand that they already have a 'visa' in terms of the ticket/invitation letter that they got from their tour company. It would be helpful if the tour companies did a better job of explaining this to clients and if the cruise lines would make their letters clearer.

 

Can't they just say: A visa, either individual or blanket, is required for entering Russia. There are three ways to get a visa: 1)a blanket visa by booking a shore excursion through our cruise line; 2) a blanket visa by booking with a private tour company in Russia that states that your visa is included or 3) an individual visa from the Russian consulate before embarking on the cruise. Please note that the blanket visas issued with our shorex or through a private company are valid only when you are with your guide; if you wish to spend any time in St. Petersburg on your own, you must obtain a visa from the Russian consulate.

 

It sure would save a lot of heartache--and we could spend more time on these threads talking about the really great time you are all going to have on your St. Petersburg tour!!

 

 

 

 

[ontheweb]

While we are relieved to hear that so many of you disembarked early and without any hassle from your cruiseline personnel, I am curious....Did you also receive from your cruiseline an advance letter implying...even warning... that you could not disembark unless you met certain criteria?

 

The Princess letter enclosed with our cruise docs begins by stating:

"All visitors to St Petersburg must be in possession of a Russian Tourist Visa unless participating on a Princess organized shore excursion."

 

We are already booked with Denrus. I expected Princess to push their own shore excursions, but I was not expecting such a 'scary' letter! I would simply dismiss the letter as a Princess' scare tactic, but since we are on the first cruise of the 2008 season, it does make me nervous.

 

Our letter continues by stating:

..."passengers not on a Princess organized excursion must present the following:

• Russian Tourist Visa attached to each passport
  
• A Standard Tourist Confirmation verifying service arranged by the Russian travel agency sponsoring the individual Russian Tourist visa"

I assume the necessary confirmation will be provided by Denrus....But, of course, we will not have individual visas to attach to each passport.

 

Any thoughts?

 

We were on the Star Princess last August. I had set up an Alla tour with a group of 10 from our cruisecritic roll call. We received the same type of scare misinformation fropm Princess implying that you had to take one of their tours or have a private visa. I e-mailed Alla, who correctly informed me that she hears this all the time and we should ignore it.

 

We met very early by the purser's desk. As soon as the ship was cleared, we all just got into the lines and were among the first few off the ship. An Alla van was waiting for us. (There was also a Red October van and Den Rus van there.)

 

THe following is from my review which can be found at:

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=33517

 

<<days 6 and 7 our Alla tour in St. Petersburg We finally met our last 2 from the roll call and our Alla tour group. We left the ship and cleared customs as soon as the ship allowed us to leave. We found the Alla van and our guide Viktoria and driver Boris. I would highly recommend a private tour. We had flexibility. Our guide, Viktoria, asked if there was anything we would like to add. I mentioned I had heard the subway stations were interesting. She agreed. We ended up seeing 3 subway stations, all with different art work and unlike US stations, graffiti free, before proceeding to our first stop at Catherine's Palace.

 

Our 9 1/2 hours on day 1 and 7 hour on day 2 flew by. We did run out of time to see the Choral Synagogue on day 1 that had been added to our tour, but saw it the second day.

 

At one point, while we had photo opportunities, Viktoria disappeared. She came back with flowers for us for our anniversary and also for Ron and Deb for both an anniversary and a birthday. Later Alla gave everyone a dvd of St. Petersburg.

 

We accomplished much of our Christmas shopping in one of the gift shops, buying several nesting dolls. The shops offer booze and chocolate as you enter.

 

I would recommend Alla to anyone. The other local tour groups also seem to come highly recommended. I have since read on the CruiseCritic.com Baltic board that our wonderful guide, Viktoria, has opened her own agency, spb-tours, with tours in St. Petersburg and Berlin. I wish her good luck with her new business, and I'm sure she will have an excellent product.

 

Most everyone we spoke to who took Princess tours were also happy, but I heard a few exceptions. One person told me his bus' air conditioning did not work the second day. (It was 87 degrees that day and sunny.) We did not have that worry being in an air-conditioned Mercedes van. After I told one person that our guide had 18 years' experience. I was told he had a guide who was 18 and answered one question by saying "Why would you want to know that?". And one other person said that their guide was bitter over the fall of Communism.

 

People thought we must have paid more than for Princess tours especially having to pay for visas. But, the truth was we paid less, and, just as they went into Russia on Princess tour visas, we went on Alla's group visa.>>

 

BTW, Alla's website, which had been down, is now back up.

[DebChosenOne]

Hey JHUNTGOLF aka John...which sailing will you be on? My DH , parents & sister & her Hubby will be sailing on SPlendor on Aug 6th. I too thought the letter from Carnival about Russian Visas was very slanted towards "buy our shore excursions or risk missing out on Russia because obtaining a visa on your own is a long and costly process" Thank goodness for the Cruise Critic boards! I've learned so much from them!

[JHUNTGOLF]

Hey JHUNTGOLF aka John...which sailing will you be on? My DH , parents & sister & her Hubby will be sailing on SPlendor on Aug 6th. I too thought the letter from Carnival about Russian Visas was very slanted towards "buy our shore excursions or risk missing out on Russia because obtaining a visa on your own is a long and costly process" Thank goodness for the Cruise Critic boards! I've learned so much from them!

 

DebChosenOne,

 

We're on the 7/25/08 sailing just before you. We'll make sure everything is in good running order, especially having those "buckets of beer" flowing at pool side!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

John

[2irisheyes]

We visited SPB on P&O's Arcadia last June. We had a private tour with Anastasia World. Like Denrus and Red October, Anastasia took care of the paperwork and emailed us a copy of relevant document. Immigration took place on the ship for some reason. The Russian officials were not interested in the paperwork from Anastasia, only our passports. P&O, like other cruiselines, did make it sound more difficult to go ashore other than with their tour. We had arranged to be met at 9 am so we just went to the gangplank area about 8.30, thinking it might take some time, mingled with others going on ship tours, and got off quite quickly meeting our guide and driver at 8.40 am. Don't be put off. As long as you go with an authorised Russian agent (travel) you should have no problem. Another tactic is to try and scare people about missing the ship etc.

[DebChosenOne]

Darn, you won't be able to give us a review on the Splendor as we will be boarding as you depart!

Since there are 6 in our group, we are investigating doing a private tour in St Petersburg with Red October. Their prices seem pretty reasonable for a private guide & driver to take you to where you want to go.

Have a great time! My final payment is coming up in a few weeks and after that I will be all excited..it will be more real to me once all that $ is on the credit card, LOL

[JHUNTGOLF]

Darn, you won't be able to give us a review on the Splendor as we will be boarding as you depart!

Since there are 6 in our group, we are investigating doing a private tour in St Petersburg with Red October. Their prices seem pretty reasonable for a private guide & driver to take you to where you want to go.

Have a great time! My final payment is coming up in a few weeks and after that I will be all excited..it will be more real to me once all that $ is on the credit card, LOL

 

DebChosenOne,

 

In my humble opinion, you should definitely do a private tour. We've booked with Alla for 10 at $305 per person for the 2-day comfort tour. I believe Carnival is charging $365. Carnival includes lunch both days, but not the hydrofoil ride we're getting through Alla. I really like the fact that you can customize the tour to your own tastes and not be subject to potentially 40-50 other tour participants getting on and off the bus and taking "potty" breaks. It's also been my experience that the private tours end up costing less. When we did a Med cruise in 2005, I think we probably saved somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 to 50 percent for our private tours and transfers to and from the ship compared to the cost Carnival was charging. Our final payment is coming up real soon, too (week of April 20 I believe). Take care.

 

John

[tml0701]

My husband is Colombian (a US resident but still uses a Colombian passport). Do the same rules apply for him (or other non US citizens) if we booked one of the private tour companies, or will he have to get some other paperwork handled?

[Peregrina651]

My husband is Colombian (a US resident but still uses a Colombian passport). Do the same rules apply for him (or other non US citizens) if we booked one of the private tour companies, or will he have to get some other paperwork handled?

 

Ask this question directly to the tour company you choose. They will tell you exactly what paperwork you need or exactly where to go to get the answer. They know the rules for visas better than any of us here since they deal with them on a daily basis. The last thing that they want is for you to arrive and not be able to enter the country. It will cost them money if they are wrong (especially if you haven't paid them yet).

 

 

[Peregrina651]

Another tactic is to try and scare people about missing the ship etc.

 

The last thing in the world that your St. P. private tour guide wants to happen is for you to miss the ship. I understand from reading else where on CC that it is officially frowned upon and that they can get into a lot of trouble if they don't have you back in time.

 

[JHUNTGOLF]

I'm extremely unhappy with Carnival because of the misleading informaiton being disseminated about the St. Petersburg visa requirements. As a result, I've asked my travel agent to forward a letter I wrote to his Carnival contact. If you agree with the thrust/tone of my letter, feel free to use it for any dealings you may have with Carnival or other cruise companies. I'll post any response I get back from Carnival. Here's my letter:

 

 

Carnival Officials,

Thank you very much for sending us the Carnival letter regarding refunding the fuel surcharge. Having an extra $120 will be helpful given the current state of the dollar vs. the Euro and the British Pound.

The second Carnival letter you sent, “IMPORTANT INFORMATION – Visa Requirements Carnival Splendor – Northern Europe/Russia Cruises 2008,” is very troubling. This topic has been discussed greatly on various message boards and roll calls on Cruise Critic’s web site. From the ominous tone of the letter, it would appear that Carnival is trying to force passengers to choose the cruise line tour and not a private sponsored tour. The Carnival letter is a gross misrepresentation of what can and cannot be done in St. Petersburg, Russia by cruise ship passengers. The Carnival letter states the following:

All visitors to St. Petersburg must be in possession of a Russian Tourist Visa, unless participating on a Carnival sponsored tour. The requirement for a Russian visa is waived for Carnival guests of all nationalities while participating on a Carnival tour. Guests who have purchased one or more of the available Carnival tours (including Private Vehicles) will not require a visa to go ashore while participating on the tour. However, guests who wish to go ashore to do their own sight-seeing, must be in possession of valid Russian Tourist Visa. Visas cannot be obtained during the cruise.

In my opinion, this paragraph is intended to intimidate, bully, and/or scare every Carnival passenger into falsely believing that Carnival alone has some special visa waiver power in St. Petersburg, Russia. I will detail why this isn’t the case later in this letter. The above paragraph states that all visitors must be in possession of a Russian Tourist Visa, unless participating on a Carnival sponsored tour. It then adds that the visa requirement is waived while participating on a Carnival tour and that Carnival tours will not require a visa to go ashore. The only honest statements in this paragraph are the last two sentences which state that guests, who wish to go ashore to do their own sight-seeing, must be in possession of a valid Russian Tourist Visa and that such a visa cannot be obtained during the cruise. I venture to say that the vast bulk of passengers touring St. Petersburg will not be doing so with an individual Russian Tourist Visa. Most passengers will be touring either through a Carnival tour or a private tour where the visa requirements have been waived for both the Carnival tour and the private tour.

I have done a great deal of research into what type of tour to do in St. Petersburg, Russia. In this research, I found that untold thousands of cruise ship passengers visiting St. Petersburg, Russia have utilized private tour companies authorized by the Russian Government and not the specific cruise line sponsored tour. These cruise ship passengers have not and do not require an individual Russian Tourist Visa to tour St. Petersburg as long as they are participating in a tour run by a Russian authorized company. The normal visa requirements are specifically waived for this type of cruise passenger if you are in a Russian port for less than 72 hours and participating in a tour run by an authorized Russian tour operator. This is the same waiver requirement that Carnival mentions in its letter. The only difference is that Carnival makes it sound like it is the only entity that has the visa waiver requirement. In reality, there are several Russian authorized tour companies, such as Alla Tours, Red October, and Denrus to name a few, that also have visa waiver requirements for their tour participants.

Because this issue deals with visas, I went to the United States Department of State’s web site to find out the “official” answer to the question of what type of visa is or is not needed by a cruise ship passenger when visiting Russia. I found the pertinent information listed in two different places. The first is on the Department of State’s regular web site under the category called International Travel Information for the Russian Federation. The link is http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1006.html Within this category, there is a specific section titled Entry/Exit Requirements. The 25th paragraph in the Entry/Exit Requirements section states:

Special Entry/Exit Requirements for International Cruise Ship Passengers: International cruise ship passengers are permitted to visit Russian ports without a visa for a period of up to 72 hours. Passengers who wish to go ashore during port calls may do so without a visa only if they are part of an organized tour, operated by a licensed Russian tour company approved by the Russian Immigration Service. According to Russian legislation, cruise passengers on organized tours must remain with their tour group and/or a representative of their tour company at all times while ashore. Tour operators affiliated with cruise companies as well as a variety of local tour operators in Russia are licensed to provide tour services to cruise passengers. Note: These special entry/exit requirements do not apply to river boat cruise passengers and travelers coming to Russia on package tours. These travelers will need to apply for visas prior to entry, and should follow the general guidelines provided for entry/exit requirements.

 

The second U.S. State Department source is listed under the Consulate General of the United States for St. Petersburg, Russia. The link is http://stpetersburg.usconsulate.gov/citizen_ship.htm This source states:

Special entry/exit requirements for international cruise ship passengers:

International cruise ship passengers are permitted to visit Russian ports without a visa for a period of up to 72 hours. Passengers who wish to go ashore during port calls may do so without a visa only if they are part of an organized tour, operated by a licensed Russian tour company approved by the Russian Immigration Service. According to Russian legislation, cruise passengers on organized tours must remain with their tour group and/or a representative of their tour company at all times while ashore. Tour operators affiliated with cruise companies as well as a variety of local tour operators in Russia are licensed to provide tour services to cruise passengers. Travelers should contact their tour provider directly to verify that the company has the appropriate license. The Consulate cannot verify a company's license, or recommend individual tour operators. Note: These special entry/exit requirements do not apply to river boat cruise passengers and travelers coming to Russia on package tours. These travelers should follow the general guidelines provided for entry/exit requirements.

 

As one can plainly see from both of these U.S. State Department sources, Carnival and any other tour companies authorized by the Russian Government have the capability for visa requirements to be waived. To me, it's obvious Carnival either doesn't understand the entry requirements or is choosing to ignore those requirements to try to get everyone to take a Carnival sponsored tour and not a tour from a competing tour company, such as Alla Tours, Red October, or Denrus, which are fully licensed by the Russian Government.

After reviewing the above U.S. State Department sources, I want Carnival to reassess the misleading information it is disseminating about St. Petersburg visa requirements and to respond to the issues I’ve outlined in this letter. Specifically, I want Carnival to tell me whether I am wrong in my main assertion that other Russian authorized tour companies, such as Alla Tours, Red October, and Denrus, provide St. Petersburg tours similar to those provided by Carnival where the normal visa requirements are waived and that you don’t need an individual Russian Tourist Visa to participate with these Russian authorized tour companies.

I have been an extremely loyal Carnival client for many years and my family, relatives, and friends have spent tens of thousands of dollars on Carnival cruises during those years. We have always been very happy with our Carnival experience. However, Carnival’s “Visa Requirements” letter has left a very bitter taste in my mouth. I’m looking forward to your response to the issues raised in this letter.

Sincerely,

[jspirit]

Thank you very much, JHUNTGOLF! You are representing all of us summer 08 Splendour cruisers and hopefully after reading your eloquently written letter Carnival will finally get the message and clear things up for all of us before our sailing date arrives.

Seems like every year the same situation arises but just in case any rules have changed for 2008 it is so much better to clarify before we get to the ship. Vacations are supposed to be our escape from stress.

We all appreciate your efforts and look forward to hearing their response.

Thanks again!

[Smooth Sailing]

Maybe - We should all call Carnival en mass on Monday and let them know that their bogus deception is not appreciated by many loyal past cruisers - anyone ready to join in here - let's make a statement.

[HRHMadonna]

Attn: JHuntGolf

Thank you for sharing your letter. The wording and tone were most appropriate and the documentation you provided was excellent.

 

You have inspired me to write a similar letter to Princess Cruises...perhaps others will as well.

 

Frankly, I think the cruiselines should understand that they risk losing so much credibility when they distribute such mis-leading and totally inaccurate information. My husband does not read these boards and when I first told him about the letter and the inaccuracies, he said, "Princess is a reputable company....surely they wouldn't just outright deliberately mislead people." Apparently he was wrong on both counts....Wrong about them being reputable... and wrong about them not misleading us!

 

Princess has lost my trust...and once trust is lost, it can be difficult to re-establish. Believe me, I shall think twice (or even thrice!) before I take a Princess employee's word about anything again: jewelry purchases, wine purchases, shipboard credits, shore excursions....anything!

 

Madonna

[California Native]

Hi Where2next

 

Your website is fantastic :D and I have been to it many times already. I am going on the Crown Princess on June 19 and I am trying to get all the info I can. It is great to hear that it is easy to get off the ship even if you have a private tour. I still have a few questions. You did Red October, did they take you anywhere else for souvenirs other than their store? Was this a nonissue? Did you go on any evening excursions in St pete? What about lunch (I don't remember if you wrote about it on your website.) I still have some reservations about doing a private tour, my main concern I guess is that my dh is foreign born (Cuban) with an American passaport and God forbid anything should prevent us from touring with the private tour :eek: he will shot me for arranging such a thing. My two teenage sons are also going with us. So any suggestions about evening? Thanks again.

 

 

Hi!

I'm so sorry I haven't responded sooner, but somehow I didn't check this thread...

Thank you so much for your compliments on the website...it has been a labor of love and all the positive feedback

is keeping us inspired to add more topics and work on the blog!

There is a street market across from the Church of the Spilled Blood that they took us to on my 1st B2B and

then I requested when John and I went..Now when I was with my mom, prices were a little better at the market,

but when I was with John prices were MUCH better at the their stores!

Items that we purchased were Christmas ornaments, wooden Santas, a glass egg and John purchased a Russian flask..

still don't understand that one as he doesn't really drink except when we have a dinner party or sipping at the source (drinking the local spirits-when we travel)

I think it's a boy thing...but I'll tell you that thing sure set off a bunch of bells and whistles when we did land travel through Latvia and Lithuania.

To sum up when you are on a private tour, you can stop to shop at the market.

We did not take evening tours on the any of the days we were there.

This was a personal decision of ours.. the reason being is I have severe chronic pain from stage 4 endometriosis and

I needed to be strong enough to do all of day activities we had planned for our day tours which were more important to us.

Also, I think this bears repeating for all of you. This is an extremely port intenstive itinerary no matter what ship or itinerary you have.

You will be physically and mentally drained. You may doubt..as John did ...but I have a picture of him sitting down at the end of the 2nd day

where it looks like he ran a marathon and had just solved some obsure mathmatical problem..unfortunatly I promised never to show anyone it!

and here's the thing he did his homework, everything I asked him to read or view in preparation he did

AND he's passionate about learning about culture, architecture and history...but still it's just sooooo much to absorb!

Your teenage sons and maybe even you as adults will want to come back on board and veg out.

If you do want to go out in the evening, I heard the tour at Catherines Palace was magical!

Bon Voyage!

[ehschief]

I have been reading all the Russia info. The letter from Carnival does sound threatening. My brother-in-law, who will be traveling with us went to Russia last year and had such a hard time regarding his Visa. At this time we are going to take one of the high priced tours so we can eliminate any problems.

 

Since this ship is so new and has little experience with these ports, we do not want to take the chance of something going wrong. We are starting to get excited even though we have not made any real plans yet, not even air.

 

We are going to stay in Europe at least an extra week post cruise, trying to think of what we want to do, it will have to be inexpensive, any ideas?

[cruisemom42]

While we are relieved to hear that so many of you disembarked early and without any hassle from your cruiseline personnel, I am curious....Did you also receive from your cruiseline an advance letter implying...even warning... that you could not disembark unless you met certain criteria?

 

The Princess letter enclosed with our cruise docs begins by stating:

"All visitors to St Petersburg must be in possession of a Russian Tourist Visa unless participating on a Princess organized shore excursion."

 

We are already booked with Denrus. I expected Princess to push their own shore excursions, but I was not expecting such a 'scary' letter! I would simply dismiss the letter as a Princess' scare tactic, but since we are on the first cruise of the 2008 season, it does make me nervous.

 

Our letter continues by stating:

..."passengers not on a Princess organized excursion must present the following:

• Russian Tourist Visa attached to each passport
  
• A Standard Tourist Confirmation verifying service arranged by the Russian travel agency sponsoring the individual Russian Tourist visa"

I assume the necessary confirmation will be provided by Denrus....But, of course, we will not have individual visas to attach to each passport.

 

Any thoughts?

 

I actually don't find this misleading at all. To me, it clearly states that you must have either 1) purchased a shore excursion from the ship, 2) be in possession of an individual Russian tourist visa, OR 3) have a standard tourist confirmation verifying your private tour by a registered agency (such as that provided by Den Rus, Red October, Alla, etc). I think it is the implied "OR" that is confusing to people.

 

However, I think it is the cruiseline's responsibility to be very emphatic about this, otherwise I'm sure they would have many unhappy pax who did NOT pre-reserve a tour with anyone and did NOT obtain a visa complaining that the ship did not clearly inform them that they wouldn't be able to get off the ship without it.

 

You might be surprised how many people have posted on these boards over the past few years asking whether they really need a visa and quite surprised to find that they do. I can't imagine how many others don't read the paperwork and don't check ahead of time.....

[ontheweb]

I have been reading all the Russia info. The letter from Carnival does sound threatening. My brother-in-law, who will be traveling with us went to Russia last year and had such a hard time regarding his Visa. At this time we are going to take one of the high priced tours so we can eliminate any problems.

 

Since this ship is so new and has little experience with these ports, we do not want to take the chance of something going wrong. We are starting to get excited even though we have not made any real plans yet, not even air.

 

We are going to stay in Europe at least an extra week post cruise, trying to think of what we want to do, it will have to be inexpensive, any ideas?

 

Getting a Russian visa on your own would probably turn out to be quite a hassle and expensive. However, that does not mean you have to take an expensive ship tour in St. Petersberg. The approved private companies provide a group visa, just like the ship's tours do. You will spend less and be able to see more in a smaller group. In addition, you can personalize the tour. We used Alla last summer and were highly pleased with the results. Alla, Red October Den Rus, and spb tours (owned by Viktoria who last summer was our Alla guide) all seem to come highly recommended on these boards.

 

As for an inexpensive post cruise week in Europe, I do not think that is possible. As the dollar continues to drop in value, Europe becomes more and more expensive. Be prepared for sticker shock!

[Peregrina651]

Getting a Russian visa on your own would probably turn out to be quite a hassle and expensive.

While it is expensive ($100+pp), it is not that much of a hassle since, as has been mentioned here on CC, there are companies that will take care of it for you. Knowing that your visa is included in the cost of a private tour makes it even cheaper because you know that one way or another it will cost you a minimum of $100pp just to get off the ship.

 

Even if you are planning to get a visa and tour on your own, St.P is one port where you want to do your homework and know in advance how you will get from the ship to the front gate of the port and even more importantly from the front gate back to the ship. You certainly don't want to waste time figuring it out when you get there because there is just too much else you want to spend time doing.

 

All that in mind, we ended up using Alla Tours and spent a delightful two days letting someone else worry about getting us from place to place.

[lynncarol]

We were on the "Connie" last summer and the cruise line's shore excursion mgr. implied (the evening before docking) that unless you had a visa, or were taking the ship's tour, you couldn't get off the ship. She was wrong! PS.. In Talinn she also indicated that the visitor bureau was located far from the port and we needed to purchase shuttle tickets and get into the city first. Hah! It was right next to where we docked.

[nolaAlive]

I think Russian visas are up to $131 for US citizens and take about a week to get.

 

As for the cruise line scare tactics, I contacted the US Consulate in St Petersburg and they even contacted the Inflot agency to see if their were any changes expected (there aren't).

 

"

Thank you for your e-mail. The information posted on our website is correct to the best of our knowledge. We contacted the Inflot agency in St. Petersburg to double check the information. We were told that they do not expect any changes for this summer.

 

Please note that if you plan to do sightseeing on your own (without a group), you may want to contact the Russian Embassy in the US to find out how to apply for a Russian visa. You may see detailed information regarding Russian visas at their website at www.russianembassy.org

 

You may see information regarding cruise travelers at http://www.stpetersburg-usconsulate.ru/citizen_ship.htm I copied it for your convenience below.

 

Special entry/exit requirements for international cruise ship passengers:

International cruise ship passengers are permitted to visit Russian ports without a visa for a period of up to 72 hours. Passengers who wish to go ashore during port calls may do so without a visa only if they are part of an organized tour, operated by a licensed Russian tour company approved by the Russian Immigration Service. According to Russian legislation, cruise passengers on organized tours must remain with their tour group and/or a representative of their tour company at all times while ashore. Tour operators affiliated with cruise companies as well as a variety of local tour operators in Russia are licensed to provide tour services to cruise passengers. Travelers should contact their tour provider directly to verify that the company has the appropriate license. The Consulate cannot verify a company's license, or recommend individual tour operators. Note: These special entry/exit requirements do not apply to river boat cruise passengers and travelers coming to Russia on package tours. These travelers should follow the general guidelines provided for entry/exit requirements

 

Note: These special entry/exit requirements do not apply to river boat cruise passengers and travelers coming to Russia on package tours. These travelers should follow the general guidelines provided for entry/exit requirements.

 

You are welcome to contact the American Citizen Services unit of the U.S. Consulate General via telephone 812-331-2600, fax 812-331-2646 or e-mail at StPetersburgACS@state.gov For further information of a more general nature on traveling abroad and advice for travelers you might want to consult the State Department's web site www.travel.state.gov as well as the web site of the U.S. Consulate General in St. Petersburg www.stpetersburg-usconsulate.ru

 

Sincerely,

American Citizen Services Assistant

U.S. Consulate General, St. Petersburg, Russia

This e-mail and all attachments are Unclassified within the meaning of E.O. 12958

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