Crown Princess n Europe - Ship & Port Tips & Info

[HRHMadonna]

Hi! We have just returned from a fabulous 10 days on the Crown Princess. Here is the link to our post on the Ports of Call thread:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=786267

 

Bon Voyage everyone!

[Quilter n Cruiser]

Thanks so much for your reveiw of highlights and tips. We are looking forward to September 7th and the 28 day cruise. Your notes are greatly appreciated.

Sharon:)

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks. :)

[granny49]

Thank you so much for all your information and tips. How did Princess handle the private tours to St Petersburg?

[HRHMadonna]

There was absolutely no problem for passengers who had booked private tours....We went down and waited for the gangway to open and were among the very first passengers off of the boat.

 

The only thing that slowed us down a bit was that there were about 8 lines at kiosks for us to pass through Russian immigration. Princess had signs posted at 7 of the kiosks stating "Passengers with Princess Shore Excursions Only". The 8th and last kiosk to the far right said: "Passengers with Visas & Independent Tours" (or words to that effect). Anyway, as you can imagine, the independent tours line moved slowly because we were all in one line. Even at that, we were out and in the DenRus van right on time....and still ahead of many of the Princess excursion folks. Now on day 2 I was just curious to see what would happen if I walked up to one of the "Princess Only" lines...I did just that....they stamped my passport & waved me on through. I don't know if that would work every time, but it sure worked for me on Day 2.

[onthego1028]

Thank you Thank you HRHMadonna,

We are going on June 19th and we are using Denrus for a private tour. What did you do and where did you go? What was the best? What did you buy? Where did you eat? Your time is very much appreciated and thank you for all your info.

[nicolejoy]

We were on this same cruise - LOVED it! The staff were excellent, the boat was beautiful, the only "problem" was one rude couple I ran into - but they were passengers, not staff ;) We just went with a Princess tour in St Petersburg because it seemed easier and I didn't want to be held up at immigration or anything! But when we got there, it seemed like it would have been pretty easy to do an independent tour. If we did it again, I might do an independent tour instead - but the Princess tour was EXCELLENT regardless!! If you go on the Crown, you MUST go up to the Skywalkers bar on deck 18 - I think it's the most beautiful place on the ship - particularly when leaving a beautiful port like Stockholm or Oslo!! And there are remarkably few people who actually use it!! So it's pretty quiet too, at least in the day time. I never went at night when it was a night club...

[Seminole Mom]

There was absolutely no problem for passengers who had booked private tours....We went down and waited for the gangway to open and were among the very first passengers off of the boat.

 

The only thing that slowed us down a bit was that there were about 8 lines at kiosks for us to pass through Russian immigration. Princess had signs posted at 7 of the kiosks stating "Passengers with Princess Shore Excursions Only". The 8th and last kiosk to the far right said: "Passengers with Visas & Independent Tours" (or words to that effect). Anyway, as you can imagine, the independent tours line moved slowly because we were all in one line. Even at that, we were out and in the DenRus van right on time....and still ahead of many of the Princess excursion folks. Now on day 2 I was just curious to see what would happen if I walked up to one of the "Princess Only" lines...I did just that....they stamped my passport & waved me on through. I don't know if that would work every time, but it sure worked for me on Day 2.

 

We were on the same sailing as Madonna... and we also had a fabulous private tour with DenRus! There is another Princess thread started by MercedMike titled something like "The Truth in St. Petersburg".... check it out (I wrote a long response so I won't repeat it here).

 

Bottom line is this -- NO PROBLEMS whatsoever with our private tour in St. Petesburg. In fact, we were off the ship early and walked right through one of the doors marked "Princess Only". Worked both days, too! :)