Another Baltic Question!

[devon girl]

We're going to the Baltic on Arcadia in Aug, & have booked some of the P&O excursions in St Petersburg. It states in the brochure that it is forbidden to take large bags & bottles to Peterhof Palace, Catherine Palace & the Hermitage. Does anyone know if a "normal" sized rucksack is classed as a large bag? Thanks.

[Alberich]

We're going to the Baltic on Arcadia in Aug, & have booked some of the P&O excursions in St Petersburg. It states in the brochure that it is forbidden to take large bags & bottles to Peterhof Palace, Catherine Palace & the Hermitage. Does anyone know if a "normal" sized rucksack is classed as a large bag? Thanks.

 

 

In the absence of a proper answer, all I'd say is that these things are usually defined by the person on the gate. So be best to assume that the answer is "yes".

 

I have no idea what a normal size for a rucksack is.

 

Good luck anyway, and may your guards get out of bed on the right side that morning!

[cruisegal101]

We're going to the Baltic on Arcadia in Aug, & have booked some of the P&O excursions in St Petersburg. It states in the brochure that it is forbidden to take large bags & bottles to Peterhof Palace, Catherine Palace & the Hermitage. Does anyone know if a "normal" sized rucksack is classed as a large bag? Thanks.

 

Sorry for posting on a thread for a line that I've never sailed, but when I visited St. Petersburg several years ago on another line, anything larger than a small purse or small tote bag was not allowed. No specific dimensions were given but some were told to leave their larger tote bags on the tour bus.

[loopyloo33]

We had a normal sports rucksack and couldn't take it in

[njl]

Just come back from St Petersburg on Ventura and visited Peterhof Palace, Catherine Palace & the Hermitage. Seemed a clear policy to me. A normal rucksack will not be acceptable nor umbrellas or large coats (we had awful weather). We were okay with a mini "rucksack" (ironically a little Royal Caribbean job!). Most normal handbags are okay. However, there was absolutely no problem handing them in at the cloakroom - it was all well organised. Just need to make sure you have somewhere else for your pasport, purse, etc.

[scrozuk]

Yeah, can confirm what NJL said.

 

Have to say, we were a bit nervous having to carry our passports around with us in Russia.

 

The cloakrooms are quite well run, but sometimes you may struggle to get the attendants attention when collecting your stuff. Had it the other week, wanted our coats, could see them, pretty much reach and grab them, but getting the attendant to look was a nightmare.

 

I had to give in my rucksack, but the wife didn't with her bag, and it's roughly the same size :) Peterhof, I will say is a fantastic place to go, hope the weather's great for you. That said, be warned about the traders outside the main entrance to the palace trying to sell you stamp books, russian dolls, etc. Was warned ourselves on how they con you out of your money.

 

Best advice is to wait until you're in the shop, or even better, see the traders in the proper setup market.

 

Good luck

 

Scrozuk

[Pemcorgimum]

In the absence of a proper answer, all I'd say is that these things are usually defined by the person on the gate. So be best to assume that the answer is "yes".

 

I have no idea what a normal size for a rucksack is.

 

Good luck anyway, and may your guards get out of bed on the right side that morning!

 

Now do those guards sleep in a bed? Surely not- never seen such scary women ever- I was the only goodytwoshoes amongst our group of ten NOT to get ticked off for something trivial by the guards in the Hermitage . PHEW!!

[scrozuk]

Now do those guards sleep in a bed? Surely not- never seen such scary women ever- I was the only goodytwoshoes amongst our group of ten NOT to get ticked off for something trivial by the guards in the Hermitage . PHEW!!

 

One final piece of advice when you disembark at St Petersburg and go through the immigration process. When you hand your passport, photocopy of passport and tickets, do not fold the passport copy. When we were going through, we could see someone had neatly folded their photocopy to fit inside his passport nicely. The immigration officer, then exageratedly huffed and puffed while he unfolded the photocopy.

 

Other than that, they're not as miserable as people make out, and whilst on our tour, I have proof that the Russian police even laugh!!

 

Scrozuk

[Pemcorgimum]

They opened up a new line through the immigration as we got off the ship and the girl was sleeping when we arrived at her desk- she looked across to see if her boss had seen her asleep and then smiled at us.

[ovccruiser]

One final piece of advice when you disembark at St Petersburg and go through the immigration process. When you hand your passport, photocopy of passport and tickets, do not fold the passport copy. When we were going through, we could see someone had neatly folded their photocopy to fit inside his passport nicely. The immigration officer, then exageratedly huffed and puffed while he unfolded the photocopy.

 

Other than that, they're not as miserable as people make out, and whilst on our tour, I have proof that the Russian police even laugh!!

 

Scrozuk

 

The other thing, when passing through imigration, they put a small visitor card inside your passport, DO NOT LOOSE IT, apparently the fine is big, not to mention the delay while they check you out again.

[scrozuk]

The other thing, when passing through imigration, they put a small visitor card inside your passport, DO NOT LOOSE IT, apparently the fine is big, not to mention the delay while they check you out again.

 

Ah yes, forgot about that, well spotted.

 

Scrozuk