Just returned - 6/15 Baltics on Emerald Princess - Review of our great time!

[tnflms]

No, I did not see any eveidence of flu on our cruise. PCL does a nice job with the hand sanitizers EVERYWHERE.....use it, and just be careful in the buffets when there are close quarters around the food. Also just be on the watch during your excursions for anyone with a "cold", or needing frequent bathroom stops......just common sense, really......

[tnflms]

Our experience....we had arranged to meet our private tour guide at 7:30(Anastasia). We had a group of 15....met in Crooners bar at 6:45, made our way to the gangway....were probably one of the first 25 people off the ship at around 7:00. Took us about 30 minutes to all clear customs.....no attempt by anyone to split us into Princess/non-Princess tours. Initially the line went very slow....then they opened up a couple of more lines.....we all cleared and were pulling away from the parking lot at 7:30. I noticed the lines were getting longer and longer. I did hear reports of long waiting....2 hours, by some of the folks that left later....but can't remember if that was the first or second day.....

[bgelb]

Thanks so much for the updates on leaving the ship. There has just been so much floating around the net about get up early, get up late, don't wait in line, wait in line. Nice to hear about it first hand.

 

Can't wait to go. Did anyone do the folklore show?

[Embracedbylife]

no we didn't but we heard it was nice! we tried watching the princess entertainment that consisted of russian dancers, but it wasn't very good in my opinion - we left the theatre early and had an early night in preperation for day 2.

[John99]

I've been your reading your thread with interest. Thanks for the picture -- it's like a thousands words. The lines seem very long. It appears the building is to small to process over 3000+ people.

[msmoger]

Recently, there have been stories (from CC members) of very long lines waiting for St. Petersburg Tours -- both Princess and Private. Some people are waiting from 1 hour to 2 hours to get to their tour bus. Please check "lisacollie" thread and picture of very long waiting lines outside the Emerald Princess to enter the Russian Immigration Building on her 6/15 cruise. Sometime, the Russians have four lines open (inside the building) to process people but later open up six lines when they feel the need. The "size" of the building leaves something to be desired. How can they possibley process over 3,000+ people in a short time and get them on their way?? Like in the movie: "Huston we have a problem"!!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1013162&page=2

 

I hope we're the only cruise ship in port that day.

 

John,

 

Which Emerald September sailing are you on (3rd or the 13th)? We're on the 13th and I believe we are the only large mainstream ship in port that day. According to the below website, if you are sailing on the 3rd you will be in port on the 7th with the Costa Mediterranea and the HAL Rotterdam.

 

http://cruisett.com/ports.php?PortID=664&date=13

 

Edit: OK John, where did your post go???

[John99]

I must of pushed the wrong button. We are on the 9/03/09 sailing. Pre-cruise, we booked the Marriott for one day. Wish it was two days.

[choochok]

We are going on Emerald on August 14 and that week is the PGA week (golf tournament). The telecast will be at night over there. I wonder how fast is the internet on the ship. Will it be fast enough to watch live feed and how much is the charge for internet connection?

 

Thanks.

 

mel

[DebbieS732]

Our experience....we had arranged to meet our private tour guide at 7:30(Anastasia). We had a group of 15....met in Crooners bar at 6:45, made our way to the gangway....were probably one of the first 25 people off the ship at around 7:00. Took us about 30 minutes to all clear customs.....no attempt by anyone to split us into Princess/non-Princess tours. Initially the line went very slow....then they opened up a couple of more lines.....we all cleared and were pulling away from the parking lot at 7:30. I noticed the lines were getting longer and longer. I did hear reports of long waiting....2 hours, by some of the folks that left later....but can't remember if that was the first or second day.....

 

We were on HAL's Eurodam on June 16th. Our group met at the gangway at 7:00am. We walked off the ship immediately and there was virtually no line. Our group of 9 cleared immigrations by 7:15am. I overheard one Russian official say to the other, 'there's not many people right now, just the independent tour groups.' HAL made no attempt, at all, to segregate HAL tours from Non-HAL tours. I never saw or heard anything to the effect that HAL tours got to go first. I did, however, note that none of the HAL tours started before 8am, so I think getting off early made a difference.

 

We were scheduled to meet our tour guide/driver(SPB) between 7am and 7:30am.

 

The second day we met our tour guide at 8:30am. Still no lines getting off. In fact, we ended up waiting for our tour for a few minutes because there was a long line of tour buses and vans.

[CruiserGreg]

Sounds like you had a great trip. Quick question re: St Petersburg. I am going with SPC and have heard such differences as to how to handle getting off the ship. Some say get off as soon as the ship is cleared by immigration; that the cruise line tries to keep those with private tours on the ship last. Some say to get on the lines with the ships tours, and the same for the immigration lines. Any feedback? We certainly don't want to be late for our tour. Thanks so much.

 

We were on the May 26th sailing of the Emerald and took a private tour with Denrus. Needless to say things got pretty ugly the first morning when the ship cleared and they held people in the dining room. The following morning was not a problem at all for some reason. As far as the immigration lines, Princess will try and steer the non-princess tours to their own lines which are much longer. Bottom line.....Russian immigration could care less which tour you are with, and Princess can not stop you from using any line you choose. We did meet some interesting passengers who figured a way to get past the hassle getting off the ship in St. Petersburg.....they kept their stickers from an earlier tour in Finland and put them on again in St. Petersburg......Princess security was none the wiser.;)

[cowtec]

We were on the June 25th sailing of the Emerald Princess. We docked at the new cruise ship port in St. Petersburg. Got in line about 6:45 AM but because of the health concerns, we had to wait about an hour and a half for clearance. Once we cleared, disembarkation was quick and easy. There was no differentiation between Princess tours and independent tours - our guide Helen with Anastasia was waiting for us just the other side of customs and we were out of the building in no more than 10 minutes at the most. Second morning there was no wait at all. You needed your passport, the immigration card from Princess, your tour ticket to prove you had a visa. I still have my passport copy which we were told to have with us.