osgowen

We are planning a cruise next summer in the Baltic. There seems to be conflicting information about the necessity of a Visa for St Petersburg. We have been told that as long as we are on a ship sponsered tour, we do not need a visa. Then had that denied and were told we definitely needed a visa. Anyone have the "real" answer?

TRVLUPGD

I presume you have Ann overnight in St P, on board of course.
Two years ago on a similar cruise only pax with a guided/ escorted tour companies were allowed off shore and the group could not scatter away from the guide. The ship will have such a trip, generally for twice as much Asa private operator. I di a small independent grip of 12 pax with a local tour co.

sbrower

When we traveled we were some of the very few who had visas on Princess. But we were choosing to travel on our own, rent a car, and stay on shore for a night in a hotel. It was a GREAT decision but obviously we needed the visas.

hedoman

If you are a US or EU citizen without a visa, you will need to be with a licensed guide. We had a great individual guide and driver that worked out better than we had hoped. You should consider the expense + hassle + current politics before applying for a visa. They can easily take your money and not grant a visa.

First day, I went on a ship sponsored tour and wandered around on my own for three hours after the bus dropped us at the ship. Second day, we did the private guide/driver. But our ship was inside the city and not anywhere near the parking lot for large vessels.

mahasamatman

Most (all?) cruise lines will flat out lie and tell you that you have to take one of their tours to get the visa exemption. The truth is that you can book with any licensed tour operator and get the exemption.

osgowen

Thanks. Appreciate all the first hand information.

piper28

One key is if you're with an independent tour company, make sure you really do have all the paperwork they tell you to print out with you. One of those pages is going to be the info that the immigration folks are going to want, and they *DO* look for it. Also, expect that the tour company is going to need your passport numbers ahead of time, so don't freak out when they request them.

And I'd definitely recommend going with one of the independent companies over a ship's tour, it's a lot easier to move around in the small group than it is loading and unloading the large buses that the ship's tours use.

(FWIW, I'd also recommend a smaller ship. On the Ocean Princess, we were docked right down on the river Neva, within sight of the winter palace. Yeah, we still couldn't just get off the ship and wander around on our own, but it's a much more interesting docking location than the docks where the big ships are. (That said, when we finished our tours off on each day, there didn't really seem to be a huge emphasis on make sure we actually got right back on the ship, but I'm not sure I'd really want to take the chance of wandering around there and getting caught without a proper visa if you're by yourself)).

Jay71

My wife went on a cruise this June with her sister, overnighting in St Petersburg. They arrived without a visa and had just prebooked a non-cruiseline tour. As others have mentioned in the thread, you essentially have to stick with the tour group and cannot leave the ship to roam the nearby neighbourhood on your own.

osgowen

Anyone have experience with a private tour company that you would recommend? We will be on the Seabourn Quest. It is a smaller ship. I assume it will be docked close. We have 3 nights in St Petersburg so we would be looking for several days with a guide.

east_of_the_sun

Our group of 4 arranged a private 2 day tour with SPb Tours when we were in St. Petersburg in June.

They were prompt replying to my emails and they tailored the tour to our interests.
We received our tickets via email at the time of booking which was about 4 months before our cruise.
We did not have to pay in advance...not even a deposit.
Payment was collected on the second day of our tour, credit cards were accepted.

Our guide was knowledgeable and friendly and our driver managed to drop us off and pick us up as close as possible to each venue.
The van provided by SPb was clean and comfortable.

Other people from our ship ( the Marina) booked tours with Alla and they were equally happy with their tours.

fredjr

Osgowen,
I have been to St. Petersburg several times.
You will dock within sight of the Hermitage which is the most convenient location possible.
Please join Cruise Critic and use the sight in preparation for your cruise. There will be three particularly important threads to peruse. There is a Seabourn Cruise Line site. A little lower on the page is the ROLL CALL. Just find your ship and sailing date and join others on your cruise. The final thread to utilize is the Ports of Call forums. Information about the major independent tour operators is readily available. There will also be wonderful information about the major, and minor, sites to pack into your days.
Now to the VISA.....
If you are traveling independently you will need to apply for a Russia Federation Visa. This is a very tedious document to complete and it is also quite costly. With this visa you could exit the ship at will, go where you want and when you want. Transportation options in St. Petersburg have improved tremendously over the last 15 years but there are few English speaking cabbies and if your Cyrillic is less than stellar I would not recommend you go this route.
The group visa is handled by tour operators and is included in your tour rate. This is the route I highly recommend. The independent operators like SPB Tours, Alla, Red Oktober, etc. use small vans (usually 14 passenger Mercedes types with air conditioning.) They have greater access to many sites avoiding lines with much closer parking. They can plan more sites because they don't have to wait for the cruise line busses seating 46 to board and exit the busses. Their guides are well educated and speak understandable English - if that is your preferred language. The ability to tailor an itinerary for a small group like one that joins forces on the Roll Call is very important. Some of the larger tour agencies can also put together a night excursion if you wish to go to the ballet, or a concert or a circus or a cruise on the Nevsky.
When you join Cruise Critic it will all make sense.
Have a wonderful cruise.

piper28

We did SPB Tours also, and I was quite happy with the service.

There were a couple of people that were doing an evening program through them too that night, and I do think a few issues came up with that (I think the couple doing the ballet, the issue ended up being that the only tickets that SPB could get were more expensive than the couple had been quoted, so they were annoyed with that, however, it also sounded like the next day that things had been worked out to their satisfaction on the issue).

Personally, I also felt that the sail out from the downtown location was pretty interesting, you sail down a fairly small channel for quite a while, passing various shipyards and stuff. I skipped the main dining room that night and waited to eat until after we'd gotten all the way through the big sea gate that's out in the causeway you pass through. (Personally, I think the big sea gate they close really fits with the Russian personality, they're able to completely clamp down on sea traffic through there just by closing the gate.)

Philatravelgirl

I did SPB as well and loved that I could create our bespoke itinerary (no time wasted on shopping or long sit down lunches, added in metro visits, etc) found a group on cruisecritic to join and had amazing guide - worth every penny! we did a few things the other tours didn't
I also hired guide/driver to go around at night and eat at local restaurant
Ship will tell you must do their tours - you don't - they also day you can't get off first but you can - our group got in line and was off ship pretty quickly and went thru immigration together with papers for tour- no visa needed

sbrower

As I noted earlier, there is also the option of renting a car and driving yourself (perfect for a family of 4). We saw the Hermitage (get the online tickets in advance so that you can enter through the back door - no line). We drove to the Winter Palace and spent exactly as much time as we wanted. We stayed in the Courtyard Hotel. My daughter and I went to one of the best restaurants in St. Petersberg (I forget the name) and had a fantastic dinner (even better than the food on Princess . . .). The next day we saw more of the city and went to another home (I forget the name but it is the one with the incredible tile work). None of us speak any Russian. I did make one illegal left turn and a police officer tried to speak with us. However, when he realized that no one in the car spoke any Russian he just walked away.

techgirl

I was there last year on Seabourn Sojourn. The docking location is wonderful and has beautiful views of the city.

We also used SPB and I was very happy with our tour. We would compare notes with others each evening over cocktails and our group of 10 (we found 8 others via the Cruise Critic roll call) covered more ground than any of the ship's tours.