St. Petersburg

Has anyone experienced problems getting off ship, when booking private tours(non cruise line)? I've heard cruise lines make you wait until "their " tours are off? Heard Celebrity wouldn't let people off ship unless on ship tour? Tour companies say this is illegal under Russian law?

Significant mis-information does annoy me. :mad:

I'm 99.9% sure you heard wrong - probably from just one person misunderstanding cruiselines' statements that their tours don't require a visa whereas independent visitors do. What they fail to say is that local operators' tours have exactly the same visa-free status as ships' tours.

But it is true that as from this season (mebbe tail end of last season) the disembarkation routine has been changed and the port authorities give priority to ships' tour groups. Probably after large brown envelopes have been handed over. :rolleyes:

Quite how that will work out only time will tell, the season starts around the beginning of May & doubtless we'll get feedback then.

JB :)

Latest info is priority to ships tours will only be on the first day of any visit.

This is because on the first day visas need to be issued which takes time. Official trips have to work to a more rigid timetable than private tours so buses need to leave promptly.

Subsequent days is just a passport check, so immigration check is much quicker.

Have been to Russia twice and purchased tours from cruise provider (fast embarkation no issues at immigration) we were told that the tour ticket was your visa. you will not be allowed to enter St. Petersburg without a visa.

I would suggest that you book your tours on line and pay for them upfront. there were a lot of upset passengers because some tours sell out extremely fast and they were put on waiting list for cancellations. Great tours pricey but worth it!

John is spot on. You can book with a local tour company and they will provide you with a ticket that will act as your visa waiver. It is exactly the same procedure that the cruise tours utilize to clear Russian immigration at the port.

As for priority disembarkation - we are all waiting for the arrival of the first ships in May. Only then will we know how/if the priority disembarkation scheme works.

It used to be illegal for ships to give priority disembarkation to ship tours. A few years ago, some cruise lines got into trouble for breaking this rule. A new management has taken over the Russian port, and has now agreed to let the ship tours get priority disembarkation. We still have no idea if people in suites will be allowed to disembark early, or exactly how the new disembarkation will work. As the above posters noted, we will need to wait until May to find out what will happen.